Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

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SpyderNut
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#21

Post by SpyderNut »

Most of my knives are Spyderco, but I do have a number from other manufacturers that I enjoy. Some of these include:

Chris Reeve
Victorinox
Microtech
Boker
Emerson
Case
Buck
Schrade (older, USA-made)
Benchmade
CRKT
SOG
Kershaw
Zieba
…and a few other brands I can’t remember at the moment, lol.

I also have a Daniel Winkler/Jason Knight fixed-blade neck knife that’s pretty sweet and a little folder design by Elijah Isham. Also, I carry some of my own folders/fixies that I made.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#22

Post by vivi »

I'm basically all Spyderco for single blade folders, but there are a number of brands I enjoy for other cutting tools.

1. Big fan of Victorinox kitchen knives. I've used their 10" chefs knife professionally for over a decade, and have a lot of their paring knives. Swiss army knives are cool too, but I generally prefer Leatherman for a pocket multitool.

2. Leatherman. Huge fan of the rebar, squirt ps4 and micra. Haven't found multis I like more than these.

3. Cold Steel. I have a lot of Cold Steel fixed blades, and they make up my entire machete & sword collection. I have multiple SRK's, SRK-C's, Recon Tantos, Kopis machetes and one 30" cutlass machete / sword. I've beaten the **** out of their machetes and the performance for the $$ is exceptional.

4. LT Wright. Simple, classic fixed blades made well.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#23

Post by kennethsime »

I answered a similar question on Reddit or Facebook recently. Spyderco is for sure my #1 brand, especially for folders. However, lately I've been getting more into fixed blades, and that's taken me down some other roads. I've also expanded my price horizons a bit recently (thanks in no small part to Spyderco). I'm repeating some brands others have mentioned here, but I'm gonna go ahead anyway. I'm also going to try to identify a quintessential knife that I think everyone should own from each brand.

Folders
  • Victorinox: My very first knife. Really outstanding value, flawless fit & finish, always a good buy. Get yourself a Spartan or a Sportsman.
  • Spyderco: I appreciate their lightweight, high-performance knives. Think grinds, amazing steel selection, great value in handle materials, some of the best ergonomics out there. Get yourself a Stretch
  • Benchmade: Almost as good, but more mass appeal. I still like some of Benchmande's older designs like the 940 Osborne, and the 745 Onslaught a **** of a lot. Get yourself a 940 Osborne
  • Chris Reeve Knives: I like them for their high quality materials selection, impeccable tolerances, and classic designs. I'd really like to pickup a Sebenza, especially if they start producing them in Magnacut. When I was a kid working in a knife store and Sebenzas were about $325, I thought I'd have "made it" if I could buy a Sebenza. Well, I'm not too far off now. Get yourself a Sebenza
Fixed Blades
  • Morakniv: Great value fixed blades. Really comfortable handles, good enough steel, incredibly low prices. Love that they're made in Sweden, and they really do pull their weight. Get yourself a Bushcraft, Kansbol, or Garberg depending on your budget.
  • ESEE: American made, great looking, hard working knives. I still haven't actually owned an ESEE, but they (and CRK) introduced me to Micarta and I've loved them ever since. I do wish they'd start using more premium steels. Get yourself a 6HM.
  • Lt Wright: I think this is kind of what I've always wanted from ESEE, just it's a significantly higher price point. Higher-end tool steels, micarta scales, handmade finish. Get yourself a Genesis.
  • Bark River Knives: BRK is the only other knife brand with a community I actively participate in (the Facebook groups are popular). Wow. American handmade fixed blades in premium steels with a finish and warranty that are really, really hard to beat. They look good, feel good, and cut good. The convex grind just eats wood. My one complaint is that most of their knives start out as pretty thick stock, but they do offer some thinner models now and again. Oh, and my wallet complains about the price point, too - hard to get one for less than $300 or so. Get yourself a Bravo 1.25 LT.
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.

Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#24

Post by Tiquito »

It used to be ZT but the last handful of years they haven’t made anything that appeals to me. I like my older ZTs though.

Esee: great user knives

Becker: good users

Civivi. They are nicely executing a number of fun designs and really appealing price points

Cold steel: I’m not into a lot of their folders but they make some cool fun stuff.

Ckrt: they make things to a price point and frankly have a lot junk. They make a lot of different designs though and some are pretty cool. Unfortunately sometimes their corner cutting kills the cool design and leaves you longing for what could have been. They do have some hidden gems that are pretty good for the money (folts minimalists, squid, Pillar, etc). A solid budget knife is something I have a use for and some of these fit the bill.

Mora: insane values and if you know how to use a knife you can do most real knife tasks with one. I have a few. I have one that I keep on my backpack. I have a companion that I have taken all over and gotten way more than $12 worth of use out of.

At this point I tend to buy knives if they are either a tool that fills some role that I have a use for or if something about the design speaks to me. I don’t have much use for a huge Bowie for example but I have one and may by another because I think they are cool. The civivi McKenna doesn’t do anything as a cutting tool that other knives I own won’t but I find it to just be a cool, fun little knife, that is adequate for most of my day to day uses if I’m in the office. It’s probably why I own more spydies than anything else. They make great cutting tools and also make cool unique designs as well.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#25

Post by JD Spydo »

These are some great responses so far guys!! There's at least 5 brands mentioned that you don't hear mentioned very often.

And many of the companies listed are no surprise like Benchmade, Cold Steel, Victorinox ect. >> But I'm still sort of perplexed that no one beside myself has mentioned the Swiss knife company "Klotzli". Because for years I've regarded them as a high standard of comparison. Especially for their work with Carbon Fiber handles.

Also I'm sort of surprised that no one has mentioned any of the blades made or sold by the Surefire flashlight company.. I had a couple of those years ago and they were built really well.

But do keep the comments coming.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#26

Post by James Y »

JD Spydo wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:33 am
These are some great responses so far guys!! There's at least 5 brands mentioned that you don't hear mentioned very often.

And many of the companies listed are no surprise like Benchmade, Cold Steel, Victorinox ect. >> But I'm still sort of perplexed that no one beside myself has mentioned the Swiss knife company "Klotzli". Because for years I've regarded them as a high standard of comparison. Especially for their work with Carbon Fiber handles.

Also I'm sort of surprised that no one has mentioned any of the blades made or sold by the Surefire flashlight company.. I had a couple of those years ago and they were built really well.

But do keep the comments coming.

Joe,

I did mention Klotzli in my post; even though I don’t own one yet, I’ve expressed an interest in their Swiss Border Guard folder.

Jim
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#27

Post by Evil D »

I would definitely be in the Kershaw/Zero Tolerance camp if not for Spyderco. They're the closest brand IMO, at least in what I like.

There are other brands but I almost don't even want to mention them because I don't own any of their knives so in a way that says a lot about how much I REALLY like them. Part of it may be cost, part of it is would I carry that knife over my Spyderco, part of it is just focusing my cash on what I like most. For the things I like about knives, there really aren't many things that other brands have to offer that Spyderco doesn't already do for me and maybe do it better.


One detail here I can throw out there is how some brands make really awesome knives but they use thumb studs...I just refuse to go back to thumb studs no matter how awesome the rest of the knife is so this one detail alone roots out a lot of brands. I would sooner go all the way back to two handed openers like a Buck 110...I just dislike thumb studs that much.


The most recent brand that came close to getting my money was Microtech, but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#28

Post by JD Spydo »

James Y wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 1:57 pm
JD Spydo wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:33 am
These are some great responses so far guys!! There's at least 5 brands mentioned that you don't hear mentioned very often.

And many of the companies listed are no surprise like Benchmade, Cold Steel, Victorinox ect. >> But I'm still sort of perplexed that no one beside myself has mentioned the Swiss knife company "Klotzli". Because for years I've regarded them as a high standard of comparison. Especially for their work with Carbon Fiber handles.

Also I'm sort of surprised that no one has mentioned any of the blades made or sold by the Surefire flashlight company.. I had a couple of those years ago and they were built really well.

But do keep the comments coming.

Joe,

I did mention Klotzli in my post; even though I don’t own one yet, I’ve expressed an interest in their Swiss Border Guard folder.

Jim
My bad :hot-face I haven't been getting much sleep in the past month and my brain has been running at about about 78% capacity. But still with the superb quality that Klotzli shows me I'm still surprised that at least half of the people on this thread didn't list them.

Klotzli knives are truly a well hidden secret here in the USA. I only ever found one dealer at our local gun shows that even sold any Klotzli folders. I don't know of any other knife company that has used Carbon Fiber to such as high degree as they have. I just wish they would start using some of the newer/better blade steels like Spyderco has done.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#29

Post by JD Spydo »

Evil D wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 2:53 pm
I would definitely be in the Kershaw/Zero Tolerance camp if not for Spyderco. They're the closest brand IMO, at least in what I like.

There are other brands but I almost don't even want to mention them because I don't own any of their knives so in a way that says a lot about how much I REALLY like them. Part of it may be cost, part of it is would I carry that knife over my Spyderco, part of it is just focusing my cash on what I like most. For the things I like about knives, there really aren't many things that other brands have to offer that Spyderco doesn't already do for me and maybe do it better.


One detail here I can throw out there is how some brands make really awesome knives but they use thumb studs...I just refuse to go back to thumb studs no matter how awesome the rest of the knife is so this one detail alone roots out a lot of brands. I would sooner go all the way back to two handed openers like a Buck 110...I just dislike thumb studs that much.


The most recent brand that came close to getting my money was Microtech, but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.
Good stuff to consider for sure. I've had a solid respect for Kershaw for many years now. I don't own but one of their knives because I just like Spyderco so much more. I've only ever owned one Microtech model and it was one of their "Socom" automatics. A buddy of mine wanted it so badly that he even paid more than I paid for it new. I just bought it as an investment or a trade item. I do admire Microtech but they don't have anything that Spyderco can't beat performance wise.

I will say that they rank easily in the top 3 companies for automatic ( Switchblade) folders. But I've never had any desire to join their cult or the one that Busse knives has. And believe me both of those companies have an intense cult following for sure.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#30

Post by James Y »

IMO, Pro-tech makes the best auto knives. Although I only own one.

Jim
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#31

Post by JD Spydo »

James Y wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 9:14 pm
JD Spydo wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 7:39 am
As much as many of you guys are knife connoisseurs to a high degree I'm sort of surprised that no one else has endorsed the Swiss made "Klotzli" brand. I personally think that those are well constructed, high quality units. The only negative I can find with them is that they use blade steels that Spyderco quit using many years ago. But I'm sure they will remedy that problem in due time. Their use of Carbon Fiber is at a really high level IMO.

Joe,

I’ve been considering a Klotzli Swiss Border Guard folder for a few years, but haven’t been able to get myself to pull the trigger on one. It costs about the same as a small CRK Sebenza, which I can’t justify spending on a knife right now.

Jim
The last time I gazed at Klotzli's Swiss website they had fixed blade on their website that really caught my eye. With the intense detail they put into their folders I would love to test drive one of their fixed blades. Even though Klotzli uses older/antiquated blade steels like ATS-34, 440C and AUS-8 I kind of give them a pass because I've heard that their heat treatments are really super. And do consider that some of those steels in their prime were at one time considered to be premium blade steels.

But Klotzli's Carbon Fiber handles I do believe are the best I've ever seen on a commercially made knife.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#32

Post by James Y »

The Klotzli Swiss Border Guard folder's blade is n690, whatever level that steel is at.

Jim
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#33

Post by wrdwrght »

Brands that have proven their reliability to me:

Victorinox (more than just a knife)
Leatherman (ditto)
LT Wright (since days of Blind Horse Knives)
ESEE

Because they have been reliable across all my uses, I’ve felt no urge to look beyond them, and Spyderco.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#34

Post by bearfacedkiller »

The market is flooded with premium folders at this point and there are quite a few nice brands I haven’t tried yet. Probably 90% of my folders are Spyderco. Only about 10% of my fixed blade are.

These are brands I carry and enjoy.
Spyderco
Benchmade
Victorinox
Protech
TRM

My most used fixed blades are Bark River, Becker, Mora and Spyderco.
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#35

Post by MacLaren »

Busse Combat
Medford Knife & Tool
Hinderer
ZT
Bark River
CRK
Sooner or later I'll finally try a Shirogorov....I really like the Russian style blades ( Shiro 111, ZT 0452 )
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#36

Post by PineyBoy »

I own more spyderco folders than anything else.
Chris Reeve
Global
Kizer
Other top favorites are not brands, but are one offs
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#37

Post by Ric »

Victorinox - SAK / small "multitools", perfect for holiday

Benchmade - mini Griptilian with Spyderhole

Mora - garden, camping, kitchen
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#38

Post by murphjd25 »

I’ll be totally honest, Chris Reeve kind of ruined me, and I’ve moved on from using and collecting Spydercos. I still like to hang out here though if you guys don’t mind.

Chris Reeve (CRK)
Carothers (CPK)
Shiro
Benchmade
Case Bose

Those are my favorites and pretty much all I have anymore,
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#39

Post by ChrisinHove »

Victorinox
Wenger (see what I did there?)
Opinel
Hultafors
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Re: Other Favorite Knife Brands? At Least 3 or 4 Please?

#40

Post by JD Spydo »

PineyBoy wrote:
Sat Aug 07, 2021 11:08 am
I own more spyderco folders than anything else.
Chris Reeve
Global
Kizer
Other top favorites are not brands, but are one offs
Global is an interesting pick. I've also looked at Global's ceramic sharpening stones in the past year. I've been meaning to get one of those to compare it to Spyderco's great ceramic sharpening stones. There are few companies in the ceramic stone market for some odd reason. I personally think that in many respects those ceramic stones have made some stones pretty much obsolete. I don't think there are hardly any of those Arkansas Stones ( novaculite) of days gone by that can compete with those.

I'm not surprised to see that Chris Reeve knives keep coming up over and over. I've never yet owned a Chris Reeve knife but I've heard that the Sebenza is one of the very best in their sector. Also I'm not surprised to see Victorinox coming up frequently>> you just can't beat their stuff for the price. And I do believe their multi-tools are the best out there IMO.
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