The "Back Burner" Knife

[Fastidiotus]

Let's hear about a model or variant you wanted, but kept putting off buying. Only for you to get it and realize you should have got it sooner. I think most of us here are at the point that all new purchases fall more into the "want" category than the "need" category. With all the sprints and exclusives it's easy for some "wants" to lose priority to knives we know will only be around for a few hours/days/weeks.

For me I've put off buying the lc200n UKPK Salt SE for around 2 or 3 years. I really like SE lc200n, I really like the UKPK, and its very reasonably priced(but now a victim of the golden expansion). It should have been an instant buy for me. I came across a deal on a factory 2nd last month and finally picked one up. It should have been my first UKPK purchase. It glides through cardboard, it chews through rope with ease, and you'll still forget you actually do have a knife when someone asks because the UKPK always disappears in any pocket.



So what knife do you regret putting on the back burner?

[p_atrick]

Delica. I got one of the Pakkawood/Hap40 exclusives so I could have a project the next time I visited my father. We made some wooden scales for it. I carry it a lot for sentimental reasons (don't worry, he's still alive). I've come to realize how nice that model is. It is pretty much this knife or a Janlica that is in my pocket these days.

[gooeytek]

Caly 3/3.5

[Jesla]

Native 5 g10 s110v… bought the LW during a g10 s110v dry spell, so I am still putting it off.

I have other native 5’s so the blurple would just be a hole filler in the s110v’s I already have.

[barnaclesonaboat]

Kapara!

[riclaw]

Chaparral LWT SE

[Evil D]

I'm not sure I have one of these, there are probably ones still on the back burner that I haven't had that ah-ha moment with.

I have a similar experiences where I just outright hate on a knife and intentionally avoid it and had no interest at all in buying one, but then had to eat my words when I got it in my hand and realized how wrong I was.

The Military was one of these for me, and I ended up getting one by chance from the loss prevention guy at a retail store I worked at (had been trying to catch the guy for a while, had stole a lot from the store and eventually caught him and it got physical, the guy was carrying a DLC/digicam Military 1 that came out of his pocket during the scuffle and the loss prevention guy found it after the arrest was made and basically said eff this guy he's stole more from me than this is even worth he's not getting it back, then he gave it to me lol).

So there's the wild story of how I came into owning a Military, after having no interest in buying one. It was in horrible condition, rusted hardware and dull as a spoon, but it cleaned up pretty well and I carried it for a while and that was pretty much the revelation for me and the Military. Now I own 9 of them and have owned 11 total and it's my most carried model of all time (though not longest exclusively carried).

[Red Leader]

Vallotton…

[Larry_Mott]

Birds eye maple Chaparral. Honestly it's the price that keeps me from getting one. Being a knife collector in the EU is getting more and more costly, to the point spontaneous purchases just don't happen anymore..

[Spyderwebs]

So many. Real first world problems here.

Schempp Bowie
JD Smith (G10/PE or Micarta/SE)
Caly Damascus
SpyOpera Damascus
Delica K390 Wharncliffe
Air
REC PM2
PM2 Tanto
Kapara
Yojimbo 15v
Military2 15v (handled but didnt 'click' with me)
Superhawk
Salt something - probably blackout PM2

Of the list, im most motivated to pick up a JD Smith G10 or Micarta Serrated or Schempp bowie. The SpyOpera Damascus is very tempting but so pricey, may as well go for the Caly at that point.

The highest-want to least-realistic ratio goes to PM2 Jade/DLC/Tanto or Caly Damascus. Man those are fine looking.

Gotta say, the majority of my want list is discontinued at this point. New stuff is nice, but the older models really speak to me. Bring back more micarta into the lineup besides CruCarta (which I also love)!

[StuntZombie]

The UKPK is one of mine. I owned the Ti version, sold it off, and now I'm considering another one.

The Military is the other one I've been putting off, and going back and forth about. Honestly, the main thing that turns me off from the Military is the fact that the lanyard tube is what holds the back end of the knife together. I've owned and handled a few knives where the lanyard tube actually had a little bit of a rattle, which meant there was some play in the handle scales at the end, and I pretty much swore off any knife that depended on it as a fastener.

[8th_Note]

Lil Native.

It had always been one that looked kind of interesting, but other models were more interesting. I recently found a new-old-stock lil native online and the price was incredibly cheap (it's got a CC# on the blade, which means it is a very early example. And it appears to never have been removed from the little plastic sleeve inside the box). The moment I held it in my hand, I immediately had a tactile understanding of the term "little big knife". The ergos are sublime. Such a great design. If I had known how good they are, I would have bought one years ago.

[Wallach]

For me that's been the Chaparral and the Yojimbo. The Yojimbo was actually the knife that got me into the hobby - I just kind of stumbled onto it via the internet one day and thought it was so cool looking. Then learning the background of it and who made it really piqued my interest about more expensive knives. Somehow, though, after doing a bunch more research, I didn't wind up buying one as my first Spyderco, and to this day I never went back and bought one for myself.

The Chaparral was the other knife I kept looking at because I am a huge fanboy of thin blades. Nothing actually makes me enjoy using a knife more than a super thin blade with nice geometry and a fresh edge just making light work of a normally grumpy material. But I've always had a Native 5 (it was the actual first Spyderco I wound up buying instead of the Yojimbo), and for a while I didn't really understand how blade thickness and geometry and such were impacting cutting performance. So it just seemed like another small knife that was probably good, but I already had a nice small lockback, so I wanted to try other knives. That said, I recently saw that the LW Chaparral was $93 at National Knives, so I just decided to cross that off the list and try it for myself.

I definitely plan to add the Yojimbo to my collection this year as well. I'm just waiting on a good deal on it at this point (and for that deal to show up at the right time).

[mikey177]

These are models that I still don't own, though I've thought about getting them for the longest time:

Manix 2 XL and Police 4, because I prefer smaller knives.

Caribbean, because I still dislike the black and yellow bumbleebee scales.

[Mrj]

Kapara!

This. I want one so bad but keep passing it up. Idk why lol.

[xceptnl]

Much like the OP, my back burner was a UKPK. It was my first slipit and although I knew I would like the ergonomics based on how well the Caly 3 fit my hand, I saw no need in a non-locking Spydie. I was wrong. This custom sweetened the deal even more.

[Jeb]

I held out buying into the Manix series. Then along came the Manix 2XL so I got one, but with the way the blade lock works and my really bad beat up hands; it was not a match made for me.

Really liking how the grip of the knife felt in my hand, my gearhead driven mind started in on what I could do better to make work for me.

I ended up cutting two wire wraps of the ball cage spring. Then I see a company that makes a lighter weight spring and a all metal ball cage in a kit.

After trying their lighter weight spring kit for a few weeks and getting a few more Manix2xl and going crazy over the knife, I like my cut spring mods better.

I do like the metal ball cage and would really love to be able to get just the Titanium ball cage and modify the spring and use the Spyderco metal ball bearing.

The Manix once I cut and close the end of the spring and sand the end, these knives are really something and even with my broken and beat up hands.

I just didn't care for the lighter weight spring and ceramic ball bearing in mine. I perfer a stronger spring and steel ball bearing for the lockup. But the bigger Manix 2XL has become a favorite EDC.

Never did I ever expect to like this style of knife in the Manix, with the Police4 and it's backlock and the Military 2 and its compression lock, being as good as they are and my beat up hands being able to use those.

I like the bigger knives and just never expected to ever like the Manix enough to carry one everyday, but that is in fact what has happened now...

[kennethsime]

Military 2 for me, although I held off for a reason. I picked one up about two months ago, and it's only left my pocket for a day or two since.

I was right to wait, though. My knife budget has shrunk over the past two years as I devote more time, energy and money to other hobbies. If I was only going to buy one knife this year, it was going to be a Millie 2, and I was going to wait for the Crucarta.

I like it just as much as I thought I would - maybe a little more. There's nothing remarkable about it - no major paradigm shift from the Millie - it's just a refined version, and it's very well done.

I might be convinced to double-dip this year. I really like the look of the Edgerati and the Bodacious also, but I'll wait for Crucarta versions. Then again, if I don't, I'll still have a heck of a knife in my pocket.

[xceptnl]

@kennethsime
This is a noteworthy back burner for me as well. After carrying the 15V Millie 2, I don't know that I have a need to carry a Para 2 any longer.

[vivi]

for me it was the Military 2.

I always knew I'd like it more than the Military 1, but I didn't expect it to totally dethrone my Police folders.

I love it, and should have gotten one as soon as they came out in DLC S30V.

It's everything I hoped it would be back in the 2000's when I asked for Sal and company to make all the changes they did from gen 1 to gen 2.

Great model. Maybe it didn't dethrone the Police for me as my #1, but it's neck and neck with it.

The salt version is going to get a lot of pocket time this summer, assuming it comes out soon. Which I expect it will.