Cheap but surprisingly refined knives?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Cowboy, I never really got into collecting Cold Steel, but in my younger days, I did have and use, a Cold Steel "Master Hunter" made from 0170-6. (Cold Steel called it Carbon V)

That was an excellent hunting and overall outdoor knife. Not quite up to my Doziers, but I would feel perfectly comfortable using it again.

My only complaint about Cold Steel is that while they sell some excellent knives, they also sell some real junk, so one needs to select their products with care.
I've never had an issue with Cold Steel. They do have a lot of products made in various places but again never had an issue. Cold Steel typically has American steels at a cheaper price than say Benchmade because of their manufacturing locations. Only "bad" knife I can say for sure that was messed up some some sort of cheap Gerber knife.
 
That knife got a great rating from the usually picky consumers on Amazon. 4.6 stars out of 5, and only 1% one star rating. That's amazing on Amazon, where the slightest thing can cause a dramatic drop.


Looks like you've chosen well.

Thanks!

While I'm sure they can range from really good to terrible, I'm impressed with what i got. The fit and finish are on par with the custom I had (admittedly it was a "custom" assembly, or semi custom knife), materials arnt as good, and it won't last as long, but it did it's job.
It also already got snagged by a buddy of mine.
I'm carrying the black one now till the other two I ordered come in. I'm still trying to figure out what this one is copied from, I like everything besides the blades spine. My wife wants this one back also lol.
 
As far as Amazon reviews, throw out all of the five stars unless they are detailed and show good methodology. Throw out all of the one-liners. Look at the one-stars and weed out the stupid mistakes that normally don't happen, the overly picky users, etc. But do pay attention to the one-stars that discuss breakage, poor quality, poor customer service.

Then you are left with the 2-4 star reviews that matter.
 
The standard format for that show was Case knife, Blackjack knife, cheap knife that wasn't awful, pile of crap from China and/or Pakistan...repeat" . It was started here in Knoxville and Star Sales (much lamented in its passing) was where the two goofs worked that presented it.
was talking about before the internet.
 
Last edited:
I liked this one so much

fVrG0gU.jpg

I had to buy the cheaper version. Currently $35.00 delivered. Beat that.

Jpetu14.jpg

There is nothing wrong in my opinion with D2, or AUS 8

yiVcRQ0.jpg

The Mackinac was $50.00 when Cold Steel clearanced the things.

One of these days the knife industry will have standardized cutting tests and all the hot air about "the best steels" will be shown to be much ado about nothing. If the blade seems hard on the hone, which is an indication of edge hardness to me, and I can get the blade sharp on an india stone, I am pretty happy to start with. I prefer rust resistance, I would like the edge to last, but I am not cutting card board with my expensive knives, I have cheap box cutting knives for that. My standard for a sharp edge is tomatoes, if it slices tomatoes, then everything is great. It will cut meat, veggies, and fruit without a problem.
 
My then girlfriend, now wife bought me a Leatherman C33x as a birthday gift when we were in college. I've used and abused it as an every day carry knife for almost 10 years. It's broken down its share of small game and tons of household chores. They can be found for about $25. If I ever lose or break it, I will replace it in a heartbeat.

71YgmBuCakL._SX466_.jpg
 
Picked up a mora 2000 Orange today at a local shop $20 cash. Did not mind paying a few bucks more at this shop. Got home looked it up Amazon has them for $30. Think they have more maybe going back one day. I like the scalloped tip should be good for skinning.
 
Just got a cheap Chinese 440c double action OTF for $39 ... definitely NOT a refined knife, about 2x the blade play of my S&W M^P single action which is AUS8. Probably this will be a knock around knife / letter opener.
 
The one I've been carrying for the last couple weeks.
View attachment 855171 View attachment 855172 View attachment 855173
I came across that knife at the house of blades in ft worth and nearly walked out with it. It was very impressive. CH knife is an outfit I have had my eye on for a couple years. They make all their stuff in 2 versions: premium steel and titanium handles, and d2 blades with g10 handles. They make this one called the 3505 I've held off buying for 18 months now, but it gets harder and harder. 3507 looks nice too.

But I agree that china has really stepped up what it is exporting knife wise. We knife, ruike, real steel, all put out stuff that is a much greater bang for your buck than the american companies are producing. (whatever you think of chinas politics and policies, it is undeniably true that they can manufacture cheaper than american can)

In addition to CH, I recently posted about a ganzo model fh41 that was amazing. It is a much better than the ganzo copy of an out of production benchmade (maybe the ganzo 704?) that I bought a few years ago. I still buy benchmades and zt's and hogues and guardian tacticals etc, but it gets harder and harder to justify the price tag every year. I really look forward to my first trip to blade show in 2020. I hope to get my hands on many of both the established companies and the up and coming chineese models to see what's worth buying and what's overpriced cheap junk (kershaw, crkt, I'm looking at you. you better step up your game. Spyderco, your prices are going insane.......)
 
The Ontario RAT folders are really good knives for the money. The fit and finish is usually incredibly high and they heat treat them properly.
 
For every day use nothing beats a simple hole in the blade to facilitate one hand opening for me. $30 is my limit for an inexpensive user knife, so Spyderco Byrd and similar Ganzo knock offs work well for me. My preference is mostly for flat ground instead of hollow ground blades which does limit choices a little. Ultimate sharpness is fine but don't like the feel of material binding on the blade once you reach the back of a hollow grind. My most used work knives are a Husky brand folding utility knife and a Dexter Russel 8" chefs knife. They're unrefined but they handle 95% of what I need in a day. I probably have nearly 10 different varieties of Mora fixed blades laying around in various places. They all appear generically alike but vary more than you'd expect, so some are good while others are great. I really have no use for anything bigger. A hatchet and a Mora work together to solve a lot of problems.

*edit* I carried a Spyderco for more than a decade. It was a nice knife but for the price I wasn't ever going to EDC one again. For that kind of money I'll probably try moving up to an OTF automatic knife.
 
*edit* I carried a Spyderco for more than a decade. It was a nice knife but for the price I wasn't ever going to EDC one again. For that kind of money I'll probably try moving up to an OTF automatic knife.
Well, they do have some USA made lightweight models that are under $100 MAP. If you're a veteran, or current Mil/LE/Fire/EMS, they'll set you up with a really nice discount to buy direct from them.
 
How are the us made Spydercos now? I tried one of the early ones and while i liked the price the fit n finish wasn't what I'd come to expect from a Spyderco, and its edge retention sucked. It became a tackle box knife and the kid I gave it to still has it and likes it, so I'm not saying it was BAD just not what I was expecting.
 
How are the us made Spydercos now? I tried one of the early ones and while i liked the price the fit n finish wasn't what I'd come to expect from a Spyderco, and its edge retention sucked. It became a tackle box knife and the kid I gave it to still has it and likes it, so I'm not saying it was BAD just not what I was expecting.
Manufacturing in costs in Japan have gotten ridiculous. They're slowly phasing over to almost exclusively plastic handle models from there to keep costs down. The US made models I've handled have been better than the Japanese made models. Other than a recent blunder on a very high end model, their folders coming out of the Taichung, Taiwan plant are generally regarded as being the best in the brand. Edge holding is more limited by budget than country of origin. The USA made Native 5 LW comes in at least three different blade steels as standard production. S30V is the base steel, and Spyderco does that as well as any company mass producing knives. The next step up in price is the Salt version with LC200N blade. It takes a bit of a hit in edge retention to gain incredible corrosion resistance. LC200N is also easy to sharpen. After that you can step up to S110V, which has very long edge retention, at the cost of being more difficult to sharpen.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top