ESEE ESEE-4

11/11/2013 by Aaron

-Price Paid: $85.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

I love ESEE Knives and have owned and used the entire line of knives. The ESEE 4 is my least favorite out of the whole line. The handle is the exact same size as the ESEE 3, and for the cutting edge length 4.1 inches there are better knives out there with bigger handles. Checkout my youtube review and you can see it in action. This is a good Tactical/Utility knife, but there are better Survival knives out there.

Gerber LHR

11/09/2013 by Bop

-Price Paid: $90.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

One word comes to mind when I think of the knife; over engineered. The same feeling you get thinking of old BMWS and Chevys, but in a modern batman style fitting functionality with form. The grip fits in the palm and feels grippy and dense, you know you're holding a solid piece, even more so during a swing or chop. The blade is a long time favorite 440c for ease of maintenance while assuring reliability. Razor sharp from box and scarily hair popping with effortless honing. The sheath is hit or miss depending on you. Drops down further than necessary, but may be well suited to a taller persons leg. Looping leg drop through its own buckle allowed knife to be carried in more conventional way and Molle attachments can be removed. Ergo suffer, but custom leather will always be the answer to compensate for over engineered thumb release safety sheathe. High recommend if possible.

Kershaw One Ton

11/09/2013 by Todd

-Price Paid: $40.00
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

I really like this knifes thin profile for carry, but wide grip and blade for control. I am very pleased with the knife.

Benchmade 300SN Axis Flipper

11/07/2013 by Joe K.

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for BAD
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

Based on Butch Ball's custom design, this knife is Benchmade's first entry in the flipper category, but it misses the mark by a long shot. As part of a group pass-around I had this knife for a week and spent a few hours with it in my kitchen dispatching various veggies.

The critic in me questions having both flipper and Axis locking mechanisms. Give us one or the other please. The blade is too short and stubby, and the while the scales on the original production version have been upgraded, the 300 is a nice try but not very interesting.

Schrade SCHF9 Extreme Survival Knife

11/04/2013 by Paul

-Price Paid: $43.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

Too many people confuse a tactical fighting knife with a survival knife. This is a SURVIVAL knife. If you are caught in a bad situation, a heavy blade that is virtually indestructible is what you want, not some sexy looking tanto with serrations. This is a beast of a knife..1/4" thick tip to tail and fantastic grips as well. It's 1095 steel, not stainless, so a little oil will be needed, but it keeps it's edge and is very easy to sharpen. I've had the easiest time feathering tinder from sticks and have hacked thru a 2x4 just to test it. Batoning is very easy and there are no idiot serrations to get in the way. It is also end to end thick enough, that using it as a pry bar is very easy. I nailed two 2x4s together with 10 penny nails and this thing pryed them apart with no damage at all to the blade or tip. The sheath is OK, but not great..I think this is where they were able to cut down on the price. I took mine to a shoe repair shop and had the go over all the stitching to double it up. This is a fantastic knife.

Buck Bones

11/02/2013 by Daniel

-Price Paid: $23.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

I shopped around for a decently priced good knife for a few weeks and settled on this knife. What led to this one was how thin it was compared to other comparable models. Also, The tanto blade will hold up to wear and tear longer.

The knife itself is a bit heavy but feels sturdy in your hand. The thumb rest along the back is nice, and the frame lock is heavy duty, I don't have to worry about the blade slipping closed while using it. Straight out of the box I was pleased to have a nice sharp edge, and absolutely no blade play. The action on it is a bit stiff when opening the blade but it does have a set of Allen bolts so you can loosen it to your liking. It has Allen bolts you can remove if you need to take it apart and deep clean the knife if needed. I carry the knife in my back pocket and found the clip to be very secure, it clasps very well so I don't have to worry about it slipping out on accident

Boker Direkt by Chad Los Banos

10/31/2013 by AmbuBadger

-Price Paid: $25.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I'm not a knife snob by any means, so when Boker came out with their Plus lineup-- knives outsourced to Taiwan and, eventually, China-- I was more than willing to give it a shot. I was happy with the imported Kershaw knives, and the first three Boker Plus models from the CLB lineup were impressive; I had the SubCom, ResCom, and Trance, and all three were well-made. They were from Taiwan, the fit and finish was very good, and all three sported AUS6 steel blades. When the Direkt came out, I immediately decided I was going to get one (I've had mine since 2008). The look of the knife really appealed to me. So what went wrong? Read on...

Pros: cheap, thin and easy to carry despite the large size, flipper is awesome and gets the blade out quick. The G10 scales are a pleasant surprise on a knife this cheap. The liner lock engages well with no play front to back.

Con: cheap. I know I said that in the "pros" section, but Boker switched to a Chinese factory and with it, cheaper steel. It is rated at 440, and I notice it dulls quickly. Sure, I can put an edge on it fast, but it doesn't last. The liner does lock the blade in place, but there's too much side to side play and the lock isn't engaging the blade as much as I would like it to. The thumb stud is so-so, but I used e flipper 99% of the time anyways. I stripped down the knife to clean her, and saw rust on the liners. Cheap steel. On top of that, one of the holes in the liner that was tapped for the G10 scales was off-center so badly that there was no liner material for about 20% of the hole!

I wanted to love this knife, badly. But there's too many flaws that I can't fix and, therefore, can't overlook. Even if the QC was as good as the earlier CLB knives, the blade and liner material are too poor to warrant taking a chance with. It stays in my lockbox now, no longer in my EDC rotation...

Benchmade 15020 Bone Collector Axis Folder

10/28/2013 by abu uzayr

-Price Paid: $100.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

Believe it or not - I still don't own a Griptilian, coming to think of it, I don't own an Endura either! So several months ago I seriously started considering aquiring a Griptilian. The ones on the Benchmade website that you can semi customise really started to appeal to me. I was toying around with the idea of a D2 blade with multi-coloured handles - one side yellow, the other orange. Then the H2O Griptilian and a beige / desert tan handled, black sheepfoot blade appealed to me. When I finally took a 1000 mile flight for business I had an opportunity to handle the last 2 Grips. The hollow plastic handle that deformed slightly when I white-knuckle gripped the Grip! didn't impress me. Neither did the obese thickness of the hollow handles - I think the concept behind the Endura - light plastic handles with a slim profile are better than overly chunky, light plastic handles. My 2 Matriarchs and some other slim handled Spydercos a testimony to this. So there I was, depressed as hell, because I was starting to dislike the Griptilians on offer - even though I loved the overall concept, the shape of the blade, the axis lock, the handle ergonomics, I simply loved the look of a Grptilian. Then I laid my eyes on the Bone Collector 15020 - in D2, green G10 handle scales, skeletonised full steel liners, axis lock - basically a Griptilian on STEROIDS, a SUPER Griptilian. Needless to say it's been clipped to my pocket ever since. The action is buttery smooth and this truly is a one-handed opening and closing knife. The D2 blade is great, cuts like a lazer - even though I would have preferred CPM-D2, but now I'm just being full of crap, the D2 is more than adequate for all my needs. I intend using the Bone Collector a my work knife, but still opt for my Benchmade LFTi in CPM-M4 when I really need to abuse a folder, as it proved itself in Yemen a couple of years ago. Just need to get over my "new knife novelty" so that I can use it like I hate it (but sharpen it like you love it). Overall the 15020 is one hellava knife!

Benchmade 551 Griptilian

10/28/2013 by Ironman2326

-Price Paid: $137.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

I have a customized Griptilian (which is why I paid more for it) with black drop point blade and orange handle with silver pocket clip. I love this knife! I carry it everyday. The blade is very durable and holds an edge pretty good and is easy to resharpen with just a few strokes over a ceramic sharpener. The axis lock makes it very easy to open and there is ZERO play in the blade when it's locked open. The ONLY thing I wasn't too fond of was that the handle "feels" cheap because it is lightweight and plastic; HOWEVER, it is a VERY high quality and durable plastic, like they use for firearms. That being said it does not bend and has very little give.I think it would take an exceptional amount of force to break it or crack it.Additionally, the warranty is excellent and in that event Benchmade would repair it for free so long as it was not intentional. I recommend this knife for sure and Benchmade knives because they have top quality products and back it up with a great warranty!

Kershaw Brawler

10/25/2013 by Phil D.

-Price Paid: $19.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

Good general purpose knife at a great price
Blade is short enough to be legal in many jurisdictions, yet long enough to do its job [barely long enough for last-ditch self defense]. the blade tip is excellently designed for defense use [piercing],or poking into a product package for opening. the thumb-stud is awkwardly placed, and barely usable. the pocket clip can be mounted in a couple additional positions, to adapt to preferred position of carry [lef or right and tip up or tip down].
Overall I would recommend this product if youre looking for an everday carry and are on a budget , [shop around, get it for $25 or less]

Buck 119 Special

10/25/2013 by Nhat

-Price Paid: $80.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

Just got the knife with the Cocobola wood handles. Makes a great camping/hunting knife and is pretty good quality. The handle fits my medium hands perfectly. The milling in the fuller isn't the best and the leather sheath is low quality leather but the fuller isn't so important and I just got a new custom sheath for it from Carl Thomas. Overall, I am very happy with the purchase.

Kershaw Select Fire

10/22/2013 by Nhat

-Price Paid: $30.00
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

Decent knife for the price. Noticed some rust spots after a year or so, which I expected since I use it as my workhorse. The steel is 18cr13mov which is a Chinese copy of AUS-8 and thus isn't quite the best quality. It needs sharpening often but with some time you can get it pretty sharp.