Knife help...

[HuntingBow96]

Cool, which one did you go for?[/quote]

Gerber STL 2.5 (model - 000781) Saved £1 Every little helps I Guess


-Tom

[TC]

Cool, let us know how it works out for you. By the way, you are familiar with UK knife carry laws right? Just wanted to check so that a UK ZSer doesn't get in trouble!

[HuntingBow96]

Cool, let us know how it works out for you. By the way, you are familiar with UK knife carry laws right? Just wanted to check so that a UK ZSer doesn't get in trouble!

Yeah. I do dont worry

[ninja-elbow]

Shit, huntingbow is a Birt Slight shift in answers then.

Let us know how that Gerber treats you. I'm curious (s9nce I wrote them off a few years ago).

[Storm Crow]

Chaps, just a quick note on recommending Bark River knives and so on. They are all quite pricey over here. The mean price as far as I can tell is around £175, or in USD about $275.

Considering that the OP was looking a knife that costs £15 or about $24, I don't think that his budget fits things like Bark River, ESEE, Benchmade etc. They're great knives by all accounts (I have no personal experience, again due to budget constraints), but probably not what the OP is looking for. Apologies to the OP if I am wrong about this though!

Didn't see any mention of budget, but saying "I have a $24 budget for a knife, what's a good one?" is kinda like saying "I have a $24 budget for a wedding ring, what's a good one?" or "I have a $24 budget for a pistol, what's a good one?"

There's a certain price point where one tends to move from knives into knife-like-objects. Moras seem to be the exception, based on people's comments, but I don't like 'em for my own reasons. $275 is a good deal higher than that, but if the quality is there to back it up, isn't a bad price for a knife. It's more'n I charge for many of mine, but I'm not a well-known maker yet either.

Lots and lots of knifemakers have emerged in the last decade, and many of them are affordable. JK knives, Scott Grossman, AA Forge, ML Knives, Ray Laconico, the list goes on and on.

...James Helm of Helm Enterprises, Forging Division...

[ForgeCorvus]

...... Moras seem to be the exception, based on people's comments, but I don't like 'em for my own reasons........

Seeing as the OP is now sorted with a Gerber. Could you tell us what these reasons are?
I'm always interested in the thought processes of my fellow metal maulers.....Although I know there are no 'Right' answers, just right for me and/or right for you

[Storm Crow]

...... Moras seem to be the exception, based on people's comments, but I don't like 'em for my own reasons........

Seeing as the OP is now sorted with a Gerber. Could you tell us what these reasons are?
I'm always interested in the thought processes of my fellow metal maulers.....Although I know there are no 'Right' answers, just right for me and/or right for you

There's really nothing against them for what they are, especially as I have not owned one to be able to say anything against their performance. However, they are boring as all get-out to me. I will take performance over aesthetics any time, but as long as we're assuming performance is maintained, why not make it interesting? I like a blade to be utilitarian and aggressive at the same time.

I've held one or two Moras, and they feel like a paring knife with a cheap handle to me. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not what feels good to me. I'm not a fan of overly thick knives, but I don't want one that thin as my go-to knife. I'm also not a fan of the zero grind, mostly as I know what a full flat grind with a primary and secondary bevel are capable of doing and it's my choice of knife construction.

A big aspect of it comes from the repeated comments and implications that anyone who wants a big knife simply is ignorant and if they really knew what a knife should be, they wouldn't want anything but the $12 Mora, their one particular knife of choice. I have a similar reaction to football from growing up in a podunk Texas town where you were some kind of weirdo if you didn't care about sports, especially football. I think about the kind of countryside I grew up in, with impenetrable walls of briars, mesquite trees, oak, copperheads, feral hogs, prickly pears, etc, and having only something that feels like a paring knife in my hand doesn't fit in well and to be told that a 4" blade is the proper knife for whatever I'm doing in the wilderness adds extra sting.

They just aren't my cup of tea. They are not built to do efficiently the kind of cutting I tend to do with a knife. They seem to perform well for what they are built for. I applaud Moras for using good steel in a cheap knife, and wish that all cheap knives would follow suit. I don't knock anyone who uses them, loves them, and suggests them to other people. Just don't cast aspersions on those of us who go a different route.

[HuntingBow96]

Shit, huntingbow is a Birt Slight shift in answers then.

Let us know how that Gerber treats you. I'm curious (s9nce I wrote them off a few years ago).

Will do

[ForgeCorvus]

Storm Crow (good choice of handle BTW)
All I'll say in reply is that a some people instantly assume they need some huge bastardised bowie with a saw-back for it to be a 'proper' survival knife and seem to take offence should anyone say otherwise. Moras are great knives for what they're designed to do (or be ), a handy sized working blade that can be paired with a serious heavy-weight cutter (traditionally an axe ) for most bushcraft purposes in the kind of woods we have in northern europe

A brush knife is, as you pointed out, probably more suited to Texas. As I said before right for you may not be right for me.

They seem to perform well for what they are built for. I applaud Moras for using good steel in a cheap knife, and wish that all cheap knives would follow suit.

Now that is something we both agree on, I wouldn't be surprised if 95% of the cost of manufacture was in the blade alone..... If only other makers spent less on flash and hype and more on their products

[Storm Crow]

ForgeCorvus - There isn't a single part of your post that I don't wholeheartedly approve, applaud, and echo. Wish more folks had the same mindset.

[bigmattdaddywack]

Tomahawk knives are total shit. They are the Jimenez brand of knives .

Your the first person to tell me that, Thanks a lot for the advice

Stay away from United Cutlery and Frosts Cutlery(not to be mistaken for Mora Frosts). Basically if it is in Bud K or looks like it should be dont get it. If the words "Ninja" "Rambo", or "Survivor" is in the name it is most likely crap. I got Moras but since I live in the Eastern Oak/Hickory Hardwoods of the USA I should probably get a Bark River or Falkniven with a convex blade. Sharpening those intimidate the hell out of me though. I have not done that yet.

I like Ka-Bar, Becker, Ontario, and SOG. I do plan on getting a Cold Steel San Mai Master Hunter soon.

[ForgeCorvus]

ForgeCorvus - There isn't a single part of your post that I don't wholeheartedly approve, applaud, and echo. Wish more folks had the same mindset.

Its all the metal pounding...... It gives you time to think.
That reminds me, its high time I did some more blade crafting

[praharin]

Before this thread gets flooded with "Mora" I'm going to suggest looking into Benchmade! HA beat you guys to it!

How many models does Benchmade offer? Are you recommending all of them?

[bigmattdaddywack]

Gerber? The Mark II i want, though I doubt it is legal on your island. Gerber make useful blades, some better than others. I have used them to field dress deer. Most just are not extraordinary. I myself now stay away from serrated blades and Gerber loves putting serrations on as many of their knives as possible. Nothing they make besides the Mark II and a cheap "river knife" catches my fancy, but that is because of my snobbish attitude to knives.

[TC]

Gerber? The Mark II i want, though I doubt it is legal on your island.

Perfectly legal actually. We don't really have any harsher restrictions on what you can own here than in many US states (switchblades, balisongs etc.). What we do have is heavier restrictions on what can be carried in public without good reason (work, particular sporting need and so on).