favorite pocket knife EDC?

[ChopperDave]

Interesting there are no Buck knives yet

 

[lxskllr]

Interesting there are no Buck knives yet

I have an old school Buck Folding Hunter, but I've never been a fan of that knife. I don't really like clip point blades. They're a PITA to sharpen, and the shape isn't that useful imo. I spend more time working around the blade shape, than actually working on my project.

 

[clamum]

SOG Flash I:

 

[fatpat268]

Interesting there are no Buck knives yet

I used to carry a Buck Nano Bantam

It was nice because it was small as hell, but because of its size it was only really useful for opening boxes, letters, and really light duty. Also, you couldn't open it one handed, which is why I stopped using it.

Buck's knives in general are nice, but they feel old fashioned and not really suitable for edc.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

SOG Flash I:

I don't really like SOG knives, but the Flash 1 is a great little blade for daily carry.

 

[Pia]

I don't normally need to cut much stuff in public nor can I legally carry a lot of the time.

I prefer slim and flat ground blades because they cut well. No idea why most knives are built so thick and bad cutters. A knife is never going to be a good prybar and trying to make a knife withstand prybar-like abuse makes it suck at being a knife.

I have enough mid-size knives for the woods (no point in large ones), but want to pick up some small blades suitable for city EDC, stashing into an emergency kit etc. Perrin Neck Bowie is one likely purchase:

http://www.djibnet.com/photo/fred+perrin/perrin-neck-bowie-4035352993.html

I don't really see the point of folders anymore, but like Spyderco best. My #1 pick for general use folder would be a flat ground Delica.

 

[zanejohnson]

i only clicked on this thead because i saw EDC in the title

 

[waggy]

I carry one just like in the OP's

but it depends on what im doing. working outside? i have a Gerber multi-tool (and a sog but i lost it out in the fields).

I have a few i carry all the time though but usually the Gerber in the OP

 

[2Dead]

I usually carry a GEC #33 Conductor. This one is 3 3/8" closed with a 2 1/2" master blade and a small pen secondary. It is an equal end swell center pen knife, single spring design, 440c blades, and has American Elk covers. I also carry a Vic Manager on my keys for the pen, tweezers, and scissors.

 

[glen]

I don't normally need to cut much stuff in public nor can I legally carry a lot of the time.

I prefer slim and flat ground blades because they cut well. No idea why most knives are built so thick and bad cutters. A knife is never going to be a good prybar and trying to make a knife withstand prybar-like abuse makes it suck at being a knife.

I have enough mid-size knives for the woods (no point in large ones), but want to pick up some small blades suitable for city EDC, stashing into an emergency kit etc. Perrin Neck Bowie is one likely purchase:

http://www.djibnet.com/photo/fred+perrin/perrin-neck-bowie-4035352993.html

I don't really see the point of folders anymore, but like Spyderco best. My #1 pick for general use folder would be a flat ground Delica.

What is wrong with folders? Seems like the best, if not only option for EDC. Also, why flat ground? Sounds liek you know a lot about knives. Tell us more, plese.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

What is wrong with folders? Seems like the best, if not only option for EDC. Also, why flat ground? Sounds liek you know a lot about knives. Tell us more, plese.

Full flat ground knives are the best slicers (at least IMO). I personally think folding knives make sense for the overwhelming majority of people, though they are admittedly less suitable for truly heavy duty use than fixed blades.

 

[Pia]

What is wrong with folders? Seems like the best, if not only option for EDC.

Nothing wrong with folders, but they do sacrifice some things for their ability to fold. For example, design freedom. It's not feasible to produce a folder with the form factor and ergonomics of the Perrin Neck Bowie I linked earlier; folding something that thin is not doable. But for any folder design it is possible to make an equivalent fixed blade which has no mechanism to break or wear out, is more durable, weighs less, is easier to clean and maintain, and accumulates less dirt to begin with.
edit: sorry, I was unclear in my previous post. Didn't mean to imply that folders have no upside. Rather, their upsides are not very relevant/useful to me these days, therefore it's pointless for me to accept the downsides.

Many fixed blades are easy to EDC - just stick them in a pants pocket or jacket pocket. The Neck Bowie would disappear in a pocket better than my thinnest, most lightweight Spyderco folder. (Did you see the photo where the knife sits next to an iPhone?) When pocket carry is no good, there are all sorts of ways to keep a fixed blade handy. Attached to belt, clipped to waistband, on a neck chain, inside a wallet, anchored inside a shoulder bag, velcroed under a car dashboard. You can use several different sheathes for the same knife if necessary.

Also, why flat ground? Sounds liek you know a lot about knives. Tell us more, plese.

Just do stuff - open a cardboard box, spread butter on bread, slice a melon, cut an article of interest out of a newspaper, peel an apple. If you try any or all of these with a run-of-the-mill folder which has a thick blade and hollow grind, and with a run-of-the-mill kitchen knife which has a thin blade and flat grind, you'll probably notice some sort of difference. Not just in results but effort expended.

edit: also forgot to point out that fixed blades can have significant benefits over folders for self defense applications. A drawn and opened folder in a firm grip is pretty much as good as a fixed blade; folders' weakness is the (comparative) uncertainty of getting to that point.

 

[MrSquished]

a beautiful benchmade.
Benchmade 909SBK AXIS Stryker Knife


https://www.rei.com/product/872151/...6=&RMID=OrderConfirm_PROD&RRID=34738748&ev11=

 

[clamum]

I still carry the SOG Flash I sometimes (I periodically rotate my EDC through my coolection of knives, the smaller ones anyway) but I finally picked up my first Zero Tolerance knife like 6 months ago and it has since become my favorite and is the one in my pocket now.

ZT Sinkevich Titanium

I still need to get a Benchmade 940 but jee-zus are they expensive.

 

[lxskllr]

This is my most recent acquisition for work...

I still stand by my first post in this thread though. If I could have only one knife on me, it would be a Victorinox Swiss Champ.

 

[EliteRetard]

I see this is a necro, but I still carry the same type of knife that I did back then:

Swiss Army Huntsman

I abuse the heck out of these things, use them multiple time a day, even literally beating them with a hammer to chisel concrete etc. I've gone through a few of them, but they are small and easy to carry and have a variety of extremely useful tools and can be had for $30 or less.

The saw is like perfectly designed to cut anything from Sheetrock and PVC to copper pipe and I've even cut down a small tree or two. I tend to keep the small blade razor sharp, at like 17 degrees...and the large blade more utilitarian at like 25 degrees. The scissors are always handy, and even the can opener sees enough use that I have to sharpen it occasionally. They have a version that trades a Phillips for the corkscrew, but I found the Phillips couldn't handle anything the small flat couldn't (and was awkward in the center) while the corkscrew has a lot of odd uses even if it never opens a bottle of wine. The only thing that never gets any use is the stupid hook thing. I really really wish they'd move the awl to the center (removing the stupid hook) and putting a Phillips on that outer edge. Then it'd be perfect.

 

[shortylickens]

All these years later I still recommend Spyderco.

Ideally something with H1 steel. It cant rust and they have several models:

http://www.bladehq.com/cat--All-Spyderco--109#S/filter:comp_color:Yellow

Sometimes you find them cheaper on Amazon. Sometimes not.

 

[adairusmc]

Lately it has been one of my microtechs -

I also have a new Chris Reeve Umnumzaan I will carry every now and then.

 

[UnklSnappy]

Love my Microtechs
I usually carry an LCC or a Spyderco JD Smith for something a little lighter.

micro 004a by bladerunnr40, on Flickr

 

[Muse]

I have a knife that looks very similar to that but I don't carry it. It's made by Schrade, USA, the blade is 2.75" and extended the length tip to tip is 6.5". After having lost a knife on the job I bought a couple, the Schrade and another smaller jack knife with black handle and I engraved my first name on both sides of the handle of both. The smaller knife disappeared, I have always thought probably out in my yard somewhere.

I don't keep that knife in my pocket, I leave it above my kitchen stove on a shelf for certain usage, e.g. cutting off the stem of a banana or whatever.

My EDC knife is one I bought at a flea market. It's all steel including the handle, very thin, is a folder (i.e. jack knife), what an acquaintance called a "gentleman's knife." It's small but not too small (3" folded, 5.25" extended tip to tip, and the width folded is 1/8"). It's not the greatest steel and has a coating that's partly worn off and it looks nasty. But as long as it's reasonably sharp, it does the job and I know how to sharpen knives, etc. and have the means to do so. I think nothing of pulling it from my pocket and gouging out a weed in the garden with it, digging deep into the dirt. This knife cost me $1 and being so cheap I bought about 5 of them. They were very likely made in China and I've had them probably more than 15 years.

When it comes to EDC knives you can't beat the samurai sword sported by Toshiro Mifune in The Seven Samurai! Must have been around 6 feet long!

 

[kage69]

Used to be Benchmade mini AFCK, now...

 

[kage69]

When it comes to EDC knives you can't beat the samurai sword sported by Toshiro Mifune in The Seven Samurai! Must have been around 6 feet long!

Mifune was on the big side for a Japanese man, so that odachi looks to have pretty standard dimensions actually, at least to me.

If you want a big freaking sword, there is an odachi on display somewhere in Japan that looks like a 10 footer. I have it in a book somewhere, buried in my library. IIRC it's not a showpiece or ceremonial nihonto either, it's the real deal.

 

[kage69]

Found it.

Google "Norimitsu Odachi"

377cm! That's like 12 feet!

 

[nutxo]

Interesting there are no Buck knives yet

I have a buck 345, a 110 and a 112. A Ken Onion blur or the 345 is what I carry.

 

[Thebobo]

Too much trouble with knifes these days going in and out of secured buildings but when I'm backpacking just a good old swiss army knife.