Got a nice knife? Let's see it.

I have been looking for about two months. And they are still hovering about 200 actually mostly for about 185.

BladeHQ shows "In Stock"

KnifeCenter shows "In Stock"

Pioneer Valley shows "In Stock"

Damn this thread and damn you guys, that's a beautiful knife. That was a quick couple hundred bucks! FYI $194 shipped to Canada on Ebay.

I really like the looks of that Spyderco, but I wish it wasn't hollow ground. I still might grab one.

TOPS B.O.B. Fieldcraft:

So true.

I just bought another S&W at a Canadian Tire. All the "scary" knives are locked in a glass case and only select employees with the key can open it. They then carry the "scary" knife to the check-out for you where you pay for it and are expected to then leave the store...:eek1

'Course...all the "scary" knives are encapsulated in heavy plastic packages.

Now...go over to the outdoor/tool section and you can pick up & wander around with any number of large edged weapons: pitchforks, pick-axes, double-headed splitting axes, splitting malls, etc.

No logic or rationale whatsoever...but anyway.

So, Crappy Tire has the Gerber Swagger on sale for $13.49...



At the store I just visited they were sold out, however I got a raincheck which the clerk said they'd honour indefinitely.

I also picked up the a/m S&W, a Homeland Security...







Beside my old Buck for comparison...

its been a while Phil, how have you been?

Good, how about you? Spending more time in the woods than on the road lately, but enjoying the journey none the less.

Seems to me that knife making and good sheath making are not the same skill sets. Although I personally enjoy the leatherwork, I also know that my efforts are far from the visual quality of other makers, although I would put the quality of my leather and hand sewing up there with good stuff.

I think if I made another 100 sheaths I'd be pretty good at it. I'd like to experiment with folding knife sheaths, but first I have to learn to make a folding knife - which might be a few decades at this point. One nice thing about sheaths though is that you don't really need a lot of tools to do a tolerably good job - a couple of special grooving tools, a thong punch or two, needles and thread, snaps and riveting anvils. Of course, then leather and dyes....it's not as expensive as grinders, anvils, forges and hammers at least.

That being said, there are some terrific sheath makers out there and their work is not all that costly, even decent custom work is affordable. Some of those multi leather layered fancy sheaths are too nice to actually use.

I bought a Baledeo ultralight pocket knife last week. It weighs 22 grams and is great for having a "little" protection when you are running. Clip it to your shorts and you cannot tell its there.

Picked this up today.
Clinch Pick by Ban Tang (http://www.bantangknives.com

Nice to see the Pick being offered again. Was another outfit, but their website went down a year or so back.

zombie limb lopper




Ontario Machete

Yup. Ban Tang is doing the custom Clinch Picks now, I got the first one he made.

From what I understand the cheaper (Chinese) production ones are also in the works and should be available soonish.

So a question for you guys with the big $ knives - do you use them? What do you use them for?

I could afford a more expensive knife, and many of those posted here are gorgeous. But my every day carry knife gets used for everything from cutting boxes and opening clamshell packages to cutting apples and spreading peanut butter. I also lose it or break it every year or two. If I had paid a few hundred bucks for it all that would bother me, but with my $30 CRKT m16 it isnt a big deal.

So do your pretty knives sit on a shelf, or do you carry two (one you use and one for display), or do you really use them?

I generally carry a couple knives, at least one custom and then one other that I can scratch up and not cry too much. I do tend to check often to ensure one has not wandered.

I do use my customs for most light cutting though!

Where one defines the line of 'big $ knives' probably has some bearing on the decisions. I don't have any (in my opinion) big $ knives, those that I have, that cost over $100 are pretty much divided into 'too big to be every day useful, fixed blades' (my Walter Mitty knives?) and medium grade automatics. What for me are everyday carry, are knives like my Benchmade 5000SBK. Far less $$$ than the pretty customs but at the same time much less likely to fail under hard use than a $30 (not to rag on the CRKT M-16, I would have one if they made it in drop point) knife. I use my Benchmades' for any job that comes up and they look the part (now). I do have a couple that are in the same price/quality range that I kind of save for the days/events that I don't actually expect to need a knife, trying I guess to 'save them' but if they need to be used, they will be .... so be it as far as staying 'pretty'.
To me a knife (or gun) is either a tool or art. I don't collect art so if it isn't something that I would consider taking out and using I don't buy it. On the other hand, some of my tools get used hard. I don't intentionally abuse them but if they show some honest wear, for me that just adds 'character'.


Bruce

same here, road bikeless for the first time since 1999 but staying very busy so the withdrawals have not set in yet.

I keep one in a pannier. Best thing for making kindling to get a good fire going when camping. Stays sharp. Easy to baton. And the blunt nose can be used to dig a mini latrine should the need ever arise.

Crow,
Life is short, your death is sitting right next to you.

The last knife I lost cost me $180, it was a Protech Baby Brend Auto.

I lost it Chiapas just short of the Guate border when I left it on the fender of my KTM, I was having trouble with the mc and it blew up in Guatemala on the Honduras border.

I bought a replacement Protech and a piston for the KTM.

It's a wonderful memory now.
That and being alive.

That and dying with a good knife in your pocket.
Adventure rider.
bill