Benchmade 10402 Pika II

09/03/2009 by KnifeKninja

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

The Benchmade Pika would be the spawn if Spyderco Delica, Benchmade AFCK, and a random chinese made knife all had a baby.

This knife is pretty cool. The backlock is decent, good lockup, sturdy. The steel can get nice and sharp, no problems there. There is good jimping all along the top, and the blade has a great shape.

The knife isn't the fastest or the smoothest I've carried, but it's not a bad all around knife. Seems pretty durable and would be good for every day carry. You could replace it for 35 bucks if you lost it as well, which is a strong point.

Benchmade 551 Griptilian

08/30/2009 by RaceMTB

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

This knife is awesome!! The griptilian has a good blade shape, is small enough to EDC, large enough to use in the woods and is very comfortable to hold.

The knife holds an edge well and is easy to sharpen. Mine has the thumb stud but you can also get it with a thumb hole, which I think is cool.

My only complaints are that the detent is a little weak, so I can open it using gravity and a quick wrist shake. Also, the handle is so light that it almost feels cheaper than it should.

It's a really good knife for the money.

SOG Seal Pup

08/27/2009 by Mike S

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Outdoor/Survival
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I love my KA-BAR for its ruggedness, but it is often too big. I have a custom knife that is pretty. The SEAL PUP is not too big or very pretty. It is handy, durable, and so often just right. And its not being pretty just leads you to use it more. It holds an edge just fine, though the serrations I find best used only when necessary, as I find them difficult to sharpen. My problem, not the knife's.

Kershaw Blur

08/26/2009 by Bob

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

This is one of the best EDC knives out there. The size is perfect, the handle and blade are ideal for most uses. The assisted opening is fast and responsive. It allows tip up or down carry. I own a few at this point, and they have released some really cool steel options to satisfy just about anyone. Big thumbs up, one of the best modern knife designs.

---

Benchmade 550HG Griptilian

08/26/2009 by Kid Vicious

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

I have a around 20 knives or so and some much more expensive the the 550 but this is hands down in my top 3 favorites. The knife opens and closes beautifuly and without drag in the process. The modified sheepsfoot hollow ground blade is proven to be on on te sharpest blade geometries and this grippy does not disappoint. I Would recommend this knife to everyone. If your a collector then its a must but if your looking for just one good blade then this is definetly the one to get.

Kershaw Tyrade

08/26/2009 by Larry

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

After fooling with a crappy Military, I bought a Kershaw Tyrade today. My first impression is WOW! I've owned Kershaws from years past, and I can say they're quality, value and fit and finish is the best I've seen.

I got teh orange G-10 handled one with speed safe and the composite blade. The CPM D2 edge came sharp enough to shave, straight out of the box. It's a big knife, bigger than the Military, with a thicker and bigger blade. But I haven't even noticed it in my pocket. THe grip is perfect, and fits my hand perfectly. The speed safe if wonderful. It opens fast and easy, and locks up tighter than a high dollar hooker. The liner lock is thick and mates to the tang perfectly. There's a lot of room left there for wear.

For $75, this is the best deal around, bar none!

Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time on other brands. This has them all beat hands down. If all Kershaws are built like this one, I'll be buying them from now on.

Spyderco Military

08/26/2009 by Anthony

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I've been buying the Military for almost 10yrs now. And up until now I've been very happy with them.

The last 3 I've gotten (all from different stores) have really left me wondering what happened.
All 3 have developed bladeplay either vertically or horizontally. The locks don't feel solid like the used too either.

It actually feels like their Chinese made Tenacious. The USA stuff used to be far superior and I didn't mind the price because I was happy with the quality.
Now it's as if there isn't any difference between USA and Chinese made. Sure is a difference in price though.

Time to find a different brand to carry.

Kershaw Skyline

08/26/2009 by james duckett

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

I bought this knife from the local wally world so needless to say, I got it at a real good price, $35, my first thoughts were this knife has a great feel in the hand, very good balance,a larger blade than I expected from the size of the grip, it almost seems impossible to tuck that much blade in that small of a grip, this is a left or right handed flipper but only right handed thumb stud as the left thumb stud is used to stop the blade from going to deep into the grip so it is not user freindly for devoted thumb stud lefties, the blade has bronze washers so the action is very smooth, the blade takes and holds a razor sharp egde, the clip is strong and very tight, the scales are very grippy g-10 style, the lock liner locks up tight, I have tried to get it to fail, but it has held it's own so I have no concern of lockliner failure, while this is a very light knife, the lockliner is full lenght on one side so the knife is very strong, I would suggest this knife to anyone for light to medium use and or great edc knife!

Chris Reeve Small Sebenza

08/25/2009 by Brandon

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I have a small classic and unless something insane came out, will not carry a different folder. I have and have had a lot of nice folders but this is the best hands down. It is S30V has great wear resistance, and the blade pivot is the best part, except for maybe the quality. The quality is truely unmatched. Weighs close to nothing, and closes up perfectly in the handle. That means it fits well in the pocket, out of the way. If you have ever lost a knife due to a crap clip, no worries. The titanium clip has 2 notches to give twice the security.

Kershaw Chive

08/25/2009 by stowe9man

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

This is a handy and inexpensive knife that I use mostly for camping, and around the house. Very small and comfortable to use, the blade is just the right shape for most tasks. The blade doesn't hold an edge as well as I would like, but for a relatively inexpensive knife, it is fine. The assist-open is handy.

Cold Steel Hatamoto

08/25/2009 by Brent

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Self Defense
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

This is my favorite knife of the eight I own. When open, the knife looks very intimidating. It comes in a nice metal cold steel case. I use it for my primary, every day carry/self defense knife. (I usually carry two on me at a time). I've had it for about a year now and it has almost no sign of wear and tear. It survived a six and a half month long police academy. The blade opens very smoothly yet does not open with just gravity. The lock is very sturdy and the blade WILL NOT close unless you want it to. Here are the specs of the knife:

Blade Thick: 4mm
Blade Length: 4"
Handle: 5" long G-10 w/titanium bolsters
Overall length: 9"
Weight: 6.3 oz
Steel: San Mai III
Polished Stainless Steel Pocket Clip

The knife has a great feel in hand and is well balanced. The only thing I would change about the knife is the pocket clip it somes with. It is a little hard to get onto thicker materials because of the G-10 handle, but it's a small drawback because the G-10 makes the knife "glued" to your hand which is especially good if the knife becomes bloody and you need a good grip. The prist it is listed at is a little high but it is well worth it if you are on the edge of whether to buy it or not.

Spyderco Military

08/25/2009 by Larry

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

I've had my Military for about a year now, and its amazing I haven't thrown the thing in the trash yet. I suppose it might make a decent trade to someone that isn't familiar with this POS knife.

Frist, out of the box it wouldn't slice paper. The blade grinds were uneven. Dull as a butter knife. Aftr a few hours on some really good stones, I finallt got it to slice copy paper. The edge retention was horrible.

Then there was the issue of the off-centered blade. I worked with it for a few weeks, off and on, to get it right, but finally gave up and decided to carry it for a while.

After a few annoying weeks of carrying this thing, I finally gave up. It stuck too far out of my pocket, the clip was crap and sisn't hold the knife properly, and it was just uncomfortable to carry and use.

I know I could have sent it back in to Spyderco, but after paying that amount of money for a knife, I decided I just didn't want to fool with it.

Sadly, it was my first (and last) experience with Spyderco. Since they all look alike, I've learned a valuable lesson: don't take the word of a bunch of people on a forum that scream Military whenever you ask for suggestions for a decent knife. I'll stick with Benchmade and Kershaw from here on out.