What You Want in a Folding Knife

[Redhat]

I would like to know what design characteristics you guys look for in a folding knife.

And perhaps most importantly, have you found them?

Please consider:

Intended Use

Key Design Features

Fit / Quality of Materials

Steel / Blade Type

Size / Weight

Cost

Where Produced

*************

For me, I want a good quality folder that is unobtrusive enough to go with me every day to handle mundane things but can step up for hard use tasks if needed.

- Strong lock design that I can open with one hand but don't mind closing with two. This usually means a back or frame lock with thumb stud / hole. Flippers are ok if done right.

- Drop point type blade around 3-3.5" made of a mid grade steel with stainless qualities and not too difficult to sharpen. I also want good thumb jimping (sp?) on top of the blade and grips that have a deeper cut out for my front finger to lock into.

- Fit quality needs to be good in feel and function. I prefer G10 scales but FRN types will do if well designed.

- Cost is a factor so usually $50 or under for my daily use stuff. I have more expensive knives but don't carry them often.

- I look for USA made first, but cost sometimes steers me to others if they are good quality. I've been happy with some Japan and Taiwan made knives.

Things I'm seeing in the market that I have no use for:

- Finger choil that put my finger right on the corner of the sharpened edge. I would never use them and they just shorten the cutting edge. I do like a good sharpening choil.

- Fidget type knives and their associated mechanisms. I get why some like them but it ain't my thing.

- Grip shapes with sharp angles rather than smooth transitions. Can those be comfortable when actually cutting?

- Wide blades (edge to spine). Not sure what the use is but maybe someone can educate me.


Thanks

[Totem Polar]

I’m a rather odd duck, by requirements of location, vocation, and avocation. I therefore want a folder that I could put into a MoFo should the rarest and gravest of legal extremes unfortunately come to pass.

At this point, that means a quality Pikal with as robust an opening cycle as possible. That’s it; *anything* will cut cord, open a bag of chips, and crack into Amazon packages. OMMV.

[mtnbkr]

I'm an odd duck in the other direction in that my preferred folding knife is a slipjoint, either a Canal Street Cutlery Canittler (blending of the Canoe and Whittler patterns with D2 blade steel), a Schrade Tennessee River Trapper that I gave my grandfather for Xmas in 2002 and recovered when he passed away a decade ago, or my most recent acquisition, a Victorinox MiniChamp (because it was soooo cute). I no longer own any "tactical" folders except for the Ontario Rat1 D2 that lives in my camp box and is only used when I'm camping or hunting. That's an acknowledgement of the fact that while camping I may have need of a knife I can abuse and use for non-knife-friendly activities.

I just love the look, feel, and history of traditional slipjoints.

Chris

[Totem Polar]

I just love the look, feel, and history of traditional slipjoints.

Chris

I do to. I have a couple that are almost a century old.

[camsdaddy]

I carry a Sodbuster Jr. I chose this knife because it is simple and compact. I like that it can fit in my watchpocket on my pants or in my pocket because a clip seems to catch the seat of vehicles Im in and out of. I like the fact that the blade is Chrome vanadium which is non stainless. I find this allows me to easily sharpen the blade. The only thing that would make it better would be a lock for peace of mind. For me my knife is for daily cutting task and not considered a defensive tool. I may be cutting tape. cardboard, a piece of cheese, a rope or whatever comes up. I guess its a bonus its made in the USA and can be replaced if misplaced.

[mtnbkr]

I do to. I have a couple that are almost a century old.

The only one I have that is getting to that age is my maternal grandfather's Boker pen knife. I don't carry it because it's not in great shape and I don't want to put further wear on it. My family was mostly rural farmer types until my grandparents' generation (and those weren't far removed from the farm), so they tended to use a knife up and replace it with another one. The only reason the Trapper I gave to my paternal grandfather is in such nice shape is because he hadn't finished using up his "EDC" at the time and only had a couple years' use on the Trapper before he passed away.

I'd love to collect old slipjoints, there's so much variation in patterns, steels, scale materials, etc, but I don't need another excuse to accumulate stuff just to have. I have a few user knives and that's sufficient even though I gaze lovingly at the GECs and such on various knife sites.

Chris

[rob_s]

Benchmade Axis Lock + Spyderco thumb hole

[mtnbkr]

I carry a Sodbuster Jr. I chose this knife because it is simple and compact. I like that it can fit in my watchpocket on my pants or in my pocket because a clip seems to catch the seat of vehicles Im in and out of. I like the fact that the blade is Chrome vanadium which is non stainless. I find this allows me to easily sharpen the blade. The only thing that would make it better would be a lock for peace of mind. For me my knife is for daily cutting task and not considered a defensive tool. I may be cutting tape. cardboard, a piece of cheese, a rope or whatever comes up. I guess its a bonus its made in the USA and can be replaced if misplaced.

I had a full sized Sodbuster when I was in Jr High. I don't know what happened to it, it just "disappeared" sometime in the distant past. I also had a bunch of "American Made" Schrade Old Timer stockman knives along the way and would kill to have the last one I owned. It had a nice patina. I never foresaw the day when those wouldn't be available at every hardware store.

I've been eying one of the new Sodbuster Jrs with bone scales and CV steel. I also want a Peanut.

Something like this, but with CV or 1095 would be great. Give it time to get a nice dark patina and it would be the perfect "old man" knife:


Chris

[Duelist]

Depends on what I want to do with it. If I’m whittling something, I don’t want a large locking folder with a thick edge made of some tech steel I have to use diamonds to sharpen. OTOH, if I’m carrying it all day every day to deal with anything and everything that may come up, then I probably am carrying an SAK and something with a large full grip, secure lock, a finger choil, and made from VG10, S30V or some other capable stainless tool steel. And a diamond hone.

My favorite folders are: Spyderco (especially the Sage series), SAKs, 2 blade jackknives, 4 blade Congress knives, and nicely made and attractive pen knives.

[RJ]

I bought this Spyderco Dragonfly 2 in 2019 and have carried it ever since.

https://a.co/d/ipNHlZl

My criteria would be lightweight, compact, sharp, thin, easy to cut with, and it does all these.