Quality inexpensive pocket knives

Like most a yall I have carried a bunch if knives. I love them I try new ones all the time. But for the last 6-8 years its been another Buck and also a Spyderco.
One of my very first (real) knives I owned was a Buck 112 for my Grade School Graduation. I carried that knife all thru my school years loosing it one day when a fishing buddy convinced me to throw it to him across a small stream. Yup, ya know what happened. But to his credit (He remains a friend today) He bought me a new Buck but it was not a 112 it was a 110. It took me over twenty five years and two attempts to replace that knife with as close to my original 112 as I could. This one looks identical is made within a few years of mine. (Assuming based in 1976/77 when I received mine)
I have more then a few Buck knives today I have had the same Buck in my hunting pack for over thirty years. My pocket knife has changed more then a few times and I continue to occasionally buy another the Buck has earned a place and doubtful it will every be replaced.
CW

CZ93X62 said:

My Buck #110 dates from 1974.

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I still have my original Buck Stockman from about the same era. Cost me $28.00 and tax! At the time that was about a months wages of cleaning my folks bar on weekend mornings. I'm scared silly of losing it, so I don't carry it anymore. I've had at least 2 or 3 of the Chinese Bucks and lost them all!

Joshua said:

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Ive carried, worn out, or lost about five of these little French Opinel folders over the last twenty-six years. Carbon steel blade, cheap, fun design with a rotating ferrule that locks the blade. One piece wood handle. Brand new they look like an antique.

Not the only type of knife that I’ve carried, but the only one I’ve sourced direct replacements for.

Edit: not my photo

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Always wanted to try one of those. What I want more is a couple of the Mora fixed blades, no reason why, just like the looks of them.

I have two Chinese made Kerhaw locking folders supposedly made out of the same "8Cr13MoV" steel both sharpen well but one holds an edge and the other not so well. I don't know why but they feel and act like two entirely different steels. My guess is that quality control is a bit spotty.

My everyday carry is a "Caldwell" half whittler. It is a Case that commemorates one of the founding cousins. It is a small two bladed pocket knife that is my most welcome everyday companion.

I a very fond of the pre 1985 Gerbers.
The Silver Knight Gerber line (jap) are very nice Sunday knives with top grade steel from the Sakai factory.
The newer (up to 2000) imported are OK to haul about. Bought a pile of the 3" blade Easy Out line for under $12 years back and if I loose one there are others close by.

My everyday pocket knife is a small Kline<< same guy's that made my lineman pliers. I do have a buck 112 that I did carry on my belt every day at work, used it for everything-----cut lot's of black tape & skinned wire with it mostly----bet ya it still has black tape guew on it & it has been on my dresser for a year sence retirement. I did put a one hand opener assist on it, just a little brass thingy with a tiney set screw to hold it on,made openin in a lot ezeyer with one hand.

Jeff

My NOT inexpensive EDC knife is a BenchMade. On my second one, as I lost the first one. That hurt.

My inexpensive carry pocket knife, and also in about 3-4 places strategically throughout the house (same with my sets of reading glasses!) is the Swiss Army Classic little knife/file/scissors combo. Love them.

I carry a case knife also. A mini trapper.
I have the trapper and got my Dad's large case knife that he carried when hunting.
I also have some Cold Steel folding and sheath knifes that were made before they sold the company and quality dropped.
The Cold Steel folding knives are fantastic, but a little large to carry under a belt holster.

In defense of the first one I've carried and sharpened it so many times the katana is a drop point .
The second Kershaw is new and cuts well enough unless I open a box then it's gone .......
Chinese steel has always hard/soft hit and miss .

I've had 3 Bucks a 6" & 8" Corps fighting knife looking knives and a folder classic 3 blade 340 OT Shrade . They held an edge but never a great edge and they were hard to get sharp at least on an Carborundum oil stone . Dad's was the 6" he bought with a broken tip back about 3/4" . I don't remember now if he called or wrote at the time it might have been an email but I think he didn't have that yet as they had the house in Baja so 91-92' maybe ....... In any case he had a mail label in a few days and about a week later had a new knife .

My grandfather liked Case and carried a 3" 2 blade . I have both of them , he had an Uncle Henry he really liked , I think he just wore it out . I found the carbon steel blades to be brittle and knocked a big chip out of one ...... My guts about fell out on the floor . I put the SS version away ........

I have Dad's 340 and it's little brother I carry off and on and the Uncle Henry I carry hunting . I fondled a lot of knives single , double and quad blades and the $42 I spent on that one with the NOS Imperial blade almost killed me at the time . It was almost whole days gross wages . I can't even imagine dropping $110 on a bone scale 3-3/8" single blade no lock knife today ........ I've never regretted it for a second in the field , just a couple licks across the slick side of the oil stone or an Arkansas stone and it's all but ready to shave with again .

I have 7" old hickory boning knife the tip and about and inch back are just so hard you can hardly get it sharp if you let it go too far but I have to be careful when I sharpen it because the rest of the blade is softer , it's like sharpening 2 different blades .

I have a couple kung pow Uncle Henrys I should box up and send back but I think I only paid $18 for them both ......BSA commemorative 100 anniversary I think ..... Junk .

Case and Buck are the last all Americans I think at least on hardware store counters . Boker is still around I think . I had one of those when I was a kid .

Carried a pocket knife since I was 6. Three old farmers, (brothers), a couple miles from home were sorta mentors, only as a kid you aint smart enough to realize their value. One told me that , "A kid that don't carry a pocket knife, why he aint worth a puddle of warm spit."

When my wife and I hosted the middle school kids from the Teen Police Academy down here at Thorn Hollow, we told them they had to bring a pocket knife. Not one single parent balked, not one. A couple of the kids said it was fun to go pocket knife shopping, it made them feel grown up. We had plenty of chores and projects for them to use them too, startin' with peelin' taters. They lived in chaperoned wall tents, cooked every meal over an open fire that they had started with a flint and steel, heated all of the water they used for dishes etc. They threw hawks, shot bows, shot flintlocks, cooked, sewed leather pouches for their flint and steel. They made more darned char cloth, why one kid wanted to cut off the lower legs of his blue jeans so he could make more.

If I walk out of the house and I check my pocket and there isn't a knife in it, I go back and get one. Typically a Swiss Army Tinker. I like classic old U.S. made trappers and stockmen, but sooner or later, I'm gonna abuse my knife by trying to turn a screw with it and I may as well have the SAK with screw drivers built in.

Thanks Waco for starting a good thread, again.

Got a couple swiss army types, a good kershaw I leave in the desk. Big buck, 2 small ones I carry (all plastic handles so cheap ones). Friend is a pro sharpener who can get the Buck sharp - says they have the wrong angle on them. Need to give them to him again for sharpening. I'm hard on knives. Did have and OLD case from grampa ( I got it in 1950ish after he passed and he probably had it all his grown life) that did sharpen good and stayed that way but I used it to open cardboard boxes and it got sharpened often. Also got some straight razors from him that were way cool for a kid.

That old #110 rides in the truck's center console. The OEM belt case came apart years ago. The knife got a lot of use at the feed mill (cutting thread closures on 50# and 100# sacks of grain and meal) and transitioned seamlessly to law enforcement usage once I left the jail. I used it to cut several people out of seat belts on collision scenes, and all manner of cutting tasks when I was tearing down drug labs. It has led quite a service life, and like its owner has largely retired from the foofahrah. 47 years of faithful work, and still going strong.

I have a great appreciation for a well made knife. It doesn't have to be pretty, just hold an edge well. While Mrs. smokeywolf and I favor the four so-called Damascus? "stainless" Shun/Kershaw-Shun kitchen knives we use regularly, I love my carbon steel Case Bulldog, which is stained and well used, as is the 60 year old LL Bean fish knife that I use more for boning chicken in the kitchen.

My everyday carry knife is a 3 blade Utica, made in the US. For hunting I carry a Puma "finger" knife and a Puma lock-blade. Lately my boy and I have been using those utility, snap-off blade box-cutters to make the initial cuts through the hide on Moose, deer and Black Bear. When my Granddaughter was 7 I gave her a really sharp Irish made pocket knife when we made our yearly holiday trip to my summer cabin. She went out and attacked a willow tree and soon she came inside holding her finger. I asked her---"how bad"? She said---"not bad but I'll tell you one thing---mommy is not going to be impressed"! I don't know if she was right but Nikky (her mother) and I had a good laugh later.

My truck knife is a cheaply folder that uses utility knife blades. For cutting stuff it works well and I never fear harming the blade, I just replace it.

The last 6-10 deer I dressed were done with a little 2.5” bladed folder I got free with a pair of boots 25 years ago. A cheap little Gerber but it did the job, along with a small saw for breast bone.

I have no need for a big knife anymore.

I use a Wyoming knife, along with the aforementioned Case Duke, to dress deer.

My EDC knives are a Victorinox Swiss Army military style knife I've had for 35 or more years, it's about sharpened to death, and a Leatheman. The Leatherman is about #5 in the line of them I've owned, lost or had rebuilt. I'd be lost without it.

EDC this old Case letter opener and fingernail cleaner.
Dress up this 3 blade Boker.

Well I carried a buck folder for years in the leather belt pouch. When Leatherman came out I had to carry it on my belt so the buck came off. Carried the buck just loose in my back pocket. Didn't fit well, especially when trying to shove your work gloves in with it. Gave up on the Buck started carrying a Schrade, can't remember the name right now, but, it had to be on the belt so, I worked it out. This was my daily carry plus Boker came out with their ceramic folders and I always carried their small 1.5" blade folder in my back pocket. Thin knife. So I carried 3 knives (counting the Leatherman) at all times until 911. Security objected to knives. Before that under 3.5" blades were good on airlines.
Well in the 90's I had some sort of emergency, can't remember what, on my vessel the KraKaDawn and dropped through the engine hold hatch and the Schrade caught on the deck as I dropped and ripped the loop off the sheath plus two belt loops on my pants.
All replacement Schrade knives the loop was high mounted so the knife would dangle and flop. My old one was mid mounted for a higher ride and was out of the way.
So this brings me back to Walters posting. Nice handy looking little folders by the way. That's when I started looking for a handy folder. It would have to be small enough to be out of the way, but have enough blade for working. I found the Kershaw folders in three sizes. The mid size has a 2.75" blade and the body was rounded so it fit and came out of my watch pocket lickity split. The best part was I could operate it with one hand fast.
So I always carry this little knife in my watch pocket and have added a little Streamlight flash light (the small AAA model) which nests in perfectly with the Kershaw. Now I just carry the Kershaw and am thinking of adding the Leatherman again.
I bought all of the stock of the mid size and couple of large and a couple of the smaller folds of the same series that a gun show knife vender had. These knives have not been available since the early 2000's. I wore one out, lost one on Highway 2 at Stevens Pass in Washington putting on chains. Set it down and in a rush forgot it. The one I have now is showing signs of being sharpening and the checkering has worn smooth, but still has life left. I only have two left in reserve, and those reside in my safe.
I know the Schrade is a fixed blade, but, if I could ever get a proper sheath, I'd be carrying it in addition to the Kershaw. The fixed blade mounted so it was fast.
Had a tangle of anchor lines off of Hinchinbrook Island outside of Prince William Sound with another vessel I was trying to help (rock stuck anchor) when the current swung. At the entrance to the Sound it can change "Now" and run from 3 to 5 knots depending on where you are. Great place to fish by the way. Anyway our vessels were being rapidly pulled together. I mean this was happening Now. I was on the foredeck working the hydraulics and Mike my Captain of the Dawn Treader, my second vessel, was working the engines of his vessel trying to keep us apart. It was not working. We were coming together fast. I pulled the Schrade and the line under lots of tension parted at a touch. Of course there was the pull of about 500 diesel horse power making that line sing.
Locking folders are about as handy as they come.


Used to be checkering on the lower knife. Blades showing signs of sharpening.

Rough life for this one.

I used to carry a pocket knife all the time then my job started requiring my to roll around on the ground
Mud,weeds, snow drifts, ditches and stuff. So started loosing them. Went to a side knife. Then my current job has a rule against any side holstered knife with a fixed blade. So quit carrying one. Just kept a multi tool at work and in the truck. I really need to get another one.