Your Blade Rotation

[McClarkus]

Ditto the Benchmade 710. EDC 24/7

[Weetabix]

They're Cabela's Trailhiker 2's.

I think they're pretty good, but I do have a few complaints. I just haven't found anything as satisfying, for the same money.

I saw a great review of Recon AC Pants the other day, but I'm not ready to drop $99 on something I can't try on.

[Greg]

They're Cabela's Trailhiker 2's.

I think they're pretty good, but I do have a few complaints. I just haven't found anything as satisfying, for the same money.

I saw a great review of Recon AC Pants the other day, but I'm not ready to drop $99 on something I can't try on.

I've seen lots of nice reviews for $100 pants, but there's no way I'm spending that much.

My complaints all boil down to the fact that the material is too 'soft'. Or possibly weak. It doesn't resist abrasion well, so anywhere they rub a lot they will fray badly, and fairly quickly. Also, anywhere there is a high stress point in the stitching (critical area where the stitching makes a 90deg turn) the stitching will hold but the material will give way. So eventually there will be holes opening up at the corners of your pockets, etc.

I wear them around 4 days a week, year round and rotate through several pairs, and I get a year or two out of them before they're too holey, ratty and frayed for me to wear. I like them, just wish they were more durable.

[JKosprey]

These days, my every-day knife is a boring old Opinel folder. Does just about anything I need a knife to do, even if it's not the fastest to get open. I've even dressed and skinned a calf with it (although I enlisted the help of a larger knife to deal with joints).

[Catbird]

Here are my top five, in order from least to most used:

Kershaw Needs Work.jpg

Kershaw Needs Work
I bought this on a whim because it was on sale for about $40. It is almost but not quite a switchblade using the Ken Onion "Speedsafe" opening design. The straight blade makes it very easy to sharpen. The handle affords a very good grip. The pocket clip is so tight that it is useless. If i used this knife more, I would try to adjust the clip or remove it entirely.

Leatherman E303.jpg

Leatherman E303
I bought this because a friend of mine was selling them at his camera store. The thick handle sits well in the hand, not as well in the pocket for daily carry. I usually keep it in the console of the truck. I thought the carabiner was silly at first, but it became one of my favorite features. It is one of the best bottle openers I've found. The phillips and flat tip screwdrivers are very sturdy. Leatherman no longer makes this knife, but they have similar designs.

Buck Ranger 112.jpg

Buck 112 Ranger
The little brother to the more popular Folding Hunter. When I was a 13 year-old boy scout, I was sick of dealing with a series of crappy pocket knives. I saved my money and went to the cutlery store at the mall and bought this. It is the first thing of any significant value that I purchased with my own funds. I carried this daily from teenage through Army years. Now I mostly keep it around the house and take it on camping trips. Buck Knives has excellent customer service. I once broke off the tip of this knife shucking oysters. I sent it to the factory and they sent it back with a new blade installed.

Swiss+Tech Utilikey.jpg

Swiss+Tech Utilikey
I bought this on a whim for about $6. I keep it on my key ring. The blade is good for slitting open boxes. You can put a lot of torque on the phillips screwdriver if you open the other half of the blade to 90 degrees. The bottle opener is better than [strike]nothing[/strike] going and searching for a proper one. I find that I use this tool quite a lot because it's always with me on my key ring when nothing else is handy.

Olfa L-2.jpg

Olfa L-2
At work, we can only use the tools provided because Tool Control/FOD. This is the best designed snap-blade knife and probably the best disposable blade utility knife I've ever used. It is small enough and large enough for most tasks. The blade extends and retracts easily and locks firmly without slipping. The blades are available at any hardware store. I looked a long time for a local retailer that sold these. Now that I find them on Amazon, I will order several more.

[MarkD]

Since this thread it back, and since my EDC knife has changed since I posted last, here goes. I still carry the min-Gerber multi-tool in my change pocket, and a full-sized one in my backpack. The Storm has been retired and I now alternate between a Kershaw Skyline and a Kershaw Chill. The Chill is mostly for weekends (it's known as a "gentleman's folder", but I carry it anyway. There's also a Gerber multi-tool in my desk drawer (left by someone doing work on the a/c unit).

When I go fishing I have a Berkley folder I got for buying a couple spools of fishing line that I keep in my tackle bag, it has a good-sized orange blade (easy to find if I drop it), it's good enough for cutting line or bait and if I drop it in the lake, heck it was free. I also have a cheap multi-tool in my tackle bag, again, I don't care if I lose it.

I met a guy once who collected (IIRC) Spyderco knives. He had dozens of them, and by his own admission most had never been sharpened and he never carried them. I like knives, but to me they're tools. If they're not near-at-hand when I need to cut something they're worthless to me. Then again, I never understood people who collect things that are intended to be used ( for instance guns, knives, or cars) and then don't USE them. Not abuse them mind you (that's why I have cheap stuff in with my fishing tackle), but use them in the manner they're designed for.

[Greg]

I met a guy once who collected (IIRC) Spyderco knives. He had dozens of them, and by his own admission most had never been sharpened and he never carried them. I like knives, but to me they're tools. If they're not near-at-hand when I need to cut something they're worthless to me. Then again, I never understood people who collect things that are intended to be used ( for instance guns, knives, or cars) and then don't USE them. Not abuse them mind you (that's why I have cheap stuff in with my fishing tackle), but use them in the manner they're designed for.

I know of someone who collects every variation of a certain Benchmade knife. He has dozens if not over a hundred of the things, which cost many (over 10 pretty sure) thousands of dollars. And I don't think he even likes that particular knife enough to *carry* one.

'Collecting' is a form of mental illness, hoarding crossed with OCD.

[Windy Wilson]

For daily use I carry a Victorinox Tourist, which is a slightly shorter Spartan without the lanyard shackle.
If I'm out camping I carry a Grohmann's Canadian belt knife.
For Thanksgiving turkey I have a Green River skinner from A.G. Russell that seems to have been discontinued lo these 20 years.

[Netpackrat]

Not sure why I ignored this thread before, but mine is a CRKT M21-04G. I also have whatever the smaller version of the same blade style is, for when I am traveling in WA because some of the cities there have blade length restrictions. But I really don't like the shorter one because of the lighter weight, and smaller handle. My employer is soon to be going full retard on the tool control also; not sure yet what effect that will have but I expect the knife will have to stay in the vehicle. Hopefully they will supply some reasonable substitute, but I doubt if anyone in charge actually gives a shit.

[Greg]

Just this past week I bought my first >4 layer SAK. It's a Vic Ranger. I like the metal saw/file, but probably not enough to be worth carrying around an additional layer. (My normal carry SAK is a 4 layer Huntsman, which is right at the max of what I'd want to carry around, SAK size-wise.)