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Most popular knife brand

13K views 82 replies 37 participants last post by  burntmuch 
#1 ·
Randall certainly would be very hight on the list as the most recognized brand of custom knife. Case quite possibly as the most recognized brand.

But while Randall has its clones how good are they. Bark River makes clones of the Randall fighting knife of ww2 fame the #1 model. I have one of each and can’t tell the difference in use.

Ruana knives out of Montana are regionally we’ll know and highly collectible especially in the northwestern states. I have a couple of them and they are every bit the equal of any knife I’ve ever owned.

But when I need to gut a hog or deer I usually reach for a old Keshaw lock blade pocket knife.

How does the new marbles Chinese knives compare to the Gladstone marbles of yesteryear? I own several old ones and just ordered a new Chinese model for comparison.
 
#2 ·
I like Schrade. (before china made them) but my first knife was a hand-me-down Barlow.
 
#77 ·
I gutted the deer I shot opening day this season with a Schrade 152 Sharpfinger, it was given to me by the wife of an old Maine lobsterman I was friends with after he passed. It's my favorite hunting knife. I've processed deer, turkey, ducks, mergansers, partridges, squirrels, crows and geese with it

I also have a Schrade Scrimshaw trapper with raccoons on the handle.
 
#3 ·
Yeah my dads favorite also. I bought him a new Barlow every year for Christmas after I got old enough to be able to do it. He was hard on a knife. Sharpened them on a sidewalk or cement block or a rock. He wore out one every year.
 
#4 ·
My Dad sharpened his with a file, so my first knife didn't have much blade left.
But it was good enough to play mumbly-peg at recess. :)
 
#5 ·
the old case knives i have are noticeably better built
and ground to a better geometry than the newer ones
i have. jmho- i think case is catering to the collectors
more so than the traditional users.

as far as imported knives, i have some that will work
as well and hold an edge as just as well as some 40
year old + American made knives i have. i have a
newer marbles folding hunter that is a great knife.
i have several rough rider knives that are really great
knives.

i sold the randall knives i had some time back.
not because they were defect in any way, i just
needed the money more than i needed the knives.


as far as dressing game, i try to not use a folder unless
i really need to get whatever dressed out in a hurry.
i try to use the commercial butcher-type knives i have
for ease of cleaning and sanitizing. i don't like having
to try to clean blood and hair out of a folder joint, then
maybe have a few deer hairs or fish scales fall out into
my ham sandwich sometime later on a camping trip or
whatever.
that said, i have used pocket knives that weren't really
suitable for the job to dress out game during spur-of-the-
moment hunts or fishing trips. it can be done with a teeny
knife just like some like to say, but it sure is a pain.
 
#7 ·
After buying about every brand they sell in a blister pack at the BX, I settled in on Buck. The Vantage Pro S30V was my do-all pocket knife for a good while. Until I tried making my own and learned a little about steel. Now I like SpyderCo, they really offer a lot of different steel options ... Pacific Salt H1 SE DLC is my daily carry now. Salt water, high humidity, etc. no problem. Use it for everything I used the Buck, plus everything else ... including scuba diving.
 
#57 ·
Friend in college clued me into Spyderco back in about 1997. Started with a Delica with half serrations. Didn't really like the serrations and wanted an all steel one. Bought a Delica II and have been carrying it for 20 years. Another friend clued me into a Ganzo knife a few months back. Bought a Firebird F759M which is dang near identical to a Spyderco. Found them on sale for 8.99 and ordered 2 (although, took a month to get here, but price was right). I have been carrying one for about a month now and love it. Ordered 5 more for gifts and a friend. I would say it is just as good as a Spyderco. Has a 440C blade which so far seems to hold an edge well, and not hard to sharpen. If I lose it, or have to toss it, I haven't lost much, I can just get out another one. I put the Spydercos in the safe for now.


Rosewood
 
#8 ·
With the crowd I run with it’s the $5.89 junk at the C-Store. Made in Pakistan. Next comes box cutters.

Then I guess it’s a toss up between CRKT, Gerber, or any $25 clamshell lockback with a pocket clip, The modern day imperial Barlow


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
For reasons of quality, near home and friendships..I have to stick with Ontario. http://ontarioknife.com/

… Bob, my fellow elder at church runs the company. They have been involved with the military for many years, and the military runs it's own tests on, and rate everything they buy. Not just knives but everything.
It is a cause for celebration if any supplier achieves a 100% score... last I checked, Ontario has achieved 100% three times.

Ontario is abut 4 miles from my house.. KaBar is about 25 miles from my house and Case just a bit further.


When I want a custom...I make it myself.
 
#13 ·
So far as folders are concerned, I have a couple plastic 'cigar box' sized containers of folding knives, one box for smaller sizes the other for larger folders.

I have usually switched every few days, carrying different folders.

Some time ago I stopped by Wally world and picked up this small paraframe Gerber, which I find myself carrying quite regularly. It is 3" closed and cost some less than $8.

It has a pocket clip, but I don't use that, since I am inclined to catch my sleeve cuffs on the clip, lifting out and losing such a knife.
 

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#14 ·
Case, Ontario, Buck, Schrade......during any given month, I will carry and use at least one knife from each of those companies. Truth be told, I am sure that I carry a Buck 110 more than the others. At home, in the kitchen, I have three or four Opinel folders that are in constant use.
Pete
 
#16 ·
I have a case bull dog original in the original black walnut box we sold them for 9.50 at the shop when they came out the originals had real stag handles then they went to deer or elk the originals to a case collector in mint condition are bringing 350.00 and up now
I also have a Schrade single lock blade that has the brass lock that you have to push to the side to unlock blade it is well over 50 yrs old.
Deaconllb
 
#17 ·
Until I bought the Blackjack from a member on this forum, my favorite is a Ka-Bar USMC. I figured that since the Marines have used them since their 1942(?) introduction, they would have changed the design if there was a fault in the design. A few years ago I slid/jumped off of a flatbed pickup, hanging up on my knife. At 5'10 240, it bent the blade and opened up the leather sheath rivet. Put the knife into the stake hole and bent it back, been using it since! I do have to say that opening the box on that Black Jack was like opening a long-awaited present though. Fit and finish are just amazing.
 
#18 · (Edited)
That same Marine fighting knife is made by Ontario now. Although the other branches use various brands, the Marines use Ontario exclusively.

An interesting sidelight or two;

As I said above, Bob Breton, who runs Ontario is a fellow elder with me at our church. While my grandson was home on leave before his first deployment to Iraq in 2005, as a Marine special operator, we went down to see Bob at work. After a tour of the works, Bob showed us the newest military knife at the time, it was called the ASEK knife..made for emergency exit from an aircraft (Aircraft Survival and Egress Knife)) is made to cut one's way out of a downed aircraft, as well as a survival knife thereafter. Bob then presented Josh with one of them.. This knife had not yet been issued to troops at that time..so Josh was the first one to carry the ASEK into combat.
Bob's son Joe, was serving with the Air force at that time , in Iraq or Afghanistan.
That ASEK, smaller than a bayonet or fighting knife, would make a first rate survival or "bush crafter's" knife.. It is incredibly rugged

Here's the ASEK: https://www.knivesplus.com/ontario-asek-knife-qn-asek.html
 
#19 ·
IG- Thank you for the update and sharing that story. It is the depth of knowledge and sharing that members on this site do that really separates it from the others and contributes to a positive environment in a sadly hostile world. That knife (ASEK) is well built for any foreseeable situation!
Z
 
#20 ·
I live in marble knife country. the factory was here before it moved to tx and they started importing everything. even met the jerkwad new owner once. He was at the range and saw I was shooting cast and asked where I bought them. I told him I did them myself. He asked if I would sell some. told him id trade him for a knife. I brought him 6 coffee cans of 45 acp bullets ready to go. Took me over a year to shame him into giving me the knife. I used to have a collection of marble knives. Only one I have left is the one the wife gave me on the first birthday we were together. The new ones are NOT the same quality.


Rapid river knife company and bark river knife company are both companys started by knife makers that worked at marble and walked away when they saw the direction the company was going. Both make darned good knives. As good as the best marbles back in the day. Both are stand up guys.


Ive got quite a few rapid river and bark river knives. But I have two randalls, well one as I gave one to my son. Those two knives are fantastic knives. Best I own and I even have a few from custom knife makers that are no better. But I guess I kind of look at it like I do ar15s. Randalls are great but for what one costs I can buy 4 or 5 bark river knives and they do the exact same thing. The randalls are rarely even used because im afraid id loose one in the field or break it. I can get a dammed good bark river knife for under a 150 bucks and if I loose it I can run to there store and buy another. If I break it they replace it no questions asked. Once in a while I go to bark river and rapid river knives just to have a factory edge put back on them. they both will even it for me to knives that they don't even sell. I guess they know that most times I walk out with something new anyway.
 
#21 ·
i sold my randalls and most of my expensive knives some time back.
i figured i'd as soon have the money as to have them sitting in a pawn
shop somewhere after some thief sold them for $20.00 each or some
similar situation.
i kept some decent folders and a few herter's and other knives and
do all my butchering with commercial butchering knives.
i can have a deer in freezer bags with a $8.00 old hickory or
a $15.00 forschner as fast as i can with any
of the $200.00-$300.00 on up knives i've ever had and used
 
#24 ·
It is funny, but I have been doing custom trim and carpentry work, about 4 days a week for the past 10 years, as well lots of general repairs, and I found that I NEVER had any use for a pocket knife. I use to carry a small Case in my pocket when I started out, and all it ever did was wear a hole in my pocket. My main tool bag is always at hand, and whenever I have to cut anything, I just grab my razor knife. I even tried wearing a Leatherman tool on my belt for awhile, but I found that it is hard as heck to fold out any of the tools, and the tools on the device are totally inferior to anything I have in my tool bag.

When I hunt, I just carry a 5 inch drop point hunting knife in my haversack, and it only comes out if I have to dress a deer. If I go into the deep woods to scout, I always carry a knife on my belt in case of an emergency, but I can't recall ever using it during the last 20 years.

When I was young, I use to like looking at the Gerber survival knives, etc., but now, knives are just irrelevant to me, except at the dinner table.

Mannyrock
 
#26 ·
One of the patterns I find myself forging most often, is the Nessmuk pattern. It is an old pattern by an old woodsman who spent much of his life in the Adirondack mts of NY State. I do prefer that pattern for myself.


Now, I am going to speak some herasy ...to , but I don't care for case knives that much. Why? ..Because I am not a fan of stainless and their chrome-vanadium doesn't make it (IMO) as well as carbon steel.

That being said, keep in mind that when forging a knife, the critical step is hardening and drawing a temper. With any good manufacturer, every step is very closely controlled. The temperature of the steel, the temperature of the oil, the duration of heat time, the duration of the quench and the movement in the oil bath are all computer controlled.

We as knife makers can come close to duplicating the process...but can we do as well as the factory with computers doing the action? ….you decide..

Below, see some Nessmuk knives..not mine, but from the web..
 

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#27 · (Edited)
Knives

The few knives that i have made have been much simpler. The one part of the process, after forging, that was the most tedious was normalizing the blade to insure the strongest crystal structure.
Here are a couple...one that i left the drawing colors on, a small knife that i made for my son...both with Osage orange scales. The third is a damascus razor from a piece of 15n20 steel.
Pictures yet to come....could not get them to upload properly.
 
#30 · (Edited)
My favorite knife handle is on the Buck Nighthawk. It's so ergonomic that it's just a joy to hold.

The sharpest knife that I may have ever bought is a small Swedish Mora knife that has a highly polished, high carbon steel blade and a small, plain natural wood handle.
The knife is the closest to being like a razor blade that I've ever used. Don't ever let such a small, plain looking Swedish knife fool you about how sharp that it can be.
It's like a scalpel disguised as a kid's skinning knife!
 
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