Kentucky Armory Club

I've been carrying a Cold Steel AK47 folding knife for around 8 to 10 years now... its been sent in once due to the blade losing a large chip while splitting wood... its been a good knife for sure but I'm ready to replace it. I want another knife that'll stand up to the abuse. My brother has a ZT150 he said he'd sell me for $115.... Cold Steel has the recon folders and they're running around $70 (amazon is selling them for $50 though) and they seem to be solid and have good reviews... I know ZTs are great knives but are they really worth the extra money? will I be just as happy less expensive brand? I'm a novice in the knife world really so I need a little education.

Cold Steel is arguably the best hard use knife for the money. To me, the only pure utility knife worth the extra coin is an Emerson.

My ignorance is coming it... Brother has a zt550

My hard use pocket knife is an Esee Avispa.

If there is a better value out there I certainly haven't found it.

Frailer wrote:My hard use pocket knife is an Esee Avispa.

If there is a better value out there I certainly haven't found it.

Mine is this one's smaller sibling...Pretty sure the Avispa will be my next knife purchase... GREAT knife for the money!

Just recently had this same conversation on here

The more expensive knives simply come down to the quality of craftsmanship and quality of materials used. 

In the end a box cutter will do the job of a box cutter whether you pay $20 or $200.

I am hell on knives... and I've just went through one too many crkt and kershaws for them to be considered go to blades for me. The Cold Steel knives are decent knives for the price you pay, and ESEE makes great fixed blades, their folders are great because of the price point.

However, at the end of the day, I'll stick with my ZTs, Benchmades, fixed blade ESEEs and etc....and even IF they do break they all have a badass warranties to back up their products.

I always carry multiple knives... minimum of 2.

For a while now I carry an ESEE candiru horizontal on front of my belt. And a Spyderco in my pocket.

The Candiru gets used for just about 90% of stuff I need a knife for...I keep it sharp, but don't worry about a razor edge.. it's tough enough to be a small pry bar and cut whatever a decide to cut. It's a solid knife.

I keep the Spyderco razor sharp....only use it when " real cutting" is needed. And careful to cut anything that would damage blade or edge. It gets used and plenty of work, but I save it and try to keep it a razor...

It's always good to have more than one knife anyway...IMO

This is just a combo that I've found that works great for me.

And those are some good points.

I used the term "hard use" folder, but that's relative. I always--*always*--have a Swiss Army knife in my pocket, and it gets used for fine cutting tasks (usually with the scissors), opening bottles, and turning screws. I also carry a small prybar that gets all the heavy twisting/scraping/prying tasks. The Avispa gets used on rope (I teach kids how to tie Swiss seats, so I cut a lot of rope), cardboard, heavy plastic, wood, etc.

Because of the way I use my tools I've never broken a knife blade or a locking mechanism. What I need in a knife is something that is relatively large, takes a good edge, and is easy to sharpen. I don't need a bulletproof knife (nor a bulletproof warranty). For similar reasons, my fixed blade knives are mostly Moras.

If you're *really* tough on knives your decision is whether to buy one expensive knife or several less expensive knives.

I rarely am hard on my knives but if I was going to be rough on one, I think it would be a ZT or my bench made griptilian. I have a few hinderers that are bad ass but at $400+ each I don't want to use them on anything that could tear them up.

Mike wrote:I rarely am hard on my knives but if I was going to be rough on one, I think it would be a ZT or my bench made griptilian. I have a few hinderers that are bad ass but at $400+ each I don't want to use them on anything that could tear them up.

I take the absolute opposite approach as you and if I paid a lot for something it will be used and the rest will be on backup status. To each their own.

For a heavy duty hard use knife, I always turn to either my ZT 550, one of my San Mai Cold Steel blades, or my SOG Vulcans.

Crush, kill, mangle, maim, destroy.

Niceguy wrote:

Frailer wrote:My hard use pocket knife is an Esee Avispa.

If there is a better value out there I certainly haven't found it.

Mine is this one's smaller sibling...Pretty sure the Avispa will be my next knife purchase... GREAT knife for the money!

I have an Avispa sitting in my cabinet (on Ebay).. It's the black handle/black blade knife...

No disrespect intended...

But what do you all consider hard use? What exactly do you use a folder for that you would consider " hard use"

Not slamming anyone.... I too have some expensive knives... and in total I own more knives than I can count.

Just keeping the convo stirred....Hope I'm not stealing from the OP

Forgot to mention Mora (as Frailer brought up)

I know most here are familiar with them....great knives to buy several of and keep around.

I keep one in my truck 24/7...one in my fag bag (aka go bag) even bought a couple we keep in the kitchen. Can't recall the exact style/names of the ones I bought... But you can't beat them for the $

One downside... and I learned the hard way...they rust pretty quick and easy so you need to keep them lubed up good

JustShootIt wrote:No disrespect intended...

But what do you all consider hard use? What exactly do you use a folder for that you would consider " hard use"

Not slamming anyone.... I too have some expensive knives... and in total I own more knives than I can count.

Just keeping the convo stirred....Hope I'm not stealing from the OP

I am not a high dollar knife guy myself but I try not to use my knives for stuff they aren't made to do. But at the same time I have found that most WalMart knives I have purchased wont even stand up to the "hard use" of daily carry. For a folder, the hardest use part on it is probably the dog gone pocket clip. If the clip snaps if it catches on something or bends out to the point of no longer being trusted to keep the blade in your pocket then the quality of the rest of the knife is pointless imo.
I keep an esee fixed blade on me at work in case I need to pry or extract someone/thing, and a beater Boker ak-74 in my pocket for general cutting tasks because it has in my experience a rugged clip.
The knife I have that has seen the most abuse is a S&W S.W.A.T. Tanto folder that went to Iraq with me. I used it to cut untold numbers of shielded coax cable. Cat 5 cable, zip ties, drywall, ceiling tiles, tighten screws, pry doors, and cut webbing. $20 knife and it never broke.

I've used my cold steel AK47 for just about everything.... beat on it with a club to split wood or cut through a branch, pry something open with it, open mail, cut through fire hose that's failed testing, skin animals when I've been out hunting, screw driver (this has resulted in a chip at the tip of the blade), small shovel... basically whatever it happens to be needed for at the time. I will say that when I broke the blade the one time, cold steel was great about the warranty issue. I did look at a benchmade Griptilian yesterday that I liked a lot and benchmades warranty is pretty awesome. There is a lot of really good information here form you guys!

Been carrying it 3 or 4 years and I still swear by my Spyderco Delica 4.