Virtue Is Knowledge . com

I’ve been thinking of doing an article on knives for a while. My nephew posted a picture of his every day carry items and I have to one-up him and show everyone that good working knives are available and very affordable.

While in the Army back in the mid 1980’s, most of us didn’t really think much about knives as tools or defensive weapons. We had dull bayonets and many of us had some type of swiss army knife. I was partial to the simple Tinker model. Ever try to cut commo wire with a small, hard steel blade? Not a good idea. That blade is good for spreading peanut butter and little else now. Since then I’ve gone through any number of blades. As a simple civil servant, I didn’t have the resources to acquire custom forged blades of exotic metals and grip materials. My disposable funds were more likely spent on ammunition and guns to feed my IDPA and IPSC habits. Still I have managed to cobble together some quality knives at reasonable cost.
Columbia River Knife and Tool has been making some of the most affordable blades for almost 20 years. They are known for their collaborations with some of the best custom makers extant. The Pat Crawford/Bob Kasper design was my first real folder and I liked it so much, I got another one with the partial serrations. One of these will always be with me in a Maxpedition man purse or the console of my truck. The Steve Ryan designed Ryan-7 is another handy folder that I liked.
You can’t go wrong with Spyderco. They patented the thumb hole and gave us that flick of the wrist opening we take for granted now. Some of my newest and oldest knives are by Spyderco. The old zytel handled serrated edged Delica is my oldest. This is my GP utility blade and is what I give my wonderful partner when she wants to open taped boxes or anything else. The stainless Deilca II is another GP blade I usually have handy. I find the stainless scales slippery when sweaty or wet. The Tenacious is big for a folder. I like the blade ergonomics and feel. Some question these Chinese Spyderco blades, but they are solid with good steel and G10 scales. You could do a lot worse for around $40.
Cold Steel is another top tier manufacturer. If there is something sharp involved, they probably make it. The Prolite is a robust liner lock available in may blade styles. I chose the tanto blade because I didn’t have one and wanted to test it out. Love it or hate it, the tanto has a place. The Urban pal is small and fits on my key chain. It is unobtrusive and handy to open mail and boxes. When a real knife can’t be found, the Urban Pal is handy to have around.

Kershaw and Ken Onion introduced the assisted opening blade. These are not automatic or switchblades, they just open really fast once you get them started. I really like the Blur. The grip and blade design just really work and I think it rather elegant to boot. The Gerber Crucial is just a small basic multi-tool. Just needle nosed pliers/wire cutter, partially serrated blade, plus your flat and phillips head screwdrivers. I like that all the tools use a liner lock to keep them open and there is a spring clip to hook it to your gear bag.

Now the knife most likely to be in my pocket these days is a Benchmade 580 Barrage. It is an assisted opening blade that uses the proprietary axis lock used by Benchmade. This is not an inexpensive knife, but is a lot cheaper than most custom folders. You can find very good knives for the cost of a couple of boxes of pistol ammunition and you can pay ten times more for a beautiful and functional custom creation. When it comes to knives, guns, and flashlights: one is none, two is one, and three (or more) is better.
Let me know what you carry or collect.