What to look for in a Knife

[treelizard]

I really like Griptilians.

[BoarSpear]

Oh shit, y'all want FOLDERS! I forgot. I don't know if he makes folders, I'll ask him.

Thats somewhat comforting, 300 folders is a lot of folders, but then so is 300 knives of any type...most good makers dont have ANY knives lying around, there are waiting list to get one, years in some cases

Blade show is coming up, the biggest blade show in the world, most of the guys there will be happy to manage 20 folders on the table, the tables cost 1500 bucks for a 3 day show

[treelizard]

Well his box of knives included folders, and were mostly knives he's purchased... He used sold or gave away all the ones he made. And there is a month or two-month wait I think.

I walked into his garage (out East) when he was teaching another guy how to make a knife, and I got to train for a few hours while it was in the oven.

[BoarSpear]

I really like Griptilians.

Its 440C, which is the bottom rung of acceptable knife steel. But I cant stand thumb studs or holes for opening, both lead to severed thumbs under normal everyday use eventually...add STRESS and an attacker and you will probably choose THAT moment to goof, no thanks. If I cant inertia open it with EASE, I dont carry it. The zytel handles are acceptable and the axis lock is supposed to be good, I havent seen one. I carried benchmade until the late 90's when their quality and control went out the window along with the top grade materials they built thier name using.

[stabbychick]

..................

[BoarSpear]

I have to part company with you on one single point, though, stabby. I can't stand carbon fiber handle scales. We do a lot of "oil testing" in which the student's hand is dipped in vegetable oil. It has about the same feel as blood, and the viscosity is similar. Carbon fiber actually gives you a little grip through sweat, but blood makes it slicker than whale shit in an ice floe. Micarta is the exact opposite. Sweat may make it a little slick, but oil makes the little fibers stiffen and gives you some pretty decent grip - at least in my experience.

Thats been my experience as well, micarta rocks!!! Supposedly the new large weave, textured and or stipled carbon fiber isnt slick. I dunno, the word I'm hearing from the makers is the guys in the sandbox want either tan G-10 or the new carbon fiber scales on everything...the Houston SWAT guys are split between green micarta and the new translucent g10.

The prototype cleaver I'm having made is going to be scaled in the translucent G10 to de-tactical it. If it passes my grip test all the blades in the run will be scaled that way, otherwise its going to be micarta. The cleaver I'm having done is a combination of these 2 and 3 finger cleaver blade styles Thats the translucent g-10 scales. The dark scales are the textured carbon fiber I passed on for the G10.

[treelizard]

This is a great thread, thanks everyone for the food for thought and also to stabby for the carbon link, lots more to research. So what's so special about the Guild that people can't figure out after a couple decades of making knives in their garages? I know a lot of people who make and sell knives, and I always having something or other that's homemade that I keep around...doesn't anybody on here make their own toys?? Just curious...

[Tant01]

This is a great thread, thanks everyone for the food for thought and also to stabby for the carbon link, lots more to research. So what's so special about the Guild that people can't figure out after a couple decades of making knives in their garages? I know a lot of people who make and sell knives, and I always having something or other that's homemade that I keep around...doesn't anybody on here make their own toys?? Just curious...

Yes, I've taken a "stab" at it but you need the right steel and the right heat to make a good knife. The process is fairly involved and easy to mess up!

http://hossom.com/tutorial/jonesy/

The tricky part for me is heat treatment and tempering!

[treelizard]

So would you use an EDC that was made by uh yourself or someone you know even if they weren't a guild member? (and which guild anyway?) why or why not?

[BoarSpear]

T So what's so special about the Guild that people can't figure out after a couple decades of making knives in their garages? toys?? .

so whats so different about guild blades? Oh I dunno, they're made by guild members? Would you prefer someone who learned accupucture over a couple decades in his garage, or someone taught and apprenticed by a competant teacher, then tested and licensed and his work monitored?

http://www.knifemakersguild.com/about.htm

Go ahead, tell me you arent trusting your health to a knife makers abilities...

[treelizard]

Hmmm, well I work with herbalists all the time who aren't licensed but have been taught by competent teachers, and many of the herbalists I know who are licensed and members of the American Herbalist Guild frankly suck compared to people I know who grew up watching grandma give medicine to sick people in her village... You yourself said that many "standard fare" acupuncturists suck for the most part, and I've had that experience as well...

Are you saying that nobody else other than Guild members are qualified just because they didn't have their materials inspected by a committee? Or just that you don't know? (I'm really genuinely curious, not just trying to argue.)

[Tant01]

So would you use an EDC that was made by uh yourself or someone you know even if they weren't a guild member? (and which guild anyway?) why or why not?

Sure, I've carried knives I've made... how else you going to show them off?

ABS smiths are top notch but I know a few guys that do some darn fine steelwork that never attempted to join a guild, (too "political") or just like to mess around the forge but never went to apprentice school.

Depends on what you like, who you know (what they know) and what you can afford.

I like to buy mine from guys that actually know what they're doing instead of making or breaking my own. Too much work to do by hand. (for me)

*EDIT http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ This "ABS"

[BoarSpear]

So would you use an EDC that was made by uh yourself or someone you know even if they weren't a guild member? (and which guild anyway?) why or why not?

Fixed blade, yes depending on the particulars of the blade, can I verify who heat treated it? what type of steel is it? whats the carry system? If its a folder, NO FREAKIN WAY

Why? Because I value life enough to buy the very best tools to defend my family and myself, cutting corners to buy a cheap knife and save a couple hundred bucks is silly when its your life and your family's you're buying insurance for. A good knife will outlive you, if you take care of it.

[treelizard]

Fixed blade, yes depending on the particulars of the blade, can I verify who heat treated it? what type of steel is it? whats the carry system? If its a folder, NO FREAKIN WAY

*Whew* okay I don't have any homemade folders.

Why? Because I value life enough to buy the very best tools to defend my family and myself, cutting corners to buy a cheap knife and save a couple hundred bucks is silly when its your life and your family's you're buying insurance for. A good knife will outlive you, if you take care of it.

Cool. Thanks.

[BoarSpear]

Hmmm, well I work with herbalists all the time who aren't licensed but have been taught by competent teachers, and many of the herbalists I know who are licensed and members of the American Herbalist Guild frankly suck compared to people I know who grew up watching grandma give medicine to sick people in her village... You yourself said that many "standard fare" acupuncturists suck for the most part, and I've had that experience as well...

Are you saying that nobody else other than Guild members are qualified just because they didn't have their materials inspected by a committee? Or just that you don't know? (I'm really genuinely curious, not just trying to argue.)

I'm not trying to argue either but you said you didnt trust your own jow, for hardball...so much for the garage herbalist eh? the guild aint standard fare, the knife they have to forge by hand has to cut an empty beer can in half and the leave the bottom half sitting on the table, or they fail and dont get in...thats proof they know the craft. The knives have to pass many stress tests as well, its an all around test to insure perfection. Thats what i expect from my tools, NO WAY, I can make something like that so i dont try, i learn to use them, they make 'em, i only have so much time...i'm sure my best wont be as good as a guild members worst so why waste my time?

I will grant there are some great blade makers who arent guiild members by choice or politics...I have carried some of their blades, however the difference is night and day in my guild blades and non guild blades. Quality top to bottom, the Best of the best.

Any fool can build a gun, I still prefer to buy from a reputable maker, why should knives be different?