Well, that was fast. Went from available to unavailable while I was looking at other goodies.
Picked up a coupla other drop-points anyway, nice!
And holy crap, yeah, free shipping on the lot!
Usually, the gun-branded knives are not very good. As usual though, “good” is relative. For $2.60, that’s an incredible bargain and 7Cr17Mov isn’t unreasonable at the usual $15.99. Edge retention isn’t too far off from 8Cr13Mov and corrosion resistance is actually quite good. Much like 440A, 7Cr17Mov used to be a celebrated steel for budget diving, camping, and survival knives.
Of course, these did sell out right away. Just in the time since you posted, this model is gone. Looking over all the items on sale under ten bucks, only one model was left. It was an 8Cr13Mov knife similarly marked down to $5.97. I ordered it because “what the heck”.
Yeh, like the dreaded go,comma knives that were PF clones that went for… 7bux a pop when GB was dumping ’em?
I still edc mine.
I don’t care about that much about edge-retention or the kind of stuff that a lot of “knife guys” need for using it every day on the job, etc. If the blade dulls, I sharpen it. <shrug/>
So some of these critters at 3-7bux each? Yeah, I’ll “sample” whatever I can. 
Oh, and inventory comes’n’goes. The electric blue one was OOS, but then I see later that it’s available. Placed an order, literally only 1 available, so I grabbed it. Someone maybe dawdled a bit too long with an order, and 1 went back into stock. I couldn’t complete an order because one critter suddenly became unavailable, too. Removed it from the lineup (after wasting like 10min trying to figure out wtf’s wrong, as the “error” sounded like CC info was bad), but once it was gone from the cart, the order went through fine.
So with free shipping, grab what you can and check out fast, then go back for something else. No need to “bundle” 4-5 knives at a time.
Although I often carry a different dedicated knife depending on the expected situation (and MT, too), since we were talking about ultra inexpensive blades I thought I’d mention the box cutter that I’ve been using for the last 10+ years. I have them in my tool bags, vehicle, and even winter coat. It’s my go to when I know I’m cutting things A LOT, like fiberglass insulation for my attic. That being said, I’ve tried Stanley, as well as some other $20+ boxcutters over the years. They all are sitting in my garage replaced by this version.
When I bought them over the last few years, they were going for 89 cents. I think their price is now around $1.25 at WMt. I do, however, use better replacement blades after using up the ones that are included:
Hyper Tough Utility Knife
sometimes, for some tasks, you just cant beat ole reliable! plus, every day of the week i would take this red boxcuttah against a roll of insulation instead of my dogma or baklash (my main EDC’s that is)
Despite my more expensive knives having blade steels with better wear resistance, being more expensive makes me especially disinterested in cutting fiberglass, opening cement bags, or slicing really dirty stuff.
Quick question… has anyone gotten notice from S&W that their knives shipped yet?
Just curious how long they usually take to ship, whether asap or “Yeah, we’ll eventually get around to it”.
Bags of cement I’m ONLY using the cheapest box cutter in my toolbox… woof… that makes my stomach uneasy thinking of sinking even my $9 Kershaw into…
Damn, I don’t know if it qualifies as “budget” per this thread standards, and maybe many already have it, but I just became aware of the QSPpenguin, and I received this yesterday:
https://www.bladehq.com/item—QSP-Penguin-Liner-Lock-Knife-Jean—112271
Except up until yesterday it was on sale for $25.99 (sorry I should’ve shared yesterday)
This knife is quite possibly the nicest value-per-dollar knife I have ever recieved.
Meaning: this thing drips quality = action, design, micarta feel, sharp as razor, just really really good.
I could not be happier. Probably going to grab their Hawk next. Amazing.
https://www.bladehq.com/item--QSP-Penguin-Liner-Lock-Knife-Jean--112271
If the blade is really D2, then that is definitely "budget" in my opinion.
A high quality knife that you really like, with a D2 blade, for $30 (or less) is very reasonable.
It's a good looking knife as well. 
I’m looking for a semi-beater sheepsfoot. How is the centering, bladeplay, lockup on your sample if I may ask?
I am pretty sure a youtuber has many of these budget knives tested, but this knife & company ( i found out recently) is supported by the knife community in a way that I am willing to bet the blade is real D2, id be mroe surprised if it wasnt. I do really like the look too, and im not crazy about knives with blades under 3.25” (usually too small for my hand) but this has a great feel in hand.
Centering = excellent (tough to get a good picture, but its spot on)
Blade play = get outta here! (there is NONE)
Lock up = Ive never known whats good, but it looks like first third of blade, and it feels Solid.
It's a nicely ground blade, thick at the spine and thin behind the edge, slices perfect.
Only thing is i will be tearing it down to clean it, as theres a little coarseness to the action, feels like it is the detent ball's (ceramic) path, oh and its on bronze and teflon washers which is cool, and interesting they used both on both sides..
Oh, and the last picture is just to show that they took the time to do a high polish on the liners. pretty nice detail i must say
Thanks @ Artiet59 !!! The pictures are awesome. Even at $30 plus shipping, it looks solid.
You’re welcome! Yea it’s a great priced knife
QSP uses Chinese D2. The heat treatment is okay but nothing to write home about.
When they first released this knife, it was $20 on Massdrop. A blade shape I like, real D2, and Micarta for $20?!? Well, it worked. That got the knife into a lot of hands and it helped to put QSP on the map. I beat the heck out of mine and it held up beautifully.
The blue jean Micarta is very attractive. If I could justify another knife in D2, I’d be all about it.
Yea I just learned about them, and I’m all in. Probably buy the Hawk next, $50 is a little steepish, but the elementum is that much so im in. I own a couple Ganzo D2 blades, and those are actually fine steel so if they’re as good as ganzo’s them I’ll be happy. And I’ll be happier to support qsp who hopefully only makes their own designs, never liked that about Ganzo.
maybe their D2 is a bit too high hardness (or it was a lemon) :smiling_imp:
As of this morning haven’t heard anything yet. Quiet as a mouse in church peeing on a cotton ball.
On the one hand, there is sage advice in “don’t pry with a knife” and “a knife is a cutting tool” but that typically applies to EDC knives. On the other hand, bushcraft and survival knives are in another class where they should be expected to be used in different ways. As a result, those kinds of knives often have different construction and use different types of steel.
While the Bison should have sufficient stock thickness at 0.165”, I don’t know how thin it gets out towards the tip. While D2 can offer decent edge retention at the right hardness, it has relatively low toughness. (Take a look at the chart below. D2 is way down on the bottom left.) So while that might be okay in an EDC folder, it seems questionable in a bushcraft or survival knife.
