Budget Knife Tutorial?

Would someone be willing to write a 'Sticky' for newbies to budget knives (and perhaps knives in general)? I was about to PM our dear leader about the idea, when it occurred to me I don't know of anyone yet who'd even be up to it. So, even if it wouldn't be stickied (I have no doubt the forum owner would mind, though), I think it would be a great benefit to us knife newbies who are 'behind the curve'. I'm overwhelmed when I read you guys discuss features and so many models. It was the same way when I got into flashlights! Some kind soul could save a lot of peoples' time and teach us "what you wish someone would've told you when you were getting into knives".

Some ideas for the post:

- 'recommended'/popular models (and why, including price, what are knock-offs, etc.)

- 'recommended' dealers/sites

- different types of knives (assisted opening, etc)

- popular features and common jargon/vocabulary/terms

- types of metal: what's good, what's bad, what are myths (i.e. I heard hard metal doesn't necessarily equal strong?, damascus steel, stainless, carbon steel, ???)

- legal issues of primary concern, and 'realities' (gets through customs half the time, ok for home but not walking around, etc); I realize this latter part may be a group effort due to the many countries represented

The problem is that it is a HUGE topic (especially since this is a flashlight forum!). Take a few quick looks at bladeforums.com and you will see what I mean; style, composition of the blade, shape of the blade, there are so many variables. Not to mention do you want to look strictly at folders or are you interested in military type blades as well, or Bowie knives?

You could read bladeforums.com for a week and still have a ton of questions about various knives.

What he said .

Something that involved = bladeforums.com Down ATM as its being upgraded ...

As they said....

It's such a huge topic... What's good to me maibe crap to you... and vice versa.

It depends on so many things.

For example: in my country, if a blade get's verified in Customs, it has to be thoroughly evaluated by the police. It's a 100€ exam... if it is not in the normal gun law... (more than 10cm bevel lenght, but this depends how they measure it... ) It's such a big ordeal, that i believe it's better to not do a tutorial.

Nevertheless, i can put a link to a page that has a very nice description of knife steels: zknives

But, if they are not properly tempered, even if the steel is good, it will be a crappy blade.(eg)

It's like flashlights. 2 equal from the same seller=2 different lights...

BTW, I have not had very good luck with the cheap Chinese lights, of which I have had 3 or 4, not a lot.

But there is something about a good knife when you handle it that is worth paying for. The heft of the knive, the feel of the hilt, etc. My feelings for a good knife are more in line with feelings about art rather than the tool. It is more emotional than practical, not sure I described that correctly, but when you handle a well-made knife it elicits a positive emotion, more so than just rational appreciation.

I don’t know anything about knives but I learned enough on the budget knife dealers thread to order a Ganzo G704 for my son and a Sanrenmu 909 for myself. We will see how much I learned when they get here. The guys on that thread put a lot of info and good links in there.

I'd be happy to start working something up. It'll be point by point, of course and it'll likely take me a long time but I'm on medical leave over the summer - I've got nothing BUT time for the next few months.

Maybe it would be enough to make an external links compilation. I think that most of the stuff is posted somewhere else, but maybe not in 1 place, but more like 10. I myself just got recently into the world of knives, so I have no long term experience with them except with my swiss army knife. I asked Mr. Admin for that "GEAR" category, because cheap Chinese knives and MTs are often treated in blade/multi-tool forums like cheap Chinese flashlights are treated on CPF. You know what I mean. ;-) I think we are already stretching the patience of Mr. Admin and some users (who are not interested in knives) a bit, especially if we now make a full blown general knife thread.(budget/non-budget , fixed/folding) Not that I wouldn't like to read/post there or read what jekostas has on his mind. The Budget knives dealers thread covers most of the good chinese brands.

The thread is mostly my fault. But the thing is knives are a tool not a weapon (can be used as one however) and it is perfectly reasonable to have some as EDC. It's no more than a tool if the state of mind of the user is not questionable. A great companion along with a flashlight for outdoors most certainly. Perhaps a multitool if not jsut a knife. BLF is dedicated to budget flashlights i see no harm done if we keep it civilized and not transform it into a BKF. Keeping it small with 2-3 threads about seems the way to go since some were bothered about how to remove knvies section in the main page from showing. If we can keep knives into 3 threads like:

1. Budget knife dealers

2. My new knife

3. Knife reviews

That would probably be well enough for the slight main theme deviation to have an impact on BLF main goal.

Along with:

Random cheap gear flashaholics carry around

But we may ask our admin for approval if he thinks it is reasonable to keep the knives in a otherwise not heavily related great forum.

There is quite an interest in knives lately by our truly flashaholics. Would be not surprised if someone registers just fro knives since we are being still gentle and not overy technical to an extreme degree yet.

Sounds like a great idea. Don't you love it when a plan comes together? Smile

I am very interested in reading what jekostas and others have to say on the subject of knives. I think it is a very large subject though. Perhaps it could be approached one small piece at a time, such as a post on types of steel, a particular style of blade or different themes for a collection. One area I would enjoy learning more about is the different locking mechanisms and their advantages or disadvantages.

Alright, these are my thoughts for sections so far, feel free to add some thoughts. Since I have some time today, I thought I'd get started.

1. Types of knives

2. Locking mechanisms

3. Blade and grind styles

4. Primer on steels and composition

5. Handle materials

I'm going to have to stay away from legal issues because it's an area I have no expertise in. While I understand quite clearly the legal issues surrounding knife ownership in Canada, these laws vary significantly country to country, and even region by region in those countries (the US is a prime example).

This picture of a folding knife's anatomy should help newbies because it definitely helped me.