i have spent countless dozens of hours reading about flashlights and that is where my interest is. i’m not personally a knife carrier, but i want to buy 1-2 knives to give as a gift. I do not have the time to justify spending dozens of hours reading about knives just to buy 1-2 to give as a gift. I hope that justifies the reason for lack of effort to figure it out on my own.
the person receiving the gift knives currently carries 2 types of knives. 1 is a knife built into a carrabiner, he carries it clipped to a pants belt loop. the other knife looks like something military tactical that has a clip that screws into the side of the knife using allen wrench bolts. take the bolts out and the clip comes off.
those are the 2 types of knives that i’d like to buy as gifts, must be affordable. hopefully not more than $20 per knife if that is possible.
the 2 knives he currently owns are substandard quality, i think he bought them on ebay for something like $5 each. I’d like to get him the same type of knives but better quality.
Knives are very much oriented to what they are used for. Without knowing the giftee's use case it is hard to make a recommendation. Picking a cheap one from DX or other large site can be a crap shoot unless you have a specific recommendation. My suggestion is to go to Exduct.com and look at some of their stuff. They have a lot that will fit your budget, even with shipping. If you stick with an SRM, Enlan or Navy knife you can't go far wrong quality wise. What ever you choose will likely be a nice step up from an ebay $5 special.
I use a Cold Steel Bushman, it’s a cheap and durable knife. I bought it after watching a review by a guy that used to torture tests knives and he pretty much gave it a top notch review that beat some of the most expensive knives. You can use it as a spear or just to cut any food attop a tree by attaching it to a stick.
Only negative I’ve found with the knife is that it’s carbon steel, so the edge rusts easily (nothing a little oil can’t fix), and the handle is slippery (I used a bike foam handlegrip on it, but I’ve seen people use paracord and tennis raquet covers)