New to AO “pocket” folding knives,” but bought a Kershaw OSO Sweet on a whim and love it.
Budget $50 - $100. Much prefer traditional modified drop point shape. Blade coatings not important.
Started search for an AO plain edge with a slightly smaller (less than 3”) blade and quickly got swamped in the brands: CRKT, Kershaw, Benchmade, etc. Much prefer traditional modified drop point shape.
The budget is limiting, but you flashlight folks on BLF seem to find the best values at any price range. Heck, I’ve bought ~ 6 lights based on your recommendations and opinions!
As I’m just beginning my obsessive collection (Is there any other kind?) of AO folders, I’m thinking of trying a few different brands to compare/contrast to Kershaw.
Any non-Kershaws recommended within the above parameters?
In the lower end of the market Ganzo G620
around $9 from FastTech. I bought one in each colour/blade coating. The Damascus is printed on but the black bladed ones are well coated. They work well as Assisted Openers, just a few openings and closings had mine working well. Easy to strip and re-assemble if needed as well.
I have a Buck QuickFire that is a solid knife, the plastic the scales are made from it definitely not up to G-10 standard. Shown as out of stock at Buck but you’d do better on price at a knife store anyway.
Sog have a couple of AO in their line-up that are supposed to be good but I haven’t tried them.
I also have a Kershaw Chive, very fast opener with the SpeedSafe mechanism, Kershaw have it well sewn up in the affordable AO category.
