What's the best assisted-open combat folder for EDC?

yalskey

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I need some advice guys.

I want a very high quality assisted-open folding combat knife that I can everyday carry.

I like tanto style blades with serrated edges.

If possible, I would like this knife to be under US$200... but would consider paying more if the knife was really worth it.

Thanks for the help.
 

benchmade_boy

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i would get the new Benchmade nitrous, it is an assisted opener with G10 handles and you can get it with serration or withought and in tanto configurations for around 160.00 from Benchmade but around 110.00 or so on the enternet.

hope this helps!
 

Sharpdogs

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Check out the Camiluss models. I have the lower end model, the Heat. The Dominator models are even better.
 

VWTim

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I know it's not assisted opening but I absolutely love my Benchmade Griptilians with the Axis lock. Although if I was to get any other type of knife it would be a Emerson, I had an old Emerson/BM and it was excellent.
 

carbine15

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VWTim said:
I know it's not assisted opening but I absolutely love my Benchmade Griptilians with the Axis lock. Although if I was to get any other type of knife it would be a Emerson, I had an old Emerson/BM and it was excellent.

I know it's not assisted open or a combat knife but I like microwave popcorn. :laughing:
 

VWTim

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carbine15 said:
I know it's not assisted open or a combat knife but I like microwave popcorn. :laughing:


Well I guess it depends what you call a "combat" knife. I know that if I ever cut someone and sitting in court I'd much rather tell the jury that I was carrying my Benchmade Griptilian pocket knife "it's grippy like that so I can hold it when my hands get dirty cleaning fish" Then when I have to tell them I'm using the new Ninja Kill 'em all combat SEAL knife :-D

And if they're both sharp they do the same things. Axis knifes are also about as fast as any assisted opener around.
 

yalskey

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So is SV30 pretty much the best of the best blade material?

I bet I just opened up a can of worms on that one. Probably something like... "Well, it all depends" type of answer.

Don't you wish there was always a linear scale of worst to best so decisions wouldn't be so damn hard :)

I just picked up a Leatherman Charge TTi and it has a SV30 blade... the other Charges have 154CM blades... didn't know which one was better... all I knew was I liked the Titanium handles :)
 

ghostrider

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yalskey said:
So is SV30 pretty much the best of the best blade material?

I bet I just opened up a can of worms on that one. Probably something like... "Well, it all depends" type of answer.

Don't you wish there was always a linear scale of worst to best so decisions wouldn't be so damn hard :)

I just picked up a Leatherman Charge TTi and it has a SV30 blade... the other Charges have 154CM blades... didn't know which one was better... all I knew was I liked the Titanium handles :)
No such thing as "The best blade material". A lot of people like the 154CM and it's used in a lot of top production knives (Benchmade, Emerson, and Microtec come to mind).

If your looking for the best assisted opening combat folder, then again there is no such animal however, you should definitely check out the Emerson Wave. It's the fastest knife out there with the exception of maybe the Spyderco's that have the Emerson Wave.
 

yalskey

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Thanks guys...

I just ordered the Emerson CQC-7B SFS Mini on eBay for US$100. It was a pretty good deal and this seems to be a great knife.

Is the WAVE feature actually spring-loaded? Because I saw a little hook where the thumb screw normally is... I'm think this would catch on my pants and make the knife open up... but I hope it's also assisted with some spring action with it.
 

RCatR

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The wave isn't spring loaded, but it doesn't matter. As soon as your knife is our of your pocket, it's open.
 

blake711

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RCatR said:
The wave isn't spring loaded, but it doesn't matter. As soon as your knife is our of your pocket, it's open.
IS the thumb part grabbing onto your pocket to open itself? If so does it do any damage to your pants?
 

ghostrider

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blake711 said:
IS the thumb part grabbing onto your pocket to open itself? If so does it do any damage to your pants?
That's how it works. As far as excessive wear goes, I find that most of my knives wear on the pocket, and I've noticed others have the same problem. You don't have to wave the knife every time you deploy it so you can save on wear that way. I would imagine that it would wear fasster on the pocket, but it also opens faster than just about any other knife out there.
 

yalskey

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blake711 said:
IS the thumb part grabbing onto your pocket to open itself? If so does it do any damage to your pants?


Yeah!!! That's what I want to know.

I kinda pissed that it isn't spring loaded, because that is what I wanted... but if taking it out of my pocket makes it deploy that's fine too... but would it do it with sweat pants? dress slacks? or just jeans / tight pants?

I don't want to engrain a survival conditioned response that doesn't include me deploying my knife and have the thing not deploy for me... in other words, I don't want to get used to or rely on something that may not work all the time.

With a spring loaded knife, I get in the habit of deploying the blade myself so I know that's what I would do by reaction. I just don't know about this... maybe I should hold off judgment until I try it out for a while.
 

Coop

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blake711 said:
IS the thumb part grabbing onto your pocket to open itself? If so does it do any damage to your pants?

It has a disc shaped thumbstud for norman onehand opening. It also has the wave (the hook thingie) that does indeed grab onto the pocket. I usually wear Wrangler Texas jeans, and use the wave multiple times a day, after a year its starting to show some minor wear at the corner of the pocket. I wouldn't try it on your dress pants though. Practicing your wave-technique will also help to reduce wear a lot. Also, if the knife is just partially opened (even if the point of the blade just 2mm out) it will only take a light flick of the wrist to open it and lock the blade.

Take a look at the emerson website for some demo movies of waved knives opening:

http://www.emersonknives.com/EK_Video_Vault.html
 
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cy

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EDC is a Strider SMF.

my personal test is.... can it skin a deer? including chopping through tail bone. will knife stay sharp enough to skin several deer?

how's the grip when wet with deer guts? do ya gotta baby the knife? is the clip strong enough to be secure deep in the woods?

how's the balance in a spinless throw? can you flick open knife in an instant?

Strider SMF passes all these tests with flying colors! a little more than your budget, but you may get lucky and find a used strider.

strider smf.JPG
 

gorn

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VWTim said:
Well I guess it depends what you call a "combat" knife. I know that if I ever cut someone and sitting in court I'd much rather tell the jury that I was carrying my Benchmade Griptilian pocket knife "it's grippy like that so I can hold it when my hands get dirty cleaning fish" Then when I have to tell them I'm using the new Ninja Kill 'em all combat SEAL knife :-D

And if they're both sharp they do the same things. Axis knifes are also about as fast as any assisted opener around.

I don't care what a knife is called. If I ever had to defend myself because I used a knife on someone I wouldn't play games over a name. I would just tell the court what the badguy did that forced me to have to use a knife on him.
 
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