Best of the $20-40 lightweights with a clip

[moonfish]

Here's one of my favorites. In the low $20. I bought the ugliest one and it was great for box opening duties. I had it for a few years liked it enough to buy another. They offer them in orange and pink now. I like the blade grind.

I bought the mini verision and it is a different story, too small, a loose pin and the tiny version of the clip won't do blue jeans or a jacket pocket.

What are your favorites in this format?

 

[wingnut86]

The Buck Lite Max Small is my favorite in that price range.

-Buck's 420 HC is really a good steel
-It's incredibly light
-Deep carry clip
-Cost me $13 & made in USA
-Nothing fancy, it just works!

 

[NonSenCe]

moonfish: umm.. how about saying what it is too? having just a picture tells me nothing.

couple of my favorites: buck vantage select. byrd raven. kershaw oso sweet.

(i think those in your pic are kabar doziers which i have heard nice things too. one of those that i think about buying.)

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I got some Kabar Special Edition XIV and XV knives from Big 5 Sporting Goods for $13 each earlier this year. I have no idea of what steel they use, but they are very well made for being that cheap. They have black G-10 handles, are half serrated folders with beefy 3.5 inch blades and oval shaped thumb holes near the spine of the blade for getting them out one handed. Of the two versions I got, one is a spear point and the other is a drop point knife. They have well built liner locks that work well and give an audible click sound when the blade is locked in place. They have strong removable clips and a torx screw at the pivot point so they can be taken apart to clean out the knife. The blade spine is the same thickness as my Spyderco Native III. I haven't been able to find these knives anywhere on the Internet to get more information about them, but so far, I have no complaints and for now, I am using one for edc.

 

[carrot]

I entered this thread about to say the exact thing you said... the KaBar Doziers are pretty much the best $20 folders out there... They are really, really good and offer an incredible value.

The Byrds are excellent knives but I'm not fond of them, as I think they are really ugly. Instead I'd put down a bit more money and get a Spyderco Tenacious or Persistence... not exactly lightweight but excellent pocketclipped knives. The Dragonfly FRN is also way up there, a great little knife for about $35.

 

[moonfish]

Nonsense, forgive my oversight. Carrot is right on. They are cheap kabar dozier. MY dad and I both like them which is a rarity. They are very thin.

I haven't tried any of the spyderco byrd series. I've looked at them a lot but not in person.

I just bought a tenacious. If I had read carrot's post first, I would have known it is a fat *******. One size bigger than my preferred pocket knife size. It looks quite nice at first impression, but kinda large for 7 day a week pocket carry imo.

One I've had a lot of time with is the Gerber EZ out. Here's someone's on utube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNu8h0d320c The regular one is delica sized and quite reasonable. I think I've had 3 of them. Lost them all, never wore one out. The downside is gerber is not cool. It's hard to find a plain edge version to buy. They've got skeletonized blades and camo handles and serrated ones but plain edge knives hard to find.

 

[NonSenCe]

ok then i thought that they looked familiar.

tenacious: its my work knife. beater which is relentlessly used. it feels like its built for heavy duty. and is very good for the price.

but yeah.. it is a fat bstrd, too heavy to really carry it all the time. ok when you KNOW that you need the strength and heft but all day.. i prefer my blades to be lighter.. i agree with youtube guy nutnfancy that edc blades should be below 4oz.
(my favorite of work edc is sog flash2. big blade minimal weight 3.1oz and deep carry clip.)

only gerber i have is the gator. (its rarely used as it goes with my fishing gear.. over there the rubber handle is nice. but it is not a one hand opener knife.. but i have had it for nearly a decade i think.. bought back then when i saw no need for single hand openers hhahha. now all i want is a spring assist!)

spyderco persistence.. looks to be a bit smaller than tena.. but the weight is so similar so i decided to pass on it when it came for sale. i rather buy a delica or salt instead. its too close to tenacious to be in different class. if it were substantially lighter then, maybe. (tena, persi and sogs are above the price cathegory anyways)

dozier for 13 dollars.. sigh.. that is just unfair! i only see them in ebay for 20 and 10 for shipping to europe. so that they seem a "reasonable" price to me even then, makes them a steal at under 15. hah.

byrd raven.. i had that.. and sold it to a friend of mine begging for a cheap pocket knife.

it was fine for its price but i knew it was not going to break thru to my edc rotation.. 1. it wasnt as sturdy as tenacious 2. it was bigger and clumsier to open than sog flash1 and twitch2 and kershaw leek which all are assisted openers. and 3. my sog flash II weighed over an oz less too.

i kinda wished it could cure me of my craving for delica.. but didnt. hah.

 

[jackthedog]

I just got a Spyderco Persistence and for $30, it's a great knife. Smooth opening and solid look. The blade isn't too large for EDC either (my personal preference). That said, I still want a Delica.

 

[flasherByNight]

I really like my persistence, but something I haven't noticed anyone mention is that it is horrible for waist band carry. The hinge side is very sharp and will jab you anytime you sit down/lean over etc. End of the day I'll have imprints that would last for hours...

I'm thinking about grinding it down.

 

[moonfish]

The first thought I had when I pulled this Tenacious out of the box was what can I do to this thing with sandpaper. I think some corners could be knocked off but I don't think it would get any prettier.

I don't put anything in my waistband because it generally sucks. You probably want it to ride real low when clipped. It'd be more comfy to make a kydex neck 1/2 sheath. It's real fun stuff to play with. Sit in a chair, knife hits the floor if the clip isn't strong enough.

Had a boker trance. Couldn't keep the thing sharp. I like thin blades but it is so deep that it's hard to utilize. Nice and thin, has a nice clip. Rides in a pocket well enough to forget it's there.

Had a delica. I have a weird gripe. Mostly good things, not physically large, feels great in my hand. Light as the dozier and as thin. The clip sticks out too far. It's easy to stick in your pocket and I won't buy a knife that isn't one hand open and close and it does both easily. I like the lock in the back. Some of the lock liners are really hard on my thumb.

The spydie clip sticks out so far that it was repeatedly ripped out of my pocket at work. I throw a castnet to catch fishing bait. The net grabbed the knife out of my pocket and it rode into the river more than 5 times! It got bent up at work. Had to take the clip off, straighten, buy a torx and locktite the clip on cause the screws don't actually hit metal. Finally the clip broke, new ones aren't real cheap, I think it was $12 to get one to my door but it's sort of a crappy design so I thought they would be a little nicer about it. Anyway, she lives in the river now unless a kid with a magnet comes along. She was kinda expensive, $50 +20 to keep the clip working. I've never broken a clip on anything else. I've lost screws on some but that's it. love/hate, etc.

 

[jimmyjames]

Tenacious...can't be beat for less than $40 delivered. It is my dress casual EDC. Blue jean Friday and every other day, the MILITARY combo edge is my EDC but that is a $100+ knife now. Anybody that walks around with a $500 EDC needs to have their head examined or they have so damn much money that losing a $500 knife just doesn't matter.

I used to have a safe full of Randall sheath knives and other makers and one day just sold them all. Wish I had kept one Randall but they have a bad habit of attracting other Randalls and making your bank balance go down.

 

[OfficerCamp]

+2 on the Tenacious, very solid knife for the money, the beautiful flat ground blade makes it worth the $30 alone.

 

[RedLED]

I would just get a Spyderco Delica even if it is a little more.

 

[hatman]

If you are considering a Delica (and they are NOT within the price range listed in this thread), you might want to wait until the new FFG's are out.

Only downside: The four new colors don't include black handles, at least not for now.

 

[Styerman]

Boker Trance , or Spyderco Delica .

Chris

 

[stockae92]

Boker Plus Hyper - just under 3", with slim and great blade profile

 

[SmurfTacular]

strongly recommend the SOG Flash II to anyone.

 

[NonSenCe]

indeed. flashII is awesome in size weight ratio. as it weighs next to nothing. and the subtle deep carry clip makes it to disappear into your pocket.. no one will know its there. assisted opener too. serrated or plain edged available. (heck gonna take it with me today now.. i was going to take the flashI or twitchII but now i talked myself to carry the bigger one.)

 

[hatman]

The flash was one of my first blades. It has a great deep pocket clip, maybe the best. But ultimately, I didn't care for it and gave it to a friend who helped me with my computer.

Then I went a little funny in the head and bought a Twitch.....I've been thinking about giving it to a cousin who does a lot of hiking and camping.....I still have it, and find myself liking it a bit better as I get more used to opening it

Bottom line, I like the Spydercos and deployment holes better than anything else I've yet to find. Must try to remember that as the reviews tempt me to buy a Dozier or mini-Dozier in that cool orange.