Best outdoor knife?

[PeterW]

OK 'best' is subjective but.....

The UK knife laws look to get tighter.... (how can they) as the young teens are hit by harder penalties for gun possession and we have some recent high profile stabbings. Gravity knives and fancy butterfly types are out. Fixed are out as are folders with blades longer than 3inch (no lockers).
OK, but if you have a good reason to have one' and you are not stupid enough to carry it around when there are too many people about then the above do not apply.

What specific knives can people recommend for the task of outdoor/survival? There seem to be too many options out there.... bit like LED lights!

I know fixed blades are preferred, but I feel they aren't so easily carried as locking folding knives. But the AXIS lock knives have been mentioned to work loose and behave like gravity knives.... BIG NO NO!!

Spyderco make a nonlocking knife but it looks mean! I would prefer a knife that doesn't look too aggressive so that people are less likely to take offence to it. I was wondering about the miniRitter or griptilian, but the possibility of it appearing to be a gravity knife are slightly concerning.

As I seem only able to blunten knives, I want one with a very good blade, so I do not need to fiddle with it. Decently robust and safe to use (my leatherman has a taste for blood!)

All ideas will be welcomed.

Cheers!

PEterW

 

[Shanghaied]

What kind tasks do you have in mind for this knife? That seems to be the most important thing to know.

Axis lock shouldn't be a problem if you like your knives nice and snug, I mean I tighten my Benchmades periodically anyway just to take out the side-to-side blade play anyway (and you'll probably do that too). So it's not like it requires much effort to tighten it every now and then...

The Spyderco looks great and has got a s30v blade, but as to if it looks mean, I think it's subjective. If the cop really wants to arrest you, a Swiss army knife will do.

Your best bet is probably a Griptilian. But check out the Fallkniven U2 as well, great blade from what I heard, under 3 inches (?), and a non-threatening lock-back. On second thought a lot the traditional lock-backs should do as well, and some of them even have the blade in nice steels (thinking of the Buck 110 in s30v I saw on cabelas.com).

Although keep in mind that most of these lock-backs are not one-hand openable, if that's important to you (probably even an advantage considering the political climate).

You should probaly even consider a small fixed blade, like the traditional Swedish Mora. It's small, easy to carry, the blade is okay for most tasks, the quality is great and it's so cheap you can just throw them away when it's time for some real sharpening.

There, hope that was a bit helpful.

 

[Skyline]

The Benchmade Axis Lock serves to keep the blade in the handle as well as keeping it locked in the open position. Yes, if you pull back the lock bar with your thumb, you CAN flick it open. However, it's not a gravity knife.

You might consider a Benchmade 705. It has a 2.95" blade and can handle anything you throw at it. It's been discontinued recently, so pick one up while you can.

If money is no object, you might also consider a Sebenza. I don't have one myself, but none can argue against the quality of these knives.

 

[Steve Andrews]

Buy a knife with a lock. If you are sensible where and when you use it you shouldn't have any problems.

I highly recommend the Benchmade Mini Griptilian series. You could tighten the Torx head of the pivot to make it less "gravityknifelike".
The 556 model in plain edge gets my vote.

You will need to sharpen any knife that you buy. A Spyderco Sharpmaker will keep your knife shave-sharp. It is very easy to use and comes with an instructional video.
You can buy both from newgraham.com. I'm not sure if they have the PAL version of the video though, I got mine from Heinnie.com

 

[glockman99]

As has been mentioned already, get a Benchmade Mini-Griptilian...The 556 is a very nice little folder that doesn't LOOK like a "combat weapon"...(Esp. if you get one with a purple, blue, or yellow handle.).

 

[rifle59]

I agree with Steve Andrews. I have a Mini-
griptilian for EDC. The Sharpmaker puts on a great edge!

 

[kakster]

Hi Peter.

If you really want to stick with a UK legal knife, you might want to take a look at this thread on BritishBlades.com.

A little bit pricey, but there's nothing even remotely similar available (and i've spent a lot of time looking).

Closest thing i can find is the Loveless city knife

 

[paulr]

Get a SAK. The Swiss Army was once the most feared mercenary force in the world. Any knife with enough gizmos for those guys is certainly capable of anything any ordinary civilian might need. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[cy]

is the one you have with you...