Hey everyone, David C. Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter and welcome to
KniFAQ number five the series where I answer all your knife questions big or small. Today
we've got some cool stuff to talk about talking about some big cheap flippers. Some talk about
sharpening and factory edges and even some bushcraft gear recommendations. Let's do it.
Before we jump in, I just want to remind everyone if you want to ask your own question for the
series, make sure to leave it in the comments. And maybe we'll maybe we'll feature it in
a future episode. First question today comes from D Doutt. He says a co worker is looking
for a $50 or less knife, preferably Made in USA but not necessarily likes a flipper and
has larger than average hands. So that's actually a pretty difficult list of things to try and
satisfy. A large made in the USA flipper for $50 or less is pretty slim pickings. The only
one that really comes to mind to me is the buck Vantage series. These are these do come
in just under 50 bucks, right at 50 bucks, I think two sizes. The larger one, of course,
isn't super large though, as everyone on this channel is probably used to hearing me say
I have slightly larger than average hands. I have just barely enough on this handle to
get a full grips. If you have really big bear paws might be a little on the smaller side.
Still a good knife design overall, though, definitely has one of my most favorite pocket
clips in the industry on any knife. It's mounted here from the back nice and deep carry and
it's reversible, just real elegant way to do a reversible deep carry pocket clip. The
flipping action on these I will say however, has never been known as the best that usually
takes a little bit of wrist, wrist action to get it to open fully between that and the
slightly smaller size here. And again, it is a full size knife. But if you have really
big hands might be a little too small. So I've got a couple other recommendations instead.
First one going right to the extreme, I've got the CRKT M-21. This version right here
also $49.95. So right under that $50 Mark, and this one should definitely have plenty
of handling, even for for big hands out there. I do give up American made construction with
this. But it isn't American company at least blade on this. almost four inches 3.875 steel
is decent, eight cr 14 m o v. Now the flipping action on these is really good. Some of the
the less expensive versions of this or have the M 16. don't always have the best action
either. But this one quite good. One thing you'll notice here also, we've got an Auto-Lawks
safety, it's essentially just a secondary lock that prevents the liner lock from being
disengaged, you do have to pull that back in order to disengage the liner lock can be
a little bit tricky until you get used to it. But I know some folks like to just kind
of disable that and have a more conventional liner lock. But this is a really cool option
for that in that price range. And one more to show you though it's a little bit smaller.
This is the Civivi Praxis. And I actually pulled the wrong one when I pulled it off
the shelf. This is one of the more expensive versions with a Damascus blade. But you can
get this with a stainless 9 cr 18 mov blade for about $42.50. And I know that's a big
string of numbers. But essentially, that'll give you kind of 440 c levels of performance
blade on this 3.75 a little bit smaller of a handle here, I'll hold it up next to that
CRKT so you can see the difference. But definitely gives you a good amount to hold on to I've
got a pretty full grip myself. But it's just a really good knife design overall. Civivi
puts their stuff together really well. You always get a nice fine edge, and you've got
ball bearings in the pivot as well, which is something only in the last couple years
we've been starting to see in this sub $50 price range. But the reason I wanted to mention
this also, even though slightly on the smaller side from that m 21. is if you kind of want
the best that you can get in the sub $50 range. It's probably one of these Civivis or the
CJRB is out there that you want to look at. Alright, our next question comes from David
Crohn. He says what should what should you do with an edge that's new from the factory
and kind of sharp but not really strop? reprofiled? Thanks. Thanks for the question, David. I've
got to say there's almost never a time where stropping a good or even decent edge can't
improve it. And that's even the case with factory edges. So yes, I would definitely
strop the edge first. That's going to go a long way to refining whatever the factory
has done, and maybe getting it a little bit better. If that's not quite doing what you
need. You can add a little bit of wet dry sandpaper to that on top of your strap to
kind of bring that Burr back when you're like an actual sharpening process. I actually did
a video on stropping we'll leave a link to that will give you a good idea of how to handle
that. If you need
If none of that works, then yeah, I would go to go to reprofile, but hopefully stropping
will take care of everything you need. In terms of reprofiling, you can use something
like the guidance systems like the K me or the wicked edge, those do a really good job.
As for me, I actually use my knife grinder most of the time, but you probably don't have
a knife grinder. Before I had that, however, it was a really big fan of the Ken Onion work
sharp with the blade grinding attachment really makes quick work of reprofiling jobs, but
just make sure you practice with a less expensive knife that you know you don't care quite so
much about. Before you put your more expensive knives on there. Just make sure you're comfortable
with the system. As for a good quality strap, I do feature this in that video, I always
like to recommend the JRE Industries Industries strop bat this one's still wrapped up. But
these are really nice. They're made in the USA for just 35 bucks hand turned from a single
piece of wood. And then four pieces of leather each already are three of them impregnated
with your strapping compound already, and then a final bare piece of leather for the
last step. To put that final, final refined edge on there. Love this thing, it's really
a really good price, especially when you consider the quality. And
even if you have never stopped before even if you use any other type of sharpening system,
get a good strop and do that at the end of whatever you do for your normal sharpening
routine. Bonus suggestion for you guys for talking about factory edges. There's a few
out there. A lot of companies do really good factory edges. But if I get I've gotten asked
before, who I think does the best. And I got to say Hogue I think takes the cake, they
do a really nice convex edge. It's highly refined. And I've almost never picked up a
home that wasn't absolutely hairsplitting sharp right out of the box. close second Cold
Steel actually which kind of surprised me too. There's always exceptions to everything,
but I think on their folders, they do a real consistently good job. Alright, this next
question was emailed to us from James. He says he needs some recommendations. I'd like
to get an intro bushcraft fixed blade between 40 and 75 bucks. He's done some research and
has a list and wanted a recommendation. He's got lots of condors in his list, but he also
asked, I don't know how much or I don't know much about 1075 compared to things like 440
C, and D 2 any thoughts would be helpful.
I'll adress the the steel question first. I think honestly, if you kind of want the
full bushcraft experience, quote unquote, whatever that means, go for a simpler carbon
steel. For one thing, they're going to be easier to maintain easier to care for than
something like 440 C or D two, especially if you're out in the out in the field and
needing to do some re sharpening. Now the edge retention on 440 C or D two is probably
going to be better than 1075 or 1095 should be better. But the 1095 is going to give you
more toughness and on something that's going to have a Scandi grind like a bushcraft knife,
you probably want a little bit more toughness especially behind the edge on on that style
of knife trade off. Of course, the edge won't last as long on the carbon steel. And it will
be of course prone to corrosion or rust, but kind of learning to take care of your tools.
Maintaining the edge keeping them protected from the elements is all part of the kind
of self reliant mentality that bushcraft really espouses. So if you want the quote unquote
full experience, simple carbon steel is definitely the way to go. The other advantage you're
going to get from a carbon steel, at least a simple carbon simple alloy carbon steel
is if you have some naturally occurring Flint, you can actually strike a spark with the blade
of your knife and it's something that cut more complex alloys usually can't do very
well or even at all and that's especially true of a stainless steel knife. I'm not talking
about a ferro rod, or the ferrocerium rod or fire steel that you can strike with a sharp,
crisp spine which a lot of bushcraft knives have any crisp edge can actually do that.
You don't need a carbon steel to do that. But now down to my recommendation for a beginner
bushcraft knife. The Condor, Condor pterosaur just a little bit over 40 bucks at this point
in time. Yeah, $42.50. Right now is a fantastic choice. It may not be as sexy as some of the
kind of wood handled versions out there, but it's very durable. You've got a full tang
blade of 1095 carbon steel.
Not quite as tough as 1075 but it will hold an edge a little bit longer. But good length
just over four inches good thickness at about an eighth of an inch and just a solid design.
It's going to fit a lot of different hand sizes very well. And you got a great shaped
blade for pulling off those bushcraft tasks.
It's even got a really nice sheath, pops right in there. It's very resistant to water. You
have a little bit of a leather bit here. But it's ambidextrous can go on either side of
the body doesn't take up a lot of room. It's just a really nice package for not a lot of
money at all. All right, our next question is from DeadMansHand A's8's
KnifeCenter I know you do some bushcrafting What is your go to camp saw? Got the Silky
171 or something a little bit bigger? Could you help me out? Absolutely. And for me,
silky bush or what the heck is this called Silky Big Boy 2000 full stop. I gotta say
I've never really been satisfied with any kind of handheld saws until I got a silky
they're just super fast cutting highly efficient. They just work so so well, I mean, you've
already got a smaller silky so you know what I'm talking about. The reason I like the big
boy is it's got a good bit of reach here. It's about a 14 and a half inch blade, I think.
Yeah, just over 14 inches of teeth on this, but it still folds up small enough that you
can fit it in the pack. And this is about as large as you can get from silky until you
get to the big Katana boy series of saws but those are big two handed affairs and they're
significantly more expensive than this. This is only about 70 bucks right now. A lot of
people do like to call those Katana boys kind of human powered chainsaws. And it's really
not that big of an exaggeration. I've actually got some old video of a blade sports competition
cutter going head to head versus a silky Katana boy chopping through a two by four versus
sawing through it. And the silky actually beat him every single time. It's really impressive.
But the design of these teeth is just phenomenal. It's a Japanese style saw so it only works
on the pull stroke so you're not actually pushing in that they don't get gummed up.
I've never had the the teeth of these ever get gummed up it gets it does a real good
job of clearing the sawdust. It locks into the open position. It's got a secondary position
for stuff where you need to go like close to the ground or at some sort of odd angles.
It's just going to work every time and I never go out into the woods without mine. Alright,
next question from Brett P he says I'm new to the knife world. What are your thoughts
on a pull through sharpener for field sharpening? field sharpening specifically says Do you
have any suggestions for beginners for maintaining an edge when camping or out and about pull
through sharpeners kind of it's they're kind of a mixed bag for me. Yes, they are field
expedient. They're very quick and easy to use. But they're not really good for your
edges long term they they remove a lot of metal and they don't leave the most refined
edge. You do a lot better if you get a little bit of practice in for that reason. Check
out our whetstone sharpening video and that strop sharpening video I mentioned earlier
and get yourself one of these WorkSharp guided field sharpener. These are made in the USA
they're a pretty good price just 30 bucks right now. And you may you know you can certainly
find cheaper sharpeners out there but there is a lot to this particular mechanism. You've
got two different grits of diamond plating here are diamond plated sharpeners here, Diamond
plated... Diamond Coated you know I mean, these plates actually are removable is removable
as well. So you can clean them a little easier. But they also come with angle guides here.
So if you're using a more traditional beveled knife, you can actually lay your your knife
on that bevel and use it as a guide. Of course, if you're using something like a Scandi grind,
you're just going to lay that bevel flat on the stone and ignore those guides. But that's
the that's where you would start on these diamond abrasives then you can transition
to this ceramic rod at the top that has a few different sections there. Again, angle
guides here to help you out. And then on the bottom, it's even got a strip of leather loaded
with black compound as a strop. So you have pretty much everything you need in a pocket
sized package to take out with you in the field. If it's a little bit a bit too big
for your pocket, it's definitely easy to find space for that in your pack have also got
a small little ceramic section out here. There's a lot you can do with this. Just learn how
to use it. Alright, last but not least, we've got something from Adam Foster. Here he says,
Queation: how many more knives will I need to buy before I'm satisfied and girls like
me? Right now I'm an empty shell of a man with a few nice knives to chicks dig swords.
That's all the time we've got today for knife aq number five. Love to hear what you thought
of my answers down below in the comments. And if you got one of your own questions,
make sure to leave it below as I said, and maybe we'll be able to feature it in a future
installment. If you want to get your hands on any of these cool pieces. We will leave
links in the description and those will take you over to knifecenter.com. While you're
over there, make sure you sign up for our knife rewards program too because you got
to buy one of these cool items. Might as well earn some free money to spend on your next
one. David C. Andersen from the KnifeCenter Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already
and leave your questions below. See you next time.