hey everyone david c andersen here
coming at you from the knife center and
welcome to knife aq number 13.
the knife series where i get to answer
all your questions whether they're big
or small today we got some fun stuff to
talk about
some field sharpening tips some
alternatives to the cevivie elementum
we're going to talk a bit about
the best knife steals out there let's do
it
all right folks before i get into the
questions just a quick thank you
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guys let's get into it
first question is from cyber iso
question for future video what folder do
you recommend for a fan of the cevi
elementum
with a flipper and liner lock micarta
combo
with a knife length of three and a
quarter inches or longer
budget limit 150. all right so here is
our elementum right here very popular
knife
uh because it hits a lot of things very
well you got a sub three inch blade
a price about 50 bucks ball bearings d2
nice flipper and a type of an ergonomic
hesitation use the word ergonomic
because it is flat
but a neutral handle shape that's going
to work for a lot of different hand
sizes out there
hits a lot of marks very well but if
you're looking for an upgrade from that
the first thing that comes immediately
to mind for me
are some of the versions out there of
the uh kaiser
gemini which is a ray laconico design um
a few of them do
have uh car or micarta handles including
this new one right here
with a black linen micarta that looks
really cool
and this one only comes in at 75 bucks
the blade length is
just is a little bit under three and a
quarter it's about three and an eighth
but it is a bit of a step up from that
elementum right there you get a little
bit more reach
and i think a prettier more refined
looking shape to the blade overall
and i like a full flat grind like you
have on here especially when the blade
stock is as thin as you get
and we've got n690 steel here more
stainless than the d2
may not actually hold an edge longer
i've never
put these two steels head to head myself
but it's an excellent performing steel
and it's put together exceptionally well
also liner lock like you asked for
micarta flipper yeah really really cool
knives
uh you can step up even further and get
uh titanium versions
uh i think with s35vns more so even more
upgraded
if you like the overall shape but those
don't come with
micarta handles at this point in time
and that was actually i think the um
the hardest part uh to kind of meet the
hardest part of the equation to meet
what you were looking for so i expanded
out to some non-micarta options
and this one is just over your budget at
154
but at that point from us you're getting
free shipping anyway so maybe it
balances out a little bit
but this is the lion steel cur very cool
uh rugged feeling knife in the hand and
might get you
kind of the vibes you're looking for for
an upgraded element
it's a bit of a stretch but it's a cool
knife so i want to show it to you anyway
um this was kind of the best i found or
at least in my mind as a
potential elementum upgrade with the
kind of blade length you were listening
looking for is about 3.4 inches and
we've got
sleepiner steel full flat grind a little
bit
thicker so there's more durability here
maybe than that kaiser
but you still have a decent cutting
profile g10 for the handles there are a
few different
options there's some wood options as
well inset liner lock and a flipper
crown spine crown flipper tab but it
really rockets out
quite nicely you've got a deep carry
pocket clip here on the right side wire
it is reversible but in order to
actually reverse it you actually have to
take the knife apart
not a huge deal since you'd only have to
do it once really but i've had to do
that
for a customer at one point uh on one of
these knives and in taking it apart
the back spacer here is extremely solid
and i've got
a lot of confidence in the strength of
this particular design
a little bit heavier than your elementum
this is about six ounces
just over six ounces uh so it's not a
lightweight
but it's definitely a very beefy very
cool
knife um and now for something a little
bit different
actually check out the mini presidio
from benchmade again the blade's not
quite three and a quarter inches but it
kind of in my mind makes a
compelling case for a uh a different
element or a
a higher end uh version of that similar
knife pattern
really cool these come in 123 for the
minis right now you got s30v blade steel
that drop point profile high flat grind
and what's cool about the handles here
is their cf elite which is a carbon
fiber reinforced
nylon material so it's not quite black
it's kind of graphite has some sheen to
it
and it looks pretty neat and then of
course you've got the axis lock so it's
not a flipper
but you can still do flicky stuff like
that
and it will close even quicker than any
liner lock or frame lock out there
definitely check that out as well all
right next question is from benjamin
cotesy he says
how does one sharpen a convex edge in
the field
can one rely on a ceramic rod or small
round file
so i actually answered something similar
to this way back in knife aq number one
taking care of convex edges and we're
specifically talking about
folks like philip and even or bark river
where they have a convex
geometry that comes all the way down
right to the edge there's no secondary
bevel
right there at the tip and so the short
answer is can you rely
on a a ceramic rod or a you mentioned a
file
yes you could but you probably don't
want to
it will work but you are going to alter
the
kind of the geometry of that convex
grind you'll be putting a small
secondary bevel on it with
a hard hard sharpener so what you're
going to want to do is stick to strops
and i'm going to show you some field
options since that's what you
particularly
asked about and that's not something i
specifically covered in the previous
question
so stick with strops in general there's
a couple of
field expedient options here this one is
from flex cut
it's an eight inch by two inch wood
block it's a lightweight wood so it's
not gonna weigh you down
and it's got that leather here on the
side comes in about 17 bucks
it does come with its own compound
you're going to want to load that
leather up with the compound
so that you can get a little bit of
abrasiveness you know it's a fine
abrasive but still
on the edge of that convex uh blade as
you move it back against the uh
again away from the edge i did a whole
video on stropping techniques as well so
we'll leave a link to that also
um but anyway it does come like i said
with its own
compound but you can also uh get this
pack from marbles if you wish this
runs about 14 bucks i want to say it has
various different grits
and it's got a green and a black which
are the two
that i like to use black first and then
green and you could load
half of this up with each or you could
honestly make your own strap this is a
fairly simple thing
so that's a fun project to do um the
only other thing i can think of right
now well there's a few other things
but one of the other nice things and it
is a bit expensive is this unit from
benchmade it's actually made from by
work sharp it's the edc
edge maintenance tool comes in about 50
bucks
and very easy to carry in the pockets
very field expedient
you've got a small leather strap here on
the side loaded with black compound
does have a ceramic rod there which
again i wouldn't necessarily recommend
for a convex edge
but it can be useful on some other stuff
as well so those are really cool
um barring that they're you know
for a lot of folks heading into the
outdoors you actually have a strop on
you if you're wearing a leather belt
and that works just for maintaining your
edge for simple maintenance
um but anyway check out that uh that
stropping video we did
it'll show you the whole whole nine
yards and the way you can actually turn
a strop
into a complete knife sharpening system
not just an edge finishing tool so
there you go hopefully that helps you
sir all right next one is from rebel
cause this is an interesting uh
an interesting conundrum that i've
always faced here
could you do an faq on the different
grades of steel from the lowest
to the highest in terms of edge
retention and strength
i would love to but honestly it is so
hard to even know where to begin
and i know that can be intimidating for
folks just getting into the hobby
you know even on the budget end of the
spectrum you could probably go around
the building here and
and have everyone count out all the
budget steals and we'd run out of
fingers and toes to count them all on
so i'm not sure exactly how to tackle
that if i'm quite honest without
i'm a bit of a completionist um on
things like this so
it would drive me crazy to not talk
about
you know as much as i want to talk about
it in that regard
but what i will recommend um is check
out
i don't often like to recommend a lot of
outside sites here
um but one i will is knife
steelnerds.com they've got a lot of
great
uh info on steels and they back it up
with testing and documentation as well
they're not just
you know keyboard warriors saying oh
this is better than that and this is
better than that
which actually brings us to another
point in terms of better
there's no best steel that's a misnomer
one steel is going to be really great at
this thing but really bad at another
in which case another steel is going to
be the best for that but it's going to
stink at something else so
take it as you will but that's a great
website it's not necessarily for the
faint of heart it
does get kind of technical
hopefully that helps you even though i
didn't
talk amongst yourselves discuss in the
comments anyway
thank you for the question though you've
asked it a couple times i didn't want
you to think
you were being ignored so that's why i'm
bringing it up today
all right next question is from complete
waste of internet
bandwidth you said it not me
i said he says i purchased the nice mkm
magnetic sheath but the swiss army knife
i was going to put in it is too
thick he says he likes the mkm malga but
he doesn't need the tools
um so just made it a question what swiss
army knife or other small
multi-tube will fit the mkm sheath has a
phillips bit i think the tinker will but
would prefer the super tinker
all right i haven't tested this out yet
so let's just uh let's just find out
here's that mkm magnetic sheath he's
talking about
a real nice little leather ditty has a
little spot there
to carry your sh or your small
multi-tool
and the flap on the back is magnetic so
this is not exactly a belt sheath
it's designed to slip into your pocket
and the flap sits
outside your pocket and holds via the
magnet
through the fabric of your pants really
cool little thing
here is the tinker and that definitely
and easily fits in there
no problem and i've also got a
super tinker here let's check that out
so it's one extra layer of tools there
this is the
the winter magic one that's out this
year and this will be a bit tighter
it is gonna fit though it's it'll uh
it's a bit tight at first but it's not
bad actually
um so that would work for you uh and
it'll definitely conform to the knife
over time too as you as you actually
carry it
uh so that's actually a pretty good fit
once you get over the uh
the magnet there so that gives you a
state on a standard celador
a 91 millimeter swiss army knife three
layers of tools
and just for kicks i've got our new
exclusive farmer x which is the aluminum
a locks handle
that's got four layers of tools but it's
about the it's a skosh thicker than that
super tanker so let's
just try it real quick
yeah even that's gonna work not too bad
for you that might be about
uh topping it topping out though i don't
know if you could squeeze
an extra layer in there so that's uh if
you're interested in that that might be
a good rule of thumb
a locks four layers celador three
good to go but if you want one of those
they're really nice come in
about 25 bucks all right two-part
question or uh
two questions from two different people
um that i'm going to be able to answer
at once
jack the ripper says will you please do
a knife on the best knives
the best knifes for left-handers uh and
john allison
i'm relatively new to the knife scene
have been bitten by the bug for sure
i'm sorry slash congratulations um
left-handed and never knew there were
lefty-friendly knives
oh knifes again he said knifes again
until i was introduced to the axis lock
since then i'm on a constant lookout for
other locks they're also great for
lefties
most seem to mimic the axis recommend
other knives
other knives and or locks that are good
for southpaws
yes certainly um well obviously you
already you've already seen some axis
lock stuff
um other folks that make a crossbar lock
like hogue
sog even gerber it's a great option
because
it's a completely ambidextrous system
typically they'll come with pocket clips
that are
swappable to either side and honestly
it's one of my favorite lock genres
actually probably my all-time favorite
lock genre
it's easy to use ambidextrous quite nice
but if you're looking for something
different and we will leave a link to
our we actually have a lefty section on
our website
that has not just dedicated left-hand
models like chris reeve and spyderco
especially are known for
producing dedicated left-hand models um
but actually a lot of spydercos um
work well for righties or lefties that
aren't dedicated
uh models and that's their lockback
models in fact
most lockbacks a lot of lockback models
out there will work very well
and i always use like the delica as an
example so i wanted to pull something a
little bit different this time around
that we haven't
taken a look at for a while so this is
the cali 3.5
this is a more premium model comes in
just over 220 you've got a laminated
blade with a zdp 189
core so really high edge retention going
on there
albeit not entirely stainless but that's
neither here nor there for what we're
talking about and that's
uh left hand friendliness and
again not a dedicated uh lefty model but
this is
a completely ambidextrous design because
the lock back very easy to access with
either hand
the one hand opening or what the thumb
opening hole works easily with either
hand
and we've got a reversible pocket clip
and what we try to do in that lefty
section on our website is anything like
this that's completely symmetrical from
left to the right
so that a lefty is going to have the
exact same experience as a right-hander
we make sure to include those in that
section best we can
and you'll find this in there at least i
hope you should find this in there
really cool knife
you've got a decent grip it's about
three and a half fingers here for me but
you've got that choil for choking up
really nice blade shape really good
cutting geometry and this is just
one of the uh the many spydercos that is
going to give
a good option for you lefties
now another option uh a lot of button
locks can sometimes
be good lefty options even though
they're not
dedicated for left-handers and as such
you won't find knives like this
in our lefty section but it's worth
talking about
this is the hogue x1 microflip on sale
right now actually uh while we're
filming this for just 120 which is
really nice
american-made aluminum handles cpm 154
blade
really good flipping action on top of it
but
you can access that with your left hand
pardon my
my clumsiness since i am not left-handed
um
yeah there we go more clumsy um some
this one's a little stiff but some you
can actually even flick close part way
but definitely uh not too bad for
working with your left hand
all right lastly we've got a question
from kevin reed says hello david
hello kevin i am looking for a budget
edc knife for a woman that's easy
opening and closing
and she has arthritis um
funny story uh i pulled a couple of
knives here that i thought might be cool
uh completely forgetting that you asked
for budget options so i'm sorry for that
i'll show you these in a minute but this
is another one i want to throw to the
comments section
uh any folks out there that deal with
arthritis
what do you guys look for what works for
you um
in terms of a knife that's gonna work
with your your limited uh
or your your joints with your arthritis
you know what i mean
um it's a good learning opportunity for
me as well but
i do have a couple things here to check
out um
the first is one of the new spydercos
this is the spy opera
these come in about 175 right now
just nice little edc shape sub three
inch blade m390 steel and micarta
and a lock back unfortunately this is
one of those spydercos that's not lefty
friendly because that
pocket clip is one position only but if
you don't mind that being on the wrong
side it's still easy to operate
but the reason i thought this might be a
good option is because
even though it's a lock back it's
actually a pretty easy opening knife
there's not a lot of resistance
to that opening action um as to how it's
going to work for arthritic hands that
might be a little tight i'm not sure
again looking for some feedback uh folks
but i actually have one other here
up for discussion for you folks and
that's the new
um our one of our new exclusive small
archaeos from artisan cutlery
this is a non-locking knife so there's
no worry about having to actually
disengage a locking mechanism
which could be an issue it's easy to
push it in some way closed
like so and as far as opening action the
easiest way well the easiest way for
folks without arthritis
is the flipper of course but it's not
bad to
if as long as you can still manage to
pinch you can open that blade very
easily without a whole lot of resistance
and then for extra safety you've got
that steel pin which can be
inserted there so you don't have to
worry about it closing on you so much
vg10 damascus marbled carbon fiber on
this one comes in about 120
but we've got some hundred dollar
versions with g10 and some pack of wood
as well i think that might make a good
option but again
comment section arthritic typers out
there help me out here guys
um and that's it for today's knife aq
thanks for everyone who's been
submitting their questions and if you
want to
uh you want the chance to get one of
your own questions answered in a future
installment
make sure to leave those in the comments
section as well
in the meantime we'll leave links to all
these knives down there in the comments
so you can get your hands on them if you
want
and while you're over there at the knife
center make sure you sign up for our
knife rewards program
so at least you can earn some free money
to spend on your next knife when you put
your money down on one of these
that's it for today i'm david c anderson
from the knife center signing off
don't forget to subscribe folks see you
next time
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