hey everyone David C Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter
today we're gonna do something a little bit different and we're gonna be taking
a look at some of my favorite knives from 2018 let's check it out so first up
is my pick for favorite new budget folding knife and it's the ESEE expat
knives Medellin what's really cool about this knife is it's the ESEE 3 blade shape
in a very easy to carry folding knife it's made in Taiwan with some excellent
AUS-8 stainless steel the frame lock makes it nice and slim and the deep carry
pocket clip makes it very easy to carry either tip up or tip down depending on
your preference my pick four favorite high-end folding knife for this year is
the lionsteel sr-22 flipper the sr-22 is the smaller version of the SR-11 which
is essentially a flipper version of Lion Steel's infamous SR one there's a lot of
cool things going on with this knife first and foremost is the integral
construction the handle itself is made out of a single piece of titanium with
milled holes here in the back there's also versions with anodized aluminum
handles but the titanium is just extra special the flipping action is great and
we have a very usable and versatile drop point blade the steel is Sleipner
ensuring tons of edge retention and the edge itself is nicely convexed for great
slicing performance another great feature with this knife
which is a lion steel staple is the rotoblock safety with a simple twist of
this disc right here you've locked the lock bar in place offering redundant
systems for keeping that blade open the final cherry on top with this knife is
an excellent deep carry pocket clip as well as a glass breaker on the pommel
next up is the category of most improved and hands-down my favorite this year is
the buck 110 and 112 folding hunters these are fully modern renditions of
some of bucks most famous designs and they're optimized for the way most
people carry their knives today the base models of these knives feature bucks
famous 420hc steel and nylon handles but if you step up to the pro model you get
your choice of either black g10 or a couple different colors of micarta for
the handles as well as s30v blade steel they've also
modified the blade shape just a little bit from the classic 110 and 112 with
more of a straight clip as opposed to the Halfmoon clip you also get a nice
strong deep carry pocket clip to complete the package overall this is a
great improvement on a classic design that we think compares well to
competitors such as the Spyderco Endura and delica moving on to my favorite new
fixed blade from 2018 is the KA-bar BK62 Becker Kephart what's really
appealing about this knife to me is it's a direct link to the Past this is as
close of a reproduction as you're ever gonna be able to get of the classic
Kephart knife modeled after the only existing five-inch Kolk lesser brothers
Kephart that's still known to exist which belongs to Ethan Becker the steel
is Ka-bar's excellent 1095-c V with a stonewashed finish it's full flat ground
for slicing performance and a swedge running along the entire length of the
spine to aid in the efficiency the scales on this knife are made of walnut
and the tang itself is actually tapered which helps maintain the excellent
balance and lively nature of this knife next up we come to Best in Show and this
is my favorite folding knife that was released in 2018 the ZT 609 by RJ Martin
the cool thing about this knife is I think that it is sized perfectly for my
EDC needs it features a machined titanium handle with gold anodization
looks fantastic with some really cool texture on it and the clip point blade
has a ton of style and compliments that handle very nicely CPM 20 CV blade steel
means it can absolutely perform and overall I think this is a fantastic
gentleman's knife option from zero tolerance so there's been a lot of great
knives that came out this year these are just my favorites but how about you guys
do you like what I picked if not tell us what your favorites would be down below
in the comments in the meantime if you want to get your hands on any of these
knives click the link in the description below to head on over to knifecenter.com