The Perfect EDC Knife

[Sam Gamgee]

When I was a kid in the 80s I collected knives. At one point I probably had close to 100. While some were junk, some were quite nice and expensive for the time. My favorite was a small, curved butterfly knife by “Valor.” I carried that thing everywhere and can’t believe I lost track of it. In fact, I lost track of the entire collection along the way. Some got broken, some given away, some stolen, etc. All gone.

The best place near me back then was the tobacco shop in the old Golden Triangle mall in Denton, Texas. I’m pretty sure it was a Tobacco Lane. They had the big wooden Indian and lots of knives and throwing stars (they were popular back then) in the glass case. The place always smelled great and they’d let us kids hang out in there all we wanted. But you had to be 18 to buy a butterfly knife (my grandfather got mine as I pointed at the right one). That’s also where my grandfather bought his pipe and tobacco.

Man, such times and such memories! Makes me sigh and long for those days when the world was a lot less insane than it is now.

 

[Bengel]

Two new ones

 

[Sobrbiker]

Benchmade Griptilian-going on twenty years of hard use every day and still going strong. I am hard on this knife, and a little attention with a good stone brings it back to shaving sharp every time. The color on the blade if worn ceracoat from when I was coating rifles for a buddy 12yrs ago.

EDC means just that.

 

[Lumbridge]

I like my Kershaw Link, black plastic handle. I also have an older Gerber Paraframe, probably around 20 years old, that I still carry sometimes.

 

[orvet]

I have been a knife collector for 40 years and really into it for the last 20 years. I also collect pipes, I probably have 60 or 70 pipes but I have far more knives. I stopped counting how many knives I had when I reached 2000+
I really didn't want to know how many I had, that way I could honestly tell my wife I don't know how many knives I own!
It's great to see our members here posting some good quality knives! Being in Oregon and having managed a Cutlery store here I am familiar with all the names mentioned so far.
Benchmade makes awesome products, though I'm not sure how many Benchmades I have, I probably have at least a couple dozen, five or six of those are Griptilians or variations in the Griptilian line.

Kershaw also makes outstanding knives, especially those made in Oregon and the ones made in Japan. I am very fond of the Kershaw Leek and probably have a dozen or more variations, and usually one is in my pocket. I'm also quite fond of Kershaw's Wild Turkey and the newer ones, (circa 2006) with titanium frames and ATS-34 blades. I probably have close to a dozen of those as well.

Gerber also makes some outstanding knives and I have quite a few of their older knives, pre1986, and some of their newer knives also.

Al Mar, designed some of Gerber's best-selling knives, before opening his own company. He designed the knives and they were made for him in Japan and in the 1980s they were probably the best quality production knives on the market. Their fit and finish was better than many custom knives. I also have a number of Al's knives but generally only carry them on special occasions, do primarily to the fact that they have become ridiculously expensive, especially those made prior to 1992 when Al died.
I will have to take some pictures some of my favorites and post them.

 

[burleybreath]

I have a dresser drawer full of knives, ranging from snakewood Laguioles, to unused Great Eastern slipjoints, to the usual flippers, to sheath knives, to a friggin' WW II Kukri. Call it a banality, but the only one I consider an Every Day Carry is this one. I use it every day for something. The rest just kind of sit there in the drawer, looking stupid.

 

[orvet]

Here are some of my Kershaw EDCs. This grouping are all Leeks.
The top what is the standard metal handle with a partially serrated blade . The third one has a Damascus steel blade.
The fourth one down is a black handle with a fine Edge blade. The 5th and 6th knives have the black handle, each that's a partially serrated blade, with two different styles of serration.
The bottom one has the carbon fiber handle.

 

[Sam Gamgee]

We have three sons and one of them is about to turn 18 this week. We like to do a manly gift to commemorate their 18th and give them something to remember it by. Here is what I picked out: Benchmade Mini Bugout in matte black. We got our first son a Benchmade as well. Really good knives!

 

[orvet]

Benchmade's Mini Bugout is a nice size EDC, I'm sure your son will be happy with it. That's one I have considered recently, just haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Here are some of my Benchmade EDCs.
A tanto Griptillian, 2 Mini Griptillians, a 940 and a sheepfoot slip joints with S30V steel.

 

[kanaia]

 

[instymp]

Kershaw Leek, used everyday.

 

[Scottmi]

Spyderco Delica smooth S30V blade was my beloved EDC since the 90s..lost one, got another..it went overboard a couple years ago while sailing. Sadly they discontinued the Delica so replaced it with a Spyderco SALT folder with their H1 marine stainless (pictured-I dyed the yellow handle) to try something different. Not a particular fan of serrated for various reasons (including defensive legal reasons) and MISS the S30V steel and smooth edge.

 

[genesis]

Got tired of the abysmally bad quality benchmade is putting out today, and tired of the stiffer, washer based action any of my 7 chris reeve knives offered for edc use, i went ahead and bought a few shirogorovs. Been very happy edcing em for a while now. Medford is a racist thumb, so i wont own his junk, and marfione is nothing but an egomaniacal ip thief, so my usa made options were limited. (Not huge into button locks, so protech was off the table, and my one experience with a hinderer xm18 wasnt positive, so i didnt want to repeat that.) I have tons of other knives, from all over the world. I find shiro and Arno Bernard to be the most consistently high quality. Zt is nice, but most of em dont call to me. I only have 1, which, is admittedly, very nice. A lot of the chinese knife makers are making extremely nice knives for the money, and have been tested to reliably be the materials claimed, and properly heat treated as well. (Dont know orncare much about the fakes they make, as i dont buy em)

 

[Briar Lee]

My son gave me a 1959 production Belgian Browning Auto Five Magnum Twelve his friend owns for me to clean.

The first time I saw and cleaned that shotgun I was 27 years old and his grandfather brought it to my office where I employed his grandmother.

It is a privilege and honor, to take a special set of screwdrivers and look inside those. What’s wrong is the bolt return springs need refreshed, every generation of owners or two, and I own a bunch of springs.

When Christ comes to gather His sheep, all the pre salt wood long tang round knob Belgian made Auto Fives will still be working, if you can buy ammo for them.

Maybe if you took one to Argentina and shot it literally a million times at doves it might need some parts, but they won’t wear out.

To make that gun in Belgium today, to the same quality standards, might cost five or ten thousand dollars. Nobody would buy one.

I own a three inch Benelli Montefeltro with a walnut stock that sells new for a thousand dollars and it will last as long as a 1959 Browning Mag Twelve.

My Montefeltro is a 1992 gun and the return spring is fine, plus mine gobbles up any shell sold at Walmart and likes it, except the Roman candle length 3 1/2” shells.

When it comes to shotguns and good pocket knives we are living, in the good old days, right now.

 

[troutface]

Sadly they discontinued the Delica

Spyderco hasn't discontinued the Delica. I count no less than 12 versions in their 2024 product guide. Here's mine in K390.

 

[Scottmi]

Spyderco hasn't discontinued the Delica. I count no less than 12 versions in their 2024 product guide. Here's mine in K390.
View attachment 282032

That’s great news! I think they were not doing them at the time I was looking? it made me very sad I could not replace for same at the time.

 

[troutface]

You can still get a version in S30V, but it only comes in a pink handle. Hello dye job ! If you're around salt water you should get a Salt model in Magnacut or LC200N, which are vastly better steels than H1 or H2. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Scottmi]

You can still get a version in S30V, but it only comes in a pink handle. Hello dye job ! If you're around salt water you should get a Salt model in Magnacut or LC200N, which are vastly better steels than H1 or H2. Just my 2 cents.

"...only in pink..." yeah, pink looks good on me for sure, but only? Really? It is nice that the handles do take dye so well! I'll have to dig into the catalog. Thanks! I agree re the stainless options. I was looking at LC200N specs just a week or so ago and looked very good. H1 doesn't impress me, but I am carrying it every day and it does manage to do what it's put to.

 

[ssjones]

I've carried one of my two Boker Kalashnikov Auto's for the past 7-8 years (replaced a Gerber Leek).
Blade Ops usually has them on sale for around $30. Neither have failed yet. You do need to sharpen the D2 steel with some frequency, but I use these for beater tasks. They are disposable, but just haven't failed.
Auto open is super convenient and always fun.

 

[Snook]

Nice, simple, love the color. Good purchase!

Personally I love my Leatherman Wave+ with the pocket clip. A little bulky for some, but it sure has come in handy more times than I can count. Fun to fidget with during idle moments, too.