Finding my First EDC knife

I've had a Buck 770 Flashpoint for a year or so (http://www.rei.com/product/844096/buck-770-flashpoint-knife) I've used the knife whenever I go camping or backpacking but I'm looking to start carrying a knife everyday. The Buck is decent but it's a bit bulky for me. I'm looking for a good quality, thinner EDC knife. Preferably both serrated and straight edge. This may be harder to factor in but I don't plan on spending more than $100 for the knife.

Thanks everyone

After looking through some posts, I'm considering either a Benchmade Mini Griptilian, or a Benchmade 530 Pardue. Any thoughts?

Can't go wrong with those choices.

Benchmades are great knives. I don't have any $100 folders for several reasons:

1. Buying $40 and $50 knives lets me play with more knives.
2. I travel a lot. I've had the occasional knife disappear from my suitcase, and had them borrowed at conventions and not returned, or badly chipped--not by me, but everyone knows I always have a knife.

I'd like to hear more about the glory of a hundred dollar knife.

I have a $40 Boker Kalisnikov Automatic knife with a thin, strong blade. The spring is a doozy, really strong. Of course, it needs to be legal in your state.

For EDC, make sure you research your state, county, and local ordinances regarding knives. It's a crazy patchwork, and what might be legal in one town may not be legal in another.

I am actually looking at something like this to replace my overly-large Buck:

http://www.rei.com/product/876718/kershaw-cryo-blackwash-pocket-knife

Nice, Geoff.

I have a Mini-Grip, I like it. Opens smoothly and seems pretty well made. I have a few edc's; the one I carry most is a Spyderco Dragonfly. It's just so light, I hardly know it's there.

Benchmade 940. Its an almost $200 knife…. but you'll never need another.

nyfinest said:

Benchmade 940. Its an almost $200 knife…. but you'll never need another.

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+1
I love my 940, it's been my EDC for years.

Wow the Benchmade 940 is a beauty. I may have to reconsider my choices.

Expensive tastes here, but I find a knife or tool purchased for EDC is only as good as my ability to retain it. I. try to carry knives that are around $30 if possible, because they tend to vanish for weeks on end. Sometimes, they don't turn up again! Hope you get what you are looking for.

Aristeros said:

Expensive tastes here, but I find a knife or tool purchased for EDC is only as good as my ability to retain it. I. try to carry knives that are around $30 if possible, because they tend to vanish for weeks on end. Sometimes, they don't turn up again! Hope you get what you are looking for.

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I did that for a while too, but when I started carrying one for work I wanted something that could stand up to the kind of stress I put it through. Strangely enough, I found that when I dropped $200 on a blade, I made sure I knew exactly where it was! But it's definitely a YMMV subject. As long as you find a knife that works for you.

Can't go wrong with the Spyderco Endura 4 FFG for 55$. Best for the money.

I've got a Kershaw Leek. Kicking butt at being my EDC. I got it on sale for $40 at a Dick's Sporting goods but I would happily pay $50 which is their regular price.

I have over 20 Benchmade knives, just about all of the griptillian line, a 720, 732, 806, 420, 525, 3 - 520, a couple fixed blades and 2 balis....... I should have just stopped with my first BM - a 520 and called it a day cause it's been my EDC since day one. IMHO, there just isn't a tougher overbuilt knife out there than the 520. It's taken everything I throw at it and shrugs it off asking for more. I will add that the aluminum scales can be a little hard on your pockets and top edge of your pocket. This however is easily cured by slightly bending out the clip so you have about a dime or nickel's thickness of daylight between the clip and scales.

Of the 2 BM's you mentioned, I'd opt for the full size or mini-grip over the 530 myself. I had the 530 and gifted it away. To me it was a glorified mail opener. The handle scales and liners are super slim and flex way too much for my liking. I'd go so far as to say that they grip line will probably stand up to tougher use and fill your hand better. Down the road if you want to upgrade, you can always look into a set of Wilkins grip scales made from G10, aluminum, or even titanium if you want to spend the coin.

Realize with a mini-grip, you have a 2.91" blade, where as the full size grip is 3.4". Personally I find the mini-grip to be just too small. It doesn't fill the hand well and leaves me feeling I just don't have enough blade. Where as the full size is just about right for a folding pocket knife. If 3 - 3.5" of blade isn't enough, I'd probably reach for one of my fixed blades.

Your blade options in the grip line will lend themselves to more tasks than the 530 also. Along with being slightly thicker (stronger) than the 530 blade.

Keep an eye on e-bay, the benchmade forum for sale section, or vendors such as knifeworks.com, grand prairie knives for sales, deals. With a little patience and searching on your part, you can easily find models above the two you mentioned for around $100.
http://www.knifeworks.com/search.aspx?find=griptilian&page=2

Unless you are absolutely set on having a partially serrated blade, I'd take a step back and re-think that for just a moment. Serrations look cool and sometimes have their place, but can and are a pain in the back side to sharpen. With a little practice you can get a plain blade to do the same thing - sharpening the front half to a super sharp polished edge and leaving the back half with a rougher toothier edge. At the end of the day, plain edges are much easier to sharpen.

Another thing to consider is your daily type of dress. I shun dress clothes and opt for denim on my days off and cargo pocket utility pants when on duty. I'm not concerned about if the top edge of my pocket gets a little frayed. If business casual dress type pants are a major part of your attire, then yes maybe a 530 or 940 would be more to your liking, but realize you may be giving up blade shape utility for days off, camping, hiking, etc.

What size blade you looking for? If it was me I'd go with a custom benchmade mini or full size griptillian. The "spydie hole" is the best opening option there is IMO. you can do it with gloves on very easily. And your not going to beat the axis lock for strength.

You can go to benchmades website and build one for a little more than $100. Me personally I'd like something better than 154cm for my EDC knife. They have D2(would be my choice), N680 and S30v blade steel options. You can personalize the knife if you are into that also.

D2 is one of my favorite steels for a blade besides good old 1095. Great edge holding, pretty easy to hone and decent corrosion resistance.

So I ended up with the Cryo in Titanium, instead of Black. It wasn't available at my local REI:

http://www.rei.com/product/861450/kershaw-cryo-knife
2 days in? I am happy with this. It's smaller than my buck. It was $50 after tax, and it's built like a beast. I am going to move the pocket clip, as soon as I find a hex-wrench small enough for the job.

I've always liked the Spyderco knives. Sharp out of the box and fairly slim for EDC. Only bit of advice would be to get one of the 'made in US' versions. I've had both -- U.S. and China -- and the blades and edge durability are much better on the U.S.-made knives, at least in my experience.

bassman314 said:

So I ended up with the Cryo in Titanium, instead of Black. It wasn't available at my local REI:

http://www.rei.com/product/861450/kershaw-cryo-knife
2 days in? I am happy with this. It's smaller than my buck. It was $50 after tax, and it's built like a beast. I am going to move the pocket clip, as soon as I find a hex-wrench small enough for the job.

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Cool I had a Cryo when they first came out. Liked the knife overall but not the blade steel. Enjoy it man. They carry nicely.

Kershaw, shallot, skyline, burst. either is a good edc and pm me I will send you where you can almost get two for the retail price of one