My Knife Preferences

In this post I'd like to talk about what I look for in a knife. If a knife has all these points, then it's pretty much a perfect knife in my eyes. This will give you all a better insight into my preferences, which in turn impacts how I review certain blades.

Quality is the most important thing when it comes to a knife. If a blade looks cool, but sucks quality wise, you'd never be able to actually use it. My EDC is centered around gear that works on all circumstances. If I've had even the slightest quality issue with a piece of gear, I can't trust it nor will I carry it. Your EDC needs to work 100 percent of the time or why would you even bother carrying gear at all?

I prefer knives that can be opened easily one-handed. When I need my knife, I need it right then, so I don't want to have to fiddle around with a knife that isn't easy to open. There are situations where I like to have two-handed knives, like slipjoints, but for the most part I'd rather have a one-handed knife. I love Spyderco's thumb hole, or just thumb holes in general, more than any other opening mechanism. I hate thumb studs. I don't mind nail nicks or thumb discs/plates as long as they're done well.

I hate spring assisted knives. If a knife comes spring assisted, chances are pretty high that I'll automatically hate it. I think it's an extremely worthless feature. It's super loud, obnoxious, and unnecessary. They don't open any faster than a good manual folder. They tend to freak people out, and they really don't open that well to begin with.

I have no real preferences for steel. I don't know much about all the different steels, so as long as the knife is sharp and easy to sharpen, I don't really care. Since I buy a lot of budget gear, the steel is usually something like VG-10, AUS-8, 8Cr13MoV, etc. As long as it cuts, that's all that matters.

Handle wise, I prefer FRN or G10. I hate any sort of metal handles. They tend to be uncomfortable with all their hotspots and slickness. They also add a lot of unnecessary weight to a blade. I don't need my knife to be super lightweight, but I've grown used to Spyderco's FRN which keeps the knife pretty light anyways. I prefer FRN, because it allows for more color options than G10. Some say it feels cheap, but I guess it's just an acquired taste. I'm also not a fan of carbon fiber, wood, or materials of that nature.

In general, I do prefer small knives as they are easier for me to carry. I have little to no pocket space, so having small blades gives me more options. I do also have smaller hands, so they tend to have better ergonomics than the bigger stuff. I've recently gotten back into the bigger blades with my purchase of a Spyderco Endura. Surprisingly enough, I've fallen in love with the size of the Endura. I do want to try out more mid-sized/large folders just so I can have more variety.

This post is getting pretty long, so the last thing I'll talk about is clips. I love the wire clips from Spyderco, because they don't scream that you've got a knife in your pocket. I don't like the big, obnoxious clips that have a lot of branding to them. They draw a lot of unnecessary attention in my opinion. Plus, they don't carry that well either.

Anyways, that about wraps up some of my knife preferences. Honestly, I just prefer blades that are plain and simple. I need a blade that will work and last forever. Now you all know some of thing things I look for in a blade. Thanks for looking!

October 2015 Updates

Hey everybody! How's it going? I hope you all have been enjoying the posts I've been able to put out. Here are some updates for the month of October.

I haven't been able to post as many videos as I'd like. I'm going to be filming a ton of videos this weekend so I have some to post over the next few weeks. They'll range from reviews to knife talks and other random EDC related stuff. As always, if there's anything you want to see specifically just let me know.

I've also reformatted the way I do my reviews, so starting now they'll be structured in a different way. I've found that I really enjoying writing reviews on the gear I've tried. I'm going to put a big focus on getting most of my gear reviewed this month. I've gotten a lot of the notes written out. Now I just need to type them up into the actual reviews.

Besides those two things, that's pretty much everything I have to update you all on relating to the channel. School's been going as well as it would go. I haven't been able to carry my gear all that much because of it, which really sucks. Now that it's the fall, I can start carrying a little more using my jacket pockets. Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Stay tuned for more posts and videos! Thanks for looking!

New Gear September 2015

(reused this picture from a previous post)

Sorry this is sort of late, but as you can expect, I've been busy with school and life in general. So this was all the gear I got in the month of September. I got all of this in a trade with Girl on the Edge, so be sure to check her out on YouTube. Since I already did one post about this stuff, I'll be giving my thoughts now that I've had the time to use them for a couple weeks. I haven't gotten a Zippo yet, but when I do I'll finally get a chance to try out the Thunderbird insert. 

I haven't enjoyed the Dragonfly as much as I thought I would. The pivot has a major issue, which prevents me from using it. I've debated sending it into Spyderco's warranty, but I don't really have any intention on keeping it. I'll keep you all updated if I decide to send it in. I've heard that Spyderco has great customer service, so maybe its time for me to test it out.

The Cold Steel Mini AK-47 isn't as well-suited for EDC as I thought it'd be. The ergonomics are extremely weird. Its comfortable in the hand, but I've found that my hand is way too far back on the knife. The G10 is also way too aggressive for my tastes. I don't carry this knife that much because it would tear up my pockets. It's a cool looking knife for sure though. I just don't think it will become part of my EDC rotation.

This gear has been a lot of fun to try. I don't think the knives will be in my collection much longer as I 'd like to try out more stuff. As soon as I get the reviews done for these, expect to see these up for trade or sale. Stay tuned for those! Thanks for looking!

Some of the Best Budget Gear (under $20)

I’m a big fan of budget gear. I think the budget mark is defined as anything less than $60. Some people say anything less than $100, but realistically, you don’t need to spend that much to get a great blade or other piece of gear. You can still get a great quality product for at or less than $60. I feel that you can get the best value at this price point.

I’d like to start doing this mini-series where I highlight some of the best budget gear. I’m not going to be able to talk about every budget item, but I will talk about all the ones I’ve tried. I’ll be covering budget gear across all the aspects of EDC from knives to flashlights to pens. Today I’d like to specifically talk about some of the best budget gear under $20. I’ve got three things I’ll be talking about, all of which are some of my favorites.

The first is the Victorinox Classic. This retails for around $10-$15 depending on where you get it. It’s the best minimal multi-tool in my opinion. It has all your main tools without going overkill: a knife, screwdriver/nail file, scissors, tweezers, and a toothpick. It’s small enough to put on a keychain and doesn’t attract a lot of attention. Everyone knows and loves Victorinox, so usually people won’t react negatively to it. It does everything I need it to do exceptionally well.

The next piece of gear is the Gerber Shard. I was blown away by how great this tool is for $5. I hate Gerber as a company, but this is the one tool they actually do well. It’s a great OPMT that has a solid toolset despite its small size. Like the Classic, it could easily be put on a keychain. It’s a sturdy tool, and all the tools function as they should. I like having an OPMT, because there are times when you need to scrape/pry and you don’t want to mess up your knife blade. This is the best OPMT I’ve tried so far, especially considering the price.

And lastly, the best inexpensive pens are the Zebra 301s. I believe you can get a pack with 3 pens for $5. Don’t quote me on that, but I do know that they’re less than $10. You can get them in tons of different varieties, like ballpoint/gel and in various ink colors as well. They write great without breaking the bank. They’re decently classy looking with their stainless steel build. I use mine at school every day with no problems. I love these pens and highly recommend you pick some up.

Those are just a couple of the best pieces of gear that are less than $20. This is by no means all the good budget gear under $20.  I’m going to keep doing more of these in the future. I’ve got tons more gear I can talk about, so stay tuned for the next one. I think I’ll try to only talk about three things per post to keep it short. Thanks for looking!

EDC Rainbow

I finally have an EDC item in every color of the rainbow. This has been a long time coming, so I'm really happy that the rainbow is complete. Now I'm just going to try and add more of each color, like red or blue. I have the most amount of purple gear, and I need to diversify a little bit. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more colorful stuff soon. I'll post updates as the rainbow grows. Thanks for looking!