In between moving chores, I give my aching joints and muscles and break with Youtube. Unfortunately I found this channel and I am suddenly developing a growing wish list.
He mentions the Leek which I already have and it is indeed a nice knife for that night in town when the wife wants to strut her stuff and demands you behave and leave the Hawaiian shirt at home.
Knives I like from this list?
Not a bad price for a very nice looking blade.
And then, I do want this. A bit pricey, but not bad for under $100:
And yes, there are other very nice knives, but they are way too rich for my taste. The Spyderco Dragonfly and the MKM Flame? Oh yeah..
OK, back to the chores.
I also have a Leek as a “dress knife.”
I wound up getting another when I learned my “work knife” was too long for the updated policy on weapons at work.
The CRKT CEO is nice, I brought it to both of the blogshoots, Miguel.
There’s a new flipper version instead of the the standard thumbstud that looks very nice, I might have to pick one up.
Benchmade Osborne 940. They now make a smaller one, too. I’m on my second blade; Benchmade will replace a worn one for $35.
The CEO is a neat style. I have the original and a much more expensive one with upgraded micarta scales and blade steel. The original is very inexpensive. However, I found that the steel holds an adequate, but not great, edge. The FRN scales are OK. I’d not recommend carrying it in a front pants pocket. The closed knife is so long that it bound against the inside of my pocket when I sat down, and it bent the clip. Fixing that wasn’t difficult. A thigh pocket will probably work fine.
The Dragonfly is a very nice knife, and comes in a variety of handle materials and colors. Spyderco also offers various blade steels for that knife. You can get it cheaper in some formats.
I might also suggest the Kizer Mini Begleiter as a gent’s knife. It’s fairly small, and thin, comes in several colors, and holds a nice edge. It’s a little more money than the CEO, but not nearly as much as the Dragonfly.
Oh, one more thing. The CEO and Kizers I’ve handled open with the thumb flicking the stud. You can slowly push the blade open, but getting past the closed detent takes some effort and I typically lose contact with the stud once that happens. Instead, I put pressure on the stud with my thumb and flick it open. I find it works much better and is faster. It just takes some practice to get it right.
I use a serrated blade Leek as my everyday knife, with a cheap Kershaw Tanto as a backup. The serrated blades are discounted more often and are useful for cutting rope. After 4 years mine is due for a trip to Tualatin for resharpening, unless they put on the annual warehouse sale this year in which case I’ll have it done in person.
While I have seen gushing reviews of Chris Reeve knives, none explain the value of a $250 knife over a $75 Kershaw or CRKT.
Boker has some nice knives like this. I’m a bit of a steel snob so the Chinesium steel doesn’t impress me. I think VG10 is probably the best dollar to performance steels out there. So I like these:
https://www.bladehq.com/item–Boker-Kwaiken-Carbon-Fiber-Flipper–25596
https://www.bladehq.com/item–Boker-Plus-Urban-Trapper-Knife–28800
Good knives are one of the few positives coming out of Portland, Oregon, these days.
Benchmade, CRKT, Kershaw, Leatherman, Gerber … all based out of the Portland area.
I’m a huge fan of the Leek, too; it replaced my Cold Steel Voyager as my EDC knife. I was a fan of Cold Steel — love that Voyager and its tanto point* — but their newer stuff hasn’t impressed me near as much as their older stuff, and their prices have more than doubled since I bought mine.
IMHO, Kershaw and CRKT make great EDC knives; they hold up really well, but aren’t so expensive they can’t be replaced if necessary.
The one potential flaw I see in the CRKT CEO echoes McHeath’s comment above: The handle is quite a bit longer than the blade (almost an inch and a half longer; compare to that CIVIVI or the Leek at an inch or less longer). Now, the handle will always be longer than the blade — it must fully contain the entire blade, including the pivot, or else you’d have excess blade poking out while closed — but that long of a handle can be too much for some pants pockets, especially with keys, coins, etc.
Still very nice knives. Just something to be aware of and plan around. 🙂
——
* – And the old-style handle profile — much more pocket-friendly than the new “scimitar”-profile handles, which to me don’t seem intended to be carried in a pocket at all. But the old style is also much more difficult and expensive to replace; you can’t find them new, and used they fetch nearly-collector prices. Time to retire it from EDC service.
“…flaw… CRKT CEO : The handle is quite a bit longer than the blade (almost an inch and a half longer; compare to that CIVIVI or the Leek at an inch or less longer). …but that long of a handle can be too much for some pants pockets…”
Wait, Wut?
Are you sure about that?
Here’s a quick comparison of the Leek, Tumbler, and the CEO.
http://imgur.com/a/l0fSxzJ
Just an FYI the CEO has been my EDC since I got it last March.
Are ya familiar with Behring knives?
Also has making your own either with a small garage forge or taking a class ever been of interest to ya?
Should find the time to visit Smokey Mountain Knife works in Sevierville or Lock Stock and Blade in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area if ya want a lil day trip after the move.
I was just about to post a couple of links to SMKW.
You might want to order before you move, save some sales tax.
https://www.smkw.com/smkw-exclusive-kershaw-tumbler-red
https://www.smkw.com/crkt-ceo
https://www.smkw.com/crkt-ceo-flipper
Blade HQ also has a channel and I’m pretty sure they did a “Gentleman’s Knife” episode. I am a truck driver so a gentleman’s knife was not on my list(my EDC is a Zero Tolerance 0350 and a Kershaw Blur) bit I couldn’t pass up the Boker Burnley (almost identical to the CRKT CEO) that was offered to me as a gift. And let me tell you it is smoooth!!!