East of Broken Bow | earp - 12/13/2025 09:48
Wanting to get grandsons pocket knife for Christmas, wanting the blade assisted opening. What is good quality knife?
Are you wanting top of the line quality, or 'good' quality at a reasonable price.
For a 'good' knife at a reasonable price, I highly recommend the USA made Kershaw 'onion' line. They have what they call a Leek (3" blade), which is a full sized knife, a Scallion (2.25" blade), which is a bit smaller, and the Chive (1.94" to be legal in California), which is smaller yet.
Note these are not 'cheap' knives, they start around $60, and go up from there. All 3 are USA made, and show great worksmanship. I bought one (I think the Leek) and liked it so much I got one of each size. They come with all metal or plastic covered handles, I prefer the all metal, as they are thinner and just disappear in a pocket. There are also a lot of blade options, they have standard stainless, a 'composite' blade which has an extra hard cutting edge center bonded to a standard steel back, all the way up to a Magnacut blade, a super premium steel that holds an edge like nothing else but can be a bugger to sharpen.
https://www.bladehq.com/cat--Kershaw-Leek-Knives--401
https://www.bladehq.com/cat--Kershaw-Scallion-Knives--402
https://www.bladehq.com/?search=kershaw+chive
Buck has made a line of USA made assisted opening knives, but IMO, the Kershaws I mentioned are a bit thinner, and slightly lower in cost. The Buck has been discontinued, but they are still out there. They currently make an import line which are cheap and functional, but not up to what you'd expect if you own a 20 year old Buck knife, their imports seem cheapened compared to their USA made line.
https://www.buckknives.com/knives/assisted-opening/
If going all out, it's hard to beat a Benchmade, but those start at about $200
I have nothing against import knives, but in my experience the USA made ones are generally a pretty good deal, in terms of quality you get for the price you pay. Yes, import knives can get cheaper, and quite a bit cheaper, but things like the quality of the blade steel drops off pretty fast. If wanting the cheapest 'decent' knife you can get, it is hard to beat a Sanremu, but I am not sure if they make an assisted opening knife. They do make a low cost model with a flipper one handed opening system, though, and for a VERY reasonable price (under $20). If you get one of these, you will be impressed for the cost (but not nearly up to the USA Kershaws in terms of overall quality)
https://www.amazon.com/Sanrenmu-7056LUC-8Cr14Mov-3Cr14N-Folding/dp/B... |
pocket knife?
