Those famous 10$ knives

vultr said:
It's just my two cents, but an opinel or Mora are way better value. And not made in a Chinese sweatshop .
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Oh I have some , I'm just looking for another few of those rough use knives to throw in the truck or whatever. Like I said , they're ok to bring along on small day trips instead of an axe to split wood. One of the other ones I have has lasted 2 years of solid abuse. Bent and chipped blade but still works ok. Put the grinder to her and voila. Don't have to worry about it. I definetly got more then 10$ worth out of it in the past 2 years. It's the bolo style one.
 
If you get a quality 1/4" thick 1095 carbon steel knife (like a Tops or Ontario), you can baton wood with it 24/7 for 10 years and not have to worry about nothing. I'd much rather have one of those knives for $150 than 15 of the $10 "Rough Use" (lol) knives lying around in my truck, in my boat or being pinned to my belt. Besides, this is the most common trap a lot of people fall into in a survival situation: they get cheap junk for everyday carry to "preserve" their expensive kit and when they finally get into a survival situation, all they have at their disposal is that cheap POS "replacement", while the good stuff is tucked away somewhere "safe" and far away - usually in their camper, truck or at home. If it ain't on you at all times, it does you absolutely no good.

Buy quality, carry quality, use quality every day... that's the only way you'll have tried & tested quality tools at your disposal for when it matters the most! There are some things in life you can't afford to cheap out on... and survival knives/kits are definitely at the very top of that list!

;)


P.S. I own one of those "Rough Use" knives myself. I bought it as a novelty item to see what all the talk was about. The blade feels like the generic & cheap 440A steel (which it is), the handle feels loose and the sheath is total garbage that wants to fall apart as soon as it comes out of the packaging. I've got no idea where this knife ended up, but it sure as hell ain't tagging along on any hiking or hunting trip with me (extra weight with dubious reliability). Some things are better off lost, lol!
 
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762mm said:
If you get a quality 1/4" thick 1095 carbon steel knife (like a Tops or Ontario), you can baton wood with it 24/7 for 10 years and not have to worry about nothing. I'd much rather have one of those knives for $150 than 15 of the $10 "Rough Use" (lol) knives lying around in my truck, in my boat or being pinned to my belt. Besides, this is the most common trap a lot of people fall into in a survival situation: they get cheap junk for everyday carry to "preserve" their expensive kit and when they finally get into a survival situation, all they have at their disposal is that cheap POS "replacement", while the good stuff is tucked away somewhere "safe" and far away - usually in their camper, truck or at home. If it ain't on you at all times, it does you absolutely no good.

Buy quality, carry quality, use quality every day... that's the only way you'll have tried & tested quality tools at your disposal for when it matters the most! There are some things in life you can't afford to cheap out on... and survival knives/kits are definitely at the very top of that list!

;)


P.S. I own one of those "Rough Use" knives myself. I bought it as a novelty item to see what all the talk was about. The blade feels like the generic & cheap 440A steel (which it is), the handle feels loose and the sheath is total garbage that wants to fall apart as soon as it comes out of the packaging. I've got no idea where this knife ended up, but it sure as hell ain't tagging along on any hiking or hunting trip with me (extra weight with dubious reliability). Some things are better off lost, lol!
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Well I will let you know in 8 more years if mine lasts that long, so far so good, and an expensive great quality knife is great, if it is indeed great quality and can do all the above, and the cheap one are also great if they can do the same, you bought one but did you carry it or use it? They are loose and the steel isn't pedigree but I take them as I find them, same as all my tool some cheap stuff is just that and some will do the intended job! Most of our ancestors built this country and survived on the very cheapest knives and especially axes around , because that was all there was! My grandfather was one of them and as long as you know the limitations of your tools, you should be good to go! I would prefer a nice $300 knife for everyone but cannot afford it, so far these knife fit what I need as do my axes etc! Now I have tried some different Machetes and they vary greatly in quality, Ferber has a nice handle but the steel edge bends too easily, as does the sog,, the cold steel so far is my favorite! Again I guess the intended use will dictate what oworks for the individual!
 
Big red neck they are called the rough use bolo knife !!!! And i have 5 of them none have seen any action yet but most definitely great for tossing into the fence or any other meanial tasks, great gifts for tweens as well kinda has a rambo type look to it. Kids love em.
 
Pretty sure I got their last rough use bolo. Bought two, one was a used floor model, blade finish marred up a little, and it had a small white sticker on it with $10.00 written in pen. Browsed the site the next day, and noticed they were sold out. I grabbed a Work Sharp Ken Onion, and reworked the blade edge on both of them. For sure worth $10 imo.
 
bobdbldr said:
Well I will let you know in 8 more years if mine lasts that long, so far so good, and an expensive great quality knife is great, if it is indeed great quality and can do all the above, and the cheap one are also great if they can do the same, you bought one but did you carry it or use it? They are loose and the steel isn't pedigree but I take them as I find them, same as all my tool some cheap stuff is just that and some will do the intended job! Most of our ancestors built this country and survived on the very cheapest knives and especially axes around , because that was all there was! My grandfather was one of them and as long as you know the limitations of your tools, you should be good to go! I would prefer a nice $300 knife for everyone but cannot afford it, so far these knife fit what I need as do my axes etc! Now I have tried some different Machetes and they vary greatly in quality, Ferber has a nice handle but the steel edge bends too easily, as does the sog,, the cold steel so far is my favorite! Again I guess the intended use will dictate what oworks for the individual!
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Understood. The thing about it is that after you've accumulated a whole bunch of cheap knives (or tools) and come to realize that none of them actually fit the bill perfectly and still need to buy more, you've simply wasted your money. Trust me, I've been there in my younger days. I know it may sound counter-intuitive, but if you don't have a bunch of spending cash lying around all the time, you cannot afford to buy cheap! Buy a quality item to begin with and therefore buy it only once. In the long run, you save more money that way.

As for the kind of knives our ancestors used, they were pretty darn good in comparison to 99.9% of the Chinese crap we see flooding the market today, actually. They were made out of solid pieces of carbon steel, hammer forged and heat treated accordingly, then sharpened to a lasting razor-sharp edge that could take a beating and come back for more. I've been interested in DIY knife making for some time now and a well executed home made knife is probably one of the best blades you'll ever carry, as long as you care for it (carbon steel's Achilles heel is that it rusts!). Such knives have excellent edge retention, plus the right hardness and flexibility where it matters in a hard working knife. Also, as a rule of thumb, remember that ANYTHING stainless is weakened steel (regardless of price), because of the chromium added to the melted steel to prevent it from rusting. And, as far as stainless steel goes, 440A is one of the worst/cheapest you can get for blade material. If you want strength and performance, you NEED hammer forged carbon steel with a properly done heat treatment. This is what distinguishes the $300 knife from the $10 knife.

The cool thing about DIY knife making is that, with a little practice, you can easily replicate and even exceed the specs of a $300 knife all by yourself, which is what our ancestors did... and it costs VERY little to boot (often times it's just a piece of junkyard steel and some charcoal for your backyard forge, plus a good hammer and a decent anvil). There are plenty of tutorials available out there (YouTube, etc), as well as detailed courses/DIY manuals.

So, contrary to popular modern belief, our ancestors' knives were FAR from sucky...

;)
 
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762mm said:
Understood. The thing about it is that after you've accumulated a whole bunch of cheap knives (or tools) and come to realize that none of them actually fit the bill perfectly and still need to buy more, you've simply wasted your money. Trust me, I've been there in my younger days. I know it may sound counter-intuitive, but if you don't have a bunch of spending cash lying around all the time, you cannot afford to buy cheap! Buy a quality item to begin with and therefore buy it only once. In the long run, you save more money that way.

As for the kind of knives our ancestors used, they were pretty darn good in comparison to 99.9% of the Chinese crap we see flooding the market today, actually. They were made out of solid pieces of carbon steel, hammer forged and heat treated accordingly, then sharpened to a lasting razor-sharp edge that could take a beating and come back for more. I've been interested in DIY knife making for some time now and a well executed home made knife is probably one of the best blades you'll ever carry, as long as you care for it (carbon steel's Achilles heel is that it rusts!). Such knives have excellent edge retention, plus the right hardness and flexibility where it matters in a hard working knife. Also, as a rule of thumb, remember that ANYTHING stainless is weakened steel (regardless of price), because of the chromium added to the melted steel to prevent it from rusting. And, as far as stainless steel goes, 440A is one of the worst/cheapest you can get for blade material. If you want strength and performance, you NEED hammer forged carbon steel with a properly done heat treatment. This is what distinguishes the $300 knife from the $10 knife.

The cool thing about DIY knife making is that, with a little practice, you can easily replicate and even exceed the specs of a $300 knife all by yourself, which is what our ancestors did... and it costs VERY little to boot (often times it's just a piece of junkyard steel and some charcoal for your backyard forge, plus a good hammer and a decent anvil). There are plenty of tutorials available out there (YouTube, etc), as well as detailed courses/DIY manuals.

So, contrary to popular modern belief, our ancestors' knives were FAR from sucky...

;)
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That's why I have both on hand , I have my good knives and the cheap ones. To be honnest the cheap rough use knives do everything my rats and tops does. So far so good anyways.i got 3 years out of one so far and it's still holding up. A few dents , scratches and chips but hey , I've been hard on it. Like I said it's nice to throw in the truck and forget about it and if I need it one day it's there. Unless you can afford to put a 300$ knife in your truck , quad , boat and snowmobile. I don't have 1200$ for spending on knives to just throw in vehicles , so I Go with the 10$ ones. My tops always tags along on hunting trip , just in case.
 
762mm said:
Understood. The thing about it is that after you've accumulated a whole bunch of cheap knives (or tools) and come to realize that none of them actually fit the bill perfectly and still need to buy more, you've simply wasted your money. Trust me, I've been there in my younger days. I know it may sound counter-intuitive, but if you don't have a bunch of spending cash lying around all the time, you cannot afford to buy cheap! Buy a quality item to begin with and therefore buy it only once. In the long run, you save more money that way.
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I'd have to partially agree. There is no substitute for quality when talking about a tool you will use more than a handful of times. You will save money in the long run. However being frugal requires you to asses each purchases and give things a value, not just a price tag. I've purchased a few cheap tools, or even made my own specialty tools on several occasions. Most of them were to perform a task I've only needed to do once. I saved a ton of money in the first place by doing the labor myself so I could have purchased a higher quality tool. However the value of that tool to me after I used it to complete a rare job would be very small. It would sit, collecting dust. The cash I saved by getting the cheaper tool for this job is now money in the bank to allow me to purchase higher quality when I find a tool that I will use more often. One that will be more valuable to me.

What someone is using this knife for will determine it's value to them. I have one. It was a great buy for it's intended purpose.
 
As a blacksmith and occasional knife maker I find it somewhat amusing to imply that it's super cheap to forge you own knife. I suppose it is if you already have a blacksmith shop handy, I do but it's not nearly as common as it once was. Also there is the issue of skills and techniques. If you want to make your own knife on the cheap and you don't happen to be a blacksmith, use the stock removal method. That is cheap and easy and many people already have the required tools or can cheaply obtain them. If you use an old saw blade, saw blades are usually medium carbon so they can be hardened to take an ok edge. The payoff is that saw blade requires less finicky thickness thinning than say leaf spring. Forging requires skill and practice, and tools, I'm not saying you can't obtain those things it just requires time, effort, and money. Anvils aren't cheap, but for knife making you can use a big mass of shafting with one face hardened or a 8lb sledge hammer head impeded in a stump with some success. Practice is required. Most stock removal knife makers use relatively expensive belt sanders, but you can use smaller belt sanders like the one Lee Valley sells. If you have some decent files (not PA crap), a grinder with a wire wheel and a hack saw you can make an ok knife it just takes time.
 
1300_stainless said:
I'd have to partially agree. There is no substitute for quality when talking about a tool you will use more than a handful of times. You will save money in the long run. However being frugal requires you to asses each purchases and give things a value, not just a price tag. I've purchased a few cheap tools, or even made my own specialty tools on several occasions. Most of them were to perform a task I've only needed to do once. I saved a ton of money in the first place by doing the labor myself so I could have purchased a higher quality tool. However the value of that tool to me after I used it to complete a rare job would be very small. It would sit, collecting dust. The cash I saved by getting the cheaper tool for this job is now money in the bank to allow me to purchase higher quality when I find a tool that I will use more often. One that will be more valuable to me.

What someone is using this knife for will determine it's value to them. I have one. It was a great buy for it's intended purpose.
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Wise quote. I totally agree
 
762mm said:
Understood. The thing about it is that after you've accumulated a whole bunch of cheap knives (or tools) and come to realize that none of them actually fit the bill perfectly and still need to buy more, you've simply wasted your money. Trust me, I've been there in my younger days. I know it may sound counter-intuitive, but if you don't have a bunch of spending cash lying around all the time, you cannot afford to buy cheap! Buy a quality item to begin with and therefore buy it only once. In the long run, you save more money that way.


As for the kind of knives our ancestors used, they were pretty darn good in comparison to 99.9% of the Chinese crap we see flooding the market today, actually. They were made out of solid pieces of carbon steel, hammer forged and heat treated accordingly, then sharpened to a lasting razor-sharp edge that could take a beating and come back for more. I've been interested in DIY knife making for some time now and a well executed home made knife is probably one of the best blades you'll ever carry, as long as you care for it (carbon steel's Achilles heel is that it rusts!). Such knives have excellent edge retention, plus the right hardness and flexibility where it matters in a hard working knife. Also, as a rule of thumb, remember that ANYTHING stainless is weakened steel (regardless of price), because of the chromium added to the melted steel to prevent it from rusting. And, as far as stainless steel goes, 440A is one of the worst/cheapest you can get for blade material. If you want strength and performance, you NEED hammer forged carbon steel with a properly done heat treatment. This is what distinguishes the $300 knife from the $10 knife.

The cool thing about DIY knife making is that, with a little practice, you can easily replicate and even exceed the specs of a $300 knife all by yourself, which is what our ancestors did... and it costs VERY little to boot (often times it's just a piece of junkyard steel and some charcoal for your backyard forge, plus a good hammer and a decent anvil). There are plenty of tutorials available out there (YouTube, etc), as well as detailed courses/DIY manuals.

So, contrary to popular modern belief, our ancestors' knives were FAR from sucky...

;)
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I agree with most of what you said, but anything stainless is not weakened steel. I don't know where you get that from. There are hundreds of different grades of steel, stainless or otherwise. Just because chromium is added does not mean that there aren't many other alloying elements in the steel that contribute many different properties such as toughness, hardness, machinability, and wear resistance. The list is endless. This is what contributes to a raw piece of steel's price-the amount of alloying elements and the processes that were used in its manufacture. Chrome is only one element, just because it's there doesn't mean it's a good piece of steel or even stainless. There needs to be a certain minimum percentage of chrome in the steel to even qualify as stainless. I'm not trying to be argumentative, just don't want people to be misinformed.
 
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