These Are Some Awesome Pocket Knives to Have
This knife is one of those that you must agree will fall into our category of really awesome pocket knives. Not because of its beauty, nor the fact that it was a Ken Onion Damascus Zero Tolerance Prototype or that it had a hefty price tag of around $8000.00, yes that is what it sold for but for its sheer beauty and craftsmanship.
This awesome knife has plenty going for it and that is why without a shadow of a doubt it made this listing. Truth be told they don’t make them like they used to. We now get all sorts of pocket knives for sale that ain’t worth what “Patty shot at” as my Grandpa used to say.
What do you Guys think of this video? Will this knife make the grade?
2 Awesome Pocket Knives Today
Compiling a list of 2 awesome pocket knives on the market today is really not an incredible task for anyone given the fact that each and everyone of us have our like and dislike when it comes to knives. All of us have our favorite brands, which is not a bad thing as we usually appreciate more what appeals to us and what we find makes us more comfortable. Therein lies on of the difficulties of my task. However, I will manfully trod on and here are my 2 awesome and incredible selections.
Remember that the order these appear in does not reflect their order of importance so just bare that in mind. Before doing that however let’s look at the areas that you should keep in mind.
If you just want to see the more awesome knives click here to see the chart.
Things to look for
Blade
Now this is perhaps the most important part of a pocket knife as it does all of the heavy lifting and should therefore be made of material that can perform when needed and should last a very long time maintaining a sharp edge and be easily sharpened when that edge has gone dull and needed a bit of sprucing up. High carbon steel or steel alloy is the preferred material. Now this material comes in different forms which may not be traditional but will make one of the best pocket knife you can own.
For example:
154CM
This is a high-carbon, high-alloy, space age, stainless steel first used for knives by R. W. Loveless about 1972. At that time it was vacuum melted. Content: Carbon 1.05%, Manganese 0.5%, Chromium 14.0%, Molybdenum 0.4 – 0.55%.
420
A stainless spring steel often used in production knives. Very useful in tanto blades. Outstanding for axe heads. Content: Carbon 0.15 to 0.6%, Manganese 1.0%, Chromium 12-14%
420HC
An improved form of 420 that works well with high production tooling; commonly used by Gerber and other major brands. Content: Carbon 0.5-0.7%, Manganese 0.35-0.9%, Chromium 13.5%.
440A
A high-carbon stainless steel used in most production knives and in some handmade knives. Works well through tooling. Content: Carbon 0.60 to 0.75%, Manganese 1.0%, Chromium 16.0-18.0%, Molybdenum 0.75%.
440B
Content: Carbon 0.75-0.95%, Magnesium 1.0%, Chromium 16-18%, Molybdenum 0.75%.
440C
The most popular high-carbon stainless used by custom knifemakers for many years. First used by Gil Hibben about 1966.Content: Carbon 0.95 – 1.20%, Manganese 0.40%, Chromium 17.0%, Vanadium 0.50%, Molybdenum 0.50%.
6061 Aircraft Alloy
A commonly available, heat treatable aluminum alloy. Used in heavy-duty structures requiring good corrosion resistance. Can be hot forged. Easily cold worked and formed in the annealed condition. Can be stamped, bent, spun, and deep drawn using standard methods. Machinability in the harder T4 and T6 tempers is good.
Now with all the information about knife blades above, it will be very easy to buy one of the awesome pocket knives for sale at various places like Amazon. But I will even go further and talk about another important part of the knife and that is the:
Handle
Whether we are dealing with large or small pocket knives it is very important to have an oustanding, solid and stable handle. Like the blade, the handle will characterise the quality of the knife and how well it handles when you want to use it. The fit and feel in your hand must be snug and secure and there should always be protection for your fingers from the blade. Whether the pocketknife is an EDC large or small folding knife. So here are some features for the handle especially the material it is made of.
Stainless Steel – Stainless steel offers durability and is resistant to corrosion. This is by far the preferred material.
Carbon Fiber – Carbon Fiber is made up of thin strands of carbon that are tightly woven in a weave pattern and set in resin. It is perhaps the strongest of all the lightweight synthetic handle materials. This material offers a fairly lightweight knife yet an extremely durable and awesome pocket knife.
Aluminum – Aluminum is very long lasting and provides a solid feel without the extra weight. In other words it is very lightweight. Another type of material that reduces the overall weight of your knife but in return give additional lifespan, making you the owner of one of the coolest pocket knife around.
Wood – Wooden knife handles vary a lot. You can have from the more common traditional wood species to the most exotic non-traditional wood and the price vary a lot according to the type of wood you are using.
Bone – Some of the earlier knife handles were also made from various animal bones and exotic materials such as ivory. These small folding knives in the vintage market will carry a hefty price tag today.
This is by no means all the material avaiable for making knife handles as if you want custom pocket knives, you surely will have a wider range of materials to choose from including leather, stag, zytel, bone, G-10, micarta, mother of pearl, ivory, ABS and abalone. Some very cool kitchen and chef knives handles which are sometimes specialty items are made from some of these exotic materials.
If you have seen some of the older knife handles made from these exotic materials, you would truly be amazed by their beauty and some of the intricate work that would have gone into creating them. Remember that these handles would have been mostly made by hand. Not like today’s which are usually machine made.
In a nutshell this is the total criteria that you should use to get the best pocket knife for your money.
Specifications:
** Length Overall: 2 7/8″ (73 mm) or longer
** Length Closed: 1 5/8″ (41 mm) or longer
** Hole Diameter: 3/16″ (5 mm)
** Blade Length: 1 5/16″ (33 mm) or longer
** Cutting Edge: 1 1/8″ (29 mm) and must be easy to sharpen and does not dull easily
** Blade Thickness: 1/16″ (1.75 mm)
** Blade Type Steel: 3Cr13MoV
** Weight: 0.4 oz. (12 g) or over
** Handle Material: Stainless Steel or other exotic material
List of 2 Awesome Pocket Knives
1. ZT Zero Tolerance 0999
Now what can you say about this knife but wow,wow, wow what a beauty. The winner of the 2015 American Knife of the Year, this blade surely is worth a look because of its sheer awesomeness. We tend to look elsewhere for good sturdy knives with beauty but some are really right at our front door.This knife comes with:
a. Proprietary composite blade
b. Carbon fibre blade insert
c. Flipper cutout
d. KVT ball-bearing opening
e. Pivot cutout
f. One piece titanium frame lock and backspacer
g. Titanium clip
e. Carbon fibre handle with titanium overlay
This knife was a limited edition issue but you can see others just as beautiful from the same manufacturers here.
2. Ken Onion Damascus Zero Tolerance Prototype
Another great knife by Ken Onion and ZT. This knife is a classy out of this world creation. Truly a designer piece, it has intricate designs that extend from the knife blade to the handle. With an etched whirly design on the blade and an exotic inlaid handle. The materials and workmanship are what you can expect from a quality Ken Onion pocket knife.
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