Knife opinions.... what are yours?

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So looking for an exchange of opinions. Not saying anything is right, just what you believe or your personal taste and maybe a justification for it if you have one. Real life doesn't have enough serious knife people to shoot the shit with, and the dedicated knife forums are like drinking from the fire hose so..

I'll start. 

Liner locks should go die in a fire. Especially titanium ones, and frame locks aren't much better. Why? Take a liner lock make absolutely sure you are holding it where your fingers don't get in the way of the blade closing and give the spine of the blade a sharp rap on a reasonably solid surface. Bet you it closed or partially closed. I discovered that one when cutting on some stuff in a tight space and discovered I had upset a bitey thing form nature.  You can load them up with all the weights you want on youtube, it's a shit design in my opinion. To work well, the machining has to be good and the tolerances have to be good, and even then, depending on your hands and the ergonomics of the knife you can wind up with your finger tip(s) working against the locking mechanism when you get a serious grip on the knife. Ideally it should be made out of something that can at least fake being a spring for a long time. Titanium often can't. I have a titanium liner lock that is perhaps the most unsafe thing I have met and it graduated to that state pretty much just sitting in the safe over the years.

Similarly I'm not a fan of lockbacks with the lock at the tail end ala the buck 110. get it lodged in something that requires a good yank to get it out and you cna trip the lock mechanism. Mileage will vary depending on knife, fit and finish, and your hands. 

I've come to believe that a good heavy duty camp knife in the 6-7" range with a choil is about as versatile a fixed blade as you can get and really makes me wonder what the heck the point of a hatchet is. It's not the ideal tool for a lot of things but man you can do more than a half assed job at a lot of things with it, and it sure as heck takes a lot less skill using it to chop small trees than a hatchet does, and in the race to be a mediocre machete, it wins hands down to a hatchet. 

You can spend all the money in the world on sharpening rigs, but it won't replace a good dose of patience some basic sharpening tools, and having a clue about why you are doing what you are doing. A good edge is not the provenance of team push it harder. 

The belief of my youth that spyderco makes weird knives that are pointless was deeply wrong. Although I can't figure out why their only knife with a marlin spike isn't part of their salt series. 

If you want your folder to be tough like a fixed blade, you should buy a fixed blade. You'll save money and be happier. 

There are more knives in the world than money, so a collection needs a theme or a bankruptcy lawyer. Currently mine is locking mechanisms. 

Your turn. 

 

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About 7 or 8 years ago I bought a barkriver northstar EDC with water buffalo scales and will probably never carry another knife. It's perfect for everything I use it for.