Hey everyone, David C Andersen
here coming at you from the KnifeCenter. And because times
are tough, we're taking a look at the top 11 Because I couldn't
keep it to just 10 budget knife brands that you can take a look
at right now. And I'm going to go through and tell you what
some of the unique things are that they offer. So let's get
into it. (KnifeCenter.com) All right, so this list is not
just for the folks who need a good knife, but can't afford to
spend a whole lot to get your hands on one. It's also for the
folks who are bemoaning the plethora of very expensive
knives out there these days. And there are some very expensive
knives that you can get your hands on. But if you're worried
about, you know, the absence of good budget offerings, this list
should put your mind at ease, because there's a lot of
fantastic stuff out there, that's not going to drain your
wallet. Now, the way I kind of narrowed it down, like I said,
it's top 11 budget brands couldn't keep it to just 10. And
there's a lot of good, well, let me tell you a couple of the
brands that aren't going to appear on this list. Stuff like
Spyderco, Cold Steel Buck knives, Ka-Bar, fantastic knife
companies that make some really fantastic affordable knives as
well. But as a brand, they aren't really what we consider
anyway a budget brand. These brands are even though some of
these brands may have some more expensive offerings as well.
These are the things you can kind of click onto a brand and
browse through and know you're gonna find a lot of solid,
affordable options because that's what they're made for
this what they cater to, and I'm gonna go alphabetically so it's
not to not to offend anyone with any rankings or anything like
that. So we're going to start at the beginning of the alphabet
are very nearly so with Bestech. And this knife right here is the
swordfish. And it represents I think, one of the best things to
happen to budget knives in recent years not this model,
particularly, it's just an illustration of what we call the
$50. D2 flipper craze even though this knife comes in at
$52 It's uh you know, $50 plus or minus. It used to be, you
know, good knives with D2 steel were more expensive, but five
years ago maybe is when it kind of really started, the amount of
really great folders you can get with this high end retention
steel at a budget price is astonishing. And the swordfish
is even though it's $52, like I said is an exceptional value.
Got a four inch blade D2 steel, like I mentioned high flat
grind, great profile, G 10 scales, actually, we've got a
split set of scales here you've got a black bolster and
different colors for the other section, ball bearings in the
pivot that's a big part of the the $50 D2. flipper craze, along
with that liner lock. And as such, you get a very fine
feeling knife with great action and very enviable materials at
the price point truly is remarkable. And Bestech has an
absolute ton of $52 D2 flippers. The other thing you'll see that
Bestech is doing a little bit more recently, is there going to
they're doing budget and premium versions of the same model, not
just premium knives and budget knives separated. But knives
like this tulip right here, come in, let's see the budget
versions like 48 bucks, 14, C 28, n Sandvik blade about one
and a half inches long, you've got a liner lock here, you've
got ball bearings in the pivot here, too, you can do the front
flipping thing, even though I'm not great at it, especially on a
small knife. So my slightly larger than average hands really
get in their own way a little bit. But I reckon you can do the
I can do the index finger flip on it a little bit better. 48
bucks, but if you really like it and you want to upgrade later,
there's titanium versions of this that I think with S35VN if
not M390? Actually, I can't remember for sure. Yeah, M390
blades, those are over 125 bucks or so. However, so budget
options are really great. And like I said they're doing that
more and more, you're gonna have the exact same models available
on the budget side and the premium side which there's not a
lot of companies that do that outside of you know, creating
exclusives for dealers where there might be a fancier
version, but having regular line items, versions, affordable
versions of the expensive knives is definitely part of the
Bestech's DNA. All right, next up Civivi We and we got to talk
about honestly the elementum because it is the poster child I
think wasn't the first but it is kind of the poster child for
that $50 D2 flipper craze, three inch blade, versatile drop
point, neutral handle, and it really does encapsulate kind of
severe knees Greatest Hits is what I've called it before.
You've got that D2 blade even though they use other steels as
well, ball bearings in the pivot, letterbox, G 10 scales,
deep carry pocket clip, and a nice liner lock. And tune really
well covers it all. But it also shows what's the vv does well as
a brand, super thin edges. That's something they're always
very good at super thin, super consistent edges. So if you're
really keen on that, this is a great brand to look for, for
those thin edges. And also, their quality control is one of
the most consistent I've ever seen across any brand. Really, I
think in the years of handling Civivis, I remember when the
very first ones came out. And they all felt super, super good.
I think we've had one and it was actually not this one, but it
was another blue element and one time that didn't flip super
well. Very, very impressive. And the other thing you're gonna see
is a lot of releases from Savini, they put a ton of new
models out. So if this isn't your flavor, maybe something
like this large knife right here. This is I always, they
have two versions of this knife, I always gotta make sure I'm
getting this one right The bullmastiff they have a
mastodon, which has a slightly different blade grind going on,
but has some of those of Civivi's Greatest Hits, they
went with a 9Cr stainless on this version instead of the two,
but about $57 for this different handle material steel, g 10. But
they do a lot of exotic looking woods, you can see a lot of
stuff like that from them. A lot of Damascus options, well under
that $100 price point, which is very cool. So tons of variety,
consistent fit and finish and super thin edges, I think that
really tells you everything you need to know about what makes
Civivi city. Alright, next up is CJRB. I've got another cleaver
shaped blade here, and only one example from CJRB. Because I
think this particularly encapsulates what they do well.
They do a lot of very good affordable ball bearing flippers
in the budget space. But they also are amongst the the budget
set. I think more than except maybe the next brand, we're
going to look at really trying to push technology forward for
the affordable spectrum. And this version of their crag
flipper has two prime examples of that. And this is just a $38
knife as well, which is equally as impressive. First is the
recoil lock, a proprietary lock to CJRB. And it you as you can
see, I could operate it with my index finger from the spine of
the knife. So it gives you finger safe operation, you're
not going to get your fingers in that blade path as you close it,
you can operate it a few different ways. You can even if
you use it like a crossbar lock, which you might find on a
usually more expensive knife, pull back on that yoke at the
back of the blade. And you can even flick it open like that
rather than using the flipper. Very cool. And you don't see a
lot of proprietary locks down in this price range because
engineering a new lock like that costs money, when you could just
go with something more established, like the liner
locks we've been looking at so far. So that is a very cool
thing. They've also got this particular steel, it's AR dash
RPM 9, which is a proprietary budget steel for them. It's
actually a powder, metallurgy steel, not a traditional ingot
formed steel. Also something rare to see in this price range
at all, much less a proprietary steel like this, and what their
shoot, what they shot for with their formulation here is
something to compete with D 2 have similar kinds of edge
retention, but also be stainless because D2, of course is only a
semi stainless steel. So that's another very cool thing. And
overall, I've just got some really fun designs. I mean, this
crag is a very cool one. tons of other interesting things to look
at, and some very cool choices with materials and such going
into them as well. All right, next up is CRKT. And I think
maybe the two main pillars of their identity on one hand
designer collaborations with the biggest names in the industry,
which in the budget space, they have to account for the
royalties for those designers, which is why a lot of times you
don't always see affordable, or that affordable of
collaborations out there. And the other is interesting
mechanisms more so than CJRB. They like to do really cool
feats of engineering. And while some of this stuff like their
deadbolt lock and the field strip mechanism are reserved for
some of their more expensive models, you can still see some
things creeping in to their more more affordable options. This
one right here, the BT fighter, a Brian Tighe
design that comes in about 54 bucks for this large version and
they've got a smaller drop point version for even less than that.
And it has a button lock mechanism which is of course one
of the most popular mechanisms out there right now. If you can
do that finger safe operation with just a flick of the wrist
and a push of that button, and you get really good flipping
action to and this is a really great example of a knife that
typically custom versions of this can easily go for about
1000 bucks when we get them here in the at the KnifeCenter You're
not going to get the integral or fancy carbon fiber handles you
might get on some of those. But in this case, you get a
facsimile of that that still gets across some of that style
which is very, very cool. Rest of this knife, you've got an 8CR
stainless blade, you've got good fit and finish great fidgety
action as well. And that style another one of their their kind
of recent innovations recent pushes in the budget space is
their new assisted opening mechanism which for a system
that's been around for as long as it has to be doing new things
with it is pretty cool. You can find it on this squid XM which
tongue in cheek is kind of their extra medium size their living
room if they want to do a a larger version in the future.
This is a Lucas Burnley design. And it features a torsion bar
assisted opening mechanism that I say right now is probably the
system to be on the market because it's the easiest one to
use. All of them work well on the open because that's what
they're designed to do open a blade quickly once you manually
start moving that blade, but you're not really having to
fight that blade to close it too much. Some other systems out
there might require a little more effort, but this one is
tuned for ease of closing in addition to that speed of
opening, and the squid XM is just a fantastic versatile
design as well three inch blade D2 steel, hollow grind on that
Black stone washed finish, frame lock on the back Jeton on the
front of this version, and a fairly deep carry pocket clip.
Overall just one of those knives that really encapsulates just
about everything you need in a standard EDC pocket knife.
Alright, next up is Kershaw. And this is the first company we're
going to look at where you can actually get some really good
American made options under. In a very budget oriented price
point. Everything we've looked at so far has all been
originated in China. But Kershaw will be able to offer you things
both imported from the Asian sector and American made
options, and we kind of have to talk about the Leek. This is
amongst the designs to come out in the last 20, 25, 30 years. We
did the math once like the Leek feels like it's been around
forever, and it kind of has, but it's not been around as long as
something like the buck 110, for example. But this is a design
that seems like it's going to be sticking around forever. Because
it's just plain very, very good price on them. Were a little bit
over 50 bucks on the standard price, three inch blade, a
Sandvik 14, C 28 and Swedish steel, which interestingly,
Kershaw was the first brand to use the steel with Sandvik. They
had an exclusivity period when Sandvik first came out with this
steel. Now you can find it on other stuff as well. But that's
a cool thing that Kershaw has brought to the budget space.
You've also got their classic assisted opening mechanism
designed by Ken Onion, who also designed this particular knife.
Slim handles stainless steel, you can also get liner lock
versions with aluminum handles or other upgrades to and plenty
of upgrades on the blade available too because it hasn't
been that successful of a knife that they do a bunch of variants
on it. But really good options there. Most of the US stuff is
assisted opening, there are some more expensive us options that
use ball bearings as well. But also, you've got a ton of
designs that they import original designs from crucial
and they've really built up a really cool visual style over
the last few years and something very distinctive in the budget
space. This is the cannon ball it's a $55 Knife you've got one
of my favorite blades of their their budget releases the last
couple of years you've got D2 steel with a distinctive shape
without being kind of unusable and that's another area I think
they're doing really cool things they're giving you something not
just handles with distinctive style but a distinctive blade
shapes that still not going to hamper the utility of being able
to use it to cut things every day which you want to be able to do of
course, but we've got stainless steel handles behind that black
washed Blade framelock deep carry pocket clip, it's kind of
about everything you need. And want in this price range. I mean
fantastic blade shape, good materials, good price. Alright,
next up we're going to talk about Moroccan leaf or the Mora
knife and this brand. In a way it kind of embarrassed as every
other knife brand out there because the what you can get for
a Mora is astonishing and and astonishing for the money.
Because knives like this, this 511. Actually, this red one is
the premium version, it comes in at $11 as opposed to the $10 of
some of the other colors. And it encapsulates why more is so
good. They take everything available to like modern mass
manufacturing to produce a product at an extremely low
price, but they don't cut corners on any of the features
that count. And that is the design and the rigidity or the
strength of these knives. They're only partial Tang, but
they've been proven to be highly durable knives, they're very
comfortable. These basic knives, which is the name of the knife
not a descriptor, although kind of as a descriptor to so
comfortable. The blades that come with a scandi grind,
actually, they're Skandhas are slightly slightly hollow because
of the equipment they use. But over a sharpening or two, it's
going to be flat like a normal skandi. The factory edges on a
more are probably the best you can get just about anywhere.
Super razor razor sharp. And everything you get here, like I
said, 10 to $11 knife right here, everything you need. It's
lightweight, it works just as well for construction workers,
which you'll often find these in their, their manufactured
country of Sweden, you find these all over job sites, works
for campers ultralight hikers daily utility, you could slip
one of these into a pocket if it's large enough, and they have
some smaller models to just phenomenal. And when you add a
couple bucks to the price here, if you spend a little bit more
money, you can get a knife like this, the cannibal $36 for this
version right here, and you've got fit and finish that will
embarrass things double, even triple the price. Everything's
just about perfect. Yes, you can see the seam on the mold. But
that is it. We've got a nice, crisp spine, there's no kind of
flubbed edges or anything looking out of place on this
knife. They really are fantastic and tons of great designs, none
of them very expensive. All of them very, very useful. All
right, next up, Ontario Knife company, another American
company. And we're going to have a an American knife and a
Taiwanese may knife for them right here. That really, it
brings together what I think makes Ontario so wonderful in
the budget space is they make unpretentious, hard use knives
like knives that are truly made to be used indiscriminately and
with no regard to their condition. These are things that
are just going to put in the hours and are going to look even
better once they start to look beat up. First up, we'll talk
about the folder made in Taiwan, the Ontario RAT Model One or the
model two which is a little bit shorter $34 For this knife and
prove long proven and respected amongst hard users that don't
want to spend a ton of money whether it's around the house
have your utility especially outdoors folks. 3.6 inch blade
full flat grind with Aus8 steel D2 is also available for more
money, nylon handles but full length on skeletonized liners
and multiple barrel spacers along the back multiple
attachment points. They create a really solid strong backbone for
the handle of this folding knife and it's got plenty of length
for even larger hands. It's got the ability to choke up because
of the flat ricasso area here. And once you know kind of the
ins and outs of it once you're comfortable with it. action that
is exceptionally good. No ball bearings in the pivot here they
went with nylon washers to keep things a little more worryfree
don't have to worry about cleaning it out quite the same
way. Actually Forget I said nylon. These are phosphor bronze
washers in this particular case, apologies all around for
position pocket clip so it carries just about anyway even
though the liner lock is of course right hand biased. Solid working tool if you've
never experienced one, it may not be as kind of attractive
looking at some of these other knives. But this is another one
that's got it where it counts. It works super hard. And then
some fixed blades. There are American made fixed blade
options that Ontario offers are very impressive whether it's the
slightly more expensive rat fixed blade series kind of the
companions to that folder, or I especially like their spec plus
line. This is the SP 10 $64 for this particular one some of them
are a little less expensive. Is the SP 10 Marine Raider bowie,
carbon steel blade overmolded handle full length stick Tang in
this case, almost a quarter about a quarter inch thick on
that carbon steel blade. Super Effective whether you using this
in kind of a military scenario, they have knives that mimic like
the Ka-bar knife, the classic mark to fighter, and they've got
other knives that work well for outdoor stuff. This one right
here kind of is the perfect blend between the two, super
solid, super reliable. And just imagine this when this coating
starts to wear off, it's got a bunch of wear marks and
everything, it's going to look fantastic, the more you use it.
And actually, when we talk about the sheath as well, it may not
look like much again, that's a kind of a theme. Actually, I'm
really impressed with the sheaves they offer here because
they're very well thought out. It's nylon with a hard insert,
no positive retention, but you've got a standard kind of
handle loop here with a snap, you've also got this strap that
in the case of the SP 10 is going to hook over the guard.
And the cool thing about it is this can rotate to either side.
So this knife, or this sheath is completely ambidextrous, you can
use it just by moving that that that strap over on either side.
You've also got a I believe it's Velcro. Nope, it's not Velcro,
you've have a stitched loop here on the back for belt carry.
You've also got Molle compatibility. Versatility is
the name of the game on the sheath here and again offering
all of this made in the USA for these prices. Very cool. All
right, next up, we're into the O's. So we've got another one to
talk about. And that's Opinel. Now, up until Opinel I never
know quite how to pronounce it, actually. And here you go. This
is the number six this is a $15 knife. And what you get with an
optional in addition to classic looks, I mean, these knives have
looked like this, since I mean well over 100 years is when I
forget when when they first started making these knives. The
other thing you're gonna get with an Opinel that is truly a
joy are these extremely thin blades, not just thin edges,
because you have that too. But the blade stock itself, very,
very thin. These are not hard use knives. These are knives
made for precision, just efficient, joyous slicing. The
other thing that kind of makes up nails, what they are is this
ring right around the pivot area there. And it's a lock and it's
twofold, it'll lock the blade in the closed position currently in
the current iteration, so it won't come open accidentally.
And of course, it locks it in the open position as well. And
the number six is the smallest knife you can get from them that
has this particular locking mechanism. They have smaller
knives that don't have that and then you've got a range of
larger knives in this as well. stainless or carbon steel
blades, you can get a 12 c 27 Sandvik for that stainless.
Really cool things. And when it comes to the handles on him,
you've got wood, there's new versions with some synthetic
colorations as well made out of plastic, they're not going to
swell like some of these can. But handle comfort is the other
thing because all Opinel are more or less the same. I can say
that they're all super, super comfortable. All right, next up
is QSP and their whole identity is right there in the name
quality service price is what they count what they stand for.
And probably the most popular QSP knife right now and for a
couple of years, as is the penguin $32 and some change for
this version right here. And it's got a ton of knife
enthusiast friendly features at this honestly crazy low price
for what you're getting. First of all, you can see right there
you've got a micarta handle. At that price point, you're not
typically seeing materials like that this one has a really cool
blue jean micarta looks very cool. You've also got a D2 blade
just over three inches, you've got a true sheepsfoot blade. In
this case with a higher flat grind. You've got a liner lock,
you've got a deep carry pocket clip as well. Really deep carry
to it actually is milled in to a pocket you can see it on the
other side here of the handle material so it is reversible and
it Nestle's in really deep as a little bit of a an extra cost to
do it that way but they still keep the price of the knife way
down. Now you've got knives like this one that have washers in
the pivot as opposed to ball bearings. And that really fits
the character of kind of this folding utility knife right
here. But they also do ball bearing flippers very well such
as this hawk. This one comes in about $55 You've got another
cool micarta option here. It's actually a lot of really crazy
stuff going on there it looks kinda like burlap somewhere in
between. Got 14 C 28, n Sandvik steel here three and a quarter
inches. And you've got that liner lock and thumb studs for
two different opening options, each feeling each giving you
that premium Ball Bearing flipper action here, deep carry
pocket clip, interestingly, not milled inside of the handle like
we saw on that penguin. But this is another kind of do
everything, very affordable knife. And these two together I
think really show off what truly sets QSP apart from some of the
others other competitors. All right, now we come to our with
real steel. And real steel also does a lot of these ball bearing
flippers really well. But I'm going to show you a little bit
of something different because one of the things I think they
do really well and more than anyone else in this budget space
is pushing forward, the modernized slipjoint knives you
can see it on their Luna light right here, which is a $30 knife
for this KnifeCenter exclusive black and white version, two and
three quarter inch blade D2 steel, it's got a really nice
thin blade stock and full flat grind for easy slicing. You've
got a very subtle deep carry pocket clip which looks very
unobtrusive from the outside. And just a completely modern
looking design. This is not a riff on like a classic slip
joint pattern, but you have the convenience of that non locking
action. You've also got kind of a signature move of there's a
half stop, but it's not actually a stop halfway along the travel
it's more like a I always call it like a 1/3 to third stop but
you've got that hard stop along the closing action, a little bit
of a safety feature which is nice and it just feels very
satisfying to now they do make this knife and some other
locking versions. They've got some frame lock versions of this
knife, but the slipjoint is really cool and you've got other
knives like their G slip the soloist or Solis, I think it's
called several other very cool modern slip joints. They're
really really kind of owning that space. The other thing real
steel does really well I think sets them apart from some of
their budget competition are their fixed blades. This knife
right here especially this is the bushcraft three comes in
about 60 bucks, got a four inch blade D two with a scandi grind,
decent thickness, but the star of the show these handles, not
only do they look good with the black g 10. And red liners, but
they're exceptionally well shaped. They're contoured. Oh so
nicely, they fit my hand very well. It's not just a slapped on set
of scales, you've got that full shaping going on, which is one
of those things that when you're dealing with G 10, that has to
be machined away costs a little bit of extra money to do right.
And they're still keeping the price very, very reasonable.
feels fantastic works in a lot of different grips, you got that
nice pinch grip there on it. It does it all. For 60 bucks is
going to be hard to beat for a bushcraft knife. Of course, you
do have that more competition we talked about earlier. But these
feel a little nicer. Even though the fit and finish on the Mora
is easily the equal of this particular knife sheath gets a
bit of an upgrade over those knives though kydex works really
nicely. You've got whole spacing here that's going to work with
some aftermarket attachments. And it comes with a really cool
kind of nylon seatbelt webbing drop loop that you can attach to
it right out of the box. Really well considered really well
designed knives at really good prices. And last, but certainly
not least, we've got to talk about the largest volume pocket
knife maker in the world by far, Victorinox, the maker of the
Swiss Army knife. And this is one of those things like take
your pick. You can things start at around like 14 $15 for the
least expensive swiss army knife. And even on these two
knives right here I've got the Explorer and the farmer. Even
though they're between 40 and $60. I don't have what are the
exact prices anyway, astonishing value for money. I will start
with the Explorer because I have it right here. It's about $58
and tons of tools, you've got stuff like Phillips driver, as
is typical, you've got a pair of blades. Make sure I don't cut
myself as I'm closing here, bottle opener cap lifter can
opener, magnifying glass on this particular one as well. Nice set
of scissors. On the back, we've got parcel hook, corkscrew, and
a nice leather punch slash awl toothpick and tweezers. A lot of
different things together at that price point. And it is the
price points that really set them apart. They make so many of
these they've got their their system and their methods tuned
to do these exceptionally well. And that comes into play when
you see some of the companies that try to compete with a Swiss
army knife. Typically, if you go feature to feature, they're
going to be a bit more expensive and the fact that they do all of
that made in Switzerland with more expensive labor than they
could if they were made in Asia. truly speaks volumes. Fantastic
knives you can get stuff like this with different tool sets.
But almost as many tools for about 40 bucks, even when you go
to some of their more premium options like the farmer that
have an A locks aluminum handle. So $47 knife right here, you've
got slightly thicker blades using the same blade steel,
you've got more robust handles more robust pivot construction,
you've got tons of collectible versions of all of these knives,
whether you go different colors on the A locks, or different
graphics on the selladoor or the plastic models, just a ton of
great stuff. And when it comes to small folding pocket saws,
one of the best if not the best in the business, in terms of
their cutting capability. Who doesn't love a Swiss army knife.
The fact you can get so much for the prices they offer them I
truly do think is pretty astonishing. That's it for today
though, top 11 brands if you're looking for an affordable knife
that is still going to be something you can rely on for
years to come. You can do a lot worse than looking at these
brands right here and finding a good option. Let me know your
thoughts down in the comments. Let me know your favorite budget
knives or budget brands as a whole down in the comment
section below. To get your hands on any of these knives will
point you over to the brand pages for all of these knives
down in the comments below. And don't forget about our knife
rewards program to even on our affordable knives. If you're
buying one of them today, you're going to be earning some free
money to spend on your next purchase. I'm David C. Andersen
from the KnifeCenter signing off. See you next time.
I like KnifeCenter videos, wish they would do more segments of "In the Weeds".
I have a CJRB Ria and CJRB feldspar and Iām amazed at how good the action is and how good they feel for as inexpensive as they are. Definitely one of my favorite budget brands
Wish he had showed Kizer instead of CRKT
Literally everyone knows CRKT exists, my grandma knows CRKT exists, and no one is really impressed by them