14 year Old Son Wants A US Made Knife For Christmas--Tactical-Survival-Around 50$ What You Got?

Knife should not be given as a gift, bad Feng-shui.

a reply to: FlyingFox

Give a coin with it, then the coin is given back and so the blade is bought.

a reply to: seasonal

Ontario are not always precise with the heat treatment. That means the knife may snap. Ka-Bar are said to be more reliable. Some Ka-Bars are made in Taiwan.

My Ontario tip snapped very easily. I've done destruction tests on lots of knives so I know for sure it snapped too easily.

I never leave the house without my spring assist Benchmade. I've owned multiple Benchmade knives over the years and I have to say they're one of my favorite US manufacturers. Great company, great quality knives, and great service.

a reply to: GodEmperor

I own one of the old Ontario Spec Plus knives, also in the Tanto pattern--I must have had it for 8 to 10 years. First, the good news--It's hell for strong. It's spine is a full 3/16 inch thick. Second, the handle is very good (at least for my medium-to-small sized hands).

However, the steel is not quite as good as the Ka-Bar, to my taste. They use a straight Carbon Steel without any Vanadium or Molybdenum. The Spec Plus that I have is quite soft--about 53 on the Rockwell C scale, while the Ka-Bar is about 59. The Ka-Bar takes and holds a keen edge noticeably better than the Ontario. I see that the Spec Plus knives they're selling now are coming in at around 58 to 59 on the Rockwell C scale, so it looks like they've changed their philosophy a little.

So I guess it comes down to how the knife would be used. If you want to be able to put a shaving sharp edge on it, I would go with the Ka-Bar. If that's not so important, the Ontario may be a bit more knife for the money.

In either case, by the way, I wouldn't count on it having a really good edge, right out of the box. You may have to put some effort into getting it to the condition you want.

IMO for the price, Gerber LMF family would be one hell of a first knife.

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A wold love to recommend the ESEE knife co to you but I'm afraid they a a bit more than fifty dollars. ESEE will even replace the blade if broken, even if you break the knife prying open a safe door.


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Many in the knife community believe the Schrade SCHF family is the absolute best bang for the money in survival. Massively thick 1095 blade.

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