Daily Carry Knife.

[sarge712]

EDC knife, the Cold Steel Recon1 tanto folder

[Tom The Impaler]

No pick at the moment. Most times a CRKT Ryan, sometimes a Cold Steel Ti-Lite (original titanium). Before that a Benchmade Elishawitz, and before that an AFCK (old school spidey hole liner lock). Wish I could carry my butterflies or a barong, but as Ogre noted they're trouble magnets.

[chiwar7178]

I carry a Gerber Armor, half serrated blade, daily.  I'm going to get another of the same, except non-serrated, once I can find it and actually order it.  Cheaperthandirt.com's web cart is giving me problems currently.

[shaftoe]

I'm boring.

I carry a Victorinox Trekker.  It's one handed opening with a serrated blade, phillips and flathead screwdrivers, and a bottle opener.  I use all of these frequently.

It's sharp enough and it's cheap enough that I don't worry about getting it dirty or scratching it with my keys.

[Penguin]

I also like the Applegate knife by Gerber. I carry the full size folder though not the smaller one. That is what I usally carry along with the ever usefull swiss army knife. I also like the fixed blade version of that knife.

[akodo]

my every day carry knife is the Kershaw Scallion.

great big-little knife.

It only has a 2.25 inch blade, but they must measure from the thumb stud to the tip, as the blade body itself seems bigger.

It has a great index finger opening assisted with a spring, which I use all the time and pretty much never use the thumb stud.  It has a liner lock and is very solid and firm.  It also has a little safety you can turn on at the very bottom, basically a little bar moves 1/8 of an inch to be right in front of the tip (on the non-sharpened side) It is hard to see if you don't know where to look, but I have gotten really good at flicking it off with my pinkie just as I flick it open with my index finger.

Has a pocket clip, feels great in the hand.

MADE IN THE USA

Looks just like this but my blade has three holes going from bigger to smaller along the blade, just next to the thumb stud

[Wes S.]

My daily carry knife for the past fourteen years or so has been a Gerber EZ-Out folder. Three-and-a-half inch, partially-serrated blade.

Best thirty bucks I ever spent.

[charbs]

Nice to see I'm not the only one w/ mulitple EDC's. As I work 2 jobs (federal agency non-LEO) and retail warehouse club depends on what I'm wearing and where I'm at. As a rule I always carry an SAK and one tactical folder (right now it's an CRKT Carson M4). At all other times it's a Leather Wave, and a variety of tacticals; Gerber Icon, SOG Aegis, Spyderco Clipit, and until a few weeks ago a brand spanking new Cold Steel 4" Voyager which somehow disappeared while on the warehouse job.

[FMJ]

I was out doing a service project on the 31st of October and I found a small Gerber folder and claimed it.  It is a very handy tool, it has black plastic grips, a pocket clip...and half the blade is serrated.  And it also has this weird hole near the "tang" of the knife.  The blade is about the length of 2.75" like a shotshell.

I tried googling it, but I didn't find the specific model.

I still mainly use a standard victorinox for EDC though.

[tactical22]

I have tried many knives as EDC knives and have been disappointed so far.  Can anyone here recommend a knife with the following characteristics:

3-4in blade, thick cross section plain edge, high carbon steel
thin profile
fast opening (with index flipper, assistance, etc
around $100
sharp point, but made well enough for chopping and prying

I liked the folding Buck strider, but it was a little thick and a little slow, and the point was a little more blunt than I like.  The high end CRKT M16 series is nice, but not as durable as I like and not very impressive steel.  Also a little thick.  So far, if someone would make a Kershaw Leek that was almost an inch longer and had a significantly thicker blade  and an over all durable, more rugged design (basically just a man-sized version of that knife) I would be interested.  Any one here know a knife that fits all of that criteria?
 

[seanp]

That is pretty much the larger M16 described in a nutshell.  It's the closest thing to what you are looking for that you are going to find, I think.  Unless you want to go custom and then you are outside the $100 envelope.  I initially had reservations about the M16's construction too, but mine seems to be holding up pretty well.  I haven't honestly subjected it to any serious abuse yet, though.

[GeorgeHill]

A very good EDC option is the Buck Vantage Avid. 
Buck as 3 quality levels... Select, their entry level.  Avid, their Mid Grade.  And Pro.
The Vantage is a simple narrow width knife, hollow ground blade, with nice wood scales, deep clip, smooth action, liner lock, and it looks good.
What makes this such a good knife, is the Avid level on this comes with the BOSS treated blade. 
A lot of guys ask me what the Boss Steel is.   It's named after Paul Boss, the guy at Buck that does their heat treating and the Boss logo means it's using his proprietary heat treat process with a cryogenic treatment.  The result is a super clean steal with a rockwell of 59-61... the blade impresses me in how it's uneffected by things that have marred all my other blades... such as slicing through long boxes to remove the lid flaps... other knives will get marks on the blade showing where the heavy cardboard has abraded the steel.   I did the same with this knife... no marks.  Blade looked clean and unused. 
Steaks, Pork Roasts, Rope, Seat Belts, everything I've cut with it - no problem.
And the blade remains hair popping sharp.
$40.

[tactical22]

seanp, I have had and used multiple different levels of the M 16 series and have been disappointed.  You can do pull-ups on the Buck Striders, the M 16, no way!  I also don't really like the quality of the steel.  What model do you have?  I would be curious if it can handle a serious workout.  Oh, also, I don't lie the "hilt" effect of the larger M16,s makes them cumbersome to draw in a hurry.

GeorgeHill, the vantage looks very nice.  It has a feature that is very important to me but I forgot to mention - a well designed point up pocket clip that allows deep carry.
Do you have any personal experience with the Pro?  $40 seems too good to be true. 

[seanp]

The 14SF.  I've only had it for six months so it's hardly been broken in yet.  I was initially a little dubious about the thickness of the liner lock - I've used a beefy frame lock for the last several years - but I've since become comfortable with it.  The tanto style blade is not idea for hunting/skinning, but as a daily carry knife I like it's cutting utility. I also don't mind the wings, or guards on the blade although they do raise the knife's profile considerably.  And the finish has been very durable.

I share some of your concerns about the blade steel.  So far the edge is not lasting as long as I would like in between touch ups.

And as far as the pivot:  Agreed, I wouldn't want to put a great deal of lateral force on it.  There does seem to be some play in the pivot when I applied some pressure to it in the vice, although it came back without mechanical deviation when released, so I think it might have just been compression of the washers, and I didn't want to test a new knife to destruction.

Still, over the months I've gotten comfortable with it and like it.

[mnw42]

I just got a Benchmade Mini-Griptillian for Christmass and it has become my new EDC.  I kept on loosing CRKT M16-EDCs - the pocket clip would catch on everything.

I still want to get the Gerber A-F.

[Harm]

Just a thought Tactical - if you have to do pull ups on your folding knife the plan has gone HORRIBLY HORRIBLY WRONG!   

[tuts40]

Glock.

[bmitchell]

I picked up a Sharpfinger the other day.  I'd EDC that if I didn't work at a school in a state where I can't.

Ben

[SSgt G]

A very worn looking Cold Steel Recon 1 clip point.  It is easy to open, carry, and sharpen.  It is often uses as a lite hammer, especially when tapping out the various pins that hold shotgun trigger assemblies in.  I have used it to dress, cook, and eat various small game animals.  Also used it to scare away two muggers in Cape Town onec.  Didn't even have to open the blade.

http://www.coldsteel.com/reconi.html

[Avenger29]

I carry a Kershaw Storm II. It ain't extradonary quality, but good enough for an EDC knife. It's $26 and made in the US. Slim and small enough for my pocket, big enough for me to hold.

I like it a lot. Been using for about a year or so now, last knife I purchased.

[mnw42]

I've been using the Mini-Griptilian for a few months now and so far it has been a very good knife.  It is light, fairly quick to deploy and feels good in the hand.  I wish the pocket clip was a bit closer to the end so that it would carry a bit deeper in my pocket, but nothing is perfect.

I am not an expert on knife steels, but I must say I am impressed with 154CM.  My only other knife made with 'premium' steel is an old CRKT in AUS8 and that has always been a good performer for me.  The edge retention on this knife is superior to any SS knife that I have owned and worth the extra bones.

[Mumbles]

Speaking of knife steels, anyone willing to school me on them?  I generally disregard them as I have no idea what they mean, but I see here that my current knife - Benchmade Rift is 154CM.  If your mini-Griptillian is 154CM, I'm assuming my last knife - a regular Griptillian was also 154CM.  Generally, it just seems to be nonsense letters and numbers crammed together.  Maybe if there was a system - like steel 47 is stronger than steel 46 but weaker than 48, but I guess it's a more complicated issue than that, which means I'll probably never learn.  Really, a knife is just a knife to me, and I go through them pretty quickly as I lose them or break them.  I bought the Rift on impulse because I liked the way it looked, and like Mitch Hedberg said "I bought a $6 pen because I got tired of losing them and not caring".  It's the first time I ever paid more than $50 for a knife (actually, I think I might have paid like $55 for the Griptillian.  and I didn't lose it or break it, I just have two knives now which is kind of a first, but I haven't carried the Griptillian since I bought the Rift).

[mnw42]

Here are a couple of decent references.

http://users.ameritech.net/knives/steels.htm
http://www.knifeart.com/steelfaqbyjo.html

[strangelittleman]

These days whle at work I carry a Randall A&T ( RAT) 3 folder. It's a good working all-purpose folder, with a SS liner lock that has decent steel (AUS-8) on it's partially serrated powder-coated 3.5" blade.
Away from work, I'll have my old Cold Steel, Gunsite 2 folder, excellent steel 4"blade, VG-1 San Mai (partially serrated), Zytel body w/ great raised pyramid textured sides, very slim and suprisingly light for such a strong large knife.
Should I be in the woods at work, or away from work, I'll have the Ontario RAT 3 fixed blade on my belt. along w/ a good Military lensatic compass, as I did today when the wife and I, along with our two pups, (A 10 mo old male Chow/Corgi/German Sheppard mix and a 7mo old female Shiba Inu/ Boxer mix) went to a National Park recreation area for a picnic/ romp about. 

[Mumbles]

thanks mnw