hi =)
i've been a lurker for a couple of months, and got a lot of really helpful info from the discussions on this site, so thought i should actually start to join in =)
long story short:
i'm looking for a fairly cheap (up to about £30 max, but preferably a bit less) sub-3" single-blade carbon slipjoint for edc and light bushcraft type stuff, and am quite taken by the sodbuster style. it seems that a few makes are touted as being the safest bets quality-wise: case, queen, boker, and to a lesser extent german eye (aka "eye brand") and kissing cranes (these last two seem to polarise opinion).
despite not being keen on its hollow grind, i'm particularly drawn to the case sodbuster jr in chrome vanadium with delrin handle, (partly because it gets such high praise, and partly because i can't seem to find a uk stockist of a suitable non-locking boker, or the queen country cousin in d2 which i'm also interested in, and partly because the kissing cranes and german eyes seem to have such variable quality) but i have a reservation:
it seems that one of the reasons this knife is so highly esteemed in the US is because of how much knife you get for what you pay - it seems it's readily available in the US for around the $20 mark, which equates to roughly £12. however, on the couple of uk sites which sell it, it's closer to £30...
now, this is no reflection on those sites, or my opinion of them - i realise there are import costs etc, and the price is most likely fair in that context, but - does that make that particular knife a less sensible option for someone looking for a good quality "budget" knife in the uk?
e.g. - the mora clippers are quite highly regarded for similar reasons - they are excellent quality for not much money, but if they were about 3 times the price, they would be competing against other more "upmarket" models, and would not be as clearly worth the money.
the other options i have been considering are:
1. a german eye sodbuster, which has a flat grind that i'd be much happier with, available from heinnie for about £30 also, which i'm pretty sure has a carbon blade, despite the website stating it's stainless... (anyone feel free to correct me if i'm wrong - i'm sure you will =P) as i say above, the seemingly spotty quality of this brand due to the uncertainty of whether or not it was actually made in germany or with solingen steel, i'm hesitant about it.
2. a sheffield steel lamb-foot of the kind made by trevor ablett or george wostenholm, which do look really nice, and i am sure they are great quality, but are also up around £30 or so, and i'm not sure about the utility of that blade shape in bushcraft type duties.
so, because of all of the above, i'm leaning more towards one of the cheapo joker carbon slipjoints, which are unlikely to be up to the same standard as a case et al, but seem to be "ok", and are available for around £12... i really don't want to go down the "get one of each" route, as tempting as it might be for some - it's gonna be "one knife to rule them all" for me.
of course, at the end of the day, it's up to me if i think any particular knife is worth the money i would have to pay to get it, but i'd be interested to know if anyone here who has forked out £30 or so for a case sodbuster (or similar amounts for the other brands i mentioned) reckons it was worth it, or if anyone can recommend something i haven't already mentioned...
ok, so that wasn't such a short story after all, but i kept it as short as i could =)
i've been a lurker for a couple of months, and got a lot of really helpful info from the discussions on this site, so thought i should actually start to join in =)
long story short:
i'm looking for a fairly cheap (up to about £30 max, but preferably a bit less) sub-3" single-blade carbon slipjoint for edc and light bushcraft type stuff, and am quite taken by the sodbuster style. it seems that a few makes are touted as being the safest bets quality-wise: case, queen, boker, and to a lesser extent german eye (aka "eye brand") and kissing cranes (these last two seem to polarise opinion).
despite not being keen on its hollow grind, i'm particularly drawn to the case sodbuster jr in chrome vanadium with delrin handle, (partly because it gets such high praise, and partly because i can't seem to find a uk stockist of a suitable non-locking boker, or the queen country cousin in d2 which i'm also interested in, and partly because the kissing cranes and german eyes seem to have such variable quality) but i have a reservation:
it seems that one of the reasons this knife is so highly esteemed in the US is because of how much knife you get for what you pay - it seems it's readily available in the US for around the $20 mark, which equates to roughly £12. however, on the couple of uk sites which sell it, it's closer to £30...
now, this is no reflection on those sites, or my opinion of them - i realise there are import costs etc, and the price is most likely fair in that context, but - does that make that particular knife a less sensible option for someone looking for a good quality "budget" knife in the uk?
e.g. - the mora clippers are quite highly regarded for similar reasons - they are excellent quality for not much money, but if they were about 3 times the price, they would be competing against other more "upmarket" models, and would not be as clearly worth the money.
the other options i have been considering are:
1. a german eye sodbuster, which has a flat grind that i'd be much happier with, available from heinnie for about £30 also, which i'm pretty sure has a carbon blade, despite the website stating it's stainless... (anyone feel free to correct me if i'm wrong - i'm sure you will =P) as i say above, the seemingly spotty quality of this brand due to the uncertainty of whether or not it was actually made in germany or with solingen steel, i'm hesitant about it.
2. a sheffield steel lamb-foot of the kind made by trevor ablett or george wostenholm, which do look really nice, and i am sure they are great quality, but are also up around £30 or so, and i'm not sure about the utility of that blade shape in bushcraft type duties.
so, because of all of the above, i'm leaning more towards one of the cheapo joker carbon slipjoints, which are unlikely to be up to the same standard as a case et al, but seem to be "ok", and are available for around £12... i really don't want to go down the "get one of each" route, as tempting as it might be for some - it's gonna be "one knife to rule them all" for me.

of course, at the end of the day, it's up to me if i think any particular knife is worth the money i would have to pay to get it, but i'd be interested to know if anyone here who has forked out £30 or so for a case sodbuster (or similar amounts for the other brands i mentioned) reckons it was worth it, or if anyone can recommend something i haven't already mentioned...
ok, so that wasn't such a short story after all, but i kept it as short as i could =)