Knife Shopping 101: Essential Tips for Choosing the Right Knife for Your Needs and Budget

[Guest]

What are some important factors to consider when purchasing a new knife, whether for everyday carry, outdoor activities, or home use? How can we determine the quality, durability, and value of a particular knife, and what are some reliable sources for researching and comparing different brands and models? Additionally, what are some common mistakes to avoid when buying a knife, and how can we ensure that the knife we choose is the right fit for our needs and preferences?

[Dan Hertzson]

As this is a bladesmith forum I suspect the process is as follows:

1. Make a knife
2. Carry and use the knife
3. Identify problems
4. Repeat steps 1-3

[Alan Longmire]

Pakistani spammer.  Deleted.

 

Edited to add: I check every name that registers, thus the no nicknames/internet handles rule. The no numbers rule is also strictly adhered to.  Between those two, that removes 99.9% of spammers, trolls, and bots.  The humans behind those have started to catch on, so we see more "western" looking names showing up, almost always with some sort of tell.  This guy was "williammcgrath," which looks fine except for the lack of capitalizations and spaces.  I know that's the newest trend amongst the young, some of whom even whine about the tyranny of punctuation, so I let him in. 

 

Long story short, I guess I'll start checking every IP address again.  This one was Karachi, Pakistan.  The Pakistani and Indian spammers are not bad guys, they're just trying to sell stuff and/or, like this one, to build up a set of fake reviews for products on Amazon, etc.  Long ago Don Fogg declined to allow them to use our forum for that, and I keep up the tradition. 

 

There is not a blanket ban on Pakistani or Indian IP addresses, I just weed out the ones with obviously fake names and delete the ones who go on to spam us.

Edited February 17 by Alan Longmire
sharing some moderator secrets

[Dan Hertzson]

Thanks Alan,  from the question I suspected as much (which is why my response was mostly "tongue in cheek").

[Stuart Samuel]

2 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

There is not a blanket ban on Pakistani or Indian IP addresses, I just weed out the ones with obviously fake names and delete the ones who go on to spam us.

Thanks for being discerning, Alan! There's probably some genuinely interesting work being done in India and Pakistan, and I'd love to hear about it!

[Alan Longmire]

1 hour ago, Dan Hertzson said:

Thanks Alan,  from the question I suspected as much (which is why my response was mostly "tongue in cheek").

 

I knew you knew, and that was a good answer! 

 

And Stuart, for a while we had a guy from northwest India who was doing khoftgari work, but that was years ago.  And there was a kid from Peshawar who genuinely wanted to learn better metallurgical knowledge.  Lately it's just been spammers.

[Ryan Hobbs]

The scammers have truly ruined a lot of good Facebook groups I used to be in. Thanks for being a good Cerberus!

Edited March 7 by Ryan Hobbs