Photo: a brand new pocket knife vs the one I’ve been using hard for about a year and a half.
Firebird – GANZO Pocket Folding Knife FH41S with D2 Steel
No knife I own gets more abuse than my pocket knife. I carry it everyday, and I have used it to do everything from opening packages, tightening screws, digging holes, scraping paint, and taking apart animals. My prerequisites for a pocket knife are it needs to be small enough to not get in my way, easy to re-edge and sharpen, and cheap enough that if I lose it I won’t be mad.
After losing a few expensive pocket knives, which tend to either get left under a gut pile or catch a ride with a cast net, I decided to buy a pocket knife that I wouldn’t feel bad losing. I found a cheap knife online with similar specs to much more expensive knives and figured, what the hell.
The Firebird GANZO Pocket Folding Knife model FH41S with D2 steel is my favorite pocket knife I have ever owned. It’s small, light weight, and sturdy. D2 steel is a tool steel, which is an inexpensive balance of durability, sharpness, and decent rust resistance. The blade will take an edge well- I have chipped it plenty of times on rocks and cement, but it’s easy to fix and sharpen. The blade will show some rust if you dunk it in saltwater and forget to rinse it, but you can just buff that out. The liner lock is sturdy enough and the G10 handles have great texture even when covered in fish blood and slime.
The best part though, is that it’s cheap, so I never hesitate to use it for tasks that will bang it up. This knife has seen a lot of blood, grease, dirt and salt and it hasn’t let me down yet. I take the knife apart and give it a deep clean and grease the bearings every few months. The blade is a lot smaller than when it came out of the box, and the bearings aren’t as smooth, but it still works great. I am genuinely surprised it has held up as well as it has.
I have the version with the blaze orange handle, which makes it easier to find when I leave it on the ground. I recently lost my knife and had no idea where to even start looking for it, so I ordered another one. The next time I was mowing the grass, I spotted the orange handle partially covered in overgrown grass. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to earth tone handles on a pocket knife again.
Honing Rods/Steels
I use diamond, steel, and ceramic honing rods. But if I was going to only own one, it would be a ceramic rod. Ceramic rods are great at reshaping an edge and keeping your knife sharp, but they’re not as aggressive as a diamond rod, and I prefer the smooth ceramic over the textured steel rods. Honing rods aren’t a replacement for stone or belt sharpeners- they’re a complimentary tool- but every kitchen needs one.
Bonus round- best folding saw:
This may not quite fit the theme, but while we’re talking about sharp things I use a whole lot, my folding saw is one of them. My silky saw is a tool I reach for all the time- brushing up blinds, clearing shooting lanes, and removing limbs from roads. Unlike other folding saws I’ve owned, this thing is a pleasure to use- the teeth don’t bind and it makes easy work of just about anything I put it to.
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