Spyderco Forums

Researching the Rainier knives Fastpak some on YouTube I think I’ll try that. Looks slim to carry on the belt or pocket.

TomAiello wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 16, 2024 12:15 pm

This thread is killing me. I'm discovering a bunch of new small EDC fixed blades I'm going to have to try out.

Same here

RugerNurse wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 15, 2024 6:49 pm

Oops, forgot you posted that. Been a long week at work, just a bit tired
I saw the White River backpacker is now in Magnacut so I’m intrigued again bit the other strong contender is the Fastpak. Just hope the handle would fit my hand for the Fastpak. How thin is the stock?

The Fastpak isn't MagnaCut but Elmax is a great steel. For those who haven't used it, Larrin's steel property ratings are the same for Elmax and S45VN. (I still haven't tried S45VN but that has me interested!)

The blade thickness right off the handle is exactly 0.125". With Micarta scales, the handle on mine is just shy of 0.6" thick. I can get four fingers on that handle and it's more comfortable than it might look.

I find that the relatively neutral ergonomics of the Fastpak help it to work for me. It's sort of like this custom from David Mary. I only get three fingers on that one but the more neutral ergonomics make it easy. That said, there are lots of talented people making custom fixed blades at very competitive prices, so it's worth hunting around.

I've tried a lot of different models.




- The Izula I'm not a fan of. Handle is too small and feels awful with no scales. The Izula 2 is much better, especially after mods. Stripped blade, thinned edge, sharpened spine, contoured scales, etc. Not my favorite EDC FB but capable. Bit thick at the spine and too much belly in a short blade for my tastes.

- The Landi PSK to me is like a much nicer Izula. Has a way more premium feel. Similar price too, which shows how inflated Izula pricing has gotten. Handle shape is different but blade style is nearly identical besides overall length. Not sure if he's still making knives at this point though.

- The LT Frontier Valley is very nice but for me too small. I sold mine because it was a 3.5 finger knife for me. Loved it otherwise, especially with a horizontal kydex sheath.

- You may laugh but a Victorinox 4" paring knife is a good budget option. I made kydex for mine and have less than $20 invested in the package. Cuts circles around the thicker survival style knives. Not sure what good a 4mm thick spine is on knives with sub 3" blades personally.


- The Street Beat is Spydercos best overall EDC FB in my opinion. The current LW version is very nice, Dack sells them very cheap. Very light, very comfy, decent sized blade and easy to carry.



- The Ronin 2 carries very well for its size. I tried it out as a utility knife since I don't carry knives for self defense and it works pretty well. More comfortable in hand than the Yojimbo 2 and more cutting edge.



- The Max Knives Perrin Baby Bowie might be my #1 choice here. Similar ergos to the street beat but the heavier construction and sculpted G10 give it a more premium feel VS the FRN Street Beat lw. If you don't mind the heavier weight VS the Street Beat this is a great value at $50-65. The 440C performs very well, not a whole lot different than the VG10 SB. I modded my sheath so I can access the handle better on the draw and attached a Cold Steel C clip for IWB carry. Love it.



- The Cold Steel SRKC is a great value. Not wild about rubber style handles for EDC because I don't like how my shirt gets caught up on the handles, otherwise it's one to consider. Great blade length VS the pixie sized knives further up my list. 4-5" blades are my favorite size for daily use. Very comfortable handle and nice blade shape. Very handsome when stripped. Cold Steel C clips work nice with them.





- I'd vote against the Ark. Mine was way too dainy to get a good grip on and the sheath had bad retention. I tried a lot of mods on mine because I always wanted an EDC H1 FB and I'm not wild about the Enuff sheepsfoot blade shape and size to weight ratio, but ultimately gave up on it.

- Another I'd vote against is the cold steel spike. It's a neat little knife I bought a while back but it has a lot of problems. Handle too thin for harder work and the thick and narrow stock doesn't do great in a lot of day to day cutting tasks. Plus I think the scales are simple glued on. Here's an old thread on mine - https://forum.spyderco.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=76699

- Another I'm not a fan of are Bradford guardians. At least the index choil based models. I handled some at a gun show and did not care for the ergos. They make some models with handles closer to an Izula or ESEE 3 but their prices aren't that great. Better options for the $$ IMO.

Anybody tried the Hogue Extrak? It looks like it would be good for EDC.
https://www.bladehq.com/item--Hogue-Kni ... de--179505

I carry a clinch pick

I almost always EDC a folder these days but when I first started carrying a knife on my person back in my late teens, I actually carried a small trailing point fixed-blade that an uncle had made for me from a ball-bearing (unfortunately, I no longer have that knife).

Currently, I will occasionally carry a small fixed-blade in my pocket or IWB instead of a folder in certain situations, such as when I'm hiking or running, but my most common mode of fixed-blade carry is to have one in my backpack to supplement the folder in my pocket. Here's a list of my most-carried fixed-blades:

• The fixed-blade I carry the most for the purpose of being an EDC pocket folder substitute (as opposed to a supplement) is the Greg Thompson-designed Benchmade 173 Mini SOCP dagger. It carries just like a folder in the pocket and what makes it work as a pocket/IWB fixed-blade is how fast & easy it is to re-sheathe. Quickly & safely re-sheathing one-handed is always the diciest aspect of using a pocket/IWB fixed-blade for me, but the 173's sheath (which comes up all the way to the finger ring) makes the process almost intuitive. Out-of-the-box, the edge angles on the 173 are so obtuse it couldn't even slice paper consistently, so I did have to do a pretty radical re-profile to make it a better cutting implement (as opposed to its original design intent as a weakside-carry "get off me" tool). It's still not a super-slicer because of the blade's medial ridge & its blade stock thickness—I would never consider it as a serious work or outdoors folder replacement—but for basic convenience cutting tasks, it's slicey enough.

  

• The Spyderco Yojimbo 2 designed by Michael Janich has been my main folder for years, so it makes sense for me to have the Ronin 2—the fixed-blade version of the Yojimbo 2—as the fixed-blade that lives in my EDC/work backpack.

  

• The Spyderco Street Beat Lightweight designed by Fred Perrin is just a solid, no-nonsense, small fixed-blade. Excellent ergonomics, finely balanced, with a great, utilitarian, Bowie-inspired, straight clip point blade. I throw it in my EDC/work backpack in place of the Ronin 2 on days when I want to change things up.

  

• The Shane Sibert-designed Benchmade 375 Adamas fixed-blade in CPM CruWear is the knife I reach for when I want something longer, beefier, and tougher than the Ronin 2 or Street Beat Lightweight as my EDC/work backpack fixed-blade. It packs a lot of wear resistance and toughness in a light and slim package.

  

• When the current generation of Spyderco Swicks designed by Sal Glesser were first revealed a few years ago, I thought I would prefer the Spyderco Swick 5 (which has a bigger index finger hole), but in-hand, I realized the Spyderco Swick 6 worked better for me: the smaller index finger hole still offers enough room, and at times when I have to wear super-thick work gloves, or if I have to draw the knife quickly and have no time to properly place my finger in the hole, or if I have to really bear down and use a "hammer grip" on the knife, the handle is still streamlined enough that I can grip it comfortably without using the index finger hole. With the Swick 5, it only feels comfortable for me when using the index finger hole or in a pinch grip.
  
  I should really use the Swick 6 more—as a utility cutter, it is far & away superior to the Mini SOCP—but when it comes to pocket/IWB fixed-blades, carryability & ease of one-handed re-sheathing are just as important to me and in those aspects, the Mini SOCP is just a better option. And if I'm going to be throwing a fixed-blade in a backpack, there's no reason to limit myself to something as small as the Swick 6 unless I'm really counting the grams.

  

• Given that I'm a fan of both the Ronin 2 and the Street Beat Lightweight, I guess it should be no surprise that I like the Max Knives Fusion, which is a collaboration between Janich and Perrin. In terms of design & size, it feels like a cross between the Ronin 2 & the Subway Bowie (a smaller, neck knife version of the Street Beat Lightweight).

  

  It is super thick & chunky, though, and weighs more than the Ronin 2 & the Subway Bowie combined. It's set up from the factory as a neck knife but to me it is too heavy to be practical in that role (I have it set up for pocket/IWB-carry with an Ulti-Clip). There's some rattle to the Kydex sheath & the paracord wrap handle out-of-the-box was terribly done (I redid the wrap as soon as I got it). To be honest, it doesn't do anything better than the Ronin 2 or the Street Beat Lightweight or the Swick 6, but I like carrying it every now and then just the same.

  

Would hockey tape over the handle make the grip easier on the Fusion? I have seen the knives of Fred and Michael and i dislike the fact that they don't have a handle. I worked with hockey grip tape on my Eskrima sticks and think this could be a good substitute for a handle.

Jim Malone wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 4:24 pm

Would hockey tape over the handle make the grip easier on the Fusion?

Hockey tape should help, though to me the way I've redone the factory paracord wrap provides enough texture. But it's worth noting that the handle is somewhat short relative to the overall length of the knife, so even though the balance point is right around the index finger scallop, it still feels a bit forward heavy in-hand to me.

Lots of great suggestions here!
After some failed attempts to find a suitable EDC FB I’ve kind of put it on the back burner.
I got the Guardian 3 very early on after getting sucked into the knife hobby so I did the rookie mistake of opting for the super steel flavor of the day, M390 which was the top of the pops back then. If I ordered the same knife today I’d opt for a tools steel and probably a kydex sheath. I don’t trust the retention of the horizontal leather sheath.

I also awaited the Subway bowie with great anticipation, but the knife was just a bit smaller than expected. I like small knives more than most, but this one was just too small even for me.

There have been handful of other mistakes/misguided acquisitions as well, but I’ll spare you the additional wall of text.

After buying this handful of decent quality EDC FB I’ve also realized that this may be the one area where high value Chinese knives makes sense to me. I’m likely to use a FB for harder tasks, so while I’m really tempted by some of the high end production knives and custom fixed blades shown off in this thread, I’m not sure it makes the most sense. Seeing all that tool steel, canvas micarta and leather sheaths is like kryptonite to my rational thinking.
The possible exception could be the Max knives Perrin Baby Bowie that Vivi mentioned. That one seem to be very close to what I’m looking for, and it seems to be in a price bracket that fits well with my current EDC FB philosophy.