Hello knife people, I (very much not a knife person) have been suckered in by dual_sport_dork’s posts and am finally biting the bullet and buying one of those knives. I know approximately nothing about knives except what weird knife Wednesday has taught me, which is mostly how to shit talk cursed knock-offs, so I’m hoping for some advice on how to stick the landing of my jump into this hobby.

I’m trying to buy HUAAO’s Bugout 535 ripoff, and this knife-buying-experience is off to a rocky start because the Amazon link on dual_sport_dork’s writeup tells me shipping isn’t available to my region. Maybe this is just seller-related, maybe these knives are illegal in Canada, I don’t know and to be real honest I don’t give a fuck. I found knivesprecisionedge.com, which claims to be a “trusted store” and “100% issue-free” - sketchy as fuck, honestly. Has anybody else used this site? How bad am I about to get scammed?

Assuming they’re at least somewhat legit and ship me this knife, and that it makes it into the country, is there anything I should know about owning a knife like this? Care tips, how not to use it, anything like that? The main thing it’ll be used for is as a camping knife, if that matters.

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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    20 days ago

    No help on the company, I’ve never run across them.

    But, when it comes to your knife, you gotta learn to use a decent sharpening method if you’ll be using it while camping. Even good knives can end up duller than dammit doing camp work, and a damascus knife isn’t usually top pick for steel in situations that require high toughness. Like, if you’re only doing light work like cutting up food, gutting fish, maybe trimming some twigs for fire starting, anything will do. But for much else, you’ll want a stone like the worksharp field sharpener, and a little practice before you actually rely on a knife for real work.

    Now, avoid pull through sharpeners unless you enjoy bad edges and damaging the tool you paid good money for. Shouldn’t use powered sharpeners either, they take way more effort to set up to not damage a knife than they’re worth unless you’re buying something water cooled.

    Otherwise, keep it dry when not in use, keep it lightly oiled with mineral oil in the moving parts, and on the blade when stored. Damascus tends to be more rust prone than even regular carbon steel sometimes, better safe than sorry with oiling the blade.

    Don’t hanmer things with a knife. Don’t stab a lot of harder things, no matter how tempting it is to just jam the point into a log sp you can grab it easy while working. Ideally, don’t let any part of your body cross the plane of the blade during use, opening, or closing (though that’s more knife safety, which you probably already are familiar with. If not, holla and I’ll give that basics of that).

    Tbh though? I’d pick up a cheap Mora for the bulk of the heavy work, and save the one you’re talking about for light duty. A morakniv companion is about twenty bucks on the low end, new, and under 30 usd anywhere that isn’t a ripoff. Tough as hell, maybe a tad difficult to sharpen until you get used to the grind, but holds an edge through a day of medium duty work with no issues. Folding knives, even the best of them, tend to make compromises in terms of utility at camp so they can be folding. Won’t matter much if you won’t be doing a lot of wood work though, so it isn’t necessary to have a fixed blade for camping, I just prefer it overall.

    Plus, even in strict places, a mora type of knife tends to be so obviously for utility that any but the most asshole of officials won’t bother you about it, even with the stricter of Canada’s laws I’ve read about. But that’s whatever, not really a major factor in picking a primary camping knife.

    • felsiq@lemmy.zipOP
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      20 days ago

      Damn I really appreciate the tips, thank you! I probably should have mentioned in the post that I’m looking at the other “color” of the knife on that page (the 440C one) and their site just doesn’t have a convenient way to link it lol. Hopefully that’s slightly more practical than the damascus? It’s definitely gonna be for light work (food and campfire wood mostly) but I’ll probably need to sharpen it eventually anyway so thanks for the tips on sharpening.
      I’ll pick up some mineral oil - that’s really good to know. Is 440C any better in this respect?
      The morakniv sounds good, but the folding is important to me cuz 90% of what I need from a knife is just easy portability.
      Thank you again for all the advice, I really appreciate it!

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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        20 days ago

        440c is often underestimated. My main knife back when I was survival camping and doing stuff like building shelters was an old, huge bowie made of 440c. Damn thing was tough as hell. You could literally chop a small tree down and while it might be duller than when it started, you could still chop up plenty more, and never get a chip or bend in that blade.

        Again, a folding knife can’t do that. But if the 440 on theirs is even halfway well made, you won’t have to worry about the blade taking damage from reasonable use. Nor about rusting unless you abuse the hell out of it, then leave it covered in sap and water. Since the hardest use you’ll be putting it to is kindling from what you said, it should do just fine in all regards.

        Even bad 440c tends to at least not snap under use. It’ll bend, but not snap. Since the softer heat treatment methods also mean it’s easier to sharpen, I can’t say I’ve ever objected to that configuration in a beater knife. Wouldn’t want to have to sharpen a ton in the field, but it shouldn’t need more than a touch up by the fire in the evening with the kind of use you have planned, no matter how soft they ran it.

  • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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    20 days ago

    maybe these knives are illegal in Canada

    Where in Canada are you? Because there’s different rules per province/territory. I’m from BC and the laws are written in a super vague manner. There’s some bits that are quite clear, no switch blades, no gravity knives etc. Then bits that are like “must be of a reasonable length” that are written so regardless of how big the knife actually is, if you pissed off the officer, or they’re in a bad mood and wanna fuck with someone, or they fancy your knife and don’t want to pay for one of their own, they can take it or arrest you or w.e…

    • felsiq@lemmy.zipOP
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      20 days ago

      I’m in Ontario, but the legality of this knife is much less of a concern to me than whether or not I can actually get my hands on it lmao

      • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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        20 days ago

        Well, then open a P.O. box in the states, get it shipped there, go down for a weekend and bring it back up packed in the bottom of your bag locked in the trunk, and don’t act suspicious at the border…

          • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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            20 days ago

            Other option is to make buddy buddy with someone in the States, ship it to them and have them ship it to you. Problem is if it is illegal, you might have OPP or the RCs come a knockin

            • felsiq@lemmy.zipOP
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              20 days ago

              That’s where I’m hoping this sketchy website comes in tbh, since they claim to ship worldwide and who knows how thoroughly they label their packages

    • felsiq@lemmy.zipOP
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      18 days ago

      Honestly small anecdotal evidence is better than no evidence, so thank you for these

  • I can’t offer any advice on the company, but I can tell you the mistakes I’ve made.

    #1 is not understanding how I carry knives. I have several beautiful, expensive knives which I never use, because it turns out I prefer to carry small knives. For example, I havea both a UTX-85 and a UTX-70, and the 70 gets far more pocket time. I really only carry the 85 around the house. My favorite knife may be my ZT0350 - it feels great, it’s a smooth flipper (assisted, so duh), and the steel is fantastic… but it’s a relative monster in my pocket, so it lives in a drawer. Then I have a cheapish higonakami knock-off that I carry almost everywhere, because it disappears in my pocket, and should anything stupid happen with cops, no-one is going to feel threatened or offended by its tiny blade, basic operation, and it doesn’t even lock!

    You can’t go wrong with a Benchmade (although, you’re taking about a knock-off?). One of my favorite knifes, ever, it used to be my EDC (until the UTX70). I have lost multiple Griptillions to the TSA simply because of muscle memory. I’ve gifted Griptillions. I have two, right now, in my drawer. I love that they come in a variety of qualities, with different steels. They’re just good, well-made knives, and are the perfect size for me.

    I think quality matters a lot, so if you can at all afford it, if I were you I’d skip the knock-off and go directly for the Benchmade brand. There’s a lot that goes into a flipper beyond the steel - the quality of the bearings, the grips, the locking mechanism - that all affect how much you’ll enjoy the knife.

    But most importantly, IMO, for a first knife, understand what you’re going to be willing to carry in your pocket. A nice beefy blade is a great thing, but does you no good if it just sits in a drawer because it’s too much bulk for your pocket. Seriously. Some knives are like carrying a second wallet. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind having their pockets bulging with stuff, then go for it. Or if you carry a purse, heck yeah: get the biggest your local laws allow. Otherwise, get one you know you’ll carry and use: experience will greatly affect your choice of your second knife.

    • felsiq@lemmy.zipOP
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      19 days ago

      I don’t have any plans to EDC rn, but this feels like the comment that if/when I start I look back on like “oh fuck they were so right why didn’t I do what they said” lmao. Still, as a rule I spend the minimum reasonable amount on new hobbies since I have the toxic ADHD trait of constantly picking up new hobbies and (most of the time) dropping them soon after. If this turns out to be a thing for me, I’ll def be coming back to reread this comment for the next purchase. Thanks!

  • Curious Canid@lemmy.ca
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    19 days ago

    You’ve gotten a lot of good advice, but let me throw in a few random suggestions…

    I use Tuf-Glide on all my knives. You can spray it on or wipe it on with with a cloth. The stuff dries and bonds with the surface layer of the metal. It’s a great lubricant, but it also prevents rust and provides some physical protection.

    There is nothing inherently wrong with pull-through sharpeners, but avoid any sharpener that uses carbide as the abrasive. There are some excellent and easy-to-use sharpeners with ceramic and diamond rods. My field sharpener is the AccuSharp Diamond Pro. It’s easy to use, compact, and produces a surprisingly good edge. I’ve given the to all my friends and they’ve stopped bringing me all their knives to sharpen. :-)

    There is some decent damascus out there, but most of what you get in lower-end knives is really terrible. Materials science keeps uping the game of knife steels, but 440C was considered one of the best maybe thirty years ago. It is still a solid performer with a good balance of edge holding, toughness, rust resistance, and ease of sharpening.

    Don’t use your knife for things it wasn’t designed to do. Get yourself a small cheap prybar to pair with it. Something like 3" prybar will save your blade and do a better job of prying anyway. I prefer mine a little longer than that, so here’s a 3.8" prybar.

    Have fun!

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldM
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    19 days ago

    You could always get one of those prepaid debit cards and load it with as close to the total purchase price as possible. Then if some sketchy site rips you off or sells your credit card data to the Russians, or whatever, the most you can possibly be out is the piddling sum you had on that card.

    The advice I’ll give you for a camp knife that others have not already covered is to keep it clean. That’s not to say wipe it off after every single cut, but when you’re done using it or you get home from the woods or whatever, remember to grab a paper towel and some WD-40 or whatever your libation of choice is and get all the tree sap and other crud off of the blade. Despite them all being called “stainless,” no stainless steel is truly rust proof and being exposed to moisture and especially acidic organic crap can corrode, discolor, or eventually pit your blade. This is especially important if the thing is going to live at the bottom of your backpack the rest of the time and never see the light of day otherwise.

    Part and parcel of owning a knife is to git gud at sharpening, which is an inevitable task you’ll eventually have to undertake. It may surprise you to learn that I’m not one of those leather-ivy-cap-and-beard-wax motherfuckers who absolutely insists that every single knife must be sharpened freehand on an exotic oilstone and if you don’t make the lifelong investment to learn to do the same perfectly everything you do is automatically invalid. Rather the opposite. I pretty much always use some kind of guided sharpening jig even if it is just a wedge block on a stone because A) I have a lot of knives to cover and who has the time, and B) I generally can’t be arsed anyway.

    For the purpose of an inexpensive and highly versatile little sharpening doohickey that’s easy for a newbie to figure out without fucking things up too badly, I always recommend the Work Sharp Field Sharpener, one of which lives in my laptop bag full time. It’s 20 degree wedges result in a 40 degree overall edge angle which I think is pretty close to optimal for a knife made of not terribly fancy steel that will be used for utilitarian purposes.

    • felsiq@lemmy.zipOP
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      19 days ago

      The debit card was the plan, although tbh I’m just as worried about my data being stolen as I would be for a card. If I start getting spammed after ordering this I’m signing their helpdesk email up for the nastiest porn shit I can find 😭

      So after use I clean it and then apply mineral oil for storage, got it. Stupid question: is it safe to clean with hot water and dish soap for food-related stuff? Like I can use WD40 to get sap off, but afterwards do I just clean it like a kitchen knife or are there special considerations to make?

      I’m buying this knife because of your recommendation(slash approving writeup of it), so the sharpener you recommend is an easy buy too (especially cuz @southsamurai suggested the same one).

      Thank you so much for - in chronological order - doing your really awesome writeups that got me into this c/, experimenting with cheap/knockoff knives and posting your findings, being willing to answer noob questions, and finally for your specific advice here. I really appreciate you for it!

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldM
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        19 days ago

        You can wash with soap and water, sure. Bear in mind that this will probably remove any lubricant in the pivots in addition to any oils on the blade which are acting as corrosion inhibitors.

        440C steel, which is what that knife is made out of, is corrosion resistant all on its own but not magically so. You don’t have to go crazy with or about the re-oiling, but it’s not a bad idea. Mineral oil is generally food safe. Mineral oil itself will also remove a pretty decent variety of crud that may be stuck to your blade.

        I don’t usually use any of my folders for food prep so I clean them with naptha (!) and oil them with the same synthetic silicone oil I use on my airguns, 3D printer, etc., etc.