http://www.benchmade.com/products/810
the benchmade contego has all the features i want and need. these are extremely simple:
carbide glassbreaker
exotic blade steel
ambidextrous one-handed opening and closing
pocket clip that can be changed to opposing side
deal breakers: liner lock. lock back. 440c steel. aus8 steel.
the contego is fairly reasonably priced for what it offers in size, metal and features. it's not outrageous like microtech and it's not super cheap like a throwaway knife.
other knives that have had these features, but have gone extinct:
masters of defense cqd mark 1. this knife had a carbide glass breaker, 154cm steel and it originally came in an auto which means you can open or close the blade with one hand albiet not using the same fingers. this knife got watered down by blackhawk and the originals have turned into collector's items.
microtech socom elite auto. this knife was similar to the mod cqd mark 1, but has been discontinued and has been watered down by microtech themselves into a liner lock that i have no interest in.
many of the microtech out the front knives are made with exotic blade steel and depending on the blade geometry they can be interpretted as having ambidextrous one handed opening and closing. they used to come with glass breakers with serviceable carbide bearings. the microtechs now come with a glass breaking tip that does not appear to be made of carbide. also microtechs are difficult to find.
my complaint is this: why is it so hard to find knives that have these 4 features together (without any of the deal breakers)?
i am not at all interested in a glass breaker that is not made of carbide. there are lots of videos online that show the failures of pointy objects that lack the hardness to pierce the surface tension of tempered glass. if you have a superior hardness it requires almost no effort to break glass. if you don't, you need something with lots of mass and what you lack in mass you must make up with velocity.
not interested in steels that require me to sharpen them all the freaking time.
i don't care about blade shape, serrations or any other gimmick. i just want a tool that cuts. plain edge is best. plain blade geometry is best. it's a folder so i'm not going to chop any trees while daily carrying.
list of knives that wish they were like the contego:
benchmade triage
sog trident elite auto
gerber dmf auto
i feel like these are really practical requirements of a knife, useful for emergencies and daily tasks. there are literally tens of thousands of knives out there and most of them are just simply all the same boring knife with some twist or variation on handle geometry or blade geometry. is what i'm asking for such a niche?
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