I was thinking about this, what would you list as the "Iconic Folding Blades of The Modern Era."

I would say knives made after 1970ish.

Production knives only for the sake of discussion.

List your top 5

Here are mine (in no particular order)

1.) Buck 110: Copied the world over, the Buck 110 is an icon among icons.

2.) Benchmade 42: There are many iconic Benchmandes but this one speaks to its history and place in the cutlery industry.

3.)Spyderco Endura/Delica: The Clip-It line was funky and different. Tons of innovation, but held back by the stainless steel handles. Enter the Endura/Delica. Affordable, accessible, and the FRN handle opened new doors for the brand.

4.) CRKT M-16: Yes, the CRKT Kit Carson M-16. CRKT changed the game in the mid to late 90's. They took custom collaborations off shore and made pretty good copies for pretty low cost. Other players were still having knives made in Japan and the costs were through the roof. The CRKT M-16 became an icon, a post 9/11 symbol of the "War on Terror" and I believe even made a cover of Time Magazine (correct me if wrong on that).

5.) Emerson Commander: There was the CQC-7, but the Commander sealed the deal and introduced the world to "The Wave."

Honorable Mention: Benchmade 710, Spyderco Military, Al Mar SERE, Emerson CQC-7 (Benchmade 970), Benchmade AFCK and SOG Tomcat.

Semi-Custom/Production: CRK Sebenza and Strider SmF.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mark G.,

Iconic.. Sebenza, Buck 110.

Those are the two I can think of.

BM 710 - Axis revolution
Sebenza - Frame lock daddy
Delica/Endura - They deserve to be nominated
Kershaw Random Task - the one that started AO trend
42 - The best all around production bali

Buck 110 made it's first appearance in 1964 But it deserves a mention regardless.
Same can be said for Kabar USMC and Gerber Mark II

Sebenza.
Spyderco Delica/Endura.
Spyderco Harpy.
BM Griptilian.
Emerson, any of the wave models.

quote:

Originally posted by RxEnergy:
Buck 110 made it's first appearance in 1964 But it deserves a mention regardless.

I said 1970 "ISH"

Buck 110
Buck 112
Sebenza
710

I must have had 5 or 6 Buck 110's (mine were probably the newer 112's)

Even to this day, be as "kennel blind" as you want, but a CRKT M-16 is still a heck of a value, and I've never had one fail me in any way.
All that, and still only $25.

quote:

Originally posted by fastjan:
I must have had 5 or 6 Buck 110's (mine were probably the newer 112's)

Even to this day, be as "kennel blind" as you want, but a CRKT M-16 is still a heck of a value, and I've never had one fail me in any way.
All that, and still only $25.

I agree... I prefer the versions made in Taiwan over the Chinese versions. The former are either titanium or aluminum handled and cost around $79.

The 710HS is a modern classic.

I think Strider has nailed the "tanto" look. Striders do have a very distinct style and feel.

Chris Reeve's Sebenzas look very classy. I would like to own one some day.

I'm not familiar enough with enough knives to name classics by model, but I can recognize their features. Spyderco's hole, Emerson's wave and Benchmade's Axis-lock are all classics to me.