14 year Old Son Wants A US Made Knife For Christmas--Tactical-Survival-Around 50$ What You Got?

Cold Steel does make some nice higher end stuff, but their budget stuff is not bad either especially for the price.
If you wanted to keep it around $50 I'd get this for him. Seems to be a tough SOB. Thick blade as well.

Timber Wolf Extreme Tactical Bowie

It's not American made but read the reviews on it first before you count it out. As you know it's going to be nearly impossible to find U.S. made for $50 unless it's a tiny pocket knife.

originally posted by: jaymp
a reply to: crayzeed

Or use it as a tool to teach him how to respect weapons. Much better than making it something taboo, and his desire for a knife becomes a rebellious desire.

I'm from the South. Kids around here even younger than 14 have their own firearms. I don't see a thing wrong with it if they're being taught properly.

This exactly. I went to school in the deep South. We were carrying knives to school with us every day starting in elementary school and no one ever got stabbed.

a reply to: Nucleardoom

Nice knife do you have one?

a reply to: Excallibacca

But what happened when you did do something wrong, I bet it wasn't a time out.

a reply to: seasonal

Yes, I'd definitely recommend it for the price. It's a really solid knife and can be had for less than the $56 it's listed at since they run a ton of sales. If you do decide to get it, wait for the 20% off plus free shipping sale (every couple of days their sale changes) as it'd run around $45 bucks then. I don't think he'd be disappointed in it even if it's made in China as it is a blade you can count on when you really need it.

We should always take into account that some of the things China makes are great quality, like high quality outdoor gear (The North Face, etc.), most major appliances, consumer electronics, computers, and a ton of other examples. China's come along way like Japan did back in the day. With that being said they still produce a ton of junk as well, so you really have to do your research to weed out the quality products.

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: seasonal
A 14 year old heh. I tell you what kick his ASS and sit him down for some good old EDUCATION not how to be a mini- rambo. Teach him how to become a productive member of the society you live in. Jesus wept, no wonder the US if full of psychos. Now I suppose you're actually gonna buy him one. You people need your heads looking at giving a 14 year old knives and guns.

Are you serious? Good lord we're all psychos because we have knives and or guns? I'd suggest you have a sit down with Jesus and ask him how they were able to eat meat back in his day.

Get a grip. Some of actually hunt for food...imagine that.

Carrying some personal protection in a world gone mad is not a bad idea either, unless you want to be a victim?

a reply to: Nucleardoom
Thanks I will put it on the list.

For that price point, as others have mentions, you cannot beat the kabar. We have a few of various ages. They always get used.

a reply to: seasonal

Ontario's are a great knife for the money. Look at the SP1 model too. Its basically a ka-bar with a rubberized handle and lanyard hole. Ontario was actually contracted, and made ka-bars for the military, in smaller numbers. Anyhow any Ontario you go with is going to be a decent knife. 1095 carbon steel is pretty decent.

Is this his first good knife? If so, then it should really be something passed down to him.

Other than that, if you ain't going with something like an Old Timer, then I only trust in Ka-Bar.

a reply to: iTruthSeeker

Looks like Ontario maybe near the top of the list. Thanks

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: seasonal
A 14 year old heh. I tell you what kick his ASS and sit him down for some good old EDUCATION not how to be a mini- rambo. Teach him how to become a productive member of the society you live in. Jesus wept, no wonder the US if full of psychos. Now I suppose you're actually gonna buy him one. You people need your heads looking at giving a 14 year old knives and guns.

He asked for knife brands, not how to shelter your kid. Why don't you move along.

I would definitely go with the KBAR for his first knife imo.

originally posted by: Shamrock6
KA-BAR. Made in the US, great product line, great history.

Great knife but the one I ordered had the worst factory edge on it I had ever seen. Had to take my Dremel drum sander to it to get a good fine edge. It was that bad.

a reply to: seasonal

At the $50 price point I don't think you're going to be able to touch a really good Stainless Steel or an Alloy Steel blade, so that leaves either a Carbon Steel blade or (what I would consider) a mediocre Stainless Steel blade, such as one of the 440 series. Between those two choices, I personally would choose a good Carbon Steel alloy--you trade away the corrosion resistance feature but get a blade that should have a keener edge, can be sharpened easier, and should be tougher.

If you add in the "Made in USA" feature (which a lot of respondents to this post didn't seem to catch) that narrows the field considerably. By the way, Mora knives are made in Sweden.

Of all the Carbon Steel alloys available in US-made knives, the one that stands a little bit above the rest (in my opinion) is the 1095 Cro-Van alloy used in some Ka-Bar knives. The term "Cro-Van" refers to Chromium and Vanadium metals which are mixed in small amounts into the basic Carbon Steel. The Chromium (together with other alloying metals such as Molybdenum and Manganese) moves the resulting alloy close to being like Aircraft Chrome-Moly alloys such as 4130 in terms of strength. Also, together with the Vanadium, the Chromium contributes to increased wear resistance.

In your price range, I would look at the "Short" (5 1/4 inch blade length) Ka-Bar, which is available in both a Tanto blade pattern and the classic USMC Fighting Knife pattern. It is available with either a Kraton handle (a modern high-impact polymer material) or the classic stacked-leather handle and either a leather sheath or a Kydex sheath. Both of them are made in the US. The classic USMC Fighting Knife pattern is very representative of Bowie styled large blades of the early 20th century. I own one of the Tanto blades, and if I had it to do over, I would go with a Bowie style blade--it's more versatile. If you look at knife stores on the internet you can find Short Ka-Bars on sale for a little over 50 bucks.

The Ka-Bar is not only a pretty good knife in its own right, but also a connection with a bit of American history.

a reply to: 1947boomer

You are right, that is a nice knife. Thank you for the info.

What do you think about Ontario Spec Plus SP1-90 Marine Combat Military Knife? He likes this one too.

I got a Spyder Co knife on a trade, not sure of the model, but it is one hell of a knife.

Gerber and Cold Steel are good as well, but if he's looking for something that just looks mean I'd suggest checking Ebay for hand-made custom knives.

a reply to: GodEmperor

Gerber is good knife. thanks for the info.

The good old Buck 110 hunter. American classic.

You guys could take a blacksmithing course locally and hammer out that steel together. Find some antler, make handles, and you have a one of kind badass knife, made by your own family.

I don't have all too much to add to the conversation, though I do own a few knives I wouldn't recommend any of them as a first.

Really for me a first knife should be cheap enough to shrug it off if you lose it, dependable enough for nothing to go wrong doing stupid things with it and should last a life time if kept well.

It think the Mora Robust fits all of those categories - I'll admit they are cheap knives from cheap steel but that doesn't mean they aren't: incredibly strong, absolutely reliable and very long lasting.

The price of $15 is amazing low and I'd like to get one probably to use it as something to use everyday for pretty much anything so I'm not worried for damaging it whilst not being worried it'll let me down.

I'd guess the other Mora knives would follow suit so maybe a classic can give a more refined look. Part of my thinking in that is also that he want to own it in 10 years time when the novelty of a 'bad-ass' knife has worn off and he can have something nice looking that he can still carry everyday whilst not looking immature (something I think happens with combat knives).