re: Looking for a high end pocket knife for my son for christmas

Can't speak to much other than the Spyderco Endura these days. My days of cutting up pants with thumb studs were over many, many years ago.

I want a knife that hangs CORRECTLY in my pocket which means I don't have to flip it around to open it. It comes out my pocket in the right angle.

I want a knife that I can't miss the opening with a subconcscious swipe across it. It needs to be without any thought.

I want a knife that is not going to move in my grip no matter what I've steeped it in. From blood and guts to oil and grease. That spyderco you have there... what is that? It's not the one I'm talking about at all. I can tell by the lack of holes for the clip on each end and the lack of scalloped, directional 'checkering' on the handle.

I want a knife that's going to take abuse. The reason I started buying Spyderco was because my brother got out of BUDS and gave me one he used to cut a piece of plywood up in order to make a large explosive. It originally was serrated but by the time I got it they were ground off and it was mostly straight edge that had been retouched till serrations were gone. I still have that one as well as a few more.

Spyderco has improved on the endura since they made it. The VG10 steel is just really something I can't explain. It's the only knife I've had a steel like that in. You don't have to sharpen it much at all and that's mostly just touching up the edge because it's so hard. Meat and bone don't faze it. Boxes don't faze it. You go through whatever you want to cut up then touch up with a crock stick and it's shaving sharp once again. It's the most amazing steel I've ever personally had any experience with. I've owned all generations of Spyderco.

Thumb knobs are a pet peeve of mine. That's trying to fix a problem that's solved by correct geometry, not adding a bar too it.

I'm a Spyderco fanboi and have been for a very long time.