Cold Steel Ti-Lite Liner Lock Knife Zytel (4" Satin) 26SP

I have used this knife every day for 4 years now. Every thing from opening boxes, to whittling to cutting netwrap out of balers. Today I finally pried a bit too hard and snapped off the very tip. Should be able to sharpen it out though.
Great knife that stands up well.

I love the classic stiletto vibe of this knife. Relatively lightweight, sleek black and silver colors, and one of the best quality liner locks around, from what I've heard. Quite sharp out of the box, and made in Taiwan, too.

It's a little difficult to open at first. But as you continue fiddling with it and opening/closing it, the mechanism and lock smooth out, giving it smoother and easier action without compromising the stability. I added a few tiny washers underneath the thumb stud to raise it a little higher for easier flipping. Either way, your thumb will develop a little callus, not unlike a guitar player's fingertips!

I considered getting one of the other Ti-Lites when I was at the store. But ultimately I decided to go with the 4" Zytel version.

The 6 inch versions were just too enormous to justify carrying without arousing... concern from people. If you are going to get a knife that long, it might as well be a more "all purpose" knife with a more robust and outdoorsy profile, since that could be used for bushcraft. As for the "Kris" version... good luck sharpening it. :P

And while the 4" aluminum handle version is indeed nice, I preferred the shine of the Zytel version's blade compared to the "dull" finish of the other. If the other version had a shinier blade, I would have bought that one without any hesitation.

At the smaller size, it is still a little intimidating, but unless you're actively threatening someone with it, which you MUST NOT DO, it's still modest enough not to seriously worry anyone nearby. It'll get the job done for any small thing requiring a knife. Cutting an apple, opening packages and letters, dealing with loose threads, removing a splinter, etc. Just don't use it as a sharpened prybar. This is not a "woodsman's" knife.

My only real complaint about this knife is the same complaint I have for all Cold Steel knives: The pocket clip is so intensely, unbelievably tight that it's nearly impossible to get ONTO your pocket, and very difficult to pull it out when you need to.