So I'm looking to get back out to the outdoors again and as such, I find myself without a decent camp/hiking/bushcraft knife (I've sold all of my ESEEs, Beckers, Busses, and other fixed blades except for an ESEE Izula and a Spyderco MuleTeam-13).
I'm looking for something with between 4 and 5 inches of blade in any sort of decent steel/heat-treat, but I don't want any sort of "SHTF" or sharpened pry-bar type of "what if I need to batan" kind of knife. I do want full-tang construction and decent weather-proof materials, but nothing uber-fancy (nothing "tactical").
I'm looking to stay on budget since I'll need to buy at least 3 of them (planning on some outdoor activities with my two sons, daughter, and wife).
Right now, I'm finding more and more that Becker is really hard to beat and I'm kind of stuck as the $70 price-range if I want a decent blade, decent scales, and a reasonable sheath already made. I've dabbled in scale-making and sheath-making in the past, but I don't really want to go that route this time.
Ontario still produces a D2 Rat3 at around $80, but it's a touch smaller than I was hoping for (and I found a used Benchmade Nimravus for around $80 - but I fear it's too "tacti-cool" for me to carry around when hiking).
Anybody got experience with a fixed-blade that fits the above critera for less than $70 (or one that is just way better for the same or slightly more money). I really don't want to go $100 or more since I'm tripling my purchase.
I'm looking for something with between 4 and 5 inches of blade in any sort of decent steel/heat-treat, but I don't want any sort of "SHTF" or sharpened pry-bar type of "what if I need to batan" kind of knife. I do want full-tang construction and decent weather-proof materials, but nothing uber-fancy (nothing "tactical").
I'm looking to stay on budget since I'll need to buy at least 3 of them (planning on some outdoor activities with my two sons, daughter, and wife).
Right now, I'm finding more and more that Becker is really hard to beat and I'm kind of stuck as the $70 price-range if I want a decent blade, decent scales, and a reasonable sheath already made. I've dabbled in scale-making and sheath-making in the past, but I don't really want to go that route this time.
Ontario still produces a D2 Rat3 at around $80, but it's a touch smaller than I was hoping for (and I found a used Benchmade Nimravus for around $80 - but I fear it's too "tacti-cool" for me to carry around when hiking).
Anybody got experience with a fixed-blade that fits the above critera for less than $70 (or one that is just way better for the same or slightly more money). I really don't want to go $100 or more since I'm tripling my purchase.