Hi Justin,
Welcome aboard. CRKT are great knives for the cost for sure. I am not so much a fan of some of their designs but they do make a good quality knife IMO.
Bill

I have a number of folding knives that I rotate, but two that are frequently in rotation are the Kershaw Ken Onion Blackout and one of several Victorinox SAKs. The Kershaw folders have been super reliable for me.

I also rotate the Blackout with the Ken Onion Whirlwind. I was really lucky to find the Whirlwind in excellent condition at a flea market for $15.00. I wish those kind of bargains would show up more often.

kershaw Vapor. Under $20.00 at Wall-Mart.I bougth one a few months ago. It came very sharp from the factory. I used constantly and never had to sharpened so far.
The one hand opening was confusing at the begining but I like it now. You can't go wrong for the price, if you loose it or break it, no big deal.

If you can't afford the Ritter mini right now then I'd second the Walmart Native. I bought one for my dad. But I thought it was a liner lock?

Another vote for the Spyderco Native. Great knife, great value in the Walmart model.

Oh, man, this is a no-brainer:

Kershaw Junkyard Dog

Sandvik 13C26 steel (much better than the AUS8 used by most of the less expensive knife makers) and absolutely amazing workmanship at this price point.

How good is it? I'm a self-admitted knife snob; up until recently, I wouldn't carry anything less than a (USA) Benchmade, and often carried some relatively expensive "designer" folders. The Junkyard Dog changed my mind regarding "affordable" knives.

Available in two sizes (the Junkyard Dog II is the larger.)

-=[ Grant ]=-

Wow, I like the look of that Junkyard Dog. Thanks for the link.