I have been impressed with the VG10 alloy in my Emmerson knife. Darn that knife is sharp. When I am working with it ... I have to be careful and maintain good blade awareness - the blade can slice you up quite easily :-)

Robbie - here is what I would do if I were you. A basic K-Bar or an LMFII should be affordable. I would buy it, keep it for a couple of years, carry that around, use it as much as possible, and get very familiar with all the goods & bads.

After that, I would go back and buy one REALLY GOOD knife to last me a lifetime. My choice would be something from Fallkniven or a San Mai III blade from Cold Steel. Either choice is going to cost you a lot ... but this is a lifetime investment. Why these two selections? Because the blades from both companies are laminated. This means that there is an inner core of hard steel that provides the edge. And an outer layer of tough steel that provides good mechanical strength. It's a beautiful way to make a knife .... costs a bundle ... and produces a real keeper. After that - I would carry that knife and use it for all tasks. Like I said ... it's a lifetime investment.

You could also look at the Randall knives. They are also expensive and very popular. But I have heard that the Randall's have a very long delivery time - most of a year. They are not laminated steel - I think it's a tool steel. But they are still fine knives. I have never owned one.

And BTW I am not picking on Doug's knife in any way - looks like a nice knife. So as your starter knife one of the Ritter knives is also a good choice.


Pete2