www.northwestfirearms.com
I got one of the BG folders to test it before I bought more. For $16 I thought I could not go wrong, and if it broke then I was out only $16. In one of the Amazon reviews a reviewer said it as "cheap Chinese steel" and predicted it would break easily (I think the word "shatter" was used). Like I said, I tried to break it and didn't. I didn't try real hard - I consider batoning it into wood and then bending it back and forth to get it out to be more abuse than I will ever subject it to. I sometimes use the spine of the blade to pry on things - I've never so much as got a chip out of it. If I do break it, I have plenty of spares, but I will probably use those for bartering.
Those seem pretty stout as well. I find the less a knife costs the more I actually use it for day to day cutting.
Most daily use is just simple stuff like opening a package or cutting line or something that just about any knife will handle, but when I am at home on the property (99% of the time now that I am retired) I want something that is easier to use. The handle on the BG folder fills that desire. The Kershaw Barstow is smaller and not as useful, but fits well in my pocket when I go into town in my "town clothes" where I don't want to wear my scroungy dirty property work clothes with stains/etc (even after I wash them they look dirty).
Probably has to do with the same concept of we aren't out getting into gun fights on a daily basis to justify spending $300+ on a combat knife rated for knife fighting when the average person is just getting one for simple utility like opening boxes or leathermans for a plethora of reasons. I'd feel less guilt losing a $30 knife vs a $300 one on the fact that I am more likely to open a box, cut open a bag or use a philips/flat head more than I am going to have to defensively knife fight my way out of a mugging which likely i'm already at a disadvantage from what people say in knife fights indicating its already to late.
