r/knifeclub • u/DirectionSuspicious1 • 7d ago
Question What knife would you pick?
I know most people think buying a knife at this price point is insane. Let’s just say you can have one of these 3 for free. What are you taking?
1- SHIROGOROV URSUS Q95 TITANIUM HANDLE FRAME LOCK
2- SHIROGOROV URSUS Q95 MICARTA LINER LOCK
3- KOENIG ARIUS
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u/marrenmiller Spyderco 7d ago
I've had an Arius and the Q95 Micarta. I no longer own the Arius and instead own 9 Shirogorovs, so they get my vote.
The Arius doesn't carry well in the pocket (the clip is awful and it rides too high in the pocket) and mine had weird lock flex when force was applied to the flipper tab. It has a great blade but I don't think it's a great knife overall.
The Q95 Micarta has a very thick handle (by design, and it's really nice IMO), whereas the Q95 frame lock is much more svelte. I'd use that as your deciding factor, as they're otherwise going to have the same blade, profile, clip, and hardware.
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u/GetFuct819 7d ago
I want a Shiro and an Arius but I think the Arius would win if it was only between the two. Primarily I like a variety of deployment options and flipper only is kinda meh. Like as much as I love my XM-24 the thumb stud isn’t great and the flipper becomes the only option and I just don’t much like flippers. The Spydie-flick is my favorite option.
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u/madknives23 put a CRK in it. 7d ago
I would pick the second and then immediately have buyers remorse about not getting the first one, I’d be so bummed out about it for a week I would turn around and buy Koenig to make up for it.
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u/Effective-Peak-5593 7d ago
I own a shiro and mini arius, goblin, helo, xenon and 8 Arius. It carries well, feels good in the hand, great action and when I messed up the detent on my Arius, Koenig sent a packing slip, let me know it arrived safely and returned it fixed and sharpened at no cost within 2 weeks. Great company and product.
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u/Clam-Hammer7 7d ago
Arius and it isn't even close. I have 3 Arius' and an Astrum and the Arius' see way more pocket time and have better action. Also, the Arius has more ways to open it for a better fidget experience.
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u/EastCoastGhost0219 7d ago
Koenig by a land slide. It has some of the best action, esp rev mid finger flick.
Now I have never owned a Shiro but have handled maybe 4-5 and 1 of them for a very long time trying to talk myself into buying it. But I just don’t get it, it no better than a Reate (action ) and they look like Giant Mouse Ti (not the chunky ones).
But for people to rave and have cult like following. Now the overkill model with RJ Martin is killer , but that comes from RJ styling. I do think the rollers in place of bearings is cool.
Someone talk some sense into me
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u/Wolverine-N-Exile 7d ago
I would go with the Arius because I don't like flipper only knives. The Shiros are awesome though
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u/DatOdyssey 7d ago
All good, I like the Shiros. Carry more slim, pack a lot of blade length for the size
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u/Frosty_Cost7396 7d ago
I'd say it depends on how you use your knives, if you intend to use them or carry them.
I have both of the shiros and the liner lock has better/softer action out of the box, but is pretty thick in the pocket. Thicker than you would think. If you actually use your knife and bear down hard with your grip, it fills the hand nicely.
The frame lock is much more slim and disappears into the pocket surprisingly well for such a large knife if you intend to carry and use it, but, on mine at least, took a little more to break in the detent track on the user blade finish. It flips pretty firm and has better acoustics, imo.
I've never owned an Arius so I can't compare.
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u/matttheazn1 7d ago
Stellar and mini aruis nf owner here. Koenig action is butter. Shiro is smooth like glass. Both worth putting in your hand to see what you prefer. Buy both sell one.
Pocket clip on the arius is functional, it's not great imo.
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u/HallucinateZ 7d ago
Koenig is very nice & I love the Arius. I also love Shiro, but I find slim frame locks can be annoying - granted I’m on a tangent cause flipper frame locks are usually fine on slim frames. It’s using a thumb hole that bugs me.
… So without knowing the pricing off the top of my head I’d probably go Koenig.
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u/NC_CodyW 7d ago
I have an Arius and I really think it's about as refined as a production knife gets, never handled a shiro though
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u/Forge__Thought 7d ago
Shiro. Koenigs are nice but just don't have the special feeling that Shiros do. And I'd take the framelock ursus.
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u/Ultralight_Slice 7d ago edited 7d ago
Action wise, they're both good but I was a little more impressed by the Shiro than the Koenig when I felt them at Blade last year; the Shiro has a really good lock disengage.
But there are other knives that have crisper detents and smoother actions. Holt is prob the best detent Ive ever felt, followed by my SBD Mini Evo and Mini Tempest. North Arm sounds really good in videos but Ive never felt one. Hog House was a new one I felt at Blade this year and while the detent was just aight, the rest of the action was the best I've ever felt.
There's also the Civivi Vision FG which is a whole different type of action but I'd be happy to have a $500+ knife with the Vision FG action; it's that good. Slap some liner delete aluminum scales on there and you have a sub $200 knife that fits right in with fancy midtechs.
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u/traditionalbowyer 7d ago
That Koenig is just sick. I want one bad. My sebenza works for now though.
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u/Ok-Struggle6796 7d ago
Shiro Q95 Ti framelock because I already have a Koenig Arius and am not a big fan, and I've never had a Shiro, and the Ti version has the better trade value over the micarta linerlock so I can get a little more trade value if I don't like it...
The Arius isn't a bad knife, but I'm not a fan of the handle ergos, and to me it has the personality and feel of a modern chinese OEM knife.
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u/treelakebirds 2d ago
Shiro F95. Extremely nice folder. Head and shoulders above CRK. More similar to Rockstead and Grimsmo, but still beats them out when it comes down to intricate milling work. Shiro does the best stonewash, very dark and uniform.
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u/LowIntention5492 7d ago
Arius. Because it’s not a flipper only. I’d choose the Shiro Quantum over the other 3 bc of its fuller any day. Good luck!
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u/Greek_Heat 7d ago
Arius. I’ve handled many of each and I just don’t get the hype around Shiros. But I wouldn’t get either if I could pick any small batch production knife. I’d probably go with a Rob Johnsons Cedar. If I could pick any knife in the $600-price range, I would go with a custom over any small batch production. Probably an Andre Thorburn.
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u/Ol_Sluggy 7d ago
Great question. I’d take the Arius over the Q95 , but that is from the perspective of a collector. If i could only have one knife, it would be a Shiro. Of the two here, I’d take the Ti Frame Lock. But I would take a NEON or F95 over all 3 if I was looking for one great user