Introduction

For years now knife steel has focused almost exclusively on one trait—edge retention. Super steels were almost always super by virtue of how much longer they retained a sharp edge. And this makes senses. After all, the purpose of a knife is to cut stuff and the longer you can cut stuff without maintenance, the better. But the reality is that we have entered an era of knife steel where edge retention is pretty much always good enough for general EDC use. M390 and the other steels of the same family are so readily available that opting for more edge retention comes at a serious cost—steels that are better in edge retention than M390 are exceptionally hard to sharpen, especially without a powered sharpener.

A while back, when the big chopper craze took off, some tougher formulations of steel became popular—3V, INFI, and Vanadis 3 Extra. Lots of fixed blades were made with tough steels all in the hope that buyers would feel compelled to reach into their wallets for a reason other than edge retention. It has worked and there are a few companies that either exclusively use these steels or use them so regularly that no knife they make is released in a version other than an ultra-tough steel.

In other words we have reached a point of diminishing returns in terms of both user benefits and marketability for steels that maximize edge retention and toughness. But there are two other aspects of steel I find important—sharpenability and corrosion resistance. There aren’t enough steels out there that focus on sharpenability to do a real shootout (SPY27 being one of the notable few). There are, however, more than a handful of options when it comes to ultra corrosion resistant blade materials, more than enough, I think, to do a proper shootout. Note that I did not write steel.

More importantly, I think this is a space in steel design where we can still find meaningful upgrades. H1 and X15N were interesting and all, but they weren’t really worth the trade off. Corrosion resistance came with all sorts of drawbacks. But now there are multiple blade materials on the market that are virtually stainproof AND can hit 60HRc. We have at least three materials that, in my mind, can be recommended for anyone in any location doing any task you’d do with a folder. This is a first and it represents a substantial upgrade from our options even 10 years ago. We have reached a point, for the first time, where we can thoughtlessly say there are “best steels” regardless of use (with, again, the caveat of folder-specific use). Vanax, LC200N, and Terravantium can really do it all. So now it is time to see how they compare to each other. The fascinating thing is that all three materials take a different route to arrive at this point. Furthermore, all three knives are very different from each other, but all have the same goal—to be your do everything folder. For these reasons, the winner of this shootout has a very good claim to being the best EDC folder available.

The choices here are pretty obvious, but for one. If the goal were to evaluate the three most similar knives, I’d probably take the Native 5 in LC200N. It is a very familiar form factor, but it lacks, for me, the interest and uniqueness of the Spydiechef. Instead, I wanted to choose the best knife with highly corrosion resistant steel I could find, hence the Spydiechef.

Finally, if this were just a question of whether these are good knives, the answer is simple—yes, these are all exceptional pieces of gear for everyday carry. But you don’t read this site to find out what is good. You read this site to find out what is the best. So let’s get started.

Essential Links

Here is the review of the Spydiechef.

Here is the review of the Quiet Carry Drift G10.

Here is the review of the Terrain 365 Otter AT Flipper.

Here is the link for Knife Steel Nerds breakdown on LC200N, the steel on the Spydiechef.

Here is the link for KSN’s breakdown on Vanax, the steel on the Drift.

Here is a link on dendritic cobalt and here is the page for Terravantium, the blade material on the Otter. There is no information on what makes Terravantium different from regular dendritic cobalt.

Methodology

I am going to use my folding knife scoring system, but instead of awarding a score of 0-2 for each criteria, I am going to rank each blade, from first place to last place. Instead of just ranking them I am going to weight the ranks, much like the BBWAA (see: "How is voting counted?") does in end of the year award voting. A first place ranking is worth 5 points, a second place ranking is worth 3 points, and third place ranking is worth 1 point. This separation makes it less likely that the value winner will just be the cheapest knife (as a straight ranking system would award a straight last place knife 10 points for merely being included). This time I am going to call ties. There are some aspects of these knives that are so close that it doesn't really make a difference which one you choose. If the two or three knives are all great, they will tie with five points, and so on down the line. The one that wins the most overall points has a big advantage going into the final assessment, which product value (performance compared to price). Here is the folding knife scoring system. In terms of value, it will be an easy math formula: dollars divided by total points score. The less dollars per point, the better the value.

Scoring System Points

Design

I like all of these designs quite a bit, but the Spydiechef is a bit of an ironing board in the pocket and the Otter Flipper has some issues that I referenced in the review that make it seem and look less cohesive than it should. None of these are bad, not in the least, but the Quiet Carry Drift is a solid design executed exceedingly well. It deserves the #1 slot because it works for most people, most of the time with a comfortable form factor and a familiar design. No one will suspect that you are carrying one of the very best knives on the market. Of course, if you like bling that is exactly the opposite of what you want out of knife, but hopefully the bling fans have long since abandoned reading this site in favor of endlessly scrolling through IG using the hashtag #pocketfrosting or "#MokuTi

Quiet Carry Drift G10 (Drift): 5

Spyderco Spydiechef (Spydiechef): 3

Terrain 365 Otter Flipper AT (Flipper): 1

Fit and Finish

The rumor is that Terrain 365 uses Bestech as an OEM and, if true, says something about the state of the industry. The level of fit and finish found on even modestly priced knives is very very good. Bestech’s best work, seen in the Progeny MR and this knife, is really good. The flipper pops with ease and the scales, clip, and blade are nicely finished. The other two knives are good, but not quite the silky smooth experience that the Otter is.

Otter: 5

Spydiechef: 3

Drift: 1

Carry

Here the knives clump with the Drift and the Otter outpacing the much larger Spydiechef. The Spydiechef really is a big knife and the comparison here makes that very clear. Both the other two knives really tuck into the pocket nicely. The difference maker between the top two knives is the lack of a pocket pecking flipper tab on the Drift. I like flippers, but clever ones, like the flipper on the excellent Civivi Lumi, show that these “shark fin” tabs are no longer state of the art.

Drift: 5

Otter: 3

Spydiechef: 1

Grip

Titanium is not a good material for grip in wet hands. Its corrosion resistant, but super slick. As a result, by default, it comes in last. The Otter is better, because it is G10, but the Drift, with its subtle “screen window” texture is really great. This is possibly my very favorite texture for a knife handle and mimics the grippiness of micarta quite well.

Drift: 5:

Otter: 3

Spydiechef: 1

Steel

This is why you are reading this, correct? Well, two of the steels are really similar in performance and the other isn’t a steel. All do exactly what they promise—cut with no rust, so that’s a good thing. The problem is there is just no data on the Terravantium steel. Traditionally dendritic cobalt has been rustproof and toothy along the edge with serious issues relating to toughness, specifically resistance to twisting and prying. No one that is a responsible knife owner twists their knife, but it is equally true that no human cuts perfectly up and down. Without a datasheet or other information from a scientific source, I am left with no choice but to treat Terravantium like plain dendritic cobalt. Its a great cutting material, for sure, cutting long after steel has lost its bite, but it is a bit more fragile, and the conceit to this shootout is an EDC blade that can be thoughtlessly carried and used everywhere. For that reason, Terravantium loses out. If there is some data out there that dispels these concerns, I am happy to rescore this shootout. Until then, this is how I see it.

Quick note on the Vanax—man is it good: hard, rustproof, and not too bad in the toughness department. This is my current favorite overall steel. Its a steel free of drawbacks.

Drift: 5

Spydiechef: 3

Otter: 1

Blade Shape

If you were using this knife has a pure kitchen knife, the Spydiechef, as the name hints, would win. Its upswept santuko shape is amazing. But as an EDC, it sometimes feels like the tip of the knife has wandered off. The Drift and the Otter are much more familiar and therefore consistent. I like the tip on the Drift a bit better because it is fine without being fragile.

Drift: 5

Otter: 3

Spydiechef: 1

Grind

In folders there is really no reason not to go thin and the Spydiechef is both thin and tall, making it the sliciest of knives. The Drift is no slouch, but the Spydiechef is an all time great grind and so the Drift loses out in the same way that Ralph Kiner loses out to Willie Mays. The Otter missed the boat here, both forgetting it is an homage to thin ground knives and that it is a folder. Perhaps the thicker stock is necessary to compensate for the blade material’s inherent fragility.

Spydiechef: 5

Drift: 3

Otter: 1

Deployment

The detent on the Otter is absolutely dead-on perfect. I like stiffer detents than most, but setting that preference aside I can see how most people don’t. The Otter is right on the edge of stiff but still plenty accessible and easy to use. You can pop open the Spydiechef pretty easily and the Spyderhole is still my preferred method of opening, but its not quite as good as the very best Spydercos in this regard. The Drift is good, but “good for a thumb stud” is different than just good.

Otter: 5

Spydiechef: 3

Drift: 1

Retention

Call me boring, but I like wire clips and the wire clip on the Drift is great, as is the clip on the Spydiechef. the polish on the Drift makes insertion and extraction of the Drift a smidge easier, hence the poll position. The Otter’s clip is fine, but with competition this tight fine is probably not enough.

Drift: 5

Spydiechef: 3

Otter: 1

Lock

With a huge cut out and tight tolerances the Spydiechef shines. The Otter is strong too, with some real clumping at the top. The Drift’s biggest weakness, of course, is lock bar access. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is a real stumbling block for what would otherwise be a dominant design. As it is, the lock bar access issues make the shootout tighter and more interesting.

Spydiechef: 5

Otter: 3

Drift: 1

Total Scores:

Drift: 36

Otter: 26

Spydiechef: 28

Value Calculation

None of these knives are super budget friendly. You are paying for esoteric chemistry.

Drift: $250/36: 6.94 dollars per point

Otter: $311/26: 11.96 dollars per point

Spydiechef: $234/28: 8.36 dollars per point

The Drift in G10 is a great buy, for sure. The Otter does have a small maker premium attached to it, but it is the Spyderco that seems like a better value than the numbers say.

Conclusions

The scores are somewhat representative of the actual overall quality of the knives. I think the ordering is 100% correct, but I think that they are closer in quality than the scores indicate. I think the Spydiechef is basically the equal of the Drift and only its size makes it play second fiddle. The Otter is similarly better than the points indicate, but I do think it is worse than the other two. None of these are bad knives, but the Otter does feel a bit less “everyday” friendly with this long-lasting but fragile blade. It basically replaces the worry you have with corrosion issues and puts fragility in its place. Of course, it cuts forever and ever, so if that is your priority and you absolutely never do any twisting with your knife, this is your jam. But as a thoughtless EDC replacement, it falls behind the other two. The Spydiechef, of course, is one of the best Spydercos of all time (see here for its position on my Top 10 Spydercos list). The Drift, however, if an ideal EDC—a great size, a great shape, fully familiar, but with steel that simply can't rust. Its basically your favorite knife made better. Only the lack of access to the locker holds this knife back from the all time great list. Its still really, really good though and my recommendation for an EDC that works for everyone regardless of where you are.

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