The ZT 0303 is long discontinued, I have 2 but very difficult to find. Check out the ZT 0350. I have a couple of those as well. They are basically the same knife but smaller. Blade is 3.25" instead of 3.75" and is 6ox instead of 9oz. I have custom shieths for both models. I wouldn’t cary the ZT0303 without one.
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I became pretty good at bartering when I was deployed lol. I collected some pretty cool gear that’s for sure!
I love Kershaw as well. I think it’s time for me to buy a new one so I am glad I found this thread!
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I bought up a pile of Kershaws when it became illegal to import them into Canada. Can still cary them but can’t import them. Here are most of the ones I got. I do have more and other brands but do love Kershaw.
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Since this thread is so active, and we share our experiences with vendors here on OG a lot, I wanted to say a little about buying knives in my experience and give a shout-out to my favorite edged tool vendor. If you ever need knives, axes, or other cutting tools, I can’t recommend Baryonyx Knives in Maine enough. They carry a hand picked selection of knives and tools from around the world, with a focus on the best commercial tools that hit an incredible cost/performance ratio. That’s enhanced by the services they offer, where for a few dollars extra, you can have an edge tuned by them from the factory sharpness, which means a full and accurate reprofiling a little sharper and thinner, usually. Even if you don’t buy the extra sharpening (and you should), he has a seven point inspection system for everything that comes through the business to double check the manufacturer’s quality control.
Just as good as the knives are the sharpening supplies he sells. I do 90% of my sharpening freehand (both moving the knife over a large stone and moving a small stone over a static knife) and the rest with a knife guide and magnetic digital level on a bench stone. He has the most beautiful synthetic whetstones made for him by a major US abrasives company, in various compositions and grit levels. And the thing I love is that he makes a ton of shapes and sizes, from bench, jacket, and pocket rectangular stones, to axe pucks, scythe triangle and oval bars (he’s the biggest scythe fanatic I’ve ever seen), and sells B grade stones for a few bucks that make great gifts, I’ve given a bunch of friends some $3-4 seconded pocket stones that they love.
Dude is super active on BladeForums as either 42Blades or FortyTwo Blades something like that, just a good vendor all around and a small business I wanted to recommend to folks who need knives or farm and woodworking tools.
If I had to use one sharpening tool for the rest of my life and it wasn’t diamond it would be one of his fine Arctic Fox stones, I use the full size one in my kitchen and it’s so nice. This is his best all around stone for everything IMO, a combo grit field stone with the smooth and a medium. The sapphire ceramic abrasives are hard enough to cut newer supersteels and high Rockwell blade tempers but it feels like a stone should, I grew up on Norton Crystolon (silicon carbide) and India (aluminum oxide) synthetic stones instead of natural whetstones (other than black or white Arkansas pocket stones for polishing). I love the feeling of a good wet synthetic stone that works up a proper slurry whether for slicing against or a Japanese-style push-pull perpendicular sharpening technique. One of these days I’ll spring for the Black Magic finishing stone but for now I just use a alumina ceramic crock stick and some Japanese finishing cloths for deburring and polishing from Ookami Gold.
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Off Grid is making some really nice knives
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This deserves repeating…
You need to exert excessive force on a dull knife leading to loss of control and injury.
I do not like things in my pockets so no knife for this guy.
But I do find myself in need of one often.
I tried the belt clip style but kept loosing knives.
@DougDawson
Nice knife collection!
Do you have a son that will inherited that collection one day?
I love the old knives myself. 
@CornbreadJunior
This unit looks well thought out, did you make it?
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Once you are talking off grid I tend to go full tang and use folders as a backup. Meet the Hibilis bush tool.
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Hell Ya 
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Yes I do have a son and nephew. They will eventually get my collections if the out live me 
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I am not sure if I asked you this before?
Are you a trained survivalist or do you just posses the skills and tools?
I think it was you that said he could make it through a winter?
Am I remembering that correctly?
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Yes, I have plenty of training in survival skills but never taken an official course. All my skills came from Grandpa, Dad, reading and tons of trial and error.
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You probably have a more unique skillset than what is taught in your typical military survival class.
This you know, but there is a big difference in taking a class and actually experiencing a life or death situation, whether staged, or real life trauma.
Your an interesting cat, quiet and humble.
In my life’s experience, I feel those type of people are the most interesting.
In Detroit here, there are folks running round all over telling you just how bad ass they are.
Truth is, the quiet humble types are usually the real bad ass.
Peace
Shag
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Whooooeee look at all those Ken Onions! My first Kershaw was a plain stainless Leek with a half serrated edge, I carried that knife for about fifteen years before I lost it, hopefully in a box somewhere but probably out in the world. I got a Chive as a replacement, nice little knife like a Spyderco Dragonfly 2, but I prefer the Dragonfly. I always wanted one of those special edition Leeks in carbon fiber handles and a CPM-154 blade like this:
Maybe I’ll get one someday but I’m more likely to grab a special edition Blur, that one gets such great reviews as a biggish hard use EDC knife that I’m gonna have to try it eventually when I find a used one or something. I didn’t know that you couldn’t get Kershaws in Canada, let me know if you ever want some US available knives and I can forward them up to you.
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That’s a beautiful old Boker, you can really tell from the patina it’s developed that it gets used a lot and taken care of, I had to see what it looked like new and I thought it might be a blast from the past for you if I shared it:
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I carry a Blur and Chive at work as the big sheith on my belt doesn’t go well with my work clothes, lol.
This is a Lazer etched one I have.
Have you tried the composite blade leek? D2 tool steel edge with a Sandvik 14C28N spine?
00
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That’s a nicely sized big knife, somewhere just short of a chopper! I’m a hatchet and folding saw guy for my wood/bushcraft stuff when I’m planning it, a 14" Fiskars X7 and a Tajima G-Saw 210mm folding saw are usually in my bag when I hit the woods, or the saw and a belt knife. I grew up in a woodburning house splitting at home and cutting cord on a woodlot so I think that the whole axe/Swedish saw combo just feels so easy and natural I’m willing to carry it, and this duo weighs in at a neat kilo with the axe sheath and a DMT plastic and diamond pocket stone. I like the Tajima saws a lot, they’re just as good as a Silky at half the price. The Fiskars is just a crazy good little hatchet that cuts way above its size, is lighter than anything else I’d want to use (it’s got an actual wedge to the head and a Scandi grind, with a normal head shape and a small but useful amount of beard: unlike all these silly flat plate survival and battle axes) and at $35, I’m not sad when I hit a knot or stone or nail and have to reprofile the edge. And the hollow handle makes a great storage space that I haven’t utilized yet for fire starting materials or first aid etc. I know a few people who swear by their IsoCore splitting maul and I’ve used one, it’s damn good. I can’t recommend Fiskars axes enough, they’re pretty incredible just like most of their products.
Get it at Acme Tool they’re awesome
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Man, I wish! I haven’t dipped my toe into the composite steels like San Mai or this, but I love the idea and look. Spyderco does some really interesting laminated steel Sprint Runs with Japanese knife steels that I’ve almost bitten on a few times, but I’ve stuck mostly with Chinese D2 and 12C28N/14C28N blades for my cheaper knives and CPM-154 or CPM-20CV for my nicer ones. I’m also a huge fan of the Swedish steels, both carbon and stainless, for their ease of sharpening and cheapness, along with high toughness for a stainless and small grain size for a razor edge. I guess all those Mora Companions made a good impression on me, LOL. I think if I had to pick one steel for the rest of my life it would be 14C28N, it’s basically perfect for real world use. Do you ever read www.knifesteelnerds.com ?
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I always have a Mora or 2 in my pack. They’re cheap knives are great steel, easy to sharpen and I can start a fire by striking the the back of the carbon steel blade off a rock
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@DougDawson You’d probably like this guy here, I found one of these this year in a hospice shop, from about 50 years ago when they were still made in Maine by the original maker. They’re made of white ash now, but they were historically made from red oak. The design is just so good and incredibly minimalist that they’re still made, the person making them has swapped a few times over the decades. I really like mine and might eventually hang it on the wall and get a new one, since it’s truly an antique:
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