I have posted before about the Buck Mayo TNT. It is a great knife and a great bargain at $150 (street price). But at around $30, the Buck Mayo Hilo (and the larger version called the Cutback) are great bargains as well.

The Buck Mayo Hilo is a framelock very a very elegant design. It feels good in the hand, and has good grip security despite lacking any real finger guard. The blade is very functional for utility tasks, and the lockup is very solid.

The bladesteel is 420HC, which is good enough for a knife of this price. It resists rust well, even with the beadblast finish, and is fairly tough. 420HC doesn’tchip often. The downside is that it does not hold an edge for a very long time, but it holds one for long enough for most people and for most tasks.

Enough talk, here’s a pic.

If the design doesn’t do anything for you, try seeing one in person. The lines are very sleek and purposeful when you can actually view it at realisting and changing angles.

The main downside about this knife is that it is somewhat stiff to open and the thumbstud is a little rough on the thumb. However, with some break-in it is not a problem. For the price there are many other high quality options. The CRKT M16 and Benchmade Pika to name only two. But few of them can off the elegance of the Buck Mayo Hilo.