Spyderco Superleaf or Esee 3 (or 4)?

[Deep13]

I think I would like to get a good general purpose outdoor knife. This is as kind of a reward for myself for all the preparation I'm doing for the GRE at the end of April. I will apreciate any opinions offered.

Presently, I have a Marbles "Plainsman" with has a traditional stacked leather handle, leather scabbard, 4ish" straight-spine blade with a significant curve on the edge. I like it except the handle is a bit narrow to get an easy grip when doing a lot of work and I suspect the steel is a bit soft. I also have an old 6" Cold Steel "SRK" in Carbon V steel as an intermediate size knife and a Marbles 10" "Trailmaker" for splitting logs. (I'll upgrade that eventually.) And I have a bunch of Swiss Army knives. I also have a Spyderco Endura 4" VG10 stainless full-flat-ground with hard plastic textured grips. Great pocket knife, but the grips don't exactly fill the palm.

Folding knives are convenient to carry (even if its in a rucksack) and will, thorefore, more likely be available if needed; but I prefer the ergonomics and strength of a fixed blade in actual use. The Spyderco is VG10 Japanese stainless which is nice for a pocket knife since persperation is corrosive. It looks like it would be tough and ergonomic for a folder. The ESEE (formerly RAT Cutlery) is 1095 spring steel which is nearly indestructable. It is not stainless, but since I won't be using it in the jungle or at sea, I don't anticipate a problem. Both will hold a wicked edge, though stainless might be just a bit more brittle.

Sadly, no one around here sells either of these retail so there is no chance of holding them before purchase.

I'm not worried about the price difference.

http://www.knifeworks.com/ratcutleryrc-3pplainedgewshea...

http://www.knifeworks.com/spydercosuperleafg-10handle.a...