I'm partial to Spyderco and Benchmade. Kerhsaw, SOG, and Gerber make some good ones too. Buck makes a good "vintage style" pocket knife. If you are in Virginia, and want to avoid any legal issues, go with a pocket knife with a blade shorter than 3". I looked for Virginia knife laws, and the only one I could find (other than stilettos being prohibited) is that blades longer than 3" are prohibited in Virginia schools. There are a lot of really great alloys out there that really keep an edge for a long time. As for countries of origin, I rate the US and Japan as my top two countries. If you want cheap, buy one made in China. I think they do a lot of knock-offs, and most companies can't compete on price...just quality. I only buy knives from those two countries now. Attached is a guide to pocket knife alloys