Nothing tests a knife like a hunting trip, and there are few experiences more frustrating then trying to dress game with a dull edge. We don’t hunt as much as we hike here, but many of our writers have plenty of hunting trips under their belt as well as experience in butcher shops, and know where knives tend to get uncomfortable, or where edge usually fail when skinning a deer or piecing out a boar.
We tend to review and rate hunting knives here mostly according to their edge retention, corrosion resistance, and ability to separate a pelvic bone without breaking the tip.
Any discussion of the Ek Commando knives has to begin with a long line of stiletto inspired knives. Like the Fairbairn-Sykes, the Marine Raider knives, and the V42, the Ek Commando was double-edged and built for stabbing. These knives were designed for special operations units that, optimally, worked with the element of surprise and the …
A Lightweight Bushcraft Knife with EDC Ambitions Small fixed blades are a tricky beast to wrestle. People expect it to be rugged and comfortable like a regular sized fixed blade, but also lightweight and slicey. A lot of smaller designs end up being lightweight and rugged but with a blade that can’t do much like …
The Benchmade 430BK Redoubt. A Lightweight Black Classic Knife. Redoubt. What a strange and oddly anachronistic word. A redoubt is a fortification of sort—but without the strength or permanence of a full-sized fort. These are often temporary fortifications built by smaller, faster-moving units that need something like a fort, but who don’t have the time …
A Lightweight, Versatile Fixed Blade That Punches Well Above Its Price Tag After spending a few weeks with the Waxahachie, I am still not sure how to pronounce it, but I am sure this knife will become one of my most recommended budget fixed blades of all time. The excellent design of this knife results …
A Surprisingly Comfortable, Surprisingly Tactical Budget Knife Design This is a good hard use tactical knife with a nifty steel and great ergonomics all around. It has a lot of function as a camping knife (which is how I mostly used it), but the really impressive talking point is the drawing ergos with the sheath …
The Other Modern Alternative to the Buck 110 Hunter The Vanguard Slicer is Kizer’s first lock back design. Which was kind of a big deal when it came out in 2021 for a couple reasons: First, almost nothing interesting came out in 2021, so a fidget-folder company coming out with something outside their normal wheelhouse …
The Most Aggressively Full Tang Finnish Hunting Knife is Also Their Weirdest Looking It feels rude to say Marttiini is the better looking but lesser known Mora alternative, but that’s how it’s been for a while. At least, it was until the YouTubers discovered them. Also until now, Marttiini has mostly made half to three-quarter …
A Classic Looking Damascus Steel Fixed Blade That Is A Handy Campsite Tool. The Forseti Steel Jim Baker would look right at home in a camping scene in an old black and white movie from the 50s. Its design lacks the popular fighter-jet aesthetic of modern tactical fixed blades, or the over simplified scaled-back barebones …
This Beefy Tactical Hunting Hybrid Knife is a Fun Work Horse, but It’s Tough to Find If You Drop It At Night. The Backcountry is refreshing as a modern design that is clearly meant for gritty uses. I recently watched a flashy video promo for a popular knife company. It was part lifestyle, part knife …
My Cheap D2 Folder is Better than Your Expensive Supersteel I will die on my cheap muddy hill about this. In the right hands, D2 steel can have better edge retention and overall performance for the price than pretty much any other option on the market (but I’m also clearly biased toward budget steels). D2 …
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