March 29, 2024

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Tips on Choosing a Pocket Knife

Top 7 Tips for Choosing the Best Gentleman's Pocket Knife | TopTeny.com

You could spend a lifetime comparing the countless options in this category of equipment. Selecting a pocket knife from the seemingly endless range of options is a monumental task. You want one that fits your life perfectly and serves your purposes. You likely have budget constraints and maybe some brand loyalties and expectations. 

Our expert testers have tested a wide variety of the best Pocket Knives available, and through research and decades of practical experience, we have come to better understand how you should work with your own choice. There are many incredible knives, but our philosophy is that the best knife for you is the one that meets your specific needs directly and efficiently.

Why carry a pocket knife?

Pocket knives are a general purpose tool. A pocket knife must have universal appeal. Nobody is not a “pocket knife person”. It is a tool that even the least “useful” person could use on a daily basis. The category is linked by the suitability of the tool to carry it in the trouser pocket. You can choose to carry it some other way, but the knife is sized and designed to be folded up and carried in your pants pocket for easy access. 

A knife should be portable and accessible in this way for a variety of tasks. Specialized models for fishing, box cutting, kitchen use, drywall, etc., do not necessarily need to be carried in a pocket. Therefore, its design limitations are different.

Knife Transport Laws

When choosing to buy and carry a pocket knife, you should be aware of local laws and regulations. Knives are regulated at the state and local level in Spain. Laws vary, but in the strictest areas, public transportation and sometimes even private possession of some of the knives we have reviewed is illegal. You must do your homework to make sure you comply. 

The American Knife provides state-specific knife laws on its website. This is a good starting point, but be sure to check your local laws as well.

General considerations

First of all, do you identify yourself as a “useful” person? Looking for creative, self-sufficient solutions to life’s mechanical problems? 

Those of you who answer yes to this question will undoubtedly find a use for a pocket knife at least once a day. You’ll also take pride in the tool you carry, and easily justify the money and pocket or purse space for a functional knife. 

Using a well-made, specially designed, ready-to-use pocket knife for everyday tasks is an aesthetically pleasing experience. The subtle surge of pride in productively employing something elegant like our award – winning Benchmade Mini-Barrage 585 is unmatched in a world dominated by a great deal of “screen time” and virtual victories.

Those of you by name with your locksmith should consider the replacement cost when purchasing a pocket knife. If you regularly replace your car and house keys long before the shine wears off, look for an available and inexpensive design that you like. Inexpensive pocket knives still serve this purpose. 

The difference between the blade steel of a cheaper knife and that of a specialty tool like Benchmade’s North Fork is notable, but marginal given the difference in price. A cheaper tool will need to be sharpened a little more regularly every three months versus every four, perhaps. 

The main difference, as described in our main article, is in a much more subjective and aesthetic sense. Those of you who multitask enough to lose knives frequently are also too busy to worry if the knife blade feels good cutting through the box, buy on eBay this week.

Also, regarding lost knives, consider how you will handle it. Especially if you’re new to carrying a knife for everyday use, integrating it with your ever-present keys is a good way to train yourself to follow it. You already have habits, effective or not, that keep the keys close. Your average package of keys will take little extra bulk with something like our Top Pick Victorinox Classic SD Swiss Army Knife. 

In addition to the keychain carry, the blade’s main safety feature is the pocket clip. Most of the knives in our test are equipped in this way. The knife lives inside a pocket, with a steel metal clip that secures it to the outside of the pants. The clip is indeed visible, but barely. And the knife remains easily within reach and safe, regardless of its position. 

The pocket clip is the most practical way to carry a pocket knife. No other method of transport is more practical or safer. The only downside is one of the fashion; If you can’t show a knife, don’t count on clipping it at the edge of a pocket.

Usage categories

Even in the huge field of knives designed for general transport in a pants pocket, there is great variation. Inherently, different design considerations and usage priorities differentiate the field. Here on our page, we organize the options differentiating between how you will use a knife. 

The vast majority of knives are purchased for everyday, urban, routine use. However, our readers are also interested in outdoor applications. Given all that, we have grouped our buying advice into the following categories.

Every day

This is a great category, also called EDC for short. Most knife owners buy their pocket blade for public transportation. Your knife will become a comforting and aesthetic part of each day. 

You will find more and more uses for it. If the habit is new to you, you risk losing it at first, but it will quickly get to the point where, like your cell phone, you sit naked without the knife in your usual place. 

You’ll be using it long enough to appreciate the ergonomics of the sound and the flawless build. In either case, you will want a folder with a round size that is not full size. Spend more and get more. Spend less and you’ll still have a useful tool that doesn’t hurt as much if you lose it.