Knives 101

Blade length is the first number on every spec sheet and the one most likely to get you in trouble, because manufacturers do not measure it consistently. Some quote the whole blade from tip to the handle; some quote only the sharpened cutting edge, which can be a quarter-inch shorter. Where a maker publishes both, we list both.

This matters because carry laws are written in inches. Plenty of jurisdictions draw a line at 3 inches, and some measure the cutting edge while others measure the blade. Of the 140 knives here, 38 have a blade under 3 inches. The shortest is the Victorinox Classic SD at 1.25″; the longest is the Ka-Bar Becker BK7 at 7″. The median sits at 3.438″.

We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. Check your own state, county and city rules — they differ, and they change.

The outline of the blade predicts what it is good at better than any other single spec. The tension is always the same: belly (curved edge, good for skinning and slicing) against point (fine tip, good for piercing and detail work). Every shape is a position on that trade.

Drop Point

The default hunting and EDC shape, and the safest general answer. The spine curves down to the tip in a convex line, which keeps the point low and strong and leaves plenty of belly for skinning. It is hard to make a drop point bad at anything.

Clip Point

The front third of the spine is 'clipped' away in a concave sweep, dropping the point below the spine line and putting it out in front. That makes a finer, more controllable tip than a drop point — better for piercing, slightly weaker under load. The Buck 110 pattern is the archetype.

Trailing Point

The spine sweeps upward so the tip finishes above the spine line, giving an unusually long, deep belly. That belly is everything for skinning and filleting: it keeps the edge in contact through a long slicing stroke.

Spear Point

Symmetrical or near-symmetrical about the centreline, so the point sits in the middle of the blade. Strong tip, even penetration, less belly than a drop point.

Tanto

A flat main edge meets an angled tip section at a distinct break. It concentrates force into a very strong point at the cost of almost all slicing belly — good for punching through hard material, poor for skinning.

Reverse Tanto

The angular break moves to the spine instead of the edge. You get a strong, blunt-backed tip and a continuous belly underneath, which is why the Benchmade 940 pattern works so well as an EDC blade.

Sheepsfoot

A straight edge with the spine curving down to meet it, ending in effectively no point. It cannot stab, which is the point: it is the shape for cutting toward yourself, cutting on a surface, or cutting a seatbelt off someone without stabbing them.

Wharncliffe

A straight edge with a spine that tapers to the tip in a straight or near-straight line. The whole edge contacts a flat surface at once, so it cuts cardboard and rope on a bench better than any curved blade, and the fine tip is excellent for detail work.

Modified Wharncliffe

A wharncliffe with some curve reintroduced — a slender profile with the tip near the centreline. Kershaw's Leek is the pattern most people picture.

Leaf

Spyderco's signature: belly on both the edge and the spine, meeting at a tip near the centreline. It gives a lot of cutting edge in a short blade, which is why it dominates short-blade EDC.

Scalpel

A surgical blade profile in a knife handle. Ground far thinner than any sharpenable knife can be, so it cuts hide and connective tissue with almost no force — and snaps if you twist it. Replaced rather than sharpened.

Fillet

Long, narrow and flexible, with a shallow upswept belly so it can follow a bone line. The flex is the feature.

Straight Back

A flat, unbroken spine from handle to tip with all the curve in the edge. The oldest knife profile there is, and it puts the most steel behind the spine of any shape.

Spine thickness is how thick the blade is at its back. It is the most under-appreciated number on a spec sheet, because it determines whether a knife slices through material or wedges it apart. A thin blade parts a tomato or a hide; a thick one survives being hammered through a branch.

The spread across this catalog is nearly three to one: the Outdoor Edge RazorLite EDC runs 0.024″ at the spine, while the Schrade SCHF9 Extreme Survival runs 0.25″. Both are good knives. They are not remotely the same tool, and no amount of sharpening makes the thick one slice like the thin one.

Every blade drawing on this site shows spine thickness as a bar at the same scale as the blade, so the difference is visible rather than notional.

The grind is the shape of the cross-section — how the blade gets from spine thickness down to zero at the edge. Two knives with identical steel and identical spine thickness can cut completely differently because of it.

• Flat / full flat — a straight taper from spine to edge. The general-purpose answer: good slicing, adequate strength.
• Hollow — concave, ground on a wheel. Very thin behind the edge, so it slices beautifully and is the traditional skinning grind. Less steel behind the edge means less strength.
• Scandi — a single wide bevel from partway up the blade to the edge, with no secondary bevel. Bites into wood instead of glancing off, and you can lay the whole bevel flat on a stone and feel when you are on it. The bushcraft default.
• Convex — the bevel bulges outward. Maximum steel behind the edge, so it is the toughest grind, and the hardest to maintain without a strop.
• Chisel — ground on one side only. Cheap to produce, extremely sharp, and it steers in the cut.

Grinds present in this catalog: Flat, Full Flat, Hollow, Scandi, Profile-ground Scandi, Convex, Modified Scandi, Chisel.

Steel is where most of the price gap between two similar knives lives. Four properties matter — edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening — and no steel maximises all four. The hard carbides that let a steel keep cutting are also the places a thin edge chips, so edge retention and toughness pull directly against each other.

There are 43 different steels across these 140 knives, from plain 1095 carbon to CPM MagnaCut. The honest summary: for most people, most of the time, a mid-tier stainless that you actually sharpen beats a premium steel you are afraid to put on a stone. Spend up when the knife will be used somewhere you cannot stop to sharpen — which is exactly the hunting case.

We keep a full reference for all 43 steels, with what each is genuinely good and bad at: the steel comparison table.

A folding knife that closes on your hand is the main way people hurt themselves with knives, so the lock is not a detail. 86 of the knives here fold; 54 do not, and a fixed blade has no lock to fail.

• Liner / frame lock — a leaf of the liner or handle slab springs behind the blade tang. Simple, one-handed, and the most common design there is.
• Back lock — a spring-loaded bar rocks into a notch in the tang. Very strong, ambidextrous, usually two-handed to close.
• Crossbar (AXIS, ABLE, Shark-Lock, DuraLock) — a spring-loaded bar rides across the tang. Fully ambidextrous, strong, and closable without putting fingers in the blade path, which is why it has spread across the industry.
• Compression — Spyderco’s design, effectively a liner lock working on the other side of the tang. Strong and keeps fingers clear.
• Slip joint — no lock at all. A backspring holds the blade open under normal cutting and lets it fold if you push it hard the wrong way. Legal in places a locking knife is not.

Lock types in this catalog: AXIS, Compression, Liner, Back Lock, Frame Lock, Virobloc Collar, Tri-Ad, ABLE, Shark-Lock, Ball Bearing, Slip Joint, Rotating Lock, Split Sec, OTF Automatic, DuraLock, XR, Button Lock, Crossbar, Sub-Frame Lock.

How the blade gets open. Thumb studs and thumb holes are manual and legal everywhere. A flipper is a tab on the tang you pull to snap the blade open on bearings. Assisted knives use a spring that takes over once you start the blade moving; automatic knives open entirely on a button. Assisted and automatic knives are regulated differently from manual ones in many US states — automatics especially. Check before you buy, not after.

G-10 is layered fibreglass in resin: grippy, tough, dimensionally stable, the default for hard-use knives. Micarta is the same idea with linen or canvas instead of glass — warmer, and it gets grippier when wet, which is why it persists on hunting knives. FRN / Grivory / Zytel are moulded glass-filled nylons: light and cheap, and the reason a Bugout weighs under two ounces. Titanium and aluminium are used for frame locks and slim profiles. Wood, bone and stag are traditional, handsome and move a little with humidity.

Closed length is what actually determines whether a folder is pleasant to pocket — not blade length. Overall length is the open measurement. Weight is the spec that decides whether you keep carrying the knife after a month.

The range here runs from the Victorinox Classic SD at 0.74 oz to the Schrade SCHF9 Extreme Survival at 15.9 oz — a factor of more than twenty. Be careful comparing published weights across brands: some include the sheath and some do not. Where a maker’s figure includes the sheath and we know it, we say so on the knife’s page.

12 of these knives never get sharpened: you swap the blade instead. The scalpel-based systems (Havalon, Gerber Vital, Tyto) run true surgical blades — typically a #60A or #60 — ground far thinner than any sharpenable knife edge. They cut hide with almost no pressure and snap if you twist them. The stamped-blade systems (Outdoor Edge RazorSafe) use a thicker blade that gives up some of that effortless slicing for the ability to take a bit of abuse.

The catch is lock-in: once you own a handle you are buying that maker’s blades, and they are not interchangeable. Full breakdown on the replaceable-blade page.