Smallish Fixed Blade for Pocket?

[cody6268]

I'm wanting a smallish fixed blade I can stick in my back pocket while working around the farm, and be able to carry it more in public (I like Moras, and while perfectly legal to have one on my belt in town in my state, I just prefer not to). I tried this thing, and it was nothing but a safety hazard. Great steel and a solid sheath, just the blade was too wide and the handle too short; and it was very difficult to control when cutting. I have a few choices I've found, but I'm looking for other suggestions that might be better.

Currently, here's my own personal running. Any other suggestions?

Not exactly slim enough for back pocket carry, but from Mora; their Eldris. It's also short enough to where I think using the adapter, I could carry it on my belt. And it should be good for front pocket carry, as opposed to back as intended. 2 1/2 inch blade. For small EDC stuff, about right. Plenty of color choices too.

https://morakniv.se/en/product/eldris/

The Buck PakLite Skinner seems like one that can take some serious abuse; and is quite reasonable at $18. With a 3 7/8 blade, too long, and the sheath is made for belt carry. Still though, may get one anyway for belt carry and hunting use.

https://www.buckknives.com/product/pakl ... 0143BKS-B/

The AG Russell Pocket Scalpel. Thin, slim, tough; and AUS-10 steel. Very solid sheath designed for pocket use and to not come detached from the knife on its own. Also really reasonable at $20. Seems near perfect, with a 2 1/4" blade and 4" overall.

https://agrussell.com/knife/A-G-Russell ... U-T914-10A

Also, I like the Pocket Skinner and Hunter Caper from the War Eagle Blades line, also an AG Russell Product. A bit bigger with 3 1/4" blades and 7" overall; maybe a tiny bit too big.

https://agrussell.com/knife/War-Eagle-B ... EB-FX14NOR

While a bit too costly for me at the moment (even at the significantly lower prices through their dealers), I really like the Esee knives. Many are available in all sorts of colors, but I'll go with the high visibility choices.


The Izula is a pretty popular model, available in both 440C and 1095. A bit hard to choose; but I'll likely go with 440C due to its edge retention and corrosion resistance. 5" overall, 2" blade. Seems like a good balance of handle/blade that is easy to control.

https://eseeknives.com/product/izula

The Imlay Rescue is a new model designed for climbers, rafters, and kayakers. I like it because it's blunt tipped and serrated. I always like to have a blunt tip serrated rescue or rope knife on me around the farm, whether for cutting myself out of some predicament or even extricating livestock from stuff they've gotten wrapped up in.

https://eseeknives.com/product/imlay-rescue

[Mumbleypeg]

Essee makes good knives. Can’t comment on the others but if A.G. Russell sells them they’re bound to be good also.

I don’t know how much you want to spend - this one by Barry Dawson https://www.dawsonknives.com/ is more expensive than your examples so probably out of range, but IMHO you won’t find a better small-sized fixed blade for the money. You can find them cheaper than his list prices. He calls it a “pocket knife”. It will fit completely into your pocket but the ingenious Kydex sheath is made to either clip onto your pocket or carry on your belt. 3 inch blade, 7 inches OAL. This one was a gift from my son, I’ve carried and used it for several years. Tough little knife.

Ken

2B7F391C-2B9C-4528-A9B7-79523F838CCA.jpeg (21.21 KiB) Viewed 3710 times

[zzyzzogeton]

Kabar has a large lineup of fixed blade knives with blades of 4" or less.

If you go to

https://www.kabar.com/category/fixed-blades

you can then click on the blade length button and adjust the search slide bar. Setting it to 4" gets you 25 knives with blade lengths of 2.5" to 4". OAL - 5" to 7".

The skeleton knives steels are 1095 or 5Cr15 stainless. The latter are made in China, but seem to hold up well for generic small cutting tasks. Wouldn't try to baton anything with them though. Inexpensive and tough. Not a lot of tears if you loose one in the wild.

Some are better for hip pocket carry than others. The TDI LEO knives are NOT well suited for pocket carry as they have a CQC design aspect for primary weapon retention scuffles that LEOs encounter.

Most of the Kabars I carry in my hip pocket are the skeleton varieties - shorter, lighter weight, slimmer print. Of the 9 skeleton knives, I have NOT tried the either of the Jarosz designed knives or the Dozier knife. My Kabar photo gallery has 9 skeletons and the Jarosz Globetrotter (comes with a dog turd brown handle) in them.

The Kabar Skeleton and the Becker Skeleton have longer handles that stick out of the hip pocket more, but that's a "feature" that may be positive or negative, depending on the scenario in which it is being carried.

I usually pack the BK11 Necker, or the Acheron. The Acheron has a narrow (compared to most knives made now) 0.71" blade that I use when I'd rather have a slimmer blade.

The Necker - The cool thing about this puppy is the built-in bottle opener.


The Acheron - It was a companion knife for the now nearly-defunct Zombie knife line.


Then we have the Eskabar. It is a Becker Necker blade with and Izula handle. Designed by a Norwegian who liked the Necker blade but preferred the Izula handle.


The Becker Remora is barely over 5" OAL. It started out life as a companion knife to fit in the accessory pocket on the bigger Becker knife sheaths.

[jmh58]

Spent the past week-end camping/hiking with the Eldris.. Dropped it in the rfp.. Nice and light.. Also have an IZULA II.. Carry that one on the belt.. Great cutter..
John

[Tony_Wood]

The Esee Candiru is a good prospect. It comes with a great sheath for pocket carry. The TKC extended scales work fantastic for filling the hand.
Or you can make your own scales.

[jmh58]

Sooo.. Did ya pick one???
John

[cody6268]

Sooo.. Did ya pick one???
John

The Becker Remora at present. The price for the current 1095 carbon steel version through a lot of its sellers is $30, and $20 on sale for the now phased out 440A version. I'll probably pick up an Eldris locally once our local knife store has them in stock. That way, I can check it out in person (ours also has the Remora, but a: has sold out of them and b: they're in clam pack). Eventually, I'll also get the Russell and Mora.

I absolutely love the Barry Dawson Handyman, but at $200 it is well out of my price range. They're out of stock, so I'm starting to set aside some cash to hopefully afford one at the start of 2020.

Thank you guys for all the help and suggestions!

[Quick Steel]

Suggesting you check out the AG Russell Woodswalker.Can get the leather hip pocket sheath or the kydex neck sheath. Blade is 2 3/8"m Aus 8 stainless steel.

[steve99f]

I've posted this patch knife from BHK before but it fits here too. Also a Pendleton mini Hunter from Cold Steel

[eveled]

Dexter Russel net knife. Comes in a hard plastic sheath. Cuts through anything never needs sharpening. Around five bucks.

[cody6268]

Dexter Russel net knife. Comes in a hard plastic sheath. Cuts through anything never needs sharpening. Around five bucks.

04192667-C097-4F1B-8707-29F79F10504E.png

That's another option that seems pretty good. They also have a bigger one that I view as comparable to a Mora knife for not a whole lot more money. I found a restaurant supply place that has them for a good price--what Amazon is asking is highway robbery. So much for "best prices". I really like Dexter's Basics line. Might just get a few of them when I order the net knife. They have a lot of models comparable to the Moras--at less money. Always liked the Green Rivers (which they now make). They also bought Massachusetts' R. Murphy Knives about a year ago.

[eveled]

I bought a skinner and butcher knife. I added a case of net knives and I’m still on the first one. The restaurant supply place is were I got them too.

I used a half round file to add a finger groove then hot formed the sheath for some retention. Cut the belt part off and used it as a neck knife for a while. The sheath went missing. But here is the knife. Not fancy but near indestructible. Awesome for cardboard.