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One of the most common things we’re asked about at Men’s Gear is our stance on knives. We cover a lot of them, so we can understand why this comes up so often. The hardest question to ask us is which pocket knife we love the most. It’s a nearly impossible answer. However, we do have certain pocket knife brands that we swear by over others.
To us, it is still difficult to pick the best. There are a lot of factors to consider there. It was like when we had to pick out just 150 camping gadgets. We went over the top and picked more because we loved this stuff so much. When you ask about the top pocket knife brands, you’re looping together just about every company that makes outdoor knives.
They all make a pocket knife or something in that world like it. They also make hatchets and axes, with some even going as far as making tactical tomahawks. In fact, tactical-led companies have some of the best knives you’ll ever find, and they have to be when you’re going to need them in the field.
Overall, pocket knives are another breed of knife altogether. The pocket knife brands picked by us below were all judged by a number of factors. However, the main thing we focused on was only legal versions of knives. Most brands have assisted open and others that are legal in most countries but switchblades are not.
We only picked brands that fit the closed, smaller knife criteria. They have to count as a pocket knife, as in one that fits in your pocket, basically. Without further wait, enjoy our list of the best pocket knife brands in the world today.
Spyderco makes some of the best knives you’ll ever see. This is especially true of pocket knives. In fact, people are discovering just how impressive Spyderco’s pocket knives are as of late. So much so, several of these knives from the brand has reached top ten lists for top knife-centered websites as well as outdoor sites. This is not shocking when you see what they have to offer. All of the knives are made with only the best materials, yet they don’t charge an arm and a leg for their products either. More on that later. What makes Spyderco stand out over some of the others out there is their countless list of knives that are only sold by them. They trademarked or have copyright on a ton of their knives. Most of the ones that are pocket knife related are in that listing of brand-only knives too. With that said, let’s get to some of these amazing knives and why they stand out. While some may define pocket knives differently than us, we define them as knives that can fit in your pocket without a protective sheath. That means they are either too small to stab you in the leg if you put them in your pants pocket, or they fold up. Something must cover them with a protector otherwise, which to us cannot count as a pocket knife. Everything that makes a pocket knife must come attached to the base of the knife or something of that nature. At Spyderco, they have multiple knives that fit this. Here are the brand knives you should know about: As you can tell, their list of impressive one-off knives is fantastic. However, Spyderco decided to continue some beyond a few knives. In fact, they have entire knife lines dedicated to them. These are the lines you should really check out: Each line and knife is made for different reasons. Some are better for hunting or fishing while others are better for camping. Carbon fiber, Titanium, and other materials are used in these knives too. Overall, you cannot go wrong with any of them. Some of the designs are unique, not just in the handle but in the blade itself. While you still see the classic serrated or straight look in the blade, it may be shaped differently than you might normally see. This only makes them more valuable and unique, in our opinion. The prices at Spyderco are around the industry average for pocket knife brands. You’ll pay as much here as anywhere else, but not every brand makes knives as impressively as they do. It is quite clear that they are in the average, but what is it exactly? You’ll spend anywhere between $60 to $800 here. However, most of their knives meet in the middle where you won’t spend much more than $300 most days. The higher knives are usually more specialty-driven. This is why for $140 or $250, you can buy a quality knife from them just as easily as you could for those north of $300. Spyderco does offer a warranty, but it looks to be a basic Limited Lifetime Warranty. They do have conditions with their warranty, however. One of them is that the service life of a knife will run out eventually, due to the knife needing to be retired from use. Sometimes, knives do reach their expiration. At this point, Spyderco does not fix anything. They also do not fix the knife if it was used outside the realm of its abilities. If you would like to know more about what the warranty does or doesn’t cover, click here. Spyderco is also a very big supporter of the Armed Forces. This led them to do what they call a Military Lottery. Each month, they pick 50 Military Personel to give a knife to for absolutely free of charge. This had to do mostly with deploying men and women. If you want to find out more or you wish to enter the knife lottery with Spyderco, click here. Victorinox is a master in the craft of Swiss Army Knives. This is likely due to the fact that they are a Switzerland based company. This sort of helps them with that sort of thing, we feel. Due to Victorinox being so good with Swiss Army Knives, they obviously have to land on the pocket knife brands list. These types of knives are really what people think about first when they think up a pocket knife. Swiss Army Knives have been popular for years and it makes sense. They include a blade, sometimes multiple. They may also include tweezers, a bottle opener, nail file, and much more. Overall, when you think about these types of knives, you know you’re getting more bang for your buck. This is due to the fact that they come with so much, so it feels like you have a one-stop shop for all the things you might need in a given day. No one is better than Victorinox at making these knives. That said, let’s examine the knives they have and why you should pay attention to them. The Victorinox pocket knives are not nearly as vast as Spyderco. This was to be expected, considering this brand focuses so much on the Swiss Army Knife. That means for every knife other brands might make, Victorinox is making 5 to 6 in one basically. What knives should you keep an eye on here? These are our favorites among them: As you’ll notice, the selection is vast at Victorinox. It is pretty clear that you’ll find exactly what you need here too. For proper Swiss Army Knives that count as Pocket Knives, there are few better places to shop. Unlike other models of these knife types, the blades are not half-assed. They make them perfectly and they don’t just mess up with the smallest issue. The blade or blades you get here are perfectly designed for doing what they’re supposed to. That means you won’t deal with the unsharp problems. The tools inside are also high-quality, making them worth the buy. The prices on the Victorinox knives are all relatively good. They are a bit under the median of the industry standard. Pocket knife brands do not always have clear pricing. Sometimes you can see a knife for $50 then one similar for $500. This makes a range heavily needed. Due to being made in Switzerland, they do not charge as much as Victorinox as people might think. The prices can range a bit wildly though. This seems to be from $25 to $250. The reason for the price difference makes a lot of sense, however. They charge more depending on the number of tools or blades they have inside their particular Swiss Army knife. That means it’s worth the extra money, and you’re not getting cheated. The company currently has a nice free 2-day shipping option, which should save you money on orders of any amount. They also have free returns if you need to send something back. This is only for a limited time after your purchase, however. Victorinox even has a good warranty on their knives. Each knife has a Lifetime Warranty on it. These guys do not mess around, as they feel their products are the best possible version of Swiss Army Knives you’ll find. So if you ever need to get something fixed, you just need to go to their Product Service Center. You just have to go online and find the service center, fill out the form, and they’ll get back to you on what they can do. Since we’re nice guys, we found the place to go. That said, just click here to go straight to the service center and form area. The Columbia River Knife & Tool brand is one of the very best knife companies in the world today. They can literally do it all. It’s almost shocking to see how they can make some of the most incredible knives today. We’re constantly seeing them make top ten lists on the internet, and some people swear by their knives right now. They are consistently making new and improved knives in every category. They make perfect knives for fishing and hunting, yet they also make great tactical and protective knives too. CRKT knows how to make a proper pocket knife, so we’re not shocked that they make so many lists along with other great knives. That said, let’s examine the best pocket knives from the CRKT brand. CRKT likes to make knives that can be used for just about anything. While they design them for specific tasks, we’ve found that you can use them in several crossover projects. Their pocket knives are a huge area that they love to perfect. With that knowledge, we were sure they had plenty of knives to show off. However, they have major top rated versions that we feel need to be highlighted more. From single make to major lines, we wanted to highlight the best of the best CRKT has to offer. Let’s do that now: As for those impressive lines we mentioned, here’s the best of the best: We cannot get enough of Columbia River’s major lines that seriously continue to improve, and only become greater each time they add more to them. They are often made with nearly indestructible blades. This only makes them more valuable. They are perfect for hunting, fishing, and everyday activity. Overall, we see these knives all over the place and it is for good reason. They’re simply too difficult to kill and that adds value that cannot be overlooked. We know that the CRKT knives are impressive, but did you know they are insanely well-priced too? It’s true. The company is actually under the median normal price range among pocket knife brands. You’ll pay anywhere between $25 and $300 here. Nearly all are under $100, which makes the knives very affordable for everyone. This is perfect for fishermen and hunters who do not like overspending. The newer the knife, the higher the knife’s price is at CRKT. The brand offers free shipping for any orders over $100. They even have a Limited Lifetime Warranty on all of their knives too. To find out what it does and does not cover, click here. Gerber Knives have been huge in the last few years. They have developed key partnerships with impressive people, like Survivalist and TV Presenter Bear Grylls alone. Heck, he even has his own knife with them. Their Gator Grip knife is known by many to be among the best knives in the world, full stop. Yet when you’re trying to think of the best pocket knife brands, Gerber continues to rank highly. It is hard to overlook them mostly because they make incredibly popular knives. The respect they have earned and the popularity they have managed to get over the last few years is clearly giving them an edge in the market right now. While they may be known for their hunting and fishing knives, their pocket knife listing is downright massive. Let’s examine those knives and explain why they’re so well-liked. The Gerber line of knives is massive, but the biggest collection they have is clearly in their pocket knife section. They have dozens that can all be considered top tier. Most feel the biggest issue Gerber has is that their selection is so hard to choose from. Happily, unlike some other knife brands, they don’t have a bunch of the same knife. They have multiple different types that can all be used for different things. These are a few that you should keep your eye on: They have several automatic open knives too. These do not technically count as switchblades, but they can be considered similar. Some states in the United States ban auto-open, so we won’t highlight those here. Of course, they also partner up with survival experts and military personnel too. The BEAR GRYLLS SCOUT and BEAR GRYLLS FOLDING SHEATH are spectacular, top-rated knives. Meanwhile, they have a serrated option called the SHARKBELLY that has been tested and used in disaster relief efforts. Overall, Gerber gets it done every time with their work. They even do it at fair prices. Speaking of those. The Gerber prices are actually quite impressive. They are actually on the low end of prices compared to other pocket knife brands from what we can tell. At Gerber, you’ll spend anywhere between $25 and $225. Almost all of the major pocket knives are less than $100 too, making even their specialty knives completely affordable. While not all of their products are made in the United States, a large number of them are. This could be why there is a price difference on those compared to the other knives, however, it is not by much. Gerber has one of the best warranties you’ll find among pocket knife brands too. They have a Limited Lifetime Warranty on their products for customers in North America only. For those outside the continent, they have a 25-year warranty. This is pretty impressive, we think. Not everything is covered by Gerber, but a lot is. To know what the company does and does not cover, click here. They also have knife sharpening covered within this warranty, which often costs more elsewhere. If you think you might buy a lot from the Gerber brand, and who can blame you, why not save some money while you do it? Gerber has a Pro Program that provides exclusive offers to get their products at reduced prices. To find out more about the program, click here. SOG might be known as a tactical company, yet they are masters when it comes to knives overall. It’s quite clear that they can make just about any type of knife they want, including pocket knives, and rank high on any list. Since they have a large selection of pocket knives, it should come as no surprise that people love SOG for their work in this department. In fact, one might say that SOG really made their name on the backs of their pocket knives. They are specially made, each and every single one. This is why, even if they have a knife line, all of those knives end up being different. Whether it’s the handle, the blade, the style, etc. It really does not matter, as they will continue to differ. Let’s go over some of SOG’s biggest and most well-liked knives of today to prove this. SOG has a lot of smaller knives, but not all of them fold up to count in our pocket knife category we established at the start. This is why we only counted the folded versions of their knives, whether they were part of a line or a special solo version knife. Here are some to keep your eye on: Overall, the company has all sorts of knives. The ones that are folded or assisted open are listed here, but not their automatic types. Again, we wanted to avoid any that are considered illegal for any state in the United States. The SOG brand has been known to vary their knives and you can tell the differences in all of these we highlighted above. This is the key thing we feel makes everything better for them. They put their hard work to good use and made everything better in the end. The prices for SOG knives are relatively industry standard. Here you’ll pay between $50 and $300 with most knives coming under $200. SOG also has a Limited Lifetime Warranty on all of their knives. To learn more about what they do or do not cover, click here.
Spyderco
Spyderco Pocket Knives
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Victorinox
Victorinox Pocket Knives
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CRKT
CRKT Knives
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Gerber
Gerber Pocket Knives
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SOG
SOG Pocket Knives
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Overview Of The Best Pocket Knife Brands
As you clearly noticed from our list, the premier pocket knife brands are those that know their customers. While some knives may be used only for hunting, tactical, fishing, etc., it really does not matter. Pocket knives can be used for a lot of different things, and the right brands will know this.
That is why they may separate them out for what a knife might be perfect at, but they won’t hold them back either. They won’t tell a hunter that he cannot use a certain pocket knife for something, even though they may guide them to better-equipped versions.
This is essential, we feel, to making a good knife. When you can do just about anything with it, regardless of its original design, that is a great thing. Proper pocket knife brands will have knives that may include a lot of extra material beyond the normal blade. The infamous Swiss Army Knives often have several tool attachments, for example.
Yet the proper pocket knife will be one that, well, fits in the pocket. The Swiss are great at making those it appears. To us, it comes down to the fit at the end of the day. Some blade are bigger than others, and some are straight over serrated. In the end, none of that matters as long as it fits the job you needed the knife for.
These pocket knife brands seem to deliver what you need each time. If you’re getting the opinion of Men’s Gear, that is what one must deem most important in a brand. When they can deliver, no matter what, they have done the job you need. These brands just so happen to be the best at it in this category.
Buyer's Guide To The Best Tactical Pens Would you like to have a pocket knife but need something more covert? Why not try out a tactical pen? They double as a real pen that also works as a knife. This is better than Janice from Accounting trying to use her letter opener, right? Check these tactical pens out and keep yourself protected at the office or anywhere else you may end up.
Top 17 Tactical Pens
