What to Consider When Buying A Pocket Knife: A Basic Guide

Pocket Knife Variations

Next up is the pocket knife variations you’ll find among each blade type. Just as with the design of the blade, these factors also can greatly influence the purpose and utility of the pocket knife.

Number of Blades

A pocket knife may feature one, two, or multiple blades. Here’s the brief on each of these.

Single blade

The biggest appeal of a single blade is its simplicity. You can quickly flip open these pocket knives for use at a moment’s notice. Single blade pocket knives also, on average, tend to feature a higher quality and sturdier blade, and are less prone to breaking. Opt for a single blade pocket knife if you mainly want to buy one for highly demanding work.

Multi-Blade

One drawback of a single blade is the obvious lack of variety and it makes little practical sense to carry multiple one of them with you so have all your knife needs covered. The solution to this is to buy a multi-blade pocket featuring two or more blade types.

Of course, the problem with this would be that you might not be able to draw the right blade quickly enough where time is in the essence such as during an assault. In addition, there is often also a compromise in quality with none of the blades packing the same performance as those on their single knife counterparts.

Multi-Tool

Certain situations may demand that you carry more than just a knife. A multi-tool or Swiss army knife can grant you the versatility to perform a far greater number of tasks than any single blade can handle.

A Swiss Army style knife is great if you want a jack-of-all-trades option in which you have a number of diverse tools at your disposal at all times. However, the trade-off is that the blades they contain are usually smaller and less functional than their larger single bladed counterparts..

3. Blade Length

Pocket knives come in many blade sizes. You should be very careful with the size you select for your pocket knife as it determines to a fairly large degree what you can and cannot do with it. Here is a detailed description of each of their utility.

Small (<2.75’)

Carrying a small-sized blade, you aren’t likely to get in trouble with authorities as they are more often legal in most of the world’s jurisdictions. A small blade works perfectly for small and delicate tasks. They also have the advantage of being easily concealable and very easy to carry.

The obvious drawback is, of course, a small blade isn’t as durable as a larger blade or strong enough for use in more demanding tasks such as hunting, cutting through hard materials and even self-defense

Medium (2.75’ – 4’)

A medium-sized knifes carries the advantage of being small enough for use in delicate cutting tasks but still large enough for usage in everything else save perhaps for the most heavy-duty ones. There isn’t much in the way of drawbacks with pocket knives of this size.

Large (>4’)

Knife Handle Material

A knife’s handle can be made from a diverse set of materials, each affecting its grip, feel, and handling a bit differently. Here’s a breakout for each.

Wood

The traditional material used for making knife handles. A wooden handle normally feels comfortable to the touch and provides a steady grip. Wood, while strong, isn’t very resistant to abuse from the element, making it not the most ideal material for prolonged outdoor use unless the user is experienced in its care and maintenance.

Plastic

While there is great diversity within the material, in general, plastic handles tend to provide mediocre grip and lower grades and break easily from repeated abuse.

Metal

A metal handle is highly durable and lightweight but generally carries the drawback of a poorer grip and somewhat uncomfortable handling.

Composite

Synthetic composites such as G-10, Micarta and Zytel are often used to make handles for outdoor and heavy-duty pocket knives. They are strong, highly durable, and lightweight and can be augmented to provide a better grip.

Rubber

The biggest advantage of a rubber handle is the amazing grip it provides but it also suffers from a lack of high durability and can be difficult to draw out of your pocket.

Locking Mechanism

There are a large variety of different locking mechanisms available on the market today.  The type of lock you choose depends on your intended uses for the knife as well as your personal tastes.  Some of the more common knife locks are covered below.

Slip Joint

As the name implies the knifes blade "slips" at the pivot joint and actually has no specific locking mechanism.  This type of knife was much more common in many older pocket knives as well as many of the more classic styles still available today.  

This lack of solid lock also makes these knives more acceptable in certain localities such as the United Kingdom where they have very strict knife laws.  

The downfall of this style of knife is that if you are using it for poking or a task such as striking a flint with the spine of the knife the blade could easily close and could have the potential for injury.

Lockback

This is a classic locking mechanism which has a solid bar running inside of the handle scales that locks the blade in a very secure position.  It has a section of the handle along the back where the lock bar can be depressed to release the lock.  Hence, the name "lockback"

Frame Lock

A frame lock knife is similar to the liner lock below in that it uses a length of metal that is under tension that wedges against a flat spot on the back of the blade pivot and locks the blade into place.  As the name implies, this length of metal is a portion of the handle itself which locks into place when the blade is fully opened.

 This style of locking mechanism is usually fairly easy to unlock one handed which makes it a good choice for a multi purpose knife.

Liner Lock

Like the Frame Lock above, the liner lock uses a length of metal under a slight spring load to lock into place when the blade is fully opened.   The difference between the two is that the linerlock  uses a portion of the handles liner metal to perform this task instead of the handel itself.

This allows the handle to be made out of various synthetic materials such as G-10 or Micarta while still keeping a metal liner to perform locking duties as well as add additional strength to the knife.

Other locking types

There are various other locking mechanisms on the market today.  Locks such as; ball locks, friction locks, pin locks, etc. are all very functional and will hold your blade securely in the open position.  

Opening Mechanism

Now we’re down to the last important factor to take note of when buying a pocket knife – its opening mechanism. Below are details of the three most common types.

Manual

In a manual setup, you require your hand(s) to engage the knife. There are different variations of this mechanism. The most common and oldest being the ‘nail nick’, in which there is a little grove within the knife’s blade that allows you to use your nail to grab and open the blade.

The downside of a manual mechanism is the potential difficulty of opening the knife, especially one handed.  This can be even more important when the situation is far from calm such as a critical emergency with seconds to spare.

Flipper

Most every day carry style pocket knives today come with some sort of provision to easily open them one handed.  These types of knives are often referred to as flippers as a quick one handed motion can flip the blade open for quick use.

There are many different styles and designs that allow this such as thumb studs, flipper tabs, and the infamous "Spydie Hole".  Each of these gives a protrusion or edge where you can catch the edge of your thumb or finger to flip the blade open with one hand.

This style of blade is especially handy when working and you need to quickly flip open your blade to cut something without using both hands to do it.

Assisted Opening.

As the name implies, the user can engage the blade to open with the help of a spring or lever such as pressing a small switch located on the knife’s handle. Since only one hand is required and the engagement is almost instantaneous, pocket knives with this mechanism are ideal where speed is required such as in self-defense.

However, a downside to this is that the risk of injury is higher as the blade could automatically engage in your pocket or in your hand by accident if enough pressure gets applied.

An upgraded variant of the switchblade is an assisted-opener in which the blade only engages when a certain amount of force gets applied on the switch.

Be sure note, however, that switchblade knives are illegal or restricted in some jurisdictions, even those in the U.S. So, before considering buying, make sure to do your research on local knife laws.