What kind of fixed blade knife should i get?

Question

What kind of fixed blade knife should i get?

Answer 1

It depends on what you are going to do. I would go with a name brand to make sure that I can do the job I need to with it. Stanley is a good brand that I buy a lot of and don't have a lot of problems out of their tools.

Answer 2

You mean "What kind of fixed blade knife should I get for doing what?"

If you are peeling potatoes or carving wood you want different types of blades. If you are cutting your way through the jungles of Central America you might want a machete.

Frosts/Mora makes a good general purpose 3" knife. It has a good sheath with it too.

Answer 3

What are you going to do with it? Knife designs vary greatly because there are literally hundreds of things the blade can be optimized to do. A fillet knife cleans fish, a carpet knife cuts heavy woven fabrics. They don't do well at the other job.

Make a list of the tasks you intend it to do, then surf around at the appropriate web sites for the best application that meets your needs.

Generally, the shape of the tip is indicative of what tasks it will do better. Drop points are utility hunter patterns, upswept tips expose more edge for sweeping cuts. How the edge is ground, and how far up the blade will indicate how well it cuts. The lower the grind, the more cheaply the knife is made, and the harder it is to cut in heavy, thick material. Note that all good kitchen knives for food prep and meat cutting are full flat ground.

The best all around knife will be a drop point flat ground blade less than 6 inches long, no guard or finger grooves in the handle, full tang, with grips made of micarta, G10, or other hard synthetic. Blade steels for fixed blades tend to be tempered slightly softer than folders because users pry with them more often, and carbon steels perform very well in the large sizes, often better than high end stainless.

If you are looking for something, avoid the mass merchandiser 'Marts and look at hunter suppy shops or online. Avoid most 420 stainless, and especially avoid polished blades. Fixed blades get scratched up in use, it is a tool first.