Smith & Wesson Knives

What Smith & Wesson makes for hunters and campers

On this site, Smith & Wesson covers two product types: fixed-blade knives and folding knives. The Smith & Wesson name is best known from firearms, which this site doesn't list; this page is about the knives only.

Inside the two types, the grid splits into groups you'll recognize by name:

• HRT and boot knives: small fixed blades with a sheath
• Larger fixed blades: survival, bowie and search-and-rescue styles
• M&P fixed blades: a wide mix, from a 3-inch blade to a 7-inch one
• Small frame-lock folders: the CK models and a skeletonized drop point
• Extreme Ops and other liner-lock folders
• Border Guard and M&P folders: bigger blades, several with assisted opening

The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go. So I'll write about the groups and what separates them, not about how many are listed this week. Nearly every spec here comes from an Amazon listing, and the grid marks those values. Where a listing leaves a field blank, the grid shows a dash, and I've left it at that.

Lineup notes: Smith & Wesson fixed blades

HRT and the small boot knives

The HRT models are the compact fixed blades. Per the listings:

• HRT boot knife and SWHRT9B: 4.7-inch blades, 9 inches overall, rubber or TPE handles
• SWHRT3 and SWHRT3BF: 3.5-inch blades, 7.5 inches overall, full tang, TPR handles
• FDE boot knife: a 2.75-inch blade with a hard polymer sheath

TPE and TPR are rubbery plastics, grippy when wet. All of these come with a sheath, per the listings, and the steels named are 7Cr17MoV on the HRTs and 8Cr13MoV on the FDE.

A 3.5 to 4.7-inch blade is a handy size around camp: rope, kindling, opening feed sacks, cutting a tarp loose. The boot knife page covers the style across brands.

Neck knives and the small false-edge blades

At the small end are knives meant to hang on a cord or ride in a pocket sheath:

• SW910TAM neck knife: a 2.8-inch tanto blade with a paracord-wrapped handle
• 5-inch false-edge knives: 2-inch blades, rubberized handles, hard polymer sheaths

A tanto point is an angular, chisel-like tip. A false edge is a ground bevel along the top of the blade near the tip. Neither does much for a hunter that a plain drop point doesn't, but a 2-inch blade on a cord is a backup that's hard to leave at home.

Larger fixed blades

The bigger fixed blades in the grid, per their listings:

• CKSUR1: a 6-inch blade, 10.5 inches overall, rubberized aluminum handle
• Search and Rescue: a 6-inch drop point with a serrated edge
• 10.6-inch tanto: a 5.2-inch blade in 9Cr17MoV with a hard polymer sheath
• SW3B bowie: a 7.8-inch blade, 12.8 inches overall, 420J2 steel
• 8.5-inch false-edge knife: a 4-inch blade with a hard polymer sheath

The bowie is the long one. A long blade chops and clears brush better than it does careful work. If you want a knife for camp chores and kindling more than for the deer, this is the corner of the grid to look at. The bowie knife page and the survival knife page compare them across brands.

M&P fixed blades

The M&P name covers the widest spread in the lineup. The listings describe:

• M&P Shield: 3-inch clip point, glass-filled nylon handle, nylon sheath
• M&P M2.0 Thin: 4-inch drop point, rubber overmold handle, nylon sheath
• M&P Officer: 4-inch drop point, G-10 handle
• SWMPF2BS and SWMPF2CS: 4.1-inch clip points with serrations, aluminum handles, hard sheaths
• SWMPF3BR: 4.6-inch blade, leather sheath
• M&P Special Ops: 5 and 7-inch clip points; the larger listing names a sawback and a pommel

All of them list full tangs, which means the steel runs the length of the handle. The SWF606, a 4.4-inch full-tang blade with a TPE handle and a leather sheath, sits in the same size range without the M&P name.

For hunting, the plain drop points in the 4-inch range are the ones that line up with the job. The hunting knife page explains blade shapes for field dressing across brands.

Karambits and the 24/7

A handful of knives in the grid are built around a curved karambit shape or a hard tanto point, per their listings: the SW995 karambit, two Extreme Ops karambits with G10 handles and finger loops, and the 24/7, a 4-inch tanto with a G10 handle and a rigid sheath. They're full tang and come with sheaths.

These are shapes for other jobs. A curved blade with a finger ring is not what I'd hand somebody for a first deer. The tactical knife page covers them across brands.

Lineup notes: the Smith & Wesson pocket knife

Small frame-lock folders

The smallest folders are short, light and plain. Per the listings:

• CKLPB and CKLPR Rainbow: 5.3 inches overall, the Rainbow with a 2.3-inch blade
• Executive CK110GL: a 2.8-inch drop point with a pocket clip
• Skeletonized drop point: a 2.2-inch blade in a cut-out steel frame

All of them name frame locks and thumb studs. A thumb stud is a small post on the blade you push with your thumb to open it. These are the folders for a key ring or a shirt pocket. The lightweight pocket knife page covers that end across brands.

Extreme Ops and the liner-lock folders

The middle of the folding lineup is liner locks with aluminum or steel handles and pocket clips. The listings describe:

• Extreme Ops SWA24S and SWA25: 3.1 and 3.3-inch clip points
• CK5TBS: a 3.2-inch tanto with a serrated edge
• SWFRS and SWFR2S: 3.3-inch blades, drop point or tanto, serrated
• SW608BLS and SW609: 3.4 and 3.6-inch drop points in 8Cr13MoV
• Unwavered folder: a 3.25-inch drop point with an engraved rosewood handle and a flipper

That last one is the odd one out, the only wood handle in the folders. (Danny asked if the rosewood was for formal occasions. Deer camp has one formal occasion. It's the Thanksgiving pie.)

Border Guard and the M&P folders

The bigger folders, per the listings:

• Border Guard SWBG6TS and the 10-inch Border Guard: 4.2 and 4.4-inch tanto blades
• Border Guard SWBG10S: tanto, serrated, aluminum handle
• M&P SWMP11B: a 3.8-inch tanto
• M&P SWMP13BS and SWMP4LS: 3.5 and 3.6-inch clip points, the 4LS assisted
• M&P Spring Assisted: a 3.5-inch drop point with an FRN handle
• M&P Special Ops assisted: a 4-inch tanto, 9.3 inches overall
• M&P Bodyguard: a 2.75-inch clip point that opens with a flipper
• Black Ops SWBLOP3S: a 3.4-inch drop point, assisted

Benchmade's mechanisms guide explains assisted opening: you start the blade open by hand, with a thumb stud or a flipper tab, and a spring finishes the job. A flipper is a small tab on the back of the blade that you push with a finger.

How to choose within the Smith & Wesson lineup

My one opinion on this page: ignore the series name until the end. The M&P label alone runs from the 2.75-inch Bodyguard folder to the 7-inch Special Ops fixed blade, per the listings. That's two different tools wearing the same hat. Blade length, shape and lock tell you what a knife is for. The name doesn't.

Fixed or folding first

A fixed blade with a sheath is ready the moment you pull it. A folder fits in a pocket. For field dressing and camp work, start with the fixed blades; for daily carry, start with the folders. The fixed blade knife page and the pocket knife page lay out the trade.

Then the blade shape

• Drop point: the all-round hunting shape, tip in line with the spine
• Clip point: a thinner tip for detail work
• Tanto: a strong, angular tip, less belly for slicing
• Karambit: a curved blade with a finger ring, for other jobs entirely

Then the edge

Many listings name a serrated edge. A serrated section is there for rope and webbing. If the knife's main job is the deer, look for a plain edge in the listing.

Then the lock

The folders use two locks, per the listings. Benchmade's guide describes a liner lock as a spring bar cut into the inside liner that moves behind the blade when it opens; you push it aside to close. A frame lock works the same way with the spring cut from the handle frame itself. Practice the close at the kitchen table, not on a tailgate at 5 a.m.

Then the steel

The listings name stainless steels across the line: 7Cr17MoV and 8Cr13MoV on most, 9Cr17MoV or 9Cr18MoV on a few, 4034 on two assisted folders and 420J2 on the bowie. There's no carbon-steel knife in this grid.

Care that applies to the whole lineup

AKTI, the American Knife & Tool Institute, keeps its maintenance advice simple. Every few months, pick the dirt out of the handle with something that isn't metal; a toothpick works. Put a light coat of oil on the blade after you've handled it and before it goes away, and on the pivot of any folder that sees steady use. Then store it somewhere cool and dry. AKTI names the basement and the garage as the places not to keep a knife, which describes most deer camps I know.

AKTI adds that salt water and some chemicals can damage even stainless steel. Stainless isn't a promise. It's a head start.

Cut away from your body, and keep your fingers out of a folder's closing path. AKTI also warns against using a knife as a pry bar or a screwdriver; the blade can slip or snap.

Smith & Wesson knife facts

Here's what I could verify from sources outside a store shelf:

• Seller: American Outdoor Brands, Inc., headquartered in Columbia, Missouri, sells knives and tools under the Smith & Wesson, M&P and Performance Center names, per its fiscal 2026 annual report
• License: the same report says those marks are licensed to American Outdoor Brands by Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. for certain accessory product categories
• Brand page: AOB's own brands page lists Smith & Wesson, M&P Smith & Wesson and Performance Center, and notes the trademarks are used under license

This page doesn't cover where the knives are made or the maker's warranty terms. One listing in the grid names a limited lifetime warranty; read the maker's terms before you count on it.

Read the blade before the box. The box has a series name on it; the blade has the job.