Fixed Blade Knives

What makes a fixed blade knife different

A fixed blade has no hinge. The blade, the tang and the handle are one rigid unit, so there's nothing to fold, latch or wear loose. You pay for that with carry: it needs a sheath, and it rides on a belt or a pack strap instead of in a pocket.

Everything else on a knife (steel, grind, edge, handle) applies to folders too. Those basics are covered in more detail on the hunting knife page, which is the main page for this group. What's left here is what only a fixed blade has to get right: the tang, the sheath, and a blade length you choose because nothing has to fit inside a handle.

Under this text sits a table of every fixed-blade knife we track on Amazon US, ordered by blade length. It shows blade length, shape, steel type, grind, edge, tang, sheath and the other fields, with the maker's numbers first and the Amazon listing's where the maker is silent (the table marks listing values). When neither states a value, you'll see a dash, not a guess. That happens a lot with tang and grind, so read a dash as "not stated", never as "no".

Fixed blade vs folding knife

This is the question that comes up at the cabin table every November, and the answer is less dramatic than the argument.

• Strength: a full-tang fixed blade is the strongest knife construction there is, per Knifemaking.com's tang guide
• Cleaning: no pivot, no lock, no slot for fat and hair to hide in
• Readiness: nothing to open with cold, wet or gloved hands
• Carry: the folder wins, plain and simple
• Bulk: a fixed blade plus sheath takes up belt space a folder doesn't

My one opinion on this page: a fixed blade is easier to clean than a folder after field dressing. The reason is something you can check with your own eyes. Count the places where a folder's blade meets its handle, then count them on a fixed blade. Outdoor Life's hunting-knife writer makes the same call against replaceable-blade knives, because fat and meat collect in their crevices.

None of that makes folders bad. If your knife mostly opens mail and cuts baling twine, a folder is the better tool. Those are on the pocket knife page.

What to look at when you pick fixed blade knives

Here are the fields in the table, in the order I'd read them. Measure twice, buy once.

Pick the blade length for the job, not the belt

Blade length is measured from the tip to where the edge meets the handle or guard. Overall length adds the handle. Outdoor Life's hunting-knife guide calls a 2- to 4-inch blade ideal for deer work and 3 to 3.5 inches "about perfect". It puts blades of 5 inches and up in camp and bushcraft territory.

Rule of thumb: the shorter the blade, the closer your hand is to the work, and the more control you have. A long blade covers more cutting and dulls more slowly, per the same guide, but it's heavier and clumsier in tight spots. Steering a camp-size blade around a deer's ribs is like backing a boat trailer down a crowded ramp.

Check the tang, because you can't see it later

The tang is the steel that runs into the handle. Knifemaking.com sorts the two main builds like this:

• Full tang: steel runs the full length and width of the handle, scales pinned or bolted on. Strongest, heavier, easy to inspect.
• Hidden tang: steel runs into the handle but is fully enclosed by it. Lighter and well balanced for fine cutting, less resistant to hard impact, and harder to repair inside.

The same guide lists batoning, chopping, field dressing and bushcraft as full-tang jobs, and carving and precision cutting as places a hidden tang does fine. The table only marks a knife full tang when the maker or the listing says so. A dash there means nobody told us.

Steel type is a trade between rust and resharpening

The table sorts blade steel into classes: stainless, carbon, tool steel, powder steel and damascus, with the exact grade in the steel column when the maker or the listing gives one.

The short version from Outdoor Life's hunting-knife guide: carbon steel sharpens quickly and is less brittle, but rusts if it's kept wet. Stainless resists rust and holds an edge longer, but it's harder to sharpen. Its steel guide adds that stainless can still rust, just a lot less readily.

That makes the choice a question about you, not the steel. If you'll wipe and oil the blade after every use, carbon is a pleasure to sharpen. If the knife lives in a truck console for a month at a time, buy stainless. (My truck console is where knives go to think about their choices.)

Grind decides whether it slices, splits or carves

The grind is the shape of the blade's cross-section as it narrows to the edge. Morakniv's grind guide explains several of the ones in the table:

• Scandi: one wide flat bevel straight to the edge, the wood-carver's grind (more on the bushcraft knife page)
• Flat: ground evenly from spine to edge, low friction, long clean slices
• Hollow: concave, very thin and sharp behind the edge, less sturdy
• Convex: slightly rounded, strong, common on axes and survival knives

A scandi bevel is easy to sharpen because you can lay the whole bevel flat on a stone. A hollow grind slices like a razor and doesn't like being pried with. Pick the grind for what the knife will cut most often.

Plain edge unless you cut a lot of rope

The edge column reads plain, serrated or partially serrated. Morakniv describes serrations as small regular teeth for fibrous and tough material: rope, webbing, textiles. For skinning, slicing and wood, a plain edge does cleaner work. It's also a Saturday-afternoon sharpening job instead of a special-tools job.

Blade shape follows the first cut you'll make

Shape is how the spine and edge meet at the tip. Benchmade's blade guide calls the drop point one of the most popular all-purpose shapes and lists hunting and field dressing among its jobs. Montana Knife Company's guide says the lowered tip helps you avoid puncturing the gut cavity. Clip points give a finer tip for detail work. Skinners and trailing points carry a big curved belly for long strokes. Those shapes get their own pages: the skinning knife page and the clip point knife page.

Thickness and spine matter for hard use

Blade thickness is the steel's thickness at the spine. Makers and listings don't always state it, so it's often a dash in the table. Thick stock takes abuse; thin stock slices better.

The spine also decides whether you can strike a ferro rod (a sparking rod for fire) off the back of the knife. Morakniv notes that a ground, unpolished spine with sharp corners works with fire starters, while a polished or rounded spine doesn't. If that matters to you, check the field "fire starter / sharpener in sheath" too.

Danny's take: "Why carry a knife when you can carry a knife, a fire starter, a sharpener and a whistle in one sheath?" Danny also brings two coolers for one cooler's worth of food, so weigh that advice accordingly.

The sheath is half the knife

A fixed blade is only as safe as the thing it lives in. The table lists the sheath material: leather, nylon, molded kydex or polymer, plastic, or other. Montana Knife Company's sheath guide lays out the trade:

• Leather: quiet on the draw, holds by friction, loosens as it softens, soaks up water and needs oiling
• Kydex or molded polymer: clicks in and stays put, doesn't absorb water, often has a drain hole, makes noise on the draw
• Heat: molded plastic gets soft near 300°F, so a dashboard in August is a risk
• Cold: below -20°F it gets brittle and can crack on impact

That quiet leather draw matters if you hunt close. That clicking plastic matters if you hunt wet. Pick by your worst weather, not your favorite one.

Handle material is about grip when your hands are wet

The handle field lists the material: wood, rubber, G10, Micarta, polymer, leather or bone. Outdoor Life's hunting-knife guide says rubberized handles stay grippy with bloody hands, that Micarta is very grippy, and that some smooth handles get slippery with fat on them. A finger guard or a ledge near the blade keeps your hand from sliding forward. If the knife will see game, favor grip over looks.

Weight and warranty are the tiebreakers

The weight column is the knife without its sheath when the maker lists both. A few ounces matter on a long walk and not at all on a cutting board. The warranty column gives the maker's short form, like "lifetime" or a number of years, when the maker or the listing states one. Buy once, cry once. A stated warranty helps with the "once" part.

Which kind of fixed blade fits which job

"Fixed blade" covers a whole drawer of knives. These are the ones with their own pages:

• Hunting knife: the all-round deer knife, usually a drop point, on the hunting knife page
• Skinning knife: deep belly, built for separating hide, on the skinning knife page
• Gut hook knife: a hook on the spine for the opening cut, on the gut hook knife page
• Bushcraft knife: often scandi ground, for wood and camp, on the bushcraft knife page
• Survival knife: thick, full tang, extras in the sheath, on the survival knife page
• Whittling knife: a short blade for carving, on the whittling knife page
• Neck and boot knives: small blades for carry, on the neck knife and boot knife pages

Big blades for show and for chopping are on the bowie knife page. If you can't decide, read the guide to types of hunting knives first.

Taking care of a fixed blade

The upkeep is short, which is part of the appeal.

1. Wipe it clean and dry it after every use, before it goes back in the sheath.
2. Put a light film of oil on carbon steel. Outdoor Life's steel guide says carbon blades need care in wet conditions to prevent rust.
3. Store it out of a leather sheath. Montana Knife Company's sheath guide warns that humidity and tanning chemicals can pit even stainless steel.
4. Touch up the edge often. Oregon State University Extension's meat-processing guide notes that a honing steel realigns an edge during work but doesn't make it sharp; stones do that, coarse to fine.

Rust doesn't take the weekend off, even when you do. A good fixed blade should be the most boring thing in camp: clean, dry, sharp, and exactly where you left it.

Sharpeners have their own lists: knife sharpeners and hunting knife sharpeners.

Handle it like it's always sharp

NRA Family's knife-safety guide says most cuts happen while a knife is going into or coming out of its sheath. Watch where your other hand is on the sheath, cut away from your body, and hand a knife over tip down with the spine toward the other person. A sharp knife is safer than a dull one because it doesn't skid off the work.

Where and how you can wear a fixed blade in public is set by state and local law, and it isn't the same everywhere. Check your state's rules first.

Pick the length, check the tang, live with the sheath, and keep the edge honest.