One of the things I always have with me, is a small fixed bladed knife. Sure, I always have one or two folders with me as well… But I like having a small fixed blade on me. Here’s the three I usually rotate though, depending on what the day has planned.
Left to Right:
Benchmade’s Adamas Push Dagger.
Benchmade’s SOCP Dagger.
Ka-Bar’s Becker Necker.
Reason for these three is the light weight, small profile. I never wear them around the neck, but they do well in a Boot or on the Belt. Or other places one might hide a little knife. The SOCP though, sometimes I’ll clip it to the front of the shirt like a pen. Just easy that way, and quite fast to use.
The Necker has a nice usable shape. I use it quite often for regular cutting tasks. Cooking Prep and such. It is one of my favorite all time knives. I like the bottle opener too. Quite handy. This one has a lot of utility while the others are strictly defensive tools.
The Adamas is an interesting bit of kit. The chisel grind makes it not so useful for normal cutting tasks… but the double edge blade is wicked sharp. For it’s purpose, it is scary effective.
The SOCP is the cool guy blade. The point is like a needle. The blade… not so sharp. It’s not supposed to be. This one is all about the deep puncture, with little other utility. This is a rip cord type tool. You pull it when there is no other option. I know a lot of guys like to modify their SOCPs… but I’ve not done so yet. I may in the future though. Were I to do so… I think I’d strip the coating off it, bevel some edges, and acid etch the steel to give it some more character. Of all the three, this is the one that comes with me most often.
I’ve had two Neckers, lost both. The sheaths loosened up enough over time that they dropped free and disappeared into the ether. I did really like the blade though. I’ve switched to the CRKT Foultz Bowie neck knife. A bit smaller than the Becker, but a good shape, good blade, but most of all a much more secure sheath.
Yeah, the Sheaths that come with the Becker Neckers are pretty bad. I still have mine, but would never use it as a neck knife. It’s just not good for that purpose. It needs a nice custom made leather one.
+1 I carry it at the 11 o’clock horizontally can get to it with both hands. I find it funny I have more knifes than I can count in the $150+ range but the knife I always have on me is $20.
I use have two of those knives:
I put the push dagger on the leg strap of my MULE rig from G-code and have the SOCP in the center MOLLE strip of my chest harness. Instead of the Necker I went with a CRKT Obake and a semi-custom ECOS knives tanto for a neck knife/EDC waist band blade.
The CRKT Obake looks very nice. Great price point too!
I need a nice 4″ or so fixed blade that’s thin & lightweight. All of the fixed blades that I own are 6″ or bigger, which is fine as they all serve a purpose but I don’t have anything smaller that I can hide on me. I was looking at some Winkler blades today…really nice but a bit spendy for most of them.
Benchmade has a real nice one… 3.5″ fixed. Reasonable priced. Gets over looked because it’s always shown with an orange handle and a gut hook. But you can get it sans hook, with a black handle, which makes it total goldilocks.
http://www.benchmade.com/fixedbladeknives/steep-country-family.html
I’ve found that carrying a small fixed blade horizontally from the centerline position to work well, it allows for easy concealment, and I can draw easily from either hand. I initially carried a boker coye Ridgeback in an armordillo concealment sheath, but a few months ago, I started carrying a spyderco reverse. The reverse is very versatile in that you can set up the sheath for a variety of positions, and you can also flip the handle according to the grip of your choice.
I have an ESEE Izula 2 that I carry vertically with a TekLok, a Cold Steel Pendleton Mini Hunter that I don’t tend to carry but I do some game skinning with it. And an Obake for a waistband knife.
I want a SOCP, but I always find something else to do with 80$.
All knives shown will get you arrested in the Peoples Republic of Seattle and any push dagger/double bladed knife will also in my home state. Most likely the same in many if not most states right now…