The Best, Biggest, and Baddest Folding Knives of 2021

Hey everyone, here comes David C. Andersen from KnifeCenter and today we take a look at the

biggest

,

baddest

folding

knives

you can get your hands on. Let's take a look. (KnifeCenter.com) So the folders we're talking about today are the kind of things that give me that fistful of metal when you pick them up. You just want to say Hell yeah, and we have to be honest. This video is inspired by Cold Steel, Cold Steel, as evidenced by this Espada XL here, which makes big, over-the-top

knives

like no one else. This particular guy comes in at around 168 when you consider all the kit you're getting for him.

It's actually not that bad. The blade itself is seven and a half inches long. The Aus10 stainless steels got a nice stonewashed finish. You get G10 for the handles, just a little bit of texture for added grip. And of course the famous and very strong Cold Steel triad lock, it looks like a rear lock, but it's stronger under the hood, just rock solid and stable. Now, despite the almost, let's be honest, comically large nature of this knife, it's actually a pretty well thought out and quite useful blade; overall, I mean, it actually fits in the pocket here when I definitely fold it in two.

He approached confidently. It's a lot, you won't be able to carry much more in your front pockets. But at least on my standard jeans, it fits well, you have a decent handle sticking out the back. So you know you wouldn't want a deep pocket clip for this guy. And then you have the ambidextrous thumb plate here, right near the back of the spine. Actually, it will work as a pocket implementer. So this giant knife will fully deploy whenever you tilt it to catch the hem of your pocket as soon as you pull it and it's one of those things that certainly makes me smile, that's for sure.

But we also have handholds on this, you have a standard grip position, which is actually maybe more than that, you have a little bit of choke space around the ricasso, we can actually also choke back which will point towards the front of the blade. very intuitively you can probably even do some light machete tasks with this. I wouldn't necessarily chop wood all day with it, but you could tend to some herbs and things around the garden if you wanted. Or you can just feel amazing that I was able to take that guy out. I'll show a couple of other cold steels here in a second.

But when I think about Espada XL, the word I mentioned before is a little comically big and I mean that in a good way. And there's another knife that I always think of when the phrase comically big comes to mind and that's the Opinel number 13. A very different vibe, obviously, from the spa to stand out, obviously, from a very, very old school, but It's even bigger than Cold Steel. It's a little more affordable because they're only $99 now. And it's just a classic Opinel type of construction, with a larger size: you have your Sandvik 12 c 27 blade and it comes in just nine inches.

Same old clip point with completely flat sharpening as smaller knives with a larger size for good fun. The handles themselves are nice and comfortable. You have that classic beech wood construction with no hot spots around it because you only know that the slot for the knife is sought on one side and you don't have two sides connected to each other. You can choke and do some light lawn work, but I think where this knife would really shine, backyard barbecue games, things like that, you even have that locking ring that will keep the blade closed and the position open.

And really, this knife is a lot of fun. And it's Yes, it makes you smile and that's what we're going for with a lot of the knives here today. There will be some things that will be purpose driven. That will be very useful, but ultimately, if none of these knives can be pulled out of your pocket and make you smile, there is no way it will be on this list today. So back to Cold Steel. We'll talk about them for a second more. If you like it this is a place to stand out, but it's too much.

Also check out their x l Voyager, very similar in terms of style, but a little smaller. This is a five and a half inch blade. This is also one of the most affordable Big Bad folders you can get today. This guy costs about $72, not bad. Again, here the Austin blade is completely flat with that stonewash finish, a similar handle shape but smaller size and you have a Griv-Ex handle, so it's injection molded. Even so, the triad lock still has a similar style to the pocket clip where it sticks out enough from the pockets that you can grab it easier.

The dual thumb studs have no ambidextrous plate on this type, so you won't have to spend money deploying it as quickly, but it's still a very impressive life. The funny thing about something like Voyager is that they actually make some bigger, badder Cold Steel knives, they have a lot of them. But it makes some of them, which for any other company would be the

biggest

in their range, feel a little small in comparison. And the example is the 4-Max model, a large and robust four-inch blade made of s 35. Vn, this premium version, that is, there is a more affordable version with operating system 10.

But the premium model costs around 425 at the moment. . A little expensive for sure. But it's pretty impressive. And yet, I had never picked up this 4-max before until I picked it up off this table and thought it was a little small. What does that tell you about that? But it's still a huge knife, especially if you don't have these comparison points at your side. Four inches, nice wide drop point, like I said, G10 on the handles on this guy, triad lock, again, multiple hand positions. Again, here you have your main gorilla grip, you can choke on the finger area for more precise control if needed.

And again, it's not like it's chopping wood all day, but the way the handle is designed, it's almost like it wants you to chop with it. You have a little less reach than the Espada XL, but it will still be a phenomenal big bad folder. In the next step, we will look at some of the great titanium frame lock flippers, which is one of the most prolific types of knives out there today. And that's also seen in these big, bad folders. And we're going to start with what I like to call the one pound fin because it comes in just over 16 ounces, it's the half-breeds, the big bush fin, it's actually a line lock, not a frame lock, but the handle itself.

The handles themselves are titanium in this case, steel blade, s 35 vn, just over four inches, nice wide profile, we have a hollow hone on this knife. So it actually has some similarities to that 4-max, but the 4-max has a flat grind. But with similar steel of similar length, you actually get a little more advantage in formax. Although the blade length is technically a skosh shorter, you get a bit more thickness at the butt of the blade. We're getting to just under a quarter of an inch, it's about point one here. And as you can see, the thick, massive slabs of titanium definitely fill the hand quite well, you're sure to have plenty to hold on to.

Again, you have to move your fingers there if you want to drown and have some room to drown. There is a line lock, although I wouldn't really recommend such an aggressive cut with this knife. I just laugh every time I think about that concept. You have some indentations here in the titanium that do double duty. You can use this as a large bush fin, at least they market it as being used outdoors on occasion. You can use it as a support block for a bow drill, but it also creates a nice spot for my middle finger.

While I grab the knife. It's a good index point and also a little extra traction. Next up is ArtisanCutlery. This is the proponent designed by Dirk Pinkerton. It's actually one of the few knives on this table today that has a blade less than four inches long, but it's so big and in every other direction that you know it's still rated in our minds. It's about 3.85, so it's almost at that four inch mark. And these large versions come in around 212 at the moment, similar story here with the steel we have s 35 v n, sort of a large reverse wide angle Tanto or wharncliffe shape.

We also have a titanium construction frame locking flap, as I mentioned a little earlier, although there are a few different opening methods beyond the flip action. Pretty nice. We have a lot of mass in the blade that rotates around the ball bearings in the pivot, which creates a nice, satisfying feel. But other than that, you can use these oversized thumb buttons, no problem. You can also open it with your thumb using the fullest of that blade, starting there and working your way up as you go. So there are a few different options for fidgets. And when it comes to a big, restless portfolio, it definitely has a lot to offer.

In addition to being able to make some really powerful cuts, while we look at knives of this style, we have to talk about one of the creators of canopies of this style: a knife and that is Andre de Villiers. with his ADV battle blade. This is one of the most expensive knives on the table. Actually, this probably turns out to be the most expensive knife on the table right now, it's around $12/$100 right now, pretty pricey, but you're paying for custom level fit and finish here. m 390 blade. In this case, a large four inch compound grind blade with a recurve section here on the back.

Definitely a very distinctive look and very distinctive to add the handles, our titanium has its fragmentation pattern on the lock frame on the back. Here I have a milled titanium pocket clip with one of the signature elements you see on some ATVs and it's that swivel system underneath at the pinch point, a little easier to get in and out of the pocket. Now, just like that craftsman, we can use the fuller thumb opener, but you really want to flip that big M 390. Blade out, very satisfying, all blacked out in this version, but does all sorts of different things and cool variations of this knife.

So, as always, keep an eye out for interesting ones. So, all of the knives we've seen so far certainly have their uses, but a lot of them have to do with being big, just for the sake of being big. And I like that there's something really fun about that. However, the upcoming knives won't be as big, with one exception. But they're a little more intentionally geared toward specific tactical uses, whether it's in the line of duty or for self-defense, that kind of thing. The Big Bad portfolio certainly has its place in that line of work as well.

And we're going to start with the Spyderco Yojumbo, which is the larger version of the Yojimbo designed by Michael Janish. Fantastic self-defense and hand-to-hand combat knife. Time tested at this point. Certainly, it's just a larger version that just came out. It comes in about 168. Right now they are made in America, we have a large four inch blade with s 30 v, g 10 handles and a Spydercos compression lock on the back that allows you to keep your fingers out of the way of the blade when opening and closing. And you can also do some of that open and close motion where you can use that ambidextrous thumb hole in classic Spyderco style.

There is a hollow grind on this knife and they do what they say for a couple of reasons. First, you tip them very sharply. And it also provides a lot more thickness in the spine beyond the blade than if they had done something like a full flat grind, which you tend to see a lot in Spyderco designs. This way they get a little more strength there. But you still have that really nice fine piercing tip, kind of like a dot from before only on a much smaller scale. Also due to this Wharncliffe shape, the tip will point very naturally when you hold it forward.

And it will also be another nice powerful cutter thanks to that completely straight edge with this Wharncliffe shape really ready to cut through some materials. Or then we get to the

best

knives. But unlike most of the

best

knives, this one is not made in the United States. This is actually a collaboration with Fox and its tactical division FKMD. So this is made in Italy. But this is the Magnum

folding

knife, which is the big brother to the Thunderhawks series of folders, which themselves are very large with blades just under four inches, but this guy is priced at about 4.5, it's very similar to the one from Spyderco, which was just under 168.

Right now, four and a half inches, like I said, you have a N 690 steel, in this case, black coated and on the handles, you have a liner lock and G 10 on each side and you have. Having that back open to the construction helps keep it clean very easily. And then we take a look here on the front because of these cutouts on the G 10. It works similarly eingenious, at least in terms of how you hold the knife to that mongrel before those slots provide a nice positive look. place for your fingertips to rest, providing good retention will help you index the knife, even if you don't have eyes on it while holding it.

And it's one of those things that also gives you more surface area and therefore more grip. The pocket clip of this type is angled downwards but is reversible. You can use it anywhere. You've also given a nod to the heavy-duty mission of this knife. There are no ball bearings on this pivot, it has brass washers, so it has a more deliberate but very smooth opening system and is also very stable when open. Last but not least, I forgot to mention that here we have both version but drop point is also available. Alright, next to the knives, we'll get to some tough to use crossbar lock tactical knives.

And that is the SOG seal xR and the recently reintroduced Benchmade Adamas series, which are sort of pocket tanks in terms of what they present from a user's point of view. And again, I mean that in a good way. But on this table they don't look like the biggest knives out there, they are a little smaller. In comparison, it makes me laugh. The SOG SEAL very well identified with their terrain. You have that layer there to keep the reflections down. You have an injection molded handle on this type, but you have a nice wide metal spacer here to give it a good anchor, as well as some double insert liners.

Now a word about this knife jumping, it does. it runs almost from the middle of the spine of the blade to the end and then back through the finger guard. It's a little less comfortable with bare hands, but it's not abnormally maintained or astronomically uncomfortable, but I'd say this knife really shines when you're wearing gloves. And those jumping. Those jump sections are wide enough that even with those gloves on, you'll have some positive traction. The crossbar lock on this knife also provides a lot of good opening options here, you can just do the classic wrist flick, you can open with a single thumb with the ambidextrous cut, or just hit that flipper, and that will send it.

Get out and get ready to go. As for the new versions of Adamas, they are a little thinner than the previous versions, which, thinking about it, maybe the old version would fit even better in this video. But at the expense of this new version, which I think is even better to use. It's been thinned out a little bit, but it's still a very sturdy construction knife, the blade, its raw wear is about 3.8 inches, so it's a really good steel for a heavy duty knife because it had a lot of hardness as well as edge retention. . Now, we don't have a fin on this knife, but we still have a nice finger guard.

In fact, these two knives will work very well to protect your fingers from sliding forward under great stress. The handles here are g 10. This is the OD green with coyote leaf color, but we also have a black with a gray coating. They are also automatic versions of this knife, but this type is all manual with that AXIS Lock. The same as that SOG, except you don't have the flipper, you do have thumb buttons, so you can deliberately open it, or you can open it, and then you have a deep, reversible pocket clip, which makes this knife completely ambidextrous If you don't want to carry in your pocket, there is also a nice belt holster that comes with this guy.

Good. Next are the elements of the knight, kukri. This is another knife made by Fox in manago. Italy, for Jason Knight with his new brand right here. But we have a very distinctive Jason Knight kukri profile and 690 steel again, just over four inches. There are a few different versions at the moment. But they all come with this steel and come with a G 10 or micarta front scale and a titanium locking frame on the back. This is also a flipper, we have ball bearings in this pivot. But we also have that fuller broad there. So we can do that thumb opening like this if we want.

But it opens quite well. And we have good overall grip, including this nice flash at the end. Now on a traditional kukeri, that flare is to help you when you're cutting, it gives you some retention when sliding forward on this guy, it will still give you retention, but not as much when cutting. But any type of aggressive cut, especially a pull cut, will help. And a pull cut will actually work very well on this blade because of the curvature it has and the amount of belly it has in front of it. He's just ready to go through and really push a lot of things in front of him.

We also have that nice tip that points down, I think, as I mentioned again in that place at the beginning, it will point very naturally. Next we have another more affordable knife, this is the Steel Will Plague Doctor, there are two sizes but this is the larger four inch version which comes in around 73. Right now the steel blade here is d two and gets its name from that classic old school medieval plague mask interpreted in the shape of the leaf itself. But the detail will give you a lot of edge retention, you'll have a nice, almost completely flat polish.

For some good cutting features. Despite having a decently thick blade butt, its handles are 10 g and we can carry them from the pocket clip. And again, a nice wide handle is enough to grip even if you have larger hands. Like the later knives, you get a nice finger guard there, in this case from the fin tab itself. Now a little about the action of flipping this knife. This is one without ball bearings, we have phosphor bronze washers which are great for that stability and great for cleanliness, but they don't always spin as cleanly as some fins with ball bearings do.

But when it comes to steel, will they have their action tuned to the twist action of these holderless knives? Very very good. In fact, I think they are definitely among the best, if not the best execution of brass washer fins out there today, especially on the mass market production side, they just do it exceptionally well. Well, the next knife should be a little bigger. And that's because I can only find one of the three and a half inch versions of the Hogue X5, but this one also comes in an absolutely incredible four inch version. So pretend this is a little bigger in my hands right now.

The three and a half inch version starts at about two and a half or just over 200 dollars and the four inch version here, not much more, it's about 221 right now, the blade steel is CPM 154 and they call it a cliff. But I think we have to officially classify this leaf shape as crazy because there's definitely a lot going on here. Despite its appearance, you can certainly do a lot of things with this knife. This will once again be a powerful and beautiful cutter. In fact, you might prefer to call this a modified sheepsfoot more easily than "Wharncliffe." But the composite polishes, they're both flat, but you have a higher flat polish here near the tip.

So if you're cutting some material or doing some scoring, it'll be really nice that you'll have a little more efficiency. But if you're trying to get through something, you're going to have a little more force, a little more meat behind the edge on the rear section, the handles are aluminum, we have a mascus G, which is a 10 g stamped inlay on both sides . And we have the Hogue button lock, the button lock comes with a secondary safety here. And that will keep it locked in the open position. So if you're worried about hitting that lock, maybe you have a little spring pressure behind it.

But if you want that peace of mind, you have that extra security there, it closes pretty well, almost completely, there's a little stop at the end. And that's because of the way they adjust their details to open the lid. That's a really nice, crisp action, especially if we consider it as a button mark. Deep pocket clip on this side, although due to the angle, it may stick out a little, the knife is very well put together. And if these big bad flaps, Big Bad folders are meant to make an impression when you pull them out of your pocket, then this one should definitely be at the top of the list.

I think this X5 actually marks a good transition between more dedicated and tactically inspired things. And some of the most elegant things ever. We take a look at some fancier fin types at the beginning, but even fancier stuff closer to the end. And the first another Italian knife. This is the Viper Rhino which comes in at about 178. And as you can see, here's a huge four and a quarter inch blade and 690 steel, a very distinctive blade shape. We'll probably call it harpoon, sheepsfoot or something because of the shape, although with a decent amount of belly, you'll be able to get some pretty good slices out of it.

Nice sturdy tip, thanks to this construction here, we have a spine that goes all the way to it, which means you'll be able to choke on your finger, it'll be nice and comfortable. In fact, for me, having my index finger right behind the tip feels really good. Although the blade may be flashier, my favorite part of this knife is the handle itself. It's carbon fiber, but it's thick, contoured, and extremely comfortable. Especially if you removed that pocket clip, it gets in the way a little. But this is almost as comfortable as a sculpted fixed blade, because its shape is so well made.

We have a center mounted lock of this type with the crowned Backspacer that essentially echoes and flows into that blade. Nice detail, you see something, Italians really like some things. And one of the things you see especially in Viper is some of the smoothest blocking operations on the market. It's not gritty and it's a trip. It's not jerky, it's just a smooth, gentle movement, and it has that nice click at the end, it definitely has enough resistance to keep it from accidentally opening, but it's not difficult to open. It is simply silky and delicious. Alright, next we have to talk about the massive CRKT XOC knife and a massive departure from most things you see from CRKT.

Typically, the sky is quite expensive and costs around $750. While it's not as refined feeling as the Viper or a couple of knives we'll get to here in a second. They brought out this knife as a kind of showcase for their new latch, which is operated by the button here that also doubles as a pivot and you can see this thing on the back that looks like the switch on your latch on a door. And it has two steel bars that go through the tang of the knife and keep it very secure. It opened up pretty well once thanks to the IKBS bearings in the pivot here.

And if you're not convinced, they actually sent us this knife to take it out and see what we could do with the lock. And if you've seen that video, you know we did some really dumb things with it. We were throwing it into trees, cutting batons and doing some leverage with it. And the performance of the knife in the lock didn't degrade at all through all the stupid things we were doing with it and it's certainly a huge feel of the knife in the hand as well. Here we have a steel sheet of x HP, about four and a quarter.

Very similar in length to the top but very different in character. As you can see, we have more thickness on the CRKT and more fidgeting factor for such a large knife which is pretty impressive. The handles, we have titanium liners, carbon fiber scales and a titanium reinforcement inlay are essentially on them and a nice milled pocket clip with a nice gold detail to go with it. Alright, next we'll finish with some really fancier ones. And we'll start with Tashi Barucha's Reate T4000, which costs around $400 and would under any other circumstances be the biggest pocket knife you've probably ever seen, but it feels a little small. on this table.

Still, it's a four-inch m 390 blade. And here we have sharp double hollows. It's not double, double edged, we don't have a sharp edge here on the back. So keep that in mind. But otherwise, you have that great profile that looks like a dagger. The handles are titanium with natural micarta and fit this particular one, but there are a few different options. And what's nice, the way they did it here is the construction of the handle, these are not two sides with a space in the middle closed by a backspace or some spacers, we have a good joint there.

So it almost mimics the look of an integral fin. But you have just a little bit of sewing right there. And a really nice treatment overall, if they didn't do this you wouldn't be able to get this kind of lookso cool geometric on the back. I also have a nice hidden tie down point. Milled titanium pocket clip, nice contour all over the handle, feels quite comfortable. And I love the way these guys carry themselves. It just has a really nice profile, kind of a nice elliptical shape with the way the Nestle blade is here. And I like the way just that little fin tab sticks out at the back, ready to launch.

Next, last but not least, we'll finish off Allama cutlery with one of their mid-tech solo knives that's just under $700, with a blade here that's just over four inches with M 390. We've got a lot of stuff interesting going on. There's a very refined design here and a very well crafted design, obviously that blade is very distinctive. We'll go ahead and call it a modified sheepsfoot in this case, tapered flat with that wide wedge on the back. . And one of the cool things they do to this guy, you actually have a movable thumb stud, you can move it forward or backward on the track here, you can take it out and just use the track itself to open the thumb. .

Or you can place that thumb stud exactly where you want to get that open blade. Or you can take advantage of the ball bearings on the pivot and simply flip it over. The handles are titanium and we have a nice sculpted finish that they call blue rocks from the seabed. It has a nice organic look, very rocky and natural. The Backspacer carries that texture and we also have a nice gold color. And the nice thing is that you would have a small intentional gap on each side of this recoil space or they made it a floating recoil space instead of mounting it flush on each side.

In terms of usability, this is not just a piece of pocket jewelry, good premium materials, has a solid feel in the hand, excellent grip. It's another knife that will really be able to tackle some big jobs as long as you're not afraid of it getting scratched. That's all I have for today's video. Be sure to let me know what you think of my photos in the comments. And of course you can leave your own suggestions for your favorite large bed folders or fins, there doesn't have to be a fin down there too. I will say one thing that I would have liked to have had on the table, but couldn't get it: one of Kizer's XL sheepdogs.

So before they call me, I should have been here too. But that's all. If you want to get your hands on any of these knives, we'll leave links in the description to take you to the Knife Center, where you can also sign up for our knife rewards program and I definitely recommend you do because you'll learn some free money when you spend your money on one of these knives today. (Knife Rewards) This is David C. Andersen from KnifeCenter signing. See you next time.