Esquire's 10 Favorite Pocket Knives We’ve Ever Held

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links. Here’s how we test products and why you should trust us.OpinelWhen it comes to multi-tools, Leatherman quite literally invented the category. While Switzerland’s famous army knife has kicked around since the turn of the 19th century, Tim Leatherman was the first to create the pliers-plus-knife multi-tool that adventurers everywhere have come to know and rely on. The style has proliferated across knife brands, but you can’t beat the original.We love the Leatherman Free T4, but sometimes you need a pair of pliers. The Wave+ is Leatherman’s best-selling multi-tool for a reason: 18 tools cover a variety of needs but still slip into a pocket or pack without too much weight.—Matthew Medendorp, contributorI was raised to be a trapper knife man by a trapper knife man who was raised by a trapper knife man—you follow? You get two blades. One clip point for the intricate stuff: filleting a fish, camp cooking, or garden chores. Then, you get a spey blade for...well, it does what it says on the tin. If you don’t work with livestock, the dull point actually makes it a good blade for anything where you don’t accidentally want to pop through. For me that’s opening a package.I turn to Case for my trappers. I think they look the best, have good metal options, and I just like the fact that it’s a storied American brand. It also puts pants clips on a few of its Trapper models—helps it compete in the modern #EDC world.—Luke Guillory, commerce editorAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowI’ve surrendered more knives to TSA than I care to count, a hazard of unorganized packing and my just-a-carry-on-when-possible flying policy. I’ve (mostly) learned not to store my expensive knives in bags I regularly travel with. For those, I toss in an Opinel, specifically the No. 7.Opinel’s No. 7 is a knife you can afford to lose, not that you’ll want to. The heritage French brand has been making knives in the Alps since 1890. The company’s suite of unpretentious and practical knives gets the job done. The original No. 8 is a classic, but it’s a bit large for around town. The No. 6 gets into box-cutter or whittling-knife territory. Right in the middle is the perfect No. 7.If you care to read anymore about what makes these knives so special, I've written an entire story on the brand.—MMFor a long time, I was a James Brand doubter. EDC nerds love the brand, and they love it loudly. Go to any Reddit forum, IG story, or IRL demonstrations and you’re going to see James Brand. I have a reticence for anything overhyped, so I ignored it for a while. Then I decided to try it.I was foolish to wait; the Carter delivers on all its promises. It has all the bells and whistles: a slide-lock mechanism; a corrosion-resistant VG-10 stainless-steel blade; Micarta scales; and a deep-carry, reversible pocket clip. But mostly it just feels really good in the hand. A knife you want to keep using, even when there’s nothing left to cut.—MMAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowThis one was always a good lesson for me. My dad had one and would carry it pretty often. It’s a lightning rod for “Whatcha doin’ with that lil knife T-boy?” comments, but honestly it’ll do anything you need. Can clean a fish, cut a thread, or set a rabbit trap. Plus, it goes into a pocket a lot easier than most of these. If you’ve never found a reason to carry a big ass Buck 110, you are among comrades. The 55 will do us just fine.—LGBenchmade makes some of the best knives out there and has the pricing to reflect it. So I was intrigued when the brand announced a new version of its flagship Bugout knife with even more premium materials. I have a few knives from the brand (including this wicked-sharp Station chef knife, which is a daily driver in our kitchen) and I keep them in high drawers, very far away from the toddlers. These are tools, not toys.The upgraded aluminum and Richlite Bugout mixes premium materials for a beauty of a handle, but if the steep $400 is out of your price range, the Dark Olive Grivory delivers the performance at half the price point and with a slightly less impressive blade steel.—MMAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowDo you really need a fixed blade? It takes one camping trip to realize yes, yes you do. Fixed blade and full tang—meaning the blade’s structure extends for the entire length of the handle—is what you want for any multiuse work. The Terracraft won’t be a knife you need to use every day, but it’s a knife you’ll want to use every day. It’s designed for serious bushcraft, but if you take the kids to the lake for a weekend, you’ll get plenty of use out of it. It’s the only knife I own capable of both supreming oranges for this very good avocado salad and splitting logs into kindling. You won’t even need to use your hatchet.—MMMy brother-in-law heats his house with a wood stove. That means he has a backyard full of stacked wood and a garage full of Scandinavian axes. Blacksmiths in Sweden and Norway have crafted blades for centuries, and the experience shows in both axes and knives. In the knife category, Norwegian-made Helle is one of the first brands you should get into.The Nipa has a birch handle married to a traditional Scandi grind blade style. Sharp out of the box and ruggedly handsome, this knife patinas the more you use it. Mine was stolen in a car break-in earlier this year, and I lamented it more than all the credit cards (I can just cancel those). Now I keep this much less expensive, but still very good, Gerber Scout in the car and pine for this beautiful lost birch handle.—MMAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowDespite the logo that looks straight off an EDM festival side stage, Giant Mouse makes serious knives. The brand and the name come from an international trio of knife makers: Danish and American designers coming together to “build a better mousetrap,” like that old Ralph Waldo Emerson quote.Is the GM13 that better mousetrap? It’s almost sculptural in quality. A reimagining of the classic hawkbill blade, rendered in stonewashed S90V steel, makes it exceptional at precision cuts. It also has a contoured titanium handle that’s both beautiful and lightweight. The team made it in a limited run of 400, so get ’em while the getting is good.—MMThe end of the story is where I’m allowed to daydream. I know there are plenty of small-time custom knife makers I could shoutout here, but I have to stay true to my mission: helping you shop on the Internet. That said, I’d put Kemo Sabe up against any master knife maker. The brand makes its collection—mostly folders, but the occasional fixed blade—in house with a maker out of Santa Fe.This button-lock knife could win me over with the Damascus blade alone. But, once you through in that handle...I’m done. It’s obsidian with turquoise placed throughout. I try to stay level-headed about these things, but I held this knife in my hands once. I haven’t really been able to forget about it since. I’d cut off a finger for it, probably.—LG