Fixed Blade Knives for EDC? Here’s Why You Should Consider One

Knife nuts tend to go wild over knife lock mechanisms and pivot designs that result in super-smooth knife action and rock-solid lockup. But these are features of design complexity that, while cool (and practical) are not always beneficial to the people that carry knives on a daily basis. 

The truth is, while folders can be convenient, there is still a cohort of people who carry and use knives daily who specifically prefer (and rightly so) to carry fixed blade knives. 

That being said, this short post will look into some of the straightforward advantages that fixed blade knives have over folders, even for EDC. 

Structural Integrity

One way or the other, fixed blade knives offer significantly greater structural integrity, and thereby toughness, than even the best folders on the market.

Many lock types, such as liner locks, are prone to deformation under extreme stress. This can cause the knife to fold on a user’s fingers, which is dangerous, but even if not, it results in a broken knife and a lost tool. Even the best lock types, like Compression locks and Tri-Ad locks, though they will withstand hundreds of pounds of pressure, still lack the simplicity, and more importantly strength, of fixed blade knives with a full tang. There is no comparison. 

On top of that, folders also necessarily have some sort of deployment mechanism. An out the side knife is likely going to ride on some sort of bearing nested in the pivot mechanism, and even an out the front knife rides on rails. These are features that can necessarily fail, crippling the knife. 

Fixed blade knives suffer from no such deficiency of design and are by their nature considerably more robust and therefore more reliable than folding knives. That’s not a knock against folders - we sell and represent dozens of the top brands and hundreds of excellent models - it is just a patent truth about knife design. If you need rock-solid structural integrity, you should be looking at a fixed blade. 

Flexibility with Respect to How You Carry 

There are some who doubtless carry folding knives simply for the convenience of it. Some allow for tip up or down carry on either side of the blade, and on top of that, carrying a folder for EDC means you can skip the sheath. 

That is true, but it does not by any means indicate that you have to forfeit flexibility in how you carry when you carry fixed blade knives. Yes, you will need to carry a sheath, but tip down on the belt is just the tip of the iceberg.

Depending on the type of knife you carry and the sheath it comes with, you may be able to boot carry or neck carry (both of which are excellent for concealment) or even static-line carry in a pocket, especially with a smaller knife. 

On top of that, you’ll have other options like cross-draw and scout carry for larger knives, as well as pack carry if you’d rather have the knife on a pack rather than on your person. For larger knives there are also other more comfortable options like dangle carry as well. 

So ultimately, at the end of the day, you actually will likely enjoy even greater flexibility with fixed blade knives than you do with folders. The only thing you can’t really comfortably do is carry free in a pocket, but you can still practice static-line carry or clip the belt clip to the edge of a pocket with a fixed blade, and some people do.

You Don’t Have to Leave Discretion on the Table 

Another common misconception is that if you carry a fixed blade knife, you have to sacrifice discretion. While this is necessarily true with some larger fixed blade knives, it is by no means the case across the board. 

Smaller fixed blade knives, especially those with skeletonized tangs and no scales, can be very discreetly carried and concealed, especially when carried on the neck, in a boot, or in a pocket. In fact, skeletonized fixed blade knives without scales are sometimes even slimmer and less noticeable than their folding counterparts. 

Simplicity of Design, Ease of Maintenance

This is one of the biggest advantages of carrying a fixed blade knife over a folder. They say that any instance of design complexity is an opportunity for failure and it is certainly the case that fixed blade knives are less complex than folders, across the board.

Fixed blade knives have no moving parts and fewer parts overall. There is no locking mechanism, no pivot assembly, and there are no liners in most cases. Generally with a fixed blade knife you have two scales and the knife blade stock, with some fasteners. In some cases, there are a few other parts but generally speaking they are very simple. 

Not only does this mean there are fewer parts that could fail or break, it also means that care of a fixed blade knife is simpler and more straightforward, since there is no pivot assembly or lock mechanism to clean.

There Are a Whole Lot of Options Out There

Lastly, there is a great deal of variety in fixed blade knives for you to choose from. They may not be as fidget friendly as a folder with a cool flipper tab, but at the same time, there are very small, compact skeletonized fixed blade knives you can carry, along with much larger fixed blades that can serve as survival or even camp knives. In other words, you don’t have to compromise. You have just as much variety as you have with folders but in a much simpler, easier to maintain format.

Explore Fixed Blade Knives for EDC Here 

The best way to find the best fixed blade knife for your purposes is just to take a look through a catalog that contains them. Shop our full collection here and if you have any questions or need a recommendation, get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to help.