CRKT Minimalist Cleaver Outdoor Survival Fixed Blade Knife with Sheath: Stainless Steel Plain Edge Blade, Micarta Handle, 2383

I picked up this knife with no prior experience with any knives made by this company. Since I was kid, I loved knives. I fished off the beaches and boats of Sheepshead Bay, always using one knife or another.Like most people with little knife experience, bigger was better. My first fishing knife was one of those survival knives that was hollow. You filled it with SURVIVAL GEAR then butchered every bait or fish you managed to catch. Somehow I learned to filet the delicate flounder that we regularly caught, but as I grew up, I realized that a knife didn't have to be big to be effective.I love to hunt and fish, especially fly fish, which is where I learned that bigger is not better. My best trout, a ten pound wild rainbow was caught on a size 18 royal coachman. I subsequently butchered the fish with my gigantic survival knife. A guide I hired the next year pulled this tiny neck knife out and magically filleted a smaller brookie I managed to fool into taking another of my flies this becoming an amazing brookside lunch.He was also an avid hunter and when I inquired about the small knife, he told me that his tiny kneck knife was responsible for skinning dozens of deer and wild game.A few years ago I started to hunt again. I saw this knife, the Bowie and thought I'd give it a whirl. Sadly my hunting skills aren't as good as the quality of my knife. However, I use it exclusively to skin all of my kills and at times, depending on the size of the game, i'll use it to butcher the animal.It works like a charm and needs minimal sharpening. Now i'm not saying i'd break down a black bear, moose, elk or even a white tail, but i'm convinced that this Bowie could handle the task.I do prefer my Chinese stainless steel meat cleaver for heavier tasks. That chops right through bone and grizzle like a champ.But on smaller game, squirrel, rabbit, frogs and some pan fish, this is the only knife I use. It's great for whittling walking sticks, also a hobby, although it is quite sharp and has drawn its share of blood from my fingers.My son decided that he wants to join me this year so I decided to get him his own neck knife. When i showed it to him, his first reaction was to scoff and reach for his own ten inch survival knife. After some instruction, he fell in love with MY knife and I practically had to pry it from his hands. So now he'll have his own. He's "BORROWED" mine on several occasions to take to work. He is a union bridge painter and uses his Gerber pocket knife I got him several years ago for the smaller tasks. But after seeing how this little work horse cuts through thick tarp and heavy rope with little effort, I felt it was his turn to own his own.My only negative, although not enough to detract any stars, is the length of paracord. It's cheap and can be very dangerous. I immediately replaced it with a length of American military paracord and rather than tie a knot in the back, thus ensuring a perfect noose to hang oneself from, I used a breakaway necklace fastener to close the paracord together.Yes, it's not as strong as a paranoid knot, but dangling from a neck knife cord until I saw the bright light is not what I consider a good time.I understand that there is now a chance for it to open and fall from my neck, but I fixed that by pulling out a six inch length of single strand paracord from the inside of a leftover length of cord. I tie a knot on either side of the clasp and should I become entangled in it, it has a fifty pound breaking strength. Possibly more, but not enough to hang me or my son.In not so sure of the sheath yet. I've worn it dozens of times without any failure, but I just have little trust in plastic. I read where someone used a hair dryer to tighten the fit. Personally I do not believe a hair dryer has enough heat, so tomorrowi'll break out my paint stripping heat gun. Let that form a tighter seal so I feel more secure.If I ruin it, i'll just put it in my sons box and blame Amazon. Then come up with a dozen excuses as to not return it.Then a few screws, some duct tape and it's good as new.If your in the market for a good reliable neck knife that can pull double duty cutting rope, fish, pesky neighbors tires(I'M JOKING. THEY ALL HAVE CAMERAS. Geesh, lighten up. It's not like they wouldn't know who I was, even if I wore a mask. If you ever saw me you'd understand immediately)Get this knife. Get two. I've never beaten on the knife to split wood, so if you're going to do that, maybe that ole hollow ten inch survival knife is the knife for you. But if you want a sharp reliable knife, get this and get it quick.The survival of the free world depends on you buying this knife.Or not.You won't (shouldn't. There's always that one guy who is never satisfied regardless of how amazing a product turns out) regret it.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXJanuary 18th 2021.I've had this knife for some time now and would like to update my review.I have a rustic house in Vermont on 34 acres that I hunt and seem to constantly be fixing or adapting something new within the cabin.I was turkey hunting last spring then small game during the summer then Chucky bear and deer hunting in the winter time. No I wish I was a good a hunter is the snipers, because I got shut out by every animal, except the small game. The neck knife hung from my neck the entire year when I was up there. I have a nail in one of the beams and as soon as I leave I take it off and hang it and as soon as I return and replace it around my neck, and there it stays the whole time I’m in my house.I carry a Gerber pocket knife with a half serrated and half street blade That I keep razor sharp with my rat tail files and wet stones. It seems that I use that knife several times a day nearly every day. Just for household chores or something in my backyard where I live or just basic rope cutting and helping my little shop where I try to build things with all my tools.When I get to my house in Vermont, the Gerber knife really comes out of my pocket. but I use The neck knife probably a dozen times a day. To cut cardboard for the burn pile to make my walking sticks, which every time I go up there I make a new stick. I called the therapy, and I gave a decent stick out of it each time.I have very large hands very large fingers and my first three fingers barely fit in the three holes on the knife, but it’s a good enough fit where I’ve only cut myself once and that was my fault. As the saying goes no knife is yours, until you spills your own blood on it. And sadly most of my lives of mine because I have a tendency of cutting myself.I’ve skinned out dozens of squirrels rabbits another small game this year. Butchering the birds to remove the bones so I can smoke the birds whole without the bones. On a normal knife that with the blade within minutes, but I literally just tested my knife and it was able to shave the hair of my arm.I got it in scaled over 100 fish this summer and countless small game and the knife is like brand new. The sheath is still as tight as it was from day one, but I also check it regularly to make sure that is still tight.I’m not sure with the power cord in the end of the knife is meant for but it doesn’t seem to get in the way or affect me in anyway. I wouldn’t count on it to help me in survival situation, but I guess it’s nice to have a little bit of string just in case.After opening up my Walmart app, this knife was the first item displayed. The price was nearly double as that on Amazon and it had terrible reviews. I know better, I read every review when I buy a product from Amazon in this many times that I’ve disagreed with the reviews as I did with the Walmart reviews.because it was brought to my attention again, I think it’s time to buy several more, in case I break them or lose them. I have a tendency to overwork my tools. I’ve use this knife to chip out rocks that run through my property and again it’s still as sharp as when I was taken from the box.Buy this knife. by two. Then double it in by four because anybody who sees it is going to want one. I have several neck knives that I bought and those are hanging on the wall in the garage. None of them get any time except for one that I like to use the scale fish. Discover larger profile blade that scales fish quickly. The snow foot skills fish as well, but it’s a small knife so it takes much longer to Scale large fish.This may not be the best knife, but it’s the best night for me, and I’ll use it to a day I die and I want to be buried with it.

great lil knife; very sharp, comfortable in hand, nice weight for its size, sheath retention is great. it has become my new edc. my only issue is the belt loop; i’d much rather prefer a clip, instead of having to undo my belt to put on/take off sheath

Great little backup knife that is sharp. Easy to conceal and belt loop is nice to have. The blade is secured on tight in the sheath. Doesn’t feel like the blade will fall out from it if you carry horizontal or blade up. The handle gives a nice grip although it could be a bit better with a rougher texture. Great value for the money.

Outstanding knife. I literally wear this daily for mundane tasks and it has been beyond useful. Perfect size, lightweight, great design, and totally worth every penny.

This is an excellent product, and that goes for the whole Folts Minimalist lineup if the other models are anything like this one. First off, understand that this is a small blade. It is easy to throw the scale off for yourself when viewing pictures where it is not held in a hand, but it is definitely small. However, it was designed to be this way, so if you go into it knowing this, you're a lot better off. I was still surprised with its size when it showed up, but not disappointed. The small lanyard tied to the end is a beneficial thing to me, as I feel it would be a bit strange having my pinky finger wrapped around air. The small cord is just enough substance to give your grip a more secure feel since the handle doesn't extend to your fourth finger. It isn't anything like 550 paracord, just a thinner weave of small nylon cord, and that's the only purpose I can see it serving here. The blade came quite sharp on mine, and the recurve shape of the blade belly makes cutting things go a lot easier. The blade kind of feeds itself through as you work. When you first receive the knife you may notice some of the material from the inside of the sheath coming out on the blade's surfaces as you extract the blade from it. This went away after the first several removals and replacements, and my only recommendation would be to make sure you take your time inserting and removing the blade from its sheath. The sheath holds the blade very securely, with no play, and the blade extracts easily when you intend to remove it. Do keep in mind that there is no kind of guard for your free hand at the mouth of the sheath, so if you are taking the knife from its sheath in a way that requires both hands, grab it at the closed tip so your hand is totally clear of the blade, otherwise you are likely to cut yourself pretty well. There is jimping on the top of the blade for your thumb to have a steady grip, and it works very well at that. The nylon cord that comes with it for tying around the neck is not 550 paracord, just a casing that looks like paracord and another length of narrower nylon cord inside it. Replacing it with a ball chain or real 550 paracord is easy enough if you desire to do so, and also allows you to better place the knife for where you want it to fall when carried around your neck. As it is, the length of cord supplied feels a little short. It also comes with a belt loop that attaches via small screws and spacers through two of the grommets in the sheath. I have worn it under a slim dress shirt and had no obvious signs showing that I had anything there other than the cord being visible at the back of my neck, so it could have been a necklace as far as anyone knows. Carrying it on one's belt is a more obvious thing, but with how small this is it should fall within the regulations of most places. One simply has to be smart and use good judgment with things like that. My removal of one star was not so much against the knife itself, but more about what came with it. The cord is a bit cheap, though it gives a convincing paracord look and feel. I was a bit concerned with the inside of the sheath seeming to get worn away when I started using it, but as I said, this has apparently stopped, so it may not be a major issue. The sheath also seems to collect dust and bebris easily, so you may want to blow air through it and wipe down the parts you can reach once in a while. They're all small concerns, but I felt they added up enough. Overall it is an excellent knife at a great value. It's perfect to have around for everyday carry, more of a tool (and maybe a last ditch self defense item), and while you won't be chopping down trees with it, there is a lot you CAN do with it where a 10-inch superhero of a survival knife is simply not necessary.