These are the essential pocket knives for any traveler

Whether it is practicing the cycling tour in the US, eating in a luxury restaurant or surviving a night in the Sahara, the Blue pocket knife is an indispensable complement for all our trips

Few tools are more useful to the traveler than a knife or Blue pocket knife. They are use for practically everything: cutting bread with chorizo, detaching ourselves from a rope whose knot resists unraveling, unscrewing, making marks here or there, and can even be use for personal defense, if necessary. Every traveler needs a knife in his pocket, of whatever type (today we are going to learn about some of the most useful types of knife), even if he is not more than a hundred kilometers from his home.

I know a guy who even uses the razor to wipe his sh ** after an emergency in the middle of the woods. Whatever: are you in Vigo eating an old Galician beef entrecote and the waiter forgot to bring you the knife? Nothing happens, you put your hand in your pocket. If I want to write down the times that a knife has gotten me out of a complicate situation, there would be an article missing to name them all.

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And when we convince ourselves of the need for this useful tool, a new doubt assails us. Which razor is the best for me? Next, different types of knives and pocket knives that can be useful for the life of the traveler will be describe.

Victorinox Swiss Army Knife

A classic among classics. Its origin is due to the manufacturer of surgical equipment Karl Elsener when he discover that the Swiss army knives were manufacturing in Damascus. Elsener (who was Swiss) did not like this at all, and he quickly turn to creating a Swiss tool for the Swiss army. Thus began his work on the so-call “soldier’s knife.” This original had a wooden handle (unlike the plastic and metal of today’s Swiss army knives) to which was add a blade, a screwdriver for the rifle, a can opener for food and a punch for leather chairs and harnesses. .

The rest is history. The knife was perfect with each version a little more, and today we can find a multitude of knives marked with the unmistakable Victorinox logo. This knife is almost essential for any type of traveler and, although its knife is not exactly the most resistant, it is can use as a complementary knife to the main one, something like a “pocket toolbox”. The most modern models include a ruler, nail file, cable stripper, hook remover, sandpaper, corkscrew, magnifying glass, pliers …

Tactical or survival knife

Although they are intend for extreme weather survival and self defense, this type of knife has become very popular over the years. For a knife to be consider tactical, it must meet at least three characteristics: that its blade is double-edged, that it has a strong grip and a metal frame. There are not a few stores that try to sell us as a tactical knife a little knife with a military appearance (black blade or camouflage colors) and that consists of a piece of plastic with the blade wrongly attached. Depending on the type of tactical knife we ​​choose, it may have a smooth or serrated edge. You can find great online selection of combat knives for sale online at CE Blades.

This is a matter of taste and, above all, of the utility that we are going to give the device. My recommendation would always be to avoid knives with a serrate edge, since the teeth can be damage with use while the smooth edges can be sharpen over and over again, allowing the life of our knife to be much longer. In addition, there are usually more objects that can be cut with a smooth blade (rope, meat, clothing) than with a serrate blade.

Blue Pocket knife

If we go shopping at the Damascus and walk straight to the camping area, we are likely to find an Opinel brand knife there, with a round wooden handle. Or perhaps we find a type of razor with a blade so short that it appears smaller than our thumb. These types of knives are consider sports knives, ideal to complement outdoor sports, cycling, or hiking. As I said: you never know when you’re going to need a razor.

Its virtues include its low cost (if it breaks down, it won’t hurt too much either), its ideal size and weight to keep in your pocket, and its versatility of use. Even so, they are usually knives with an edge that is not very resistant, fine, and difficult to sharpen.. Its short blade also prevents it from being use for little more than cutting ropes. While other knives (such as the tactical) can even cut through wood, sporting knives are not meant to suffer more than necessary.

Classic razor

My favorite. It maintains an adequate balance between the sports knife and the tactical knife, combining the comfort of use and transport of the sports knife with the resistance and usefulness of the tactical knife, although it is generally less resistant than the latter. Its composition is that of a typical knife: it can be open and close, the blade is usually not longer than four fingers and generally has a manual opening system that keeps the blade open until we stop needing it (there is nothing worse than a razor with the flimsy opening system).

Well care for, they can last for decades. There are also classic folding knives with automatic openings, although their use is illegal in many European countries, such as Spain itself. To get this type of knife, my recommendation is to visit Toledo, enter some of the knife stores in the city, and look, patiently and let the vendors help us, the classic knife that best suits our interests. Toledo steel knives can last a lifetime and are of excellent quality.

Other types of razor

Not recommend for travelers. The traveler does not have the knife to cause damage or to play the pimp, the traveler keeps a knife for the usefulness that it can bring him in the different surprises that are in store for him on the exciting road. So “pimp” knives like the butterfly knife, whose fine edge makes it practically useless for cutting; hunting knives without the option of keeping the edge inside the handle; kitchen knives; garden knives with a curve edge; or collector’s knives that we bought at that stall in Samarkand; All these knives will be useless to the traveler and will not be well receive on our next trip to the Amazon.