Just got my Kershaw Shuffle 2 in the mail and I love it. I was previously carrying a Kershaw Link Aluminium and found that it was a bit big and heavy and more knife than I needed. The Shuffle 2 is thin, light, good looking, affordable and gets the job done.
Thanks for a very useful video. I've been looking for a small knife for a while now and without a store where you can try them out its impossible to tell how big they are in relationship to each other. thanks for putting so many on the table
Picked up a Spyderco Delica, Benchmade Mini Griptilian and a Kershaw Leek all within the last month because of your videos. Just found this video and I'm now tempted to buy something smaller..
I'm a pocket knife loyalist myself. I have Ben carrying the skeletool from leatherman on me instead of my kershaw rj1. I love how u involved kershaw. Seems like alot of people look over them since Benchmade, Spyderco, Sog have made a bit of a stand in the pocket knife community. Kershaw is my top 2 favorite. My rj1 I've had for a long time. Dropped it on cement whyll open and closed many times at work over the course of 2 years and it still assist open fast and closes solid. The blade has absolutely no wiggle in it and it sharpens easily. It doesn't hold the edge that well but it's great. I got it when it was 40$ now it's 22$ on amazon. If u don't own one def get one u won't be disappointed
I'm really liking my new CRKT Jetison. It is very small, has a titanium frame is a framelock with a lock bar stabilizer. The stainless blade is a cross between a sheepsfoot and a wharncliffe and has a hollow grind. Thanks for a great review.
A fun -- and fairly timeless -- video. I tend towards one of your uses -- as a "small task" knife companion to a larger EDC. There are times out in public I need a knife (open a small package etc) and don't want to set off a minor panic by whipping out a largish EDC (even in my knife friendly jurisdiction).
I like the smaller categories too. They just seem more practical for my daily uses. They're compact, lightweight, and usually don't exhibit a scare factor in public places.
I bought a Victorinox Classic keychain knife about 4 years ago and put it on my keychain. Yeah the toothpick and tweezers are missing, and the spring for the scissors. I'm amazed at how much use I have gotten from that little knife. The scissors were great and the screw driver seems to always work on flat head or Phillips. I will be buying another one. In a pinch I have even used the scissors to cut metal strapping from pallets. Which I don't recommend LOL. Very useful and I will always have one. It's like sub-sub-edc. I recommend it to anyone and they are amazingly tough.
For us kids who were raised a little differently than todays kids that would be a cool gift . Personally I prefer Gerber multi tools, I have the scout.
For me, this is where the victorinox classic really shines. I always have one on me, with a tiny photon micro light clipped to it by a 1" length of ball chain.
I love my squirt p4 I've had forever it has earned it's spot in my fire kit and makes an excellent striker I keep it with my mag bar the file makes short work of scraping for tinder and an out standing striker to get it going good vid thanks for sharing
Great collection you have there. I'm also a huge fan of smaller blades. In fact, the knife I use most in daily tasks is a Spyderco Lady Bug. Living in an urban environment a smaller blade does just fine for me. Plus I can throw it in the pocket of some dress slacks without it slapping around.
I tend to gravitate toward smaller knives and multi tools for a variety of reasons including ease of carry and less worry about legality when I travel.
Great video. It's interesting to hear some thoughts and philosophy on the subject. I certainly like to have multiple sizes to choose from. Glad I live in a place where there are so many options.
got my girlfriend a little purse knife, the Micro recon by Cold steel in pink is a great gift! The Kershaw Shuffle is available in pink as well. Spyderco Native pink,
Bravo! Great vid and philosophy of smaller sized knives. Most of the time I carry 2 knives and out of the 2 one generally falls into this category. By the way I too have a beach knife : )
good name,as office edc I tend to go for the kershaw leek, crkt ripple, swindle or something like that. Also have the even smaller knives like the sog twitch 1 and kershaw chive as keychain knife. Cool vid mate.
Totally agree I EDC'd large and mid size knives for years and now I'm gone back to my first love .first knife i ever owned was a camping knife my grandfather gave me. then when i was about 19 I bought my first victorinox. . I strayed but now I've come back home to camping knives now all I need is a victorinox swiss army knife (camper ) or ( huntsman )and at work I pare that with a leatherman rebar
Liked this video and the series its a part of. Love this category of knife for the second reason you mentioned, as a backup to a larger blade. (Virtually) No CCW permits are issued where I live, but I can legally carry any length folding knife. Soooo, Voyager XL Clip point 50/50 serrated rides in my pocket most days. I expected this to be a bit annoying, but honestly I forget it's on me like any knife. Needless to say this 5 1/2 inch blade is inappropriate to draw for daily tasks (for any number of reasons). Therefore; I pretty much always have my dragonfly 2 or sometimes a ladybug on me also to cover 99.99998% of my cutting needs. For me the fence is very clear - If it can ride in my coin pocket, it's a backup blade (sub-EDC). Really this category is very important to me as I need my sub EDC knives to be able to do basically everything a normal, read: properly armed, person might use a regular EDC size knife to tackle. So far; the Spyderco Dragonfly 2 has been my favorite. That forward choil gives a full 4 fingered grip in a 3.3 inch (folded) package which feels better in hand than a knife that small has any right to. VG-10 makes a good 'daily user' steel imho, adding to the Seki City Knife's appeal.
i'm all for small knives, but not as a primary carry. i carry a praetorian most of the time (so i dont give a crap about weight at all), or a similar 3.75-4" blade. my primary blade has to fit my hand, simple as that. along with that: a secondary big folder, a neck knife, a multitool, a small sheeple slipjoint or backlock, and a victorinox i believe in the multi-knife-carry principle. at work, my sanrenmu 763 is in the back pocket, a cold steel around the neck and a victorinox in my scrubs. even there. great video scout.
Good vid and concept. I've been "double carrying" for quite a while --with both a sizable EDC knife and a smaller (sub-EDC) for small tasks or public use. Sometimes one of my kids or their friends asks me to open a gift or package and I really don't want to startle kith and kin by whipping out a cool 4" blade but they don't bat an eye at a Kershaw Chive.
One of the few times I find my self with 2 knives on me out side of being out in the back country... is actually when I am wearing formal cloths such as a tux. So many packets and layers of fabric that I could most likely conceal a small machete. I Carry my normal Spyderco Ti Military or Tuff (maybe even a Boker Kwaiken), and than a small Blue Bone Case Copper Lock; got to have a knife to match your dress up. And lol my around the house in Pjs knife tends to be a Spyderco Squeak... or a Buck Nighthawk large fixed blade... depends on my mood lol
For my knife that I carry when I am wearing a suit, I use a Buck vantage pro small. It is deep carry with g10 handles and a polished clip. To me it is very inconspicuous and clean looking :)
I always have at least a small and Large knife on me. Most the Time my "Sub EDC" as you put it would be The Victorinox Cadet, I absolutely love that knife. It has seen more carry time and use than most the ones Ive owned for years. I also think you could have included the Spyderco Kiwi 3 in the list. Its a GREAT Sub EDC knife and that tip is so utilitarian. Its by far one of my favorite Spyderco's. I am just so bummed that The New Kiwi 4 which is larger with G1o handles,is so damn expensive!
Good video, I live in California where carrying anything over 3" is considered pretty deviant by LE and society in general. I am often in LA where it is even pretty much illegal to carry 3"+. You forgot the Spyderco Dragonfly2 though! I would say its the best sub EDC knife out atm.
I have a zt560 in the car, a small sebenza or ti-lock in the pocket, and leatherman micra on the key ring. Guess who gets the most use. I also find that little thing doesn't intimidate people as much as those big guys do, which is a plus considering my working environment.
I carry an Spyderco Endura 4 to the beach in my swim trunks into the ocean all the time waiting for Christmas for the Pacific salt it would be so awesome I deep clean the endura 4 after beach trips all the time it cleans up fast...
another good reason for some of these is the "non-threatening" nature of say a Victorinox, most people recognise a "Swiss army knife" as a tool rather than a weapon. Also, I like the opinel 8 as a nice fancy dress nice, the wood handle goes well with cutting cigars, fruit, cheese and accessing drinks.
I typically carry a large knife on my person (I've even EDC'd a 5 inch Cold Steel Talwar), but when I do, I love carrying something like my Kershaw OD2 as well. If I'm in the office, there's no reason to freak my co-workers out by taking out what is essentially a waved pocket scimitar after all, when the OD2 takes up almost no pocket space, and is non-threatening.
I carry the Kershaw shuffle for a secondary to my ZT 0550 it's such a useful little knife or if I go jogging my zt tends to weight down my gym shorts so I'll clip the shuffle to my waist band because I ALWAYS have some kind of knife on me.
I have a knife that is a rebrand (legally by a knife store in my country) of a Buck Colleague. It is so small, but so nice and the handle is all stainless steel, so it is very sturdy for a small knife. I work as a postman on saturdays and I use it to cut plastic straps, it works very nice for that and it is all I need. At college I am not allowed to take any knife with me so I won't, but in other sitations at day I take my victorinox spartan with me and in my town at night I take something a bit bigger with me, I use a spyderco tenacious then. (unless I go to parties, then the bottle opener and the corkscrew are very handy on the victornix) But the 'sub edc' knives I have are actually the knives I use the most to be honest.. I just like their practicality, because I have to admit that in 99% of the tasks I do outdoors I just don't need anything bigger or stronger.
I've carried a Cold Steel Recon 1 and Spyderco Dragonfly 2 combo for yeeearrs... So I absolutely understand the role of a smaller blade, as mine basically does all the cutting. My Recon 1 was my primary means of "lethal" defensive means before I got me a carry gun... so it fell into the role of a backup tool more than anything. Although Im very used to it being on my person (weight and size are things I have grown perfectly used to), I do want different options, and may look into the 3in version or another knife altogether.
Gabriel Torres I've got the same one, and it is no bother what-so-ever. With all the stuff on my person, I'm probably carrying around 5 or so pounds worth of gear just in my pants. Then I have a backpack that is with me half of the time, and that's about an additional 30lbs. Point is, I think *most people can carry anything they want* and eventually become comfortable with it *with time.*
This video has solved my EDC dilemma. The knife laws in TN will soon be changing and I have been searching for one knife to do the job. Well that proved too difficult. One sub-EDC knife and one larger(4.5inch) "self defense" blade works just as well. Also a plus is that when I need a cutting tool I won't scare the living crap out of everyone around me.
in the old days, we called them "UTSK" or "UTKS"- Al Mar small pocket knife fit this bill. A good Sub EDC is German black cat knife, used in ww1 and ww2.
I think the folks that coined the term "sub-EDC" for knives of this size are just in the habit of carrying knives that are larger than they typically need on a daily basis. (Heck, most urbanites can probably get by with a Victorinox Classic.) Most of my favourite pocket knives would be considered "sub-EDC" by these standards, perhaps with the exception of the medium Douk-Douk.
Victorinox sd is always on my purse strap and work lanyard. Opinel 8 is about the right size for my "larger" knife. I like a lanyard hole to attach mini flashlight, and that's where Victorinox alox Pioneer or pink Dozier come in, with steel cord lanyard. I also like Buck Canoe knife, although no lanyard hole it feels nice and stays sharp. The Case Sodbuster jr. stainless steel would be perfect if it had a lanyard hole. Just a few more ideas.
do you think it's a good idea to just stick to a particular blade style you might like or get different blade styles so you can cover different cutting tasks?
As you did go down to the spyderco Grasshopper, (sub-sub EDC) Marginally keychain knife? As well as the leek. Under the same category and some of my favourites, being the Chive, The boker keycom, Boker subcom, and the shuffle (as you did show) (that if it were tip down I would own one) I wish the shuffle, had the option to flip the clip. For tip down. But that is just my needs. Pretty much the entire Ken Onion series is near perfect for sub edc.
Benchmade 530 and don't look back. It's lighter and thinner than most of the knives you talked about but it is very capable for anything that wouldn't be considered knife abuse.
this may be a stupid question, but is there a certain website where I can browse different brand, types and sizes and also buy them? thanks in advance.
Hell for as while my edc was a crkt squid which has a like 2.5" blade...but a beefy one. Like bigger normal size knives, but not comfortable carrying em all the time, you sort of hit that nail on the head.
I have a squirt ps4 in my keychain at all times. Usually carry a CRKT Swindle as well. The blade is all right but the clip is a destroyer of pants. To be honest I do not use the squirt very often. But it doesn't bother me to carry so i'd rather have it than not.
Awesome video, I carry the Byrd Tern in this role, find me a more ergonomically hand filling knife with better steel and I would swap it out. A little tip, I filed the edge of the comet hole as I found it a little edgy on my thumb. Much better now.
+trailstar1 Yeah Would love to try the UKPK but I think thats closer to a slip it version of the Caly 3. The Spyderco Urban is the slip it upgraded version of the Tern with better N690 steel.
Valium & Flowers UPDATE: It WAS a great knife, I accidentally dropped it on the tiles at home & the steel liner on the back snapped in two, now the knife just swivels loose all over the place man, looks like those Chinese are using some cheap die cast steel in there my guess is that 8Cr13mov steel is only used for the blade. Total Fail. Going to try the Spyderco Urban now hope it fairs better. I miss the Tern but no longer have faith in its design.
Hey ***** , will we be seeing any reviews for Opinel knives in the near future? I love the look and think they would make great gifts, but I want to make sure they function as well as they look before I pull the trigger on them.
I much prefer smaller knives, I've found over the years there all I need for the everyday task I perform. Anything from the Spyderco "little big knife" range or one of my beloved Victorinox knives is more than enough - size doesn't matter!
Be great if you could list Amazon or Blade HQ links, I was looking for the non-locking Spyderco knife you referenced, but had trouble finding it. thanks
I carry an endura4 and a Victorinox cadet , the cadet is just so that people won't get intimidated when I pull out a 6 to 7 inch nice to clean my nails or for other uses
Does Spyderco have a patent on the large *hole*? I can't figure why other manufacturers have not adopted it. Some won't even use another brand because they like it so much.
They are beautiful knives, I have the Spyderco Dragonfly 2 and it just feels great in the hand. The VG10 steel is excellent and retains it's edge, cost about £50 here in Scotland, worth every penny.
My understanding is that the round hole is Spyderco's trademark so no-one else can use it without permission. You'll even find the hole on their fixed blade knives where it serves no functional purpose.
techtrain65 It is spyderco's signature feature in a knife, however it is not a trademark. When benchmade decided to include the hole in some of their blades (griptillian etc.) there was a lawsuit and the courts basically decided that spyderco couldn't patent a hole. So technically other companies are free to use it.
