Best Folding Pocket Knife Reviews and Comparison Guide
A pocket knife is one of the very few knives you are legally allowed to carry in the UK. As we all know, our knife laws are very strict and if you are caught carrying an illegal knife you could be looking at some serious repercussions.
If you are in any way in doubt, I suggest a quick trip to https://www.gov.uk/find-out-if-i-can-buy-or-carry-a-knife to see what the law says.
I would also like to add that the legalities of carrying a knife of any sort depends on the circumstances and the type of knife – a folding pocket knife is one of the few you can carry legally – but you would have big problems carrying one into a football match or to a concert if you got stopped – you see what I mean - ’The Circumstances’…
What is constitutes a folding pocket knife.
- knife with a folding blade 3 inches long (7.62 cm) or less.
And thats it..! The blade must not be fixed and can any be opened by actually folding the blade out – a flick knife style blade that shoots out is not folding..
- So, for the purpose of this comparison guide I have concentrated on LEGAL pocket knives for the UK only.
So what makes the Best Folding Pocket Knife for Survival here in the UK.?
- Blade is locked in position when closed
- Very light weight
- One hand operation to open blade
- Belt/pocket clip
But, what is the right knife for you?
Ask yourself this question – “what do I want to use my pocket knife for?”
If its sole purpose is for opening the odd parcel or difficult envelope then just about any will do. Blunt or sharp, it wont make much difference!
However, survival is a different thing altogether and if you will be using it for survival purposes then you you need to consider what these are.
EDC, hunting, skinning, cooking and even self defence. These are all considerations when choosing a new folding pocket knife.
Don’t buy cheap.
Never be tempted to by a knife because its cheap. Theres a lot of inferior steel and crappy alloy out there that the foreign manufacturers make many goods from – the result is a knife thats next to useless in any survival situation – a good, tried and tested manufacturer has a reputation to keep any would never produce an inferior blade. Some knife have the manufacturers stamp on them allowing you to return any knife that your not happy with or even return it for repair or restoration – a trusted brand is something to always go with.
There are many folding pocket knives to choose from, but below I have listed my top 5 favourites -
*use the column arrows within the headers to help you choose from blade lengths, price etc…….
Description | Photo | Price £££ | Blade Length inches | Closed Length inches | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gerber Paraframe Mini Fine Edge Clip Point Click here to view full details, prices and customer reviews  |   | 8 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 9.5 |
| Gerber Remix Tactical Folding Clip Knife Click here to view full details, prices and customer reviews |   | 24 | 3 | 4.86 | 9 |
| Nieto Pocket Knife With Ironwood Handle Click here to view full details, prices and customer reviews |   | 18 | 2.75 | 4 | 8.5 |
| Gerber Bear Grylls Compact Scout 31000760 Click here to view full details, prices and customer reviews |   | 11 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 9 |
| Gerber Paraframe-I Serrated Stainless Steel SERRATED Edge Click here to view full details, prices and customer reviews |   | 18 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 9.5 |
1 comment
Ollie
June 30, 2013 at 1:24 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
This article is slightly out of date now. Changes to the laws around weapons in the UK mean that any knife that is a sub 3″ folder is still illegal to carry if the blade locks open (be it by back lock, liner lock, frame lock etc.).
This does present a problem in that a folding knife without a lock is substantially weaker but thankfully companies like Spyderco and SOG among others have released new ‘slipt joint’ knives which don’t lock but rely on a ball bearing mechanism to apply tension to the joint and keep it open. Because they are not locking they are still legal and a vast improvement over more traditional non locking knives like swiss army knives even if they don’t stand up to locking blades.
In my opinion the Spydercos are the best as they offer a range of blade styles as well as blade material (from cheaper metals all the way up to s30-v) and handle materials. I hope this helps anyone looking for a UK legal carry knife