The 10 Best Pocket Knives

1.85 ounces, an Axis lock you can work one-handed, and the best all-round modern steel.

The tolerance standard the whole industry measures against. Idaho-built and rebuildable forever.

Compression lock, full-flat grind, and the best cutting geometry in a sub-3-inch folder.

Swiss alox with a saw that genuinely works. The most useful ounce in any pack.

Swedish laminated cobalt steel with an elmax core. Frighteningly sharp and near-rust-proof.

French, 130 years old, and still the finest field-sharpening carbon steel per dollar.

Overbuilt tri-way pivot and a lockbar stabilizer. Built like a hand tool, not a folder.

Italian one-piece integral handle machined from a single billet. Nothing to loosen.

The value benchmark: liner lock, D2, and a grind that outperforms knives at four times the price.

German-designed, ceramic-bearing framelock with a flipper action that shames flagship knives.