Vosteed Nighshade Review

Header image for our in-depth review of the Vosteed Nightshade pocket knife.

A Great EDC Kukri Flipper with a Taiwanese History This knife was smaller, heavier, and thicker than I expected. That isn’t exactly a new experience for me. Shapes can be deceiving, and what seems to be thin and tall at a distance ends up having an entirely different range of curvature and weight distribution from …

Read more

Kershaw Federalist Slip Joint Review

Header image for our in-depth Kershaw Federalist Slip Joint Knife Review

A Great Gentleman’s Folder that Signals the Return of the American Made Nail Nick Knife  Kershaw hit 2022 with a bucket of slip joint designs (along with basically every other major knife company, but we aren’t complaining). Only one of them comes out of their US factory, though. In that sense, the Federalist has a …

Read more

Forseti Steel Jim Baker Review

The Forseti Steel Jim Baker has a classic ldesign that remains practical in modern times.

A Classic Looking Damascus Steel Fixed Blade That Is A Handy Campsite Tool. The Forseti Steel Jim Baker would look right at home in a camping scene in an old black and white movie from the 50s. Its design lacks the popular fighter-jet aesthetic of modern tactical fixed blades, or the over simplified scaled-back barebones …

Read more

Demko AD 20.5 Review

Header image for our in-depth review of the Demko 20.5 pocket knife featuring the knife in the open position on a runty steel I beam.

Andrew Demko’s Flagship Knife is the Hard Use Tool We All Expected It to Be This knife doesn’t hold any surprises for anyone who’s used a Demko knife before. Especially for people who already own the Cold Steel AD20. This is basically the same thick-bladed slicer with robust edge geometry and a grippy handle. It’s …

Read more

LionSTEEL Gitano Slip Joint Review

The LionSteel Gitano Slip Joint Knife in the opened position with a background of Fall leaves. Header image for an in depth review of this knife.

A Classic Fighting and Utility Design Made into a Gentleman’s Folder I don’t normally go in for classy knives, but if nothing else, the LionSteel Gitano was good for turning me onto navaja style knives. That’s a big piece of knife history I was largely unaware of until I looked into the inspiration behind the …

Read more

Spyderco Bill Moran Fixed Blade Review

Spyderco Bill Moran Fixed Blade Review - Image 1: Spyderco Bill Moran Bowie Review

A Great Hunting and Camping Knife that’s Made for Slicing not for Hacking I love this knife and you should have it too. Full stop. End of review. I’m going to write a bunch of other words below this sentence, but only because my girlfriend is tired of hearing me rant about my surprise at …

Read more

Condor SBK Review

This survival bushcraft knife is better than the Bushlore, but it needs better steel..

The SBK Is a Good Knife With A Great Sheath The Condor SBK has been on my “most wanted” list for over a year. I put off the purchase, because I thought the blade was a bit on the thin side for a survival knife, and I kept forgetting about it due to the fact …

Read more

Boker Arbolito El Heroe Review

Boker Arbolito El Heroe Review - Image 2: Boker El Heroe Knife Review

This is a Decent Survival Knife that Tries Too Hard to Look Good I’ve wanted a Boker Arbolito knife for a while. From afar they look like the fashionable version of Condor: they’re made in South America but owned by reputable German companies based in Solingen, they have a polished if old-fashioned aesthetic, and their …

Read more

Spyderco Ronin 2 Review

This is a tactical knife, but you should use it for other stuff too. It's design is centered around the cutting power of the edge making it a very good slicer.

This is a Spyderco Tactical Knife, but You Should Use it for Other Stuff Too The Ronin 2 is a good purpose-driven knife. The whole design is centered around the cutting power of the edge. And that was executed well enough that the knife as a whole comes out as an incredibly useful slicer, but …

Read more

The Best Tactical Knives From Our Favorite Brands

Our top picks for tactical knife brands

Some Knife Companies Make Better Knives for Self Defense and Critical Situations than Others It should be all about function and mobility, but somehow the word “tactical” has become an aesthetic description more than anything. These days when you search for “tactical” knives, you need to be careful that you don’t end up with something …

Read more

Get the NBK Newsletter

Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases from Amazon.com. You can learn more about our editorial and affiliate policy here.