Everyone knows Case, Buck, Cold Steel, Gerber, CRKT. You could name a couple of other pocket knife brands, too, as there are many that have a lot of visibility in the market.
These are the frequent fliers on “best of” lists, but whether you are an actual knife collector or you just carry daily for personal or professional reasons, here are 3 pocket knife brands you need to know about for some combination of the quality and the incredible value they offer.
Rough Rider
Unless it’s stamped “R” on the bolster (and many its pocket knives are) you could put a Rough Rider knife next to a Case knife and you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.
Like Case, Rough Rider’s bread and butter is traditional pocket knife patterns like stockman, sowbelly and barlow knives rather than fixed bladed knives. Also like Case, Rough Rider utilizes top-tier scale materials like jigged bone, antler, horn, and semi-precious stones and metals.
Unlike Case, Rough Rider knives are a small fraction of the price. Most of them are below $20, whereas most Case knives are north of a $100 price point.
In terms of quality, there is no comparison. The fit and finish of Rough Rider knives is next to none and they use premium materials and steels too. You get everything you’d get with a Case but at a small fraction of the price.
CJRB
CJRB, unlike CRKT, presumably doesn’t stand for anything. There’s nothing particularly special about this brand, which is an offshoot of Artisan Cutlery, except for the fact that it produces unique knife designs and uses quality scale materials and blade steels.
Super-steels and high-end natural scale materials are not the cornerstone of CJRB. Rather, you’ll encounter knives made with micarta, G10, AR-RPM9 and D2 steel, but their knives command reasonable prices and the quality is pretty solid.
Definitely a good pocket knife brand to know if you like quality but don’t want to break the bank for a beater folding knife that you’ll carry daily.
Byrd Knives
Byrd is a pocket knife brand you must know if you like Spyderco, because Byrd is to Spyderco what Rough Rider is to Case.
Byrd knives capture the aesthetic of Spyderco knives, down to the iconic leaf-shaped blades and thumb holes, but they do so at a very small fraction of the price.
You could shell out a whole lot on a Spyderco, or you could get basically that same knife for a lot less, except it’ll say “Byrd” instead. Some of us care more about how a knife performs than what’s stamped on it. If that describes you, and you like the look, feel and use of Spyderco knives, then you should definitely get familiar with Byrd.
Where to Learn More About These Pocket Knife Brands
Want to see what sorts of knives are in any of the catalogs associated with these pocket knife brands? Check out what’s available over at White Mountain Knives. They represent all of these brands among countless others and even carry some exclusives.
