Minimalist Bowie

I picked up this knife with no prior experience with any knives made by this company. Since I was kid, I loved knives. I fished off the beaches and boats of Sheepshead Bay, always using one knife or another. Like most people with little knife experience, bigger was better. My first fishing knife was one of those survival knives that was hollow. You filled it with SURVIVAL GEAR then butchered every bait or fish you managed to catch. Somehow I learned to filet the delicate flounder that we regularly caught, but as I grew up, I realized that a knife didn't have to be big to be effective. I love to hunt and fish, especially fly fish, which is where I learned that bigger is not better. My best trout, a ten pound wild rainbow was caught on a size 18 royal coachman. I subsequently butchered the fish with my gigantic survival knife. A guide I hired the next year pulled this tiny neck knife out and magically filleted a smaller brookie I managed to fool into taking another of my flies this becoming an amazing brookside lunch. He was also an avid hunter and when I inquired about the small knife, he told me that his tiny kneck knife was responsible for skinning dozens of deer and wild game. A few years ago I started to hunt again. I saw this knife, the Bowie and thought I'd give it a whirl. Sadly my hunting skills aren't as good as the quality of my knife. However, I use it exclusively to skin all of my kills and at times, depending on the size of the game, i'll use it to butcher the animal. It works like a charm and needs minimal sharpening. Now i'm not saying i'd break down a black bear, moose, elk or even a white tail, but i'm convinced that this Bowie could handle the task. I do prefer my Chinese stainless steel meat cleaver for heavier tasks. That chops right through bone and grizzle like a champ. But on smaller game, squirrel, rabbit, frogs and some pan fish, this is the only knife I use. It's great for whittling walking sticks, also a hobby, although it is quite sharp and has drawn its share of blood from my fingers. My son decided that he wants to join me this year so I decided to get him his own neck knife. When i showed it to him, his first reaction was to scoff and reach for his own ten inch survival knife. After some instruction, he fell in love with MY knife and I practically had to pry it from his hands. So now he'll have his own. He's "BORROWED" mine on several occasions to take to work. He is a union bridge painter and uses his Gerber pocket knife I got him several years ago for the smaller tasks. But after seeing how this little work horse cuts through thick tarp and heavy rope with little effort, I felt it was his turn to own his own. My only negative, although not enough to detract any stars, is the length of paracord. It's cheap and can be very dangerous. I immediately replaced it with a length of American military paracord and rather than tie a knot in the back, thus ensuring a perfect noose to hang oneself from, I used a breakaway necklace fastener to close the paracord together. Yes, it's not as strong as a paranoid knot, but dangling from a neck knife cord until I saw the bright light is not what I consider a good time. I understand that there is now a chance for it to open and fall from my neck, but I fixed that by pulling out a six inch length of single strand paracord from the inside of a leftover length of cord. I tie a knot on either side of the clasp and should I become entangled in it, it has a fifty pound breaking strength. Possibly more, but not enough to hang me or my son. In not so sure of the sheath yet. I've worn it dozens of times without any failure, but I just have little trust in plastic. I read where someone used a hair dryer to tighten the fit. Personally I do not believe a hair dryer has enough heat, so tomorrowi'll break out my paint stripping heat gun. Let that form a tighter seal so I feel more secure. If I ruin it, i'll just put it in my sons box and blame Amazon. Then come up with a dozen excuses as to not return it. Then a few screws, some duct tape and it's good as new. If your in the market for a good reliable neck knife that can pull double duty cutting rope, fish, pesky neighbors tires(I'M JOKING. THEY ALL HAVE CAMERAS. Geesh, lighten up. It's not like they wouldn't know who I was, even if I wore a mask. If you ever saw me you'd understand immediately) Get this knife. Get two. I've never beaten on the knife to split wood, so if you're going to do that, maybe that ole hollow ten inch survival knife is the knife for you. But if you want a sharp reliable knife, get this and get it quick. The survival of the free world depends on you buying this knife. Or not. You won't (shouldn't. There's always that one guy who is never satisfied regardless of how amazing a product turns out) regret it. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX January 18th 2021. I've had this knife for some time now and would like to update my review. I have a rustic house in Vermont on 34 acres that I hunt and seem to constantly be fixing or adapting something new within the cabin. I was turkey hunting last spring then small game during the summer then Chucky bear and deer hunting in the winter time. No I wish I was a good a hunter is the snipers, because I got shut out by every animal, except the small game. The neck knife hung from my neck the entire year when I was up there. I have a nail in one of the beams and as soon as I leave I take it off and hang it and as soon as I return and replace it around my neck, and there it stays the whole time I’m in my house. I carry a Gerber pocket knife with a half serrated and half street blade That I keep razor sharp with my rat tail files and wet stones. It seems that I use that knife several times a day nearly every day. Just for household chores or something in my backyard where I live or just basic rope cutting and helping my little shop where I try to build things with all my tools. When I get to my house in Vermont, the Gerber knife really comes out of my pocket. but I use The neck knife probably a dozen times a day. To cut cardboard for the burn pile to make my walking sticks, which every time I go up there I make a new stick. I called the therapy, and I gave a decent stick out of it each time. I have very large hands very large fingers and my first three fingers barely fit in the three holes on the knife, but it’s a good enough fit where I’ve only cut myself once and that was my fault. As the saying goes no knife is yours, until you spills your own blood on it. And sadly most of my lives of mine because I have a tendency of cutting myself. I’ve skinned out dozens of squirrels rabbits another small game this year. Butchering the birds to remove the bones so I can smoke the birds whole without the bones. On a normal knife that with the blade within minutes, but I literally just tested my knife and it was able to shave the hair of my arm. I got it in scaled over 100 fish this summer and countless small game and the knife is like brand new. The sheath is still as tight as it was from day one, but I also check it regularly to make sure that is still tight. I’m not sure with the power cord in the end of the knife is meant for but it doesn’t seem to get in the way or affect me in anyway. I wouldn’t count on it to help me in survival situation, but I guess it’s nice to have a little bit of string just in case. After opening up my Walmart app, this knife was the first item displayed. The price was nearly double as that on Amazon and it had terrible reviews. I know better, I read every review when I buy a product from Amazon in this many times that I’ve disagreed with the reviews as I did with the Walmart reviews. because it was brought to my attention again, I think it’s time to buy several more, in case I break them or lose them. I have a tendency to overwork my tools. I’ve use this knife to chip out rocks that run through my property and again it’s still as sharp as when I was taken from the box. Buy this knife. by two. Then double it in by four because anybody who sees it is going to want one. I have several neck knives that I bought and those are hanging on the wall in the garage. None of them get any time except for one that I like to use the scale fish. Discover larger profile blade that scales fish quickly. The snow foot skills fish as well, but it’s a small knife so it takes much longer to Scale large fish. This may not be the best knife, but it’s the best night for me, and I’ll use it to a day I die and I want to be buried with it.

I had been looking for a good little neck knife for some time when I happened to find these minimalist knives designed by Alan Folts. I couldn't make up my mind about the blade but finally opted for the Bowie with no regrets. Strikes me as a bit more versatile than the Wharncliffe, even if the Wharncliffe does have an aesthetic appeal. But this is a mighty fine little knife. The sheath fits it snugly and I don't worry about the knife coming loose even when it hangs upside down. A word of caution though. You can get this puppy out with one hand if you use your thumb for leverage against the open end of the sheath. Just make sure you're doing so with your thumb facing the thick side of the blade, and the best way to do that, a way you could do it with your eyes closed, is to always make sure your fingers are saddled in the grips first before you pry it loose with your thumb. But you knew that already. Probably. Heck of a way to get a look at the inside of your thumb, what with all the imaging technology available these days. Not that there's any more risk of that with this particular knife. But I digress. The grips are wonderfully made to saddle the shape of my first three fingers and provide a sure hold. Bear in mind this is a small knife, and the handle only spans about three quarters of my palm. If you have small hands it might run all the way across, but then your fingers would sit loosely in the contours. It strikes me as a little knife made for a medium to large hand. It's not a fighting knife, but would work in a last-ditch pinch. You could remove the tether and slip it in your boot. I put it in my pocket and it fit nicely and was less obtrusive than the folding blade I normally carry. A word about the tether though. It isn't break-away. Get that caught in some machinery, or in the wrong hands, and you'll be full of regrets. I'm trying to think of a way to put a little weakness in it somewhere so that it will give if necessary, but not so much that it gives when I pop it free of the sheath, which does require a bit of force. Also this thing is light, as if you can't tell from the specs. I forget it's there. And the blade is pretty stout, maintaining the full thickness of the tang not only halfway up its backside, but also along its bottom, right over where your index finger sits. One final thing, when I got it, I noticed that the contours of the sheath made it look like it was the sheath for the tanto model, and I thought, *&%!, they sent me the wrong sheath. But then I got online under google images and found several pictures of the Bowie with its sheath and they were all like that. Enough said. But don't get just one.

Love this little neck knife! It fits in my hand perfectly and comes very sharp right out of the box. I am so happy with it. I’m a cook so it works great for many little tasks and stays in the sheath under my apron. It’s convenient and handy to use. I recommend this highly.

This is a great knife. Very concealable and has a couple different carrying options. The sheath is nice, too.

Cool mini dagger/ clinch pick. Very useful in the right hands and is a high end model of a clinch pick. I like the quality that went into the handles and the grip it provides feels great. It came with a nice sharp edge on it that I also touched up and it sharpens and retains it's edge very nicely. Came with a nice little sheath for safe keeping. I believe its a great value and has been a good purchase. One of the nicest little clinch picks you can find

Overall I like it. But I dont love it. I guess for the price its more like a 4.5 than a 4. It came today rather dull, I was fairly disappointed as I had seen so many reviews with "razor sharp" edges. I am hoping to take a strop to it tonight and see if I can refine an edge to it. The edge is there but it takes a bit more force than it should on a paper slice and paracord test. The wrist lanyard is kind of useless so I already took that off its done with a very minimal strand count threading and it is more along the lines of the material used in those friendship bracelet/toe rings you saw when you were a kid in the 90s. Grip: Exceptionally well designed 5/5 in this area. I have medium to large sized hands and it indexes perfectly where I need it to be. The bottom of the tang sits right between my ring finger and pinkey and its perfect. I am a huge fan of micarta on knives... I think all of mine have it so that was a huge plus for such a low cost knife and the design is awesome as well with the green and black lines. Steel: Its a soft cheap steel. I am not a steel snob and for 13 bucks no one needs to be. There are pros and cons to different types of steel and well, I dont plan on batoning wood with this thing or doing harsh things to the edge so once I refine the edge a bit I am sure I will be happy with it. The benefit to softer cheaper steels is just that, super easy to sharpen and strop and usually if the edge is there that is all it takes is a good strop block or belt. Sheath: I give it a 4 out of 5 but for the price its a perfectly acceptable piece. Its molded nylon/plastic and the sheath is molded for the tanto, dont be alarmed the blade tip means nothing in a hard sheath its all about how the lower end of the knife is held for retention so that is fine. Comes with a belt loop that looks cheap and small so Im not sure if Ill even bother with it but it may be a decent backup. Its my first neck knife, so I am excited and overall I think it was a great purchase and I would not hesitate to recommend Its light, feels great in the hand and has an attractive fit and finish. But you may need to hone that blade when you get it and just chop off the useless lanyard thing. EDIT*** I took it to my strop block and the edge is nice and sharp.

Great knife perfect size. I'm a big man and the handle was a good fit. Sharp out of box. Came with adjustable neck sheath and adapter if you want to wear it on belt. Great purchase.

great knife, perfect around the neck and not noticeable

Durch einen Bekannten habe ich mich für das Folts Minimalist entschieden, es ist klein, passt durch die mitgelieferte Halterung quer an fast alle meine Gürtel! Das mit beigelegte Band, um es als Neck Knife zu tragen ist gut, für mich aber sinnlos. Alles in allem ein super scharfes Messer, das mich seitdem jeden Tag begleitet. Klare Kauf-Empfehlung 👍🏻

Dieses Messer ist echt Super es liegt wahnsinnig gut in der Hand und ist super Scharf schon bei Lieferung. Die Scheide funktioniert perfekt und hält das Messer gut fest. Auch das Stückchen Schnur das an dem Messer befestigt ist sieht sehr sehr Qualitativ aus. Alles in Allem ein Super Messer

Super verarbeitetes Messer. Rasiermesserscharf ausgeliefert. Einfach um den Hals hängen, oder: Kydex Hülle kann, mit Clip, in verschiedenen Positionen getragen werden. Unsichtbarer kleiner Helfer, der immer dabei ist...!!! Passt auch großen Händen. Kann auch die anderen Klingenformen uneingeschränkt empfehlen. Habe noch das Tanto und das Karambit.

Como todo lo de CRKT, el material es de primera, pareceria muy pequeña pero se siente bien, y su peso se siente muy bien, no como un juguete, si no que realmente es una herramienta de muy buen filo.

Top Messerchen. Trägt nicht dick auf, liegt sehr gut in meiner Hand. Ab Werk schon schön scharf.