Gary Portman 
Kershaw is the brand most people buy their first decent pocket knife from, and that’s no accident. It makes good knives at almost every price, from cheap imported workhorses to American-made folders with premium steel. The catch is that quality … Read more
Victorinox makes the best value kitchen knives you can buy, and the Swiss Army knife that started the company is still the pocket tool I’d hand most people. Buy it if you want knives that cut well, grip when wet … Read more
Buck is the brand I point people to when they want an honest, American-made knife that will outlive them. The steel isn’t exotic and the classic models are heavy, but the knives are tough, easy to sharpen and backed by … Read more
The knife most people picture when they hear “hunting knife” is a big clip point with a brass guard and a seven-inch blade, in other words a bowie knife. That’s a great knife to hang on a wall. In the … Read more
For most people, the best bowie knife is the KA-BAR USMC. It isn’t the biggest or the fanciest, but it’s the one design on this list that has been worked hard for over 80 years and is still made the … Read more
“Survival knife” means two very different things on a store shelf. One is the movie version: a huge serrated blade with a hollow handle full of fishhooks, a compass in the pommel and a tang that stops a couple of … Read more
The best Swiss Army knife for most people is the Victorinox Huntsman. It has the tools you’ll actually use (two blades, scissors, a saw, screwdrivers, a bottle and can opener, a corkscrew) without the brick-like bulk of the giant models. … Read more
Work Sharp is the sharpening brand I’d point most people to first, with one condition: buy the right model, because the range runs from a simple kitchen pull-through to belt grinders that will reshape an axe. The guided and field … Read more
An electric knife sharpener is a motor spinning an abrasive past a fixed guide. You pull the knife through a slot (or along a belt), and the machine grinds a fresh edge at an angle you never have to hold … Read more
Ask ten knife people for the best pocket knife and you’ll get ten brand names, but most of them will describe the same thing: a blade around three inches, a lock you trust, a clip that keeps it where you … Read more