Knives have been around for thousands of years, but that has not stopped plenty of misconceptions from building up around them. Some come from outdated laws or old manufacturing reputations, while others grow from misunderstood terminology, marketing claims, or advice that gets repeated so often it eventually sounds like fact. Whether you are talking about pocket knives, fixed blades, kitchen knives, or the steels used to make them, the truth is often a little more complicated than the conventional wisdom suggests. From the idea that assisted-opening knives are...

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Few knives are as immediately recognizable as the push dagger. Instead of placing the blade in line with the handle like a conventional fixed blade, the push dagger turns the relationship ninety degrees. Its handle rests across the palm while the blade projects through the closed fist, usually between the fingers. The arrangement created a remarkably compact knife that could be held securely without the wrist position required by a conventional dagger. Known at various times as the push dagger, punch dagger, push knife, push dirk, fist knife, and gimlet...

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As September settles in and the first hints of fall start creeping into the air, this week’s new releases bring a little bit of everything to the table. Case keeps one foot planted in tradition while giving a familiar American pattern a more modern, colorful edge, while Heretic heads in the opposite direction with a pair of rugged folders that bring plenty of attitude without getting overly bulky. Kizer takes a well-known everyday carry design and pushes it into fixed-blade territory, while CIVIVI leans hard into nostalgia with an SMKW exclusive that looks like it came...

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Few folding knives require the amount of coordination as a balisong. Instead of a blade rotating from a single handle, a balisong uses two handles that independently pivot around the tang. Opening and closing one requires you to control those moving handles while keeping track of the blade between them, and learning to do that smoothly and safely takes practice. A balisong trainer provides a much safer way to develop those fundamentals before ever considering a sharpened blade. A balisong trainer follows the same basic layout as a traditional...

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