Some knife manufacturers, like Bradford knives and ESEE knives, specialize in making fixed blade knives.

Which brings up the question - how are you going to carry?

With a folding utility knife that has a pocket clip, that’s easy. You just clip it where you want or let it ride free in your pocket, no problem.

But how you mount and carry a fixed blade knife with a sheath is a much different story.

Now, if the knife has a leather sheath with a belt loop, you only have a few options. But in the case of ESEE knives, most of which come with MOLLE-compatible sheaths, you have a bit more flexibility.

Here are a few great ways to carry your fixed blade knife - beyond tip down belt carry.

Belt Carry, Tip-Up

Belt carry, tip-up, on either your strong or non-dominant side is a popular alternative to belt carry via the belt loop.

It’s only practical with small knives, as knives with larger blades and handles will get in the way and will poke you in the ribs. However, this style of carry will keep the handle out of your way.

Also, this style of carry requires a knife that offers secondary retention or a friction fit, since gravity will be working against you.

A niche type of carry, but some that people like nonetheless.

Pack Carry, Tip-Up

If you’re wearing a pack, and are right-handed, you can lash the sheath of your fixed blade knife to the left shoulder strap of the pack so that when you’re wearing the pack, you can easily access the knife at the front of your body.

The best way to do this is so that the tip of the knife is up and the edge of the knife faces away from your body; this will result in good indexing when you draw it.

The benefits of this style are that it makes the knife highly accessible; drawbacks are that you won’t have good access to the knife when you take the pack off.

Scout Carry

Scout carry is an excellent way to carry a knife on your belt, and it works for both large and small knives. For instance, it works equally well with large ESEE knives like an ESEE-6, as well as tiny knives like the Candiru.

In scout carry, you mount the sheath to your belt in such a way that the blade is parallel with the belt and lays along the base of your spine, with the edge down, so that the handle of the knife is on your dominant side.

This enables excellent access to your knife and makes it very easy to locate and draw. It also keeps the knife out of the way of your leg or pack, and makes it easier to conceal and it’s unlikely to print, except with a very large knife.

The one drawback to scout carry is that re-sheathing takes a little getting used to and you must be very careful.

Cross Draw

Cross draw requires you to mount the sheath on your non-dominant side at an angle, almost the way a sword sheath would be carried.

It requires you to reach across your body with your non-dominant hand (hence the name), but since the knife must be carried at an angle, it produces more room for larger knives.

Cross draw is also a comfortable way to carry that is close to scout carry in terms of keeping the knife out of your way, but again, re-sheathing will take some getting used to.

Drop Leg, Dangler

In drop leg or dangle carry, the knife sheath must be attached to a dangle loop. This allows the knife in the sheath to swing free of your belt.

Dangle carry is comfortable as, since the knife can swing free, it won’t poke you in the leg or ribs when you sit, making it a comfortable way to carry a larger knife.

The other good thing about dangle carry is that, with a dangle loop, you can basically convert any sheath. There is, however, one big drawback - you will need two hands to draw and resheath the knife.

Neck Carry

Any MOLLE-compatible sheath can be converted to neck carry with a bit of cordage, and it’s exactly what it sounds like; you loop some cordage through the tip of the sheath and carry the knife around your neck, tip-down.

Since the knife will be inverted, you need a sheath that offers secondary retention or a very good friction fit. This style of carry also works well with flat, thin knives, and is best reserved for those that are on the smaller end of the spectrum.

Some advantages of neck carry are that you can draw quickly, typically with one hand, the knife is usually fairly accessible, and it’s easy to conceal.

There are drawbacks, though - you need two hands to re-sheath and this style doesn’t accommodate larger blades well.

Static Line Carry

In static line carry, you attach a loop of line to the end of your sheath, then typically carry the knife sheathed, in a pocket.

Static line carry makes it easy to conceal a small fixed blade knife in a pocket, but retrieval, drawing, and resheathing usually require two hands.

Here for a New Fixed Blade Knife? Shop ESEE, Mora, Bradford Knives and More Here

Here for a new fixed blade knife? Shop our collection of ESEE, Mora, Helle, Bradford Knives and other popular fixed models here, and try out some of these new carry disciplines the next time you get a chance.