Picking out a knife is like picking out any other tool. You need to pick out a model that is going to serve you faithfully rather than making your life more difficult. At first thought, it can be a little tough to settle on something to pick out because really there are so many things that you could need a knife to do. If you’re a hunter, you might rely on your knife for skinning and cleaning your quarry, but as a hunter you might also find yourself in a situation where you must rely on your knife to provide you with shelter and fire.

By the same token, if you are a craftsman who relies on your knife to work with raw material, you might not need a knife with the same features as a hunter. In fact, you probably won’t. There are lots of specialized knives out there and the more specialized a knife becomes, the less useful it becomes overall.

That’s why you have to pay careful attention to what your needs are when you are going about picking out a knife. If you’ve already settled on a brand and will use that to narrow down your shopping then at the very least a part of your work is done for you. Let’s take that into consideration and assume that you intend to go about purchasing a Spyderco knife for your purposes. What, then, is the best Spyderco knife?

That will entirely depend on two factors. Those factors are what you like and what you will use the knife for. No one but you can tell you what you will like so that much is on you. As far as how you will use the knife, sit down for a moment and try to figure out what that will be.

Are you a bushcrafter or a backwoodsman? People who pursue bushcraft generally have a need for a stout knife, usually with a fixed blade, as they are engaged in some of the heavy camp chores that you will come across in bushcrafting.

Some of these tactics involve constructing shelters, splitting logs and carving wood, excavation and making tools. For the most part their knives need to be tough enough to split wood but fine enough to carve it or scrap it to gather natural fibers for making rope. That means you will need to find a good balance between heft and delicacy in the knife you end up purchasing. That means that the best Spyderco knife for bushcrafting will be different, from, say, the best Spyderco knife for hunting.

Take the stance of a small game hunter. You will not need a heavy blade for separating joints the way a big game hunter would, and you will also not need a heavy camp knife for making fire and building shelters like a bushcrafter would need. In fact, the most work you might be doing is skinning some small game, in which case the best knife for you might be a small skinner with a 3 inch blade, or in the case of Spyderco, one of their many smaller folders. Some shy from folding knives, but the technological advances and sturdy locks that you will find in Spyderco Knives are more than up to the task of almost anything you can throw at them.

What if you are a member of a boat’s crew, a recreational boater or a saltwater fisherman? Then the traits you will need in a knife are very different from a bushcrafter or a hunter. In fact, boaters are some of the few people who actually routinely prefer folding knives for their safety and convenience. You don’t need a sheath and can easily and safely stow folders out of the way. You’ll also want a sheepsfoot blade to minimize the risk of puncture accidents as well as a steel that can handle the environment. Spyderco’s line of Salt knives are made with tough, corrosion resistant steels like H1 and are ideal for use in an unforgiving marine environment.

Here’s the catch, if you can call it one. All different people will have their own different needs in a Spyderco knife, or any knife, really. Fishermen, boaters, hunters and bushcrafters are only a couple of the different groups of people who will have different needs in a knife.

You might just as easily want a knife for keeping around the shop or be interested in a knife for tactical purposes or training as much as you would be interested in one for everyday carry or in a Spyderco kitchen knife set. Therefore, you need to take some time to figure out the features that you need in a blade and then you can get to figuring out what the best Spyderco knife is for you.

We’re here to help to find the right knives, too. Check out our collection of Spyderco knives on our website and if you have product questions or need recommendations contact us at sales@ whitemountainknives@gmail.com.