Our grandparents carried folders, usually slip joints. The knives were small, very few over three inches in blade length, and ALL of them were ground thin. Even those with thick stock, like the Buck 110, were very thin behind the edge. Knives, it appears, were for cutting and slicing. Then, somewhere along the line, folks went tactical and tactical brought a lot of design changes—folders got clips and locks (yay!) and, in some instances, thick blades ground thick (boo!).

The tactical trend has been going strong for twenty or thirty years now, as people obsess with knives as overbuilt hand tool equivalents of Humvees. But like the Humvee, knives have undergone a change. In the past few years, in part to shift the trend and in part due to higher edge retention steels, knives have gotten thin again. Sure there are still folding bricks out there, but they are fewer and farther between. ZT makes a sub 2” knife. Benchmade’s best seller, the Bugout, is a 2.0 ounce blade. Even Medford makes knives that can pass for slicey.

Is this trend away from bulky pocket “knives” here to stay? I hope so. For so many reasons, thinner sliceier folders are just better. Even I can appreciate a good thick folder, see below, but the availability of alternatives like the TRM Neutron 2 above, is a good thing. Things that were not possible years ago when the tactical trend started are now easy. Furthermore, the trend results in thinner, smaller knives, i.e. knives more likely to actually be carried. Finally, thinner knives help keep production costs down.

I like when Anthony gets into design philosophy.