Introduction
Not all ultralight backpackers carry a knife on a routine basis (myself included). Carrying a knife seems extraneous to me. I seldom need one unless I’m cutting guylines, cleaning fish, repairing gear, striking a fire-starting flint, shaping first aid tape, opening a food package, slicing cheese, or whittling up a pile of dry wood shavings.
Oh, wait. That actually seems like quite a bit of utility, actually (sic).
OK, so I may actually find a knife to be useful after all.
But I’m not a knife guy.
Which is code for I have zero interest in spending exorbitant amounts of money on a knife I’ll probably lose.
My criteria for a good knife are simple:
- Sharp « so it cuts stuff;
- Light « duh;
- Small « so I can tuck it anywhere;
- Cheap « so I can spend more money on gas to the TH’s;
- Orange « so I don’t lose it!
Guess what, y’all – I found the perfect knife for me!
The Backnife Micro Utility Knife
Imagine a cutting tool that slices through Spectra cord like an as-seen-on-TV-tomato knife plowing through a pop can.
This is the idealized micro-Utopian vision of every ultralight backpacking enthusiast, and it’s the promise made by the Backnife Micro-Utility Knife.
Features & Specifications
- Stanley-style carpenter knife dimensions and a trapezoidal shape. Old school. #MAGA!
- Sharp! Blade made from zirconium dioxide ceramic. A material that sounds like a sound bite – it’s tweetable!
- Injection-molded plastic housing (2 pieces) assembled with electrosonic welding. Made in Canada!
- Adjustable blade length
- Light! Weight: 0.23 oz (6.5 g) (verified on a NIST*-certified scale; *NIST is an agency overseen by the POTUS – this weight is not Fake News!)
- Small! Dimensions: 2.5 in (64 mm) x 0.875 in (22 mm) x 0.14 in (3.5 mm). Will fit well in even the smallest hands!
- Cheap! Cost: ~USD$12 (includes shipping & handling). Affordable for all tax brackets!
- Orange! Color: Orange. A nice shade of orange, at that!
Commentary
This is the extent of my performance review:
I cut up a bunch of stuff.
First, paper #FTW!
Then, tape, cardboard, aluminum cans, and on to fabrics (silnylon, then spinnaker, then DCF pack fabric, then pure Spectra). By the time I reached the fabrics, the Backnife was still making clean cuts.
But then the real test: pure Spectra cord, which isn’t handled well by most steel knives. Plus, Spectra dulls steel like you wouldn’t believe. After about one hundred cuts of Spectra cord between 2 and 4 mm in diameter, the knife was still making clean cuts.
Maybe there’s something to this white blade and its ceramic nature.
How to Get Your Very Own Backnife
Visit their website.
Disclosure
I didn’t ask for this knife. I didn’t even realize I wanted it until I got it.
It wasn’t on my Christmas list, nobody bought it for me, and I’m not making (much) of a fortune by writing a good or bad review for it! In fact, if you end up buying a knife as a result of reading this review, Phil’s gonna get all the money. That’s pretty awesome for Phil.
I received the knife as an unsolicited package from knife-maker Phil Cressman, a Canadian. It was in a Tyvek envelope, which I thought was cool because it was Tyvek.
In a way, you could say it was a donation I suppose. But I had no obligation to review it.
I did think it was a really cool product because it weighs a quarter of an ounce and was designed with a lot of thought.
So there. Go buy one. Support Phil. He seems like a decent guy with a great beard. Also, he’s Canadian, and that has to count for a lot! Go Phil!
*Phil is not a family member, and he does not have any tight, loose, medium, or undisclosed financial interest in Backpackinglight.com, or Russia. (As far as we / Jeff / Robert can tell.)
Discussion
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Companion forum thread to: A Micro-Utility Knife: The Backnife Review
In this Backnife Review, we focus on the comprehensive (sic) technology that goes into deep and detailed analyses of cutting tools.
Don’t bother with the link in the review –
And when you break your ceramic blade –
Ouch! That’s a killer blade replacement cost for a $12 knife. Hopefully backnife will offer the blades they are using for cheaper to their customers.
This is probably a better place for thread-drift related to this review.
Thanks for starting the topic, Ken. :)
you can’t just use a regular “Stanley” knife blade? What’s that cost, $1 and 7 extra grams?
Wow, with this kind of unexpected review I had to go live with KickStarter for 25 days.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1015833300/edc-ceramic-micro-knife
Yes any standard steel blade can be inserted into the handle, I probably will be selling ceramic blades from website after initial launch but to be honest, buying two is likely going to be the same price as purchasing one with an extra blade. (handle protects blade during shipping)
Good luck to you, @backnife. We used to sell a little folding utility knife in the BPL gear shop days. I think the concept was popularized originally by Mike Clelland! who found that product for us. Got lots of reports of stitches from users of that one, it wasn’t a particularly safe cutting tool. Yours seems to be a much better design, and simpler. I was really impressed by how the ceramic held up to cutting Spectra cord vs. a stainless steel blade.
Is this a piss take: ” Light and small enough for women to carry everyday.”
Erm this is 2017, I was going to back until I read this.
One complaint I have seen regarding ceramic blades with sharp points is hat the point breaks off easily. I realize the creator wanted to match a metal knife blade, but I am wondering if this small change from points to a radius would be a change for the better in the long run.
Yes, that can be done and may happen with next production run although there are times when a very sharp point is useful – say removing a splinter from finger. It is quite possible to touch up the pointy end with coarse grit wet/dry sandpaper. Diamond file of course is much faster.
https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/195407/Westcott-Compact-Ceramic-Box-Cutter-34/fromLocalBrowse=false
And more. Yes, ceramic blades break easily. I’d rather have a Victorinox Classic. My favorite EDC du jour is the Leatherman Skeletool KB.
For 20 cents of parts (one 15-cent utility-knife blade, 5 cents of Plasti-dip and and a few seconds on the belt sander, you can make a pretty usable 3-gram (4 grams with blade cover) blade.
I prefer the style on the right with a finger groove on the bottom. It lets me put more leverage on the front half. The blade cover came off of a wind-shield wiper blade (shipped with a cover to be removed upon installation), although the spines from cheap plastic report covers work well too.
Most trips, I just bring a Victorinox Classic, but for someone super-cheap or an SULer or if you were making a bunch of survival kits or just wanted something to always be in your car, plane or daypack. . .
Works for both pointers and setters.
You can save a gram, not wait for Kickstarter, and buy a ceramic knife from the same people:
https://ceramicknife.org/product/micro-folding-ceramic-knife/
Or for the same 6 grams and a lot less money, but no ceramic:
https://countycomm.com/collections/cutting/products/pocket-straight-razor-survival-tool
Yes, the new design might be better, but it’s not that much better IMO.
Most of these are inexpensive. Buy several, and if you dull, break, or lose one, recycle it and move on.
And like David, I usually take the SAK Classic, and use the scissors 95% of the time.
— Rex
Derma-Safe –
“and use the scissors 95% of the time.”
The most common reason I’ve taken someone from the job site to the ER is because of razor-knife use.
I’ve never taken someone to the doctor or the hospital because they used scissors.
And since I started asking myself and others, “Could you do that task with scissors?”, I’ve not taken anyone to the ER.
Yes – the Derma-Safe knife. That’s the one we used to sell in the gear shop. That sucker has gifted a few ultralight hikers with some stitches. Thanks for posting that graphic Greg.
I cringe at the thought of sawing with a derma-safe knife.
I cut off the fractured end of a carbon fiber trekking pole in order to make a field repair.
I still have all my fingers.
There was a derma-safe Style hacksaw too. Or make your own with a Sabre saw blade.
I had to wait until I reached the next hut where the guardienne had a full size Stanley knife, and I could easily whittle away the plastic tip down to the carbon when it was easy to pop off.
Back home I started researching knives and chose this Spyderco Ladybug, with the extra hard steel. This has a locking blade, two finger recesses and a serrated thumb rest on the blade itself. For such a tiny knife you get a really strong grip. 0.5 ozs.
I have one of the razor blade knifes and also the saw blade one, but neither would have done the job easily.
The Spyderco was ridiculously expensive, but I’m retired so WTH.
Looks nice and light. Just do not try to twist it.
+1 on the Spyderco knife. And as an added benefit, that turns out to be the main reason I carry it, closed edge fits the locking mechanism of a Bearikade perfectly. Super sharp blade.
Phil, @backnife, congrats on your successful Kickstarter campaign! Exciting to see it reach its goal over the last few days. Good luck and best wishes on your project.
Nice little gadget, if you really need a knife –
When backpacking, I need scissors to open the meal bags (ok, a knife would work, too) or cut tape or patches, a file to take care of my brittle fingernails, tweezers to get rid of thorns and splinters, and a toothpick to keep my jaws serviceable… everything done nicely by the ubiquitous victorinox pen-knife, even though they use a terrible steel which is definitely not up to date.
If open fire is an issue, no UL knife will work. A cheap mora knife (Walmart has them for less than US$12) with a good handle will do the job – in conjunction with a self-made UL frame saw, so you can saw and split wood safely and lightweight – no need for a real heavy knife or even an axe, or an expensive folding saw.
Happy trails, cut safely…
I’m just here to point out that you can cut guyline pretty easily with . . . guyline. Or a shoelace. Both work pretty well and if you’ve never done it before, amazingly fast.
So that’s one use off of the list. I keep going back and forth and whether or not to carry a small knife, and I’m really considering a tiny pair of scissors instead. They would be more useful for first aid stuff (and safer, as certain denizens of the forum are wont to point out).
In fact, I wonder if I still have a pair of Gingher thread clippers? I bought one but haven’t used it much for sewing because the cheap golden eagle ones are a little better (and cheap). But it would be pretty good for first aid duty and gear repair, and comes with a little plastic cap:
I will have to check in the shop and see if I still have it, and if so how much it weighs. I’m pretty sure it’s under an ounce.
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