What Are the Best Wallet Knives?
Depending on how familiar you are with the knife community, it may or may not surprise you to learn that a lot of people carry more than one knife with them every day. Even Nutnfancy, poster boy for the YouTube knife community, espouses carrying multiple blades every day.
There are different reasons for this: sometimes it’s a work consideration, sometimes it’s done for self-defense; but most often, it’s done simply for the sake of preparedness. Carrying what’s called a “back-up blade,” is never a bad idea, especially if that knife is super small, super lightweight, and unobtrusive.
When it comes to fulfilling these criteria, as a category, none does it better than the Wallet Knife. This is kind of a broad category, but there are five main characteristics I look for in a wallet knife:
- Light weight
- Super thin profile
- Useful blade shape and size
- Decent steel
- Durable design
The most commonly seen wallet knives are what are called credit card knives (knives literally shaped like a credit card to fit easily into a wallet), and while they are good they aren’t the only options. In fact, once you start looking, you’ll find that there are tons and tons of knives that could be called a wallet knife.
Therefore, I’ve decided on what I think are the five best knives for wallets (or perhaps even purses, ladies) out there, and will discuss them in-depth below.
But before we get to that, we encourage you to compare some of the best knives available on today’s market:
| Photo | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|
 | Kershaw Knockout | $$ |
 | ESEE Knives 3P | $$$ |
 | SOG Flash II | $$ |
 | Ka-Bar Fighting Knife | $$ |
 | Kershaw Shuffle II | $ |
 | Spyderco Paramilitary 2 | $$$ |
5. The Tool Logic Credit Card Companion
This is a straightforward, textbook example of a credit card knife. Like most credit card knives, it comes with several different tools of varying usefulness: you get a toothpick, tweezers, a bottle opener, a compass, screwdriver for Philips and flathead, an awl, and an 8x magnifying glass. It is one of the most affordable options on our list at about $15.
The knife is the main reason we’re here though, and it’s decent, certainly more than adequate in its role as a backup knife. I do have one big issue with it: the blade is a combination edge, half plain and half serrated.
On a 2” knife this is just a bad choice. Generally you’re going to want a plain edge for 99% of tasks, particularly the sort of small, everyday sort of things you’d expect to use a backup blade for, and the serrations are just a miss, plain and simple. Not enough of a miss to make me dislike this knife, but I would love a plain edge version of this blade.
Our Most Recommended Knives
Below, please take a moment to view some of the best-selling pocket knives currently for sale on Amazon:
| BEST SELLERS |
|---|
1) Spyderco Tenacious |
2) Kershaw Cryo II |
3) Opinel No.7 |
4) Gerber Paraframe |
5) Kershaw Knockout |
4. Victorinox Swisscard Lite
The Victorinox Swisscard Lite is the classic Swiss Army credit card knife. As much as I like the Tool Logic Credit Card Companion, the Swisscard does everything it does, but better.
The main attraction is the blade. Whereas with the Tool Logic CCC we had to deal with serrations, here we have a simple pen knife-style blade, reminiscent of the blade on the ever-popular Victorinox Classic SD. As with the CCC, you shouldn’t expect to use this on anything too demanding, but for light duty tasks it will see you through just fine. The steel is also attractive: Victorinox keeps the exact name and recipe a secret, but it’s easy to sharpen, and very nearly rust-proof. This is a good combination of traits for something that will be riding in your wallet.
And, of course, you get other tools as well: nail file, screwdriver, toothpick, tweezers, pen, pin, scissors, and a white LED light. For me, the blade is most important, but one of the advantages of the credit card shape is that other things can be fit into it as well. And, for about $30, I feel that the Swisscard is a definite improvement over the CCC, and the best credit card-style wallet knife on the market today.
3. Ian Sinclair Cardsharp
The issue with the credit card-style wallet knife is that you sacrifice a lot of real estate that could be used for more blade length for other stuff. As convenient as the shape is in terms of carry, and as useful as the best ones like the Swisscard and CCC are, they aren’t the best cutting tools in the world because they aren’t dedicated cutting tools. That’s why, for my top three choices, I’ve chosen blades that can fit into your wallet, but aren’t strictly speaking “credit card blades.”
We’ll start with the Ian Sinclair Cardsharp. While it technically retains the credit card shape, it is a different animal altogether. This is just a knife: there’s a sizeable 3” blade nestled in a series of articulated plastic wings that fold over one another, snapping in place around the blade to form a handle.
The 420 steel is adequate. Normally I’d worry about rust but the blade is coated so that should be less of a problem here. The real charm of the Cardsharp is that it manages to fit a working-size knife into a very small footprint. Durability isn’t off the charts, but it should be adequate in any reasonable cutting task.
If the Cardsharp was just a regular folding knife, I wouldn’t recommend it. But it’s the fact that it can be carried in your wallet that makes it special. Whereas the Swisscard and the CCC offered a compromised knife in order to give you some other tools as well, the Cardsharp gives you a decent knife and nothing else. And, since a knife is what we’re looking for, I think it’s a better tool overall, and at about $10 a great, affordable option.
2. The SOG Micron
With the top two spots we’re moving into very traditional knife shape territory. The SOG Micron, for instance, is a very basic, very small lockback folder. It just also happens to be incredibly thin, so thin that it can be tucked behind a credit card or in a billfold in your wallet and not be noticed until you need it. The blade is bigger than the CCC or the Swisscard’s. It also has a genuine lockback lock, so it will hold up better under harder use than the Cardsharp.
The steel is fairly competitive with our other options: 420, as on the Cardsharp. Nothing special, nothing even particularly good, but in a backup blade more than adequate. The only worry I have with it is the fact that it’s bead blasted: bead blasting tends to open up a steel to rust, but if you keep the Micron oiled it shouldn’t be a problem.
There’s also a very welcome divot on the back of the blade, with a good run of jimping along it, to give you additional control and grip during cutting tasks. If the Micron were an inch bigger, it would be a really nice choice as a main EDC blade, that’s how legitimate of a knife we’re talking about here. At $20 it’s more expensive than the CCC and the Cardsharp, but comes in under the $30 ceiling established by the Swisscard. If all you need is a knife, this is one to consider.
1. Victorinox Alox Bantam
The Victorinox Bantam is a very basic Swiss Army knife. With just a single blade and a bottle/can opener/screwdriver arm, it even makes the sleek and uncluttered Cadet seem overwrought.
And while in general terms I prefer the Cadet, as a wallet knife I’m giving the edge to the Bantam for one reason: its extraordinary thinness. With a only a single layer of tools, and with the added flatness of the Alox scales, the Bantam, which could easily function as your main EDC, is small enough to fit into your wallet, almost as well as the Micron, but with a better blade shape and additional functionality.
The Micron’s clip point blade is quite good, but I appreciate the simple universal utility of the Victorinox spear point. The difference isn’t huge, but given the choice I’d go with the spear point all day. I also appreciate the upgrade in steel: as with the Swisscard, the Bantam comes with Victorinox’s standard super-stain-resistant steel in a mirror polish, a very rust-resistant finish. The addition of the combo tool gives the Bantam more functionality than just cutting without compromising the blade at all.
It is more expensive than anything else on the list, generally available for around $40, but I think it’s worth it. Not only is it the best wallet knife, but it’s also just a good pocket knife in general, something you could carry as your main EDC knife, and not just as a backup.
Conclusion
Wallet knives are an interesting segment of the market, perhaps because of the somewhat stringent demands the category entails. They have to be small, portable, durable, effective, useful, and affordable. But, as is often the case, working under a series of restrictions results in some creative work, from the geeky multitool-esque charm of the CCC and the Swisscard, to the more gadgety coolness of the Cardsharp, to the unassailable utility and quality of the Micron and the Bantam, each of these wallet knives brings something different to the table, and each are worth your time and consideration.
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