A Do-It-All Pocket Knife
About seven years ago, I was carrying around a sheathed, fixed-blade knife. It was sharp, for sure, but sheathing-and-unsheathing wasn’t practical for heavy, constant use. In fact, one of the times I went to sheath it, the knife sliced through the leather and exposed the blade, unbeknownst to me. Sure enough, I cut myself upon fiddling it out of my pocket. That’s not exactly what you want to deal with when you need a knife in a hurry.
Long story short, I like foldable, practical pocketknives for everyday use, and the Trapper by W.R. Case and Sons is just that.
Case sent us one of their classic Trapper knives to test out, and there is a reason why these American-made Trapper knives have been beloved for over 100 years.
Trapper knives are practical for everyday use and also shine in specialized situations, like cleaning a gamebird or when you need to simply sharpen a pencil in the shop.
Case’s Trapper knife achieves the practical-specialized duality by having both a clip blade and a spey blade. The former is great for everyday use — cutting a fishing line when it gets tangled up in the trees, chopping a zucchini out of the garden or opening (and breaking down) your wife’s seemingly endless Amazon boxes.
I’ve been carrying Case’s Orange Synthetic Trapper, fitted with durable, smooth synthetic covers, similar in color to the blaze orange many of us will be wearing this fall. The high-vis color is nice year round too; if you’re clumsy like me and drop and lose stuff, high-vis orange is easy to spot.
The blades are made from Case’s Tru-Sharp stainless steel, a special high-carbon version that Case touts as helping the blades hold an edge longer than conventional steel and offering extra blade strength and corrosion resistance. Both the spey blade and clip blade are almost the same length in the model I have been carrying, about 3.25 inches. Closed, the knife is about 4 inches.
I’ve been primarily using the clip blade for most tasks, saving the spey blade for cleaning some fish on the coast later this summer.
However, I have been running the clip blade for everyday tasks, from better trimming up a tail fan from a bird I harvested this spring to chopping up a piece of fruit for my son (yes, I washed it).
What I think stands out the most and why I think the Trapper has been a mainstay for over 100 years is that the knife simply feels comfortable to hold and to carry. After carrying it for a couple weeks, I haven’t thought about needing a different knife. It’s been comfortable, practical and versatile.
It’s made in the USA and also comes with a limited lifetime warranty.