The Best Utility Knife

VIDEO REVIEW

Our video review of the best utility knives, showing how we tested.

CANDIDATES

Because there are so many utility knives out there, we started by scouring reviews, looking at materials, and looking for suggestions in the BuyItForLife Subreddit (BIFL). We narrowed it down to 11 different models to buy and test. Our engineers looked at durability, materials, grip comfort, blade storage, blade change, as well as cost and user reviews to help you make an informed decision when buying your next knife.

We compared knives from several prominent brands: Stanley, Craftsman, Irwin, Klein, Milwaukee, DeWalt, Husky, Kobalt, and Lenox.

ANALYSIS

Here’s the final ranking matrix from all of our tests. The lower the score, the better the performance. The winner of the best utility knife really comes down to your personal preference and which of the 2 styles suits you best. Each has its tradeoffs.  The traditional style typically offers better comfort and more blade storage, while the flip style tends to pack in extra features and generally offers better durability. 

Our findings in the table above include the Stubborn Gear Anvil Score and the price at the time of testing.

If you lean towards the traditional style, we highly recommend the DeWalt ToughSeries. It has a rugged design, a comfortable grip, and can store up to 10 blades, making it a reliable workhorse. Surprisingly, a close second is the Kobalt, which offers similar performance at less than half the price.  It’s a fantastic option if you’re looking for value without sacrificing quality.

The overall winner for durability in our testing, with a top score of 5 anvils, is the Milwaukee Fastback 1505. This swing style knife stood out as the toughest of the bunch, thanks to its all metal construction, which makes it incredibly durable. While it only holds one extra blade and isn’t the most comfortable in hand, we’re confident this knife is built to last.

If you prioritize blade storage over extra features, Milwaukee also offers a Fastback 1902 version, which holds up to 5 blades but doesn’t include the screwdriver. So, depending on your needs the Fastback line has you covered.

Stubborn Gear is a small team of mechanical engineers with over 20 years of experience designing hardware for the US Military, so we really know what it takes to build something tough.  We put that expertise to work by spotting weak designs and materials that just won’t hold up in the long run.

We tested each knife for the following characteristics:

BLADE LENGTH

We started by measuring the extended blade length of each utility knife using calipers to ensure accuracy. This feature is important because the size of the cutting surface plays a big role in a knife’s overall functionality. A longer blade provides greater versatility for different tasks. By comparing blade lengths, we could better understand which knives would offer the most utility in real-world scenarios, where having more cutting surface often makes a huge difference.

We found the clear winner was the Milwaukee Fast Back with a blade length of 1.26 inches.  All the rest were much less and ranged from 1.0 to 1.1 inches. 

GRIP COMFORT

A comfortable grip is essential, especially if you’ll be using the knife for extended periods. To evaluate this, we ranked each knife based on how it felt while squeezing and cutting through cardboard. Overall, the traditional utility knives tended to offer better comfort than the newer swing-style models. Their rounded design felt easier on the hand and didn’t press into the palm as much, making them more comfortable for longer use.

Surprisingly, the most comfortable knife we tested was the Kobalt, which also turned out to be the cheapest. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the most affordable option provided such a comfortable grip

BLADE CHANGE

We evaluated each utility knife based on how easy it was to swap out an old blade for a new one. Unsurprisingly, the Lenox Swing Style landed at the bottom of the list, since we couldn’t even load a single blade.  The Husky didn’t fare much better.  No matter how hard we tried, even with pliers, the blade refused to budge.

On the flip side, the Milwaukee stood out with the smoothest and quickest blade change, making it a breeze to swap blades in seconds. Close behind were the DeWalt and Kobalt, both offering a hassle-free blade removal process that made them strong contenders in this category.

BLADE STORAGE

When evaluating blade storage, we considered two key factors. First, we looked at the number of spare blades that each knife could store within the handle. Having a decent blade capacity is important because it reduces the need to constantly carry extra blades or pause your work to restock. The more blades a knife can store, the more convenient it is during extended use.

The second factor was the durability of the storage compartment itself. Since you’ll be opening and closing this compartment every time you change a blade, it needs to be sturdy enough to handle frequent use without wearing out or breaking. A flimsy or poorly constructed compartment can become a frustrating weak point over time. We paid close attention to the quality of materials and how secure the compartment felt when opened and closed, as this has a direct impact on the knife’s long-term reliability and ease of use. Together, these factors gave us a clear sense of which knives offered both convenience and lasting performance in terms of blade storage.

The DeWalt and Stanley models took the top spot for number of blades stored, each holding up to 10 spare blades.  That makes them great choices for those who need plenty of backup without having to constantly restock. On the other hand, many of the newer swing-style knives didn’t store any extra blades at all, which was a bit of a letdown in terms of convenience.

When it came to durability, the Milwaukee stood out with its all-metal blade storage compartment, which felt solid and built to last. Most of the other knives relied on flimsy plastic parts that seemed prone to breaking over time. The Husky even broke while we were testing.  Once again, the Kobalt surprised us like the underdog in a sports movie with a mostly metal design that felt impressively sturdy.

LIFETIME WARRANTY

Ranking the visibility of the numbers on a tape measure can be a bit subjective, as it depends on personal preference and lighting conditions. Most of the tapes we tested followed the standard design of yellow backgrounds with black markings, which tends to provide solid contrast and makes reading the numbers fairly easy. However, two of the tapes in our lineup stood out with a black background and green markings, giving them a unique look. The Spec Ops tape was the outlier, featuring a white background with black markings, which also worked well for readability.

In general, we found that all the tapes were clear and easy to read under normal conditions. But if we had to give an edge to any one of them, it would be the Lufkin. Its markings seemed to pop a little more, making it just that bit easier to read, especially in less-than-ideal lighting. So, while visibility might come down to personal preference, the Lufkin tape stood out just a bit more in terms of clarity.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Some of the utility knives came with extra features that made them more versatile and useful to carry around. The Milwaukee 1505 stood out with the most extras, including a screwdriver, bottle opener, and wire stripper.

The Lenox Swing Style also came with a multi-tool built into the handle, but unfortunately, the blade itself wasn’t functional.  The Klein model offered practical features like a strap cutter and wire stripper

REVIEWS

After narrowing down our choices, we scoured the internet for good quality reviews. These can be very hard to find now that fake and paid-for reviews are everywhere.

Sites like ReviewMeta and FakeSpot analyze reviews with their algorithm to eliminate suspicious ones and give an updated score.

The Milwaukee 1505 that is our winner had only 1148 ratings on Amazon as of the time of this review. Fakespot review analysis gave it a score of A, showing that the reviews are accurate and high quality.

AMAZON RATING

4.8

1148 Ratings

ADJUSTED RATING

4.8

1148 Ratings

*Disclaimer: We don’t accept payment from any company, so you know our reviews are honest and unbiased. We are completely supported our fans. This page contains affiliate links. That means that we are awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost for you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.