Why a Pocket Knife Is the Best Picnic Knife
School is out, summer is in full swing, which means it’s picnic season. While I’m sure you’ll have your drinks chilled and snacks packed when you head to the beach, park, or campsite, I wonder if you’ll remember to pack the most important picnic tool: the humble pocket knife.
A few weeks ago, I planned a picnic in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and took it upon myself to bring back snacks, cheeses, fruit, and bootleg French butter from the previous week’s vacation. I also brought a pocket knife, which is a good thing I did: some friends stopped by the blanket with a fresh, unsliced loaf of homemade bread; cake was also involved. My knife was my main tool throughout the four-hour case. Slice some cheese, slice some bread, then slice the cake. Give it a quick wipe with a napkin and it’s ready to spread salted cultured butter on your bread. If someone brought a melon, we would chop it up too. What if I forgot the knife? I shudder at the thought.
You may already be doing the right thing by taking a knife with you on vacation , and a picnic is no different. You may not be heading to the Florida Keys, but you’re vacationing and eating somewhere without access to a kitchen. The last thing you want is to end up at a lake, an hour’s drive from civilization, with a block of cheese and two summer melons and no way to cut them. But a small single-blade folding pocket knife tucked into a picnic basket is all you need to avoid this unfortunate circumstance.
Here are some features to look for in a good picnic knife.
Why take a pocket knife instead of a kitchen knife?
I suggest using a pocket knife rather than a full-fledged kitchen knife because it is lightweight, fits in small spaces, and is versatile. Using an eight-inch santoku on a picnic blanket is just cumbersome, and since it’s designed to be used with a cutting board, potentially not as safe to use.
What to Look for in a Picnic Pocket Knife
Not too big and not too small. A good picnic pocket knife has a (roughly) three-inch blade. This is where a long blade (for a pocket knife) comes in handy because some picnic foods can be thick. Most items such as sticks of butter, slices of cheese, loaves of bread, and even baby watermelons are quite reasonable for a blade of this length, but even a watermelon the size of Dirty Dancing can be handled with a pocket knife of this size. (Though this will need to be chopped up creatively .)
Reliable quality. Look for a blade made from good quality steel—for durability—and I lean toward forged metal rather than stamped metal for durability. There are some durable stamped metal blades, but they may need to be sharpened more often .
Reliable blade lock. Pocket knives attach to a handle, making them portable and pocket-safe. Turns out this makes a great picnic blanket. When the knife appears to be unused for a while, dry the blade and place it back into the handle. It’s worth noting that you should also choose a model that can lock in the open position. Then you can use the blade when cutting difficult objects without it moving towards you.
My personal picnic pocket knife
Personally, I use a Carved pocket knife with a titanium handle and a Damascus steel blade (bonus, it’s beautifully crafted too). If you hate fancy things and prefer something simpler, the 3-inch Smith Blade is the one for you.