The best Bowie knives to channel your inner Crocodile Dundee

Cold Steel’s drop-forged knives are characterized by being made from thick, monolithic slabs of tough 52100 steel, and the Survivalist is one of the largest knives in the series. The 52100 steel is commonly referred to as a “bearing steel,” and is a high-carbon steel alloy designed for high-pressure applications, which is why it’s still used for ball bearings. It’s also become extremely popular with knifemakers due to the addition of a small amount of chromium — not enough for it to qualify as stainless steel, but enough to greatly enhance the edge retention and toughness of the alloy, courtesy of the smaller, more refined carbide structure.

The older, gold-colored Survivalist models were known to commonly have the protective Teflon coating wear off under any sort of actual use, which defeated the purpose of coating the blade in the first place. Thankfully, the new version has been upgraded with a much more durable coating that held up very well in our testing. Cold Steel also made a few other improvements, most notably the addition of tough Grivory scales. Referred to by Cold Steel as Griv-Ex, Grivory is a type of fiber-reinforced nylon (or FRN). These Grivory scales have a stippled texture, and greatly enhance your grip, while pleasantly filling your hand. In addition to being impressively durable, Cold Steel made the hollows that the scales sit in a little deeper, resulting in a slight weight reduction, which is fantastic as it moves the center of balance to the right at the handguard.

Our only gripe with the Survivalist is actually more of an issue with Cold Steel’s fixed blades in general. The Secure-Ex sheath that comes with the majority of its fixed blades is very durable, due to being made from glass-reinforced nylon. It’s the reason that other manufacturers like Ka-bar commonly use glass-reinforced nylon for its sheaths. However, an unfortunate side-effect of using glass-reinforced nylon for sheaths is that, if you’re not careful to ride the spine of the blade against the sheath when drawing the knife, you risk the edge contacting the sheath. The internet is full of accounts of users who have found their knives prematurely dulled by the glass in these sheaths. In addition, the sheath is kind of bulky and feels cheap compared to Kydex. However, it is extremely durable and allows for a ton of mounting options if you don’t want to use the included belt loop.

Designed by custom knifemaker Alan Folts, the CRKT Minimalist series has become extremely popular, thanks to being small, lightweight, and surprisingly ergonomic. They are also extremely budget-friendly, which unfortunately means that they’re typically made from cheaper budget steels like 8Cr13MoV, or 5Cr15MoV if you purchase one of the older models. Thankfully, they’ve collaborated with Smoky Mountain Knife Works to bring you this exclusive Bowie.

It started off by upgrading to tough D2 tool steel, which is known for having great edge retention and is a noted improvement over the soft 5Cr15MoV used on the standard Bowie model. The deeply grooved, three-finger grip has been upgraded to premium micarta handle scales, which not only look amazing, but also slightly improve the grip in wet environments. We personally found them to be pretty comfortable, with the lanyard extension giving you a place for your pinky finger to sit, but should you desire a larger grip, Flytanium makes a variety of upgrade scales in different materials. While it would’ve been nice for CRKT to have given this blade a corrosion-resistant coating, as long as you keep the blade clean, dry, and oiled, you shouldn’t have any issues with rust forming.

Cold Steel has one of the largest lineups of production Bowie knives on the market, including both historical and modern designs. The Recon Scout is a lovely mixture of the two, featuring a modern Kray-Ex handle slightly reminiscent of a traditional coffin-style handle. Whereas historical Bowies of this design would typically have a brass crossguard, Cold Steel went with a guard made from 300-series stainless steel, which is not only tougher than brass, but also extremely corrosion-resistant.

The Recon Scout is the smaller brother of the popular Trail Master Bowie and features a similarly broad belly, straight clip point, and a slightly concave false edge. This swedge was actually sharpened on the model we tested, making it an excellent contender for making quick snap cuts. It’s worth noting that many users have found that current Recon Scouts don’t come with it sharpened, likely due to many locales restricting double-edged blades. And honestly, given how many times we’ve almost absent-mindedly cut ourselves on the sharpened swedge, this is probably for the best.

The current version comes in a premium, American-made CPM 3V steel, which is the perfect steel for a Bowie in our opinion. It’s one of a few steels that we frequently refer to as beater steel, due to its impressive toughness and solid edge retention. It’s not stainless steel but does offer better corrosion resistance than less-advanced alloys like 1075, 1085, and 1095. While you’ll want to maintain it by keeping it clean, dry, and lightly oiled, there are few steels out there as well suited to chopping and batoning, while still having the edge retention to skin a deer.

Strictly speaking, Bowies are fixed blades by definition. However, the Cold Steel Bush Ranger is one of the closest things you’ll find to a Bowie in a folder. The clip point blade is made from American-made CPM S35VN steel, and has the belly and pointy tip you’d expect from a Bowie — but that’s not what makes this the closest kin to a Bowie that you’ll find in a pocket knife.

Rather, it’s a result of Andrew Demko’s indomitable Tri-Ad lock, which has proven time and time again to be just as strong as any fixed blade on the market. I’ve only seen a select few Cold Steel Tri-Ad folders fail, and in every single case, it was the handle or blade that broke first — the lock was perfectly unperturbed by the trauma the knife had gone through. That’s exactly how fixed blades fail; either the handle gets damaged, or the blade straight up breaks.

The Bush Ranger is based on an older Cold Steel fixed blade of the same name, which was known for having an extremely comfortable handle. Similarly, this folder has an ergonomic handle CNC-machined out of FDE-colored G10. This makes it not only extremely comfortable, but also durable and lightweight. Cold Steel finished the blade off with a 90-degree spine, allowing you to easily throw sparks with a Ferro rod whenever you need a fire.

While most Bowies that are up to snuff nowadays are made from more modern materials such as micarta or G10 handles, premium steels, and Kydex sheaths, the Undertaker is something different. Made by Condor Knife & Tool in El Salvador, designed by Joe Flowers, and unabashedly made from classic materials, this blade is an absolute beauty.

Forged from tough 1075 carbon steel, the Undertaker is the largest knife on our list, with a blade length of just over 10 inches, and an overall length of 15.5 inches. The blade’s spine is five-millimeters thick, hollow-ground, and hand-finished, enabling it to take a hair-splitting edge. While the traditional walnut coffin-style handle isn’t the most ergonomic, it’s far from uncomfortable and is perfectly complemented by the thick, handmade leather sheath that comes with it.

With military contracts going back decades, the Ontario Knife Company is no stranger to tactical blades, so it came out with its Spec Plus lineup. Designed for hard use in the most trying environments, the SP10 is an American-made Bowie crafted from tough 1075 carbon steel. The blade is 6.4 millimeters thick, with a deep belly for powerful slicing cuts.

While normally you’d need to keep a carbon steel blade clean, dry, and lightly oiled to hold oxidation and rust at bay, Ontario preemptively powder-coated the entire knife. The full tang is encased in ergonomic Kraton handles, which completely eliminate any potential hotspots, in addition to being extremely durable and shock-absorbent. Lastly, Ontario included a MOLLE-compatible nylon sheath, allowing you to mount it conveniently on either your belt, pack, or flak. Whether for batoning firewood or hacking through the zombie apocalypse, the SP10 has your back.