Buck 110: Was purchased as part of a set gifted to my groomsmen. Beautiful knife, feels great, but way more knife than I can plausibly fit in my pocket, and I don’t really want a leather holster hanging off my hip all the time. More of a ceremonial and sentimental piece for me than anything else.

Spyderco Byrd Crossbill: First knife that was ever my proper every day carry. Feels great in the hand, and the hawkbill was great for cutting up cardboard boxes, but the tip proved to be a bit more stabby than I was comfortable with, and the back lock put my fingers in contact with the closing blade a few times.

Gerber Asada: Very solid knife. Cleaver shape is less threatening than the hawkbill. Smooth action, loved the big choil for extra control. I couldn’t close it one-handed, though, so I went to the…

CIVIVI Chevalier: I love this knife. Flips open and shut one handed like a dream. Doesn’t give scary vibes. Micarta is grippy and pleasant. Honestly, it would have been my forever knife, but I couldn’t suppress my curiosity about an even smaller knife, hence…

CRKT Squid Compact: It’s so wee! I ordered this and the Kansept Korvid M (after watching videos of people handle them I couldn’t quite bring myself to get the Korvid Mini) at the same time to see which I liked better, and the Squid won handily. The assisted open is snappy as all get out, and it’s so small that I can easily operate the liner lock with one hand, and honestly it’s so fun to operate that I scarcely put it down for the first couple of days I had it. It fits in the little change pocket in my jeans, and disappears into my hand when I make a fist. It is so small that it could nearly be difficult to handle, but a pinky lanyard makes it feel surprisingly stable in the hand. There’s something impressively ergonomic about a blade that is almost exactly the length of your thumb. I’m sure there must be use cases in which I’d wish for more knife than this, and for those I’ve still got the old Chevalier, but I’m pretty sure the Squid is going to cover about 90% of everything I could ever ask of a knife. And it’s so wee!