Neck knife recommendations

I can't imagine neck carry as not being obtrusive or even easier to access than belt or pocket carry. I'm quite happy with my Bradford Guardian 3 (Magnacut), though the horizontal sheath isn't all that practical. Works for pocket carry though, being relatively thin.
 
The absolute best neck knife that I have found that : 1) I will actually wear, 2) Is pretty much hidden under a normal tee shirt, and 3) Effective at boring tasks as well as SD is the already mentioned Spyderco ARK.
I don't care for neck knives much, but the ARK has become my go-to beach vacation knife over the last couple of years. It's super lightweight to where I actually forget I have it on my person. It's rustproof being made out of H1. It's got enough size to open snack wrappers on the beach but would put a serious hurt on an attacker.
One of the co-designers of the ARK is a member here (and a super good guy). The original name stood for Anti-Rape Knife before Sypderco's PR department probably wisely renamed it Always Ready Knife;) The idea was a neck knife that was small enough to always wear on your person and required almost no care. The blade shape is designed in such a way that it can deliver effective slashes and stabs to nearly any part of person who is attacking you from behind. The sheath is even designed for the knife to be easily drawn straight down but kinda hangs up when you pull it from an angle so that it's difficult for an attacker to draw it should they grab it. The chain is break-away dog tag so that it cannot be used to strangle you.

These sound like very specific and pretty grim design choices, but the problem this knife was designed to solve was the sexual assault in the showers of both male and female service members stationed over seas. It was a big enough issue that the ARK was designed around that. However, it is just a flat out useful knife. Nothing I would carry to use EDC for all things as it is small, but as a backup that is rust proof when I don't have any pockets, it makes for a great vacation knife.
 
Never could get into neck carry or horizontal carry either. Give me that old fashioned vertical belt carry all day!! 👍😁👍
John 🍻
 
Alberta Ed said:
I can't imagine neck carry as not being obtrusive or even easier to access than belt or pocket carry.
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Being in an open-carry state, I want a knife to be plainly visible, not unobtrusive. But regarding access, consider:
* Cold weather, you're dressed in layers, which you must repeatedly put on or take of during the day. A neck knife simply stays on top of all the layers.
* If it's a Spyderco ARK or Subway Bowie, you can even wear it into the shower.
* You are driving with a seat belt on, and your spouse wants to use your knife to open an ebay package wrapped in 10 layers of tape.
 
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I'm not generally a big neck knife guy because I find most so-called "neck knives" are too heavy and awkward to actually be worn comfortably around the neck vs.. well, anywhere else. It's not so much the actual weight of the knife that bothers me, it's the bouncing around or excessive movement of the setup.. For me.. characteristics of a "good" (meaning; the greatest likelihood that I'll actually wear the thing) neck knife are..

1) lightweight. The heavier it is the more it wants to bounce around.. no thank you..
2) width of the sheath; wider sheaths keep the knife laying flatter against your body and reduce the bouncing around.
3) thin handle designs that prevent printing

The Spyderco/Perrin Subway Bowie is one of my favorite neck knives that I can put on and forget about until I need it. Fred Perrin has number of nice designs.. another favorite is his "Le Chestnut," an almost utility/hawkbill style knife that is quite handy and small enough that I'll actually wear it sometimes. If they get too heavy, I find my "neck knives" quickly turn into "drawer knives" or "bottom of the pack knives" hahah..
 
rlewpolar said:
To be fair, I don’t think he has the intention of actually slashing tires, just that he thinks that if you can slash a tire and not hurt yourself, it’s probably good for everything else you might put the knife through. But, I agree, it’s a strange thing to verbalize let alone aspire to
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It is a strange kind of thing to say out loud or ever. If someone wanted me to buy them a knife and they said that, they'd probably be getting a lot of blunt and dull gifts from that point on just to stop them from getting into too much trouble while they're unsupervised.
 
I have always wanted to get a le duck. Just never gotten around to it.

I like the idea of that clip that locks the knife in.

 
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