The Mighty Fallkniven A1 L Tactical Knife Review

After viewing their website, you may ask yourself why should you buy such an expensive tool as a Fallkniven A1 L Tactical Knife for such a rugged and demanding purpose as outdoor survival?

Well, the answer to that is in addition to excellent design, craftsmanship, and choice of materials, when you purchase a Fallkniven knife, you get reliability.

Testing the Fallkniven A1 L Tactical Knife

In fact, when you find yourself in the position where your life depends on a well designed, truly reliable fixed blade knife, what seemed expensive when you bought it will seem truly cheap when you desperately need it and it. In fact, your knife will probably quickly become your best friend!

Thus, instead of thinking of the Fallkniven A1 L as an expensive outdoor item, think of it instead as an inexpensive insurance policy. In fact, Fallkniven has gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about cutlery over the years through feedback from both manufacturers and customers and thus, to assure their first-rate quality, Fallkniven knives are rigorously tested at the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden to see how well they can be expected to hold up in the field.

Consequently, this testing has led them to the conclusion that Fallkniven knives are the strongest, serial manufactured, stainless steel knives in the world and therefore, Fallkniven now manufactures the World’s leading, specialized, knife in the form of the A1 series survival knives.

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In fact, according to Fallkniven “The model A1 is a semi-large, all-purpose, knife for heavy-duty use. The powerful blade is made from extremely hard, yet tough, VG10 steel and it will withstand the stress of hard use. The knife is superb to chop with but it also works well for daily tasks thanks to the ergonomic grip. The full-tang goes entirely through the Kraton handle so that you can strike with the end without breaking the grip.

Specs and Other Important Aspects Regarding the Fallkniven A1 L Tactical Knife

The sturdy black Zytel sheath allows you to fasten the knife on your belt or your pack even upside down.” With an overall length of 11″ and a blade length of 6 1/3″ made from 1/4″, laminated, VG10 stainless steel hardened to a Rockwell hardness of 59, this knife is certainly large and sturdily-built enough to serve well as a dedicated survival knife even in the most extreme conditions.

In addition, the long, slim, clip point Bowie style blade with the false edge on the clip and the high, flat, grind along the edge combined with the minuscule choil and the tiny ricasso at the back of the blade make this design an excellent choice for general-purpose camp and survival use!

In addition, the overall length and significant weight of this knife (12 oz.), combined with the handle shape and rubber-like grip material that allows the user to slide their hand well back and still retain a positive grip on the knife while performing light chopping tasks, is well thought out and ergonomically designed. Also, the choice of the hard, yet tough, VG 10 laminated stainless steel is a thoughtful, no compromise, design feature.

Although this steel is more expensive than most other knife steels, the hard center layer made from high carbon steel will take, and hold an extremely sharp edge. But, by nature, such hard, high-carbon, steels also tend to be brittle and thus, the inventor’s of VG 10 decided to laminate two outer layers of tougher and more flexible stainless steel to the hard, high-carbon, core steel in a manner very similar to the way the original Japanese Katana was forged. Therefore, this particular steel combines the best qualities of both hard and tough knife sheets of steel which makes it an excellent choice for a premier quality survival knife.

More about the Fallkniven A1 L Tactical Knife

In addition, the clip point Bowie style blade is, in my opinion, the best, general-purpose, survival knife, blade shape in existence, and the long, straight, edge of the A1 L with its slight forward positive angle and flat grind is an excellent choice for sharpening stakes and carving notches for set and spring traps and the moderate sweep from the edge to the tip is excellently shaped for skinning and butchering game.

Also, another feature that I really like about the Fallkiven A1 L is the small choil (notch) at the back of the blade’s edge which allows it to be sharpened all of the to the ricasso (straight unsharpened part) and I also particularly like the fact that the ricasso is minuscule and thus, the beginning of the edge is placed very close to the user’s hand at the quillion which increases leverage when carving.

However, as pleased as I am with the overall design of Fallkniven A1 L, the blade length of 6 1/3″ inches is a bit too short to make a truly effective chopping tool. However, I also believe that if the blade were significantly lengthened, it would compromise the overall utility of this knife design. Consequently, if I were given the choice, I would like to mate this knife with a larger and longer knife that is specifically designed for heavy chopping jobs so that I could preserve the edge on my A1 L for fine carving work and preparing the game for consumption.

Similar Items To the Fallkniven A1 L Tactical Knife

Spyderco Opus Specialty Folding Knife

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Coming with a 3.75 inches long CPM S30V premium stainless steel blade, the Spyderco Opus Specialty Folding Knife holds up quite well to just about any challenge.

Also, the black textured G-10 handle is an epoxy filled woven glass fiber. It is rigid, non-slip, and impervious to temperature changes and chemicals. Furthermore, the blade ground with flat bevels extends from the spine all the way to the cutting edge. This grind reduces drag during cutting and decreases overall weight.

Above all, the total length of the Spyderco Opus Specialty Folding Knife is 8.84 inches when fully open, and 5.09 inches when it’s closed. The full flat grind is what helps is be so resilient despite its size.

Spyderco Manix 2 XL Folding Knife

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Being an oversized version of the original Spyderco Manix 2, the XL variant is perfect for bigger hands and tasks that demand a longer blade.

Its scaled G-10 handle has a unique non-slip checked texture. Thus, the handle provides a special kind of comfort. It creates a reliable, long-term carrying solution.

Furthermore, the Spyderco Manix 2 XL Folding Knife has a blade ground with flat bevels that extend from the spine all the way to the cutting edge. Finally, it has a ball-bearing lock that wedges a ball bearing between a fixed anvil and the blade tang.

What does this mean? It means that the mechanism locks the blade tightly when you open it and also serves as a detent to hold the blade in the closed position.

Conclusion about the Fallkniven A1 L Tactical Knife

Thus, in my opinion, the Fallkniven A1 L survival knife is about as close to the perfect tactical knife as one can get, and in fact, I honestly can’t think of anything that I would change about it! Also, please note that the A1 series is available in several different models with different finishes to suit individual tastes and purposes.