Top 11 Best Gardening Knives On The Market
If you are new to gardening or looking to update your current gardening collection, one of the most important tools to invest in is a gardening knife. It might surprise you how often a good gardening knife comes in handy. Some of the best gardening knives on the market are multi-purpose, making them an ideal and well-rounded tool for everyday gardeners. These assist with cutting through weeds, pruning, digging and more.
With that, let’s take a look at some of the best gardening knives on the market. The best gardening knives are in no particular order and are categorized as either Hori Hori knives or folding garden knives.
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Top 11 Best Gardening Knives
- Garden Guru Hori Hori Garden Knife
- Nisaku NJP800 Weeding & Digging Knife
- Barebones Living Classic Walnut Hori Hori
- Fiskars Big Grip Garden Knife
- A.M Leonard Deluxe Stainless Steel Soil Knife
- Truly Garden Hori Hori Knife
- Truly Garden Folding Garden Knife
- Opinel No.08 Carbon Steel Folding Pocket Knife
- Rexbeti 11 Inch Folding Saw
- Coltellerie Berti Fratelli Roncola Foraging Pocket Knife
- Victorinox Budding & Grafting Knife
Hori Hori Knives
Hori Hori knives are growing in popularity due to their impeccable versatility. These Japanese-designed knives are heavily serrated and can be used to weed, measure, transplant, saw and cut, making them an exceptional multi-purpose garden tool.
These knives combine everything you need into one high-quality garden tool. There are many variations of Hori Hori knives that come in different shapes, sizes and materials.
1) Garden Guru Hori Hori Garden Knife
The feature that makes the Garden Guru Hori Hori Knife stand out is the quality of the blade. It is made from stainless steel and full tang. This means the blade runs all the way down to the handle as opposed to stopping at the base. This makes it so that the blade is less likely and much harder to snap. Gardening can be quite a labour-intensive activity, putting your knife to the test through repetitive movement. Therefore, having a durable blade is important.
Another feature to note about the Garden Guru Hori Hori knife is its multi-functional design. The blade is thick, wide and concave, making it suitable for digging. It has a serrated edge for sawing, a sharp flat edge for cutting and a spear point that can be used for planting. In addition, it has inch markers to measure the planting depths in the soil.
Most retailers that sell the Garden Guru Hori Hori deluxe set will include a sheath to store the knife away when it’s not in use. In addition, it also comes with a sharpening stone.
2) Nisaku NJP800 Weeding & Digging Knife
The Nisaku NJP800 Weeding & Digging Knife has the expected features of an excellent Hori Hori knife: a concave blade for digging, a sharp bevelled edge for slicing, a serrated edge for sawing, and inch markers for planting.
What sets this knife apart from the others on the market is its handle. This knife is designed with an ergonomic plastic handle rather than a straight wooden handle (a common choice for Hori Hori knives). Typically, Hori Hori knives are sharp on both edges of the blades. Therefore, when gardening with a straight handle Hori Hori knife, there is always a risk of your hand slipping. The purpose of the handle on the Nisaku NJP800 is to protect your hands and decrease the likeliness of an accidental injury.
Nisaku features various other popular gardening Hori Hori knives, such as the NJP650. However, they feature wooden handles rather than the ergonomic plastic handle of the NJP800. This knife also comes with a leather sheath and snap-loop to attach the knife to your belt.
3) Barebones Living Classic Walnut Hori Hori
The Barebones Living Classic Walnut Hori-Hori is a reliable and fantastic tool to add to any gardener’s caddy. It features a full-tang stainless steel hollow back blade perfect for pulling weeds, digging and measuring soil depths.
In addition, this knife has a twine cutter that doubles as a bottle opener. If you are seeking out a Hori Hori that serves multiple purposes and can withstand heavier use, this is the knife for you.
The only downside to this Hori Hori knife is that it does not come with a sheath. If you consider this knife and want a sheath, we recommend the Kanroot leather sheath.
4) Fiskars Big Grip Garden Knife
Although the Fiskars Big Grip Garden Knife is not advertised as a Hori Hori knife, it has the same concave design, with a bevelled edge on one side and a serrated edge on the other.
Made by the Finnish company Fiskars, what sets this garden knife apart is its dual-pronged tip. This makes it much easier to use the knife for weeding in soft soil. It also focuses on hand comfort with an ergonomic soft-moulded plastic handle.
The knife’s blade is not full-tang, meaning that the knife blade stops at the edge of the handle (the handle is moulded over it). This is important to note as it makes the blade more susceptible to breaking when used for heavy-duty tasks or repetitive weighted stress. The Fiskars Big Grip Garden Knife is advertised as being suitably used for soft-soil tasks, and in those circumstances, there is less need for a full-tang blade.
5) A.M Leonard Deluxe Stainless Steel Soil Knife
The A.M Leonard Deluxe Stainless Steel Soil Knife is again in the Hori Hori style in all but its name. It has all of the usual Hori Hori features, including a concave blade, a sharp and serrated edge, and inch markers.
As with the Fiskars knife, it has a soft-moulded ergonomic handle. In addition, it incorporates a twine-cutting notch that can come in handy for many gardening tasks. However, what sets this knife apart is the quality of the blade. It is noticeably sharp and can withhold 300 lbs of pressure. The serrated edge is made with aggressive serrations, which makes it easier to saw. It should be noted that it is slightly shorter than many knives of this kind, at 6 inches.
6) Truly Garden Hori Hori Knife
The Truly Garden Hori Hori Knife is a classic Hori Hori knife with impeccable build quality, which you would expect from such a design. While the handle is wooden, it features a safety guard to prevent your hand from slipping onto the blade when in use. In addition, the blade is full-tang, which means that the metal passes all the way through the handle. This makes it less likely that the blade will snap during heavy-duty use, and it means that the knife as a whole is weighted nicely.
Of course, it also has all the usual hori-hori features, such as a concave blade, serrated and sharp edge, and inch markers. This knife also comes with a diamond sharpening tool to help keep the blade working at its best. In addition, there is a heavy-duty leather seat to safely store your Truly Garden Hori Hori Knife when not in use.
Folding Garden Knives
While Hori Hori knives are a superb idea for those seeking a multi-purpose gardening knife, not everyone is looking for a knife that can do everything. Folding garden knives are not only a simple tool for the garden but also for your everyday life.
With that being said, here are five options for folding garden knives.
7) Truly Garden Folding Garden Knife
The Truly Garden Folding Garden Knife has a razor-sharp, 3-inch hawkbill curved blade. It can be used for various gardening tasks, including budding, grafting, cutting, opening bags, cutting twine, and harvesting. In addition, it has a sturdy safety locking mechanism so that it can easily be locked. However, the locking mechanism can be a little stiff and pose some difficulty for people with lower grip strength. For this reason, it is recommended to oil up the knife frequently.
Lastly, when folded, this knife is small enough to fit into your pocket.
8) Opinel No.08 Carbon Steel Folding Pocket Knife
Not only is the Opinel No.08 Carbon Steel Folding a classic, but it just so happens to be our favourite knife that we use for everyday situations, hiking and camping and in our garden!
Opinel has been making folding knives for over 100 years and continues to be a popular knife choice for many folks. This is due to the simplicity and durability of their design.
The knife blade is made of carbon steel and is 3 1/4 inches long. It folds and locks with the Vibroloc locking ring, which is designed to make it almost impossible for the knife to come out of position when it is opened or closed. It also has a varnished wooden handle and, at 4 1/4 inches when closed, makes it easy to fit into your pocket.
It has a straight blade suitable for garden-cutting tasks, wood carving, and DIY projects. The blade is easy to sharpen, and the carbon steel means that it holds its sharp edge. It is sturdy and durable, yet simple.
9) Rexbeti 11 Inch Folding Saw
If you’re looking for something a bit more heavy-duty than your standard folding knife, then the Rexbeti 11-inch Folding Saw could be the tool for you.
The 11-inch blade is extra-long, and it has an aggressively serrated edge, making it perfect for sawing through green wood, dry wood, plastic, and even bone. It can be used for tree trimming, pruning, branch removal, and small tree removal in the garden. The serrations are two sets of staggered teeth, designed so that it saws on both the pull and the push, making your sawing much more efficient.
The long rubber handle is anti-slip and is designed to be used by both right and left-handed people. When folded, there are no serrations exposed. Although there is no locking mechanism, the friction does keep the blade in place.
10) Coltellerie Berti Fratelli Roncola Foraging Pocket Knife
The Coltellerie Berti Fratelli Roncola Foraging Pocket Knife may be at a higher price point than its competitors on the market but for a good reason. It is designed to last a lifetime and be “the only garden knife you will ever need.”
Made in Italy, it has a curved blade that is extremely sharp and hand-forged to the highest quality. The handle is lucite, and the blade folds into it so that it can be carried in your pocket easily. This knife comes with a gift box canister, with matches and twine as a symbol that you should “never leave home without the means to cut, bind, and illuminate,” as well as a certificate with some of the history of the knife.
11) Victorinox Budding & Grafting Knife
The Victorinox Budding & Grafting Knife is made in Switzerland and resembles a Swiss Army knife. However, unlike a Swiss Army knife, the Victorinox is specifically designed for gardening and does not feature any additional tools. Because of this specialization, the blade quality is excellent.
This knife is designed for grafting and budding. It features a bark lifter at the end and a flat, rather than pointed, edge blade. The blade is 1/4 inch long, and it folds nicely back into the handle.
It is worth mentioning that the blade is extremely sharp, and, as with most knives in this style, there is no open-locking mechanism. Take caution when using.
The Bottom Line
With so many gardening knives on the market, narrowing down which one is best for you can be difficult. Therefore, it is important to take some time before purchasing to research each knife and its functioning in order to find the perfect knife for all your gardening needs.
