For most of recorded history, people worked with their hands, and a folding pocket knife was one of the tools they carried every day. Farmers, fishermen, hunters and carpenters all had one, and for centuries it was known simply as the peasant's knife. The jobs that made it necessary have mostly gone. The knife has not. Most of us no longer work with our hands to survive, but the folding knife is still in the pocket, opening packages and cutting fishing line. This is a short history of how it got there.
Folding Knives and Their History
The earliest folding knife on record is Celtic, found in Hallstatt in what is now Upper Austria and dated to around 600 to 500 BC: an iron blade in a bone handle, with no lock, so whoever used it held the blade open with a thumb.
As metalwork improved, so did the knife. Spain's navaja, an early locking folder, appears in the late 1600s, and it quickly became a way around laws that barred anyone but the nobility from carrying a sword. Thieves and assassins favored it, the authorities disliked it, and the humble folding knife picked up a reputation it did not deserve.
In 1891 the first Swiss Army knife arrived, a multi-blade folder built for soldiers with a screwdriver and a can opener alongside the blade. It is still one of the most carried folding knives in the world.
Folding Knives Today
The twentieth century made the modern folder. Stainless steel, developed in Germany in 1912, gave blades that resist rust, and the tool steels that followed gave them their edge. The D2 blade in the F1 Alpha descends from that work.
Makers such as Spyderco and Benchmade changed the category again in the 1980s with lightweight handle materials, one-hand opening and the pocket clip, which is why a folding knife now rides at the top of a pocket instead of the bottom of it.
Today there is a folding knife for almost any job, from a plain work knife to a collector's piece, and the designs keep moving: button locks, forged carbon handles, steels that hold an edge for months.
From an iron blade in a bone handle to a button-lock folder in forged carbon, the folding knife has stayed in the pocket for more than 2,500 years because it earns its place every day. If you are choosing one now, our folding knife guide covers the lock, the steel, the handle and the clip, and TEKTO's folders are all built on that checklist.
The Folders We Make
Four TEKTO folding knives, from the D2 liner lock to the button locks.
People Are Asking
What is the oldest folding knife ever found?
A Celtic folding knife from Hallstatt, in what is now Upper Austria, dated to around 600 to 500 BC. It has an iron blade and a bone handle and no lock. The user held the blade open with a thumb.
When was the Swiss Army knife invented?
The first Swiss Army knife was issued in 1891 as a soldier's knife with a blade, a screwdriver and a can opener. It is still one of the most carried folding knives in the world.
Who put the pocket clip on a folding knife?
Makers such as Spyderco and Benchmade popularized the pocket clip and one-hand opening in the 1980s. Before that a folder rode loose at the bottom of a pocket. The clip is why it now sits at the top.
Which TEKTO knives are folders?
The F1 Alpha (3.10-inch D2 liner lock), the F2 Bravo (3.30 inches, with forged carbon, titanium and G10 handle options), the F3 Charlie (3.80-inch button lock) and the F4 Echo (3.40-inch button lock tanto).
