If you’ve been paying attention at Home Depot, one of the most popular utility knives you can buy is Milwaukee’s Fastback lineup. These are well liked for the tool-less blade changes, flick-open-and-closed design, low price, and, on some models, extra features.
Thing is, there’s a lot of competition in this space, so are those actually the best ones? Well, they are, but I didn’t know that, so I went out and bought a lot, and then used them. So let’s talk about those so you know what I know.
The Candidates
To get a feel for this, I bought twelve different variants of these knives to test. I tried to cover every major brand in the tool landscape. There are more out there, but when I got the 10th knife in, I learned that there is such a thing as a limit to how many of these one person can bear owning, and that’s 12.
Here are the knives:
- Milwaukee Fastback
- Milwaukee Fastback Compact
- Milwaukee Slide Out
- Klein
- DeWalt
- Wiha
- DeWalt Compact
- Irwin
- Crescent
- Bosch
- OX Tools
- Makita
I tested each for at least four days of construction work to get a feel for how they operate, with the exception of three knives, which I found too poor to test for that long.
The factors I paid the most attention to:
- Ease of opening
- Ease of closing
- Reliability of locking open
- Ease of blade change
- Confidence the blade won’t release when cutting
- Comfort in hand
- Comfort in pocket
- Pocket clip quality
- Presumed durability (I have not owned these nearly long enough to know on this)
Let’s go through the list, but I am not going to call out or rate each category. I’ll tell you the good and bad about each.
Three Rejects
First, the rejected knives.
OX Tools: This was a huge disappointment to me, as I had really hoped this knife was good. But it doesn’t flick open, even with me working the pivot, adding knife lube, and trying to adjust the pivot screw. It’s just too stiff. It’s also huge, so while it’s comfortable in hand, it’s silly to carry. The handle is much longer than needed, and the entire kit is a letdown.
Crescent: I thought this would be shitty when I got it, and it turns out that it is indeed shitty. Nothing about this knife is redeemable. Nothing.
Irwin: Notice I didn’t say that the Crescent was the worst, and that’s because this Irwin is the worst. Whoever designed this has never used a knife. Like any knife, not even a butter knife. I’ll be throwing this in the garbage after I hit publish here.
The Not Bad, But Not Contenders
Bosch: I thought, when I ordered this, “I bet this is the one,” but instead it’s shit I could not stand to use for more than a couple hours. I was able to get the pivot to a point where it almost flicks open, but I had to loosen it a lot. The knife is comfortable in hand and is shaped better when carrying it, but it’s a no from me.
Milwaukee Slide Out: Here I was thinking that this could be quite cool. And I like the little prybar scraper on the back—that’s great. But the slide mechanism is stiff. It’s uncomfortable to carry in your pocket, and uncomfortable to hold. But the killer for me is that it’s not even close to ambidextrous. I bet I would have liked it more if I could use it with my left hand better.
Makita: I hate that I have to list this here because this is so close to being great. The handle, the size, the fit and finish are all fantastic on this. It’s a really nice kit. However, I cannot get this thing to flick at all, and the design of most of these is such that you have to depress the lock to open them, so it’s not even easy to use the thumb opener, as you have to press the lock and then flick/push it open. It feels great in hand and pocket, and I really like the design; they just need to get the pivot to flick. I tried everything to get it to, but it won’t. Bummer.
DeWalt Compact/Atomic: This thing is so close, but there are two downsides to it. It’s very thin, and the flick on it is fantastic. The size is really nice, as it’s possibly the easiest of all the knives to carry. The downside is the lock button: it’s very slick, right at the edge, and contortionist-worthy to engage properly. It’s not that I can’t do it; it’s that I dropped the knife several times while doing it, and, well, not great. It’s not that comfortable in hand either, but it’s comfortable enough that the only thing holding this back is that locking button. If you really like this, maybe put grip tape on that button. I might try that.
Now The Good Ones
Before I dive into these, I should say that each of these is so similar and close that I would not begrudge anyone for choosing any one of them. You might note I am missing 2–3 Fastbacks, but they simply get larger and add features I don’t give a crap about. So that’s why. I’ll list these in order of my preference, ending with the knife I prefer the most.
Wiha: This is good, but there are two issues. The first is the pocket clip. It’s the antithesis of a deep-carry clip, and is baffling. It’s a bad clip. The second issue is the locking buttons, both for the main lock and the blade lock. They are polished nickel-type metal, rounded and small. They are not hard to use, but they are much slicker than the others, and the pressure to use them is more concentrated on your finger and simply doesn’t feel great. The rest of the knife is fantastic, but this grouping is so close that the little things matter now. Fix one of those two issues and this moves up the ranking.
DeWalt: We are now at the level where this could flip-flop with the next two, and I wouldn’t complain. The action on this is great. The pocket clip is a wire deep carry, and it’s great. This is one of the only knives that allows you to change the pocket clip position! Legend. One note (not good or bad) is that the blade release on this is a lever you push up, so if you have issues with the button release, there you go. It has onboard blade storage as well. It’s not very ergonomic, but it still manages to be quite comfortable. In a lot of ways this feels like a utility knife in hand, not like a folding utility knife. That’s good and bad. It’s a chonk for sure, but I like it. What’s holding it down is that, compared to the ones ahead of it, it feels slightly less refined in materials and finishing.
Milwaukee Fastback Classic: This is the classic full-sized Fastback without any extra features on it. It’s really fucking good. It’s actually tied for second for me with the next one. The clip is great, as are the ergonomics and overall size, and the action on the blade is fucking legit. The sound it makes is very satisfying too. The only downside: the v-cutter on the back of the handle. I don’t need that or want that. Otherwise, it’s nearly perfect and very inexpensive.
Klein: I love this knife. It’s nearly the same size as the last one, and tied with it. Instead of a metal body, it has a plasticky one, but it still feels solid while shedding weight. The action is great and easy to use. It adds a feature I actually like, which is a mid-open blade position for an articulated cutting angle. That’s great for drywall work, and a gem. Some don’t like that because you can get the knife locking there instead of fully open. I found that to be an issue about one out of twenty times when opening the blade. The real drawback is the pocket clip. It’s massive, and not very deep. It works really well on tool bags or aprons, and is easy to secure, but it works less well on your pocket edge. This is a very worthy contender.
And now, my favorite of the lot.
Milwaukee Fastback Compact: This is effectively perfect. No bullshit, all utility (knife), executed nearly flawlessly. The excellent Fastback action. But now in a body that’s smaller, no v-cutter crap, good pocket clip, poly-plasticky body that saves weight. Same great thunk on lockup and close. Perfectly sized button and location. Not even the wire-stripper gimmick on the blade when deployed. All in on just being a utility blade. The handle is shaped very well, and somehow this is even less money. If there is a downside to this, it’s that I can’t move the pocket clip, and only the DeWalt does that. This is the pick.
If I didn’t test your favorite, send a link my way.