How To Wear A Boot Knife: Every Method & Advice You Need

What image comes to your mind when you hear about a boot knife? Some people think about Cowboys or heavily armed paratroopers having a knife hidden within the boot.

In practical life though, people are carrying one for self-defense, hiking purposes, or as a backup weapon. You may already know these things if you are planning to use a boot knife.
But you don’t want to lose your precious knife and come back home with a sad face, right? That is why you should know how to wear a boot knife. And that is the equally important thing as using one.

What is a Boot Knife?

For your information, Boot Knife is a small & lightweight knife that is designed to carry in a boot. They come in a size of 3-9 inches. Most of the boot knives are dagger knives, which means to have dual-edge. The sheath, acting as its cover, comes with either a clip or belt to hook up with the boots. 

Why do you need a Boot Knife?

A boot knife is an EDC item for outdoor usages, especially for those who have to be outside for long and go through several experiences a day. So, as you can assume, it serves you for so many purposes. 

• Concealed Weapon – You can hide this knife inside your boot. It is a potential law-defying offense in different countries & places unless you are a law enforcer there. In case if you have lost your weapon or you need self-defense, then this concealed weapon can be your last resort. 
• Delivery Jobs – In a delivery job, you will need to open a package, cut a rope or twine, and for self-protection sometimes. So a boot knife comes in handy as it is easy to carry.
• Knife Throwing Competition – Because of the shape and size, a boot knife is pretty awesome for throwing competitions.
• Traveling & Hiking – When you’re traveling, you may need a knife in your backpack. Carrying something inside a backpack sometimes gives a hard time finding. And if it is a case of self-defense, then you must draw your knife out as quickly as possible. So carry a boot knife. You can easily draw it out.

How to wear A Boot Knife:

You can wear a boot knife in 4 different ways:

1. Inside the boot
2. Outside the boot
3. Inside a pocket on the boot
4. Inside the laces

All these methods have bright & dark sides. Let’s take a look at their details.

Mounting Inside the Boot Knife

This is the simplest way to wear a boot knife. Just put your knife into its sheath, tip-down, mount it into the boot.

The knife is safe inside the boot, right? That is what people think initially. But this method is not always that good. Because when you walk or run, your knife sheath will react to the flop & bump from your boot. So it will slowly come out, and you will end up losing your precious knife.
If you don’t want to get caught, then you can follow two ways. One is to attach the sheath to your ankle or inside. Tighten up the lace or clip of the sheath. But you are going to feel uncomfortable after more or less than an hour with it. So you can also find a holster that wraps around your ankle. That way, this method can be the safest.

 

Strapping Outside the Boot Knife

So if you are not going to slide the knife inside your boot, then you can strap it outside. That is another quality alternative to mount the knife inside.

But your knife is not going to get privacy when you are going to attach it outside the boot. So avoiding this method in crowded areas is a suggestion for you.

You can follow this method only when you are wearing a knife lower than the boot size. But in case you have a longer knife than the boot, you will have to strap the knife to your calf.

You can find holsters that are designed to attach your boot knife to the boot laces, which makes it even easier.

 

Keeping Inside Boot Pocket Knife

You can consider it a fusion between inside and outside boot knife methods. Just buy a pair of boots that has a built-in knife pocket.

Though, you may find it a difficult choice if your desired knife does not fit into the knife pocket. So, whenever you buy that kind of shoe, make sure to check out if it suits your knife. Or you can just buy a knife that suits your boot knife pocket.

 

Inside the Laces

So if you already have a particularly small knife and long laced weave boot, you can put the knife sheath in between the tongue of your boot and its lace weave.

You can use this method for a boot like combat boot, hiking boot, hunting boot.

 

Choose The Perfect Knife For Yourself:

There are a few significant facts you need to consider while choosing a knife.

1. Material: Stainless steel knives are the best in the business. You can also find Steel-Aloy blend blades, but they possess a fragile nature. You will need a lightweight boot knife. So the fragility of the knife may cause you frustration.
2. Weight: Prioritize the knife’s weight. A lightweight knife easily fits into your boot and barely makes any difference between the weight of your boot pair.
   A heavier knife tends to be sturdier in comparison. But if you have to bear an extra weight in your other leg, then you’ll walk differently. And carrying it all day long will naturally cause you back.
   The usual weight of the best boot knives varies in between 3-6 ounces (85-170 gm).
   
3. Length: Make sure your knife is smaller than your boot height. Unless of course, they will become a reason of discomfort rather than great assistance. And you are going to throw it away the next day. In that case, a Smaller Knife offers you versatile ways of wearing it in your boot. Especially for a low-cut boot, you would like to choose a knife as little & sturdy as possible. So, The smaller, the better. 
4. A Fixed knife tends to be thinner and Lighter than a Folding Knife. On the contrary, the fixed knife can take small space lengthwise. The question is, which one is better for you? You will get to know soon.
   • You can draw out a fixed knife almost twice faster than a folding knife. Because, after you take out a folding knife, you will need to unfold it.
   • A folded knife is thicker. When you will put the knife inside your boot or the bootlace, it will be bulky there and way too uncomfortable. Fixed blade wins the race here.
   • Among the same material-built Fixed & Folding knife, folding one tends to be a bit heavier. So using fixed will save you some weight to bear
     So, you can easily understand how superior a fixed knife stands when compared to a folding knife.
     
5. Handle: Knife Handle enables you to hold & grip a knife with ease. The better handle, the better grip. So choose a knife that has a smartly designed handle. Another key factor is the blade-handle ratio. The lesser difference between their ratio, the more efficiency you will get.
6. Tang: Full tang, Half tang, No tang – Knife tangs are available in these three forms. A full tang knife comes with a single steel blade running through the handle. A full tang maintains the balance by distributing the weight all over the knife. For a knife without tang, the handle only equalizes the weight of the blade.
7. Blade Point: This is one other important thing you may need to notice. For daily uses, blade points do not make much of a difference. But if you intend to buy a boot knife to take care of particular priorities, then you need to select a knife with the right blade point.

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Different Types of Knife Blade Points

The design of the blade point classifies different types of boot knives, which can vary significantly. Which blade point of boot knives will serve you better? Let’s take a look :

Clip Point

The Clip-point knife comes with a curvy blade and acute point. The tip provides extreme precision while cutting and serves a handsome range of purposes. This versatility makes it quite popular. 

Drop Point

Drop point knife works in the role of a hunting knife. This blade design features a slightly curved spine. It does the work of field dressing, skinning, and butchering with ease. The drop-point blade is thicker, which makes it stronger. But cutting rope & other camping-related works is not its field of expertise.

Tanto Point

The tanto-point has an incredibly sharp point. The unique design allows you to severe & stab, even throw a hard material. So if you need to puncture something, this is the ideal blade point for you. But the structure is not good enough for chopping something like vegetables.

Straight Point

Straight Point is designed with a straight spine running parallel with the handle. The tip curves up slightly at the front. This knife is good at chopping. This design is used in steak and kitchen knives. So keeping a Straight point boot knife is as good as carrying a miniature kitchen knife.

Spear Point

Spear-point blade is symmetrical or near-symmetric and carries a point that lies horizontally on the centerline of the knife. As the tip is in line with the blade and handle, it is naturally easier to control. Spear points can come in both single & double edges. The double-edge design is used for making boot knives.
Spearpoint knife is suitable for knife throwing competitions (mentioned earlier).

Trailing Point

The trailing-point blade is designed as a lightweight, upward-curving blade. The tip is acute and trails behind the blade to carve out a unique shape. It is suitable for skinning and slicing. Trailing point knives are the best for self-defense, but not very versatile. Also, you may need to be aware of the local laws wherever you carry this knife. Because they are illegal in some places.

Tips for Carrying a Boot Knife

You have learned the fundamental knowledge of how to wear a boot knife. Knowing until this point should be enough. But here are some tips for you. Following them will make your experience with the knife more comfortable.

Don’t Forget to Use a Knife Sheath

You don’t want a situation of shedding blood from your knife unknowingly, right? Then never ever forget to wear a knife sheath. Regardless if you put a bare knife in or outside the boot, it can easily get through the nearby skin.
Even worse if it cut you while hiking because you can easily catch an infection without proper medication.
So as you can see, no good aftermath would be waiting for you there.

Which foot to prioritize?

Are you Right-handed, or left? Wear your boot knife on your dominant hand side.
So, you would like to put the knife on your dominant foot side as well. Because it is easier to draw the knife from there.
However, sometimes you may want to conceal your knife like none will ever notice it unless you draw out the knife. In that case, putting it inside the boot should be enough. For further more concealing, you can use your foot of the weaker hand side.

Stay Aware of the Local Laws

In many places, weapon concealment goes against the law. Especially in the restricted areas, you will go under intense interrogation or even trial for concealing a weapon.

So wherever you go, make sure to learn their laws.

Practice Drawing and Holstering the Knife

Taking a boot knife in for security? Then drawing a knife is the first task, after buying and setting up the knife sheath.

Imagine, you are hiking. Suddenly you confronted a wild boar. They react quickly to attack and will approach you fast. At that very moment, you are so shaken that you couldn’t draw your knife yet. That will be the end of the line for you.

So at a moment like that, you should fast to react as well.

So spend some time on drawing the knife out. Start drawing out slowly. Build muscle memory. Then try drawing out fast

Never Leave the Knife Unsecured

This is a minor case scenario but can end up saving a life.

If there is a possibility that your boot can be within the range of a child, make sure to take it off from your boots. Children are inquisitive and can easily be attracted to a unique object. Your knife sheath will be attractive enough to lure a kid to it. So Remove that unforeseen possibility.

If you are interested in learning more about knives your boots, you can take a look at the Knife Forum. We’ve listed the world’s most active Knife forums community.

Conclusion

Well, that was all from us. Now you can understand how to choose and how to wear a boot knife, and take care of it. You will be different from people that are misusing or losing their knives. That’s what we are hoping for.
Oh! And one other thing, don’t misuse your weapon. Getting yourself into trouble is just an unnecessary idea.