ITOKEY 6.34” Tactical Knife Review
I made a choice recently to buy some cheap, no-name-brand made-in-China knock-off knives off of Amazon and find out if they’re any good. Why did I decide to do this? Who knows. Do I regret it? Maybe a little.
Anyway, today we’re looking at the Itokey 6.34” Tactical Knife, a slick little self-defense fixed blade that’ll run you around $20 should you choose to pick one up. Whether or not this knife is worth your hard-earned Andrew Jackson is what we’re here to find out.
ITOKEY Tactical Knife: First Impressions
“It’s tiny!
6.34 inches is clearly the length of the entire knife, not the blade. I think I knew that before I bought it, but I was still surprised by how small this knife is. It has a long, thin handle though, so it fits in my hand well and locks right in.
I don’t know a thing about the Itokey brand, other than that they’re made in China. Their Amazon store includes a handful of other knives and gadgets, mostly aimed at the tactical / novelty / Father’s Day gift market. They’re all pretty cheap.
The official description of this particular knife includes a rather broad range of keywords designed to make it seem like a knife for every conceivable purpose (Tactical! Cool Belt Knife! Survival! Outdoor! Camping! Hunting!) but it’s clearly designed to be a concealed carry self-defense knife, and I have to say it fits that space pretty well.
Measurements & Specs
Okay, just a quick rundown of how the Itokey 6.34” Tactical Knife measures up. As you already know, the total length of the knife is 6.34”, which includes about a 2.17” cutting edge and a 3.98” handle (I know that math doesn’t add up; the cutting edge doesn’t quite make it to the full length of what would be considered the blade portion of the knife.
It weighs a trim 1.76 ounces. The Itokey Tactical Knife is a full tang fixed blade knife with G10 scales and a blade made of D2 steel (or so they say… more on that later) with a black stonewashed finish.
Blade Shape & Grind
The whole design of this blade revolves around making it a precise piercing tool. It’s a trailing point blade with a curved cutting edge and an upswept spine that culminates in a very fine point. The thickness of the blade also decreases gradually from about 3 mm at the handle down to nothing at the tip.
The grind of the edge looks to me like a full flat grind with a flat secondary bevel. Again, everything about it suggests that it’s made for piercing. You could conceivably use it for a wide range of uses (it opens packages just fine, thank you very much) but it’s not really designed for slicing or chopping.
Steel & Sharpness
Okay, time to get into the weeds. I don’t know what kind of steel this is made of. They say it’s D2, but based purely on edge retention, I have some serious doubts about that. I know that there are a lot of problems with off-brand Chinese knives not being made out of what they say they are, and I have a feeling that’s the case here.
Again, I didn’t send it to a lab or anything. But most D2 knives I’ve used have held their edge pretty well, and this did not.
The Itokey Tactical Knife easily passed a paper test right out of the box, but after I spent about 15 minutes cutting pieces of rope and doing a bit of softwood whittling, it didn’t even come close. By the end of the first day, it struggled to cut through a bell pepper. I don’t know what it’s really made of, but probably some low grade stainless steel.
Handle & Grip
The handle is pretty good. It’s quite narrow and gets lost in one’s palm a bit, but as long as you’re not someone with huge hands, it should be fairly easy to get a good, comfortable, safe grip on it. The G10 scales are smooth and don’t add much in the way of grip texture, but there’s some good thumb jimping on the spine.
The handle has a finger hole at the rear end, and if you use it then there’s essentially no chance of losing your grip or dropping the knife. The hole would go around your pinky with a standard grip, or index finger with a reverse grip. Again, it’s a tactical/self-defense knife, and from that perspective, the handle is pretty good.
Sheath & Carry
The sheath that comes with the Itokey Tactical Knife is decent. It’s a basic black plastic Kydex kind of deal, which I’m not always a huge fan of in general, but it does the job. I will grant that it holds the blade quite firmly, and it has a clip that works better than I expected it to.
The sheath comes equipped with what is essentially an Ulticlip copycat, and it works especially well for pocket carry (the sheath is just the right size for that weird little pocket inside the main pocket of my jeans). It works pretty well for belt or boot carry too, so you have options. I wouldn’t recommend pocket carry in a loose pocket or pants made of thinner materials.
Final Thoughts on the ITOKEY 6” Tactical Knife
I mean… It’s fine. Not the best, not the worst.
Nothing about this knife is especially noteworthy or impressive, not that I would expect it to be for $20. It’s basically designed to look dangerous to a would-be attacker, or to get an attacker off of you if necessary, and I can’t say it wouldn’t do the job.
That being said, I have no confidence in this brand, and I’m pretty sure this is one of those situations where the same cheap-o mass-produced knife is sold by different brands under different names.
A quick scan of Amazon turned up this knife from Ccanku and this one from Masalong, which are completely identical. The Masalong version is listed as being made of 5Cr15MoV stainless steel, which makes me even more suspicious of the Itokey knife’s composition.
You might decide to buy one of these anyway if that doesn’t really matter to you. It’s kind of like buying a knife at a gas station, right? You know it’s going to be junk, but If you want a self-defense knife that you’ll carry often but hopefully never have to actually use, then I suppose the edge retention doesn’t really matter all that much.
That’s all well and good, but I’ll always be an advocate for saving up a few extra bucks and getting something good rather than something cheap. And you know what? I resent that Amazon is so clogged up with this nonsense that it’s hard to actually find the good stuff.
Anyway, it’s a perfectly mediocre knife at an affordable price. The world is full of ‘em.
- 【SHARP AND PRECISE】The razor sharp blade is perfect for typical cutting and slicing. Built-in finger allowing for quick use. The total length of knife is 16.1cm/6.34inch, the handle length is 10.1cm/3.98inch, and the blade edge is 5.5cm/ 2.17inch. The weight of knife is 50g/1.76oz.
- 【HIGH-QUALITY & ERGONOMICS】 Durable D2 blade trailing point with strong toughness and excellent edge retention in stonewashed workmanship. Full tang design with G10 Handle provides exceptional grip in all conditions. EDC survival tool for camping, hunting, hiking, adventure, fishing or use in home, office, car.
- 【COMPACT & PORTABLE】 Very lightweight in slim/small size makes knives much easier to carry under your shirts and jackets every day.
- 【BEST GIFT IDEAS】 Cool belt knife for men or women. Ideal gift for family or friend, especially on Christmas, Thanksgiving, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, birthday and other meaningful days.
- 【NO RISK TO BUY】 If the product has any quality problems, please contact us in time. We provide 100% one-year warranty and service, and support replacement or refund.
Alan Dale is an experienced backpacker and adventure sports athlete who pays the bills by writing. Married with a small brood, Alan often has his kids in tow on many of his adventures. You can visit Alan here: https://siralandale.com/
