Better, Not Bigger: Unassuming ‘F3’ Knife Muscles Through Anything You Throw at It

I do my best to spend the entire summer outside. I am either keeping up the yard, picking berries, or puttering around and fixing things. I also do a bunch of hiking, off-roading, and enjoy a good book or beer from the comfort of my hammock. And I’ve always got at least two knives on me: a folder for my back pocket and a fixed blade on my hip.

Since the beginning of May, my fixed-blade belt knife has been the F3 by Reiff Knives. With an overall length of 6.7 inches, full-tang MagnaCut construction, and Micarta handle scales, it’s become a dependable tool for a wide variety of tasks.

The F3 is the only knife in the Reiff’s F-Series that the brand doesn’t specifically call a “bushcraft” knife. However, from its size and shape to the high saber grind, one would assume that this is a bushcraft knife. So, even though it will do all of the bushcrafty things you want, Reiff positions the F3 for broader, general utility.

This is a good thing. I’m not a bushcraft guy. But I’m also not not a bushcraft guy. So the F3 and I have something in common — we live somewhere in the middle.

In short: Bigger isn’t always better, and when it comes to a belt knife, sometimes you need something a little discreet that still gets the job done. The Reiff Knives F3 is a medium-sized belt knife designed for the person who commits hours to work and play in the great outdoors. At $265, it’s priced like a well-made, hard-use knife with premium materials, but it pays for itself with all the use you’ll get out of it.

Reiff Knives F3 Review

Design & Features

Reiff Knives are robust by design, and the F3 is no different. Even at 6.7 inches long, it’s a handful in all the right ways. The knife is cut from a single piece of ⅛-inch MagnaCut steel and carries a drop-point blade shape with a saber grind. When you couple this with the thick but shapely Micarta handle scales, you’ve got a knife meant for hard use that fits well in many hand shapes, while offering precision control.

Though it’s usually associated with bushcraft knives, the saber grind on the F3 is universally desired because it retains more of the original strength of the steel than a full flat grind or a hollow grind. On the F3, the grind starts about a third of the way down the height of the blade and half an inch back from the front. The end result is a compact blade that can cut, chop, slice, draw, and split like a full-sized knife.

Included with the knife is a molded Kydex sheath that can be worn in multiple configurations. It comes with a fine enough belt clip, but I like to drop my belt knives down to clear the hip belt of my pack. I regularly pick up a four-pack of these clips from Amazon to get the job done. Not only do I like the fact that these let me drop the knife down lower on my hip, but they also make it easy to attach and remove the sheath from my belt.

First Impressions

The folks at Reiff initially reached out to me about the latest generation of the F4 and happened to include the F3 along with it. This version of the F3 is considered two-tone, as the flats are stonewashed and the grind is polished. The benefit to this process is that sap, blood, and other gooey things are less prone to sticking to the polished surfaces, allowing the knife to keep functioning when in the thick of it.

That said, I was drawn to the F3 over the F4 simply due to its size. The knife is compact, for sure, but it still allows for a good four-finger hold for precision and control. Even though the F3 is a true utility knife at heart, its functions aren’t limited.

Based on its size and shape, I think this could become the one belt knife to rule them all for hikers, backpackers, farmers, doodlers, noodlers, and people like me who spend way too much time pruning fruit trees and bushes.

In the Field

Over the years, knives have become seasonal for me. In the colder months, I like larger knives, and in the summer and fall, I like something more compact. That said, depending on which way you go, a smaller knife could be less effective overall. In the case of the F3, nothing could be further from the truth.

This knife has been all over New England with me and is always on my hip. In fact, aside from a Black Crowes concert I went to at the beginning of June, there hasn’t been a day when I haven’t carried it with me.

1. It’s been hiking, camping, pruning, and at two brewfests that I happily worked for a couple of my brewing buddies. If you have ever had a hose crack on a fully functioning jockey box while the beer is flowing, then you know how quick and specific you need to get to fix the issue without getting wet.

2. I grafted a broken branch back onto one of my apple trees, which required precision notching. That process requires a soft touch — otherwise, you’ll ruin the branch, the graft won’t take, and the tree won’t heal.

3. I used the F3 to mark out where my joist hangers needed to go on my new deck. It was 100 degrees out, and I wasn’t fussing around with pencils.

4. The F3 also made two appearances in Whole Foods for a little produce section harvesting. (Seriously, who’s buying a massive stalk of Brussels sprouts?)

Overall, this knife is my “old reliable” — appropriate, given the Reiff Circadian holds that same mantle in the winter. It’s an honor bestowed on my daily carry; the knife whose handle is patinaed with blood and sweat from endless use.

Conclusion: Who’s It For?

Though he was more of a Case Knife/Jack Knife kind of guy, my grandfather would have loved the F3. A simple man who cut down his credit cards to fit in his wallet, he was constantly fixing something or working out in our orchard. He needed an easy-access knife that required little maintenance.

This knife is for someone like him. Someone who doesn’t have a lot of downtime to sharpen blades, a multitasker who’s up with the sun, a fringe bushcraft, even! This is due in part to the MagnaCut steel’s high level of corrosion resistance and edge retention. With all I’ve done with the F3, and at the pace I am going, I probably won’t have to hone the edge until Halloween!

With summer having the most daylight, you’re smack dab in the middle of “needing a new knife” season. This is the time of year when we get to do as much work and exploring as our bodies will let us. Consider the Reiff Knives F3 as your next easy-access, hard-working utility workhorse.