The Honey Badger Flipper is a cool addition to my steadily growing collection of blades and it’s one of only a few brand name knives that I own.
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I had been looking at picking up a Honey Badger for a while and my mom bought this and one other blade for me – thanks mom!
So, is the Honey Badger a good EDC option? Spoiler alert, yes, it is. Let’s take a look at this piece and see how good it is, shall we? First off, let’s look at some specifications.
Specifications
- Overall Length: 16.5cm (6.5 inches)
- Blade Length: 6cm (2.4 inches)
- Blade Steel: 8Cr13MOV, D2
- Blade Style: Drop point
- Handle Material: FRN (Fiber Reinforced Nylon)
- Weight: 73g (2.57 oz)
- Locking Mechanism: Liner Lock
About Honey Badger
Hailing from South Africa, Honey Badger Knives was started in 2014, with the first run of knives being introduced at the April 2016 HuntEx expo in Johannesburg.
The company’s been going strong ever since with CEO and head knife designer Marc Ager continuing to evolve and expand the company’s product line.
There are, according to the company’s website, 26 variants on these knives and there are distributors in the USA, New Zealand, France, and Australia, with other countries joining in all the time.
With each new international distributor, Honey Badgers become more and more popular and it’s well-deserved!
Lightweight and Super Comfortable
At a measly 2.57 ounces (73 grams), this knife is incredibly lightweight, and is super comfortable to hold onto and work with.
The short 2.4-inch blade has a lovely satin finish and is relatively non-threatening and razor-sharp perfect for smooth slicing and most cutting tasks – although, you probably don’t want to do anything too crazy with it.
The FRN handle scales have a hexagonal (honeycomb) pattern which provides a secure and comfortable grip.
The 8Cr13MOV blade holds an edge really well and is super easy to sharpen. It’s also not spring assisted; the blade runs on ball bearings which makes deployment smooth and satisfying.
Whether you use the thumb hole or the blade flipper, the immaculate action is a real pleasure.
You have a few different blade styles from which to choose:
- Drop point
- Claw
- Wharncleaver
- Leaf
- Tanto
Some blades, like the drop point, have a gut hook or assisted opening variants. You also have the option to go with either a plain or serrated edge on the claw depending on your preferred flavor. If you’d prefer a steel that’s a little more durable than 8Cr13MOV, Honey Badger also uses D2 steel on their products.
Scale and Customization Options
Honey badgers have a multitude of color options to choose from when it comes to their handle scales. The scales are available in both G10 and FRN.
As far as FRN scales go, you can have tan, blue, black, green, and orange. I’ve also seen white scales for sale here in South Africa so if you’d like white scales, I’m sure you can find them.
The G10 scale options are also very good. Available colors include:
- Jade
- Camo
- Desert
- Black
- Blue
- Pink
- Foliage
- White
These are all great handle options that lend themselves nicely to customization and personalization.
You can mix and match scales, and you can also swap out blades. If you’ve got jade G10 scales, you can dye them in different colors or shades of colors. If you’re working with colored scales, make sure the dye is darker than the scale that’s going into it.
That’s just the start, if you really want to get creative, why not do some stone washing or acid-etching on the blade and anodize the hardware (clip, screws, pivots, etc.) while you’re at it? You really can go a bit wild with the customization of your honey badger.
My selection of the small, tan drop-point Honey Badger is a stylish piece, and it comes with a neat little box and torx tool. The reversible deep carry clip is secured with recessed screws and so it doesn’t shred your jeans/pockets.
Pros
- ✅ Lightweight
- ✅ Comfortable in-hand
- ✅ Easy to sharpen
- ✅ Reversible, deep carry pocket clip with recessed screws
- ✅ Not spring assisted
Additionally, Honey Badger knives also have a 10-year warranty that applies to defects in the materials and workmanship. Improper maintenance, abuse, or misuse of your knife (i.e. using your knife as a pry bar) will invalidate the warranty.
Cons
I’ve had no issues with this knife. It’s configured for tip-up carry only, but that’s not really a problem.
If there is a problem that I have, and even this is admittedly more of a nitpick; it’s the finger choil. The finger choil allows for a bit of extra security and control but it also puts your finger very close to the cutting edge of the blade.
If you’re occasionally a bit clumsy, this can be a bit of a problem because, as previously stated, this blade is very sharp. I should note that you can, if you prefer, get the ones without the finger choil on the front.
Admittedly I didn’t notice the choil in the picture (I thought ‘honey badger’ and clicked the ‘add to cart’ button). That said, as long as you’re careful – which I know most of you lovely knife guys and gals are – then you shouldn’t have any issues.
Online Reception
Now, while I didn’t have any real problems – the proximity of my fingers to the edge not withstanding – I wanted to know how other buyers felt about these beauties. With that in mind, I took to Amazon and YouTube and trawled reviews to see what I could find.
The majority of what I found was positive but the issues that were mentioned were about the appearance and feel of the knife and the forward finger choil.
The complaints about the appearance and feel of the knife were the same; it looks good, but the scales feel like cheap plastic – switching out the FRN scales for some G10 ones should help with that though.
The finger choil is probably the bigger issue. The jimping on the choil is sharp and uncomfortable. It also makes handling the knife – depending on the task in question – a bit tricky.
It’s great for fine detail work (i.e. slicing or skinning) but holding and using the knife, for example, in a sawing motion doesn’t work so well. The knife tends to get stuck.
Would I Recommend a Honey Badger?
So, would I recommend a Honey Badger flipper? Absolutely, yes, it’s lightweight, it’s got great edge retention and is easy to sharpen. It’s also a real pleasure to handle and is a great option for both knife enthusiasts and those just getting into knives.
The price on these guys is also more than reasonable. If you’re looking for a good budget EDC knife or even a good first knife for yourself or someone you know; I’d say the Honey Badger is a really good option.
Well, that’s my review; I love this thing and I’m going to be carrying it for a very, very long time. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this and found it informative; maybe I added a piece to your already sizable collections.
I’m also curious to know your thoughts on Honey Badger knives; if you’ve carried one, what did you think? If you haven’t carried one, are you likely to give it a go?
As always, thank you very much for reading and I’ll see you in the next one. Take care!
Greg spent much of his younger years camping and hiking. Greg grew up on a small farm with lots of livestock such as cows, horses and chickens. He’s good with a bow and arrow, is a huge knife enthusiast, and has a blackbelt in Taekwondo.
I love my honey badger it makes me proud to be South African the scales give you a brilliant grip in wet working conditions and there’s extra grip all over the knife I love how it fits in any hand position and this bad boy can chop though vegetation like butter! I highly recommended!