Fox FX-140XL Knife

The Fox FX-140XL, is a beast of a knife. With a cutting edge just shy of 19cm it is certainly more Crocodile Dundee than a fine craft tool that’s for sure. The build quality is excellent and a very secure, confidence inspiring handle made from Micarta left me in no doubt that this knife was first and foremost a survival knife.

I spend most days working in the broadleaf woodlands of the UK. Let’s be clear, this is not a belt knife for the everyday woodsman. Its size alone makes it impractical for all but the most heavy duty of tasks, but then again it was not built for simple everyday use.

The Fox FX-140XL is the sort of knife that excels at the big stuff. Need fire wood split? No problem. It makes short work of battening through the most stubborn of wood. I used it to split a 15cm diameter round of birch, and it split it like a hot knife through butter!

Next up – chopping, this is where I think this knife truly excelled. The blade bites deep into the wood and then spits out the wood chips like a beaver that has had its first RedBull! It was effortless…..and rather fun!

The spine of the knife throws plenty of sparks for fire lighting tasks and for me that is a must for any Survival Knife, the Fox sure ticked the box in that regard.

The bevel has a Secondary V-edge which makes simple carving tasks such as feather sticking and notch carving far more complicated than it needs to be, however that being said, turning it into a draw knife using a stick as a second handle did achieve the feathering results I was after.

The sheath it sits in is made of black leather and is perfectly suitable, not a work of art, but it is more than solid enough. The knife found its natural home hanging by the fire. From a Bushcraft point of view its job is fire wood production. Its a knife that is used by everyone for splitting logs and making kindling for the fire. The Niolox steel needing little care for it to remain in top notch.

Over all if you are after a workhorse of a knife that can split wood, fell small trees and possibly cut you out of an small aircraft (I did not test it in an airplane crash!) then this is a great option for you.

If you want a knife for a base camp then yeah you won’t go far wrong with this as an option. As I said before though, it is not an everyday belt knife. It is a very good solid Survival Knife and is very good value, you get a lot of knife for your money.