Hunting mushrooms is a super fun and relaxing activity that can also be quite lucrative. Whether you are doing it as a hobby or professionally, you’ll need the right tools to be most effective at mushroom hunting.
One of those tools is often overlooked, which is a knife. We are often told that any type of knife will do for cutting mushrooms, but that simply isn’t true.
For the best mushroom hunting experience, you need the best mushroom knife that is specifically designed for this task. But with so many models on the market, which one to choose?
That’s what we’ll help you with since we compiled a list of the top 6 best mushroom knives. Along with the list, we’ve included a helpful guide where you can learn more about mushrooms and the knives used to cut them.
Last update on 2024-12-30 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Best Mushroom Knife – Reviews
This is our list of the best mushroom knives you can find. We’ve started with more than 30 knife models, but only 6 made it to the final list. Those seven passed our rigorous test and are truly the best mushroom knives you can buy. You can’t go wrong with any of them.
Our Pick
Opinel Folding Mushroom Hunting Knife
Handle: Beechwood
Dimensions: Open 7.25″, Closed 4.1″
Weight: 1.7 Ounces
Opinel knives are known as the Mercedes Benz of the mushroom hunting knives. They are by far the most popular and the most widely used mushroom knives, and that is for a reason. There are several excellent models, but we believe that this number 8 is the best mushroom knife out of them all.
We usually like to recommend a different top model from other review sites as our recommended choice, but this time, we couldn’t do it. This knife is so well-made that it had to be our number 1.
So, what makes this knife so special? Well, for starters, it has by far the sharpest and the studies blade out of all mushroom knives we reviewed. The blade is made of Sandvik 12C27 stainless steel which is easy to sharpen, provides exceptional corrosion resistance, and has a high hardness.
The curved blade comes razor sharp out of the box, and you can bring it to your next mushroom hunting trip right away. It performs incredibly well and cuts mushroom like it’s paper! It works well for regular cutting at the base of the stalk but is also excellent for cutting the whole mushroom out for identification purposes.
This knife is made in France, and the fact that the handle is made from unique Beechwood from France only further makes this knife have a French feel. The handle not only looks stylish but is also balanced excellently. The handle and the blade weight ratio are on point which makes the handling of the knife super enjoyable!
The blade can be safely folded in and out of the handle with the help of stainless steel locking ring. It holds the blade very secure when it’s in use with no movement of the blade whatsoever. You can safely use this knife without fearing it will fold its sharp blade to your fingers, which tends to happen with cheaper mushroom knives.
The compact size of this beautiful knife is perfect for easy handling, storage, and transportation. You never want a large bulky knife that gets in your way when cutting mushrooms and is hard to carry. The knife weighs only 1.7 ounces which is extremely lightweight and very suitable for cutting mushrooms.
While we are talking about the compact size, we forgot to mention the ideal length of the blade that this little mushroom knife has. The blade measures 3.14 inches in length, which we found to be the perfect size to cut the mushrooms with ease.
This is the knife to get if you’re serious about mushroom hunting. It will take you to a whole new level of mushroom hunting and will make your trips easier and more enjoyable. Try it out and see for yourself!
HANZIUP Folding Lock Mushroom Knife
Handle: Wood
Weight: 4.9 oz
Size: 7.56 x 1.5 x 0.4 inches
The Hanziup folding mushroom knife is the runner-up on our list. It is very close in terms of quality to the Opinel knife but isn’t as lightweight, which makes it go to second place. Still, it is more affordable than the Opinel model and performs very close to our winner.
What we like the most about this knife is the compact blade that measures just 2.2 inches. Because of its short length, this blade is easy to cut with and makes cutting mushrooms a breeze.
The sharpness of this compact blade is excellent. It will go through stalks and stems like butter. The cuts are clean and consistent with this excellent stainless steel blade.
This knife comes with a cleaning brush that is located at the butt of the knife. It’s made out of real hair and helps you clean the soil, debris, and all the stuff that is preventing you from identifying the mushroom properly. It’s definitely a useful feature to have in a mushroom knife.
Another accessory that comes with the knife is a solid sheath for easy storage. It’s nothing special but does what it’s supposed to, so no complaints here.
What we absolutely love is the handle of this little mushroom knife. It’s got a curved design that we prefer on any type of knife but especially mushroom knives. This type of design improves the ergonomics and grip of the handle. Because of that, you will find this handle very enjoyable to hold.
This handle is balanced with the blade just as well as the Opinel model we reviewed above. This balance makes handling the knife so easy and your cuts much more precise.
The added weight of the blade and the handle requires a bit more effort to make cuts and that is the main reason this knife is ranked below the Opinel one. It still works excellently, but there isn’t that effortless cutting experience we had with the French mushroom knife.
The lower price tag is another difference between the top 2 models and is something that might make some people go for this more affordable mushroom knife. The performance is very close to the top model while the price is a bit lower.
Natural Wood Handle Pocket Knife w/ Bristle Brush & Pruning Blade & Ruler
Blade Length: 2.68 Inches
Weight: 3.2 oz
Size: 1.1 x 2.2 x 6.4 inches
If you’re looking for the a mushroom knife that has it all, the Natural Wood Handle Pocket Knife comes with a bristle brush, pruning blade, and silk screen ruler. It’s an affordable budget mushroom knife that is quality made.
It’s an inexpensive knife and works surprisingly well for cutting mushrooms considering its low price point. We can safely say that it is the best budget mushroom knife you’ll find!
This mushroom knife surprised us with its good performance and solid build. The bristle brush is very handy after you get a mushroom to clean and the ruler is great to quickly have a depth and size reference. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the lightweight of this little knife. You would expect a budget knife to be too heavy or hard to handle, but that isn’t the case at all with this mushroom knife.
It’s very well sized as well and is easy to store and transport because of that. You can just put it in your pocket or carry it in your rucksack, and you’ll forget that it’s there.
Now comes the most important part, the blade. Well, it is what we expected, but not at all unusable or bad. It’s made out of stainless steel and works really well for this purpose.
It’s got solid hardness, is fairly easy to sharpen, and has good corrosion resistance. All in all, the manufacturer made the blade good enough without breaking the bank.
The sharpness of the blade out of the box isn’t spectacular, but the blade itself is easy to sharpen if you got a wet stone on you. Once properly sharpened, this blade easily cuts all the mushrooms that come your way. It needs a bit of work, but once you get there, you’ll get a very good blade for very little money.
The handle of this budget mushroom knife is surprisingly good. It is balanced well with the blade and feels pretty good in the hand. You can certainly use it for extended periods without issues.
On the bottom of the handle or the butt of the knife, we have a brush that is made from boar hair. This is always a useful thing to have on a mushroom knife for safe cleaning of the mushrooms. We like it.
Overall, this is an excellent knife for very little money. It is perfectly usable for mushroom hunting, and after a bit of setting up, you’ll be cutting fungus with ease!
Sagaform Forest Mushroom
Material: Stainless Steel
Weight: 4 oz
Size: 5.5 x 2.24 x 1.11 inches
Sagaform Mushroom Hunting Knife is another great model that performs well and has all the features you would want in a reliable mushroom knife. The knife is a great all-around mushroom knife that does everything right but isn’t the best in any category.
The blade is made of sturdy stainless steel and comes out of the box very sharp. The blade cuts the mushrooms with no issues at all. It’s not the best performing knife on our list but is sharp enough to get the job done.
The knife is compact and is not too heavy or bulky to make handling it a problem. It weighs 4 ounces which is pretty lightweight and makes carrying, storing, and using the knife easily.
We like the handle of this Swedish knife. It looks really nice and is made of sturdy wood. It feels excellent in the hand and doesn’t slip even when your hands get wet. It’s balanced properly with the blade and is easy to control.
The locking mechanism is on point and makes it easy to close and open the blade. This is perhaps one of the most important features of any folding knife as it prevents injuries. The knife is stable and secure when open and won’t close on your fingers.
The brush at the bottom of the handle does its job well and cleans all the dirt and debris that the mushrooms are covered in. The knife also comes with a sheath that fits the knife well and holds it in place.
All in all, this is a knife that any mushroom hunter will appreciate. It is fairly priced, performs well, and has all the features and extras you’d want a mushroom knife to have. You can’t go wrong with it.
Wolfland Folding Mushroom Hunting Knife Set
Dimesnsions: 6.8 x 0.95 x 0.6 inches
Handle Material: Wood
Blade: Curved Stainless Steel
What’s better than a mushroom knife? Two mushroom knives! And to make things even better, these two mushroom knives are of high quality and are extremely affordable.
If you’re in a need of an extra mushroom knife for your mushroom hunting buddy, or just want to gift one and keep one for yourself, this set is an excellent choice.
The blades of the two knives are surprisingly good for this price range. They are made of sturdy stainless steel that resists corrosion and holds its edge excellently.
The out of the box sharpness of the curved blades is great and you can start working with these knives right away. They perform very well and cut mushrooms with ease.
The knives come with a number of useful and unique features. You not only get a usual brush that is located at the bottom of the handle, but additional brush to keep your knife and mushrooms clean. The brush on the handle is made from real boar hair.
The handles are of solid quality. They aren’t anything special but aren’t bad either. The ergonomics are great but the balance of the knife and the blade isn’t the best. Still, the knife doesn’t feel hard to control and use, and considering the price that kind of drawback is expected.
The biggest advantage of these knives is their affordability. No other knife matches them in performance in this price range. They are an excellent buy if you are in need of 2 solid budget mushroom knives.
Folding Garden Hawkbill Knife
Blade Length: 3 Inches
Weight: 4.8 oz
Blade Material: Carbon Steel
This is the last knife on our list, and the only one that has a carbon blade. It is a great choice for mushroom hunting and cuts fungus with ease.
We included this knife in our list mainly because it has a high-grade carbon steel blade that is rare to find in mushroom knives. A lot of people prefer those types of blades because they hold their edge magnificently and you don’t have to sharpen them as often.
The curved blade on this knife is razor sharp out of the box and has a length of almost 3 inches. As we already mentioned, this is, in our opinion, the ideal length of the mushroom knife blade. It isn’t too small to make it hard to cut stems, but doesn’t get in your way like bigger blades either.
Apart from its high-grade blade, this knife has an excellent handle to go with it. It’s a wooden handle that not only looks stylish but feels excellent in the hand. The ergonomics are great, and no slippage occurs when using the knife more aggressively.
The weigth of this knife is what makes it this low on our list. This knife is a general knife and isn’t specifically a mushroom knife which explains the added weight that is suitable for other general use applications.
Still, the knife is definitely usable for mushroom hunting, and if you do other outdoor activities it will definitely come in handy.
What To Look For When Choosing Mushroom Knife
In this section of the article, we will go through the most important features that you should pay attention to when choosing a mushroom knife.
Size
For a mushroom knife to be practical, it has to be compact. Mushrooms are small and relatively easy to cut. They don’t require 7-inch blade hunting survival knives that you’d use to skin a boar.
They should be small for easy transportation, and that’s why we recommend going for a folded mushroom hunting knife. When folded, they can be as small as 4 or 5 inches, making them easy to carry in your pocket. They are similar in size to bird and trout knives.
It is actually easier to cut mushrooms at the base of their stalks with a smaller blade knife than it is with a large and bulky one. That is yet another reason to go for smaller knives that are never longer than 10 inches when unfolded.
Weight
The weight of mushroom knives is equally important as the small size. For easy maneuvering, storage, and transportation, you should always go for a lightweight mushroom knife.
Generally, you can’t go too light when the weight of the knife is concerned. All other things equal, we always recommend going for a lighter knife.
Most of the best mushroom knives are in the range of 2 to 6 ounces. If we go above 7 ounces, the knives start to become too heavy to control, and cutting the mushrooms starts being a bit of a hassle.
So, one of the first things to look at when choosing a mushroom knife would be whether it’s lightweight, short, and compact.
Blade
After examining the size of the desired mushroom knife, the next thing to focus on is the blade.
Mushroom knives usually come with a curved blade that helps cut the fungus more smoothly. The curve isn’t a necessity but will make your job easier at times. We recommend going for it if you have an opportunity.
The material that is mostly used for mushroom hunting knife blades is stainless steel. The most important thing here would be to go for stainless steel that has high corrosion resistance.
The perfect length of the mushroom blade, in our opinion, is around 3 inches. If you go below 2 inches in blade length, it becomes hard to cover the whole stem of the mushroom with the blade. If you go higher than 4 inches, the blades tend to be heavier and get in your way when cutting the mushrooms.
Go for a blade between 2 and 4 inches, and you’ll be fine.
Handle
Without a good handle, a knife is pretty much unusable. That’s why we always need to pay attention to what kind of handle we have on our mushroom knife.
Several materials are used for mushroom knives, but we most commonly find wood, as it is the most stylish one. Wooden handle mushroom knives have that forest and nature vibe that we like about them.
Apart from the material and aesthetics, an important feature to not is whether or not the blade is a full tang. Full tang means that the knife is forged and that the blade extends all the way down to the bottom of the handle.
These types of handles are more durable and have a better weight balance between the blade and the handle. We always recommend going for full-tang handles.
Extras
The last thing you should pay attention to when choosing a mushroom knife is the accessories. They aren’t essential but will make your life easier and are worth going for if the opportunity is there.
The first commonly found accessory on mushroom knives is the brush. The brush is usually made from animal hair and is useful for safely cleaning mud, debris, and dirt from the mushrooms without altering them.
The second accessory that we often see is the sheath. A sheath always comes in handy for safe and convenient storage and transportation of your mushroom knife.
If you picked a mushroom knife without a sheet, we recommend getting one additionally for the safe storage of the knife.
- Handle: Beechwood
- Weigth: 1.7 Ounces
- Blade Material: Sandvik 12C27 Stainless Steel
Last update on 2024-12-30 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Wrap Up
That ends our search for the best mushroom knives.
There are so many different models online, but not all are actually practical for cutting mushrooms.
Choose the ones that are compact, lightweight, and sharp. All of the models we reviewed are like that, and you can’t go wrong with any of them!
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