Drop + Peter Carey Firecracker Neck Knife

Compact, lightweight, and easy to access, neck knives make excellent sidekicks for backpacking and camping, and fantastic backup blades—especially for those who embrace the “two is one, one is none” philosophy. The Firecracker marks three firsts for Drop: It’s our first-ever neck knife, our first time teaming up with knifemaker Peter Carey, and our first time partnering with LionSTEEL to make a blade. This little edge has everything a good neck knife should: a versatile blade made from hard and corrosion-resistant Niolox steel, a skeletonized design that weighs just 2 ounces, and a durable Kydex sheath with a beaded lanyard for secure neck carry. To top it off, the Firecracker features a built-in bottle opener, so you can crack open a brew after a hard day’s work.

Though neck knives make up a relatively small portion of the knife community, their utility is easy to see. The whole point of a neck knife is its minimal, scaled-back design. Because most are built with no moving parts, they’re stronger than folding knives. Wear one under a shirt and it goes completely unnoticed from the outside; leave it over your shirt and it’s even quicker to access. Plus, when the weather heats up and adventure calls for a pair of shorts, you won’t be weighed down by a bulky folder.

Peter Carey spent 26 years working with structural steel, bringing buildings, airplane hangars, bridges, and more to life. In 1997—with nearly two decades of welding and fabricating experience under his belt—he made his first knife. A naturally gifted craftsman, making knives came easy to Carey. Over the next few years, he got better and better—so good, in fact, that he won the “Best Amateur Knife” and “Best Folding Blade” award at 2002’s Knife Expo in Southern California. In 2006, Carey moved from California to Texas and officially started making knives full time. Today, he continues to crank out innovative blades, all designed from scratch the old-fashioned way: with pencil and paper, and then brought to life entirely by hand.

Located in Maniago, Italy—one of the world's historical knifemaking centers—LionSTEEL is a premiere manufacturer of a wide range of blades. As winner of the “Overall Knife of the Year” award at Blade Show from 2014 through 2016, and winner of the “Best Collaboration” award at Blade Show 2018, LionSTEEL has made a lasting impact on the knife industry of late. Get ahold of one of its blades and it’s easy to see why: Using modern machining techniques and a thorough quality-control process, LionSTEEL has cemented itself among the top manufacturers of edged tools in the world.