Our Top 5 Best-Selling Knives Right Now

A good knife is one of those things you only really appreciate once you've used a bad one. Ask anyone who has tried to fillet a decent snapper with a blunt, flexy blade, or bone out a hind quarter with a handle that slips the moment things get greasy.

We've had a look at what's actually been walking out the door from our Knives range over the last 90 days. No guesswork, no marketing picks - these are simply the five knives and knife sets Kiwi anglers, hunters, butchers and home cooks bought the most of.

1. Victory 6-Piece Fish Filleting Set - $319.99

Our number one seller, and it's a proper kit rather than a single blade. The set rolls up in a canvas wrap and covers the whole job - filleting, boning, splitting and heading - so you're not making do with one knife for five different cuts.

It sells to serious boat owners, charter skippers and anyone who processes a decent quantity of fish at the cleaning table. Victory Knives are made right here in New Zealand, and that's a big part of why this set keeps moving. Buying as a set also works out better than piecing the same blades together one at a time.

View the 6-Piece Fish Filleting Set or browse the full Victory knife sets range.

2. Victory Narrow Curved Boning Knife 12cm - $28.06

The workhorse of the list. A 12cm narrow curved blade is the knife butchers reach for all day long, and it's just as handy for home killers, hunters breaking down a deer, or anyone doing their own mutton and pork.

The curve lets you follow bone closely without tearing meat, and the white hygienic handle is standard issue in commercial shops. At this price it's the sort of knife people buy two or three of at once - one for the shed, one for the chiller, one spare.

View the Narrow Curved Boning Knife - part of our NZ-made Victory butchers knives.

3. Victorinox Boning Set with Leather Sheath & Ring Steel - $95.00

Victorinox needs no introduction, and this little kit is popular because it's everything you need in one go: the 5.6503.15 curved Fibrox boning knife, a leather sheath to carry it in, and a ring steel to keep the edge honest.

It's a favourite with hunters heading into the bush and with anyone starting out in a butchery or wild-game setting. The Fibrox handle grips well when wet, which is exactly when you want it to.

View the Victorinox Boning Set or see the whole Victorinox range.

4. Truper Machete Bush Knife 250mm with Sheath - $29.99

The surprise of the list, and a reminder of how much scrub-clearing goes on in this country. A 250mm blade with a soft TPR handle and a fitted sheath, it's bought for track clearing, lifestyle blocks, hunting access, camp work and general blackberry warfare.

It's cheap enough to live permanently in the ute or the camp box, and the ergonomic grip makes a long afternoon of slashing a lot less painful on the hand.

View the Truper Bush Knife.

5. Victory Fish Splitter 30cm Stainless Steel - $79.99

Heavy duty and unapologetic about it - 3mm of stainless steel and a 30cm blade built to split big fish cleanly rather than saw at them. This one sells to commercial operators and to the serious kingfish, hapuka and tuna crowd.

It's also a knife we ship a lot of into the Pacific Islands, where bigger fish and volume processing are simply part of the day. If you're regularly handling fish too big for a fillet knife, this is the tool.

View the Fish Splitter - more in our stainless steel fish knife range.

Keeping them sharp

Worth saying: the best knife on this list is still a bad knife if you never touch it up. A steel takes seconds and makes every one of these blades last years longer. We stock sharpening steels and diamond steels, plus leather sheaths and knife storage to keep the edges protected between jobs.

Whether you're filleting on the wharf, boning out in the shed or clearing a track, there's a blade here that's already proven itself with plenty of other Kiwis. Browse our full range at actionoutdoors.kiwi.