Knives by Nuge: Bad Chick

by Phil Spano

You know the maker, Tom, better known as, Knives By Nuge. That self-proclaimed idiot who churns out beautifully crafted edge camping tools that can handle any task you may need it to handle all while looking pretty damn sweet doing it. 

The Bad Chick is no exception. A version of his popular chickpea, which was a knife initially intended for the not-so-average female and younger boy scouts, but don’t be fooled by that because this knife doesn’t care whose hands it’s in.

Nuge designed the Bad Chick or Chick Pea to be a “Jack of all trades” knife. A knife you could beat around while at camp or hiking through the wilderness and then come home to cut up your kids’ dinner after processing some cardboard. 

The Bad Chick is a paracord wrapped 6.5” piece of  Nitro-V stainless steel that sits comfortably in its kydex sheath set up for scout carry. I carry mine in the front and it’s not noticeable at all. The cutting edge is just a tad shy of 3” with a sharpening choil to get that edge nice and sharp. It fits nicely in the hands unless you have huge Sasquatch mitts.

The Bad Chick will handle any and all of your basic cutting tasks and in my opinion, it’s a great fixed blade for everyday carry. I’ve cut everything from steak, to chicken, to cardboard, and vinyl tubing and then made feather sticks and sparked a ferro rod with it. The paracord-wrapped handle feels comfortable in your grip but can be slippery if you have blue-collar callused hands.

I honestly can’t find anything wrong with this knife. Could it be a tad bigger? Maybe, but that’s more for preference than tasks. This isn’t the knife you’re going to take with you when you’re planning on living off the grid for a weekend or longer. I’m sure it will handle most of the tasks but you’d rather have a bigger, more bushcraft style of knife he also makes those. 

Head over to Tom’s Instagram and make sure you stay notified of the drops because these things go quickly! You can also head to https://www.knivesbynuge.com to see what he currently has for sale.

Check out my YouTube video above on the Bad Chick to get a closer look at this “Jack of all trades” little blade. Also be sure to check out the overview I recently wrote on the collab I did with him, the Ruthless Wicket.