Taylor Fenwick, 22, alleged he had a kitchen knife on him on Boxing Day, when Luke Miller, 23, died outside his flat.
He claimed he was intending to use it to “intimidate” Mr Miller.
He denied having two knives on him.
The prosecution allege Fenwick killed Mr Miller by stabbing him with a hunting knife that police found in a street bin near the scene. Fenwick agrees it is his knife.
Transport company employee Fenwick, 22, who was living in Commercial Street, Tadcaster when Mr Miller died and had been brought up in York, denies murder.
Giving evidence at the start of the defence case, Fenwick told Leeds Crown Court he would spend more time with Mr Miller than with anyone else in the latter months of 2023.
“He was my best friend,” he said.
Defence barrister Sarah Barlow asked him : “Did you stab Luke Miller with a hunting knife?”
He replied: “No, I didn’t.”
He alleged that he used the hunting knife when hiking or camping. He had originally bought it in a Scarborough shop when he was 18 to skin and prepare animals and fish for eating that he had killed with his grandfather when fishing or shooting.
The jury have heard that police analysis of Fenwick’s phone for the month before Mr Miller died showed 22 internet hits involving knives including searches and 13 visits to a website called knifewarehouse.co.uk.
Fenwick alleged he couldn’t remember doing the searches or visiting the website, but speculated that he may have been looking for a replacement for a small folding knife he had bought more than a year earlier and which had broken.
Asked if he had an obsession or fixation on knives, he said: “Absolutely not.”
He claimed Mr Miller would regularly spend the night at his flat in December 2023 and that their group of friends would regularly come round to the flat to drink and socialise after a night out and stay until about 5am or 6am.
He alleged that Mr Miller stayed overnight at his flat on Christmas Eve and was alone at the flat for the afternoon of Christmas Day after he turned down an invitation to join Fenwick on a visit to Fenwick’s grandparents in Richmond.
He claimed he took a Christmas meal for Mr Miller from his grandparents’ and brought it back to the flat around 8pm, to find it empty. Fenwick alleged he believed Mr Miller had gone to his parents for a shower and a change of clothes.
The jury heard both men together with others were at the Broken Bridge pub from about 9.20pm to just after 11.20pm when most of the group went to Fenwick’s flat, but Mr Miller left with a woman and went elsewhere.
Fenwick claimed he bought £50 of drugs at the pub for himself and others and drank three to four pints of beer.
At his flat he was drinking wine and shortly after arriving took some cocaine.
“I did feel the initial effects in terms of being more awake, more alert, that was the extent of it,” said.
He claimed he was annoyed with Mr Miller who didn’t arrive at his flat for about an hour as he had expected him to arrive in about 10 minutes and that after he arrived, Mr Miller and another of the group argued and hit each other during the night.
Fenwick alleged that Mr Miller was reluctant to leave when he asked everyone to leave, and had to be persuaded to leave.
The defendant claimed he did not remember sending a Snapchat message to Mr Miller saying “Merry Christmas”
Fenwick said he took cocaine “once or twice a month” and ketamine and Ecstasy occasionally.
The trial continues.
