A Look At Tactical Knives

So which knife is more "tactical" than the others? What makes one "tactical" and one not, anyway? And, do we really care? I'd imagine when we can answer the question "'How high is high?"--then we can begin to figure out "How tactical is tactical?" When will the insanity end, anyway? And, I promise we won't, not even once, say "High speed, low drag." I promise.

We have a similar situation with the handgun crowd. Will there ever be an end to the single-action/double-action/striker-fired ad-nauseum arguments about which is "best" for a particular job? One can only hope, but I'm not holding my breath. Lest we lose our collective sanity over these and other equally actually rather mundane issues, let's figure out exactly what a "tactical" knife is and try to inject a bit of sense into it all.

A good friend of mine used to carry a biggish folding Stockman knife, with old fashioned jigged bone handles and blades worn skinny from sharpening. He could cut an apple with it, skin a squirrel and even cut a seatbelt if he needed to. He carried it in WWII, and I'm sure put it to no end of important and semi-important tasks then, in what was surely a "tactical" situation if ever there was one. The really funny thing is nobody called 'em "tactical" knives then.

But today, I'll bet I could cut an apple, skin a squirrel and even cut a seatbelt with a modern "tactical" knife if I needed to. So maybe there's a lesson there and the lesson is not so much what a knife can do, but how it looks. A classic Case gentleman's folder does not look tactical. A MOD-anything definitely looks tactical. Is there some cross-over in capability? You bet. Are some of the bigger, nastier looking "tacticals" tough-enough to beat through a car door? Absolutely. So maybe it isn't exactly how it looks so much as what it can do that's important. A simple diving knife "pry-bar" blade is pretty "tactical" if you ask me and could really perform in the role on land--but I confess I've never heard of a "tactical" abalone knife. Thank God.

Spyderco Delica

So let's call them what they are--High Performance Knives. And, let's not care what they "look" like. While looks can be cool (nothing wrong with that), don't be deceived into thinking simply because a knife "looks" tactical--it is tactical. My friend's Stockman was a pretty high-performance knife for its time but definitely did not look tactical. Some of today's pretty cool-looking "tactical" folders are just that: cool looking, and lack any real world ability to perform. As a matter of fact, many of them, in a mis-guided attempt to be "cool" cross the boundary and become "stupid"--which is another term to gel familiar with when you talk about "tactical" knives. Let's break this simple "Performance" category into three parts.

There are clearly genuine "High Performance" knives. Frankly, if you look at any knife in any of the photos here, you'll see one. They are all top quality, solid designs and none of them would ever let you down within the parameters of their capabilities. But there's a "Medium Perfomance" zone, a sort of "really affordable" knife that delivers well-enough to handle most jobs you'd encounter. After all, as Clint Smith might say, we're not all really Ninjas.

But then there's the all-important "No Performance" category. We won't name any names, but if it "looks" like a big-name high performance knife that usually costs big bucks and it's for sale on that swap-meet table for "Only $4.95," I'll bet we can guess which category it fits into. With high-performance knives, if it sounds too good to be true, then it's, er, ah, too good to be true. Every time.

What Really Counts?

Ontario Spec Plus Tactical Knife SP6

High-Performance means exactly what it says: The ability to handle the task--from the mundane to the critical--reliably and with a kind of fluidity of function the job almost becomes effortless. Those are big things to live up to. What do you need to keep in mind when you choose your own idea of this mythical molecule separator?

The big thing most people get caught-up with is blade material. The reality with modern, high quality knives, is virtually any of the blade steel will out-last you. Keep in mind, the harder the steel, the more difficult it is to sharpen and an easy sharpening knife is a wonder to behold. It's also almost impossible to find a high-performance knife these days that doesn't have a stainless steel blade, so even the whole rusting thing is pretty much a moot point. Especially with the exotic "diamond/carbon/boron/Kool-Aid" coatings commonly encountered on blades these days. Plus the colors are sorta' pretty too.

Zero Tolerance Spring Assisted Knife 0350

Blade Shape

This one can really start fights. Just remember, a bit smaller than you think is probably better and the shape can almost always be simply whatever you like personally. Like a drop-point? Buy it. Does a spear-point get your blood going? Go for it. In reality, and much to the chagrin of some knife-makers, just about any blade can get the "job" done, so enjoy yourself; but just keep that "quality" thing in mind when you buy. And don't forget those nifty thumb-studs and blade cut outs that allow one handed opening. That's one of the things (thank you Spyderco) that started the whole industry and made this kind of knife so appealing.

Blade Locks

The "locking method du-jour" is another thing making potential buyers crazy. Once again, from the simple and elegant liner-lock, to the more exotic levers, widgets, cams and rollers out there, none of the high-quality factory makers produce anything that could be considered unsafe. Are some potentially "stronger" than others? Probably, but in the real world, I doubt you'd ever be able to break one unless you asked it to do something it was never designed for in the first place.

Scales

Handle material is constantly changing. In the early days, linen Micarta was the top pick, but today everything from exotics plastics like G-10 (whatever that is ...) to polymers, metals and even natural materials like bone, wood and ivory are showing up on these high-performance knives. Pick the one you like. If the knife is going to live really hard (salt water, bashing around, little or no maintenance and such) go for one of the metal/plastic/man-made materials.

Pocket Clips

The "wonder of wonders" that, if anything, is the immediate identifier of the genre, is the pocket clip. The introduction of the clip single-handedly changed the way people carry pocket knives forever. No more digging for old-reliable buried in those tight jeans, and the world is a better place for it. Today's folders often have the ability to allow the user to change both the side and the position of the clip. This allows for lefties and whoever to customize the carry-mode, to meet their own needs. "Point-down" and "point-up" carry can become very personal issues and this feature makes it happen just the way you want it to. Watch for it if it's important for you.

Pry Tool?

If anything, the modern high-performance knife has often morphed into an "emergency, sharp, pry-tool" and we're better off for it. In my 20-odd years as a street cop, I have to admit I used my knife to do much more prying than cutting. From lifting windows out of tracks, prying battery clamps off terminals at accident scenes, scraping registration tabs off of license plates, digging for evidence and generally poking and prodding about, the idea of a "short-sharpened pry-tool" has always made sense. If you're looking for really heavy-duty work, I'd opt for short, stocky blades, better able to take the abuse that prying subjects a blade to.

Knife Fighting?

This is a tender topic. While it's certainly possible you may have to defend yourself with your knife, let's hope you don't have to. It's almost always messy, everyone usually gets cut and/or stabbed and there are much more efficient ways to manage the situation. Like any police officer would say, "We usually bring guns to those kinds of fights." There's a lesson there somewhere.

Guns and Knives

And one more thing, chances are pretty good if you carry a handgun either in the field or as personal protection, you probably have a high or at least "medium" performance knife clipped to your britches. If not, it's time to seriously re-evaluate your equipment check-list. The two go together like a 2" .38 and a Benchmade.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Publishers' Development Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

Kershaw Groove Black Folder

All Comments are Welcome and Appreciated.

Most Intimidating Blade Ever?

It's easy to assume that the kukri shape arrived in India via Alexander the Great and his conquest, which stopped at the Indus River. While such is reasonable conjecture, it may not be the case at all. There’s no evidence to support a direct Greek influence, and the shape had been used in Western Europe centuries before it appeared in India.

Information on early Indian swords is not readily available, but there are rock carvings, drawings, paintings, writings and a very few archaeological finds. None show a forward-angled blade until about 400 A.D. After that, the shape appeared quite frequently and, indeed, seemed to proliferate, supplanting many older, straight-bladed pieces.

It’s generally acknowledged that there was a lot of contact between Rome and the Deccan area of India, and it seems logical that the Romans introduced the blade shape there. Once it was introduced to the subcontinent, the Indians adopted the shape as their own, and did so with a great deal of imagination. The forward angle was tried for many sword blades, a large number of which weren’t practical fighting tools—but they sure did look mean! The shape made its way throughout India as one warlike tribe after another adopted it, and, through conquest, spread it farther and farther.

The early history of Nepal is largely unknown, as are the weapons the Nepalese used. Early art plus a few finds indicate that the Nepalese used the leaf-shaped short sword a great deal, as well as the Chinese straight sword. There’s no evidence that the Nepalese used the curved sword.

The Kora

Sometime well after the 10th century A.D., the forward-angled blade appeared. The primary weapon of the early Gurkhas and other warlike tribes in the area was the kora. The sword ranged in length from 18-28 inches, with the blade sharpened on the inside edge. The tip curved forward and flared out and down. Though the shape was completely useless for a thrust, the power in the cut was awesome.

Along the way, technology intervened and the firearm assumed the place of principal weapon. The kukri, which had many uses, was kept and the kora was discarded.

The kukri has since become the national weapon of Nepal, particularly the Gurkhas. However, the Indians were the first to use the kukri. In fact, in the Royal Nepali Museum, almost all the old kukris are of Indian workmanship. Actually, there are very few old kukris in the museum, and the oldest dates to only about 1750 A.D.

One of the more interesting—and amusing—aspects of the kukri is the notch at the base of the blade. It’s amusing because even the Gurkhas don’t know its exact meaning.

The notch is of two cut-out semi-circles side by side, leaving a small projection. It’s been described as intended to catch the opponent’s blade—a sure way to lose a hand if attempted; a symbol of the female sex organ designed to give the blade power; a representation of a cow’s udder (Gorkha—the old spelling—means “protector of cows”); and the Trident of Shiva the Destroyer, a local war god. No one really knows, so feel free to choose whichever you like.

Sweetest Of Spots

All warriors and soldiers need to be familiar with their weapons before they can be effective with them. The same is true with the kukri. In the mountains of Nepal, the Gurkha grows up using the kukri, and he also grows up with a warrior tradition. His weapon becomes part of him.

What makes the Gurkha’s kukri so effective? All chopping weapons have an optimal striking point, the area where the greatest force is generated with the least amount of vibration. This point is the sweet spot on a baseball bat, tennis racket or a sword.

The sweet spot on a kukri is extremely large—in fact, just about the entire blade is the sweet spot. The same depth of cut will result if the blade hits close to the front of the knife or close to the back. Only at the extreme front is there a noticeable difference. The forward-angled blade helps dampen the vibration so that there’s no energy lost in the blow, but the blade also arrives quicker so that you get the effect of cutting through without much effort. With a wrist snap just as the blade hits, much more force can be generated than most realize—enough to lop off the limb of a small tree.

Old Styles

The old kukris were handmade and several styles were popular. The Limbu tribe favored the Sirupate kukri, which has a blade somewhat long in relation to its width. The Rais tribe preferred the Bhujpore style, which has a wider blade, while the Gurungs, Thapas and Magars opted for what could be called the standard kukri.

No two old kukris are alike. (The only kukris that are identical are/were those issued by the various countries that employ or employed Gurkhas: Great Britain, India and Nepal.) Original kukris are as individual as the kami—the village kukri maker/blacksmith—who forges them, and many of the knives are works of art. They were frequently presented as gifts to officers and high-ranking people who happened to please one of the ruling classes of Gurkhas. These presentation pieces were very elaborate, with ivory or silver grips and mounts, and beautiful, highly polished blades.

One of the more interesting tales about the kukri is the trouble the British ran into once they had established a presence, and then a railroad, in Nepal. All too frequently the track was stolen. The English couldn’t figure out why until it was learned that the track was an excellent source of steel, and the kami didn’t have to worry about purifying the iron in it.

Conclusion

The history of the kukri is very rich, and in this short article I could only cover the basics. I wish it were possible to go back in time and see the kukri’s development. Since that’s not possible, I’ll have to be content with speculation.

I’ve been playing with the kukri for over 30 years, and I’m still fascinated by it. It remains my knife of choice on a lengthy trip to the wilds.

All Comments are Welcome and Appreciated.