What is Best Tactical Knife?
Content
By Outdoor Dan http://www.outdooraid.com/
“What is the best tactical knife?” Well, it’s a hard question to answer. Not only because there are lots of great knives available from various brands or skillful knife makers, but also because everyone has different needs and different ways of using their knife. First of all, let’s define the term “BEST”. I define “best” as “the most suitable for your purpose and is within your ability to handle”. The ability here is referring to things like price, weight, your skills, etc. I don’t believe there is a “one size fits all” type of knife that someone can claim it’s the “absolute” best. This is because everyone has different needs, different body type, hand size, and might have different purpose in mind when purchasing tactical knives. Instead of giving you with one or two knife as “best”, I compiled a comparison chart with lots of knives that can call be called "best tactical knife" so you can make a wise decision. This chart compares some of the most popular tactical knives based on their specifications: Knife Overall Length (inches), Blade Length (inches), Weight (oz), Blade Material, Price (not the exact price, but the approximate price range) $ = under $40, $$ = $40 to $100, $$$ = $100 to $200, $$$$ = $200+, Rating (average user ratings on Amazon). Not Sure How to pick the best tactical knife based on the technical specs? Don’t worry. Check out the step-by-step guide following the comparison chart to find your best tactical knife!
Want to see more knife and their reviews? You can check Amazon Reviews here. What Is A Tactical Knife? Tactical knife is originally developed for fighting, combat, and/or rescue missions for military, police officers, Special Forces, naval, and other armed professionals. Tactical knife is different from fighting knife whose purpose is solely for use in combat. Tactical knife nowadays still have a focus on self-defense but it also needs to be designed in ways that can be useful for other tasks, much like a fighting knife with the ability to function as a utility knife. Depending on your individual needs, the best tactical knife is simply the knife that can give you the best result for what you want to do. If you want to learn more about the history and store behind fighting or tactical knife, you can click here for fighting knife’s wiki page. I have also written a guide for finding the best combat knife. Click to view. How to Find the Best Tactical Knife That Meets Your Needs
If it’s easy to find the best tactical knife for you, then you probably won’t be reading this guide. There are just so many different things to consider when choosing a knife. Tactical knife can be either fixed blade of folding knife. Click here see what they compared to each other. The first thing you should ask yourself is: What is my intended use? This is extremely important! If you have several tasks in mind, you might need to buy several different knives. A good knife is never designed to do everything. It’s just like the various kitchen knives that each specialize in specific tasks. The best filet knife would be terrible in cleaving large bones. A chef’s knife probably won’t do so well in peeling potatoes. The same situation applies to tactical knife. If you are a collector, then you probably don’t care about the usability. But if you are trying to find the best tactical knife for your needs, then you need to consider: 1. 2. 3. 4. How you are going to use it. Frequency of use. Long term value for the period you intended to use. Initial cost (your budget).
Let me give you a quick example: If you are using the knife for rescue, where there might be a lot of heavy lifting, cutting ropes, or things of this nature. In this case, the best tactical knife for you is a knife with thick and flexible blade that won’t break easily. If you are using it for combat or light use, then you can opt for hard and brittle blade that tends to be sharper. Let me just mention a couple of “intuitive” things that you should consider before I get into all the technical details. 1. Do I feel comfortable holding this knife?
•
Grip and handle is extremely important. You can find the available size and styles in the above comparison chart. But if you don’t feel comfortable holding the knife (both upright and reverse), it’s not for you.
2. Do I feel comfortable carrying this knife with me?
•
This can be a bit tricky. Sometimes it’s tempting to get a huge fixed blade knife that looks really cool. But will you be comfortable carrying every day? Is it going to limit you movement? These are all important things to think about.
Other things to consider in order to find your best tactical knife are: 1. Knife size – there is no right answer, but it’s typically 3 to 4” in blade length. 2. Blade type and blade edge – This is an important topic. Tactical knife usually uses straight and heavy blade that looks aggressive (which is a plus to me). Jay Fisher (one of the best custom knife maker) has a great website that goes into great details about this topic. You can find the details here. You can also find lots of useful information on Wikipedia. 3. Blade Material – yet another important aspect of any knife. It’s usually made with certain types of stainless steel tailored to specific needs. With the advancements in metallurgy and the industrialization of knife production, we can now get high quality blade materials easily. Click here to check out the types of blades materials (mostly different types of steels) from wiki. 4. Handle – Important for design and ergonomics. We need to hold the tactical knife comfortably and be able to exert force on it. 5. Weight and balance – This directly affect how the user carry it and how easy it can be utilized. I recommend testing it before you buy. Reviews Of The 5 Best Tactical Knives
1. KA-BAR Full Size US Marine Corps Fighting Knife, Straight
KA-BAR is probably the most well-known brand in the world of tactical knife. Most well-known does not always mean they produce the best tactical knife, but KA-BAR does set the industry standard and has lots of great knives available. This knife, KA-BAR's USMC fighting knife, is truly a classic knife that has been tested extensively on the field (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) for numerous of times. Originally developed for fighting and combat, this knife is also very versatile and easy to use in various different situations. The blade of this knife is made of 1095 carbon steel, which was developed over 20 years ago. Yes, there are lots of new advancements in the steel industry and this knife is likely not the sharpest knife you can find out of the box. But one of the advantages of this knife is that although the steel is quite hard, it can still be sharpened without special tools. This knife also offers a terrific handle and excellent balance when using the knife. Couple things that a buyer need to pay attention to, especially for first time buyers: 1. User needs to know the proper procedure and process of maintaining a knife. It will rust without care.
2. User needs to know how to sharpen a knife. Other than the above two points, this knife is one of the best tactical knife that is also the most reliable, easy to use, and well-designed tactical knives available in the price range of ~ $50. 2. KA-BAR #1213 Black Straight Edge Knife / Hard Sheath
This is another very popular knife from KA-BAR, high quality and well-designed with the good old 1095 carbon steel. Similar to the KABAR Full Size US Marine Corps Fighting Knife, this knife has excellent blade, sharp, well-designed curvature and balance. What's different about this knife is its hard sheath and handle. The handle is made of Kraton and has one of the best grip (very slip resistant) available. The handle is very solid and some users even use the butt of the handle as hammer. Another thing that we praised about this knife is its hard sheath. The sheath has received amazing reviews for being extremely tough with built in non-slip features. In our opinion, this is one of the best sheaths and you can surely have a peace of mind when carrying this knife in the sheath. Perhaps one thing to pay attention to on this knife
is that some people find the hand guard can cause some discomfort after extended use in the woods for debrake or carve woods. But it all depends on your grip gesture and the duration of a single use. Overall, this is a excellent knife that can stand the test of time. But is this the best tactical knife for your needs? The only way to find out is to give it a try and put it to the tests! 3. Buck 119BR Special Fixed Blade Knife
Buck 119 is another classic tactical knifes that are primarily targeted as a hunting knife. This knife was first introduced over 40 years ago and was designed by Hoyt and Al Buck themselves. This large clip blade, full-tang knife is made of 420HC stainless steel with razor sharp blade right out of the box. Compared to the popular KA-BAR USMC fighting knife, this knife is brittle, making it more suitable for cutting, piercing, or other detail work. In terms of its design, most users praise this hunting knife for its excellent balance, comfortable handle, and its ability to withstand corrosion. There are couple other variations to the Buck 119 with different handle materials. BUCK 119BR is the heaviest (~10 oz compared to other 2 versions ~ 7 oz) but if you like Cocobola wood handle, which we think
matches the included brown leather sheath perfectly, this is the probably the best tactical knife you should get (only if this knife also meet your needs). The Cocobola wood handle also has finger guard and is built with polished brass butt. The entire knife is a work of art that you can depend on during your camping/hunting trip. 4. Kershaw Ken Onion Blur Folding Knife with Speed Safe
Kershaw Ken Onion Blur Tactical Folding Knife is one of the best and most popular folding knives currently on the market. With the weight of only ~ 4 oz and small form factor when folded, this is one of our favorite knife to just put in the pocket and carry around. We are impressed with this knife's opening speed, thanks to the well-designed spring-assisted opening. The "SpeedSafe" feature makes it safe to carry without accidental opening. In terms of blade design and quality, this knife is made of 13C26 stainless steel with DLC coating, making it sharp out of the box and stays sharp after long use. This knife is also one of the better corrosion resistance knives available. With the curved blade design, this knife is great for cutting, slicing, skinning, or other delicate works. It is also worth mentioning the light weight but sturdy anodized aluminum handle. And don't worry about slipping because it's made of metal. The thin rubber inserts on the
handle provide good grip to the knife. Overall, this is one of the best tactical folding knife in its class. We highly recommend it! 5. Cold Steel 17T Kobun Tanto Fixed
This Kobun Knife made by Cold Steel features a Tanto blade made of Japanese AUS 8A Steel with high endurance to bending and breakage. Cold Steel is known to make some of the best tactical knife and they do stand behind their brand for high quality knives. The tanto blade on this knife was originally designed for self-defense (or fighting), but we find it to be very useful in everyday use. The blade of this knife is on the thick side so some people might find it not the best choice for cutting thin slices. But the thick blade also gives this knife strength against breaking. We also find the needle sharp point of the knife useful when poking is needed. With a blade length of 5.5", this knife has a good size for everyday use and is light and slender enough to carry around. As for the handle of this knife, it has a non-slip Kraton design with one of the thinnest cross-section we have seen. Such design makes the knife feel fairly slender and not bulky at all. Overall, this knife is well-designed with good balance, light weight, sturdy, and for the price of ~ $30 to $40. You just can't go wrong with this knife.
Your Turn: How do you like this guide? Did you find the review helpful? Leave me a note! I would also love to know what your best tactical knife is. Want to read more? Come check out my blog at http://www.outdooraid.com/
“What is the best tactical knife?” Well, it’s a hard question to answer. Not only because there are lots of great knives available from various brands or skillful knife makers, but also because everyone has different needs and different ways of using their knife. First of all, let’s define the term “BEST”. I define “best” as “the most suitable for your purpose and is within your ability to handle”. The ability here is referring to things like price, weight, your skills, etc. I don’t believe there is a “one size fits all” type of knife that someone can claim it’s the “absolute” best. This is because everyone has different needs, different body type, hand size, and might have different purpose in mind when purchasing tactical knives. Instead of giving you with one or two knife as “best”, I compiled a comparison chart with lots of knives that can call be called "best tactical knife" so you can make a wise decision. This chart compares some of the most popular tactical knives based on their specifications: Knife Overall Length (inches), Blade Length (inches), Weight (oz), Blade Material, Price (not the exact price, but the approximate price range) $ = under $40, $$ = $40 to $100, $$$ = $100 to $200, $$$$ = $200+, Rating (average user ratings on Amazon). Not Sure How to pick the best tactical knife based on the technical specs? Don’t worry. Check out the step-by-step guide following the comparison chart to find your best tactical knife!
Want to see more knife and their reviews? You can check Amazon Reviews here. What Is A Tactical Knife? Tactical knife is originally developed for fighting, combat, and/or rescue missions for military, police officers, Special Forces, naval, and other armed professionals. Tactical knife is different from fighting knife whose purpose is solely for use in combat. Tactical knife nowadays still have a focus on self-defense but it also needs to be designed in ways that can be useful for other tasks, much like a fighting knife with the ability to function as a utility knife. Depending on your individual needs, the best tactical knife is simply the knife that can give you the best result for what you want to do. If you want to learn more about the history and store behind fighting or tactical knife, you can click here for fighting knife’s wiki page. I have also written a guide for finding the best combat knife. Click to view. How to Find the Best Tactical Knife That Meets Your Needs
If it’s easy to find the best tactical knife for you, then you probably won’t be reading this guide. There are just so many different things to consider when choosing a knife. Tactical knife can be either fixed blade of folding knife. Click here see what they compared to each other. The first thing you should ask yourself is: What is my intended use? This is extremely important! If you have several tasks in mind, you might need to buy several different knives. A good knife is never designed to do everything. It’s just like the various kitchen knives that each specialize in specific tasks. The best filet knife would be terrible in cleaving large bones. A chef’s knife probably won’t do so well in peeling potatoes. The same situation applies to tactical knife. If you are a collector, then you probably don’t care about the usability. But if you are trying to find the best tactical knife for your needs, then you need to consider: 1. 2. 3. 4. How you are going to use it. Frequency of use. Long term value for the period you intended to use. Initial cost (your budget).
Let me give you a quick example: If you are using the knife for rescue, where there might be a lot of heavy lifting, cutting ropes, or things of this nature. In this case, the best tactical knife for you is a knife with thick and flexible blade that won’t break easily. If you are using it for combat or light use, then you can opt for hard and brittle blade that tends to be sharper. Let me just mention a couple of “intuitive” things that you should consider before I get into all the technical details. 1. Do I feel comfortable holding this knife?
•
Grip and handle is extremely important. You can find the available size and styles in the above comparison chart. But if you don’t feel comfortable holding the knife (both upright and reverse), it’s not for you.
2. Do I feel comfortable carrying this knife with me?
•
This can be a bit tricky. Sometimes it’s tempting to get a huge fixed blade knife that looks really cool. But will you be comfortable carrying every day? Is it going to limit you movement? These are all important things to think about.
Other things to consider in order to find your best tactical knife are: 1. Knife size – there is no right answer, but it’s typically 3 to 4” in blade length. 2. Blade type and blade edge – This is an important topic. Tactical knife usually uses straight and heavy blade that looks aggressive (which is a plus to me). Jay Fisher (one of the best custom knife maker) has a great website that goes into great details about this topic. You can find the details here. You can also find lots of useful information on Wikipedia. 3. Blade Material – yet another important aspect of any knife. It’s usually made with certain types of stainless steel tailored to specific needs. With the advancements in metallurgy and the industrialization of knife production, we can now get high quality blade materials easily. Click here to check out the types of blades materials (mostly different types of steels) from wiki. 4. Handle – Important for design and ergonomics. We need to hold the tactical knife comfortably and be able to exert force on it. 5. Weight and balance – This directly affect how the user carry it and how easy it can be utilized. I recommend testing it before you buy. Reviews Of The 5 Best Tactical Knives
1. KA-BAR Full Size US Marine Corps Fighting Knife, Straight
KA-BAR is probably the most well-known brand in the world of tactical knife. Most well-known does not always mean they produce the best tactical knife, but KA-BAR does set the industry standard and has lots of great knives available. This knife, KA-BAR's USMC fighting knife, is truly a classic knife that has been tested extensively on the field (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) for numerous of times. Originally developed for fighting and combat, this knife is also very versatile and easy to use in various different situations. The blade of this knife is made of 1095 carbon steel, which was developed over 20 years ago. Yes, there are lots of new advancements in the steel industry and this knife is likely not the sharpest knife you can find out of the box. But one of the advantages of this knife is that although the steel is quite hard, it can still be sharpened without special tools. This knife also offers a terrific handle and excellent balance when using the knife. Couple things that a buyer need to pay attention to, especially for first time buyers: 1. User needs to know the proper procedure and process of maintaining a knife. It will rust without care.
2. User needs to know how to sharpen a knife. Other than the above two points, this knife is one of the best tactical knife that is also the most reliable, easy to use, and well-designed tactical knives available in the price range of ~ $50. 2. KA-BAR #1213 Black Straight Edge Knife / Hard Sheath
This is another very popular knife from KA-BAR, high quality and well-designed with the good old 1095 carbon steel. Similar to the KABAR Full Size US Marine Corps Fighting Knife, this knife has excellent blade, sharp, well-designed curvature and balance. What's different about this knife is its hard sheath and handle. The handle is made of Kraton and has one of the best grip (very slip resistant) available. The handle is very solid and some users even use the butt of the handle as hammer. Another thing that we praised about this knife is its hard sheath. The sheath has received amazing reviews for being extremely tough with built in non-slip features. In our opinion, this is one of the best sheaths and you can surely have a peace of mind when carrying this knife in the sheath. Perhaps one thing to pay attention to on this knife
is that some people find the hand guard can cause some discomfort after extended use in the woods for debrake or carve woods. But it all depends on your grip gesture and the duration of a single use. Overall, this is a excellent knife that can stand the test of time. But is this the best tactical knife for your needs? The only way to find out is to give it a try and put it to the tests! 3. Buck 119BR Special Fixed Blade Knife
Buck 119 is another classic tactical knifes that are primarily targeted as a hunting knife. This knife was first introduced over 40 years ago and was designed by Hoyt and Al Buck themselves. This large clip blade, full-tang knife is made of 420HC stainless steel with razor sharp blade right out of the box. Compared to the popular KA-BAR USMC fighting knife, this knife is brittle, making it more suitable for cutting, piercing, or other detail work. In terms of its design, most users praise this hunting knife for its excellent balance, comfortable handle, and its ability to withstand corrosion. There are couple other variations to the Buck 119 with different handle materials. BUCK 119BR is the heaviest (~10 oz compared to other 2 versions ~ 7 oz) but if you like Cocobola wood handle, which we think
matches the included brown leather sheath perfectly, this is the probably the best tactical knife you should get (only if this knife also meet your needs). The Cocobola wood handle also has finger guard and is built with polished brass butt. The entire knife is a work of art that you can depend on during your camping/hunting trip. 4. Kershaw Ken Onion Blur Folding Knife with Speed Safe
Kershaw Ken Onion Blur Tactical Folding Knife is one of the best and most popular folding knives currently on the market. With the weight of only ~ 4 oz and small form factor when folded, this is one of our favorite knife to just put in the pocket and carry around. We are impressed with this knife's opening speed, thanks to the well-designed spring-assisted opening. The "SpeedSafe" feature makes it safe to carry without accidental opening. In terms of blade design and quality, this knife is made of 13C26 stainless steel with DLC coating, making it sharp out of the box and stays sharp after long use. This knife is also one of the better corrosion resistance knives available. With the curved blade design, this knife is great for cutting, slicing, skinning, or other delicate works. It is also worth mentioning the light weight but sturdy anodized aluminum handle. And don't worry about slipping because it's made of metal. The thin rubber inserts on the
handle provide good grip to the knife. Overall, this is one of the best tactical folding knife in its class. We highly recommend it! 5. Cold Steel 17T Kobun Tanto Fixed
This Kobun Knife made by Cold Steel features a Tanto blade made of Japanese AUS 8A Steel with high endurance to bending and breakage. Cold Steel is known to make some of the best tactical knife and they do stand behind their brand for high quality knives. The tanto blade on this knife was originally designed for self-defense (or fighting), but we find it to be very useful in everyday use. The blade of this knife is on the thick side so some people might find it not the best choice for cutting thin slices. But the thick blade also gives this knife strength against breaking. We also find the needle sharp point of the knife useful when poking is needed. With a blade length of 5.5", this knife has a good size for everyday use and is light and slender enough to carry around. As for the handle of this knife, it has a non-slip Kraton design with one of the thinnest cross-section we have seen. Such design makes the knife feel fairly slender and not bulky at all. Overall, this knife is well-designed with good balance, light weight, sturdy, and for the price of ~ $30 to $40. You just can't go wrong with this knife.
Your Turn: How do you like this guide? Did you find the review helpful? Leave me a note! I would also love to know what your best tactical knife is. Want to read more? Come check out my blog at http://www.outdooraid.com/
