Accepting New Terminology: The "Tactical Folder"

The Government said:
Many honest threads have derailed because of the term "tactical folder," when people endlessly argue that it is "not a term that has meaning."
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Well you and I obviously have different uses for a knife and your use of the term "tactical" has no meaning in my world. Your "tactical" knife becomes worthless if I pull out a 1911A1. I would rather carry a louisville slugger than a "tactical" knife if I have to defend myself. If my knives were only useful for violence, I would go downtown and pass them out to all of the idiots who do that sort of thing because they would be worthless to me.
 
I think tactical is too broad, it can be perceived in too many ways, why not add an adjective or accompanying noun to define different types of POU's? Like "Tactical Self Defense" versus "Tactical Utility" from there it can be further defined. But I think Lawyers would be able to use this as leverage to prosecute victims of violence who used a knife to defend themselves, Tactical gets sheeple to think of the military and weapons.

Another thought would be to base it off of looks, a folder with wooden inlays versus a folder with G-10 scales, mirror polished versus teflon coating. Then again I still don't like the word tactical for legal reasons, and maybe modern would be a better word for them.
 
GallantEdge said:
Well you and I obviously have different uses for a knife and your use of the term "tactical" has no meaning in my world. Your "tactical" knife becomes worthless if I pull out a 1911A1. I would rather carry a louisville slugger than a "tactical" knife if I have to defend myself. If my knives were only useful for violence, I would go downtown and pass them out to all of the idiots who do that sort of thing because they would be worthless to me.
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Again, this thread is not about opinions on tactical knives. It is also not about people's choices in the knives that they carry.

This thread is about knife language and how it is used today. I have merely pointed out what I believe to be a commonly understood term.

It is a kind of slang, used by knife nuts. That is all.
 
Obviously the term tactical as applied to knives conjures up a lot of emotions. I dunno about tactical when applied to bacon.
 
GallantEdge said:
Well you and I obviously have different uses for a knife and your use of the term "tactical" has no meaning in my world. Your "tactical" knife becomes worthless if I pull out a 1911A1. I would rather carry a louisville slugger than a "tactical" knife if I have to defend myself. If my knives were only useful for violence, I would go downtown and pass them out to all of the idiots who do that sort of thing because they would be worthless to me.
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Nobody is arguing that a 1911 is a superior weapon to a tactical knife. You say that a tactical knife is useless and that it has no meaning but there are a lot of people who either don't want to or can't own and carry a 1911.You can't walk around with a louisville slugger everywhere you go in case you need to defend yourself. A tactical folder with a 4+ inch blade and strong lock is a lot better than just your fists and it's easier and more legal ( and draws less attention) to carry than either the 1911 or the baseball bat everywhere you go.
 
With enough repitition, a word can mean anything. Some of us (not me) remember when GAY meant joyous or when African Americans preferred to be called NEGROES. When I said RADICAL as a kid, I meant hip/cool. Now the same word has changed association to describe any violence prone subset of Islam.
 
Nternal said:
Nobody is arguing that a 1911 is a superior weapon to a tactical knife. You say that a tactical knife is useless and that it has no meaning but there are a lot of people who either don't want to or can't own and carry a 1911.You can't walk around with a louisville slugger everywhere you go in case you need to defend yourself. A tactical folder with a 4+ inch blade and strong lock is a lot better than just your fists and it's easier and more legal ( and draws less attention) to carry than either the 1911 or the baseball bat everywhere you go.
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I prefer to stay out of combative situations. I am 53 yrs. old and lost partial use of my left arm due to a stroke. I have no business in a physical confrontation of any sort.

If you choose to put yourself in situations where a knife might be required for self defense that is your prerogative of course.

In this state if you pull a knife on someone, it is called assault with a deadly weapon and it has rather severe consequences. A 1911 is not much worse unless you actually shoot someone with it. Just carrying a 4" blade is a felony.

Nope, you're not going to convince me that a knife is a sensible thing to use for self defense and I'm not going to refer to my tools as tactical. They are far too useful for ordinary mundane tasks to have them taken away for pretending they are for self defense. Just my opinion of course and you can do as you like.
 
Vicarious Reality said:
Every knife is a tactical knife.
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I can dig this response. It is zen-like and philosophical. :D

I would agree that any folder could be someone's "tactical folder," however aren't some folders more "tactical" than others?

What if there was a standardized test question where you had to make the best possible answer and all answers are essentially "correct."

Q-which knife is the tactical folder?

A) Case Peanut
B) Opinel #6
C) Buck 110
D) Emerson CQC-7 BW with serrations and Black coating...:D
 
GallantEdge said:
I prefer to stay out of combative situations. I am 53 yrs. old and lost partial use of my left arm due to a stroke. I have no business in a physical confrontation of any sort.

If you choose to put yourself in situations where a knife might be required for self defense that is your prerogative of course.

In this state if you pull a knife on someone, it is called assault with a deadly weapon and it has rather severe consequences. A 1911 is not much worse unless you actually shoot someone with it. Just carrying a 4" blade is a felony.

Nope, you're not going to convince me that a knife is a sensible thing to use for self defense and I'm not going to refer to my tools as tactical. They are far too useful for ordinary mundane tasks to have them taken away for pretending they are for self defense. Just my opinion of course and you can do as you like.
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Your location is California correct? You do know that there isn't any limit on blade size in concealed folders right? Not unless it is a automatic.I also live in california and so is CM and he also carries big folders
 
The Government said:
I can dig this response. It is zen-like and philosophical. :D

I would agree that any folder could be someone's "tactical folder," however aren't some folders more "tactical" than others?

What if there was a standardized test question where you had to make the best possible answer and all answers are essentially "correct."

Q-which knife is the tactical folder?

A) Case Peanut
B) Opinel #6
C) Buck 110
D) Emerson CQC-7 BW with serrations and Black coating...:D
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If I'm eating an apple, the obvious correct choice is B.
 
Nternal said:
Your location is California correct? You do know that there isn't any limit on blade size in concealed folders right? Not unless it is a automatic.I also live in california and so is CM and he also carries big folders
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Read penal code 12020, 626.10, and 653k. Those are pretty much all you need to worry about unless you are doing other illegal things such as loitering.
 
Ok, I need to get this off my chest..."tactical" should be used as an adjective. It should be used to describe a set of attributes a knife has. Being tactical, in it's essance, means how you choose to tackle a certain objective; do you go overt, covert, offensive or defensive. A tactical anything does not equate to a weapon; there is a huge difference between a combat knife (Ka-Bar, M9 Bayonet) and a tactical knife. A combat knife is designed to kill; a tactical knife compliments the mission requirements, whether it be utility or fighting. I say fighting to include both offensive and defensive usages. For example, we have tactical clothing for SWAT and the military but we don't kill people with our uniform shirts. In other words, a combat knife can be tactical but a tactical knife is not always a combat knife.
A tactical knife should have a low reflective stone wash or black blade. Anything shiny is not tactical. You should be able to deploy the blade without anyone knowing you did it. You don't want everyone in the room to know you deployed your knife unless you want them to. The whole overt/covert thing. Do I present the knife to the threat or do I deploy it but hide it as I am preparing for a fight because I think something is going to happen but I don't want everyone to know what I am doing (hint, hint: which tactic am I going to chose?) For this reason I naturally want to exclude A/Os and automatics from being considered tactical, since they make a nice, load thwack when being deployed but most would consider a ZT 300 as being tactical.
I also think that a tactical knife should have one hand ambidexterous operation. You should be able to open and close the knife one handed with either hand. You never know when your strong hand is going to be injured/in use and you need to use your weak hand to deploy and close the knife. If a knife requires two handed operation, you take your attention off of what is going on and have to pay attention to the knife; you lose situational awareness. not very tactical.
Saying it has to open one handed and have a clip excludes fixed blades; I think my point above allows for inclusion of fixed blades as well.
Lastly, I think a tactical knife should be aggressive enough that it could be used for offense if need be. You should be able to go from covert to offensive if the situation changes and you need to change your tactics. I guess you could have a blunt tip tactical rescue knife but the blunt tip really limits your options on tactics and therefore is contradictory to being tactical.
So, anything that has low reflectability and one handed ambi operation has tactical attributes (but isn't necessary a combat weapon). For example, a black blade BM grip is a tactical knife. I hope this all makes sense!
 
The Government said:
I think the term "modern folder" is a much better description as well.:thumbup:

However, the term tactical folder is still used by many people.

The problem is that whenever the term "tactical folder" is used it seems to derail a thread when it doesn't have to. I am pretty sure everyone knows what it generally means, but many refuse to accept the term's meaning or legitimacy.

I would just like to see a little more understanding among knife enthusiasts.

Whenever I reply to a thread that uses the term tactical folder, I usually say "modern folder" because it does make more sense as a term.

Maybe we can accept the term "tactical folder" at least as a common slang. Maybe people will eventually learn to call them by a better name, but for now we can at least all be understanding of what it does in fact seem to mean.
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I like this term of "modern folder".

I read the definition of "Tactical Folder" in Bob Terzula's book (highly recommended since he is one of the forefathers of what is seen as a "tactical knife") and when the book was published the terminology made sense for that period, however that terminology applies to 7/8's of the market these days and has become a standard for many of todays knife designs and I guess a better term then is "modern folder".

I see it more of a marketing term these days for a majority market that sees knives as weapons (used by military/swat) rather then tools.
 
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Lots of good discussion going on here. I find myself using the term "tactical folder" to describe a knife with specific characteristics. Instead of saying; a one hand opening, single bladed, heavy-duty, pocket clipped knife, I say a "tactical" style folding knife. I think those attributes are what many people automatically think when they here tactical folder. I'm comfortable using the term like this.
 
What is "Tactical"?
Yesterday I helped make "Tactical Meatball Subs" for fathers's day.
They MUST be "Tactical" because I "Tactically" cut the peppers and onions with My SmF (which many people think is "Tactical").
Then I cut the subs in half using the same "Tactical" knife. It admirably tackled the tactics involved in sandwich prep.
So, is sub-making now "Tactical"?
Or did my SmF morph into a kitchen knife now?
I'm so confused!:D
 
The member USGCCM said that SWAT and the military use specifically issued "tactical clothing." -This seems like the same meaning of "tactical" that is used in the term "tactical knife."

When I hear the term "tactical knife" I look at it as though it is one word with one meaning, and not two words that are put together. I do not look at it as though we are calling a knife "tactical." I look at it as though we are referring to a known specific item.

The reason that I see it this way is because of how often I have heard it used to refer to the same type of thing. No one ever says it when referring to other types of knives. They always have the same "look" as well as other characteristics and attributes. Tactical has a sort of indirect implied meaning.

It does not have to be considered a good term, but it should at least be recognized so that when it is used, people don't have to have ^this^ kind of discussion where it might be erroneous to the OP's objective.

If we can all agree that it means something (for better or worse) the forum will run more smoothly since we will be able to understand what our language means.

Accepting the term does not mean you have to like the knives (or even the term).
 
This whole tactical knife B.S. has really been getting on my nerves lately.

The reason for so much emphasis on the word tactical and knife is for manufacturers to lure in the ignorant to buy their products. They coat their blades black and slap on some cool funky blade designs in order to aesthetically please the consumer's minds and make them want to buy their products.

But in reality any sharp locking knife can be tactical because it can kill a person if you know how to use it. Yes, even a Spyderco Ladybug can kill someone. So, in truth the term tactical knife is a method knife manufacturers use for shear marketing and attempting to give a reason for putting a high price on some of their knives.
 
Well, in a recent incident here, a man got tactical with a swiss knife on another guy and put him in the hospital with about an inch deep stab wound in the chest. The guy with the SAK did get the worst of it when the other guy did the tactical thing on him with one of those belt buckle knives.
 
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