Are You "Tactical" or "Practical?

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When you buy a knife (or other gear), do you look at it from a "tactical" or "practical" point of view?
I take the practical route. I take into consideration what it's uses are most likely to be and base my purchase accordingly. I do not live, work, or travel in a "high risk" environment so weapon potential is not a great concern to me.

Paul
 
I recently replaced my "tactical" spearpoint M-16-03Z with a "practical" combo: SAK Tinker/Spyderco Rescue at work and Tinker/Buck 110 when I'm on my own time. The spearpoint might be a great stabbing weapon but it wasn't much of a cutting tool (at least not with the blade geometry on the CRKT). Most of my stuff is practical (read simple). I guess I'm just a simple guy. Buck knife, steel-toe Cats, analog watch with one dial (no buttons) and pre-smog cars I can work on. Does a Shar-pei/Lab mix count as "practical" or "tactical"?

Frank
 
You left out 'didactical'. Some definite indications of that here, on occasion.

Personally - practical combined with attractival.
 
Neither; I have all the user knives I am ever going to need so I have decided that I am going to start buying knives that will never be used. I have loved Bowies since I was a kid and I am going to start collecting them.

I have always purchased knives for their practical/utilty uses. Never have bought one to be used as a defensive weapon.
 
I'd have to say that I lean more towards the "tactical" side of things.

Not to change the focus of the thread, but I've found my "tactical" blades to generally be very practical as well. I generally find the handles to be comfortable and the blades to be excellent slicers (I don't care much for the slim, pointy spearpoint blades.) For example, today I'm carrying a Spyderco Gunting, Lil' Temperance, Military and an Alan Folts 4" fixed blade. All are "tactical" yet very practical in everyday use.

There are some "tactical" blades that have little real-world use, but they are few. Some of the most "tactical" knives out there are great for outdoors work. For example, any of the kerambit knives are great for gardening and landscaping. One of my favorite working knives was a Spyderco Harpy which is generally viewed as a "tactical" knife. Another example is the Wharncliffe blade on the Janich/Snody Ronin. Wharncliffes are excellent all around utility kind of blades, especially in an office or non-outdoors environment.

I was a little long winded, but the "tactical" blades that I like (focused on slicing rather than piercing) are also some of the most practical knives I own
 
I never could figure out what Tactical was supposed to have been. It always seemed to be a combination of practical and teenage fantasy.
 
Recently I can observe a huge amount of knives around what despite “super-tactical” manufacturer’s claims look very impractical even at first glance. All these teethe spines, tantonized chisels, single-sided sharpening, holes in the most loaded blade area and so on silly gadgets...
The main motto of such “gymnastics” could be “Everyone can make a knife as it should be, let’s make the one as it shouldn’t!”

Making my choice I always try to consider what purposes one or another item should serve in real life.
 
Tactical or practical? Most knives can be at least a little of both. Personally speaking, I'm definitely not tactical, so I guess that leaves practical.
 
Just qurious, why a "tactical" knife couldn't be "practical" as well? Is one-hand opening an obstacle for comfort use, or good-fitting handle is opposite to effective cut?
I cought your idea, but maybe you should change your question abit.
 
I don't really care for most "tactical" knives, althought the convenience of one-hand openers is nice.

I am something of a traditionalist when it comes to knives, so I like slipjoints and Marbles fixed blades and such. I think that puts me firmly in the "practical" camp.

I did have a BM 940 that I really liked. It had a little more personality than your basic combination of black blade, G-10, pocket clip, etc.

To me, tanto points are the epitome of tactical and I hate them.
 
I'm a 'knife as tool' kind of guy, and I think I always have been. I cannot believe that there is that much knife fighting going on, and so I would never invest several hundred dollars into something that is so refined that it is cumbersome for anything else. Better you should carry 'anti tiger powder.'

That being said, I think the tactical knife craze has improved general pocket knives; sort of a 'high water floats all boats.' The steel in general use knives is better, locks are stronger, and one-hand opening features now appear on many jackknives.

In that same vein, I think that racing cars have improved the technology in passenger cars.
 
Once again Serg is reading my mind. All these knives with corners on the handles, tanto/reverse tanto points, teeth, Etc.:barf: :barf: :barf:
I like practical with tactical possibilities.
 
I never really think of practical and tactical being opposing philosophies. I usually view knives as being either traditional or tactical, with some of each being practical in design. With that said, I mostly carry traditional knives in the outdoors, and tacticals for urban use.
 
originally posted by Ichabod Poser
...That being said, I think the tactical knife craze has improved general pocket knives; sort of a 'high water floats all boats.' The steel in general use knives is better, locks are stronger, and one-hand opening features now appear on many jackknives. {I}
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I like a stout slicing knife with enough stoutness to handle rougher work than the Barlow or SAK knives I owned as a kid. A new kind of thinking emerged in the '80's for folder design, and for any "practically" minded person, this thinking has only improved things overall.

I have a couple of SAK's in my odd's and end's drawer, but it has been superceeded by other multi-tools.

My Buck 112 remains in my display case as a reminder of days gone by.
 
I'm both. I carry a Spyderco SS SE Police as a "tactical" (defensive/offensive) folder, and a Spyderco SS PE Delica as a "practical" (utility) folder.
 
The best tactical/practical knife is the one that you have with you when you really need it.

Any kind of knife can cut meals, rope, .... and a bad guy.

Roloss_valdes
 
Originally posted by Architect
I like a stout slicing knife with enough stoutness to handle rougher work than the Barlow or SAK knives I owned as a kid. A new kind of thinking emerged in the '80's for folder design, and for any "practically" minded person, this thinking has only improved things overall.
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This is what bothers me about many of the modern knives out there. So many of them are stout to the point of being far too thick, with less than adequate cutting efficiency for common tasks. This may be tactical, but it sure isn't practical. It seems as if people use their knives so little these days, that they chase a dream of indestructibility, with no care for whether the knife actually cuts at all. They’ve been so removed from the knowledge of how well a knife can cut, that they don’t even know when they’ve got a knife that doesn’t cut well. They’re just happy to have something better than a butter knife, which looks like their vision of a “spec-ops pig sticker”. To tell you the truth, these people would be better off with a pair of folding scissors. Just round off the points so they don’t go hurting themselves, and blacken the blades so they have that covert look to them.

Fortunately, there are modern knives that don’t follow the overly thick blade trend. Knives like the Chris Reeve Sebenza are excellent cutters, yet still carry some tactical styled improvements over more traditional knives. The Sebenza’s blade is thick enough to survive an accident, but thin enough to be used for what a folding knife is meant to do. Likewise, my Camillus Talon will cut rings around most modern knives, but still has the indestructible tactical G-10 handle and Kydex sheath.
 
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