Bob Dozier New York Special opinions?

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hoser

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Anyone own or handle the Bob Dozier New York Special available through AG Russell? Is this a general use knife or more specific for self defense? Pro and con opinions appreciated.

I'm assuming it's not 100% handmade, but how is quality compared to something like a Bark River or others?
 
What is your planned useage ? I have eyed this knife too for a while , I love it's clean lines and the contours on that handle look lovely but IMO it's more of a self defense knife than anything else , although I'm sure it would work fine in general uses too ,and with Dozier's D2 steel it's bound to be a winner.

Tostig
 
I think it's a great utility knife it does not have a very long blade and the high quality D2 steel used (high rockwell hardness) is more suited for prolonged cutting (work, utility) than for defense where some or even a lot of edge retention would be better off sacrificed for more spring/flexing ability with a longer blade.

That is my opinion.

Any pointed utility or work knife could be deadly when used for defensive or offensive purposes against a person.

I think the NY Special is one of the coolest looking blades out there. It does not have a very large grip nor much of a guard so the blade may be prone to sliding into your hand and cutting you if you hit a barrier during a hard thrust. While the blade is razor sharp, due to it's thickness it may not be the best slicer, slasher, or shearer. Pros and cons I am not sure what this thing excels at since it's at most ho hum for utility or defense but I would think it would be more useful for utility since it most certainly is not in my opinion a very deadly design.

Of course depending on a persons self defense skills almost anything with a point can then be very deadly.

One thing I do give the NYS special is it is one strong well built good looking and potentially useful all around do everything knife that is good at a variety of mostly utility tasks but not excelling in any particular one.

I would think Bod Dozier's knives may be better than Bark River due to his specialty D2, but not by much, and not the NY Special. A lot of people swear by Bark River, they use some good A2 and other steels with grinds well suited to their purpose as does Bob Dozier except he uses his famous D2 in most of his knives. Bob Dozier has a lot of other very well designed more task specific knives, such as hunters and skinners that would probably give bark river a good run but the NY Special is not one of them in my opinion, unless bark river has a knife design that is like the NY Special.

I must admit that this info is what I garnered from other more active knife users than myself over years. I am more of a collector and admirer of good designs.

The NY Special was probably designed to comply with NY blade length restrictions however due to very recent changes (or new formerly unused interpretations of law, creative unconventional ones at that, which have been suddenly introduced by Mr Vance of the Manhattan DAs office) and formerly unused ways of knife law enforcement in NYC, Mr. Dozier may want to consider redrafting the name of that knife.

Frankly a handgun is what I would consider a self defense weapon.
 
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greater said:
I think it's a great utility knife it does not have a very long blade and the high quality D2 steel used (high rockwell hardness) is more suited for prolonged cutting (work, utility) than for defense where some or even a lot of edge retention would be better off sacrificed for more spring/flexing ability with a longer blade.
...

I think the NY Special is one of the coolest looking blades out there. It does not have a very large grip nor much of a guard so the blade may be prone to sliding into your hand and cutting you if you hit a barrier during a hard thrust. While the blade is razor sharp, due to it's thickness it may not be the best slicer, slasher, or shearer. Pros and cons I am not sure what this thing excels at since it's at most ho hum for utility or defense but I would think it would be more useful for utility since it most certainly is not in my opinion a very deadly design.

One thing I do give the NYS special is it is one strong well built good looking and potentially useful all around do everything knife that is good at a variety of mostly utility tasks but not excelling in any particular one.

...

...Bob Dozier has a lot of other very well designed more task specific knives, such as hunters and skinners that would probably give bark river a good run but the NY Special is not one of them in my opinion, unless bark river has a knife design that is like the NY Special.

Frankly a handgun is what I would consider a self defense weapon.
Click to expand...

+1 :thumbup: Very well said. Agree with all the points I left in the quotes...

The NY Special is a Bob Loveless design... if someone had a knife like this before Loveless, chime in... but believe that is true. Loveless probably designed this as a nearly-guardless boot knife... something you could reliably withdraw from an inside-the-boot sheath without snagging on your boot or pant cuff.

So Dozier is essentially honoring one of the best knife designers (but not the best makers) of the past 40+ years by making the NY Special. It's a very cool looking knife, but not one that comes to mind when I think of a personal defense carry knife that is "top shelf". I'd love to have a NY Special with a nice handle (stag, ivory) as a desk knife, for example... to open mail, cut my fingernails, cut open boxes... but would order it with a finer belt finish than Dozier's shop standard which is a bit rough and ready (user, i.e. hunter quality finish).

I'm a big Dozier fan, especially for personal carry utility knives and hunting knives... but there are better fixed blade designs on the market that have pronounced "guards" to enable strong retention when thrusting, and more pronounced butts for the draw stroke, and overall grippier handles for general retention. Still, the NY Special has a very cool look... Loveless had a great eye for design, and with most of his other knives, for functionality also. Dozier's Arkansas Toothpick is very similar to the NYS he makes for AG Russell.

Numerous of Al Polkowski's designs come to mind as getting the real basics of a true self defense fixed blade into play... in particular the Polecat and Kasper models:
http://www.polkowskiknives.com/docs/personaldefenseknives.htm

Same for Emerson Police Utility Knife:
http://www.emersonknives.com/ekPUK_BTS.php

Consider also the carry method... some kind of concealable kydex sheath??

Pics of all but the Arkansas Toothpick attached (limit of 5 per post).
 

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Arkansas Toothpick, a la Dozier... (his KM-6)


See also some of Greg Lightfoot's fixed blade designs. Predator, Night Strike, C4, Great White, Hammerhead, Companion, Woodsman... Greg seems to have put good thought into these defensive fixed blades.

http://www.lightfootknives.com/
 

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Tostig said:
What is your planned useage ? I have eyed this knife too for a while , I love it's clean lines and the contours on that handle look lovely but IMO it's more of a self defense knife than anything else , although I'm sure it would work fine in general uses too ,and with Dozier's D2 steel it's bound to be a winner.

Tostig
Click to expand...
I have one and IMHO, it's a pure SD knife.
 
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