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- Sep 23, 1999
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Hello forumites! I am here today to offer a review of Greg Walker's book, "Battle Blades". So, pull up a chair and enjoy the review.
***Note: the review forum says it is for knives specifically, so I stuck this here.***
My girlfriend bought this book for me for Christmas and for a variety of reasons, I did not receive the book until a few days ago. I finished it quickly because I DROOL over knife books. Magazines are great, but books can go into much more depth.
Greg wrote this book primarily as a "what to look for" guide for the soldier who is getting cutlery for the field. It is important to keep that in mind as you read the book, or you will just be yelling at Greg for his recommendations 9more on that later.) It is very interesting to see what the cutlery needs of a soldier are, as compared to an urbanite like me. Lots of the information in the book overlaps for us non-soldier types, though. Much of the info in the book is "general knowledge" type of stull, like info on grinds and sheaths and knife care.
Some of the chapters include benchmade (guys who put out a standard line-up, but aren't factories) vs. custom, production stuff, double edged fighters, folders, autos, combat bowies, combat knife carry, etc. In total there are 15 chapters and 3 appendices.
The book was written in 1993, so there are some materials presented which are pretty outdated. Greg mentions several makers and gives contact info for those makers. I bet some of that info is out dated. Also, at least one of the makers listed in the book doesn't even make fixed blades anymore, while this maker is recommended as being the "...most promising combat knife maker..." (page 121.) Who is the maker? READ THE BOOK! I don't mind the dated material at all, as I find it interesting in a historical perspective. You get a feel for how things have changed while reading this book, as well as how things have stayed the same. This book could use a sequal, as there have been enough developments or new things come out that I think a new book would be good. Strider and Busse aren't in this book, for example, and I think info on hawks and nylon sheaths could be added to a new book. these are just some examples. Regardless of what isn't in the book, what IS in the book is awesome.
There are a million pictures (well, give or take a few) and while the pics are in black and white, they do show the knives very well. Most of the pics are pro pics from Weyer or factories or what not. Many of the pics appeared in
Fighting Knives magazine, so they are of high quality. There are also some great pics of Greg throughout his military career, and eh talks about the pics. He also talks about how his knife tastes evolved through trial and error 9sometiems the error compromising missions!), which helps a buyer tremeandously. There is also lots of pics of Al Mar knives, and I knew next to nothing about Al Mar before reading the book. If you are looking for info on Al Mar, this is a good book to start with.
This book is a bit refreshing to read as well, as Greg's style has been to tell it like it is and not pad the facts. There is padding in the book, but not as much as other books. For example, Greg will tell you about soem good production or custom knvies to get in the book, but then he'll say something like "but the sheath that it somes with is no good, so I'd go get a kydex rig made up." Greg will tell you what is good and what isn't, and leave it up to you to decide. The best example of this style of evaluation is the chapter on automatic knives. Greg will tell you in the book that a liner locking tac folder with spydie hole or whatever is a much better buy than an auto, as autos have more parts to break, are difficult to acquire, aren't much faster (or faster at all) than a one handed opener, and so on. Thansk for the honesty Greg.
I'm going to leave the review at that. If I think of anything else to say, I'll add it here. Can I recommend this book? Yep. For the soldier, this is a good book to learn what type of knife(s) you should be looking at. For the urbanite, it is a great look into the world of fighting/combat cutlery. It is interesting for historical purposes and for just looking at the pics. Order this book and enjoy.
P.S., Greg, I'll be contacting you soon with some extra details
***Note: the review forum says it is for knives specifically, so I stuck this here.***
My girlfriend bought this book for me for Christmas and for a variety of reasons, I did not receive the book until a few days ago. I finished it quickly because I DROOL over knife books. Magazines are great, but books can go into much more depth.
Greg wrote this book primarily as a "what to look for" guide for the soldier who is getting cutlery for the field. It is important to keep that in mind as you read the book, or you will just be yelling at Greg for his recommendations 9more on that later.) It is very interesting to see what the cutlery needs of a soldier are, as compared to an urbanite like me. Lots of the information in the book overlaps for us non-soldier types, though. Much of the info in the book is "general knowledge" type of stull, like info on grinds and sheaths and knife care.
Some of the chapters include benchmade (guys who put out a standard line-up, but aren't factories) vs. custom, production stuff, double edged fighters, folders, autos, combat bowies, combat knife carry, etc. In total there are 15 chapters and 3 appendices.
The book was written in 1993, so there are some materials presented which are pretty outdated. Greg mentions several makers and gives contact info for those makers. I bet some of that info is out dated. Also, at least one of the makers listed in the book doesn't even make fixed blades anymore, while this maker is recommended as being the "...most promising combat knife maker..." (page 121.) Who is the maker? READ THE BOOK! I don't mind the dated material at all, as I find it interesting in a historical perspective. You get a feel for how things have changed while reading this book, as well as how things have stayed the same. This book could use a sequal, as there have been enough developments or new things come out that I think a new book would be good. Strider and Busse aren't in this book, for example, and I think info on hawks and nylon sheaths could be added to a new book. these are just some examples. Regardless of what isn't in the book, what IS in the book is awesome.
There are a million pictures (well, give or take a few) and while the pics are in black and white, they do show the knives very well. Most of the pics are pro pics from Weyer or factories or what not. Many of the pics appeared in
Fighting Knives magazine, so they are of high quality. There are also some great pics of Greg throughout his military career, and eh talks about the pics. He also talks about how his knife tastes evolved through trial and error 9sometiems the error compromising missions!), which helps a buyer tremeandously. There is also lots of pics of Al Mar knives, and I knew next to nothing about Al Mar before reading the book. If you are looking for info on Al Mar, this is a good book to start with.
This book is a bit refreshing to read as well, as Greg's style has been to tell it like it is and not pad the facts. There is padding in the book, but not as much as other books. For example, Greg will tell you about soem good production or custom knvies to get in the book, but then he'll say something like "but the sheath that it somes with is no good, so I'd go get a kydex rig made up." Greg will tell you what is good and what isn't, and leave it up to you to decide. The best example of this style of evaluation is the chapter on automatic knives. Greg will tell you in the book that a liner locking tac folder with spydie hole or whatever is a much better buy than an auto, as autos have more parts to break, are difficult to acquire, aren't much faster (or faster at all) than a one handed opener, and so on. Thansk for the honesty Greg.
I'm going to leave the review at that. If I think of anything else to say, I'll add it here. Can I recommend this book? Yep. For the soldier, this is a good book to learn what type of knife(s) you should be looking at. For the urbanite, it is a great look into the world of fighting/combat cutlery. It is interesting for historical purposes and for just looking at the pics. Order this book and enjoy.
P.S., Greg, I'll be contacting you soon with some extra details
