HI Don,
With regards to custom knives the word "Tactical" didn't exist until about 1995. Given they did not look like most of the folders out there (if not all). They were utilizing titanium and liner locks and led the way in the utilization of new steels for blades (and still do). Seventeen years pass, hundreds of thousands of custom tactical folders, Millions of Factory tactical folders, a magazine called Tactical Knives. The word Tactical has become diluted as this thread has shown.
I agree with you that the word is mostly overused these days. The reason....marketability. People want to call their knives "tactical" when clearly they are not. This is done out of two reasons, one they maker/seller wants to capitalize on perhaps the largest single custom folder market in the world. Two, they don't understand what it is they are making...as such call it "tactical"!
Cr could have easily called his second knife with stabilized wood a "utility" folder.
The issue there...Blade just did an article on "utility" knives....there was a little bit of everything in there. Truly an open to all category. However a category that carries no cache with the buyers. A catch all category if you will. Subsequently makers do not want to refer to their knives.
As we move forward there will be makers/dealers/sellers who continue to use the word incorrectly when describing a knife.
An interesting sub-set of tactical were the Japanese Tacticals made popular by Phil Hartsfield, RJ Martin and James Piorek. They had a very distinctive look. Generally chisel ground blades, A-2 was the steel of choice for a long time, either an all cord wrapped handle or Same (ray skin) and cord wrapped handle. RJ's knives evolved into double ground blades, different stainless steels and incorporated menuki's. Piorek evolved into a maker as sought after for his sheaths and carry systems as his knives...until his pants caught on fire (thanks to Phil Hartsfield and Fighting Knives magazine). Even with what business people would call "line extension".
Nobody took an exceptional Presentation or Art Tanto by Don Polzien or Scott Slobodian and tried to call it a Japanese Tactical.
