First "tactical" knife.

[DocJD]

Just for me personally , the Spyderco Police Model changed my concept of what a pocket knife could be .

 

[T.K.C.]

For those of you that read Blade. magazine, there is a god article on the subject.

 

[LG&M]

Websters definition;
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tactical
Not that helps.

 

[R.c.s]

Websters definition;
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tactical
Not that helps.

Yes I get that . So if your Tactics are too move stealthily through the woods and sneak up on an enemy . Then camouflage is Tactical right . And so if your Tactics are to scare someone in the park and make them run away for a youTube video . Then a clown suit is Tactical . So joking aside any knife can be classed as tactical if it's used as part of someone's tactics ?

 

[armytxn]

Yes I get that . So if your Tactics are too move stealthily through the woods and sneak up on an enemy . Then camouflage is Tactical right . And so if your Tactics are to scare someone in the park and make them run away for a youTube video . Then a clown suit is Tactical . So joking aside any knife can be classed as tactical if it's used as part of someone's tactics ?

If you can deploy it in a timely manner. Having to dig your Case Stockman from your pocket and use both hands to open it is not what could be considered tactical.

 

[R.c.s]

If you can deploy it in a timely manner. Having to dig your Case Stockman from your pocket and use both hands to open it is not what could be considered tactical.

Ok I have one question why does it have to be open in a timely manner to be tactical ?
To stay on track with the thread the first tactical knife would be the first knife used in a tactical situation would it not . So I think the question is who was the first to coin the phrase tactical knife

 

[G. Scott H.]

And so if your Tactics are to scare someone in the park and make them run away for a youTube video . Then a clown suit is Tactical .

 

[matt009au]

Some shameless self promotion, but I asked myself this very question a few years back.
I started reading and collecting what I saw as the 'significant' formative tactical folders.

I've just written an article on this subject which may be of some interest:

http://www.mattsknifereviews.org/the-evolution-of-the-modern-tactical-folder

 

[usb7000]

Still pretty new here, and don't know (yet) how you feel about Wikipedia.

But, FWIW, I remember seeing this and just did a "copy and paste" here.

It seems pretty definite, but who really knows for sure

Knifemaking[edit]
Terzuola's first knives were fixed blade, combat designs, made for soldiers, CIA trainers and security operators working in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

In 1981 he relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico and began making folding knives. Seeing a need for a knife that could be carried discreetly he developed a model using black micarta for the scales and bead-blasted titanium bolsters; for this effort he coined the term "Tactical Knife".[3]

Terzuola's most popular model is the ATCF (Advanced Technology Combat Folder), a linerlock folding knife. This was his first tactical folding knife, although he makes it with non-tactical materials on occasion with ivory or stag scales and damascus steel blades.[4] He is widely considered to be the first maker of tactical knives.[5]

Terzuola has authored a book about the design of tactical knives and has authored articles about tactical knives and knifemaking for Blade, Soldier of Fortune and other publications. In 2006 he relocated his shop to Albuquerque, New Mexico.[3]

(emphasis added)

 

[Jisatsu]

I think the real meaning of tactical gets lost on most people, probably due to the ridiculous amount of bad press and over use of the word.

A tactical team is a small(ish) team that can be deployed quickly and effectively. This is from experience.

If your tactical team is an actual armed combat unit (not all tactical teams have weapons. IE. Tactical firefighting teams, tactical quick response prison teams, tactical EMS teams), I must point out that a knife, ESPECIALLY a folding knife is not a primary or even secondary weapon. It should never even be considered your go to as far as combat is concerned until you are completely removed of your actual weapons.

In a tactical team, the knife, folding or otherwise, is used as a quick deploying utility tool. Not a stabby stabby murder implement. Most professionals who are on a "tactical" team of some sort prefer a fast deploying knife, either automatic or assisted, with partial or full serrations. Ergonomic are a must, and grippy, so it doesn't fall out of your hand while you are using it to gain access, cut seatbelts/zipties, or other utility tasks.

I have really no dog in the "who made the tactical folder first" fight, but I will say Spyderco's with their fully serrated blades and hawkbills were some of the more popular ones I've seen.

 

[Korean Hog]

If you're smart and creative a lot of things could be used in dangerous, life threatening, military, fire, police type of ops but "tactical" stuff lends it self to those kinds of tasks. Then again you could just say the knife is a (insert dangerous task/ job type) knife. I think it's be better to you yourself be tactical when need be rather than trying to create a tactical system through expensive gear. Every job has required tools, but if you're an idiot it doesn't matter how tactical a knife is, because you're the one that's supposed to have tactics.

 

[Nostimos]

So this is what happens when we no longer have an infamous member (now banned) to tell us for the thousandth time what's a "tactical" folder and it's origins. . .

Sometimes you just cant go by a "IMO" or what you "feel" the term should mean.
There needs to be an accepted standard of the phrase.
And this has been done to death on knife forums.

I would use the search option here, and hopefully the new web platform will still allow the old classic thread arguments to show up.

BTW, the knives in my avatar: TACTICAL FOLDERS!