Help with a Good Boot knife

Jkalfa said:
I have recently decided that I was going to purchase a boot knife for EDC. I had chosen the Smith and Wesson Hostage Rescue Team or SWHRT9B it is a 9 inch overall knife with a 4-3/4 blade it is made of Teflon coated 440C stainless steel and the handle is also made from Teflon coated stainless steel. I was hoping to get your opinions of this boot knife and if it is not a good choice, why? and what is a better one. I just found this Boker Applegate Fairbairn on EBAY and these are still in production how does Boker's knives stack up against the compition
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A couple to consider, Bear mcg makes a small boot knife, You can get it with a stag or zytel handle. costs around $40
Cold steel Culloden, Not a double edge but definitely a dagger shaped blade. I don't know if they still make it but you can find them on ebay. I bought mine new a few years ago for around $36.


From what I have seen the knives made for S&W are pretty poor quality, They have improved in the last few years but still have a long way to go.

Edited to add, Look on ebay for the old Tekna divers/ boot knife. Try and find it with the leather sheath. They made it in plain stainless and black coated. You should be able to find one for less than $50.
 
I too have a Case XX from years ago.
A boot knife is indeed a weapon of last resort and a poor place for an EDC. I attempted to carry one back in my bass-ad days. Maybe I was a dumb-butt as I could never figure out how to be comfortably cool. Clipped to the boot top it rides so high as to be somewhat visible when you walk as well as awkward to deploy as you must stoop and draw your pants leg up high enough to draw the blade. Too much time in a SD situation.... Inside the boot (loose)becomes rapidly uncomfortable due to rubbing issues. The only knife I ever managed to boot carry comfortably was a Spyderco Endura clipped outside on the top (inside it rubbed). Still the pants leg issues....
Hence, the Buck 110 on the hip....
 
Those Camillus (copies of Case?) bootknives look pretty solid. You might also want to look at Fallkniven -- VG10 and good rep. The Garm is especially sweet IMHO. For edc (and legality), one of the single-edge models would be better I think.

As far as SD goes, boot knives probably work best with boots over jeans (or whatever) and where an obvious knife hilt won't cause much comment (i.e. 100 years ago or in the woods on your own or in a war zone or . . .). You do lose the advantage of surprise though, I suppose.
 
i second the cs 5 inch culloden 5 1/2 inch kobun. just ordered the crkr sting from a.g russell to go with my 1977 ivory micarta a.g. russell sting-great price and carbon steel.
 
Actually, though this is marketed as a neck knife, the Camillus Arclite by Darrel Ralph would be a great boot knife in my opinion. The knife has a skeletonized handle and very small, thin kydex sheath with a number of carrying options. It conceivably could be pocket carried, it is so compact. I know the steel isn't the greatest, 420HC, but I have a wicked edge on mine from my sharpmaker and I love the feel of this knife. Plus you don't have a dagger here, just a single edge knife, so you might not run into legal problems like you would with a double edge blade. 3.1 inch blade, 7 inches overall. And inexpensive, you can get one for about $25. Just my opinion.

http://www.camillusknives.com/cuda/cuda-knives/cu120.jpg
 
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