I need a new knife to carry in my structure gear (firefighter turnouts)

[Derzelas]

Not necessary the "rescue" type of blade, but Victorinox Hunter Pro is glove friendly and lock back for closing. I use it with winter gloves without problems and price for it is half of your budget. 440C stainless is a bonus if you don't have time to wipe the water off every time you use it.
The size of it next to a Multitool Spirit X

 

[Yo Mama]

CA allows autos 2 inches. Protech half breed is well worth checking out.

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[RANGER295]

CA allows autos 2 inches. Protech half breed is well worth checking out.

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True, I think it is under 2.5 inches but I may be confusing the length allowed on school grounds. I never thought about a knife that small being useful but as long as it is sturdy it probably would get the job done. The question is, would the handle be large enough to get a good grip on. I think I need to go to a knife shop and play with a bunch of blades.

 

[sabre cat]

Not necessary the "rescue" type of blade, but Victorinox Hunter Pro is glove friendly (big hole for opening) and lock back for closing. I use it with winter gloves without problems and price for it is half of your budget. 440C stainless is a bonus if you don't have time to wipe the water off every time you use it.
The size of it next to a Multitool Spirit X

Did not even think about this knife. I have seen it with orange handles too.

 

[Derzelas]

It's a hell of the knife IMO, and has no up-down or side play as some of the models had in 2013.

 

[Yo Mama]

True, I think it is under 2.5 inches but I may be confusing the length allowed on school grounds. I never thought about a knife that small being useful but as long as it is sturdy it probably would get the job done. The question is, would the handle be large enough to get a good grip on. I think I need to go to a knife shop and play with a bunch of blades.

Its made with full size handles 😁

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[JuJu-]

Are you talking get about work gloves or your actual fire gloves? I don't think I could open any folder beyond an auto or flipper with my fire gloves on! Even those would be hit and miss. If you're talking more about work gloves then many of the option listed here would be good for you, just figure out what you like. Those fire gloves are thick with the leather and nomex!
I personally use a ZT 0620, ZT 0400, or a Kershaw blur in my pocket and a leatherman in my TOG coat. I've never had to use my knife in the middle of fire suppression (lucky me!) So I usually just take one glove off and deploy my knife with the open hand.

Hope this helps and stay safe brothers!

 

[klute]

In my experience thumbholes are functional and good but I wouldn't recommend them for gloved hand use.

 

[RLDubbya]

In the fwiw category: I read somewhere that Spyderco increased hole size from the original 13mm to 14mm on some models b/c Sal wished to use the knives while wearing gloves to gather firewood; iirc, it was in a teview of the GB1 in talking with Sal.

Hmmmm.

 

[ERRN]

In my experience thumbholes are functional and good but I wouldn't recommend them for gloved hand use.

Yea, I don't use the thumb hole with gloves...there's enough blade showing on the Spyderco to two handed open with even my stiffest gloves on.

 

[SW-EDC]

If you do go the auto route, Protech would be the way to go. Easy one handed fire and close even with gloves I assume.
In your line of work, I'd go with half and half blade (plain/serrated).
Check out the TR-4.

 

[Sharp Steel]

I would have suggested an Axis lock for easy closure, but you have indicated that it does not close in the desired manner with your gloves. A Lock-back would be easy to disengage with heavy gloves, because you are just pressing down. On the other side of the equation is the problem opening the knife. You might consider one of the Emerson (I think) models that have the small hook that you use to open the knife from your pocket when you draw it. I am not sure if they would come in a Lock-back, though.

 

[JuJu-]

I took a couple of pictures to better explain and show what I'm talking about. I can barely manipulate Any of the knives with the heavy FF gloves on. I can easily do it with the work or "mechanics" style gloves on. I used two different gauntlet style gloves I carry in my coat sometimes,regardless they are huge and bulky. You aren't doing any fine work in them! Like I said I will remove my glove into a pocket so I don't lose it and use my bare hand if and when I need a folder.

I forgot about my zt 0360 too. Hope this helps.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

I've been an EMT for 26+ years and was a volunteer fireman for 21 of those years. I didn't know about the BK3 back then or I would have carried it.

Instead, I carried a pair of the leather handled Kabar 3/4 shorties in a leather sheaths. In Texas, I didn't have to worry about the open/concealed dilemma, so I COULD have carried them in my bunker coat pockets, but as I had been a SCUBA diver since 1975 and carried my dive knives attached to my backpack harness, I strapped my shorties to the SCBA harness.

Since we only had 13 guys who ran nearly every call the department had, we essentially had SCBAs personally assigned for use (I had JSCBA08 - Jonestown SCBA #08). Didn't matter as after I started carrying that way, everyone else did as well.

There's a couple of ways that you could mount a pair on your SCBA harness when on duty (I'm assuming you're paid and on a 24/48 schedule).

And why 2? Well, if you get tangled up (like you did) you may not be able to reach a knife on your right side with your left hand.

I dosed up the leather handles and sheaths liberally with Obenauf's. That protected them fairly well from water. They were cheap enough that if they got scorched a bit, they were cheap enough to replace. I really really tried not to get scorched. The chief frowned on it.

 

[RANGER295]

Yea, I don't use the thumb hole with gloves...there's enough blade showing on the Spyderco to two handed open with even my stiffest gloves on.

That is how I got the knife I used in that fire open. That said, I want to be able to open it one handed.

Are you talking get about work gloves or your actual fire gloves? I don't think I could open any folder beyond an auto or flipper with my fire gloves on! Even those would be hit and miss. If you're talking more about work gloves then many of the option listed here would be good for you, just figure out what you like. Those fire gloves are thick with the leather and nomex!
I personally use a ZT 0620, ZT 0400, or a Kershaw blur in my pocket and a leatherman in my TOG coat. I've never had to use my knife in the middle of fire suppression (lucky me!) So I usually just take one glove off and deploy my knife with the open hand.

Hope this helps and stay safe brothers!

Yes I am talking about the actual fire gloves. There are a lot of knives that would work with mechanics gloves, work gloves, tactical gloves... even my wildland gloves, but those structure gloves are a pain especially after they have gotten wet and dried back out. I had never (in about 7 years) used one in fire suppression either. We were at this house that had some unpermitted modifications. One of them was a patio cover type thing that was made out of a heavy circus tent type material. It was about 20x30 feet and was attached to the house on one side. My partner and I were retreating when it came loose from the house. The legs on the away from the house side collapsed and we were pretty well pinned. First we tried crawling out but it weighed a ton.

Thanks.

Its made with full size handles 😁

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I looked at them and I kind of like it. The blade is super small but I may end up getting myself one regardless if I use it here.

I took a couple of pictures to better explain and show what I'm talking about. I can barely manipulate Any of the knives with the heavy FF gloves on. I can easily do it with the work or "mechanics" style gloves on. I used two different gauntlet style gloves I carry in my coat sometimes,regardless they are huge and bulky. You aren't doing any fine work in them! Like I said I will remove my glove into a pocket so I don't lose it and use my bare hand if and when I need a folder.

I forgot about my zt 0360 too. Hope this helps.

Thank you. This does a good job of illustrating the problem. Stay safe out there.

I've been an EMT for 26+ years and was a volunteer fireman for 21 of those years. I didn't know about the BK3 back then or I would have carried it.

Instead, I carried a pair of the leather handled Kabar 3/4 shorties in a leather sheaths. In Texas, I didn't have to worry about the open/concealed dilemma, so I COULD have carried them in my bunker coat pockets, but as I had been a SCUBA diver since 1975 and carried my dive knives attached to my backpack harness, I strapped my shorties to the SCBA harness.

Since we only had 13 guys who ran nearly every call the department had, we essentially had SCBAs personally assigned for use (I had JSCBA08 - Jonestown SCBA #08). Didn't matter as after I started carrying that way, everyone else did as well.

There's a couple of ways that you could mount a pair on your SCBA harness when on duty (I'm assuming you're paid and on a 24/48 schedule).

And why 2? Well, if you get tangled up (like you did) you may not be able to reach a knife on your right side with your left hand.

I dosed up the leather handles and sheaths liberally with Obenauf's. That protected them fairly well from water. They were cheap enough that if they got scorched a bit, they were cheap enough to replace. I really really tried not to get scorched. The chief frowned on it.

That would work if I had a designated SCBA. I have a designated LCE/webset pack for wildland and have a SOG fixed blade mounted upside down on my left pack strap. Our department is a combination of paid, reserve, and volunteer. I started out at volunteer and am now a reserve. I am a teacher also and have summers off. During the school year I mostly respond when my pager goes off and come down to the station with an occasional shift here or there. During the summer I pull shifts. Being that they are very short on engineers they put up with my weird schedule because they are just happy to have another engineer. The SCBA's are on the rigs and especially when I am on call, I never know what rig I will be on. Even when I am on shift it is a wild card because it depends on the call and who else is there which engine I am on. Officers have first choice. If it is mutual aid or vehicle fire engine 1 is first out followed by engine 2, if it is as structure fire engine 2 is first out followed by engine 3, if it is wild land engine 3 followed by engine 2... we have weird run strings in my department. Even though we have the same 8-10 guys (and girl) running 90% of our calls with the last 10% being filled in with volunteers, I never know where I will be or what I will do. It is one of the things that I like about our department, all of the cross training and variety.

In any case, maybe I could come up with a quick way to clip a knife sheath to my SCBA and just do it as I go. I do like the old school K-Bar idea.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Ranger, since you are in California, you have no blade length limit (just the open carry restriction), so you can get away with a full size 1219C2/USN-MK2. Texas has a 5-1/2" max blade limit for public carry.

If you look at the full sized Kabars, in addition to the standard leather sheaths, there is the 1216-S sheath. It is a hard shell plastic that has multiple Molle strap holes for attachment points, as well as the standard belt dangler. Any of the leather handled or Kraton handled Kabars will fit. It has a handle strap AND a guard snap ridge, providing 2 points of retention.

For the shorties, there is the 5016-S sheath. Similar to the 1216-S, but shorter, smaller (duh) for the shorties. These have 3 retention mechanisms - a handle strap, a guard strap and a guard ridge.

I went with the combo blades (partially serrated) for better cutting of nylon line, etc.

The tanto point shorties also make absolutely outstanding "tire decompression tools" when trying to "stabilize" wrecked vehicles. That's the only reason I have any tanto points.

 

[RANGER295]

You guys are going to laugh at my short term solution which is not perfect but for now somewhat functional. I was moving some stuff around on my workbench and came across a Cold Steel Pocket Bushman that someone gave me and I never really used it because it is not very comfortable. It is however rock solid and large enough to hold with gloves. I tried it out with my gloves and it is almost impossible to get it opened with one hand but easy to open with two hands. I can easily close it with two hands given the cord you pull to close it. I am replacing the cord with nomex cord and I will put a monkey's fist on it and have the end of the cord long enough to tie off to my pants as a lanyard. I am still going to explore some of the options you guys mentioned.

Ranger, since you are in California, you have no blade length limit (just the open carry restriction), so you can get away with a full size 1219C2/USN-MK2. Texas has a 5-1/2" max blade limit for public carry.

If you look at the full sized Kabars, in addition to the standard leather sheaths, there is the 1216-S sheath. It is a hard shell plastic that has multiple Molle strap holes for attachment points, as well as the standard belt dangler. Any of the leather handled or Kraton handled Kabars will fit. It has a handle strap AND a guard snap ridge, providing 2 points of retention.

For the shorties, there is the 5016-S sheath. Similar to the 1216-S, but shorter, smaller (duh) for the shorties. These have 3 retention mechanisms - a handle strap, a guard strap and a guard ridge.

I went with the combo blades (partially serrated) for better cutting of nylon line, etc.

The tanto point shorties also make absolutely outstanding "tire decompression tools" when trying to "stabilize" wrecked vehicles. That's the only reason I have any tanto points.

I find it funny that Texas has a weapon restriction stricter than CA. Things are stupid strict here. I like the Kabar but I do not think it is the knife for me in this case. There are some other fixed blades that I prefer.

It is funny you mention the decompression. I made a "decompression tool" that the guys call a "pop stick". It is a 3/8" steel pipe welded 90 degrees kind of like a T on the end of a piece of 1/2 steel pipe that is about 3 feet long. I cut the 3/8 tubing around 30 degrees and sharpened it. You swing it into the sidewall and the 3/8 tubing punches through and the air escapes through the tube.

 

[SW-EDC]

find it funny that Texas has a weapon restriction stricter than CA. Things are stupid strict here

Yeah, besides our auto laws, knife carry out here is fairly good. You'd think a State like Wyoming would have better knife laws..they don't!

 

[snooka]

Take a look at Pohl Force knives

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Ranger and Socal,

I agree partially that part of kali's knife laws are less restrictive than Texas', re, length and type of blade ONLY.

However, personally we have a vastly better knife environmment....

We can conceal carry ANY legal knife, includin autos and balis, up to 5.5 inches.

With a preemption law, we don't, in general, need to worry what the laws are in any given town. There aren't any.

We should be able to get the length and type restrictions removed this year. Almost did it last session, but for one asshole.

And we can get a CHL easily, have no mag size restrictions, have open carry ability (bait, in my opinion - they draw the bad guys' attention away from the CC folks) and MAY get Constitutional carry this session. Not gonna bet the farm on it but it MAY happen.

And finally, most of our politicians are conservative in their beliefs, so we're not gonna go backwards soon.

Having lived in both places and despite having squirrelly weather, I'll take Texas over Kalifornistan any day.