If you had to take one knife to war

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Since I would have plenty of bullets for killing I would bring my leatherman wingman, for opening up rations. If I'm playing the make believe game with knife kills I'd bring as many ninja stars I could carry.
 
Folder would be one of my Spyderco Delica's in ZDP 189 and my Sheath Knife would be one of my Customs because if I ever
had to use it I would have to trust it and not a Knife that might let me down when I really needed it.!***
 
Carried a Buck 110 and small Gerber folder for seven years as a 11B. Was assigned to the 82nd Airborne twice,the 10th MT Div and the Berlin Brigade during those years so those knives got used a lot in the field and worked fine. Also used a Gerber Bolt Action Exchange and a 1966 Camillus Demo knife. Would have loved to have had some type of Leatherman tool,but got by with the Buck and a P38 and a pair of Linesmans commo pliers I found in the field on FT Bragg. All I ever needed for stateside,Germany,Panama Italy and the Middle East. Was always humping too much stuff already to add a heavy fixed blade.YMMV
 
Old Soldiers know, light weight is the way to go. I carried a Buck 110 and a Buck Skinner, plus a Buck 501 or 503 in my pocket. Those, my medic scissors, and a p38 were all I ever needed. My gear was already 100 lbs or so. Today, I would pack a Spyderco Endura instead of a 110 because of weight savings.
A rifle and a pistol, and an entrenching tool took care of self defense needs.
 
Depends on the kind of war- there's jungle, urban, arctic, desert, and others (I also figure there's different capacities that someone would be involved in, like someone might be wearing a uniform & carrying a machine gun or they might be piggy-backing with gun runners to see what goes where).

So for the "Crash, Bang, Boom" style, I think I'd go with a Spetsnaz shovel & an AK bayonet (the Yugoslavian one, I think). Especially since I'd want to carry an AK, that would give me a lot of versatility in the combative & utility department (and even more in the combative one FROM the utility one, because I can use it to do combat-pertinent things like make pit traps).

If it was going to be the more "secret agent" style, I think I'd go with a folding karambit & a boot knife of some kind. I'd want the karambit to be mostly like the Spyderco Karahawk, but with an Axis Lock. The boot knife I'd like to be double-edged & throwable- preferably it has an overhanging front ledge & a dull portion on the back next to the handle (like a small, double-edged butcher knife- a larger one would have been my preference over the AK bayonet if not for the general utility functions & the ability to be used in conjunction with the rifle).

Would definitely like some kind of multi-tool to go with either set, since you can use it to fix or hotwire all kinds of things.
 
PiercedBill said:
Well, just for fun... :)
The fixed blade would remain the same regardless of circumstances, sentimental value and what.
Fixed: my dads ww2 ka-bar, damn thing is brutally sharp.
Folder: currently either my zt 0300, or my doc killswitch. :)
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Same here. My Grandfather gave me his ww2 ka-bar when I was about 7 or 8. It is far from pretty, but will serve it's intended purpose. Out of all my knives that are tactical, hard use and whatnot it sleeps closest to my bed.
As far as a folder it would probably be my SAK, just for the sake of its tools and options.
 
I've got a question for the "Ka-bar Guys." Doesn't the thin tang cause a problem? It seems like it could snap & even if the blade doesn't break into two pieces, it could still do that thing that the foam tubes people put in their pools do.
 
Well, yeah- I just figure that the ka-bar would be better if it was full tang or just was more solid.
 
Wolfeye said:
I've got a question for the "United States Marine Corps" (who have been using KaBars in warfare since 1942): Doesn't the thin tang cause a problem? It seems like it could snap & even if the blade doesn't break into two pieces, it could still do that thing that the foam tubes people put in their pools do.
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There ya go. Fixed it for ya.
 
I have a fixed 18 x-ray, be good for fighting
as well as a leather man, be handy for multitools
But if I could only bring one blade to combat, I'm counting on my gun(s) not running low on ammo or malfunctioning as primary weapons, "tools" in other avenues are available, and I only need a sharp blade for practicality, and if I need it to "fight", its close, and its either stealth or shtf, so my choice would be;
 
Ka Bar guy here, if you are speaking of doing heavy baton work non stop then yes there are YT videos that show just that happening. The USMC was never designed for that kind of crap BUT if we are talking the D2 Extreme Fighting knife made of D2 tool steel then no you have nothing to worry about. Ka Bars D2 is nearly indestructible and in my opinion the best in the industry. Try and baton away heavily all night you will wear out long before it does.
 
Boris74 said:
Define wrong task.

Keep in mind we are not talking about a day hike here.
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Like maybe batoning wood for a campfire. The original question was a war knife. Meaning to open MREs, cut line, wire and unfortunately penetrate flesh, not splitting tree trunks for the campfire or using it as a prybar. The government would definitely supply you or your division a prybar or an appropriate tool for such needs. Not to mention the US has been supplying them for years, so they must work decently.
 
Standard military E-tool is available for hacking wood. I would definitely have that with me too.
 
I think I'm the only guy here that would go Russian (or Soviet), ha ha! I'm a little suprised by that, since there's a lot of hard-use stuff from there that is very multi-functional as a tool or as a weapon.
 
interestingly Ka Bar has not had a gvt contract since the end of WW2 but of course any PX on base will have several Ka Bars to choose from so...
 
dasknife said:
Like maybe batoning wood for a campfire. The original question was a war knife. Meaning to open MREs, cut line, wire and unfortunately penetrate flesh, not splitting tree trunks for the campfire or using it as a prybar. The government would definitely supply you or your division a prybar or an appropriate tool for such needs. Not to mention the US has been supplying them for years, so they must work decently.
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I am a retired 11B. So I have an inside scoop on what a knife really does. The only flesh it penetrated was a goats to butcher it. It needed to be butchered because we were in a no shit real life survival situation, and we needed food. Do you know how you cook food? That's right, on a fire, and wood is the least toxic. Yes I did use it to split wood. Over the years and many tasks like dig holes there was times we had ammo kicked out helicopter doors for us. We didn't carry band cutters so guess how we broke the bands. They are also used to pry.

If you carried a knife and limited its uses you were doomed to carry multiple very heavy tools adding to the 80-130 extra pounds of weight you carried. An 8oz Glock knife worked perfect for me. So tough I use it to this day and while deployed it performed many tasks that I seen with my own eyes break other knives.

carrying a weaker designed knife with the justification of using the right tool for the job will mean you will be carrying many more tools, which means lots of extra weight. At that point it becomes clear most people commenting never have used a knife and its actual tasks in war. That's fine, we all need to exercise the imagination. A knife must be expected to dig a hole, pry open ammo cases, cut metal bands around ammo cases, Open dinner or kill it. While you try to figure how to carry a shovel, pry bar, band cutters, butcher knife on top of mission essentials I will be clipping a Glock knife onto my belt. I already know what it can do, no need to speculate or make up a scenario to justify why I do. One thing you won't hear me say is I carry this pry bar because my knife is too weak to pry with.
 
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