Knives with questionable design

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LostCause

Joined
Apr 1, 2022
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I'll start:

Cleavers, especially folding cleavers. I see no point (pun intended).

Tactical puukko knives or tactical knives without guard. I get it that guard can get in your way when you do so "bushcraft", all that carving and stuff... but no guard on something marketed as tactical?

Choppers with round smooth handle...

Tanto kukri knives (yes, that exists, feel free to google).
 
Hmm, agree with you on tanto kukris, maybe.
Cleavers in my book have a certain usage and are designed for that.
Also "tacticals" without guard to me seem workable solution. If not none of the tradional Italian and Spanish designs would not exist. A Genovese, Romano, Sfarfiglia, Navaja, etc. all were designed as weapons in times when knife was "the weapon" of common man and none have guards. Surely, if men who really used them for fighting had felt that guard is a must all these designs would spot one?
 
old Lefty said:
Also "tacticals" without guard to me seem workable solution. If not none of the tradional Italian and Spanish designs would not exist. A Genovese, Romano, Sfarfiglia, Navaja, etc. all were designed as weapons in times when knife was "the weapon" of common man and none have guards. Surely, if men who really used them for fighting had felt that guard is a must all these designs would spot one?
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It's not uncommon to see people that have stabbed someone have the knife hit bone and stop while their hand keeps going up from the handle onto the blade slicing the underside of the fingers up. Guards do help stop that. We are talking about non trained people using kitchen knives for the most part. We used to take pictures documenting the knife injuries to the assailant and victim as part of the investigation.
 
Henry Beige said:
Does a knife need a guard to slit a sentry’s throat? I like to think a lot of puukkos got put to that use in the Winter War.
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In times of dire need, you used what was on hand. The timeless quest for combat efficiency drives new features in knives. Nowadays, you have to have a guard, jimping everywhere, full exposed tang, being able to stand on the knife, etc. etc.
 
Dealers/manufacturer's are making all sort of weird designs now just to try to sell their knives and make $$$. All the usual and unusual designs have been made, so it's anything that even vaguely resembles or can be called a "knife" is now on the market. May the powers that be save us from "knives" to yet come. Weirdness now rules.

The Nordic folk have a saying."if you need a guard, you shouldn't be using a knife".
 
LostCause said:
.......or tactical knives without guard. I get it that guard can get in your way when you do so "bushcraft", all that carving and stuff... but no guard on something marketed as tactical?
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Someone should have told Jim Bowie on that sandbar. 😁😉
 
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In all my days as a professional assassin, I've never had my hand slip onto the blade while stabbing someone. Maybe its that I'm just THAT good. Not sure, but seems a non issue.
 
I don't think a cleaver blade shape is any less useful than a wharncliffe or a sheepsfoot. The corner isn't as pointy, but that can be a positive, too.

As far as the puuko, you don't see many "tactical" OTFs with a guard, either. Considering a modern soldier is far more likely to use a knife for bushcraft than actual combat, I don't think it's a flaw at all.

The most questionable design for me is a blade that is too easily touched while folded (e.g., Spyderco Ikuchi).
 
A lot of knives follow traditional or what has become more recent traditional designs (drop point). Calling something a Tactical Puukko is more the fault of marketing than design, since it's a long used design. I don't have a huge problem with a folding cleaver. They wouldn't sell so many of them if someone didn't find them useful, beyond those consumers looking for something that looks dangerous, but is in fact much less dangerous. I love my Kizer Sheepdogs, which are a sheepsfoot-cleaver, but I'm less interested in some of the more boxy cleavers (mostly due to steel choices as much as anything), but I'm quite partial to Nakiri knives in the kitchen. I prefer a round or swollen block handle for a lot of knife designs, to better fit my hands of unusual size, cleavers included. Unless I'm buying a Bowie or similar knife as a collector piece, I generally stay away from knives with hilts. It's a matter of usage and preference.

There are a few knives that make me wonder if they were made specifically for the look cool, edgy market (I'm looking at you, Artisan Cutlery Cobra) and others sometimes make me think they were made on a dare (also possibly the Artisan Cutlery Cobra). I can just see someone at Spyderco betting someone that if they release a wacky design as a limited release the knife fans will trip over each other to get one at a ridiculous price. There are also those impractical art piece designs, like the WE Arrakis, which while beautiful designs aren't very practical as a tool.
 
This is an interesting one... I think there's also a good conversation to be had about what you're calling questionable design. I'm the first to admire that I like unorthodox/out-of-the-ordinary design so long as I find it usable in one way or another. Prime example is anything by the late Elijah Isham. Some people here likely despise his outlandish designs, however many of them are quite functional. I own a WE Pleroma, and a Kizer Minitherium and both work quite well — the Kizer makes for a decent camp food prep chopper, and the Pleroma is quite daily carry friendly. A good Wharncliffe goes a long ways.

If talking about poor design choices, the handle of my Chaves Redencion 229. Way more chunky and heavy than they need to be. Genuinely debating having the handles reprofiled into something usable.
 
K.O.D. said:
In all my days as a professional assassin, I've never had my hand slip onto the blade while stabbing someone. Maybe its that I'm just THAT good. Not sure, but seems a non issue.
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I get ya. When I go out for a night of killin, I bring my Baby Banter, because I can.
 
Rich S said:
The Nordic folk have a saying."if you need a guard, you shouldn't be using a knife".
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Not all sayings are always right.
If I said "If you need winter tires to drive at winter, you shouldn't be driving" - you'd tell me I'm an idiot. And I would indeed be an idiot if I told you that.

But truth is, you can drive at winter without winter tires, you just have to be extra careful (also careful about police).

Anyways, puuko knives often have round polished burl handles, and every single one I held in my hand in my life was pretty slick, and would get slippery even if just your hands are wet. Those marketed as tactical at least have rubbery handles, but I still wouldn't trust them enough to stab anything hard with them.

OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
Considering a modern soldier is far more likely to use a knife for bushcraft than actual combat, I don't think it's a flaw at all.
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Modern soldier will usually have a SAK and whatever was issued to him such as Glock knife for example.
Yet they market stuff like this as tactical knife xD


OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
As far as the puuko, you don't see many "tactical" OTFs with a guard, either
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I never saw or heard of anyone using OTF for anything at all. As far as I know people just collect them and most are safe queens.

Henry Beige said:
Does a knife need a guard to slit a sentry’s throat? I like to think a lot of puukkos got put to that use in the Winter War.
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I'm yet to see puukko thread without mention of winter war 🤣
But anyways, I never said you can't kill someone with a puukko and that nobody ever did it... but we would lie to deny that there are knives that are much better for that purpose.


Puuko knives are tools and also pieces of art that are to be admired in my opinion. Trying to force them into being considered as tactical knives is like telling me traditional double barrel shotgun is a millitary assault weapon...

Yeah it will kill, yeah it can be used for other stuff except combat (hunting), yeah they were used to kill people, yeah it's better than nothing in a pinch... but there's sure as hell lots of better options for that purpose.



I'm not telling this to disrespect puukko knives, they are great utility knives and arguably the most beautiful knives you can get.
But if puukko is a combat knife because it was used to kill people in war - so were kitchen knives here on balkan, and they did that job pretty well, yet we're not marketing them as something for combat...
 
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