Looking for a good combat knife...

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Wes_Mantooth

Joined
Jul 16, 2006
Messages
4
I recently started learning FMA and am interested in purchaseing a good fixed blade for fighting. These are some of my ideas for my first purchse. Any info/opinions anyone has on any of these would be helpful:

Tops Screaming Eagle Hunters Point - Honestly I chose this blade mostly on looks. I also like the knobs above the handle for pressure point control
http://www.topsknives.com/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=118

Tom Brown Tracker - Again mostly on looks. This looks like it might be easy to throw as well. This was the knife in that movie "The Hunted"
http://www.topsknives.com/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=155

Blackhawk Night edge - I hear good things about Blackhawk knives and I like how this one is serrated on both sides. This one is a little cheaper so thats good too. Also looks sa-weet
http://www.blackhawk.com/product_detail.asp?product_id=5007&d=

Airborne Ranger combat knife - This is my favorite so far - Simple design, looks very durable and easily thrown. I do like serrations however and this doesn't have any. Not too too expensive
http://www.rangerknives.com/Knives/index.html

SOG Navy Seal 2000 - Again... simple design and it looks like SOG ran this thing through a lot of durability tests. Also inexpensive compared to some others.
http://www.sogknives.com/seal2k.htm

Any other suggestions are more than welcome as well as I don't really know much about knives and which brands are good.

Thanks....
 
Why do you want a knife for fighting? Chances are your hardly ever, if ever gonna use a knife for fighting.:confused:
 
I take it you want a "fighting" (more like self defense) knife, or one with one intention in mind, and you don't plan on prying with it or dulling it by everyday task. The knives you picked are the ones a movie producer would pick, no offense, they are very fine knives, but they are made for heavy duty use. A few things to keep in mind for a dedicated self defense knife: you want the tip to be very pointy, and the overall thickness to be pretty thin so that there is less slicing with the upcurve of the blade on a stab manuver, and more penetration. You want a somewhat lightweight knife so that you can move it quickly to stab. You want a concealable knife that has a good quick release sheath. These are my very unprofesional opinions, they are just the way that I pick a S.D. knife (my SD knife is the Benchmade AFCK, but that's a folder). Honestly, I would want to be holding a 4" mora knife ($12 on eBay) in a fight over many other knives, but I don't think that is what you are looking for.
 
You should check out the Practical Tactical sub-forum or something like http://www.themartialist.com/pecom/pecom.htm.

Most of the knives you list are hard use / survival type blades. I wouldn't want to be hit by one, mind you, but they are designed for fighting about as much as a claw hammer. Formidable, to be sure, but not a fighting knife in the classic sense.

If you are stuck on the ones you list, the last three (especially #4) are the most appropriate.
 
All knives can be made into weapons. But what exactly makes a knife more combat capable than some? Sadly, I can't rightly answer that for you, because every individual has a unique bunch of preferences of what to look out for, or expect from any said edge weapon.

If you have had some form of martial training, it would be probable that the knife for you would be used in conjunction with the fighting stances or patterns you have practiced in.

And so, to make a point a machete is an effective weapon just as it is a general utility tool. But it's my best bet that there would be vast differences in how its wielded between one who is trained to fight and one who isn't. In the final analysis, there is no better weapon just better trained. Since any weapon is better than no weapon at all, start practising with everything possible.

Furthermore I am sorry to inform you that having carried a favorite knife on you in future would not make the slightest difference in any eventuality, except only to fail to impress anyone but your closest of friends. Jim Bowie carried a butcher's knife. But legends are always filled with the mythical blades or as in this case, Bowie knives. We always assume that these special blades made a difference for these god-like individuals; in the end, it was the man behind them which made each weapon famous - only because they knew how to use them well.
 
I don't think it would fit your taste but I would wait for a Bark River Bravo1. I think it would be more useful on a normal day than those that you picked and it was designed by a group of Marine Recon instructors.

I have none that you picked but I would take the Rangerknives over the rest.
 
Alright well out of the knives you listed i would go with the ranger knife because Justin is a stand up guy, and their customer service sets the bar pretty high.:thumbup:
 
I would vote against the Tracker as a "fighting" knife. Rafael Kayanan (Sun Helmet on the forums), Sayoc instructor and one of the technical consultants for the movie The Hunted was asked about the Tracker as a fighting knife.

I believe he said that it would not be his first choice (I'm paraphrasing here from my rusty memory) because it was never designed to be a fighting knife. BTW the actual knife in the movie was either made by David Beck or Chip McConnell (sp?) not the Tops model.

In light of that I went to a store and actually handled a Tops Tracker. Holy chunk of steel Batman! The thing is a boat anchor. I'm sure the design can work for survival but just try and move that thing with agility. Well your wrists better be strong. Also if you threw it I think you'd take your target out just because you pitched two pounds of steel at them.

I'd recommend the Gryphon M-10. James Keating endorsed this blade and carried it for his Drawpoint method.
 
what about a fairbairn-sykes fighting knife? it is thin, razor sharp, double edged, has a good fighting grip and was SPECIFICALLY desinged for fighting.
 
CRKT's Hissatsu. Not everyone likes it, but it's my #1 SD/Fighting knife choice. The more I play with it, the more I like it.

Take care.
 
Thanks guys! All good suggestions.... keep em comin'

On another note:
Anyone know any knife dealers in the CT area where I might be able to handle some of these (or any knives)?
 
Randall. Any of the combat models. FORGED O1 steel and TOUGH!
I think may some the of SOG knives are pretty good too.
 
In all honesty, I don't like a single one of those as a fighter. I'm assuming you're looking for a pure fighter here, not a "combat" knife. The distinction is is that a combat knife is one a combat soldier would use, and combat soldiers normally do not fight with their knives, they use them for hard utility. A pure fighter is a different beast, you'd be willing to sacrifice some of the overbuilt toughness and strength of a combat/utility in order to get maximum speed and pure cutting performance.

The Night Edge looks closest to what might feel fast in the hand like a fighter, but the serrated edges disqualify it, at least for me.

Something like a double-edged Randall #1 is really fast in the hand and a great fighter pattern. Here's a Cold Steel that's very fast in the hand: http://www.coldsteel.com/38ssc.html Those patterns, along with the classic Bagwell-style fighting bowie, are the kinds of patterns you're looking for, IMO. Fast in the hand for their size (i.e., not super strong combat/utility knives), double-edged a plus, great edge geometry.

Of course, if you're looking for a fixed blade that's small enough that you might actually carry it every day, here's my idea of the ultimate if you use a pakal grip in your training: http://www.mdtactical.com/images/shivworks/disciple.jpg If you're looking for a budget pakal fighter, Ray Floro has a $40 reverse puukko that is a really cool solution for max bang-for-the-buck. These little knives are much more realistic for today's world, more likely to be legal, more likely to be carried since they're smaller.

Joe
 
RedEdge77 said:
Why do you want a knife for fighting? Chances are your hardly ever, if ever gonna use a knife for fighting.:confused:
Click to expand...

I think this is a standard thing when you start training, you want a big fighter, impractical or not. Just an indulgence to feed your passion for training. I did the same thing ;)

BTW, Wes, after you've trained a while you'll develop your own opinions on what fixed blade works for you, and you'll wonder why you ever listened to us in the first place. No problem, just an excuse to buy more knives!
 
Joe Talmadge said:
I think this is a standard thing when you start training, you want a big fighter, impractical or not. Just an indulgence to feed your passion for training. I did the same thing ;)

BTW, Wes, after you've trained a while you'll develop your own opinions on what fixed blade works for you, and you'll wonder why you ever listened to us in the first place. No problem, just an excuse to buy more knives!
Click to expand...


Right on the money there Joe! This will be my first of many purchases in the coming years and I was just looking for some ideas.
 
Dagger patterns typically don't slash well, something to keep in mind if the system you're training in does a lot of slashing. For a point-oriented system, they work fine.

The two folding knives, Pentagon and Boker, are single-edged. But because they are a dagger grind, you get the dagger's bad edge geometry and bad slashing performance, without the benefit of two edges. If you're going to get a single edge -- which those folding daggers are -- you might as well get one that has high performance on that single edge. Just my opinion on folding defensive pieces.

Joe
 
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