Mad Dog Knives

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Paratrooper

Joined
Dec 7, 2002
Messages
154
Forgot to mention, my step-son works for Mad Dog Knives, not an out-let, but the one/only actual manufacturing facility in Arizona.

He gave me an "Arizona Hunter" knife last year for co-signing on a house he bought. It is a VERY impressive knife, to say the least.

I've heard that Mad Dog knives are some of the best in the world. I'm curious as to what you all think of them?

Thanks!
 
Hey Paratrooper! Welcome to the forums!!!

If you do a search on Mad Dog, you'll be up for a week reading all of the posts. There has been a lot written here about them!

I have never seen a Mad Dog in person, and only read about them/talked with Mad Dog owners. You will find a HUGE range of thoughts on Mad Dog knives, both Mr. Mad Dog himself and the knives.

Generally summing things up, lots of people like the designs, and the materials for most of the pieces are a good choice. For some of his larger pieces, I think a lot of people would like to see a tougher steel than O1. 5160 would be great for the bigger pieces.

Pricewise, I think most people are a bit turned off. For $400 for an ATAK, there are a lot of other options out there. But there are plenty of people who have chosen to spend their $400 on an ATAK intstead of other knives out there! Nice to have the variety.
I liek how Kevin differentially heat treats his knives. I'm not sure if RC 62 at the edge is good (maybe should be a bit lower), but at least the blades are diff. heat treated.

Well, that is all I'll say about Mad Dog knives. Pour a coffee and do a search for sure. By the way, the Arizona Hunter was featured in an issue of Tactical Knives. Jeff Randall did an evaluation of that knife. WOW! I think that is one of my favorite MAd Dogs. The shape, the look, it all looked awesome. I think you got one of the best they make. Sounds liek your son turned out to be a great guy too, if he's thanking you like that for your help.
 
Crayola summed it up pretty well. Mad Dog knife designs are superb, but the price they go for puts it solidly out of reach for the very people that actually use tactical knives. There are many first rate cutting tools that can be had for less and offer better warrantees.

Can't say I blame the pricing, Mad Dog do put more work into his knives than many other prominent tactical knife makers. I don't necessarily agree that the extra work (like hand grinding everything) makes it a better tactical knife. If I have money to throw around, I'd buy a Porsche and a couple Mad Dogs.
 
My step-son has worked for Kevin going on 4 years soon. It is a very small family run business.

According to my step-son, each and every knife is 100% hand-made, start to finish. Same goes with their Kydex sheaths.

I guess when a product is that labor intensive, you end up paying for it one way or the other.
 
I love my Mad Dog knives. The handles are nice and secure and very grippy. I get a good feeling of control with them. It helps to have confidence in the knives you carry.
 
Does your step-son post over at the Maddog forum?? What is his "handle"?? Do you post there?? Just wondering :)


Blades
 
Mad Dog knives are great, I'm sure. I'd love to have one. For 400 bucks you can get virtually anything you want in a knife, In any kind of steel, or configuration, totally custom made to your specifications with a fantastic sheath).

John in Boise
 
I understand Kevin is also an excellent knife fighting instructor, like for tactical teams, SEALS, as well as us civilians. I almost got to take one of his courses in Novemeber, but couldn't make it. I hope to get it done next year. We feel fortunate to have him here in Arizona (also fortunate to have GUNSIGHT TRAINING CENTER). Interestingly, there located near each other northern AZ.
 
Mad Dog (aka Kevin McClung) can be a controversial character. While I don't believe all the claims made by people in the "Dog Pound", Mad Dog Knives does build a very good knife that has a well thought out design.
 
Blades, I'm very new the this knife stuff, so new infact, I wasn't even aware of a MADDOG forum. I know my step-son does a lot of the edge grinding on the knives, as well as many other duties associated with knife making. I'm not sure if he has a "handle" on any of the forums.

Just a day or two ago, he showed me his ATAK that he made. Another very impressive knife! I also know that my step-son has his own web-site which I will try to get and post it here for you all to check out.
 
Hey Paratrooper!

Another knife website to look at? WOHOO! Us knifenuts (that includes you now!) will take whatever knife websites we can get :)
 
Sorry about taking sooo long to respond to an earlier question, holidays and all that, you know!

My step-son's handle is Tac-Tec. He is the Administrator there on MadDog Forum.
 
I stay very busy helping Kevin make the knives, but he does all the grinding. We must be doing something right we currently have a backlog in excess of 18 months without any advertising. Thanks all for keeping things :) , and FYI PT is the real deal...
 
BTW, In 2 months it will be 6 years
shocked.gif

What a long strange trip...
 
Sorry, I made a MFU! I spoke out of line when I shouldn't have, ref. my step-son doing some grinding on the blades. It was an assumption on my part, and you know what they say about assuming!

Anyway, one thing I got right, is the fact that I like my Arizona Hunter. It's a keeper!
 
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