Mad Dog vs. ???

The MPK was based off of the ATAK, the main difference is that the handle isn't as shape specific and is more textured. There is a dispute between McClung and Mission over the MPK, I think McClung views it as a rip-off.

-Cliff
 
Thanks for all the replies, folks! As a result of the info provided, and a bunch of browsing on both Bladeforums and the websites of manufacturers, I've decided I probably couldn't go wrong with either a Swamp Rat or Busse, or even a Fallkniven (if available in western Canada). Thanks for all the great info!
 
glorfindel said:
Maybe this question doesn't fit in this topic but can anyone explain me the comfort in real using MD Arizona Hunter both in 3/16'' and 1/4'' thickness? You know, isn't 1/4 too fat and heavy and 3/16 too thin for prying? :confused:
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I have an AZ hunter in 1/4" and find it very comfortable. 3/16" would make a finer slicer, but the 1/4" cuts well. If you need a skinner, I'd go with 3/16".
MD handles are tops in my opinion- Grippy, very comfortable, and very strong. I prefer natural material for looks, and I don't collect Mad Dogs, but he makes a solid, tough knife.
 
Janey, I don't know where you consider "Western" Canada, but there's a knife shop in Calgary that carries Fallkniven. Target Knives. They also have a web site, but their in-store stock is MUCH larger than the paltry few knives on their site. http://www.targetknives.com/ On the other hand, their prices are just absurd compared to internet retailers. $.02
 
I'm pretty sure I've seen more "Mad Dog vs." threads than any other brand.

I keep waiting for

GODZILLA VS MAD DOG

praty on.
 
Nowhere said:
I was once tempted to buy one of his knives....

until I read this: Reivew of tusk

Since then, I'm leaning to buy a Busse or Fallkniven A1 instead.
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Suit yourself. I personally would do more research before buying one guy's writings on a knife that he compared to a hatchet and a... Khukuri, or Sirupati? That is, if I was interested in a Mad Dog, or more correctly, could afford one. From what I've read pretty much anywhere else, most anyone would be well served by a Mad Dog. But I can't afford one. Heck, I'm pushing to buy an A1 anymore; fortunately, I already have one. And it is quite a good knife, but in a totally different league. I'd rather have the Mad Dog, but don't have the income.
 
SethMurdoc said:
that serves no purpose.
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I am using the word generically.

I do not care for the way the sad dogs feel,balance or look.They just do not feel like a knife to me.Therefore I call the knife queer.
 
it might be benificial to post such explanations directly after using such words. specifically, words that have a high level of volitility when taken out of context in a discussion, expecially those that can be taken as a direct insult to third parties.
 
What's he need the ladder for - once the legs are gone it's hard for the other guy to stand :D

Personally I prefer knives to act like knives versus cleavers, shovels, anvils, wheelbarrows or any of the other sundry uses I have heard proported that a "tactical knife" or "survival knife" needs to be capable off.

There was a guy recently who used a Mad Dog knife to chop apart a refrigerator, then a couple of bricks, and then he did chin-ups on the knife.

Whaddya know, when you chop rocks up with a knife, it fractures the edge and the knife breaks. When you are dumb enough to videotape this and then claim warranty repair....well, if a guy will simply replace the knife you bought and then broke in extremely stupid fashion, that's not so much warranty service as proof that the knife takes little or no time and money to make, and therefore is really as expensive as the steel (dirt cheap)

For the direct record, I have had great warranty service from both CS and Mad Dog. Then again, I have never set out to destroy a knife intentionally.

I guess I am past the point of buying a knife on looks alone, unless say I wond the powerball and a few Morans were up for sale. Then again, Morans are great performers, as knives, rather than crowbars.

If you want a sharp prybar, again, I make the suggestion that you bu a knife you enjoy using and spend an additional $6 on a cat's paw at Home Depot. If you need to chop or dig, there are appropriate tools for extensive chopping or digging. Say, an axe and a shovel.

Knives are cutting tools. Mad Dogs cut extremely well. I have yet to find the one that makes a lousy fighting blade, and they all can do very well as a working blade, though the false-edged variety make daily chores a little more exciting.

Knives can be used as splitting wedges, or as axes, shovels, prybars, surgical implements, weapons, spears, signal reflectors, all sorts of non-knife stuff. If you insist on taking a tool designed to function very well in a particular direction, say a hard-stock rockwell 64 skinner and try to make a camp knife out of it, you will break it, period. if you need a camp knife, buy an ATAK or a Bayou Hunter, or maybe an SAS. Or you could get a Cold Steel Trailmaster and put up with the handle abrading your hand. The TM costs a LOT less and a pair of gloves is a lot cheaper than the ATAK handle.

Cliff's history with Mad Dog and his TUSK tests are well known. To be fair, he got me interested in Mad Dog Knives, a lot of energy and passion went into the tests, but I went and got all sides of the story. I found out that Mad Dogs got the only sole-source justification the Navy ever has given for a knife to this point, in that the SEALs wants nothing but ATAKs. If Govt paid a little faster, there would very likely still be a hard contract instead of individual SEALs coming to him for knives.

He can be hard to take, especially if you are going to argue with him without a bunch of fact or first-hand experience to back up your ideas, but if you have a genuine problem, he is happy to work it out with you very fairly in my experience with him over the last several years. As a custom guy building by hand it is tough to always hit someone's idea of a production date, but I have yet to find the wait not worth it.
 
The Ferman knives seem to be tough and a good value. .25" thick 3V, nice handles, for $300 or so.
 
Parker said:
There was a guy recently who used a Mad Dog knife to chop apart a refrigerator, then a couple of bricks, and then he did chin-ups on the knife.

Whaddya know, when you chop rocks up with a knife, it fractures the edge and the knife breaks.
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Sorry, that doesn't work. McClung built his reputation based on his knives being extremely tough. His stories he used to sell his knives are *way* above the testing done on them. He personally used to promote his knives with tales like Seals jumping on them like diving boards and propelling them across the room. Doing chin ups, etc. . All things which left other knives bent and broken, including heavy prying.

Lots of knives could easily take the above use that broke the recent Mad Dog, and in fact the review contained several of them. Yes if you chop a knife into a rock it will damage the edge. However the damage should be slight on a tactical or survival knife and in no case should it lead to gross failure of the knife. The whole reason you do a differential temper and choose steels like O1 is to get very high charpy values which are supposed to prevent such failures.

Again McClung has spent a lot of time in the past proclaiming the greatness of his knives for such tasks, including degrading lots of other knives because they could not perform such tasks, and critizing steels because they could not as well. When you promote your product for such extreme uses you should not be overly surprised if people actually expect them to handle it.

If all yuo want is a knife to just cut, then there is no reason to buy a knife with such a design. An Opinel will out cut a Mad Dog many times over. The whole reason you get differential tempering, thicker blades, etc., is to enable the knife to pry, chop, hack, pound on and with. When these tasks are removed the knife is horribly illoptomized.

-Cliff
 
Parker said:
I found out that Mad Dogs got the only sole-source justification the Navy ever has given for a knife to this point, in that the SEALs wants nothing but ATAKs. If Govt paid a little faster, there would very likely still be a hard contract instead of individual SEALs coming to him for knives.
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Who cares? Yesterday I saw a documentary on French television about a military survival course where a GIGN (SWAT-type police unit) recruiter fondled the SOG bowie (a Tigershark or something along those lines) one of the recruits had brought along. He asked the applicant what he needed that knife for - next thing you know the instructor took a cheap, no-name folding(!) knife that really didn't look practical at all (wasn't even a one-hand opener, sheepfoot-ish blade shape) and proclaimed that this would be a better knife. :rolleyes:

Just proves (once again) that, like the majority of civilians, the majority of soldiers and cops knows nothing about quality knives.
 
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