- Joined
- Feb 4, 1999
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I was wandering around on Newt Livesay's webpage the other day and a new addition caught my eye: limited issue titanium knives. Just for giggles I checked it out and ended up ordering a Titanium Tiger neck knife for $22. My interest was mainly as a collector and to see how the knife looks/performs as I have no experience with titanium in cutting tools.
I receieved the knife a few days later and thought it was worth reviewing for interested parties. The full specs can be found at Newt's webpage, but the knife is about 5.5" inches long overall with a 2-3" cutting edge ground as a modified tanto chisel grind. The knife has a paracord handle wrap and the thickness is less than 1/8". It is shaped very simply and probably took about ten minutes to grind, at least if it was steel that's about how long it would take. The knife is stamped "Newt Livesay T" and has all the crud on the surface from heat-treatment. It comes with a very simple glued-shut Kydex sheath that works really well and is of 0.060" material for the lowest profile that could be expected. Sheath is nicely done and super simple.
This knife is designed to be a one-time-only backup knife, and as such has features based with that duty in mind. Titanium is very flexible to begin with, and add to that the thinness, and you have a knife about as flexible as two credit cards stacked on each other. It is super-light and has a very low-profile making it very concealable. I suppose since the sheath has no metal holding it together and titanium can generally pass through normal metal detectors that Newt designed this to go into places it shouldn't... the point is super thin and very sharp, and the modified tanto edge supports a stab-and-run mentality.
Some neck knives have the potential to be used for some light utility work, but being that the Ti Tiger is titanium (poor edge-holding) and so flexible, as well as its geometry and grip, it is virtually useless for anything other than stabbing someone and getting the heck out of dodge. I assume it would do this job very well, although the thinness of the blade would mean a soft target would be imperative.
I think this is a good knife if you keep that purpose in mind, but even then, I have had no problems wearing my Emerson LaGriffe (probably the best choice for a self-defense neck knife available) or my REKAT Fang all dat, and they have the ability to be sharpened and used for odd jobs if needed. They are almost as low profile and not a whole lot heavier. The Newt knife is interesting and should make a good collector's piece, but given a choice between it and one of the steel knives I mentioned, then they would be better choices.
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My Custom Kydex Sheath pagehttp://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/knifehome.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
On Two Wheels
I receieved the knife a few days later and thought it was worth reviewing for interested parties. The full specs can be found at Newt's webpage, but the knife is about 5.5" inches long overall with a 2-3" cutting edge ground as a modified tanto chisel grind. The knife has a paracord handle wrap and the thickness is less than 1/8". It is shaped very simply and probably took about ten minutes to grind, at least if it was steel that's about how long it would take. The knife is stamped "Newt Livesay T" and has all the crud on the surface from heat-treatment. It comes with a very simple glued-shut Kydex sheath that works really well and is of 0.060" material for the lowest profile that could be expected. Sheath is nicely done and super simple.
This knife is designed to be a one-time-only backup knife, and as such has features based with that duty in mind. Titanium is very flexible to begin with, and add to that the thinness, and you have a knife about as flexible as two credit cards stacked on each other. It is super-light and has a very low-profile making it very concealable. I suppose since the sheath has no metal holding it together and titanium can generally pass through normal metal detectors that Newt designed this to go into places it shouldn't... the point is super thin and very sharp, and the modified tanto edge supports a stab-and-run mentality.
Some neck knives have the potential to be used for some light utility work, but being that the Ti Tiger is titanium (poor edge-holding) and so flexible, as well as its geometry and grip, it is virtually useless for anything other than stabbing someone and getting the heck out of dodge. I assume it would do this job very well, although the thinness of the blade would mean a soft target would be imperative.
I think this is a good knife if you keep that purpose in mind, but even then, I have had no problems wearing my Emerson LaGriffe (probably the best choice for a self-defense neck knife available) or my REKAT Fang all dat, and they have the ability to be sharpened and used for odd jobs if needed. They are almost as low profile and not a whole lot heavier. The Newt knife is interesting and should make a good collector's piece, but given a choice between it and one of the steel knives I mentioned, then they would be better choices.
------------------
My Custom Kydex Sheath pagehttp://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/knifehome.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
On Two Wheels
