Science Fiction Knife Advice

'Stabbing' and 'Prying' tend to be mutually exclusive. It sounds as though what is really being looked for is a culturally distinct weapon/tool for this group of people.

Form follows function, so the more you know about this society and its environment, the better you'll be able to design something.

Is this culture space-dwelling, spacefaring, or simply living on sci-fi planet of some sort?

Is the knife primarily a weapon, i.e. a sword, or primarily a tool that is often used as a weapon, i.e. a machete?

If it is a weapon, what/who was it designed to be used against? If a tool, what was its primary purpose?

If a weapon, is it largely ceremonial at this point? If a tool, how everyday a tool is it?

What materials and technologies are available to this culture? Could this tool be an advanced alloy (nonferrous or not) with electrically isolated handle made from advanced composites? Or is it a sharpened chunk of scrap steel made from spaceship wreckage with an electrical tape handle?
 
I think it would look something like this...
glock-field-gray-black-KG39180-er-large.jpg
 
Is this meant to be post-apocalyptic, with constant conflict? If so, probably any kind of sharpened scrap metal. Otherwise... they live on a spaceship. They'd probably want a multi-tool of some kind, and it's not like they're expensive even today.

But this is fiction, and it sounds like he's thinking of a Tom Brown Tracker.
 
This is completely unhelpful but I always thought that the Spyderco Poliwog looks like a spaceship when closed.
 
First of all, apologies for a very long post.

Shipboard life
Near-term space travel will be regimented and routine: a job for everybody, and everybody doing their job, with lots of emphasis on checklists and safety procedures. It will be as boring as you can imagine, with none of the romance and glamor that pre-spaceflight writers were so fond of adding to it. There will be many knife enthusiasts on board ships, but they will leave their knives at home, or in long-term storage, because there is too much danger of a co-worker stealing them. With all the emphasis on safety, most companies will forbid knives of any kind, since something that makes a hole in things inside, essentially, a gigantic pressure vessel, is a bad idea!

Colonies
Mining colonies and other corporate ventures are, potentially, where you'll see the most variety of cutting implements, since people will have access to tools to make tools, and leisure time to use them.
Colonies that are established for other reasons will resemble the colonization of America, or Australia. Here again, the level of technical sophistication will vary widely, with some able to order expensive knives made on industrialized worlds, some having to knap their own tools from the local equivalent of flint, and everything in between. Prison colonies will absolutely forbid knives, and the improvised weapons that you see in those environments will tax anybody's imagination.

The knives
The actual composition of knives is a bit harder to predict. My guess is that there will be a move away from steel, and into unique silica matrices, or laminated materials that incorporate some steel, but only enough to give it the ability to flex under shock or strain.
With the advent of these materials, all-steel blades will at first be considered "cheap", and "not cool". The art of sharpening will mostly die out, since the laminated blades will never need sharpening.
With time, all steel blades will acquire a nostalgic feel, and a loyal following of their own. Freehand sharpening will return as an art among this group, with forums dedicated to the practice and exchange of information. Some makers will discover "old processes", used to shape steel into knife blades.
The majority of the human race will continue to use mass-produced factory knives that look and feel pretty much like what we've got today, but with much better edge retention. New materials will be used, but function drives form, and you gotta have a "holdy end", and a "sharp end", and that won't change.

Space pirates
Because, why not?
There will be some, especially in the early years, when ships are relatively slow, and communication takes a long time.
The space pirates will probably use something we would recognize as a trench knife. Shipboard combat will take place in long corridors, and the idea of powerful projectiles, or energy beams, that could pierce the hull, will be something nobody wants! So fights will be at arms-length, with nasty improvised weapons, made out of mass-produced materials.
 
Your description makes me think of the Cold Steel G.I. Tanto. Cheap and utilitarian. Add some saw teeth serrations on the back of the blade and it would do all the things you describe (stab, saw, pry, etc.). For the purposes of the sci-fi story you could pretend it was made out of some futuristic, lightweight space alloy instead of heavy spring steel.
 
Shipboard: I stand by my previous answer. You definitely need something folding, and assuming you need other tools...

Colonies: You pretty much answered your own question.

Everything else: The Tac Tool suggestion was actually perfect, and I can't believe I didn't think of it myself.
 
Charlie Mike said:
Space Rum!
Click to expand...

Aaarrr! You can bet your boots there will be!

The distiller's art will flourish, in the future, with brand new plants to turn into ways to get drunk.

Some of the highlights will include hallucinogenic beverages, and some really expensive ones that don't leave you with a hangover.

There will be one or two that are popular for a while, which have the effects of alcohol AND caffeine. Until out comes a story of an entire party that lives on the stuff for two days, and the whole lot of them finally die of heart failure, then it will be illegal to make or sell.
 
I'm thinking Woodsman's Pal, Razel and County Comm Breacher bar would show up among the various cultires.
 
I was also thinking different knives for different environments and categories:

Poor colonials/city people/wanderers: 4-6 inch knife, sturdy and solid construction, made from advanced or basic metals and steels (rust proof nitrogen based, like H1, light and carbidized for improved performance, like Titanium, or ceramic-steel alloys with improved edge retention and toughness, nanotubes and carbon blades)

Tradesmen/pilots/space workers: small or mid sized, belt carriable (or shoulder, spacesuit, etc. for quick access) fixed blade, with ergonomic and very grippy handle, non-conductive and not affected by extreme cold/heat (space environment, ship engines and reactors, etc) as well as non-magnetic, made of nitrogen based steels, nanotechnology and silicate based alloys. Could use some plasma heated strings or nano-tubes with plasma or electricity to have a red-hot edge, or vibro-technology (nano-particles, high technology micro engines...) to cut cleanly, and have other cutting applications.
Folders could also be carried and use this similar technology, super strong locks and extremely smooth and reliable opening systems.

Rich people/military/spec.ops and police: Nice and strong OTFs, folders and fixed blades with plasma, electric or hyper-hot blades for pure slicing and stabbing through everything man-made or natural. Lightweight, never getting dull and never failing to deploy or cut.
Grippy, secure, expensive and high-tech, with easy and simple maintenance requirements and able to incorporate add-ons, mods, improvements and variations (longer blades, more powerful energy sources, different blade shapes and designs for various applications and cutting media...)

just some ideas, food for thought at best! :thumbsup:
 
A Medford marauder or a Medford praetorian ti they are both very impractical but would make good science fiction knives.

The Medford praetorian is already in a comic book called (The Adventures of Jack knyff)
 
Shorttime said:
Shipboard life
Near-term space travel will be regimented and routine: a job for everybody, and everybody doing their job, with lots of emphasis on checklists and safety procedures. It will be as boring as you can imagine, with none of the romance and glamor that pre-spaceflight writers were so fond of adding to it. There will be many knife enthusiasts on board ships, but they will leave their knives at home, or in long-term storage, because there is too much danger of a co-worker stealing them. With all the emphasis on safety, most companies will forbid knives of any kind, since something that makes a hole in things inside, essentially, a gigantic pressure vessel, is a bad idea!
Click to expand...
They all carry sheepsfoot blades but when the crew decides to mutiny, they go to the machine shop and secretly sharpen up the points. In the end it's the knife-wielding crew versus the officers (who are armed with a couple of low-power, handheld lasers) in zero gee. Sounds like fun.
 
If our current knives closely resemble what has been in use for several millenniums, I don't see why these sci-fi knives would differ much from what we use today.

Personal knives in space would probably be officially prohibited, yet unoffically encouraged. In such an environment a knife would be much safer to use than a projectile weapon. It is better to have to clean up the messy aftermath of an occassional stabbing, than to deal with a hull breech in a vast and distant vacuum.

n2s
 
Are these poor future scifi souls in outer space or are they living on a planet somewhere in the universe. What I'm saying is a multifunctional knife for use aboard a spacecraft might be different from one meant for use planetside.

My suggestion would be a kukri type knife, although those have been featured alot in futuristic settings already. Look at the DPX HEST fixed blade. It has a little prybar on the butt of the knife. Infact a blade somewhat like the DPX HEST might make a good multifunction future spaceknife.
 
I don't know why these spacers would need a knife that is a knife/saw/prybar any more than we need a knife that is a knife/saw/prybar. Surely they would just carry knives, saws AND prybars like we mostly do? Even for us, these combi-tools are mostly gimmicks.
 
If you're talking about a pocket knife, why not something based on the Swiss army knife alox models like the farmer version. Just have it made out of a non conductive material, be something everyone could use and carry whether on the ground or a ship. As for a fixed blade, maybe something similar to the Ontario air force survival knife, with a saw back portion design to saw through the hull of a craft in emergencies. Have as a hidden tang, the handle material like TPE to give grip and all.
 
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