Sterile knives (especially customs)

Ok, maybe I'm dense or something but please tell me exactly what a sterile blade does for a SEAL, CIA, Ninja, etc. I just don't get it. Knives are available anywhere...if they are captured with a Faulkniven are they "assumed" to be Swedish? Are the captors really going to contact Busse and ask who bought knife XX234839?

Other than not having a logo on the blade for aesthetics I don't see the reasoning.
 
Knives are issued to troops by their various militaries.

If the group doesn't want to be associated with that country if caught doing black bag jobs oversees they use "sterile" equipment not associated with their country of origin.

Like this-------Marines are issued Ka-bars. If the Marines are doing something tha they want to be able to disavow or be able to have our country disavow they use equipment from anothers country or the country they are in.

No association with 'Oh, a kabar, the US military is here. This can be spent brss left at a scene of a shooting. .223 would probably be assocciated with the US [ we use that ammo in our weapons ]. If they used 7.62x39 [ russian/communist caliber ] they would not be associated with the US.

Get it?

Brownie
 
Brownie0486,

With the global economy, I think this theory has run its course. Even as a civilian, I shoot AK's with 7.62 Chinese ammo. You can even get AR-15 uppers that shoot Commie ammo. I've seen some Iraqis holding Colt weapons. The Colt 1911A1 in .38 Super is the favorite pistol of Mexico. Australian mercenaries in Africa carried Browning Hi-Powers, CZ-75's and CZ-83's.

I'm sitting here right now with an French Opinel OP-84 in my jacket pocket.
 
Ichabod Poser:

I would agree with that for the most part, but our boys still will not use our own equipment on bag jobs [anything to point them towards us, so it is still valid in theory.]

Brownie
 
Brownie0486,

Do you think we'll ever know? For example, in Marchiko's first book, he teaches the new team to fire SW stainless model 66s. I would have never guessed that particular firearm, and a revolver to boot. Still, it makes sense, considering the times. It is stainless, and SEALs work around water, it would be sterile, and .357 Mag ammo is pretty easy to get anywhere since it's been around since 1935.

If you ask people what is used now, I'd guess most would say a H&K .45 SOCOM. After all, this is the pistol that the special forces asked for, and they tried it head-to-head with a pistol from Colt. It wouldn't seem right to have this expensive pistol evaluated, purchased and distributed only to be left at home for a stainless Kimber.

If it was my butt, I'd find a Browning Hi-Power, even though I'm not a big fan of the 9 x 19. It has enough ammo, magazines are made by everyone, ammo is world-wide, they don't have stoppages and since it too has been around since 1935, you could probably find spare parts laying on the ground.

Of course, some Syrian would say, "Hey, there's Ichabod's pistol."
 
Are tactical customs made in great numbers outside of America? Even without a mark, anyone here would be able to guess with some accuracy who made a certain knife if it was a popular maker. For production knives it is even worse. If someone had a sterile Cold Steel or Spyderco, we'd know it what it was and the quality would tell it is not a knock-off, making it more suspicious IMO. Using locally made knives that any native could have dropped would make more sense IMO, though the quality might not be as good.

If our enemies find a knife, what's stopping them from posting a picture on bladeforums and asking us what it is. ;) :D


For someone not involved in undercover ops, I don't think it matters one way or another except possibly on some customs. I don't think non-knife people will even look at the mark. They could care less whether a folder was Buck, Cold Steel, Spyderco, Emerson, or Benchmade, or even Fury or Frost for that matter. I have met people that couldn't tell my Voyager or Endura from their knockoffs. :rolleyes:
 
I don't see the point of "sterile" blades.
I agree with Ichabod, in today's global marketing world you can't tell where someone's from by the blade or gun they carry.

In fact, if I were a "black ops" operative I would make sure to carry a US made knife and firearm.
The enemy would never expect that!

"Look! A Colt M-16 and a Benchmade 710!"
"They must have been SAS, trying to fool us into thinking they were US SEALs."
 
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