What is meant by a "tactical" knife?

AfterTFD said:
In almost every case 'tactical' just means that a knife looks badass or some magazine wants to sell it to armchair warriors.
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+1,000,000 It's usually the same guys that show up wearing 5.11 tactical boots and vests and OD green or Camo BDUs to the shooting range. And at least one out of every ten of them will have a fake suppressor on one of their weapons.

And they look at me in my gym shorts and T-shirt as if there is no way I could ever be the "Operator" they are.

It is the new "Seal" term for knives. Back in the day everything was either used by the seals, or endorsed by the seals, or a seal fell on it, or a seal happened to be in the room when they were talking about it or what have you.

You watch... "Operator" will be the next buzz word.
 
To me, calling a knife "Tactical" means something that was specifically designed to appeal to the under 30 year old "Mall Ninja" and "Armchair Commando" crowd.:thumbdn::thumbdn::thumbdn:
 
What do people call knives that are combat or survival oriented that are not 'tactical' but of high quality and are really non-utilitarian in nature, since many of you consider 'tactical' a marketing gimmick.
 
Shaman said:
since many of you consider 'tactical' a marketing gimmick.
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Many here have no idae what a tactical knife really is.

They are completely different from a combat or specialist knife.

T Delica, Griptillian and Leek are pretty pretty much the epitome of modern tactical folders, but few would call them armchair commando knives, just quick, efficent folders.
 
My 710 D-2 with axis lock, and my Kershaw S30V Blur are POCKET knives! not tactical knives. My C.S. SRK is a camping/trail knife, not a tactical.

In the unlikely event I should ever feel the need to be "tactical" I'll arm myself with an AR-15 and a Beretta M-9.
 
J85909266 said:
T Delica, Griptillian and Leek are pretty pretty much the epitome of modern tactical folders, but few would call them armchair commando knives, just quick, efficent folders.
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+1,
Most of the buzz-words that these days are used in conjunction with "tactical" were used by Sal in his original description of the Worker.

Shaman said:
What do people call knives that are combat or survival oriented that are not 'tactical' but of high quality and are really non-utilitarian in nature
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non-utilitarian and survival oriented are pretty much mutually exclusive, are they not?
"utilitarian |yo??tili?te(?)r??n| adjective 1 designed to be useful or practical rather than attractive"
Would you like to be in a survival situation with a knife that is not useful or practical?

Which is precisely, why "tactical" IS a marketing gimmick.
 
Shaman said:
What do people call knives that are combat or survival oriented that are not 'tactical' but of high quality and are really non-utilitarian in nature, since many of you consider 'tactical' a marketing gimmick.
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Utlitarian is in the eye of the beholder. The "Tanto" is patterned after the old japanese knives that went along with the Katana and Wak. Those individuals who actually carried those blades as a lifestyle used those smaller tanto knives for everything you could think of. Much like we might use a 6" field knife for just about any chore we can think of. So to hold the tanto out as a strictly offensive or defensive design is neglecting a little bit of its history. The fact that it's design lends itself to a strong puncturing tool I say is just a strength of it's design... it just happens to be something that design does well.

To answer your question... I just call a good knife a good knife. Each design brings a little something more to the table in certain areas than others but that comes down to tool selection. Pick the knife that you think will be best at what you want to do. I started a thread about the perfect fighting knife a while back and the one thing if nothing else I learned is that it's a user specific thing and even an expert can't tell you what is best for you. So pick what you like and ignore titles like "Tactical" or "Fighting" or "Survival" or even "Utlilty", because that is just a name another man gave it because that's what he felt it was good for. Choose for yourself what role you want a blade to fill and choose accordingly. No one can tell you what knife will work better for your needs than you.
 
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