When did "tactical" become a selling point?

My mom had tactical knuckles.
They weren't for sale, but justice was issued when large drooling men thought her 5'2" size was a sign of a pushover.

Tactical = Pain, humility and the kind of fear one would experience when facing off a badger.
 
It's always interesting to see the piling on that occurs when someone makes a negative comment about something, to the point it almost becomes a mob mentality. While I have also grown weary of the overused term tactical, the reality is this whole genre of products has spurred a lot of interesting designs and innovation. The concept, at least as I think of it, is equipment designed for specific purposes and that usually implies heavier duty, highly durable equipment. It's unfortunate that the term has invoked a lot of copy cat wannabes, but I think the class has to have some sort of "name". Take the much anticipated HEST Folder for example. Is it just a heavy duty Scout knife with a bottle opener, hex bit holder and glass break? Really? It's tactical even if they don't call it that. You just have to sort out the wheat from all the chaff.
I was just getting weary of the "all tactical is bad" theme of the thread. BTW just in case anyone didn't get it, sometimes companies make fun of the term as well. The tactical bacon put out by CMMG for example. CMMG is an AR-15 manufacturer and the tactical bacon is a tongue in cheek dig at a certain adversaries with specific religious beliefs.

Just my .02
 
Well naturally if it's "tactical", it's WAY better... Duh!

Ok in all seriousness though, I like things simple, and most of the time something that's listed as tactical has more bells and whistles than it needs, and often the function of the knife is impaired because they try to cram all of these extra features into the design of the knife, when they should really just be focusing on what's important. Making a comfortable, quality knife that cuts well.
 
From what I believe I know is knife prices seemed to become preposterous in the late 1980's then with the aforementioned Lynn Thompson hanging around with his "recon" tanto, and Gulf war 1 in 1991 things started to heat up along the "tactical" knife line. Then fast forward to 9/11 and the war on terror we have even more people trying to make money with their "tactical" knives. The application of the word probly also got a boost from the myriad tactical training seminars and books, which only real ninjas participated in or read thus galvanizing the word for a long time to come as it is applied to knives in the thinking of marketers [who probly would cut themselves if they ever did buy an actual user knife]. I liked the comment about tactical + MSRP, that one is on the money. I think marketers are trying to convey confidence when they use the word, especially to knife noobs -- hey bud it's TACTICAL, that MUST mean something! So that's their aim but when educated knife people buy that knife just the same; these dimwit marketers think it's because of them using the word tactical so in their minds it works then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that "TACTICAL SELLS".

Blighters.
 
I'm educated, I know tactical is an overused marketing term, but damn--if you put tactical on something, I will look.

You guys need to get off your high horses and stop criticizing people who like "tactical" items. I like tactical knives for the same reason I like AR-10s and other ridiculous, unnecessary items--they're fun to have.
 
AR-10s? Those are NECESSITIES. :D

I actually agree with most of the above post, my negativity towards the word tactical
stems alot from being overloaded on the word to the point of it becoming trite as well as
the marketing. I have a thing for people who exaggerate, and telling me a $5.99 knife can
in some way be used to stake my life on get's my hackulars up.
 
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I just ordered a pair of tactical black tactical underwear from Nutnfancy. This underwear is the ultimate mission capable and battle tested underwear specifically designed for covert operations. This tactical underwear has been through extensive government testing, has been frozen to -40C and baked to +500C, and meets all MIL-SPEC technical requirements.
 
glee said:
It's unfortunate that the term has invoked a lot of copy cat wannabes, but I think the class has to have some sort of "name". Take the much anticipated HEST Folder for example. Is it just a heavy duty Scout knife with a bottle opener, hex bit holder and glass break? Really? It's tactical even if they don't call it that. You just have to sort out the wheat from all the chaff.
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Ok, I get it but as far as I know the class of special military / law enforcement operators who would be the real 'tactical' use group [yes/no?] usually only care if a knife cuts stuff if you ask them specifically about this. They get knives from makers for free sometimes so the sellers can turn around and claim military use. So here we are with the real tactical groups but they don't care much about the supposed criteria that is all the rage that is tactical.

EDIT: so if these operators don't care and have developed scant actual specifications about what edged tools/weapons they will use then what gives creedence to a manufacturer then who uses the word tactical? Were they themselves on long range recon? I searched the Strider knives website for the word tactical and there were only 2 hits both had to do with the Rogue warrior knife and were not prominent in the descriptions of this knife -so- a legit 'operator knife' maker virtually doesn't even use the word.
 
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I can't help it I'm going through a bit of a hard use/tactical folder phase right now.

I collect what appeals to me. I'm a city boy who's primary uses are quite mundane. yes I go hiking but I'm not 'military operator'

I collect what I like, and I appreciate well made knives.

PS: the folder in my avatar is easily one of my top two favorite knives. That and my small sebenza 21. I would liquidate every other blade in my collection if I had to before I got to those two.
 
glee said:
It's always interesting to see the piling on that occurs when someone makes a negative comment about something, to the point it almost becomes a mob mentality. While I have also grown weary of the overused term tactical, the reality is this whole genre of products has spurred a lot of interesting designs and innovation. The concept, at least as I think of it, is equipment designed for specific purposes and that usually implies heavier duty, highly durable equipment. It's unfortunate that the term has invoked a lot of copy cat wannabes, but I think the class has to have some sort of "name". Take the much anticipated HEST Folder for example. Is it just a heavy duty Scout knife with a bottle opener, hex bit holder and glass break? Really? It's tactical even if they don't call it that. You just have to sort out the wheat from all the chaff.
I was just getting weary of the "all tactical is bad" theme of the thread. BTW just in case anyone didn't get it, sometimes companies make fun of the term as well. The tactical bacon put out by CMMG for example. CMMG is an AR-15 manufacturer and the tactical bacon is a tongue in cheek dig at a certain adversaries with specific religious beliefs.

Just my .02
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I'm with you Glee. What one size fits all name can you call this family of knives? I haven't seen a post yet with a good alternative.

The question is probably more whether the people buying tactical blades really have a practical need for them. I would guess if only those with a real need for a Busse, Strider, Emerson, ESEE etc bought them, all of these companies would fold up tomorrow.
 
ibute21 said:
IIRC, Lynn Thompson played a roll in the creation of the tactical marke when he popularized the American tanto. I could be wrong though.
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That's the way I recall it too (during the early 1980s). Probably because he use to spend most of his advertising bucks to post listing for his early tanto knives in Soldier of Fortune.

n2s
 
not2sharp said:
That's the way I recall it too (during the early 1980s). Probably because he use to spend most of his advertising bucks to post listing for his early tanto knives in Soldier of Fortune.

n2s
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I remember "tactical" for the non-soldier-of-fortune type becoming popular in the 90's. If memory serves, it was about the same time that paintball became mainsteam.

Look about 3/4 of the way down on the Wikipedia page. It credits Bob Terzuola with the "tactical folder" about the same time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_knife

Edit: I like that with a lot of the "Tactical" knives, you can beat the daylights out of them without breaking it. But, I could do without the colored blades. It makes it harder to work with them in low light.
 
Clang! said:
I remember "tactical" for the non-soldier-of-fortune type becoming popular in the 90's. If memory serves, it was about the same time that paintball became mainsteam.

Look about 3/4 of the way down on the Wikipedia page. It credits Bob Terzuola with the "tactical folder" about the same time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_knife

Edit: I like that with a lot of the "Tactical" knives, you can beat the daylights out of them without breaking it. But, I could do without the colored blades. It makes it harder to work with them in low light.
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I think it was about the time when Ernest Emerson collaborated
with Benchmade for the first production CQC7B.
 
Pete2s said:
I'm educated, I know tactical is an overused marketing term, but damn--if you put tactical on something, I will look.

You guys need to get off your high horses and stop criticizing people who like "tactical" items. I like tactical knives for the same reason I like AR-10s and other ridiculous, unnecessary items--they're fun to have.
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Not a high horse at all. ;)

It's just very amusing to me and some others who really did serve in the Military.

1st thought that goes through my mind is they really need to go in the Military instead of acting like a wannabe.

They walk around dressed all tactical etc, I get a good laugh out of it every time I see it. :D
 
Ankerson said:
Not a high horse at all. ;)

It's just very amusing to me and some others who really did serve in the Military.

1st thought that goes through my mind is they really need to go in the Military instead of acting like a wannabe.

They walk around dressed all tactical etc, I get a good laugh out of it every time I see it. :D
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Hoorah.:thumbup:
 
I do like what "tactical knives" are supposed to be. More robust and sturdy than knives just optimized for cutting. having said this, I am not a "tacticool" kind of guy. I go out of my way not to look tactical or on the opposite end of the spectrum, "bushcrafty", since IMHO, that attracts more attention here. So called "tac gear" when it refers to clothes and other innocuous items are anathema to me. I hate camo clothes with a passion.

"Tactical" as a buzzword is getting to lose meaning but what other alternative is there to describe these genre? Hard use? Heavy Duty? Those have received their share of criticism for being meaningless.

So I'm throwing out two terms that we can maybe you can choose from. "Silly" for the guys who dislike this genre and "nice" for the guys who do.
 
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singularity35 said:
So I'm throwing out two terms that we can maybe you can choose from. "Silly" for the guys who dislike this genre and "nice" for the guys who do.
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Nice will work, we can use it to deflect the wife: "honey I'm just online ordering a few 'nice' things for the house" :D
 
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