Which knives have really been endorsed by the army - at some time?

E

evert67

Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Messages
222
With amusement I have been reading the thread about Emerson knives in which people claimed that particular knives had been/had not been used in killing terrorist X. What stroke me were not so much the claims, but the screaming lack of evidence that was given.

Of course, we all know the knive manufacturers claiming that their new knife was designed by colonel Y, who served successfully in Iraq/Afghanistan/... Or their claims that their knife is used by many SWAT teams/SEAL teams/... Without proper evidence this is only marketing talk. Nowadays most soldiers are free to bring their own knife anyway, so yeah, you'll find any type of knife there.

I actually know of only one knife that has been officially endorsed by the military: the KA-BAR and that was in WW2. Many people also seem to believe that the SOG Seal was endorsed by some SEAL teams around 2000, but I have never seen something that actually confirms this. Has anyone got a link to some documentation confirming this?

Hence my question: which knives have ever been officially endorsed by (a part of) the military? And some information to support this would be more than welcome.
 
I would venture a guess to say that any knife with a NSN on it would be military endorsed.
 
The Canadian Armed Forces issued the Grohmann Canadian Forces knife at one level or another, I know I signed for one.
 
I think the Bark River Bravo was originally made for a Marine unit. And if I remember correctly, there is a stainless version of the same knife that was originally made for another Marine unit.
 
popedandy said:
I think the Bark River Bravo was originally made for a Marine unit. And if I remember correctly, there is a stainless version of the same knife that was originally made for another Marine unit.
Click to expand...

If Im not mistaken, the BRK Bravo 1 does not have an NSN, so although a detatchment of Recon Marines may have purchased it, it is certainly not an issued item (although it is a fantastic knife.)

I know Benchmade has quite a few NSN knives, Ontario makes our Marine Bayonet I think. There are quite a few knife mfg's in the NSN catalog, but that doesnt mean they are standard issue, just that they are available to units who allocate a need for them at a TAP issue or as an open purchase from Servmart. All deployed Marines are issued the Bayonet though. At times Ive been issued a Gerber Auto, Benchmade AFO, lots of Gerber blunt-nose multitools, and a worthless Gerber EOD tool (Im not EOD). Hope that helps some.
 
evert67 said:
With amusement I have been reading the thread about Emerson knives in which people claimed that particular knives had been/had not been used in killing terrorist X. What stroke me were not so much the claims, but the screaming lack of evidence that was given.

Of course, we all know the knive manufacturers claiming that their new knife was designed by colonel Y, who served successfully in Iraq/Afghanistan/... Or their claims that their knife is used by many SWAT teams/SEAL teams/... Without proper evidence this is only marketing talk. Nowadays most soldiers are free to bring their own knife anyway, so yeah, you'll find any type of knife there.

I actually know of only one knife that has been officially endorsed by the military: the KA-BAR and that was in WW2. Many people also seem to believe that the SOG Seal was endorsed by some SEAL teams around 2000, but I have never seen something that actually confirms this. Has anyone got a link to some documentation confirming this?

Hence my question: which knives have ever been officially endorsed by (a part of) the military? And some information to support this would be more than welcome.
Click to expand...

So what you are actually interested in is if Emerson has ever actually had knives used by SF. Well the first place to start would be the online wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Emerson which is annotated out of its rear end so that you can find the answers that you are looking for.
 
GMAHN said:
So what you are actually interested in is if Emerson has ever actually had knives used by SF. Well the first place to start would be the online wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Emerson which is annotated out of its rear end so that you can find the answers that you are looking for.
Click to expand...

No, I think the OP made it quite clear what he is interested in:
Hence my question: which knives have ever been officially endorsed by (a part of) the military? And some information to support this would be more than welcome.
Click to expand...

Does anyone have any NSN listings for Emerson Knives we could look up?
 
glockfire said:
No, I think the OP made it quite clear what he is interested in:


Does anyone have any NSN listings for Emerson Knives we could look up?
Click to expand...

The NSAR knife has a NSN I believe, as it is available for unit purchase. Its basically a SARK with a gut hook/line cutter. I'm not terribly amused by digging up other's info tonight though, but that may help someone who wants to find the nsn
 
I have been issued a Gerber Combat folder, a Benchmade auto, A Gerber auto6 and a Benchmade D handle seatbelt cutter.
 
A couple of guys I trained brazilian jiu jitsu with a few years back are denver and aurora swat. All carried a spyderco police model. 4"+ of blade in a slim package was probably the reason
 
Here is a thread, that started off as one thing and ended up much the same as this one. Just posting it for reference as it seems the question was partially answered.
 
I do not believe any one company has a contract with any branch of the military.
 
The Benchmade AFO I/II is said to have been used by all branches of the Military, per BM website;

"When the going gets tough-get tougher… The AFO is in an elite class of proven tools on active duty throughout all branches of the Armed Forces the world over."

Funny though that BM list 12 items with having a NSN number, the AFO is not one of them. Yet the Stryker auto, and Presidio auto are both NSN items. I wonder why the AFO is not?
 
My brother (101st Airborne) was given a Gerber auto to carry in Afghanistan. I believe it was issued because I made a point of asking him what knives they were being issued. He said they were also given a Gerber multi tool.
 
Anything that has been issued. Ka-Bars were, as are currently a few Fallkniven survival models. But that doesn't tell you much, friend. Just because the Army or Marine Corps issued a knife to soldiers, doesn't mean it's the best you can get. Want to know why the military issues stuff? Because it meets minimum qualifications and it's cheap or they get some special deal from the factory. It's called "procurement" and it has nothing to do with finding the best of the best, except for a few exotic units. The Ka-Bar is a cheap knife. A pretty good knife, but a cheap knife, and certainly not the best you can get. Maybe the best you can get for $40, though... and that's why Uncle Sam issued it to soldiers.

As for "endorsing" knives, no military unit does that. Knife makers use sneaky tactics to get what looks like an "endorsement." Let me explain:

I frankly would avoid any knife that has "SEAL," "GREEN BERET," "DARK OPS," etc. in the title. That is a pure marketing gimic, nothing more. Some famous knife maker makes a knife to "honor" a soldier in an elite unit and presents it to him, on his knees, with tears in his eyes, blubbering and thanking him for his service. The elite soldier unwittingly takes it as a good-hearted gesture and accepts the knife and, of course, says "Wow, nice knife." The maker then, of course, turns right around and starts selling them en masse to the public, proudly declaring it a knife, "used and endorsed by the green berets!!!!"

You mentioned Emerson, but frankly I can name a few makers--well, one maker--so famous that I'd be banned if I dared to call him out. Well, I kinda did indirectly, so I'm just waiting for the ban hammer. But there's quite a few big box companies that do the same thing. I mean, SOG and Dark Ops named their companies after elite warfighting units (units that the founders of the companies had NOTHING to do with)... and it's pure marketing gimmickry.
 
I can vouch that the SEALs were issued SOG seal pups. My dad worked with them for a bit in 2000-2002 (fun years huh), and was issued the same gear as the SEALs for some reason. Part of that issued gear was the seal pup.
 
From 1939 forward we have issued hundreds of different knives to our military, the majority of types in W II, when we started out almost knifeless and took what was available or what anyone could get made. My grandfather worked in a machine shop (one of two full-time, wartime jobs) turning "Patton" model swords into jungle knives and stilettos for Uncle. Put 11,000,000 into the armed forces and you may need a lot of knives.

Most of these knives were massed produced by the big companies (Camillus, Cattaragus, L,F & C) and medium sized companies (Union Cutlery). Some were made in shops used to making high-quality, expensive steel tools, and they are usually high quality. So the range is from minimal quality to top quality by any standard. Some of the mass produced ones were amazingly good for the price paid, like the 225Q.

Some of those knives have been issued primarily or exclusively to elite units. They are known to collectors by names that include "CIA," "Marine Raider," "Commando," "Ranger" and "Special Forces" because that's who carried them. Most of them are pretty good and far from a "gimic," but they are too expensive for most to use and probably historic enough that they should not be used.

I suppose the best idea would be to buy the knife, but a good many buy an image or idea, not a tool. Look at Dork Ops.
 
Last edited:
Javelin said:
I can vouch that the SEALs were issued SOG seal pups. My dad worked with them for a bit in 2000-2002 (fun years huh), and was issued the same gear as the SEALs for some reason. Part of that issued gear was the seal pup.
Click to expand...

I have heard this story and there are various mentions on the Internet. In 2000 there was no Seal Pup yet as we know it now, but it appears that a very similar knife, now known as the Seal 2000 was actually endorsed by some (?) SEAL teams. That said, all material I can find that backs this story comes from SOG itself (e.g., http://sogknives.com/store/S37.html). That page does mention an NSN. Would that help?

Anyone got more information on this story?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top