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

Victorinox soldier alox and OH 111mm models are true army knives thats been used by swiss, german, dutch and many other countries...
 
I see these claims all the time, and they are a good marketing ploy to draw people in who think the military is uber-cool and can do no wrong. especially the ones with the "used by special forces, all over the world" type claims, since they are impossible to prove and people think that special forces guys must know what knife is the best one, which is not the case most times. they know what they like and carry what they want, however I have seen quite a few useless knives carried by them as well, so I don't find it a particularly good measure of how to pick a knife. as far as issued knives or endorsements, that's no better (as stated many times) the knife picked was picked based on price, no performance.
 
Murphnuge said:
A former SEAL helped design the Trident knife. I was issued an Ontario OKC13 Bayonet in the Corps.
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Dude, seriously... don't fall for that. Former SEALS do a lot of things for easy money, whoring out their SEAL status for easy cash. A former SEAL "designed" this XXXX for Dark Ops:

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you can read about it here: http://www.darkopsknives.com/cgisto...up=1&ida=6&idp=3&his=0|3&cart_id=1013183.6036

Just like Bear Grylls "designed" that POS for Gerber that falls apart in the field.
 
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that's the stuff I've been talking about. I just didn't want to name names, lol. who in their right mind is going to use something like this for anything other than "LCF" (look cool factor)??? I can see the headline now... tragic news today as it appears a soldier was killed when his really cool looking knife got caught up on bushes and he was shot repeatedly.
 
Wait just a second rustyrazor...are you trying to imply that modern combat isn't all about hand to hand close quarter knife fighting? And covert batonning? Well I do not believe that for a second.

Here's the way it is. Upon graduation, each soldier is given a machine gun and a big fixed blade knife with camo coating made by a company endorsed by Norman Schwarzkopf and John Rambo, and is thrown out into a battlefield full of commies, terrorists, StormTroopers from Star Wars, and zombies. Immediately the gun permanently jams, they are stranded deep behind enemy lines, and they are left to survive only with their trusty knife.

That's what the marketing departments at knife manufacturers tell me, and I believe it!
 
Magnaminous_G said:
Dude, seriously... don't fall for that. Former SEALS do a lot of things for easy money, whoring out their SEAL status for easy cash. A former SEAL "designed" this XXXX for Dark Ops:

6.jpg


you can read about it here: http://www.darkopsknives.com/cgisto...up=1&ida=6&idp=3&his=0|3&cart_id=1013183.6036

Just like Bear Grylls "designed" that POS for Gerber that falls apart in the field.
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Understood, but I'm just saying it's part of the marketing ploy . Chief James "Patches"Watson helped design it. Not saying he had a final say or much of a say, but he was at least a consultant. Gerber used that to sell knives. I met him at our local Marine recruiters' office when he was shopping services to put his grandson in. Nice guy, don't mean he knew knives or that he didn't, but he was a nice guy.
 
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I got buddies that are/were Army Snipers, Rangers, Marine Bullet Stoppers, RTO's, EOD, Navy Seaman, Small Boat Crews, etc. They all have the same thing in common.

They carried their own knives. :D

KA-Bar no longer has a contract with the Gub'ment, but, most of their blades carry a NSN, and you can find them on their new website.

Other than that, most of the guys I know and talk to, had unit buys on blades, or just brought their own.

Moose

ETA, Hi, Col. Defender.
 
Murphnuge said:
Understood, but I'm just saying it's part of the marketing ploy . Chief James "Patches"Watson helped design it. Not saying he had a final say or much of a say, but he was at least a consultant. Gerber used that to sell knives. I met him at our local Marine recruiters' office when he was shopping services to put his grandson in. Nice guy, don't mean he knew knives or that he didn't, but he was a nice guy.
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And it doesn't mean that in any way, shape, or form the knife was "...officially endorsed by (a part of) the military." which was the OPs question.
 
marcinek said:
And it doesn't mean that in any way, shape, or form the knife was "...officially endorsed by (a part of) the military." which was the OPs question.
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True, but who stays on topic?:D

Seriously, if you mean contract, none really. Like I said we had Ontario, they made our official issue bayonet. We also had a mix of Ontario and Ka-Bar "fighting knives". I believe those got yanked when the new bayonet/fighting/utility came in.
 
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The SAK Soldier Knife was issued from 1961 to 2008 to Swiss soldiers. The 2008 Soldier version is issued to new Swiss recruits at basic training. I imagine a host of other european defense forces are also issued SAKs.

And lets not forget the Fallkniven F1, that is issued to Swedish airforce pilots.
 
rustyrazor said:
... I'll take this a step further and say that believe it or not, there are very few military members who know anything more about knives than the average hunter at all (true story) they are just like every other shmuck, except for the fact that they carry knives and use them for everything under the sun, besides what a knife was meant for, and they fall into the same traps as everyone and buy these "tactical" offerings by companies that are little more than sharpened pry bars...
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big +1 on this. My work unit use knives every day, and most of them don't give a crap about which knife they use. We get gov't bought Bucks 110 or Gerber Gators issued; even tho I believe they are decent knives I don't think they are suited to the type of work that we do (CBP Ag Specialists at seaport inspections involve a lot of slicing, cutting and prying sometimes - I've been handed 2 110's in less than month with broken tips, modded one into a wharncliff). We have 3 stones at the office and I had to do a sharpening training 2 months ago because nobody knew how (or cared) to sharpen their own tools and I was fed up with sharpening their knives, but luckily some of them are taking an interest and doing it, and also noticed the benefits of a fixed blade for tough chores and ease of maintenance. Knife education is a looooong, slow process.

Back on topic, the most widely issued pocket knife to former USDA PPQ officers/current Ag Specs was (and still is) the Buck 110...draw your own conclusions. I like mine from an historical point of view and quality of construction, but it sits pretty on my drawer taken out once in a blue moon to check lock and wipe the blade.

now excuse me as I search for some military-endorsed toilet paper while covertly batoning a 110 thru a firewood log...
 
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