I’ve decided to finally take my own advice and start carrying a knife or two for self-defense. I’m brushing up on my local laws and such, and as far as I can tell Michigan is cool with spring-assisted folding knives as of recently, not cool with fixed blade knives, not cool with double edged knives.
With that in mind, any general advice on self-defense knives?
Personally I don’t think there’s such a thing as a knife that’s specifically good for self defence, knife ‘fighting’ is such a crap-shoot it there’s no real advantage as to what you want to stick in the other person.
However for general use and and solid assisted opening pretty much any Kershaw blade is a good bet, popular LEOs and military the world over.
Cold steel recon has a low profile and a solid as fuck lock. You can pump it open with either hand.
Otherwise the spyderco tenacious is pretty cheap. And again easy to pop open.
[QUOTE=Kovacs;2954148]Personally I don’t think there’s such a thing as a knife that’s specifically good for self defence, knife ‘fighting’ is such a crap-shoot it there’s no real advantage as to what you want to stick in the other person.
However for general use and and solid assisted opening pretty much any Kershaw blade is a good bet, popular LEOs and military the world over.[/QUOTE]
To add my two cents to the above. You want one about medium to larger in hand. Solid. Few moving parts or very simple machine movement. Beefy pivots. Kershaw is good. Gerber… It really depends on your price limits and style preferences. You want a poky bit and a cutty bit…
General advice. And by the way I haven’t ever shanked anyone would be. Thin so it doesn’t take up all the room in your pocket. A solid lock so it doesn’t fold in on your fingers. Easy to open I like the ability to use it left handed cos I am. I like a knife that looks at least a bit normal. Otherwise anything with a point should work.
Cold Steel 4 or 6 inch Twilight. This is a two way opening knife . You can open it by drawing it from your pocket or use the thrumb assist button.Costs around $65.00 US / Joe
[QUOTE=MarJoe;2954157]Cold Steel 4 or 6 inch Twilight. This is a two way opening knife . You can open it by drawing it from your pocket or use the thrumb assist button.Costs around $65.00 US / Joe[/QUOTE]
Ti-Lite? Aluminum maybe?
They look nice but I haven’t held one yet.
[QUOTE=BackFistMonkey;2954159]Ti-Lite? Aluminum maybe?
They look nice but I haven’t held one yet.[/QUOTE]
A bit tricky to open and a bit fat. Cool knife though.
If you want something beefy, I like the Benchmade Adamas folder a lot. It also happens to have been designed with input from my old Chaplain, MAJ(Ret) Struecker. That will make more sense if you do a search on him. Kershaw’s ZT line is also hard to beat for beefy as well. The Adamas in particular (but several ZT knives as well) fills the hand well enough to pack your punch. As far as knife fighting goes, 1.) Yuck and 2.) Probably want to go lighter than these.
If you want something designed with input from martial artists, Spyderco has a couple I believe. Added bonus: their knives are usually light and you can create a fake Emerson wave function by running a cut off zip tie through the thumbhole.
I have carried a knife almost every day for most of the last 15 years. I can tell you there are 2 things you MUST keep in mind.
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Unless you are making a series of bad life choices, you will almost NEVER need this tool for self defense. Knives mostly suck for defense anyway. Too slow to deploy and short ranged to be an offensive deterrent and not enough size and structure to actually deflect other weapons attacks.
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The knife you carry will mostly be a tool, that, in a pinch, if you have no other choice, CAN be used to defend yourself. So make your choice first based on its practicality as a tool that can double as a weapon at need.
I am personally a bit of a CRKT fanboy, but Kershaw makes really good knives as well.
Here is the link for where I shop for most of my knives, including the one I am carrying at this moment.
https://www.crkt.com/shop/everyday-carry-knives.html
EDC knives are a good balance regarding the things I have mentioned regarding it being a tool FIRST that can defend you in a pinch.
Some things to look at based on what you have mentioned:
You want a reversible pocket clip for left handed use.
You will likely want a slimmer handle scale.
Purchase something you think will be comfortable and give you a good grip.
Pay attention to the properties of the steel on the blade. Not really in terms of “Picking the best”, but so that you will understand how to properly care for the knife.
That should get you started on owning and carrying knives. Have fun with it and with being the guy that has a knife when it’s needed.
I don’t get the knives as self-defence thing either, but I always carry a high-quality pocket knife. They’ve mostly been Spydercos. I got to the factory outlet store in Golden, CO a couple months ago and picked up a L’il Lum, which I love.
I carry buck knives. They are not the coolest, they are not the lightest, and they don’t open the easiest. I mostly carry one because growing up, my dad always had one and he gave me one when I was little. Now that I’m older I’m getting sentimental and carry one all the time. I also gave one to my kids. I collect them and have different ones. I have carried SOG, cold steel, and Kershaw before.
99.9% of my knife use has been opening boxes or stripping wires.
All that being said, I have trained knife fighting for years. I consider myself pretty competent in knife combatives. If you are going to look at a tactical folder for self defense, deployment is the number one thing that people don’t train that they should train. Deploying the knife from where it is located in different situations, sitting backing up, circling, angling, with your hand close to the opponent and with it away. Lots of variables that have to be trained and factored in to what you carry and where you carry it on you.
Lots more in the EDC thread: http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=119526
Which reminds me, I need to update with my current…
I’ve carried a CRKT Crawford Kasper folder for years. Good quality, inexpensive, and a secondary lock that removes the possibility of it accidentally closing on your fingers. They’re 20 something dollars.
I carry a Victorinox fruit knife in my backpack. Very lightweight, compact and sharp, only like $6, but its a fixed blade.
I love spyderco for practical folders.
And, I love serrated blades.
And I love Cold Steel for novelty knives…and boy toys.
Even if you are a girl that identifies as a girl who likes boy toys.
Box-cutters.
[QUOTE=Holy Moment;3059129]Box-cutters.[/QUOTE]
There’s a lot to be said for that, actually. I’ve got one of those gerber folding knives that takes the blades that go in a box cutter. A friend gave it to me about a year ago and I’ve been carrying it ever since. Three times I have had to remove the blade from it to keep it from getting confiscated. And that’s three knives I would have had to replace otherwise. I also bought some serrated blades to put in it. It was cheep and has become my favorite knife EDC.
[QUOTE=Cousin Eddie;3059140]There’s a lot to be said for that, actually. I’ve got one of those gerber folding knives that takes the blades that go in a box cutter. A friend gave it to me about a year ago and I’ve been carrying it ever since. Three times I have had to remove the blade from it to keep it from getting confiscated. And that’s three knives I would have had to replace otherwise. I also bought some serrated blades to put in it. It was cheep and has become my favorite knife EDC.[/QUOTE]
I don’t know about the one from Gerber, but I won’t use the ones from hardware stores. The blades come out when I bear down hard to cut drywall or wood.
Even though I sold knives whole sale back int the day I don’t everyday carry anything.
However I would be more inclined to everyday carry some of these multi-tools and their are some that would work fine for a self defense scenario.
I don’t have any examples off the top of my head.
I have one of those Gerber box cutters, and I’m not a big fan, cause you need to use a screwdriver to remove the blade. If you work a trade where you use a box cutter regularly, it’s better to have a quick release to flip the blade around or replace it. Being able to store a few blades in the handle is another common useful feature that the Gerber one lacks.