Best Combat Knife

[WileECoyote]

what knife do you want by your side for purely fighting purposes?

The venerable k-bar has a lot going for it.



The bowie knife is a classic.



The kuhkri is ever popular.



There are plenty of others.

The Harpy Blade is nice for slashing.



The tanto was invented by recycling broken katanas into knives.

[WileECoyote]

Some other options:

T-handle knife:



Boot knife:



Throwing knife:



Butterfly knife:

[Firesolved]

I love my boot knife. Would I use it in a fighting situation? Damn right. That is my last resort weapon.

[rus]

The harpy is a very nice option:


Figure the best combat knife is the one you have when you need it, so my old benchmade would get pressed into service.

If I had time to grab one, likely grab my sykes fairbairn.

[mr. right-wing]

Kukri, Push dagger, clip point folder, and I am a fan of the American Tanto.

Decent lil loadout, but I like my smaller saps for carrying:

[WileECoyote]

I like the boot knife for concealed fixed blade. It's a versatile design and no wrong way to hold it.

I have a butterfly, but it's purely a toy. Yes, I can flip it, but I wouldn't want to do it faced with a real opponent.


I also favor the ice pick grip.



I feel it favors a more defensive stance. It sacrifices a few inches of reach for intuitive blocks and some good counters.

[rus]

I also favor the ice pick grip.

More saber grip myself. Free hand ( my left ) sweeps across attacker, deflecting incoming attack. With a side step past the attacker, knife hand punches in straight towards solar plexus.

[WileECoyote]

I also favor the ice pick grip.

More saber grip myself. Free hand ( my left ) sweeps across attacker, deflecting incoming attack. With a side step past the attacker, knife hand punches in straight towards solar plexus.

same scenario, I raise my knife hand with the back side of the blade almost resting on my forearm and block the incoming swing with the blade of the knife. If I misjudge, I end up blocking with the forearm. Best case, I slice open my opponents forearm at the same time that I am deflecting his attack. I can follow that up by taking control of his arm, swinging it out of the way, side stepping inward and driving the point of the blade between his ribs with a backhand stab. Unless he immediately recoils from the pain of getting cut. Then I follow up with something else.

[rus]

Works for a swing.

For a stab, if the length of the attacking blade is longer than the width of the blocking blade, that's a puncture wound in the knife arm.

[WileECoyote]

True. For a straight stab, side step out of the way and deflect the thrust away from you with either hand. Most important part of ANY technique is footwork and not being where your opponent is aiming for.

[Duxman]

http://www.birdflumanual.com/resources/ ... 0Corps.pdf

Attached is part of the US Marine Corps manual on knife fighting.

Modify your grip and philosophy on how to use the blade accordingly.

http://www.sammyfranco.com/Merchant2/me ... ghtingtips

More tips from Sammy Franco on knife fighting.

Good stuff especially on modifying the grip based on distance to opponent.

[WileECoyote]

Great find!

Being able to switch grips mid-combat is a skill itself. I wouldn't recommend it after you've blooded the knife. Makes it slippery.

One trick I was taught: carry a second knife for your off hand. Mid-combat, when your opponent is focused on your weapon hand, draw the second blade. He won't be expecting more than a block from that hand.

[DavePAL84]

I don't own any knifes for, 'purely fighting purposes'. Knives are utilitarian and should be treated as such IMO. A knife that's specifically for fighting may not be a good for other purposes and vice-versa. I don't like big blades. They have little use beyond a knife fight (and even then it's possibly questionable, depending on who you talk to).

I like something that's tough, can be used for some prying, general cutting and still serve some purpose for fighting. I have a RAT RC-3 on my rig and it's almost the largest knife I'd ever consider carrying. Maybe I'd go as large as an RC-4 but I doubt it.

KaBar is too large and is prone to snapping when used as a pry-bar. The Ontario M16 bayonets work pretty well for prying (I once cut a hole in corrugated steel door front large enough to squeeze someone in--ruined the blade I didn't care ) but are fucking huge.

I see very little real use for kukri's (sorry MRW) and large bowies aside from trying to, 'look badass'. Stupid kids watch movies like, Rambo and The Book of Eli, and Resident Evil 1-2-3-whatever and think that bigass knives might make practical sense. This is also the reason why idiots buy katanas and think they are practical.

If you gain your impressions about what's actually useful from movies, comic books, and other media instead of modern experience, I got nothing for ya'

[LittleLebowski]

FN 5.7 for carry

Liberace gay.

[WileECoyote]

Large knives are not practical for concealed carry. I would never use a knife as a pry bar. How hard is it to carry a small crowbar if you expect to pry stuff?

For combat, blade length = reach.

For everyday, I would go with a quality 3" folder. Easily concealed and legal most places. If you know what you're doing, it's just as lethal as a bigger knife. You just don't get the extra reach and extra penetration depth.

[Duxman]

It really is a question of concealment I think:

Are you looking for a knife that has decent concealment value? Or just judging it purely on his combat potential on a knife vs knife fight?

There is also a difference in the pre-paw world where if you live out in the sticks - its easy to walk around with a big knife strapped to your belt and no one pays attention because its common place. And if you live in an urban area where you will probably need a more concealable knife.


Dave,

I hate to disagree with you but the Kukhri blade is battle proven and in a knife vs knife fight - is a pretty brutal weapon. The Bowie knife is also a battle proven blade and its pretty deadly.

Practical? Probably not - but that is not really the question at hand.

[DavePAL84]

I hate to disagree with you but the Kukhri blade is battle proven and in a knife vs knife fight - is a pretty brutal weapon. The Bowie knife is also a battle proven blade and its pretty deadly.

Practical? Probably not - but that is not really the question at hand.

The katana is, "battle proven" too.

Haha

[DavePAL84]

Large knives are not practical for concealed carry. I would never use a knife as a pry bar. How hard is it to carry a small crowbar if you expect to pry stuff?

I'm not putting a pry bar on my first-line gear. I like my gear to be multi-purposed as to not hang 8k different pieces of specific kit on my rig.

[WileECoyote]

The katana is, "battle proven" too.

Haha

The katana hasn't been used in combat since WWII when some desperate officers ran out of bullets. Hadn't been used before that for almost 100 years.

The kukhri was used in combat last week.


And if you don't want to carry a small pry bar, carry a screw driver. A small pry bar is 8" long and weighs less than a pound. They usually also have a nail puller piece.

[Duxman]

The katana is, "battle proven" too.

Haha

Last time I checked the Katana is not a knife. The Tanto is - and its a fine blade.

[Artyboy]

The katana is, "battle proven" too.

Haha

The katana hasn't been used in combat since WWII when some desperate officers ran out of bullets. Hadn't been used before that for almost 100 years.

The kukhri was used in combat last week.


And if you don't want to carry a small pry bar, carry a screw driver. A small pry bar is 8" long and weighs less than a pound. They usually also have a nail puller piece.

A rat 3 (ESEE 3 now) is 8 inches long and weighs 5 ounces. It will do most of the work of a screw driver and a pry bar in a pinch so you don't have have to carry a screwdriver and a pry bar. The best fighting knife is the one that you have on you. I'm more likely to have a small, utilitarian fixed blade or a pocket knife on me.

[Mr.Giggles]

use a forcible entry tool its multi purbose end of handle is pry bar and its a hamer and a wrench as well!

[DavePAL84]

use a forcible entry tool its multi purbose end of handle is pry bar and its a hamer and a wrench as well!

How is one supposed to carry that around?

[Mr.Giggles]

its quite easy actually i can make a custom strap for it so it will fit on a duffel bag and I'd like to mention that I'm a dumb motherfucker

[LittleLebowski]

its quite easy actually i can make a custom strap for it so it will fit on a duffel bag because I'm a stupid fuck

Wow, an illiterate stoner spamming the forum for pry bars? 5 posts and 4 of them about the same fucking pry bar?

Goodbye, shithead.