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Tactical Folding Knives

Folder 'model' concepts can be viewed HERE   Note that these ideas are now several years old and will not be produced in the forms shown if at all.


SELF DEFENSE ISN'T PRETTY.   Neither are my tactical folders unless you percieve beauty in thoughtful design and form following function.  Let's face it- the liklihood of needing a folding knife for self-defense isn't that great but if you do need a defensive tool you're going to really need it.  That means that you are going to need to have it with you and in a position from which it is easily deployed.  How pretty it is isn't going to be an issue.
There are a lot of fine handmade and production Tacticals out there, some of them very well designed.  But many 'tacticals' these days seem to sport a  thick but otherwise conventional blade with a black coating.  Features like ultra-thick, macho-looking blades with complex grinds, exotic materials and manly-looking over-engineered pivots are becoming the fashion.

Fortunately no one has ever accused me of being a slave to fashion.

My tactical folders are designed for people that are serious about their knives and serious about self-defense and martial arts.   Blade shapes are designed for maximum efficiency, handles are ergonomically designed for a comfortable and secure grip using either fore-hand or 'ice-pick' grips.  Blade steels are selected for maximum performance.  The 'half-frame' frame-lock construction uses a Ti 'half-frame' incorporating the lock and a G10 half-frame opposite providing a strong, light-weight knife.  The Ti half frame is covered with a thin G10 scale for greater comfort and to facilitate use in extreme weather conditions.  Clips are designed to hold the knife securely in a pocket but also to help provide a secure grip to assist in deployment of the knife.
My experience in making and designing swords has taught me to value function and high performance and I bring these same values to my tactical folders.  Does this mean that I won't tweak a design to make it look 'cooler?' Certainly not!  But I will never compromise function merely for the sake of form.

What is a 'Tactical Folder?'
To me a Tactical Folder is the pocket version of a combat knife.  A combat knife is a good, useful knife that is also a good weapon.  The classic Marine Corps Kabar is a good example of this breed.  The design of a combat knife recognizes that it will be used for non-combat uses most of the time; opening rations, opening crates of supplies, cutting brush.  Similarly a Tactical folder will get used for opening boxes, letters, slicing string and tape, cutting food, whittling kindling etc.  It will seldom, if ever, be employed as a weapon.  But it might be... so it needs to be well-designed for that function too.  This means that it needs to be easily carried, easily deployed and properly designed for self-defense as well as for the myriad other tasks that it will perform more often.

Armed Self-Defense and Lethal Force
Needless to say a knife should be employed for this purpose only when no lesser level of force will do.  You should use lethal force only when it is so important to stop the attacker that whether or not they are killed or maimed as a result of being stopped is a secondary consideration (consult your local laws and statutes for more details.)   Typically the imminent threat of death or grave bodily injury to yourself or another innocent person is the only justification for such an action.  In cases of armed self defense there is one goal- to stop the fight as rapidly as possible.  This can be harder than you might expect; if the attacker is on drugs or mentally disturbed for example.  Men bent on performing a sexual assault often work themselves up to it for days or weeks and can be so pumped on norepinephrine and adrenalin that no level of physical pain can be counted on to stop them.  The only thing that you can count on to stop a drugged, disturbed or 'pumped' attacker is mechanical;  if you interrupt the mechanisms that allow the body to operate it doesn't matter how resistant they are to pain.  "If you cut the strings the puppet can't dance. "  We call this Catastrophic Structural Damage. 




prototype EVO-PTF ('Practical Tactical Folder') made in early 2010

Why the 'Chisel Grind?"
I get asked this a lot and there are two very simple reasons.  It works and it's easier to make than a V-grind.   Note that I use a 'proper' chisel grind with no secondary edge bevel.  Blades with a 'chisel grind' with a secondary edge to sharpen them simply don't work right- they have a greater tendency to push the edge sideways in the cut and the secondary bevel increases resistance.
Many of my knives incorperate the Eccentric Chisel Grind.  There are a number of reasons for this; It is a useful tool for scraping and skiving is not the least of these reasons.  The other is defensive use of the knife.  The way to stop a fight quickly is to do Catastrophic Structural Damage to your opponent.  This means severing major muscle groups, tendons, arteries etc.  Simply put if you cut the strings the puppet can't dance, no matter how 'pumped' or what drugs they are on.  The blade profiles that I favor are designed to produce the maximum width of wound-channel with even modest penetration to increase structural damage to the attacker.

Why O-1, 52100 and CPM3V for blade steels?
 I consulted some very smart people that use knives and these steels are what they recommended.  I reviewed the mechanical properties of these steels and tested them and they worked great.  No- they are not stainless so you'll have to maintain them.  That's OK- People have used carbon-steel folding knives for a couple of thousand years now and they worked just fine. If you live in an extraordinarily wet climate or neglect them they can tarnish or rust.   If you aren't willing to put up with that and maintain them they probably aren't  the knives for you.  I have no plans to make stainless blades for folders at this time.





Why do they look... Different?
Many of my tactical folders look unconventional... even odd.  It's not because I want them to look different, or 'neat-o.'  It's because I have a clear view of what the knife is designed to do and they are designed to fill those functions as efficiently as possible.  The flat Eccentric Chisel Point allows maximum width of wound-channel even with minimal penetration.  The angle of the blade to the handle puts the point in-line with the large bones of the arm in the overhand thrust or perpendicular to those bones in the ice-pick grip, making it easier and more intuitive to strike with precision.  Handles are designed to be secure in the grip; on more agressively focussed desgns security outweighs comfort- but comfort is never sacrificed entirely.  Pocket clips are placed not merely to hold the knife in your pocket but to provide an improved grip when deploying the blade.  Materials are selected for toughness, durability and to survive adverse conditions. 
The conventional wisdom that dictates the design and features of many modern tacticals has been considered and when appropriate discarded.  I don't care for 'Flippers' or modifications designed to open the knife as it is withdrawn from the pocket; there is some debate about the utility of such features among Law Enforcement and Military personel I have consulted so I don't use them.  I use 'cross-tip' screws for assembly because I have used Allen screws and the standard star-drive screws.  They strip easily in the smaller sizes used for knife handles.  Cross-tip screws don't.  They aren't modern, they aren't sexy.  They just work.

I've also departed from the common lock geometry; my geometry is designed to minimize shear forces on the lock bar and transmit forces generated against the lock bar along it's long axis to the greatest degree possible.  This isn't because the conventional lock geometry doesn't work; there are a few million knives out there that say otherwise!  It's just because I think that it's better- and why wouldn't I do the best way I can think of?   Similarly the location of the lock, pivot and stop pin are 'lined up' to insure that stresses are equalized across the three rather than being focussed in a single spot.

The base of the blade on most of my folders has a relatively long unsharpened area and no choil.  When cutting rope, clothing, seatbelts etc. the choil of some knives can cause them to hang up at the beginning of the cut.  This unsharpened area blends into the cutting edge so that the material will slide down the blade into the cutting edge instead.  It has the added advantage that while closingn the blade it is more difficult to cut your thumb or thumb-nail (sse photo of lock above.)

All the features needed are present of course; there is a detent in the locking bar to minimise innapropriate opening of the blade.  Clips are of the 'deep-pocket' type for securtiy and discretion.  Phosphor Bronze washers between the pivot and frame help ensure smoothness of operation and long-term functionality.

To sum it up my folders are not the prettiest, most exotic or most finely finished Tactical Folders that you can buy.  They are functional, thoughtfully designed and carefully engineered tools for utility and self defense provided at a reasonable cost.  Folders made the way I like them with no apologies.  If that has value to you I'll be happy to work with you to make you a folder that fits your needs.


Care and Feeding
Care and Feeding: Performance has a price- and that price is maintenance and attention.  Screws loosen over time.  Non-stainless blades (like O-1, 52100 and CPM3V) can tarnish and even rust.  If you want to carry one of my folders you are going to have to pay attention to it.  If you want something that you can drop in your pocket and forget about buy a production folder.  I am always willing to do periodic tune-ups and repolishes; usually for the cost of shipping.  If anything goes seriously wrong again, no worries- your folder is warrantied against failures of workmanship and materials.  If it goes wrong through anything but obvious abuse I'll fix or replace it.  If you need to seriously abuse it to save your life or someone else's I'll fix or replace it if you can supply appropriate documentation of the incident.