DESIGN PHILOSOPHY AND THE
FUNCTION OF THE TACTICAL KNIFE
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My design
philosophy for tactical knives is simple and in two parts- the first
part is is that for the knife to do you any good you have to have the
knife with you when you need it. The second part is that function
dictates form; Ideally all parts of the knife will work together to
enhance function.
A tactical
knife has to be light, easy to carry and deploy. It also has to
be useful and comfortable to use. It's a big plus if it's
attractive and not inconveniently large, thick etc. A knife
possessing these qualities is more likely to be in your pocket when you
actually need it. The question has often been asked, "What is the
best knife?" and the answer is, "The one you have with you when you
need it. So I make my tactical knives light-weight. I
design and place the pocket-clips on folders not merely to hold the
knife in place in your pocket but to assist in deploying the knife from
the pocket and to provide a good grip when deploying the blade.
The shape of the handle is designed to be comfortable yet to provide
good retention in extreme circumstances. On folding knives the
long plunge at the start of the cutting edge provides an unsharpened
section at the base of the blade that makes it difficult to damage
yourself closing the knife while distracted.
As for
function, what is the function of a Tactical Knife? A certain
amount of utility naturally for day-to-day chores but it's primary
function is as a defensive tool. This is the thing that you are
least likely to do with the knife but it is the most important part of
the 'mission' of the knife. The function of a defensive knife is
not to kill an assailant- it is to
stop your attacker from attacking you. Someone who is
attacking you in a way that requires a lethal-force response might be
on drugs, 'pumped' on adrenalin or deranged; in these circumstances you
cannot necessarily count on deterence or any level of pain to stop
them. You need to have the capacity to physically interrupt the
mechanisms that allow the body to operate. You need to inflict
catastrophic structural damage to your attacker. As I have often
told my students, "If you cut the strings the puppet can't dance."
In practical terms this means that you want to sever muscles, tendons
and connective tissue, destroy vital organs and sever arteries to cause
immediate and massive blood loss. This is going to depend a lot
on training but the design of your knife can be optimized for this
function as well. With a small knife like a tactical folder this
optimization is especially important. If the blade curves forward
it will tend to draw the edge deeper into the cut, increasing the
likelihood of severing muscles, veins and connective tissue. Good
ergonomics so that the point is easier to 'aim;' practical
experiments stabbing targets has shown that people are dramatically
more likely to hit the target with a thrust if the point is inline with
the large bones of the arm in an over-hand grip or perpendicular to
those bones in an ice-pick grip. A broad, sharp point like the
eccentric chisel point produces a broader would channel even with
minimal penetration, making it more likely to interrupt vital
structures. All of these things need to work together to make the
defensive knife as efficient as possible for it's most vital function.
My tactical knives are designed with all of these criteria in mind; to
be there with you when you need it, useful in daily chores and in
addition to be optimized to stop an attacker in a worst-case
scenario.
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