Are we talking fight knives, carry in you pocket to open feisty packages or to go camping?
I just applied for a CCW, I doubt I will ever carry besides a few times just to get comfortable with the idea. I carry a knife, and as most well trained gunmen will tell you inside 7 yards I hold the advantage. Not why I choose the knife, I don't feel that threatened and feel more than adequately protected by a knife unless I know I am absolutely headed into trouble. Even my relatively massive knives are fraction the weight of a small pistol with a few mags, and I never run out of ammo. I ask all kinds of dumb questions about guns on here, so now I get to turn the tables.
he sharpness of the blade makes up for the small size.
I realize this is an axe and you are talking about chopping wood, but leads me to a good point. If we are talking about Self defense/combat/fighting you don't want a sharp blade. A sharper blade hurts less than a dull blade. Unless you know a lot of biology a sharp blade used for slicing will be ineffective. Now if for you sizing up a person includes guessing how many inches of fat separate the skin from specific blood vessels, muscles and tendons, you are good to go with an 11* blade. Otherwise 20-25* is better. More pain on slices and much much easier to keep sharp. Really you want to stab though. Lung, heart, lung from below the ribcage going up under it if your blade is long enough. With a knife you do not get the blunt trauma of a shock wave you do with a bullet. You actually need to hit some organ or main blood vessel to bring someone down quickly.
This is half machete half hatchet. If we are going to go this direction I recommend everyone carry a
Naginata. Seriously I think we are talking about things we can easily carry here. It also seems to be towards knives for fighting. I do like this design as a brush clearer. Very popular in SE Asia and SA. If I was in the market for a brush clearer this is the design I would go with.
Survival knife, most are serrated. This is probably the one piece of equipment Marines carry that I think is absolute trash. They look pretty cool though, don't they? Try pulling a serrated blade out from between two ribs. Those little teeth really grip!!! Probably fit in well with an 10" AR-15 complete with NV scope, sixteen rails, a red and white light, laser, bayonet, grenade launcher, and microwave(doesn't everyone hate the heat packs in MREs?).
I will really pick on Electric lady since she posted the cliche "tactical" knife with everything but sword catchers and a blood channel.
Serration/sawteeth on back.- Again, stuck between ribs.
Tip wider than base-ribs again.
double edged-actually this is a must. Would be better if it was full length instaed of serration.
Contoured grip- try holding that back handed or with the primary blade facing up, very uncomfortable. If someone knows how to defend themselves well switching to a backhand grip quickly for a surprise is your best chance. Really you should hold the knife so that your thumb is on the wide part of the grip with the plane of the blade and palm parallel to the ground (or very close to it). Palm up. This allows you to slice any direction and deliver a forceful thrust. I know I said you have to stab. You still have to keep them worried about slices.
As far as a knife for fighting the one I suggested before,
the Fairbairn Sykes, is by far the best design. Two British officers (Fairbairn and Sykes) of the Shanghai Municipal Police were basically getting their 4$$es handed to them in street fights in the Shanghai ghettos along with all the other Brit police. Over a few years they honed the knife to perfection. SAS adopted it in WWII and still using it. US tried to make Gerber Mark II but lowest bidder used crappy materials and it flopped. The gung ho are constructed from several available quality materials. I went with stainless blade titanium coating to decrease reflection and a skull breaker nut on the bottom. The skull breaker and titanium coating were definitely overkill, but both were free options. I rarely carry this in the US, but if I was headed to combat or some other situation I would accept no substitute. Bought for through hike of Appalachian Trail and a yearly trip on US/Mexican border.
Too heavy? Want a folder? carry
one of these switchblades. Not nearly as tactically terrifying as a Ka Bar, but believe you me, when you pop that blade out the side and grin, they either pull a gun or run(never dealt with the gun, but it always crosses my mind). Knives are cheap and disposable. Available from other locations cheaper($10). I will admit out the front switch blades are better for a fight b/c they don't snag on sleeves when opening and most have a strong enough spring to open them into a person if you don't have a second to get it open before thrusting. The blade swinging out seems to keep me out of fights better though. This is the only weapon I have ever actually pulled, and on both occasions the blade snapping out was enough to deter aggression. When I was in Taiwan and Hong Kong I went and did wherever/whatever I wanted, and this style knife kept me safe. Very light and easy to slip in you pocket. I sewed a small sub pocket in the back pocket of a pair of pants when I was in Taiwan right next to my wallet. A little bigger than the knife and only about the length. Pretend like you are going for the wallet and boom.
When I go backpacking I worry about every ounce I carry. I have at times spent $10/ounce to reduce weight. I still don't try using something like a ka-Bar to handle everything. I carry two knives. A swiss Army Swiss Champ and the FS3. Swiss champ is not the best materials or price, but it has the best set of tools for a backpacker(it basically has every tool swiss army makes).
Trying to make a mixed utility/fighting knife like a Ka-Bar is like trying to make a single rifle that is SAW, DMR, and AR. As many of you know the US military loves to try this even though it is terribly ineffective. Carry a multi-tool all the time, and if you think you need a knife for defense get a knife for defense, not a crappy hybrid.
Anyone want to poke holes?
