Knives for Combat

(Here's another one I wrote years ago. I was known on base as a knife guy and spent a fair amount of time sharpening other people's knives as well as showing them how to sharpen and use their knives.)

Knives for Combat.

The Air Force only offered two knives for issue; a switchblade for parachutists and the AF survival knife. The survival knife is a good piece of equipment but the blade is a little short for infantry use.

When the security police on my base got ready to deploy for an exercise they decided to get their own knives and several of them came to me for advice. They brought a bunch of other folks who were anxious to show off their acquisitions to me. They had everything from $15 Rambo ripoffs to $300 custom knives. The blades ran from 5 inches to over 9 inches on a couple of them. Most were Bowie style but there were also a bunch of tantos, a few drop points, and a couple with the bolo style blades.

The first thing I noticed was all the shine. Virtually every knife had high polish stainless, nickel, brass, and even chrome on a couple of the cheaper knives. I suggested that they take some sandpaper and dull down the shine and then look into blackening the light colored parts. That’s when the next problem came up.

“I ain’t takin’ sandpaper to no 200 dollar custom knife!” Many of the knives were too expensive to be comfortable taking into combat. A knife is a tool. If you’re unwilling to use, probably abuse, maybe break or even lose it, you might as well leave it at home. The cheap models were too soft to hold an edge and would probably bend or break the first time someone tried to whittle some sector stakes with them.

My suggestion was to run down to ye local military surplus store. We had some very nice ones in the area. I told them to lay down $30 for the KaBar Marine knife (or the Camillus or equivalent. Not a Japanese knockoff.). The blade was long, heavy, and hard enough to do what you need from a utility blade. It was cheap enough that you don’t mind using it. And, maybe most important, it was Parkerized- no shine. Now, I would probably recommend one of the Spec-Plus knives from Ontario cutlery. They have several blade shapes available and seem to be good solid knives. I’ve been using their SP6 fighter for several years now.

A combat knife will be used very seldom for fighting. Ninety percent of the time you’ll be using it for day to day tasks like cutting rope, opening boxes, whittling stakes, opening MREs, cutting canvas, and so on. The Al Mar Warrior knife is one of the deadliest fighting knife designs of all time. Mine kind of scares me because I can imagine the damage I could do to myself accidently with it. It was designed from the ground up for hand to hand combat. You could use it for other tasks but it really isn’t designed for it and if I had to whittle up a bunch of tent stakes it might get tiresome. The good old KaBar will do nearly as well in a fight but will be a whole lot more comfortable for most work. Along that line you might consider carrying several knives. I’ll work my way from smallest to largest.

The first one is the one that will get the most use. Get a nice pocket knife. The Swiss army knives are about ideal. Get a quality knife and not one of the cheapos. You don’t need to get one of the monster blades. Something with a few useful tools but small enough to drop in a pocket is ideal. Tie it off with a length of paracord so you don’t lose it. I attach it right to the bottom of my BDU pocket. The blade will be used for cutting string, paracord, MREs, your mail, care packages from home, bandages and anything else you can think of. A set of tweezers is nearly indispensable for removing cactus spines, thorns, some kinds of insect stingers, etc. Phillips head and standard screwdriver blades can be real lifesavers. Can opener, bottle opener and corkscrew are handy for any civilian foodstuffs you may come across. I haven’t tried any of the new Leatherman style tools but they might be even better than the Swiss army knife.

The next size up should be a good lockback with about a 4 inch blade. 4 inches is the minimum you need to reach most large arteries and organs, and sever major muscles in a fight. Get a quality lockback. I prefer one of the one-hand opening models. The Benchmade AFCK is awfully nice. This knife will stay in a pouch on your belt. If you ever get separated from your LBE you’ll at least have a knife with you that’s large enough for most survival purposes.

The next blade is the one that will get the most abuse and heavy duty use. If you want to do a little sentry removal or really insist on a knife fight this is the one you’ll use. A Finn who killed a bunch of Germans in WWII determined that 6 inches of blade was all that he needed even to penetrate their heavy wool coats. I prefer 7 or 8 inches but anything longer tends to get unwieldy. Blade design doesn’t matter much. I like the point to be fairly well in line with the handle. I don’t like too much curve to the blade either. I use a clip point with the false edge sharpened. You get the same penetration as a dagger and can use the false edge for a backhand cut as well. If I should decide to use a stick to pound it through bone while dressing out large game (for just field dressing game when I’m hunting I carry a 3 inch drop point), or wood for kindling I still have a spine I can work against. This knife will usually stay attached to my LBE. Some of the current crop of bayonets will work as a utility knife but most of them are just too clunky.

The last and largest will be a bolo or kukri style. A 12 inch blade is ideal on this one. These knives can take the place of a machete or hatchet and give you a real reach advantage in a fight. The Ghurkas weren’t happy if they couldn’t chop off the enemies head in a single blow with their kukris. You can whack brush, cut snow for an igloo, chop wood, or dig a cat hole with a kukri. The steel should be a little softer that what you’d use in a knife. Shock resistance and toughness becomes an issue with a chopper. Plus you need to be able to resharpen it easily if you get to working in anything abrasive. This one will ride on your pack most of the time. It can be transferred to your LBE if you think you’ll be using it a lot. Don’t get an expensive version because this knife will see nothing but abuse. I have two. One is the kukri that Atlanta Cutlery sells. The other is a Phillipino bolo ground out of a truck spring. The kukri is a little heavier but either one will do the job.

If you want to you can also carry dedicated fighting knives, sleeve knives, boot knives or whatever cocks your pistol. Knives are relatively light and don’t take up much space.

Sharpen your knives and keep them sharp. A short piece of crock stick to dress the edges and a small diamond hone to reestablish a damaged edge should be part of your kit. Even if they are stainless keep some kind of preservative on them to prevent rust. Carry them somewhere that’s comfortable, secure and easy to reach. Take some sandpaper and maybe a Dremel tool to the hilt and eliminate any rough or sharp edges. There’s nothing worse than having to work with any sort of tool that raises blisters. Get your knives with grip materials that don’t get slippery when wet. If nothing else your hands will be sweaty when you actually have to use them. Wood and some of the synthetics are ideal for this. Leather isn’t bad but does deteriorate unless you treat it and keep on treating it. Hollow handles are neat but can seriously weaken a knife and tend to throw the balance off for me. Large guards are a pain. You only need something big enough to keep your hand from slipping up onto the blade.

Actual knife fights are going to be pretty rare. An e-tool or a large stick would probably serve better in a melee and I don’t want to resort to either one if I still have a functional firearm. Knives are great for silent killing but a fight is unlikely to be silent. If somebody wants to kill me silently and messes up to where we end up squared off with knives I’m gonna be screaming bloody murder to alert the rest of my unit and get some help. Your knife fighting style shouldn’t be much different from your unarmed fighting style. Knives have some attributes different from the empty hand but if you need to make major changes in your stance or moves you’re probably going to mess up. KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid!