Question- Fixed Blade or Folding Knife?
 

Straight up question, not a test:

When you guys are in the field, do you prefer a fixed blade sheath knife or folding knife for your primary edged tool?

Both in the field, a fixed blade on my LBE and a folder in my pocket.

Both, and usually three or four of them.

TR

Bill:

Can't carry much in a Cobra, but I had a fixed blade on my survival harness behind my seat, my 45 positioned in front of my nuts. Also carried a dayglo orange switchblade (Army issued with a sharpened hook on one end to cut through risers).

Terry

edited to add

And a Car15 behind my seat, the Cobra being only 36 inches wide there wasn't much room for long guns.

TS and TR:

So you don't consider any of them "primary"? :munchin

+1 - me too plus a Leatherman

Mr. Bill,
Are you starting to hear an echo from an earlier conversation ?!?!?!

Fixed Blade on your gear, which makes the accessability of a "pocket knife" unaccessable, but a good folder to have if you need to dump your gear and also for use when you're not "saddled up", as in around the camp or while working on your gear !! I really wish Leatherman would put an S30V blade in his tools !!!

Later
Martin

Depends on what the task is.

Primary for chopping down a tree is not the same as the primary for removing splinters.

What is your primary communications device?

TR

I have asked for the S-30V blade in the New Wave, Tim said that he would make me one.

Still waiting, though. Maybe several people should ask?

TR

E-mail

For voice commo?

TR

Telephone.

Land line or cellular?

So the primary commo means depends on what you are trying to do with it?

Kind of like blades.

I will say this. You can make a big knife do small tasks a lot easier than you can make a little knife do big work.

If I could only take one, it would be a Leatherman or a big knife like the TR.

I usually have a Reeve Large Sebenza or the Harsey Tactical Folder and a Leatherman Wave or a Swiss Champ on me.

In the woods, I add an intermediate size knife on my second line, like a Yarborough knife or a Al Mar SERE Fixed Blade.

On my ruck, I will have either a machete, a camp axe, or a Harsey TR, and an E-Tool.

Can you really call one a "primary edged tool"?

TR

In the field, cellular. On post, land line. :rolleyes:

I see your point, but I think primary means the one you use the most. Alternatively, the one you would pick if you could only have one.

Perhaps Blademaster would be kind enough to clarify his question . . . :munchin

Blademaster doesn't need to clarify anything !!

What WE are saying, is that what is needed, is a "Suite" of edged devices. Each of which has it's own niche and will fulfill the requirements of various phases of a deployment and or need !!!

As they say in the Barbershop...... NEXT!!!!

Later
Martin

Your law firm has a field site and a post for you to work at? :rolleyes:

Has the cold snap damaged your mind, Sir?

TR

No, my mind was damaged before it started. :D

Exhaust fumes from your old car driving you to make a new purchase for health and safety reasons?

TR

LOL

Nah, but it is starting to break down once in a while and I'm tired of taking it into the shop. :)

OK, back to your regularly scheduled thread . . . :munchin

I think that we are in agreement that as AM said, all tools have their place and value.

Primary tool while making an emergency repair on a vehicle is probably different from what tool you would need to fell a tree for a shelter.

HTH.

TR

I almost always carry a fixed blade, both on duty and off.

I generally have a folder tucked away too, but the fixed blade is my favorite.

Let's see...

A fixed blade of about 7-8" length, a Leatherman, and a Swiss Army Knife. That's what I have carried as long as Leatherman's have been available.

The question was “when you’re in the field” and I take that as being in uniform, combat or training, with full kit.

It’s like the difference between a .22 and a .45, while the .22 would kill, if the need arose, I’d rather use a .45 for serious work. Same with the knife, while I could utilize the folder a 7 inch Yarborough knife would be my first choice for serious work.
Swatsurgeon wrote something concerning a knife blades length vs. damage inflicted. I don’t think I need to go into the reasoning for a long blade.

To answer your question, I require more input, am I in the field, say at war?


TS

Team Sergeant,
Yes, in combat or possible combat.

I'll assume that one would train with the same gear your going to fight with.

If I can only have one it would be a fixed blade.

Bill,

For what it is worth, when I have been in the field, the fixed blade has always been the BLADE that gets the most use. The other two tools are much more likely to be used for their other tools than their blade (tweezers, scissors, pliers, can opener, wire cutter... you get the idea).

I love my fixed blade in the field, but when you whip out the "Mississippi blacksnake" for the small tasks it just doesn't feel right-my dummy corded swiss army knife with attached bic lighter gets more DAILY use hands down. My leatherman is also closeby.

That being said, I can force my big knife to do almost everything my little one does.

If there can be only one-it's going to be the biggun.

Eagle

Eagle,

You supposed to be staying away from knives these days...! ;)

Gerber!
 

I just got a folding gerber,
I'm not in the military yet,
but I keep it on my hip for self defense purposes.
I like folding knives for fighting, but they do have their drawbacks.
As a martial artist who has learned how and when to use knives as
a weapon, this is my take.
Pros
-----
-Small
-usually legal
-can be used to make your fist harder by clasping it.
-decent blades (not restricted to folding, just want to make
it doesn't show up or thought of in the cons as having bad blades)

Cons
------
-Usually heavy on the handle (bad for fighting)
-Not as strong as fixed blade sometimes.
-YOU HAVE TO OPEN IT

I have a folding on my waist at all times though,
and I am just as comfortable with a good folding as I am with a good fixed blad..
If it's quality, you have nothing to fear either way.
Although, military fixed blades, i.e. bowie knives definately show some superiority over most fixed blades.
My weapon of choice though, heavy on the blade, sturdy, 6 inch blade (curved), fixed blade, blade on front and back of blade.

A knife like this when held in the normal "stabbing" grip can come down and slice a mans chest open with little effort. With the curve it makes for a good slash, and easy stab on the way back, if your stab on the way back is parried, all you have to do is turn the blade and you can slash at the arms or neck, and come in at a stab to any major organ. Very effective if you know how to use it. Knives usually win when they meet guns, keep that in mind.

Hey, hero, thanks for the expert advice. You ever stabbed anybody? With a real knife?

You need to drop out of site and lurk for a while.

This will save you a lot of pain here.

TR

I will be happy to change your user name for you as soon as you pick another one, just PM me with what you would like it to be. You have an hour to decide, then will assume you couldn't decide and I will do it for you with one of my choosing.

I would have figured the blades of the helicopter would have taken care of any issues with your risers. :D

Brew:

That's funny.

I kept that particular knife because I thought it was cool that the Army would issue me a switchblade.

Terry :)

hijack or new direction.....for folders, auto vs manual open????
I'll start....on our last practice, one of our operators had to cut through something he got tangled in. I was right behind him watching from 8-10 feet away. He deployed his very expensive "CDI" (chicks dig it) auto folder and the blade hit the rope he was stuck on, didn't fully open hence no lock back and he then has to take more precious time to manually open it fully. All of this took <10 seconds but he's out of action concentrating on the knife instead of his environment......great debrief, he got his ass chewed for not avoiding the tangle and 2 for remaining a potential target alittle too long while playing with a non-deployed knife.
So, stick with manual deployment or 'double-action' rather than auto openers? someone up for this one?
IMHO, the positive manual maneuver is trusted, reliable and not prone to breaking or non-deployment, no loss of spring tension, etc. My Harsey T-2 folder isgreat as a manual and I think would be a 'slightly' less perfect folder had it been auto (no offense Bill...it's with me everywhere!!)

Autos vs. Manual
 

Swatsurgeon,
Not to be smart but speaking directly, If I wanted the T-2 to be an auto (switchblade), it would have been an auto.

You gave me something to consider that I'd never thought of before, the auto knife blade being stopped during opening and not continuing to full open and locked position. This is an interesting reason against the auto in an emergency situation.

Auto openers are very popular. There are makers who are very good at building them. In the state of Oregon where I live it is legal to manufacture, own, sell and carry NOT concealled an auto opening knife. It is legal to sell an auto opening knife to confirmed members of the police and military. This is a problem unto itself. How do I know that some guy or gal didn't borrow someones department letterhead? I don't have the resources or time to do confirmations on police or military.

It would be against the law for me to ship an auto opening knife to a citizen residing in a state that bans auto opening knives. Same goes for Canada. Personally, to date, I have never wanted to make them for several reasons and the legal ones are the least of these.

An auto opening folding knife with a good strong spring that opens smartly is also hammering on internal components every time the button is pushed. Springs break, internal shear pins wear and then the knife just doesn't work at all.
This is the main reason I don't custom make auto openers, it is the dependability over long period of time issue. They don't fail gradually, if they do it's all at once and I don't want an operator in a life critical situation to need a knife and find the one on him just decided to quit working.

Post script on auto openers,

On some auto opener knives, if the button was pushed to swing the blade to the full open position and the blade hits something and was stopped like Swatsurgeon described, the blade would just flop freely until it was "re-loaded" by compressing back into the handle frame and the switch was pushed to open again. This of course takes two hands to do. On some auto designs you could not just manually rotate the blade full open and have it lock.

Other types of auto opener designs called "double action" can be either opened manually and lock just fine or the button (or other switch feature) can be pushed to open "auto."

I'd always thought it curious to have a fast opening mechanism on an auto with a little tiny button that was hard to locate in a hurry.

The manual opening folding knives can often be opened faster than an auto because of the "find the button and push it" time.

Bill,
the meaning of my statement was that the manual is my prefered mechanism and that I was glad it was not an auto...so the 'no offense' was so you didn't think I would speak negatively if there was an auto on your list of offerings
quote from previous post :"My Harsey T-2 folder isgreat as a manual and I think would be a 'slightly' less perfect folder had it been auto (no offense Bill...it's with me everywhere!!)"[/FONT]

The gadget factor on auto's is very high. In shtf situations where I need to deploy a tool fast, the less I have to worry about the better. There are all kinds of threads here about fine motorskills and the way they diminish under stess. Finding the button or manipulating the scale is one more thing to worry about, and remember.

Cold or injured hands, stessful environment, I want simple.

I have never been convinced that Manual or even Assisted opening knives offer advantages at those times when something needs to be cut right now.

While I would prefer a fixed blade most of the time, my work and social activities necessitate a knife that bends at the waist. I don't want it to be so fancy that it malfunctions and I can't use it when I need it.