Fighting knife
Encyclopedia
A fighting knife is a knife
with a blade
designed to inflict a lethal injury in a physical confrontation between two or more individuals at very short range (grappling distance). In contrast, the combat knife
, once known as a trench knife
, is a military fighting knife.
Fighting knives were traditionally designed as special-purpose weapons, intended primarily if not solely for use in personal or hand-to-hand combat. This singularity of purpose originally distinguished the fighting knife from the field knife, fighting utility knife, or in modern usage, the tactical knife. The tactical knife is a knife with one or more military features designed for use in extreme situations, which may or may not include a design capability as a fighting or combat weapon. Since World War I, the fighting knife in military service has gradually evolved into a dual-purpose or "fighting-utility" knife, suited for both knife fighting and utility roles. As a consequence, the terms "fighting knife" and "tactical knife" are frequently employed interchangeably.
One of the earliest metal-blade fighting knives was the dagger
. The first early Bronze Age
daggers featured Beaker copper blades
, probably done with hand held stone tools. In 1984, a Beaker period (ca. 2500 - 2000 BC) copper dagger
blade was recovered from the Sillees River near Ross Lough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland that had a remarkably modern appearance. The flat, triangular-shaped copper blade was 171 mm (6.75 inches) long, 42.5 mm (1.65 inches) wide, and 2mm (0.078 inches) in maximum thickness, with bevelled edges and a pointed tip, and featured an integral tang that accepted a riveted handle. Analysis of the copper used in the dagger's construction revealed it to be of a type characteristic of the copper that was widely used in Ireland before the introduction of bronze tools and weapons. By around 2000 BC daggers were being cast of bronze, with blades formed by drawing and hammering the metal on bronze anvils set in guides.
, a short knife with a stone blade used for close combat by the Germanic tribes throughout the 1st millennium AD.
An early iron-bladed knife that served a dual purpose as fighting knife and utility blade was the seax
, a pattern-welded
weapon which dates from the 5th century AD, and worn as standard armament by Anglo Saxon warriors from northern Italy as far north as Scandinavia and as far west as Ireland. The seax of the 5th and 6th century was shorter and narrower than those introduced later on, and could be described as either a large dagger or a short sword. As swords created from pattern-welded iron were enormously expensive weapons at the time, the early seax filled a need for an affordable blade that could be used as both a fighting knife and a utility knife.
With the development of steel and simplified forging techniques, the sword became the preferred bladed weapon for most professional fighting men. During the latter part of the 12th century, the steel-blade dagger
became popular as a secondary weapon for knights as a standard part of their equipment. This new form of dagger was really a miniaturized sword, featuring a flat double-edged blade and central spine or fuller
.
The first fighting daggers to become widely popular in Europe were the rondel dagger and the bollock dagger
. The rondel dagger was a fighting knife with a double-edged, tapered blade and a hilt featuring circular guards. The bollock dagger dates from around 1300-1350, and had a distinctive hilt cap formed from two lobes that acted as a hand-stop. It was especially popular with English and Norwegian combatants.
French and Italian daggers of the 14th century were the first to introduce acutely tapered blades and reinforced points in response to improvements made in armor design and the need for penetration.
were developed originally to defeat enemy personnel wearing chain-mail armour. The pesh-kabz dates from the 17th century and is of Central Asian and Persian origin, but was later adopted by the Mughal
s, who brought the knife with them on their campaigns to conquer India. It was subsequently adopted throughout Afghanistan, northern India, and what is now Pakistan.
As the importance of the dagger declined in military service, the weapon became extremely popular in civilian society as an item of daily wear, being used for everything from personal defense to dinner cutlery. In Andalucian Spain
the personal fighting knife was epitomized by the famous ratcheting folding knife known generally as the navaja
. The navaja was originally used primarily by the barateros of the underworld and the working class, but by the 1800s it had become an accepted personal weapon for Spanish men of all backgrounds, including the wealthy.
In Portugal, the faca, a large fixed-blade fighting and utility knife accompanied Portuguese explorers and settlers during their conquest of Brazil, where the pattern remains popular to this day. From the faca is derived the facón
, the large fighting-utility knife of the gaucho
. The facón is widely used in Argentina
, Brazil, and Uruguay
in an indigenous style of knife fighting inspired by Andalusian knife fighting techniques known as esgrima criolla ("Creole fencing").
, a pattern inspired by the knives commissioned by Col. Jim Bowie
. After the Bowie knife pattern was standardized during the 1830s and 1840s, it proved to be an enormously popular design, so much so that during the mid-19th century it became synonymous with the term "fighting knife". The Bowie knife largely replaced earlier Native American tools and weapons such as the tomahawk
. Before the introduction of reliable and powerful muzzleloading revolver
s on the American frontier, the Bowie knife was often preferred to a single-shot handgun or "horse pistol". During the first years of the 20th century, the classic Bowie knife pattern would be gradually reduced in size and length as its role changed from that of a dedicated fighting knife and weapon to a general purpose knife and tool that could be used as a fighting knife in an emergency.
, a traditional Chilean military weapon, while Gurkha
regiments of the Indian Army serving the British Empire favored the Kukri
, a broad-bladed, curved general-purpose cutting tool and weapon with Indian origins. In other countries the machete
or Filipino
Bolo
were often used as fighting knives by indigenous military or paramilitary forces. Colonial powers that encountered these general-purpose weapons used as fighting knives during a military campaign occasionally adopted them in turn for use by their own military forces, as exemplified by the U.S. Army's Model 1910/17 "Bolo" brush-clearing knife, which would be later pressed into service as a fighting knife in both World Wars.
In World War I, military use of the fighting knife saw the introduction of the "trench knife
", a fighting knife designed solely for military use in the trench warfare of that conflict. On the Allied side, these "knives" were originally little more than sharpened spikes or cut-down bayonets fitted with handles. As the war progressed, French, British and U.S. ordnance branches began introducing fighting knives based on standardized patterns, such as the U.S. Mark I trench knife
. In Western Europe, one dual-purpose fighting knife to be widely adopted by German forces during World War I was the Nahkampfmesser (Close Combat Knife), which despite its name was actually a general-purpose combat and field knife. The Nahkampfmesser was extremely popular in German military service, and would be issued again in slightly-revised form during World War II as the Kampfmesser 42
.
as fighting knives. These knives were particularly favored by elite or specialist units such as the U.S. Army's Bushmaster
regiment and Pioneer combat engineer detachment and the Marine Raider and Paramarine battalions of the U.S. Marine Corps. The success of these large knives in individual combat engagements in the Pacific caused authorities to reexamine the suitability of existing "commando"-type fighting knives for troops expected to fight the Japanese soldier in the Pacific.
In late 1942, the U.S. Marine Corps adopted the 1219C2, later designated the USMC Mark 2 Combat Knife or Knife, Fighting Utility, but better known in popular terminology as the KA-BAR
. The KA-BAR differed from WWI-era U.S. fighting knives in that it was purposely designed as a dual-purpose weapon, adapted for both combat and as a utility knife. It also differed from some earlier USMC knives such as the Marine Raider Stiletto in that the new knife used a stout, wide blade with clip point that facilitated slashing attacks as well as blade thrusts. Subsequent reports on the effectiveness of the new knife in jungle combat substantiated the Marine Corps decision to standardize the KA-BAR as the USMC's fighting knife for individual Marines.
In contrast, in 1941 Great Britain introduced one of the most famous "pure" fighting knives designed specifically for military use in combat, the British Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife
(F-S). A traditional single-purpose fighting knife, with an acutely-pointed, stiletto
-type blade designed to emphasize thrusting strokes (puncture wounds), the F-S was based on the concepts and ideas of William E. Fairbairn
and Eric A. Sykes
, two renowned former members of the Shanghai Municipal Police who trained countless soldiers in the art of close-quarters fighting. The Fairbairn-Sykes knife inspired several similar knives of the era such as the V-42 Stiletto
designed by Lt. Colonel Robert T. Frederick
who commanded the joint US and Canadian First Special Service Force and the United States Marine Raider Stiletto designed by Lieutenant Colonel Clifford H. Shuey. Capt. Fairbairn would later introduce a much larger fighting knife, the Smatchet
, based on the traditional Welsh Fusiliers trench knife of World War I.
The U.S. Army adopted the M3 Fighting Knife
in 1943 as its standard fighting knife. The M3 replaced the earlier WWI-vintage Mark I trench knife in combat service. The M3 was designed primarily designed as a purist fighting knife, though some compromises were made in the design to conserve strategic materials. When adapted to utility tasks such as opening ration tins or ammunition boxes, the limitations of the M3 pattern quickly became apparent.
In the United States, Knifemaker Bo Randall began production of the "All Purpose Fighting Knife" giving it the designation of "Number 1" in his catalog. Between 1942 and 1945, Randall Made Knives
produced 4,000 of these knives for battlefield use by US troops, with approximately 1,058 knives additionally subcontracted to another firm to meet wartime demand. In the 1950s Randall would adopt the general pattern of the Bowie knife for several of his fighting knife designs.
.
During the Vietnam War
, the Gerber Mark II
, designed by US Army Captain Bud Holzman and Al Mar
, was a popular fighting knife pattern that was privately purchased by many U.S. soldiers and marines serving in that conflict.
In the 1970s and 1980s a student and protege of Fairbairn, Colonel Rex Applegate
worked with knife designer Bill Harsey, Jr. to design the Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Knife, so named because it was designed as an improvement on the Fairbairn-Sykes based upon discussions Applegate and Fairbairn had during World War II to eliminate the weaknesses of the F-S knife (e.g., weak blade point, inability to determine orientation of blade merely by grip). While the Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Knife had a blade design that was more versatile than the F-S fighting knife, the former remained primarily a single-purpose fighting knife design. The first of these knives were made by Al Mar Knives
, based on Harsey's designs.
A tactical knife is a knife with one or more military (martial) features designed for use in extreme situations. In popular usage the terms "fighting knife" and "tactical knife" are frequently employed interchangeably, despite the fact that a tactical knife is principally designed to be used as a tool, not as a weapon.
Folding knives are rarely if ever designed primarily for use as fighting knives or combat knives. However, many armies and military organizations have issued folding "utility" knives that were not intended to be used as weapons, but which had tactical features that appealed to military personnel as well as civilians. This includes the German Mercator "Black Cat" folding utility knife, the German Luftwaffe
Fallschirmjäger-Messer
, the British Ibberson WWII gravity knife, and the U.S. WWII M2 automatic
pressbutton utility knife, also intended for use by parachute troops and flight crews.
Many civilian folding knives also have been privately purchased by both civilians and military personnel for use as general-purpose utility knives. Among these is Buck Knives
' Model 110 Folding Hunter, a lockback folding knife. Originally marketed as a hunting knife, the Model 110 saw use with military and naval personnel as a utility or emergency knife for cutting rope, strapping, harnesses, rigging, and a variety of other tasks. Custom knife makers began making similar knives intended for private purchase use by both civilians and military personnel. The earliest production company to make a tactical knife was Al Mar Knives
with their SERE model designed for the military with input from Special Forces Colonel James N. Rowe
in 1979.
According to Cameron Hopkins, then editor-in-chief of American Handgunner
magazine, tactical knives became popular in response to restrictive US gun laws of the mid 1990s; civilians began purchasing folding knives that were designed for use in extreme conditions, and which possessed one or more martial features. The trend began with custom knifemakers such as Bob Terzuola, Michael Walker, Mel Pardue, Ernest Emerson
, Ken Onion
, Chris Reeve
, Rick Hinderer, Warren Thomas, and Warren Osbourne. These knives were most commonly built as linerlocks, although Osbourne introduced the Axis lock. Blade lengths varied from 3 inches to as long as 12 inches, but the most typical models never exceeded 4 inches in blade length for legal reasons in most US Jurisdictions. Because of negative connotations implied by the use of the term "fighting knife", such knives were referred to as "tactical knives" or "tactical folders". Guatemalan-born knifemaker Bob Terzuola is credited with coining the phrase "Tactical Folder".
In response to the demand for these knives, production companies offered mass-produced tactical folding knives Companies such as Benchmade
, Kershaw Knives
, Buck Knives, Al Mar Knives
, Gerber Legendary Blades
and Spyderco
collaborated with tactical knifemakers; in some cases retaining them as full-time designers. Tactical knifemakers such as Ernest Emerson and Chris Reeve went so far as to open their own mass-production factories with Emerson Knives, Inc.
and Chris Reeve Knives
.
Critics of the "tactical" folding knife point out that the design is not well suited for individual combat when compared to a purpose-built fixed blade combat knife or fighting knife. The very nature of a folding knife means that it will usually have to be retrieved and its blade deployed during a fight – an impractical maneuver during a fight. Students of knife fighting also point out that any locking mechanism can fail and that a folding knife, regardless of lock strength, can never be as reliable as a fixed-blade combat knife. Lynn Thompson, martial artist and CEO of Cold Steel
pointed out in an article in Black Belt magazine that most tactical folding knives are too short to be of use in a knife fight and that even though he manufactures, sells, and carries a tactical folder, it is not ideal for fighting.
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
with a blade
Blade
A blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...
designed to inflict a lethal injury in a physical confrontation between two or more individuals at very short range (grappling distance). In contrast, the combat knife
Combat knife
A combat knife is a fighting knife designed solely for military use and primarily intended for hand-to-hand or close combat fighting.Since the end of trench warfare, most military combat knives have been secondarily designed for utility use in addition to their original role as close-quarter combat...
, once known as a trench knife
Trench knife
A Trench knife is a combat knife designed to kill or gravely incapacitate an enemy soldier at close quarters, as might be encountered in a trenchline or other confined area. It was developed in response to a need for a close combat weapon for soldiers conducting assaults and raids on enemy...
, is a military fighting knife.
Fighting knives were traditionally designed as special-purpose weapons, intended primarily if not solely for use in personal or hand-to-hand combat. This singularity of purpose originally distinguished the fighting knife from the field knife, fighting utility knife, or in modern usage, the tactical knife. The tactical knife is a knife with one or more military features designed for use in extreme situations, which may or may not include a design capability as a fighting or combat weapon. Since World War I, the fighting knife in military service has gradually evolved into a dual-purpose or "fighting-utility" knife, suited for both knife fighting and utility roles. As a consequence, the terms "fighting knife" and "tactical knife" are frequently employed interchangeably.
Antiquity
Utility knives with stone or flint blades were undoubtedly used in personal combat since Neolithic times.One of the earliest metal-blade fighting knives was the dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
. The first early Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
daggers featured Beaker copper blades
Beaker culture
The Bell-Beaker culture , ca. 2400 – 1800 BC, is the term for a widely scattered cultural phenomenon of prehistoric western Europe starting in the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic running into the early Bronze Age...
, probably done with hand held stone tools. In 1984, a Beaker period (ca. 2500 - 2000 BC) copper dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
blade was recovered from the Sillees River near Ross Lough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland that had a remarkably modern appearance. The flat, triangular-shaped copper blade was 171 mm (6.75 inches) long, 42.5 mm (1.65 inches) wide, and 2mm (0.078 inches) in maximum thickness, with bevelled edges and a pointed tip, and featured an integral tang that accepted a riveted handle. Analysis of the copper used in the dagger's construction revealed it to be of a type characteristic of the copper that was widely used in Ireland before the introduction of bronze tools and weapons. By around 2000 BC daggers were being cast of bronze, with blades formed by drawing and hammering the metal on bronze anvils set in guides.
Medieval era
The seaxSeax
Seax in Old English means knife or cutting tool. The name of the roofer's tool, the zax, is a development from this word...
, a short knife with a stone blade used for close combat by the Germanic tribes throughout the 1st millennium AD.
An early iron-bladed knife that served a dual purpose as fighting knife and utility blade was the seax
Seax
Seax in Old English means knife or cutting tool. The name of the roofer's tool, the zax, is a development from this word...
, a pattern-welded
Pattern welding
Pattern welding is the practice in sword and knife making of forming a blade of several metal pieces of differing composition that are forge-welded together and twisted and manipulated to form a pattern. Often called Damascus steel, blades forged in this manner often display bands of slightly...
weapon which dates from the 5th century AD, and worn as standard armament by Anglo Saxon warriors from northern Italy as far north as Scandinavia and as far west as Ireland. The seax of the 5th and 6th century was shorter and narrower than those introduced later on, and could be described as either a large dagger or a short sword. As swords created from pattern-welded iron were enormously expensive weapons at the time, the early seax filled a need for an affordable blade that could be used as both a fighting knife and a utility knife.
With the development of steel and simplified forging techniques, the sword became the preferred bladed weapon for most professional fighting men. During the latter part of the 12th century, the steel-blade dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
became popular as a secondary weapon for knights as a standard part of their equipment. This new form of dagger was really a miniaturized sword, featuring a flat double-edged blade and central spine or fuller
Fuller (weapon)
A fuller is a rounded or beveled groove or slot in the flat side of a blade . A fuller is often used to lighten the blade, much in the way that an I-beam shape allows a given amount of strength to be achieved with less material...
.
The first fighting daggers to become widely popular in Europe were the rondel dagger and the bollock dagger
Bollock dagger
The bollock dagger or ballock knife is a type of dagger with a distinctively shaped shaft, with two oval swellings at the guard resembling male genitalia . The guard is often in one piece with the wooden grip, and reinforced on top with a shaped metal washer...
. The rondel dagger was a fighting knife with a double-edged, tapered blade and a hilt featuring circular guards. The bollock dagger dates from around 1300-1350, and had a distinctive hilt cap formed from two lobes that acted as a hand-stop. It was especially popular with English and Norwegian combatants.
French and Italian daggers of the 14th century were the first to introduce acutely tapered blades and reinforced points in response to improvements made in armor design and the need for penetration.
Renaissance and Early Modern era
In the Near East, fighting knives such as the pesh-kabzPesh-kabz
Pesh-kabz, Pesh-quabz, Pesh-kabj, or Pish-ghabz is the name of an Indo-Persian-Afghan knife used in Safavid Persia, Mughal India, and some nations of central Asia...
were developed originally to defeat enemy personnel wearing chain-mail armour. The pesh-kabz dates from the 17th century and is of Central Asian and Persian origin, but was later adopted by the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
s, who brought the knife with them on their campaigns to conquer India. It was subsequently adopted throughout Afghanistan, northern India, and what is now Pakistan.
As the importance of the dagger declined in military service, the weapon became extremely popular in civilian society as an item of daily wear, being used for everything from personal defense to dinner cutlery. In Andalucian Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
the personal fighting knife was epitomized by the famous ratcheting folding knife known generally as the navaja
Navaja
The navaja is a traditional Spanish folding-blade fighting and utility knife. One of the oldest folding knife patterns still in production, the first true navajas originated in the Andalusian region of southern Spain...
. The navaja was originally used primarily by the barateros of the underworld and the working class, but by the 1800s it had become an accepted personal weapon for Spanish men of all backgrounds, including the wealthy.
In Portugal, the faca, a large fixed-blade fighting and utility knife accompanied Portuguese explorers and settlers during their conquest of Brazil, where the pattern remains popular to this day. From the faca is derived the facón
Facón
A facón is a fighting and utility knife widely used in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay as the principal tool and weapon of the gaucho of the South American pampas...
, the large fighting-utility knife of the gaucho
Gaucho
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...
. The facón is widely used in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brazil, and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
in an indigenous style of knife fighting inspired by Andalusian knife fighting techniques known as esgrima criolla ("Creole fencing").
19th century
In North America, the advantages of a large fighting knife were seized upon by American frontiersmen, who faced both animal and human opponents of considerable ferocity. This popularity spiked in 1827 with the introduction of Bowie KnifeBowie knife
A Bowie knife is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knife first popularized by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie in the early 19th Century. Since the first incarnation was created by James Black, the Bowie knife has come to incorporate several recognizable and characteristic design features, although its...
, a pattern inspired by the knives commissioned by Col. Jim Bowie
Jim Bowie
James "Jim" Bowie , a 19th-century American pioneer, slave trader, land speculator, and soldier, played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution, culminating in his death at the Battle of the Alamo...
. After the Bowie knife pattern was standardized during the 1830s and 1840s, it proved to be an enormously popular design, so much so that during the mid-19th century it became synonymous with the term "fighting knife". The Bowie knife largely replaced earlier Native American tools and weapons such as the tomahawk
Tomahawk (axe)
A tomahawk is a type of axe native to North America, traditionally resembling a hatchet with a straight shaft. The name came into the English language in the 17th century as a transliteration of the Powhatan word.Tomahawks were general purpose tools used by Native Americans and European Colonials...
. Before the introduction of reliable and powerful muzzleloading revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
s on the American frontier, the Bowie knife was often preferred to a single-shot handgun or "horse pistol". During the first years of the 20th century, the classic Bowie knife pattern would be gradually reduced in size and length as its role changed from that of a dedicated fighting knife and weapon to a general purpose knife and tool that could be used as a fighting knife in an emergency.
Early 20th century
By 1900, civilian fighting knives were being mass produced in a countless variety of shapes and sizes, though they all shared the common characteristic of being primarily designed for use in physical combat. However, in military service, the traditional fighting knife began a gradual transition from a "pure" design intended solely for fighting to a knife that could fulfill other roles as well. This trend was not unprecedented, as many nations and cultures had already adopted various multi-purpose fighting knife patterns derived from popular general-purpose knives with cultural and historic roots, beginning with the Anglo Saxon seax of medieval times. Thus Chilean soldiers, for instance, were trained in the use of the CorvoCorvo (knife)
The Corvo is a bladed weapon typically used in Chile. It is a double-edged knife with a curved blade of approximately 12 inches. Initially a tool similar to a grape hook, it was widely used in combat during the War of the Pacific...
, a traditional Chilean military weapon, while Gurkha
Gurkha Contingent
The Gurkha Contingent is a line department of the Singapore Police Force. Members of the GC are trained to be highly-skilled and are selected for their display of strong discipline and dedication in their tasks...
regiments of the Indian Army serving the British Empire favored the Kukri
Kukri
The kukri is a curved Nepalese Knife, similar to the machete, used as both a tool and as a weapon...
, a broad-bladed, curved general-purpose cutting tool and weapon with Indian origins. In other countries the machete
Machete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
or Filipino
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
Bolo
Bolo knife
A bolo is a large cutting tool of Filipino origin similar to the machete, used particularly in the jungles of Indonesia, the Philippines, and in the sugar fields of Cuba...
were often used as fighting knives by indigenous military or paramilitary forces. Colonial powers that encountered these general-purpose weapons used as fighting knives during a military campaign occasionally adopted them in turn for use by their own military forces, as exemplified by the U.S. Army's Model 1910/17 "Bolo" brush-clearing knife, which would be later pressed into service as a fighting knife in both World Wars.
In World War I, military use of the fighting knife saw the introduction of the "trench knife
Trench knife
A Trench knife is a combat knife designed to kill or gravely incapacitate an enemy soldier at close quarters, as might be encountered in a trenchline or other confined area. It was developed in response to a need for a close combat weapon for soldiers conducting assaults and raids on enemy...
", a fighting knife designed solely for military use in the trench warfare of that conflict. On the Allied side, these "knives" were originally little more than sharpened spikes or cut-down bayonets fitted with handles. As the war progressed, French, British and U.S. ordnance branches began introducing fighting knives based on standardized patterns, such as the U.S. Mark I trench knife
Mark I trench knife
The Mark I trench knife was an American trench knife designed by officers of the American Expeditionary Force for use in World War I. It had a double edged dagger blade useful for both thrusting and slashing strokes, unlike previous U.S. trench knives such as the M1917 and M1918. The handle is...
. In Western Europe, one dual-purpose fighting knife to be widely adopted by German forces during World War I was the Nahkampfmesser (Close Combat Knife), which despite its name was actually a general-purpose combat and field knife. The Nahkampfmesser was extremely popular in German military service, and would be issued again in slightly-revised form during World War II as the Kampfmesser 42
Kampfmesser 42
The Kampfmesser 42 was a German made dual purpose combat knife. It was issued to the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS and was used throughout the Second World War. It was designed as a fighting knife and bayonette. This specific bayonette was longer than the usual bayonettes on rifles, and was commonly used...
.
World War II
In the Pacific theater of World War II, U.S. Army and Marine Corps personnel frequently employed jungle and utility knives such as machetes, bush knives, hospital corps knives, and bolosBolo knife
A bolo is a large cutting tool of Filipino origin similar to the machete, used particularly in the jungles of Indonesia, the Philippines, and in the sugar fields of Cuba...
as fighting knives. These knives were particularly favored by elite or specialist units such as the U.S. Army's Bushmaster
158th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 158th Infantry Regiment is a infantry unit of the Arizona National Guard. The regiment has served in World War I, World War II and Afghanistan.-History:...
regiment and Pioneer combat engineer detachment and the Marine Raider and Paramarine battalions of the U.S. Marine Corps. The success of these large knives in individual combat engagements in the Pacific caused authorities to reexamine the suitability of existing "commando"-type fighting knives for troops expected to fight the Japanese soldier in the Pacific.
In late 1942, the U.S. Marine Corps adopted the 1219C2, later designated the USMC Mark 2 Combat Knife or Knife, Fighting Utility, but better known in popular terminology as the KA-BAR
KA-BAR
KA-BAR is the contemporary popular name for the combat knife first adopted by the United States Marine Corps in November 1942 as the 1219C2 Combat Knife , and subsequently adopted by the United States Navy as the U.S. Navy Utility Knife, Mark 2...
. The KA-BAR differed from WWI-era U.S. fighting knives in that it was purposely designed as a dual-purpose weapon, adapted for both combat and as a utility knife. It also differed from some earlier USMC knives such as the Marine Raider Stiletto in that the new knife used a stout, wide blade with clip point that facilitated slashing attacks as well as blade thrusts. Subsequent reports on the effectiveness of the new knife in jungle combat substantiated the Marine Corps decision to standardize the KA-BAR as the USMC's fighting knife for individual Marines.
In contrast, in 1941 Great Britain introduced one of the most famous "pure" fighting knives designed specifically for military use in combat, the British Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife
Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife
The Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife is a double-edged fighting knife resembling a dagger or poignard with a foil grip developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes in Shanghai based on concepts which the two men initiated before World War II while serving on the Shanghai Municipal...
(F-S). A traditional single-purpose fighting knife, with an acutely-pointed, stiletto
Stiletto
A stiletto is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, intended primarily as a stabbing weapon. The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated tip reduces friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply...
-type blade designed to emphasize thrusting strokes (puncture wounds), the F-S was based on the concepts and ideas of William E. Fairbairn
William E. Fairbairn
William Ewart Fairbairn was a British soldier, police officer and exponent of hand-to-hand combat method, the close combat, for the Shanghai Police between the world wars, and allied special forces in World War II. He developed his own fighting system known as Defendu, as well as other weapons...
and Eric A. Sykes
Eric A. Sykes
Eric Anthony Sykes , born Eric Anthony Schwabe in Barton on Irwell, Manchester, England. He is most famous for his work with William E. Fairbairn in the development of the eponymous Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife and modern British Close Quarters Battle martial arts during World War II...
, two renowned former members of the Shanghai Municipal Police who trained countless soldiers in the art of close-quarters fighting. The Fairbairn-Sykes knife inspired several similar knives of the era such as the V-42 Stiletto
V-42 Stiletto
The V-42 Stiletto was a stiletto and fighting knife issued during World War II to the First Special Service Force , a joint Canadian/American commando unit.-Design and Features:...
designed by Lt. Colonel Robert T. Frederick
Robert T. Frederick
Robert Tryon Frederick was a highly decorated American combat commander during World War II, who commanded the 1st Special Service Force, the 1st Airborne Task Force and the 45th Infantry Division.-Career:...
who commanded the joint US and Canadian First Special Service Force and the United States Marine Raider Stiletto designed by Lieutenant Colonel Clifford H. Shuey. Capt. Fairbairn would later introduce a much larger fighting knife, the Smatchet
Smatchet
A Smatchet is a short, heavy fighting knife/sword in overall length . It was designed by knife fighting expert and instructor Capt. William E...
, based on the traditional Welsh Fusiliers trench knife of World War I.
The U.S. Army adopted the M3 Fighting Knife
M3 Fighting Knife
The M3 Fighting Knife or M3 Trench Knife was an American military combat knife first issued in March 1943. The M3 was originally designated for issue to soldiers not otherwise equipped with a bayonet...
in 1943 as its standard fighting knife. The M3 replaced the earlier WWI-vintage Mark I trench knife in combat service. The M3 was designed primarily designed as a purist fighting knife, though some compromises were made in the design to conserve strategic materials. When adapted to utility tasks such as opening ration tins or ammunition boxes, the limitations of the M3 pattern quickly became apparent.
In the United States, Knifemaker Bo Randall began production of the "All Purpose Fighting Knife" giving it the designation of "Number 1" in his catalog. Between 1942 and 1945, Randall Made Knives
Randall Made Knives
Randall Made Knives, usually referred to as Randall, is an American manufacturer specializing in custom handcrafted knives founded by Walter Doane "Bo" Randall, Jr. The factory and showroom is located in Orlando, Florida. Randall offers 28 models of knives for different applications, each...
produced 4,000 of these knives for battlefield use by US troops, with approximately 1,058 knives additionally subcontracted to another firm to meet wartime demand. In the 1950s Randall would adopt the general pattern of the Bowie knife for several of his fighting knife designs.
Post-WWII to present
Designed for military use, Bo Randall's No. 14 "Attack" Model was a popular fighting knife used after World War II. During Vietnam, Randall received feedback from Captain George Ingraham, a Combat Surgeon in the US Army's 94th Medical Detachment. Ingraham's request was for serrations on the spine to cut through the fuselage of downed aircraft to rescue trapped personnel and a hollow handle to allow storage of survival gear. Randall made the changes and the result was the first of the modern survival knivesSurvival knife
Survival knives are knives intended for survival purposes in a wilderness environment, often in an emergency situation when the user has lost most of his/her main equipment. Military units issue some type of survival knife to pilots in the event their plane may be shot down. Survival knives can be...
.
During the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the Gerber Mark II
Gerber Mark II
The Gerber Mark II is a fighting knife manufactured by Gerber Legendary Blades from 1967 to 2000, with an additional limited run of 1500 in 2002, and full production resuming as of July 2008...
, designed by US Army Captain Bud Holzman and Al Mar
Al Mar Knives
Al Mar Knives is a production knife company headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. Al Mar Knives was established in 1979 by Al Mar, and has a reputation for making tactical knives of innovative design. While headquartered in the United States, Al Mar Knives are made in Japan.-Al Mar:Al...
, was a popular fighting knife pattern that was privately purchased by many U.S. soldiers and marines serving in that conflict.
In the 1970s and 1980s a student and protege of Fairbairn, Colonel Rex Applegate
Rex Applegate
Rex Applegate was an American military officer who worked for the Office of Strategic Services, where he trained Allied special forces personnel in close-quarters combat during World War II. He held the rank of colonel....
worked with knife designer Bill Harsey, Jr. to design the Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Knife, so named because it was designed as an improvement on the Fairbairn-Sykes based upon discussions Applegate and Fairbairn had during World War II to eliminate the weaknesses of the F-S knife (e.g., weak blade point, inability to determine orientation of blade merely by grip). While the Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Knife had a blade design that was more versatile than the F-S fighting knife, the former remained primarily a single-purpose fighting knife design. The first of these knives were made by Al Mar Knives
Al Mar Knives
Al Mar Knives is a production knife company headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. Al Mar Knives was established in 1979 by Al Mar, and has a reputation for making tactical knives of innovative design. While headquartered in the United States, Al Mar Knives are made in Japan.-Al Mar:Al...
, based on Harsey's designs.
Tactical knife
Folding knives are rarely if ever designed primarily for use as fighting knives or combat knives. However, many armies and military organizations have issued folding "utility" knives that were not intended to be used as weapons, but which had tactical features that appealed to military personnel as well as civilians. This includes the German Mercator "Black Cat" folding utility knife, the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Fallschirmjäger-Messer
Gravity knife
A gravity knife is a knife with a blade contained in its handle, and which opens its blade by the force of inertia or gravity. As the gravity knife requires gravity or inertia to propel the blade out of the handle, it differs fundamentally from the switchblade, which opens its spring-propelled...
, the British Ibberson WWII gravity knife, and the U.S. WWII M2 automatic
Switchblade
A switchblade is a type of knife with a folding or sliding blade contained in the handle which is opened automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated A switchblade (also known as an automatic knife, pushbutton knife, switch, Sprenger, Springer,...
pressbutton utility knife, also intended for use by parachute troops and flight crews.
Many civilian folding knives also have been privately purchased by both civilians and military personnel for use as general-purpose utility knives. Among these is Buck Knives
Buck Knives
Buck Knives is an American knife manufacturer founded in San Diego, California and now located in Post Falls, Idaho. The company has a long history through five generations of the Buck family from 1902 to the present day...
' Model 110 Folding Hunter, a lockback folding knife. Originally marketed as a hunting knife, the Model 110 saw use with military and naval personnel as a utility or emergency knife for cutting rope, strapping, harnesses, rigging, and a variety of other tasks. Custom knife makers began making similar knives intended for private purchase use by both civilians and military personnel. The earliest production company to make a tactical knife was Al Mar Knives
Al Mar Knives
Al Mar Knives is a production knife company headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. Al Mar Knives was established in 1979 by Al Mar, and has a reputation for making tactical knives of innovative design. While headquartered in the United States, Al Mar Knives are made in Japan.-Al Mar:Al...
with their SERE model designed for the military with input from Special Forces Colonel James N. Rowe
James N. Rowe
James Nicholas "Nick" Rowe was a United States Army officer and one of only thirty-four American prisoners of war to escape captivity during the Vietnam War...
in 1979.
According to Cameron Hopkins, then editor-in-chief of American Handgunner
American Handgunner
American Handgunner is a magazine dedicated to handguns, handgun hunting, competition shooting, reloading, tactical knives and other shooting-related activities in the United States...
magazine, tactical knives became popular in response to restrictive US gun laws of the mid 1990s; civilians began purchasing folding knives that were designed for use in extreme conditions, and which possessed one or more martial features. The trend began with custom knifemakers such as Bob Terzuola, Michael Walker, Mel Pardue, Ernest Emerson
Ernest Emerson
Ernest R. Emerson is an American custom knifemaker, martial artist, and edged-weapons expert. Originally an engineer and machinist in the aerospace industry, Emerson became a knifemaker known for making decorative knives but later became better known for his combat knives, eventually founding a...
, Ken Onion
Ken Onion
Ken Onion is an American award-winning custom knifemaker based in Kaneohe, Hawaii, USA who invented the "SpeedSafe" assisted opening mechanism for Kershaw Knives...
, Chris Reeve
Chris Reeve
Chris Reeve is an American knife maker, recognized as one of the most influential people in knife making history. Reeve founded Chris Reeve Knives , and is co-owner of the company with his wife, Anne Reeve.-Background:...
, Rick Hinderer, Warren Thomas, and Warren Osbourne. These knives were most commonly built as linerlocks, although Osbourne introduced the Axis lock. Blade lengths varied from 3 inches to as long as 12 inches, but the most typical models never exceeded 4 inches in blade length for legal reasons in most US Jurisdictions. Because of negative connotations implied by the use of the term "fighting knife", such knives were referred to as "tactical knives" or "tactical folders". Guatemalan-born knifemaker Bob Terzuola is credited with coining the phrase "Tactical Folder".
In response to the demand for these knives, production companies offered mass-produced tactical folding knives Companies such as Benchmade
Benchmade
The Benchmade Knife Company is a knife manufacturer run by Roberta and Les de Asis in Oregon City, Oregon, United States. Its products are geared toward many niche markets, such as outdoor sporting cutlery, rescue, law-enforcement, martial-arts, and military...
, Kershaw Knives
Kershaw Knives
Kershaw Knives is a multinational corporation that designs and manufactures a range of knives, including kitchen cutlery, pocket knives, and outdoor knives...
, Buck Knives, Al Mar Knives
Al Mar Knives
Al Mar Knives is a production knife company headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. Al Mar Knives was established in 1979 by Al Mar, and has a reputation for making tactical knives of innovative design. While headquartered in the United States, Al Mar Knives are made in Japan.-Al Mar:Al...
, Gerber Legendary Blades
Gerber Legendary Blades
Gerber Legendary Blades is a maker of consumer knives and multitools headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, United States, within the Portland metropolitan area. Currently Gerber is a sub-division of Fiskars Brands Inc, owned by the Fiskars company of Finland...
and Spyderco
Spyderco
Spyderco is a Golden, Colorado, U.S.A. based cutlery company that produces knives and knife sharpeners. Spyderco introduced many features that are now common on folding knives, including the pocket clip, serrations, and the opening hole...
collaborated with tactical knifemakers; in some cases retaining them as full-time designers. Tactical knifemakers such as Ernest Emerson and Chris Reeve went so far as to open their own mass-production factories with Emerson Knives, Inc.
Emerson Knives, Inc.
Emerson Knives, Inc. is a production knife company founded in 1996 by custom knifemaker Ernest Emerson in an effort to mass produce his folding knife designs for the US Military and Collector markets.-History:...
and Chris Reeve Knives
Chris Reeve Knives
Chris Reeve Knives is a U.S. corporation with international sales and distribution based in Boise, ID. CRK manufactures folding pocket knives, fixed blade knives, and custom walking sticks...
.
Critics of the "tactical" folding knife point out that the design is not well suited for individual combat when compared to a purpose-built fixed blade combat knife or fighting knife. The very nature of a folding knife means that it will usually have to be retrieved and its blade deployed during a fight – an impractical maneuver during a fight. Students of knife fighting also point out that any locking mechanism can fail and that a folding knife, regardless of lock strength, can never be as reliable as a fixed-blade combat knife. Lynn Thompson, martial artist and CEO of Cold Steel
Cold Steel
Cold Steel is a Ventura, California-based maker of knives, swords and other edged weapons and tools. Cold Steel was founded in 1980 by company president, Lynn C. Thompson...
pointed out in an article in Black Belt magazine that most tactical folding knives are too short to be of use in a knife fight and that even though he manufactures, sells, and carries a tactical folder, it is not ideal for fighting.