I pegged the Deacon’s slender, flat-ground blade as a slicer. The most popular one is the D/A OTF Automatic Knife – Satin Plain. Purchase: $56, Black on black on black with Buck’s beloved 420HC steel all wrapped up in a subtle, deep carry design, it flips like an assisted opener and slams into the big liner lock for steadiness and sturdiness where it counts. Check out the Best Self Defense Knives; Benchmade Bugout (see our review) Spyderco Endura; Something Loud – Best Non-Violent Self Defense “Weapon” You don’t always have to enact violence upon another person in order to defend yourself. MSRP: $375 // DPXgear.com, Benchmade Knives has offered automatics for more than 20 years, and recent laws passed across the U.S. are more favorable to these lightening-fast openers. They serve no other function. They have a beautiful appearance and excellent build quality. Customers say that it is, hands down, the best automatic knife for all jobs. As Connelley noted, on a folding knife the choice of blade steel and frame alloy are the two most important factors in determining the cost and retail price of a knife. Get the 74th edition of the World's Greatest Gun Book. So, if you’re going to do it, do it right. Best Caliber for Self Defense: 9mm, .40 S&W or .45 ACP? Krudo knives tend to be overbuilt, with added features that are geared toward combat and self-defense. The Battleplan’s business end performed well, tackling both media in single strokes. The same goes for blade steels, which can easily drive the price of a knife higher. Larger blades are best for heavy-duty use. Hammond is very knowledgeable about the manufacturing end of cutlery production. There has been an error with your Email Subscription. Using the blade’s flat main plain edge, I carved off nice chunks of the material, and the weight of the knife was an added bonus. There’s a saying in Aikido – a martial arts discipline whose name translates into “the path of harmony” or “the harmonious way” – that says, roughly, “Never seek harm, but be ready should it find you.” As people, we should move softly through the world, never looking for an opportunity to do needless damage, but also not closing our eyes to the dangers that exist as we walk among the wolves. The Hanan makes for a lightweight EDC knife, weighing in at a nimble 2.82 ounces. “While the steel used for the blade and handle are major considerations, all of the other parts — such as the pivot, bushings and spacers — are just as important. Lastly, the material of your blade and handle matters greatly. A master karambit fighter is a deadly adversary, and with just a few lessons you’ll see why. If you need a trustworthy knife for outdoor situations, you should consider an OTF knife. The Busker Semper is a small knife — 6 inches overall — with a 2.375-inch Bohler M390 Modified Wharncliffe blade. The model shown here is done up in brown jigged bone scales, but you can also have it in India stag, white bone and black G10. You can keep your knife firing well with proper maintenance. The advantage to carrying a self defense knife over a gun should be fairly clear. If the knife fails to deploy, then you can't do your job. If you need a trustworthy knife for outdoor situations, Straight – gives clean cuts and sharpens easily, Partially serrated blade – suitable for general use, Fully serrated – an aggressive edge that is good for cutting fibrous material. While there are plenty of manufacturers, there are two brands in particular that make the best OTFs. In this day and age you’d be hard-pressed to find a cutlery manufacturer who is not offering collaborations with custom knifemakers. The WE Knife Co. Deacon, 7.35 inches open, sports a drop-point blade of Bohler M390 stainless steel with a full V-grind. Get the latest news and reviews from Gundigest.com. That includes different deployment mechanisms — the means by … Custom knifemaker Jim Hammond has been making knives for 41 years and has been involved in dozens of design collaborations with Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT), dating back to CRKT’s inception in 1994. It has everything. Purchase: $42, The name Michael R. Rodriguez shouldn’t mean anything to you except service and excellence. You’ll have no trouble finding a EDC knife made just for you! 1095 steel with a big belly that makes it just as good for hunting and field dressing as fighting or working, it’s good for a boot, good for a neck, and good for a job of questionable morality. This build gives it more grip options and more slashing choices should you get entangled with a foe. The 10 Best Automatic Knives. Many still enjoy traditional EDC knife options, and this pocket-folder features an elegantly tapered frame with a hard working 3.25-inch Wharnecliffe 8Cr13MoV stainless-steel blade. The blade locks up via Spyderco’s patented Compression Lock. Single action OTFs – This blade type opens with a spring mechanism but it closes manually. Even in the closest of quarters, you’ll have space to stab and slash, using the tiny blade to leave countless scars. I chose to compare two very successful folding knives, one in each cost category. So dapper you can pair it with a tux and it will never show the bloodstains. However, Microtech changes their hardware, serration, and color configurations throughout the year. A veteran of the Army Special Forces, he designed the TECPATL push dagger specifically to be capable of coming out hard and not coming free from your clenched fist even after it’s cold and dead. 4 Must-Have Concealed Carry Upgrades (2020), Concealed Carry: What’s The Best Capacity For An. The natural position of the blade is what makes a switchblade differ from a spring assisted opening knife. Smith & Wesson SWMP4LS 8.6in Stainless Steel Assisted Opening Automatic Knife . The handle features purple-anodized titanium bolsters and carbon-fiber scales with blue-accented screws to tie it all together. “The cost and quality of materials is a major factor in the final price to the consumer,” Connelley added. You also want to be sure that you have a quality and reliable OTF knife to begin with. OTFs are made up of many parts. A knife, conversely, is a tool, and it requires getting close and personal, making it better geared for defending yourself from harm. The Gerber Remix gets points for sheer hutzpah, as they have managed to stuff a bear claw knife build into a folding body, and it’s actually a pleasure to use. Plus, if someone wants it, they’re going to end up picking up fingers from trying to get it. The first patent for this type of knife was in 1860. As a result, I gave it a go on some basswood. These factors include blade size, edge type, and handle material. The blade steel equation got kicked up several notches with the development of S30V stainless, a proprietary powdered knife steel developed by Crucible Industries, LLC and Chris Reeve. Once it becomes a part of your hand, you’ll never want anything else by your side when the fur flies. Budget knives don’t offer the endurance of high-end knives, but many users will take that trade-off. Krudo’s Karsino10 folder has all that in a slick-styled, 8-inch package. We’ll compare the Inkosi to one of Kershaw’s hottest sellers, the Eris, which checks in at $49.99. So consider making a self-defense knife part of your EDC kit, for when harm comes calling. Its closed length is 4.1 inches. This practice allows you to get a feel for how to handle the knife and how sharp it is before you are ready to use it. The ball-bearing action is as smooth as silk, and the Compression Lock, which is easily located on the upper part of the spine, snicks and holds the blade like the proverbial bank vault. Purchase: $180 If I can choose a stronger yet lighter knife, I will make that selection every time. Interestingly, you’ll find a greater selection of collaborations with popular custom knifemakers among the lower-priced knives. In the process they created a beast. (Other types have a design geared toward defense.) Reeve’s Blade Show awards for “Quality in Manufacturing” over the past 2 decades are unparalleled. Manufacturers have done an excellent job of finding ways of making modern switchblades that slip through the loopholes in the laws, but even so, you can find yourself in a mess of legal trouble if you are caught carrying, buying, selling, importing, handling, or looking too closely at an automatic knife. Because everyone’s style is individual, customized pieces with a high-end look are what we're always after. Microtech, a well-known brand name, has a quality lineup of OTF models with several blade types. All the finesse is in the build. Get 12 Issues a year of the country's best firearms writing. Thank you! There is a long list of pros, and very few cons. Some ways to properly maintain your OTF knife are: These steps will ensure that your knife lasts a long time. You can easily keep one in your car, on your person, or in your toolbox. The importance of precision in the design of a knife cannot be overstated. That's why these are always great collector’s items. It measures 7.85 inches fully extended. The drop-point blade rolls out quickly and easily on ceramic ball bearings, and the linerlock mechanism snaps it to attention with authority. It makes a useful everyday knife. It didn’t disappoint, whipping through 1/6-inch-thick suede in clean, single strokes. Less expensive knives tend to have rounded contours and flat surfaces on the frame. Others are perfectly happy with a $50 blade to meet their everyday needs, and the market for these is voluminous. The Karsino10 folder carries with the blade tip-up via a beefy, 2.25-inch reversible pocket clip. This folder serves up a black, 2.78-inch clip-point blade of stonewashed 420 stainless steel in a flash via a pivot equipped with 416 stainless steel bearings and washers. Titanium or carbon-fiber are frequently used in the construction of high-quality knives — they’re very strong yet much lighter. The whole knife weighs in at 6.1 ounces. The icing on the Eris’ cake is the addition of Kershaw’s SpeedSafe spring-assisted opening mechanism, which can employ the blade in the blink of an eye — an important feature on any EDC knife for tactical or self-defense use. The handle is thin, but wide, across the midsection, so there’s plenty of comfort. For a small financial outlay, the Battleplan offers true value for the money. Purchase: $169, ZT’s lineup looks like a who’s who of self defense knives, but for our money the slim, slight, but savage 0450CF is the best choice. Folding knives require many steps from start to finish, all of which determine the final product. If you want a good slicer and self-defense knife then the plain edge will be your jam. I asked Connelley his basic thoughts on why some knives cost more than others. A recent article by Forbes magazine suggested factory wages in China have increased drastically in the past few years to an average of approximately $3.60 per hour. Some like them big, some small, and some like them fast. (OTF stands for Out The Front.) For the blade, you want to go with high-grade stainless steel. Once you know how you will use this knife, you can consider the other factors that influence durability. A second vertical flipper can be used to thumb open the blade, and a ramped thumb stud adds a third option. As with all Buck’s stuff, it’s got the Forever warranty, though you’ll likely never need it. The Kershaw Eris’ blade is 0.11-inch thick and its frame slabs are 0.09-inch thick. Sean Tirman. Please try again. Many prefer this over the somewhat dated thumb stud because it can be located quicker by the index finger (as opposed to the thumb) and takes only a quick flick to engage the blade. With a switchblade, the natural position of the blade is open, so a spring mechanism has to hold it closed. The Phaeton’s black-coated dagger-style 3.75-inch CPM S30V stainless-steel clip blade employs and deploys by way of a slide release on the rear spine of the handle. The fit and finish are top shelf—as they should be at this price point. © 2020 thecoolist.com - All Rights Reserved |, 11 EDC Self Defense Knives That Are Ready For Anything. Sporting a sweeping recurve blade of CPM S30V stainless steel and a clip point, the Hanan has a phosphor-bronze pivot-bearing cage with large ball bearings. The best—but most expensive—steel types include: OTFs are a type of switchblade.