[ED: If you carry a gun – and even if you don’t – you need to carry a knife for self-defense. As we’ve said many times, a gun is often unavailable to an armed self-defender in the heat of battle. A firearm can also malfunction (more probably you but that’s another story) or go skittering across the floor. You need a plan B. This series is designed to help you find a suitable blade for backup.]
I got to play with this not-yet-released EDC knife at the SHOT Show last week. If you’re a knife guy, I already know what you’re thinking: So Ken Onion is plagiarizing his own designs now? Not quite: look again at that hollow grind blade and the missing assisted-opening safety bar near the lanyard hole . . . And jump over to The Truth About Knives for the rest of the details.
Meh. I’ll stick to my Kershaw Leek, also a Ken Onion. This knife seems like a step backwards…
Ehh. I think I’ll stick with my spyderco resilience or military. 4 inches of badass blade.
Benchmade Infidel. I can only home carry though. Don’t want some LEO to go home with a new toy.
What?! Carry away, man. Just don’t take it into a courtroom or something. Where are you at that outlaws guns and knives.
Unlike you, the vast majority of your peers will confiscate anything they feel like, regardless of it’s legality or ownership.
Looks exactly like my Leek.
My SAK saved my life when I needed it, don’t need no fancy knife. Though I did like a stilletto I once carried (borrowed it from a friend when going through a bad neighbourhood in the old country).
you need to carry a knife for self-defense
No, you need to carry a knife to open boxes, clean your fingernails, cut rope and dig out splinters.
If your primary reason for carrying a knife is all the mall ninja bullshit you described, it’s time to re-evaluate your life.
Agreed. +1
My aforementioned knife is my letter opener. Good one, though.
This, I can’t carry a weapon at work but I open boxes so I keep a small pocket knife with me.
Almost same reason I carried my SAK, besides a stilleto/dagger is a one trick pony.
There’s nothing “mall ninja” about carrying a knife for self defense. Hard to believe that someone could even argue to the contrary. Time for you to get some training.
Exactly.
Example: last night at my granddaughters school carnival. Very crowded, tons o kids. I turn around and it’s a guy I had arrested a couple times for beating his wife up.
Apparently, he doesn’t like me, still.
My hands were in my front jeans pocket as I amble around, my EDC knife touching my hand, or the .25 auto in my back pocket should he decide to really not like me?
Apparently my smile and wink at him worked best.
I would have had no problem with a simple thrust in a crowded room. But popping a cap? No way.
Tom, you need to go to NYC or L.A. and get some training in how to shoot bystanders and feel good about doing it.
I still can’t find anything on open carry for knives in my area.My buck saved myself and my dog from a pitbull 2 months ago and again just today from the same dog.I plan on carrying my buck 120 in the open from now on.blade length 10.5 inches
The whole “mall ninja” meme is getting tiresome generally. Apparently, the idea that someone would have with them more than the absolute minimum that could work in the best case scenario is hugely offensive.
“Mall ninja” more refers to someone with no sense of practicality and often without any real training. Someone who is always after more and more stuff, much of it impractical, that they don’t know how to use.
I know, and I’ve read the GlockTalk thread where the term originated. I’m just sick of it because it inevitably comes out whenever anyone mentions anything related to self-defense. Apparently, you get a Plan A. If Plan B isn’t “die”, then you’re a mall ninja who just wants to load up on tacticool gear to pretend you’re SEAL Team Six.
I’ve had enough training to know that a knife for ‘self-defense’ is bullshit and especially all the tacticool ninja stuff. A knife is a good offensive weapon from a position of advantage against a surprised opponent. It sucks in a fight.
Hey “Ed”- what about a plan C,D,and F? Better make sure you have a baton, taser and ninja star just in case, you know.
It seems to me that a closed knife in ones fist, if it protrudes from both sides of the hand, is going to be more practical than opening it in a panic. If someone is reaching for you it can be brought up against their elbow quickly.
Deploying the blade had always struck me as impractical if you are surprised or extremely stressed.
There are a lot of good reasons to carry a knife. In extremis it MIGHT be used to end an attack. But here’s the rub:
If you have planned carefully and been situationally aware, and are carrying a quality firearm that you maintain and know how to use, including high quality ammo that you know it likes, the odds of mechanical failure when you actually need that pistol are some order of magnitude smaller than the odds you will ever need the pistol at all. Stupid people/stupid places/stupid things….
Now, everything goes to shit, you have either a broken gun or lost it “skittering across the floor” and the BG is going to be QUICKLY right on top of you and VERY pissed off (and scared). So you go fishing in your pocket for a folding knife, manage to get it into the light, and now you need two hands to get the blade open so you can stick this MF before he pounds you into he pavement? What’s the name of that drill where you can’t outdraw a man with a knife charging you from 21 feet away? Now you think you can draw and deploy a pocket knife under those same or less favorable conditions? Seems unlikely.
So you haven’t heard that there are knives that can be opened with one hand and have clips on them so they will always be in the same place?
I of course have a clipped pocket knife (its some cheapy Browning knife I think) and just happen to have started carrying another knife, mostly because I love fixed blade knives 🙂 KA-BAR TDI is a great little EDC knife for belt wear (The smaller of the two blade sizes, I have both) and conceals great also when I wear it at 7-8 o’clock.
Yea my pocket knife is the only thing that EVER gets any use and I sure as shit dont plan on getting into a knife fight (or any fight If I can help it). I am just a fan of redundancy, so I dont really mind carrying the extra weight.
I love a basic, everyday essential knife that has a multipurpose function. I found a site for just that; epicedgeblade.com has just that, but i’m just a newbie at knives…
Eros? Really? I guess all other names have been used up.
Looks just like my Leek. I never even noticed the “safety bar thingamajig” untill you mentioned it though.
Benchmade FTW
Elegant but flimsy looking. If you want hard use knives that don’t cost a fortune buy Cold Steel. They have something for every taste except overly fancy and overpriced.
My 2 favorite knives are the Kershaw Skyline knife and the SOG Flash 1 knife which is smaller than the Skyline. I love to carry my kershaw knife as a self defence knife. Tanks you Chris for letting us know about the knife and make an useful conversation here.
You guys crack me up .”mall ninja”never heard a more jelous term in my life.shoot someone in america self defence or not youre skrewed.guns are more “mall ninja”then a knife.atleast you can use the knife for something.since when did a tool become a ninja weapon.I love people who automaticaly post “well I will just use my generic name of knife cause that knife sucks”.who cares. go to a post about youre knife thats better then every other knife in the world and post there or shut up.trolls will be trolls.does anyone have anything usrfull to post about the knife in the article or are we just going cry.
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