Knives Illustrated July - August 2021

Family camping trips entail much more than smoky clothing and mosquito bites. For adults, camping can be more than enduring sleepless nights on the cold, hard ground and puzzling about how to cram all the damp, dirty gear back in the car because nothing seems to pack the same for the trip home. For the kids, these outdoor adventures can be more than s’mores smeared on smiling faces and creepy nighttime noises beyond the thin tent fabric that ignite the imagination. For grownups, camping trips can mean opportunities to hand down a heritage. For the young ones, camping trips can be rites of passage. Last summer, I spent some time teaching a couple of my grandsons how to start a campfire using a ferro rod. I also presented a young…

1. Buck 110 Legacy Edition The Buck 110 is an iconic design and one that many of our dads and granddads had on their belts hunting, camping, or around the ranch or work site. Despite its age it remains as popular as ever, and Buck continues to reimagine the classic 110 with new materials and updates to keep it as relevant in the 2020s as it was in the 1960s. The latest 110 Legacy uses a S45VN stainless steel blade with dual black Cerakote-coated thumb studs. In place of the traditional wood slabs are gray anodized aluminum scales screwed together with marbled carbon fiber inlays. The days of needing a belt sheath are gone with the addition of a black Flash Nitride-coated pocket clip. < SPECS: Buck…

American Blade Works is known for top-quality, small-batch creations of superb knives, and its new Model 1 V5 is, without a doubt, no exception. This amazing new knife exhibits a sleek, smooth design, and a powerful punch. Utilizing its thicker-than-normal blade and perfectly ergonomic handle, it allows all the force from your arm or hand to flow into the knife. This blade truly is an extension of a person’s body, and when it was tested in the field, that fact was backed up tenfold. But being a very new knife on the market, there is always a lot to prove when it comes to actual performance when in use. Luckily, the great people over at American Blade Works sent me a sample of Model 1 V5. They said to do…

The Model 1 V5, as you may have guessed, had a few predecessors before this version hit the market. Michael Martin from American Blade Works helped to shed some light on the variations. He said that the Version 3 has aluminum scales, different from Versions 4 and 5, which have carbon fiber. He also stated that Versions 4 and 5 were very similar themselves, save for an improved pocket clip and added screws under the scales for increased rigidity. Additionally, the Model 1 V5 has a redesigned lock-up, too. Subtle differences among the American Blade Work’s knives offer variety and choice for the knife consumer.…

Of the many people who carry a knife daily, there are quite a few, I’d bet, who have it in the back of their minds that in a worst-case scenario they could use that knife as a defensive weapon to save their lives. Among those are a good number who’ve had no training in how to use a blade effectively. I know, because I was one of them. During my days as a police officer, I carried a knife every day and used it for a variety of ordinary tasks. Most of us did. Despite the lack of training in edged weapons, the reasoning persisted that it was good to have something on hand in desperation during a scuffle to prevent a bad guy from gaining control of your sidearm.…

For Dr. Conrad Bui, Tiga Tactics’ chief training officer, martial arts training has been a continual journey of more than 40 years. He is an accomplished practitioner of Aikido, Tae Kwon Do, American Freestyle Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Pentjak Silat Serak that incorporates knife fighting. He has competed successfully in international combat sports and, before becoming a chiropractor, found a practical application to his multi-discipline art as a bouncer in a bar. Patrick Voung, Tiga Tactics’ chief executive officer, has been a self-defense instructor since 1999. His experience ranges from combat sports to traditional martial arts to reality-based self-defense and tactical firearms training. He has studied under instructors from elite military units such as U.S. Navy SEAL’s DEVGRU (SEAL Team Six), U.S. Army CAG (Delta Force), U.S. Marine Corps Force…