Utility Vs Tactical

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PryBry

Joined
Jul 3, 2001
Messages
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Ok, so this may sound like a newbe question but I've been reading this site for about six months now and even gotten hooked on buying and collecting knives...

What is the difference between a "Utility" knife and a "Tactical" knife.... My thought is a "Utility" doesn't scare sheeple when you whip it out, but a "Tactical" one leaves a brown stain in their shorts!

Other than that what else sets them apart?
Feel free to give examples of each...
 
The true word Tactical is a Utility knife. A knife that can be used for most chores. Prying, diging, cutting, and holding up to abuse.

Matt
 
When I read comments like: though such and such knife was intended to be a "Tactical" design it should also serve as a good daily "Utility" knife...?
This makes me wonder what their thinking...:rolleyes:
 
Most companys. Use the word tactical as a fad. In a true sense, the knife was only made to cut. They even tell you dont pry or use as a screw driver. They took away what the true word tactical means. To a warrior the word tactical means, of many uses, Take a Strider knife for example. You can pry, dig, hammer, chop, cut, and cut through thick objects and pretty much doing anything that would work. Now take a spyder co. one that some one calls tactical (some models can take some good abuse), try to pry with the tip, SNAP. It breaks off. Try to chop, this will prob. dent the blade. Try to dig, you just might break it in half. See what I mean. Most companys use the word tactical, to sell you a product.

Matt
 
Seems to me that in many cases the development process for a "tactical design" is this:

1. Take a quality knife of generally standard design made for everyday use.

2. Remove all common sense.

3. Paint the (frequently tanto) blade black for low reflectivity, apparently to prevent a nearby enemy sentry from seeing a reflection as you use it to open the mail or cut cardboard boxes.:rolleyes:

4. Give it either a macho-sounding or military-related name such as "Destroyer of Worlds", "Death From Above" or "Special Operations Ninja Commando Widowmaker Elite". This apprently ensures a quick conviction should you ever have occasion to use your utility knife in self defense, thereby saving the taxpayers money.

Sell.


There are some makers out there, like Strider as SNiPER mentioned, who do make what I consider to be truly "tactical" knives; in the sense that they are designed almost exclusively for military combat purposes. There are many more companies that would like to cash in on these quality designs, and many do it by making a rather conventional knife appear to be a military grade design by taking the most visible elements from them to apply to their products. Think of it as putting a huge "4x4 Off Road" sticker on the side of a Mustang. Good design, wrong application.
 
So now I'm really lost... So far "Tactical" = "Junk" seems to be the drift. But so many of what I've heard called "Tactical" end up being very expensive and impressive knives.... And "Utility" seemed to be the one you don't replace if you lose it down the toilet...
What the?
 
Tactical means for war. Strider knives are tactical knives, as they are designed for war conditions. Thick but sharp, tough, easy to reach, stay in your hand when the $hit hits the fan, and so on. A slip joint filder with 1" blades are not war knives. Yeah they have some utility value for the soldier, but they don't cover most of the tasks a soldier will need his or her knife for. As mentioned, prying open ammo cans, building bashas, rotating the barrels of a minigun to clear a jam (done with a Strider once), using to stab a bad guy who is trying to take your firearm for you and similar tasks are tactical tasks.

So, "tactical" tasks are a subset of the general tasks we call "utility" tasks. Utility tasks include things like opening the mail, skinning a deer and prying open ammo crates.

Now, here's where things get confusing. I think that the knife companies and mags and such generally lump things into fighting tasks or utility tasks. Knives that are good at both are called fighting/utility knives! I carry an AFCK right now and I would call it a fighting/utility knife. It is made of materials and has a geometry that lends itself well to my every day chores. Also, this knife is long enough and strong enough and sharp enough to save my ass if things ever came down to that. I also carry a "utility" knife. It is a SAK type knife on my keychain. This knife would suit fighting tasks poorly, and I won't pry with it other than to get a staple out of some paper. But this knife opens my mail just fine, opens packages, and so on.

Yes, there are some knives out there that have the funky names and the funky designs that aren't good at fighting or other utility tasks! Here's where you the consumer have to be vigilant. Whenever buying a knife, first of all start with a list of what you want the knife to do. That list is a list of utility tasks you need to complete with your knife. Now, get a knife that will do all you want it to do. And be aware of others just cashing in on the "tactical" craze.

So, all tasks are utility tasks. Tactical tasks are utiltiy tasks that the soldier or police officer will run into. Whatever knife you get, make sure it will do all of the utility tasks you will ask of it. And stay away from those Rambotron Death Maker Life taker Surgical Stainless Steel Slip Joint Master Killer knives if you need to defend your life or pry open an ammo crate! Or even to make a cheese sandwich for that matter...
 
Perhaps I should clarify my post. Tactical does not equal junk. Knives that are "truly Tactical" (meaning designed to be used very hard in a combat environment and still function) are indeed very impressive, and usually rather expensive. For every one of these knives, there are many more that are quality knives, but are misnamed as "tactical". They are usually utility folders or hunting knives dressed up to appeal to those who would liekt o believe thay have a military grade tool.

Take the Buck Tac Lite knife. It is a good design made by a great company, and this company chooses to advertise it as a "tactical knife". It is not. It is a 4 inch long folding knife, suitable for general utility, not combat. This does not mean that it is junk, it just means that it is a nice knife that has been misrepresented by the maker in pursuit of the "tactical fad". Thankfully this abominable trend seems to be on its way out.
 
A “tactical” is just a multi-functional knife. The difference compared with current multi-functional knives is that tactical knives are designed for the special purposes of soldiers, police officers or similiar professions (e. g. nonreflective blade coating).
 
A utility knife is generally one that is made with utility cutting as its primary design requirement. It may even be made for a specific utility task such as paring, fileting, etc. Depending on its intended utility, it may have a thin blade to reduce drag during cutting. It will most likely be designed for flexibiilty rather than strength. It may have a straight handle with few contours so that it can be used in a wide variety of grips.

I think of my favorite David Boye hunters as utility knives:

View


A tactical knife is one that designed for use as a weapon as well as a utility cutting tool. It will have a strong blade, usually thicker and wider than the typical utility knife, and a handle with a guard of some sort as well as contours to make the grip as stable and secure as possible in a few common grips though it may sacrifice comfort in some other grips to acheive this. I think of my Mad Dog Pack Rat as a tactical knife. The blade steel is 3/16" thick, fairly wide, and the handle is very anatomical. Here is a selection of small tactical knives:

View


This is my idea of the difference between utility and tactical knives. Some people will say that a tactical knife "...is the knife you have on you when you need it," but I have never found that definition to be very useful.
 
Tactical can also mean "quickly deployable", usually in a self-defense context. Tactical knives can of course be good utility knives, and good utility knives can also be tactical. Utility knives aren't always optimized for cutting alone (i.e., thin), since utility can also include tasks like splitting small logs and other such chores that require a little heft.

I think the word 'tactical' is over-used in the knife industry and mostly as others have said for marketing purposes, but among other things, strength and quick deployment - which can involve the sheath as much as the knife - come to mind when one uses the word.
 
Hey you just expanded on my points and you get the credit:D . J/K you guys are great.

Matt
 
I wish the knife companies would quit calling their knives "tactical", or any other names that imply combat use. It just gives the liberal lawyers a way to turn someone who is the victim of a criminal attack into the criminal, for having used a knife in self-defense.
Somewhere or other I read that Busse Combat does not put double guards on their knives because such guards are not "politically correct". Give me a break! What difference is a double guard going to make when the knife has a name like "Battle Mistress"?
What is needed are hard core tactical knives with names like "Girl Scout Safety Knife", or "Bill Clinton Commemorative Letter Opener". That would make the liberal lawyer's job a little bit harder.
 
Simply put, "tactical" is what you would use to "fight with", and "utility" is what you would use for your everyday cutting tasks.
 
Sniper, I did liek what you said. But you can see from my post how the addition of set theory can clean up many a knife issue! :)

I love the forums. The whole darned set of them! I guess that would be the Power set...
 
"tactical" is what you would use to "fight with"
Click to expand...

I disagree. Perhaps 1 out of every 500,000 tactical knives gets used this way. Most of the time the only thing we fight with these knives is the carboard on our latest USPS Box. Most of the folks who find themselves in knife fights probably do so with kitchen knives not "tactical" knives.

The tactical knife hype is pure BS intended to attract the teenager in all of us. We should start a campaign to change the word to "Practical".

n2s
 
Originally posted by not2sharp


I disagree. Perhaps 1 out of every 500,000 tactical knives gets used this way. Most of the time the only thing we fight with these knives is the carboard on our latest USPS Box. Most of the folks who find themselves in knife fights probably do so with kitchen knives not "tactical" knives.

The tactical knife hype is pure BS intended to attract the teenager in all of us. We should start a campaign to change the word to "Practical".

n2s
Click to expand...

N2S is right on. How many people who have posted here (or are going to post) have actually used their tactical (science of maneuvering forces in combat) knives to cut human flesh? (Other than your own fingers...) I'm sure some have genuine experience, but I think more people buy this type of knife for the hype or the looks....

Michael
 
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