What knife magazine does everyone read?

Tuff

Tuff

Joined
Jun 15, 1999
Messages
981
I know of a few different magazines, but I was curious to see what everyone else reads and what magazine has the best articles and supplies the smartest information in each person's experience. I've read Tactical Knives and Combat Knives the most, and heard of "Blade" and "Knives." Any other magazines out there? Personal favorites?
 
The rags I read on a regular basis are:
Blade
Knives Illustrated
Tactical Knives

I would read others, but I haven't run across any at the news stands.
 
I read them all, but am not at all proud to say so. They are all of a type. Picture books with generally wretched writing and even worse editing.

You can include the yearbooks in this same critique, only they are worse.

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Regards,
Desert Rat

 
Discounting for the moment that there are valid criticisms of the content, here's my ranking of the knife mags:

First: Tactical Knives, which often contains useful tidbits on defensive tactics and focuses on knives as tools AND weapons. Steven Dick, the editor, is a nice guy with whom I've corresponded over e-mail. (His book, "The Working Folding Knife" is excellent.) Demerits go to the "It Happened to Me" column that appears in the back of each issue, because some of these accounts are quite obviously false and probably written by the sorts of All-Caps-typing twelve-year-olds one frequently encounters on the internet.

Second: Blade, which (if I remember correctly) has shown strong support for AKTI and comes promptly every month, strewn with attactive full-color photos. Demerits go to Blade's snotty "knives are not weapons and we will not talk about knife combatives in this magazine" attitude -- not to mention previously voiced concerns over "fluff" reviews for the sake of retaining ad revenue.

Third: Knives Illustrated, which focuses too often on ultra-high-end custom art knives for my tastes. Still, worth having a subscription to.

I recently asked Knife World for a three-issue free trial, but I'm hesitant to purchase a subscription due to a recent Knife World editorial which took AKTI to task for "not doing enough," or some such nonsense. Internet knife forums were conspicuously absent from www.knifeworld.com when last I looked at the site, too.

Razor

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AKTI #A000845
And tomorrow when you wake up it will be worse.
 
I thought the "It Happened To Me" column would be an easy one to put together when we first started. The truth is I receive very few good stories. So, if you have something better why not send it to TK? We pay standard column rate for any we use. What I would like to see is more stories on how knives got people out of tight spots in situations other than self-defense.
 
My favorite is Tactical knives but I also read Blade magazine.

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"ALWAYS WATCH YOUR SIX"


 
I read Blade its okay. I going to get a subscribtion to tactical Knives because I think it is a better than Blade. Combat knives is good too. I have not had a chance to read Knives Illustrated yet. I would stay with tactical knives, and Combat Knives.
 
I like tactical knives the best,
and i like blade too, but i frequently get annoyed at it, especially when they run those 'reviews' of knives that dont give any more info other then blade length, steel, grind, etc.
I also read Knives Illustrated, but it tends too much towards art/fantasy knives for my taste

I havent seen combat knives, is that a new one? and how is it
thanx
 
They are all good. I subscribe to Blade and usually pick up KI. KI has lots of high end knives but it's nice to dream.
 
The 3 I browse at are Tactical Knives, Blade and Knives Illustrated. They're ok at best. I tend to favour Tactical Knives cause they cover knives that I'm interested in. Big problem is that they only issue one copy every 2 months. Blade's alright. Thickest of the 3 and it's got tons of ads in it. (Too many by my standard but some people like it that way). Last is Knives Illustrated. Don't care for it too much cause the knives are these pieces of art that I'll never afford. A big problem with all 3 magazines is that they're all positive reviews. I can understand how magazines need to attract the advertisers but I can't stand positive-only reviews. That's why I joined bladeforums cause you get the whole picture instead of a one-sided view.

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ET
 
RYK: I liked Combat knives myself, give it a look. Shows some more fighting things than the others. That and Tactical are the ones I've read more of, and liked them, haven't read as amny Knives Illustrated and Blade mags
 
I read everything knife related I can get my hands on. As far as the magazines and news paper(KnifeWorld) go I get something from each one that I read.Each one always has something in each issue that is informative.
Bob
 
I always read the same mags... Blade, Tactical Knives, Knives Ilustrated and Combat Knives.

As for too many ads in Blade....Naaah. Think about it, how else are you gonna pay for the printing costs?? Plus, it gives you an idea of what the custom makers and others are doing out there.

The "always positive" reviews in all the magazines do tend to make one wonder if there is a bad review of any knife. Many of the editors have made the statement regarding poor knives that don't even make the issue...Let's hear about those knives, too!!

And last, Combat knives. This magazine has failed to impress me every time I've read through it. On occasion, a few of the articles are out in left field, and the references to incorrect knife makers and/or knives is humorous. Then, there is my favorite question- When was the last time you were in combat with only a knife?? I'm probably going to screw this quote up, but I believe it was Dave Richter who said "if you're down to fighting with a knife, somebody REALLY screwed up". But, that's just my opinion, and I will continue to buy it, because, hey, it's all about knives, and I like knives!!

rant, rant, rant, rant, I know.

 
I read every one I can get my hands on. I can't get enough of reading about knives and looking at pics...

Tactical Knives is my fave. Interesting knife choices, often interesting articles. Could be more critical, but nevertheless it's the best.

Blade has its ups and downs. Some issues it seems like most of the articles are straight advertising press. But many issues have good articles by Wayne Goddard and other good writers.

Knives Illustrated also has its ups and downs. The knifemaker profiles which populate its pages are totally uninteresting to me -- I like the focus to be on knives first and knifemakers second. But it also always has some really good content.

Combat Knives is useless, 100% non-critical fluff writing from cover to cover. It's so frightfully bad I may even stop reading it.
 
Blade, Tack and KI have all featured my knives so I hate to bite the hand that feeds
me and so I presume the same for the editors
and their advertizers.
I prefer blade for the articles by Wayne Goddard, Ed Fowler and Kim Breed. Tack would
be next thenKI.
goshawk

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http://www.imt.net/~goshawk The race is not always to the swift, but he who hangs loose.
Don't walk in tradition just because it feels good!!!!!

 
Tactical Knives is probably the best I know of, the various artkinfe oriented magazines the worst.

Check out ComTech's Modern Knives e-zine at www.combattech.com. It has it share of lame articles, it's gets a little "tastes great, less filling" like the mainstream mags do to, and their last feature article "Styles of Knife Fighting" just plain sucked. Still, it's usualy pretty fun, always has great links, and you can usualy find some good articles. Just a while ago they ran one on using the vest as a defensive weapon, and had pictures of James Keating do some "tactical disrobing" that were actualy pretty well thought out and informative.

Modern Knives is put out bi-monthly, and is worth the paltry U.S.$15 or so subscription.

Steven;

I've got some good knife stories, what is column rate?
 
Does anyone have a ph # so that I can subscribe to tactical knives.

Thanks in advance,

RCC
 
Steven Dick --

I understand it must be difficult to get decent stories, and I'm not saying I'd like the column removed or anything. I always read it -- it's just that sometimes it reads just like the letters-to-the-editor that gun magazines get, in which they read about as believable as a letter to Penthouse. You know what I mean?

I'm glad to see many forumites agreeing that Tactical Knives is their favorite publication.

If I ever did use my blade to get out of a jam, the very next thing I did would be to write a letter to TK.

Looking forward to the next issue,

Razor

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AKTI #A000845
And tomorrow when you wake up it will be worse.
 
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