Which knife magazine?

C

CCV

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Jan 17, 2004
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I’m an old pistol shooter who is developing an interest in high quality knives. Over the years American Handgunner Magazine has been great source of information (not to mention the GREAT pictures). Now I’m looking for a knife magazine of the same quality and with the same level of technical expertise as AH.

I know there must be some very good knife magazines out there. Which are the BEST?

Thanks

CCV
 
Originally posted by beluga
I like Blade magazine and Tactical Knife magazine.
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me too.. if i were to pick one, it would be blade, because it's monthly instead of quarterly. keep in mind though, these magazines only cover a small fraction of what's hot in the knife industry, especially as far as custom tactical folders go. but yeah, definitely go with one or both of these mags.
 
I really like Tactical Knives. When they cover a knife they usually have several pictures of it and do a pretty good job of covering it. :)
 
CCV,

I disagree. I'm a gun guy, too, and you'll be better off if you stick with Blade magazine.

By all means, read Tactical Knives once in a while to get the latest info on new steels and designs for wilderness use. However, much like in 'Combat Handguns,' the attitude of 'me and my knife against the world' spiel gets a tad old.

To your credit, you're probably used to all of the jive ways an author can let his true feelings bleed through his prose. Phrases like "not representative of their usual fine quality" are also used in knife magazines.

Another problem in knife rags is that there don't seem to many of the 'old reliable guys' that you run into in gun mags. If you're looking for a Skeeter Skelton, a Ross Seyfried or a Wiley Clapp, you might just keep looking. I do find myself relying more and more on Jerry Vancook, the 'Leroy Thompson' of the knife world. If you can get past the hocus-pocus, you'll find that he has the credentials and actually goes out to test a knife's strength and utility.

Stay out of the cat-fights. It seems that everyone claims to be the 'Chuck Taylor' of the knife world. You'll make enemies, and no one listens, anyhow.

Knife collecting is a wonderful sport, and I'm glad I got into it. However, it did not replace, or even diminish my interest in firearms.
 
There are only two knife magazines that I read regularly. Those are Knife World (not really a magazine, more of a news paper) and Blade. Knife World is more informative. You will not find it at news stands, it must be obtained by subscription. Blade has the better pictures and also has lots of good articles.

Knives Illustrated has an occasional issue that I find interesting enough to purchase, but over all I don't find this magazine to contain much that interests me. It does include really nice pictures of custom knives though.

Tactical Knives is a magazine that rarely has an article that is of interest to me. Combine this with the high price of this magazine and about the only reading I do of Tactical Knives is while I am standing in front of the magazine rack at the store.

As far as reviews on knives are concerned, about the only one of the above mentioned periodicals that does a good job is Knife World. They are actually willing to print objective reviews. It does get them in trouble occassionally. Sometimes people don't want objectivity, particularly when it is a favorite knife or maker that is being criticized. Blade, Knives Illustrated and Tactical Knives all have the stereotypical everything is great in the world product reviews that don't dare to offend possible advertisers. Learn to read between the lines and you will be able to glean some information from these reviews, but for the most part they are useless.

There is a magazine put out by James Nowka, the owner of Knifeforums. It is appropriately called, "Knifeforums the Magazine". You will find good information on Randall and Al Mar knives, some great self defense articles and a few fantastic photos within its pages, but unfortunately I find the reviews written by Knifeforum members to mostly be of little value.
 
I think it depends a lot on what kind of knives interest you, and what you want to do with the knives you buy. Tactical Knives leans more towards, well tactical knives, users and EDC pieces. That is what I like about it. Blade seems to have more articles on art knives and high end customs, things that don't really interest me that much. Blade does however usually will have an article or two of interest to me, when I happen to look at it.

That said, I used to subscribe to TK. To me they seemed to have some problems with distrobution as at times my copy would arrive real late or not at all. Also as stated all the reviews basically ended in the same way, this knife is fine..., not what I really wanted to hear. Not every knife is good and wonderful and worth buying. Sure if you read carefully and learn the language used you can decipher what is truly meant.

In the end I just decided to save the money of a subscription. I will look at the rags occasionally when I have the chance, and buy them even less. I have found that these forums is just as good a source of information, if not better. The only edge the rags have is as a source of photos. IMHO by reading these forums you can get feedback from users who will be using a knife the same way you will, and don't have to worry about losing advertising revenue for giving a bad review. HTH.
 
If you are into "tactical knives", then Tactical Knives is the magazine for you.

If you are into custom and collector knives, then Blade is the magazine for you.
 
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