“In close-quarter fighting there is no more deadly weapon than the knife.” W.E. Fairbairn, 1942. Get Tough (New Ed.), Paladin Press. Ek® Commando Knife Company has a long and distinguished history. Since the company was founded by John Ek in 1941, Ek knives have been battle-tested and proven by American military personnel in six wars:
One indicator of the high quality and functionality of a knife is the number of special operations units around the world that use them. An Italian company called Extrema Ratio offers a very well-designed knife for special operations, even to include special ops helicopter pilots. One type of special ops unit that has traditionally made
The first automatic knife I ever owned was in junior high school and was carried during my Rebel Without a Cause phase. The one that I remember best from back in the day, however, is one I took off a local troublemaker at the popular “Lover’s Lane” in my college town. There had been a
There is an ant that I have come to know: first, by the many different nature programs on the Discovery Channel, and later in the jungles of Peru. It is known as the Bullet Ant and is the meanest, toughest ant in the bush. In Peru, the locals have a nickname for it: “Izula.” The
From time to time, circumstances arise that result in a solid piece of gear being developed. In the mid-1990s, a California officer—whose jurisdiction included three interstates, an international airport, major truck stops and a rail line—identified the need for a new tool. This tool needed to be capable of prying and impromptu breaching, yet functional
My grandmother—my Bobki—arrived illiterate from Poland when she was a teenager. She married young in a mill town, cleaned houses for income, lost her husband on Christmas Day when she was seven months’ pregnant with my father, and remarried a man who died not too many years thereafter. Between my Dad’s brothers, sisters, step-brothers, step-sisters,
In the excellent training video entitled Surviving Edged Weapons, the point is made that we live in a blade culture. While there are a large number of individuals who carry a firearm daily, that number is dwarfed by those who carry an edged weapon. The search for individual weapons is a very personal thing. Likes
I first became enamored of hollow-handled fighting and survival knives as a result of some contract work I was doing. I was training Third World—oops, better make that “developing countries” for political correctness—counterinsurgency forces and didn’t fully trust those with whom I was working. Nkonka is tough outdoorsman’s knife whether screwdriver kit is in place
