What do you consider that is a “fighting Knife”? Some people think that any knife that you have is considered a fighting knife. My definition of a fighting knife is any sharp knife that is only used for self defense. You don’t cut string, rope or cardboard with it, you keep it sharp enough to shave with but only use it to save your life. The question is, do we need that type of knife in today’s society? I think the answer to that question depends on where you live and the people you associate with. Here are five fighting knives to consider.
MTech 664BK Tactical Karambit Knife
The MTech 664BK Tactical Karambit Knife
is a nice self defense knife for the money. This fixed blade knife is 7″ overall in length with a 3 1/4″ curved design karambit style blade. It is a one-piece stainless steel finish, using 440 stainless construction with an integrated finger ring. There are machined hole cutouts to give it a lightweight feel. It comes with a molded black sheath with belt/pocket clip. This knife fits medium-sized hands and the finish is smooth. It feels good in the hands and comes very sharp.
Cold Steel Tiger Karambit Knife
The Cold Steel Tiger Karambit knife
is a thoroughly modern tactical interpretation of the Indonesian Karambit. A design collaboration between Lynn C. Thompson and the late custom knife maker Steven Likarich, the Steel Tiger was designed to possess all the best features of this iconic hooked blade and to integrate them seamlessly with modern materials and styling. The Steel Tiger’s deeply curved and needle sharp AUS 8A stainless steel blade is vacuum heat-treated and sub-zero quenched, taper ground and given a stone wash finish for maximum strength, cutting power, edge retention and performance. The 5″ durable Griv-Ex core handle fully encapsulates the tang, emerging to create the bolster, thumb-shelf and distinctive finger ring. This core is then injection over-molded with premium Kray-Ex, creating a superb, non-slip grip that won’t let you down even in when your hands are cold or wet. It has an overall length of 8 3/4″, blade length of 4 3/4″, the blade thickness is 5mm. This is an awesome knife that is very sharp and ready for action.
Emerson Combat Folding Karambit Knife
The Emerson Combat Karambit
is a fast, efficient, ergonomic design that has long stood the test of time. Fashioned after a tiger’s claw for those that go into harm’s way, many use the knife as an offhand weapon retention tool, to protect their sidearm against a take-away attempt. This knife is proud to serve our warriors whose job it is to protect the rest of us. The Emerson Karambit knife, aka the Combat Karambit, is the ultimate 21st Century folding knife by Emerson Knives, Inc. Along with the patented “Wave Feature”, the Combat Karambit is one of the finest personal defense weapons ever developed. Featuring black G-10 handles for a textured grip, and a beautifully designed Karambit blade- This is one of the best every day carries you can own. The overall length is 6.8 “, the blade length is 2.6″, the blade thickness is 0.125” thick and the weight is 3.6 ounces. The handle is made of G-10, and very comfortable. This is considered the ultimate folding Karambit knife for self defense.
Fox 479/599 Folding Karambit Knives
The Fox 479 & 599 Black Folding Karambit
is one of the best self-defense tool and utility knife available on the market. This tool has been field tested in the most extreme climates by some truly hardcore people, and has proven itself time and time again to be of the highest quality. If you need a reliable self-defense tool to protect yourself, the Fox karambits are a force to be reckoned with. If you want the most reliability in any situation where a need arises for a good blade that works and works well, this is your knife. These knives utilize the Emerson Wave, which is the most effective and efficient deployment option available in the knife industry. The patented Emerson Wave allows you to fully deploy your karambit effortlessly with just one hand. It has a strong, consistent edge with high degree of sharpening receptivity. It has a safety ring for a sure and secure grip, even in extreme environments, the safety ring allows you to utilize in less-than lethal situations by keeping the closed karambit in your hand. The Fox 479 is for hand sizes measuring 3.6″ or over across the back of your knuckles. The Fox 599 is used for hands smaller than 3.6″. The tiger claw shaped blade has a thickness of .12″ and length of 3″, offering a total reach of 7.5″ when fully extended and 5″ when closed. The Fox Knives 479 utilizes a liner lock and weighs in at a mere 4.02oz. The adjustable pocket clip allows ambidextrous use. It designed for tip-up carry with the patented Emerson Wave feature for fast deployment in a reverse grip.
Final Thoughts About Fighting Knives
The above mentioned knives are all great self defense knives, each unique in their own way. The MTech and Cold Steel knives are both fixed blade knives, the MTech is extremely basic, low cost, lightweight, and conceals very well. The Cold Steel knife is bigger, heavier and has a more comfortable handle, but does not conceal as well. Then you look at the Emerson and Fox folding Karambit knives. The Emerson is the Cadillac of folding karambit’s and utilizes their Emerson Wave technology that makes it possible to open this knife with one hand and deploys in seconds. But these knives are a little on the expensive side. Then you have the Fox Combat Karambit that is everything that the Emerson is, including the Emerson wave technology at a cheaper price. Two different size handles depending on your hand width. These are all wonderful knives that work extremely well for self defense.
One suggestion I have for anyone that is thinking of getting one of these knives, buy a training knife to help you understand how to use one of these knives without getting hurt. That’s very important and can save any trips to the emergency room.
But what is the answer to my question? The truth is I can not answer the question for you, it is a personal question that you need to answer your self. My thoughts are, we all need to be prepared for whatever comes along. If you feel a good self defense knife is necessary for you then but whatever works for you. If you feel it is not necessary then put your efforts into other EDC gear. The question is yours to answer!
If you have any questions about this post or anything else related to Everyday Carry (EDC), feel free to leave a comment below and I will be happy to get back to you.
All the best,
Larry
Founder of EDC Essentials
It is pretty easy and will get you what you need. So here goes-what you will need to make your hand sanitizer:
hear me, your everyday carry items can change with your situations. So during this pandemic, I will carry things that I may not carry otherwise. Here are some items that I make sure I have with me, either on my person, in my EDC pack or in my car or at home: Disinfectant spray, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, water bottle, alcohol wipes and a mask. 
but may be an item that I keep at home and wipe down my gear as necessary.
are handy to help with any cleanups, hand sanitizer works to keep your hands clean, but is not a substitute for good old soap and water. 
work very well too. I keep these for cleaning my glasses but they work fine on your hands as well. 
, some may like them and some may not. This item too is very difficult to find in stores. I had to find someone who could make me one, see the picture, very cool! Some people may carry rubber gloves but I choose to wash my hands rather than depend on rubber gloves. If you are looking for other EDC gear, check out my 
same thing is happening with disinfectant spray, it is being over-purchased to where it is hard to find sometimes. So let’s make our own!
Tier One Concealment which is a holster and magazine holder combined. These two are joined together using stretch cord which makes it flex with my movements. They make it fit your gun perfectly thus giving it that “snap” fit and it has a neutral cant. It also has a double belt attachment that snaps on your belt to let it ride securely on your belt. It also has a claw which fits against your belt thus pushing the gun butt in toward your side. This is a great idea having everything connected together
Muddy Rivers Tactical where the holster and magazine holder is separate. Muddy Rivers Tactical has to have the fastest turn around time of any holster company I have ever used. My order was delivered to me in one week – now that’s fast! This holster fit my Glock 30 perfectly, the cant is adjustable and it has my favorite belt loops for attachment to my belt. The magazine holder fits my 45 auto magazine very securely too and it also has belt loops for a secure attachment.
Blue Alpha Gear, its the Cobra EDC belt. For being a nylon belt, it is extremely ridgid and holds it’s shape very well. It is very easy to adjust the fit and it has a Cobra buckle that snaps together very well. The nice thing about this belt is it slides to the side very easy thus keeping the buckle out of the way of your holster. No matter what holster I wear it works well with this belt.
for Christmas. I was both surprised and excited, finally a good multi-tool to use as my EDC. The reviews on this have been really good and so many people like it. Is it the largest of multi-tools – No! Are there enough attachments on this tool to make it worth carrying – absolutely! Am I going to cram my pants full of another item? Or put it in a belt holder and put it on my belt? No! I carry the Vertx Dead Letter Sling Pack on a daily basis and I have a pouch that has the Leatherman Skeletool’s name on it. Have I used it yet, yes I have and its great to have it with me at all times. In the months to come I will review this product after I have had time to use it more.
. While I would not have purchased that for myself, it is really kinda cool and will definately come in handy. As the name implies, it has eight mini screwdriver bits that come with this screwdriver, some of them will be quite useful. It is something I will use everyday, probably not, but will come in handy now and then. Because of that, is it really a piece of EDC gear? Well let’s discuss that for a minute. I look at my EDC in terms of how often I will use something, daily use items are in my pockets or on my belt. That way they are definitely with me at arms-reach. Other items that I may not use daily, but will use a little less frequent are in my EDC backpack. So I can get to them quickly.
. This tactical pens went well beyond just being a simple writing instrument. Are there other brands of tactical pens, of course, but I really like the feel and weight of this tactical pen and it is incredibly handy for every day tasks. It happens to be one of the smoothest writing pens I have ever owned, my one gripe is that it only comes in black ink. My preference for writing pens is blue ink and I am happy to say I can order a spare ink cartridge in blue ink, now it truely is my favorite writing utensil.
to fit through a normal blue jean belt loop and that is handier than having to take your belt apart in order to thread it through your belt loops and then put it back together. When I am wearing my appendix holster/magazine combination, it is easy to slide the buckle to the side enough to fit this holster. Just what I needed! So far I really like this belt and it has changed my idea of the nylon web belts. I used to only wear leather belts and I would never even consider wearing anything else. This belt is a game changer!
knives and found the CRKT Hi Jinx Z Knife, a very nice knife. This knife is a flipper-style knife without a thumb stud to dig into my leg, the deployment of the blade is extremely smooth, and the handle is thinner then my Schrade SCH109, this is exactly what I wanted. As with my other CRKT, the blade was very sharp right out of the box and did not require any touch-ups with my ceramic stone. There is enough texture on the handle that made gripping the knife an easy thing to do. The handle was contoured enough that I had no hot spots when I used the knife. So it is an excellent knife for my needs.
. I do a fair amount of opening packages, cutting cardboard and doing things that is not the best on a knife blade. Rather then ruin my good folder I have added this folding utility knife to my gear. It has a clip to place it in my pocket or fasten it to my EDC Pack, which is really handy. But most of all I like the way it is so easy to replace the knife blade itself. Therefore you always have a sharp blade in your knife. These a very handy and very reasonable to purchase.
It is a briefcase style pack that holds 12 liters (L) of gear. That’s not a lot of space but it is perfect for my EDC needs. The thing that is nice about this pack is that it can be setup for left or right-handed people, just by moving the strap around using different buckle attachments. The stitching on the buckles is a different color so it is easy to figure out the right way to use the buckles. This pack is very versatile, you can carry it using the handle on use the shoulder strap. If you use the shoulder strap it can be configured like a normal shoulder strap for a briefcase or setup as a sling pack for either a right or left-handed person. I got mine from LA Police Gear, they had a sale going on this pack and they sent me a Vertx medium sized velcro pouch free with the pack. There is a lot of Hook and Loop panels within this pack that would fit many different Hook and Loop attachments. I added two small pouches and now I have more space for small items. With 12 L of space in this pack it is necessary to know what you are going to put in this EDC pack and then what type of pouches, straps, holders, etc. you need to utilize. This pack has a huge pocket designed for concealed carry, It will hold one or two handgun holsters, magazine holder and much more room as you see fit. This pack will even have enough room for some of the larger foldable automatic weapons. But if you choose not to utilize that pocket for a concealed carry option, it will easily fit a full-sized laptop computer. This is one of the nicest packs I have owned and it really serves my needs.
