The Tactical Folding Knife as a survival tool offers a tool for several situations: 1 – as a general cutting tool for rope, packages and almost anything else; 2 – as a personal defensive tool for extreme close range encounters when other tools such as guns are not available; and 3 – in a true wilderness survival situation the tactical folder becomes a hunting and food procurement tool.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of tactical folders on the market. You can certainly spend $100 or more on several high end folders from recognizable makers. If knives are your thing, then by all means, spend to your capability. However, we think that there are several moderately priced tactical folders that are great knives. You need to stay away from the real cheap knives ($5 to $25) which are abundant. Even if some of these come from named “makers”. We think the Columbia River Knife & Tool (CKRT) products are durable and very cost effective. CKRT knives can be purchased at $30 to $60, considerably cheaper than their Benchmade, Gerber, Kershaw, etc., counterparts. The cost of CKRT knives goes up when you want other than plastic (Zytel) handles. For instance the same knife/blade style is offered in Titanium, G10 or Carbon Fiber handles but the prices goes significantly up with those options. We feel the standard CKRT with plastic (Zytel) handles is more than adequate. The addition of skateboard tape on the handles can provide a cost effective surer grip. We like the following two CKRT models:
Columbia River M16-14 Tactical Knife
This knife is from a Kit Carson design with a 3.875 inch AUS-4 bead blasted stainless steel blade in the Tanto combination straight and serrated blade style. This knife uses the excellent Auto Lawks locking system when the blade is fully deployed using the ambidextrous “thumb flipper” mounted on the top of blade, near the handle when the blade is extended.
Using a torx head wrench or driver, the user can change the pants clip to either side of the handle for left or right handed carry. The M16-14 is 5.375" when folded with an overall length of 9.25" with the blade fully extended.
Columbia River M16-02Z Tactical Knife
This knife is also a Kit Carson design with a 3.0 inch AUS-4 bead blasted stainless steel blade in the Tanto combination straight and serrated blade style. This knife uses the excellent Auto Lawks locking system when the blade is fully deployed using the ambidextrous “thumb flipper” mounted on the top of blade, near the handle when the blade is extended.
Using a torx head wrench or driver, the user can change the pants clip to either side of the handle for left or right handed carry. The M16-02Z is 4.25" when folded with an overall length of 7.375" with the blade fully extended.
Both knives have the lanyard hole visible when the blade is extended. This serves as a semi-hilt to help keep the hand from sliding off the handle as well as a point to tie down the knife when fashioning a Survival Spear for fishing or hunting. Additionally, Teflon bearings allow for smooth opening and closing of these knives.
