The Tactical Knife: Designs, Techniques, Uses

by James Morgan Ayres

Tactical knives are the fast-growing field of American bladesmithing. Now, in one groundbreaking volume, tactical knife expert James Morgan Ayres shares more than four decades of real-world experience with purpose-designed knives. You’ll find it all in The Tactical Knife: fixed blades, folders, defensive uses, survival uses, product reviews—in short, everything you need to make an informed decision about your choice of a tactical knife.

Newly updated with specifications and reviews for new products as well as new information on recent developments in the field, James Morgan Ayres provides the latest need-to-know info on the subject for first time owners (or potential owners) of tactical knives as well as experts who want the latest intel on new products.

Features inside include:

Origins of the Tactical Knife
The Bowie knife
Tactical Knives of the Mid-twentieth Century
Steel, Heat Treating, Geometry, Design, Grinds, and Forging
Choosing a Tactical Knife
Basic Skills, Maintenance, and Tactics

Complete with hundreds of detailed color photos, tips, tactics, and techniques, The Tactical Knife is the best book out there for all your tactical knife needs. When choosing a tactical knife, don’t guess—know! Keep yourself on the cutting edge—with The Tactical Knife!

Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for hunters and firearms enthusiasts. We publish books about shotguns, rifles, handguns, target shooting, gun collecting, self-defense, archery, ammunition, knives, gunsmithing, gun repair, and wilderness survival. We publish books on deer hunting, big game hunting, small game hunting, wing shooting, turkey hunting, deer stands, duck blinds, bowhunting, wing shooting, hunting dogs, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

255 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2014

About the author

Using a variety of pen names, I’ve written more than a hundred articles and short stories, seven books, two shows for television and more commercials than I care to number, or remember.

I worked in Latin America, Asia, and Europe as a consultant for U.S. Government agencies and private corporations. My military service was with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 7th Special Forces Group (Green Berets).

In parallel lives I founded and sold four companies with international operations and have traveled or sojourned in over forty countries.

I attended various institutions of higher learning including Howard University and U.C.L.A. and have trained and studied with masters of martial arts and meditation for over thirty years.

While in college I worked as a truck driver, sponsored sports car race driver, archeologist’s assistant and ghostwriter. I’ve taught martial arts, directed meditation and Eastern philosophy, survival and defensive shooting. Before hopping a freight train at fifteen out of a mid-western state I was employed as a newsboy, strawberry picker and crow hunter.

After a couple of decades knocking around boardrooms and back alleys from Beijing to Zagreb, I now spend my time writing, traveling and continuing as a lifelong student of almost everything.

Reviews

[David]

This was interesting. It has a bit of everything; a short history of knives, a brief description of knife making, a little about knife fighting and use, and a review of some commercially available knives. I liked it.

Things I didn't know:
- The Romans used folding pocket knives. That is not a tool I associate with the ancient world at all and is really interesting.
- The length of unsharpened steel near the base of some blades is called a choil

The knife reviews occupy about 1/3 of the book. I skimmed them, but would have found them useful if I was in the market for a knife.

The self-defense section of the book is bare bones and I think the author could have dropped it.