GUEST COLUMN BY EVAN PERPERIS, A U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES COMBAT VETERAN AND A WORLD CHAMPION OBSTACLE COURSE RACER
For everyday carry (EDC), some people like to choose blades over a firearm.
This can be for a variety of reasons, including concealed carry laws, how comfortable it is to conceal the weapon, rules when going to certain places, or simply multi-use functionality (a blade is a tool, after all). Before you ask yourself what blade you should carry, ask yourself if you should carry a blade in the first place?
If that is a yes, the next question that probably comes to mind is, “Should I go with a fixed blade or folder?” There’s no right answer, but here are some major points of discussion to consider:
- Legality: The big question I suggest you answer first is “what is legal in my country, state, and/or city?” As a good starting point, I use the free app called Legal Blade. This is my first check before researching laws in more depth.
Simply put: If it is illegal, don’t carry it. It is a lot harder to convince the authorities, your coworkers, or nosy “Karens” that you’re one of the good guys if it starts off by violating the law on what you are carrying.
- Comfort: Another consideration you want to look at is comfort. Having the best self-defense tool that you never wear because it is uncomfortable is useless if you don’t have it on you. Your tool should be convenient and comfortable for you. If it isn’t comfortable, you are less likely to wear it and thus less likely to have it when you need to use it.
As a general rule, a fixed blade may be less comfortable to carry/wear than a folder, which typically can just clip into a pocket.
- Appearance: Appearance has dual meaning. The first has to do with “printing”. Printing is when you can see the outline of a concealed carry item (gun or knife) despite it being covered. If you are legally carrying concealed and your tool looks like a large knife under your clothes, it may not be the best idea. Yes, someone seeing it may make them second guess committing a crime but it could also mean that you are the first target.
The second is if you end up having to use it in a self-defense situation, the “scarier” it looks to a cop/judge/jury, the harder it will be to convince people you are the good guy. As an experienced martial artist or knife collector, you understand there isn’t a difference in lethality between a steak knife and a tactical knife. But some untrained people might recoil in fear and ask, “Why is this guy carrying a weapon from a horror movie?”
- Functionality: From a pure functionality standpoint, fixed blade wins easily here in my opinion. A fixed blade has no moving parts, it often has a full-tang construction (the length of the blade/handle is one piece of metal), and immediately upon removal from the sheath it is ready to employ. You don’t have to adjust grips and there are much fewer things that can go wrong. My personal go-to is a fixed blade. However, based off the above criteria of legality, comfort, and appearance, I will often choose a folder instead.
That’s a quick rundown of the fixed-versus-folder debate for your edged tool.
If you’ve been following Tiga Tactics for a while, you know that the Pyramid of Personal Protection starts at the bottom with the largest part, mindset, followed by the second largest, skillset, and capped at the top with the smallest part, toolset.
While I love talking toolset, you are missing out on the most important parts if you are ignoring mindset and skillset. To improve these last two, check out Tiga Tactics’ full suite of courses. Spend your time, money and energy on those first before going to buy the next new hot blade on the market.
