Gear by George Hernandez

A knife. Chinese: bi shou. Filipino: daga; baraw. French: couteau ("cutter"), dague, poignard. German: messer, sahs, dolch. Greek: μαχαιρι = machaira. Italian: lama, pugnale. Japanese: tanto. Portuguese: faca. Spanish: daga, navaja, cuchillo, puñal. Swedish: dolk. Turkish: hançer.

A knife is a cutting or stabbing instrument. A knife consists of a sharp blade whose tang is attached to or encased in a handle. The blade of a knife usually has a sharp point and has 1-2 edges.

A dagger is a knife especially made for thrusting since its tang is along the center line of the blade. Daggers are stabbing weapons and not usually for utility work. Some daggers will be listed here but some daggers will be entered in different categories.
- A poniard is a dagger typically having a slender square or triangular blade.
- A rondel (or roundel) is a long straight dagger whose pommel and guard are a round discs in parallel. A rondel was usually distinctively a thrusting dagger. The rondel (degen in German) was the most popular combat dagger in the 15th century since it could pierce armor. See Rondel [offsite].
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- A stiletto is small dagger with a slender, tapering blade roughly 25 cm = 10 in. Stilletos were developed by the Italians in the 17th century and often had fancy handles and guards. While a stiletto could not pierce armor, it was good for slipping through the gaps in armor.
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- A Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife is a long double-edged knife developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes during World War II. It has been associated with the Shanghai police, the British Special Air Service (SAS), the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and the US Marine Raiders.
  Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife [W]
- A sai is a a sword-trapping dagger of Asian origin. A sai has a long central prong and 2 side shorter prongs.
Scottish knives
- A dirk is a straight-bladed dagger, usu. without a guard, used by the Scottish Highlanders. The word originated from the Irish duirc.
- A Sgian Dubh is a Scottish single-edged dagger whose blade is only as long as its black grip. This was worn in the stockings, i.e. it functioned like a boot knife.
- A skain is a large double-edged Scottish bronze dagger.
- A mattucashlass is a small double-edged Scottish dagger worn at the armpit.
Japanese knives.
- A shoto or wakizashi were single-edged short swords from 1-2 shaku = 30-60 cm = 1-2 feet.
- A tanto were single-edged daggers less than 1 shaku = 30 cm = 1 foot.
- A kunai is a Japanese trowel/utility tool that is often associated with ninjutsu. It is made out of unpolished, cheaply forged iron (not steel), making the kunai softer and disposable, which is important when doing all sorts of gardening and masonry chores. The blade was typically leaf shaped and unsharpened. The pommel had a ring which was convenient for attaching a rope which could be used to hang the kunai, wrap it onto a pole to make a spear, make the kunai retrievable after thrown, etc.. A kunai was typically from 20-60 cm = 8-24". The kunai has been popularized thanks to its extensive use in Naruto, a Japanese shōnen, an anime (cartoon)/manga (comic book) that appeals to young males, involving ninjas.
  [killertoys.com/products/5392.php]
Folding Knives
- A folding knife or pocket knife is a knife where the blade can fold into the grip.
- A slipjoint knife does not lock the blade in the open position but does use a spring so that a certain amount of pressure is required to fold the knife.
- A locking folding knife will lock into the open position until released. If the knife is going to be used for any thrusting, then a locking blade is required. One of the earliest examples I could find was U.S. patent 825,093 issued 1906-07-03 to William Franklin Watson [patft.uspto.gov/....].
  - A lockback knife or lock back knife is a locking folding knife where the unlocking lever is on the false edge of the handle.
  - A locking liner knife is a locking folding knife where the unlocking lever is on the true edge of the handle.
  - A frame lock knife is a locking knife where the unlocking lever is on the flat of the handle.
  - A balisong or butterfly knife is a Filipino locking folding knife where the grip has 2 parts.
- A navaja knife is a Spanish folding knife where the "pommel" end of the grip curves to cover the tip of the blade. The navaja blade usually has a single edge but sometimes they have a clip point. The navaja design has been around since the 1600s.
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- A Swiss Army Knife (aka SAK) is a utility folding knife that has multiple tools that fold into the grip as well as one or more blades. Victorinox bought ought Wegner in 2005-04-26, making it the sole maker of the "Original" and the "Genuine" Swiss Army Knives. Most Swiss Army Knives are slipjoint knives.
Oddly gripped knives
- A kerambit or karambit is a knife with a sharply curved usually double edged and pointed blade from the Malay Archipelago (which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines). A kerambit is usually held with an "ice pick" grip (with the blade extending from the ulnar or pinky side). Many versions have a ring on the handle for the index/pointing finger.
  Kerambit [W]
- An ulu is a single-edged knife with a crescent edge that comes out of the side of the handle of Inuit origin. Refs: TheUluFactory.com. Aboriginal Innovations in Arts, Science and Technology Handbook. How To Use The Ulu.
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- A katar or Bundi dagger is a Hindu punching, double-edged knife ranging from from 7 cm = 3 inches to 1 m = 1 yard that is as wide as the fist at the base. The blade has two tang like extensions bridged by the handle.
- A push dagger (aka punch knife; push knife; push dirk; T-handled knife) is a short punching, double-edged knife that has a T-shaped handle such the tang of the blade extends from the handle and between the middle and ring finger.
Miscellany
- A bayonet is a dagger which can be used as a dagger but is primarily designed to be attached to a rifle, thus transforming the rifle into a spear.
  - The M9 is the official bayonet and utility knife of the U.S. Army as of 1984. 17.8 cm = 7" blade; 30.5 cm = 12" overall. 850 g = 1.87 pounds. The hole in the knife is there so that the knife and scabbard can act as a wire cutter. The older M6 (1957) and the M7 (1964) are still in use as well.
    [M9 Bayonet [W]]
  - The MB (Multipurpose Bayonet) is the official bayonet and combat knife of the U.S. Marines. 20.3 cm = 8" blade; 33.66 cm = 13.25" overall.
- A ballock or kidney was a single-edged guardless dagger with a 30 cm = 1 foot blade used since the 14th century.
- A Baselard or Basilard was a weapon with double-edged pointed blade that is somewhere between a big knife and a short sword (40-70 cm = 16-28") that was associated with Basel, Switzerland. A Baselard also typically has crescent shaped hilt and pommel. The baselard design was revived by the Nazis in the 1930s and has become associated with the Nazis.
- A Bowie knife is a style of dagger named after the American James Bowie (c.1796/1836). James Bowie became famous for his knife work after he survived the 1827-09-09 melee that broke out after a duel near the Vidalia Sandbar, a popular dueling spot of the 1820s. A Bowie knife has a long broad blade, a sharpened clip point (false edge near the tip is also sharpened), a full guard, and a saber style grip. Refs: City of Vidalia, Alliance Martial Arts, Knife World, History Net.
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  - The Ka-bar knife is a Bowie knife used by the U.S. Marines since World War II. 17.8 cm = 7" blade; 30.5 cm = 12" overall. 308 g = 0.68 pounds (without sheath). All exposed metal on the knife was covered in a non-reflective matte black finish.
  - The Arkansas Toothpick is a knife similar to a Bowik knife except that it is usually double-edged, i.e. the edge of the clip point extends all the way to the hilt. The Arkansas Toothpick and the Bowie knife are related because both were long, heavy knives made by James Black, the fellow who made Bowie's Bowie knife.
- A cinqueda ("five-fingered") or ox-tongue is a long double-edged Italian dagger with a distinctive broad-based blade (roughly five fingers wide) coming to a point thus forming a triangle. This design arose in the 15th century and may have been a tribute to the early short swords such as the Roman gladius.
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- A main gauche (French for "left hand") or parrying dagger. A term used when daggers were used in the left hand while a sword was in the right hand. Parrying daggers frequently had large entrapping quillons and some offered a lot of hand protection.
- A messer (aka großes messer = "great knife"; hiebmesser;) is a single-edged German long dagger (30-90 cm = 24-36") with a clip point and a large cross guard popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. A messer was effectively an affordable curved short sword. The tang was frequently sandwiched between two pieces of wood and the messer was used for menial work as well as battle. The practice weapon for the messer was called a dussack, and was frequently made of wood, leather, or metal. The langes messer = "long knife"; or kriegs messer = "war knife" were actually longer versions that were clearly swords instead of knives. The langes messer was like a scimitar, while the kriegs messer could be used in a two handed fashion.
- A pugio is a double-edged knife usually with leaf-shaped blade 18 cm = 7" to 28 cm = 11 in length and at least 5 cm = 2" wide.
- A quillon is a dagger with forward projecting guards common in the 13th and 16th centuries. The word quillon also refers to projections from guards of daggers or swords.
- A scarmasax is a dagger or knife used by Northern Europeans from 500 to 1200 CE. It was a parallel-edged, single-edged dagger with the back edge shorter than the true edge and there was a straight line connecting the two forming a triangular thrusting point. Scarmasaxes often had no guard. The scarmasax is clearly a predecessor to the Bowie Knife. See also sax in my sword section.
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- A shiv is a dagger, razor, or other sharp or pointed implement, especially one used as a weapon. This term is usually reserved for makeshift or improvised daggers. This includes ice picks, screwdrivers, etc.
- A billhook (aka Bill, Billhook, Hook bill, Hedging bill, Hand bill and Broom hook) is a British blade used since the Iron Age. It has a recurved blade with the curve more pronounced near the sweet spot. The blade was typically 20 cm = 8 inches to 25 cm = 10 inches, while the handle ranged from 15 cm = 6 inches to 20 cm = 8 inches.
  Billhook [W]
- A kirpan is a ceremonial knife of the Sikhs. A kirpan has a wide single-edged blade and a curve near the tip. The distinctive scabbard for a kirpan is has a marked bend near the tip. A kirpan is one of the five Ks or Kakars required of a Sikh. The others Ks are Kesh (uncut hair), Kanga (a wooden comb), Kara (a link or iron bracelet), and Kaccha (knee length shorts).
  Kirpan [W]
- A jambiya (جمبية or جنبية) is Arabic for dagger but is typically a wide single-edged blade with a curve closer to the tip. A jambiyan is most often used for cultural or social reasons.

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