Chris Reeve’s Professional Soldier and the Becker Necker. ©ML Ayres.

By James Morgan Ayres

Tiny Tactical Fixed Blades

You can hang any knife around your neck and call it a neck knife. A butter knife on a string might be a neck knife, but it sure isn’t a Tiny Tactical. The main differences between a TT fixed blade and a TT folder are A) it doesn’t fold and is therefore stronger, and B) it’s a little larger because it doesn’t fold.

In order for a fixed blade to be considered a Tiny Tactical it must be tough; it must take an excellent edge; it must be small, with no more than about a three-inch blade and about seven inches overall.
Many folks wear Moras around their neck and they’re certainly very sharp and reasonably strong. However, Moras run to blade lengths of about four inches, which puts them into another category and size range. So, by these standards Moras aren’t Tiny Tacticals.

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Some that are include the Buck/Mayo Kaala; the Becker Necker; the Chris Reeve Professional Soldier: the RAT Izula and the Spyderco Fred Perrin Street Beat. There are others, but these are the only ones I have recently reviewed. All of these TTs are tough. All come sharp and stay that way. All are well designed. All are easy to carry.

Basically, these knives define the category of Tiny Tactical fixed blade. You can do anything with these knives you can do with the folders and more. You can even get by with some prying, twisting, tearing, ripping and stabbing, things you want to be careful about when using a folder.

They vary a good bit one from the other. The Buck and the Reeve are S30V. The Becker and the RAT are 1095. Of course each maker has their own heat treat, so steel choice isn’t definitive. The Becker and the RAT are both flat ground. The Buck is deeply hollow ground. The Reeve has a sophisticated combination of grinds. They’ll all in the same size and weight range. Check out the reviews in the maker’s sections for details on these terrific little blades. In general they’re all good to go.  

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