Pocket Knives

What's the difference between survival and tactical knives?

I want to buy one and I need to know the difference.

Public Comments

1. a tactical knife is for fighting, a survival knife is more for using as a tool for survival, ie: cutting branches, cleaning fish, use as a hammer and that sort of thing, a tactical knife will do those things but is more suited for fighting.
2. Tac= good at throwing and fighting. (good balance) survival= good at everything but throwing.
3. price. . .
4. So, the difference between these two is more virtual than real and largely made up by the media. However, over time there has come to be some approximate consensus. Survival knives are generally fixed blades with some variant of a hollow handle and some sort of small "survival" kit inside. "Tactical" knives have a much looser definition, Essentially, these are about everything other than hunting and skinning knives in a fixed blade. There are some very good "survival" knives from a quality standpoint - Chris Reeves is probably the best known of the higher end. However, when you get into normal production price knives, it is pretty tough to find one of these which is of reasonable quality. On the other hand, there are tons of good "tactical" knives at virtually every price range. Thinkingblade
5. survival knife should come with matches, compass and alotof other things in the handle, with a saw on the back of the blade. basicly what you want if you crashed in the rain forest. a tacticle knife is a well balanced fighting knife that you would want if you were in a hand to hand battle
6. What's the difference? What's your use, application, need? Tool for the task.
7. I wouldn't get too caught up in definitions, buy the knife that best suits your needs regardless of what it is called.
8. You've got great answers here, but the truth is, you don't need to know the difference. You simply need to find a knife suited to your needs, and not worry so much about what marketing gimmick they use to try to sell it.
9. a survival knife is one that can be multi-use and easy to sharpen, a frost mora carbon steel version, any model of Opinel made from carbon steel, and falkniven to name a few. a tactical knife is meant for fighting, from boot knives to the mighty Cold Steel Trailmaster and the full sized Ka-Bar. some knives fall into both categories, the Trailmaster and Ka-Bar are both excellent tactical knives, but can easily be used as survival knives also. look around, ask more on here, other forum sites and such, you'll figure out what suits you most.
10. I'm with one of the other people that answered, don't get too hung up on definitions - if you find one that suits your needs, that's the one to get. In short, though, a survival knife usually has some stuff in the hollow handle that you can use in a survival situation, used an an overall purpose knife. Tactical usually has a specific purpose, not an overall purpose.