Knives Illustrated – August 2019

The sisal rope was cut

clean with one swing

when held taut. Credit:

Tammy Cobb

Even after cutting rope

and slashing leather,

the edge was sharp

enough to feather

paper.

accessibility during EDC.

Because the handle extends about
4.5 inches from the top of the Kydex
sheath, it took a little getting used
to feeling it on my side. It wasn’t
uncomfortable, just di› erent. Most of
my fi xed blade knives ride a bit lower.
But this knife is so thin that it doesn’t
add bulk to the belt.

While it is a combatives blade, I felt
I was fortunate not to run into any
true combat situations, though I was
confi dent in the knife’s ability to hold
its own, should that need have risen. It
did, however, make short work of apples
and other foods in the kitchen.

I also used the Rapid Strike several
times to battle against packages
arriving from Amazon and elsewhere,
cutting them open and gutting them
mercilessly. The knife handled those
chores quite handily, including disposing
of the carcasses.

The Kydex sheath keeps the knife very
secure in any carry position, including
boot as well as belt. However, the knife
is also easily drawn from the sheath
with a quick, fi rm tug.

Testing
The Rapid Strike is designed for slashing
and slicing. For the fi rst test I hung a
length of sisal rope outside. Given how
light the knife is, I truly didn’t expect it
to do well cutting the rope while it hung

“DESPITE HAVING AN OVERALL

LENGTH TOPPING OUT AT JUST

OVER 8.5 INCHES, THE KNIFE

WEIGHS A MERE FEW OUNCES.”

slack. While it did bite the rope a bit,

it didn’t come anywhere near slicing it

through. However, when I held the free

end of the rope taut, it cut through with

one swing, no problem at all.

Next, I wanted to come up with a way

to really test the slashing ability of the

Rapid Strike. Using some leather scraps

I had in the shop, I pieced together a

large rectangle, jigsaw puzzle style. I

used packing tape front and back to

keep them together. This was tacked up

to an old fence board and I put an old

cotton T-shirt over it. With feet fi rmly

planted, I slashed right and left several

1:1

ACUL

S

Bottom: As slim as it

is, the contoured handle

is very comfortable.

Credit: TOPS Knives

1:1

ACTUAL

SIZE

knivesillustrated.com JULY/AUGUST 2019 • KNIVES ILLUSTRATED 43