U.S.A. — If you’re in the market for a self-defense type of folder, I’ve been testing out the 5.11 Marcaida Talon Folder, which you ought to check out. It has some unique features that make it a desirable self-defense knife to carry. Its thin profile helps make it comfortable to carry.
5.11 Marcaida Talon Folder
Due to the short 2 1/16-inch blade, opened the 5.11 Marcaida Talon Folder is only 6 3/8 inches long when opened. Closed, it is 4 3/8 inches long. Not counting the pocket clip, it is only 3/8 inches thick, so due to its low profile, you will forget that you are even carrying it. So much so that a while ago, I went into a little rougher-looking place to eat dinner. After sitting down by myself and looking around, I thought, dang, I should have stuck my pistol in my belt. Then I remembered I had the 5.11 Marcaida Talon Folder on me and figured I was good to go.
It took me a minute to come up with a good one-hand opening move. The first few times of deploying the blade, I had to use two hands. You may come up with a better system. I push my thumb against the thumb grooves and use the grooved thumb groove like you would use a flinger flipper to open the blade, except that I guess you’d call it a thumb flipper.
The blade is straight and should be adequate for your EDC needs. At the moment, I am over in South Dakota for a deal. A guy I was talking to today said he hung some super nice walleye last weekend, so as you can imagine, in a short amount of time, we had lined out a fishing trip for tomorrow. He said that he’d also hung some nice Northerns, which I love to fish for.
But also, in a lot of rivers around here, they have a lot of Alligator Gar, which are a blast to fish for. A few years ago, while doing a consulting job down in Kansas, I’d fish every afternoon for gar in the river. I got down a pretty good system and thought I’d better take a gar set-up with me.
I noticed that one of the foremen had a roll of soft poly rope in his office. To fish for gar, I tie on a big striper jig and put on a 4-inch plastic tail. Then I unravel a few strands of soft poly rope and tie it onto the line in front of the jig. Then I trim off the rope with a pair of scissors so about 1 inch of the plastic tail is sticking out, which provides for some action.
So with the above said, I used the 5.11 Marcaida Talon Folder to slice off a piece of rope to take tomorrow. I figured I’d have to saw through the rope since it was about ½ to 5/8 inches thick. I was pleasantly surprised when it pretty much cut through the rope in one fast slice. That’s when it hit me that this might just also double as an EDC folder.
The 5.11 Marcaida Talon Folder provides for a good solid grip due to a few features. To begin, it has a first and third finger groove. To further enhance your grip, it has thumb grooves on the very hilt of the spine as well as on the other side of the thumb rise, which I recommended above for assisting in opening the blade.
To even further enhance your grip, it has a ring on the tail end of your knife to insert your finger into. This ring not only enhances your grip but it also acts as an iron knuckle to amplify the self-defense aspect of the knife.
So with the two-finger grooves, the finger ring on the end of the handle, and the thumb grooves that you can use in two positions, you’ll feel like you have a good grip. It has a reversible pocket clip. A unique feature that adds eye appeal is that it has a translucent handle on one side which allows you to see into the frame. And it utilizes the liner lock system.
So, if you’re in the market for a self-defense type of folder I’d suggest that you check this one out. The MSRP on the 5.11 Marcaida Folder is $95.00 and as is usual, we will close with the specs.
- Designed, developed in collaboration with Doug Marcaida
- Patented “BRAMP” out of the pocket opening mechanism
- Integrated secondary patented puzzle lock
- Deep fuller groove
- 2 Way reversible clip
- D2 Steel blade
- Translucent FRN handle
- Framelock
About Tom Claycomb
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoor writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net, and numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal, you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening #ad for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”
