Blackhawk Point Man Knife

Knife writers have come up with a wide assortment of odd ways to torture blades under the guise of testing. In reality, cutting through a couple Brownells catalogs or prying up a storm-sewer drain lid only tells you how fast someone can dull a blade or break a tip. When's the last time you had to attend to either of those tasks in the field?

My protocol for testing knives involves using them for what they were designed to do. When the knife is as versatile as the Blackhawk Point Man folder that can be anything from field-dressing a deer to removing a hangnail. The half-serrated, drop-point blade makes the Point Man a sort of jack-of-all-trades.

While it may not have been the ideal knife for zipping open a whitetail's chest cavity or performing minor surgery at the office, the Point Man worked just fine for both. Among the more interesting jobs the knife has completed in the two years I've carried it include trimming grass and small bushes from in front of dead animals for trophy shots (the serrated part of the blade was great for this), cutting tips off cigars (blade needs to be razor sharp for success), halving golfball-size spiders that lived in my tent in Namibia (thought about lashing it to a 10-foot stick), slicing the stems of morel mushrooms at ground level (yum) and digging through the innards of a squirrel to examine bullet performance (yuck). Like I said, jack-of-all-trades. Easy to clean, too, thanks to its open handle, which is important to my general state of health.

The Point Man's AUS 8A stainless steel blade comes from Blackhawk with a bevel of about 25 degrees, a good general-purpose grind that holds a decent edge and resists chipping. It's covered in a dark-gray PVD coating, which keeps corrosion at bay and draws comments about its sharp looks. The stainless steel liner lock snaps into place positively with reassuring engagement. A fine basket-weave pattern on the G-10 scales keeps the knife from slipping in your hand when it's covered in water, blood or squirrel juice.

Maybe the best thing the Point Man has going for it is its size. Blade length is a utilitarian 3.4 inches, and the handle is large enough for my entire hand to fit on it with a bit of room left over. The knife folds to a length of less than 4.5 inches, which means I can clip it inside my front pant pocket and carry it to church without looking paranoid. I never know when my wife may need a split-end trimmed. The Point Man could probably take care of that, too.