Some years ago the late Chuck Karwan introduced me to a very talented Oregon knifemaker named Steve Huey. The maker’s knives are well known for being no-nonsense, hard-working tools that will perform under the most extreme conditions. Recently, I learned that Steve had been commissioned to make a distinctive combat knife for a Green Beret “A” Team attached to a Special Forces group I was asked not to disclose. This particular group of operators is carrying out classified missions in one of the current theaters of the war on terror.
The knife, which Huey calls the “Airborne Delux,” came about when the A team wanted to have a knife to honor its detachment member’s service in the GWOT (Global War On Terror). The knife would be purchased from a team fund and presented to an individual when he had completed set criteria for issue. One of the detachment members grew up knowing Steve Huey and turned to him to design and make the knife. The idea was to have something along the lines of the famous Randall Model One, and that it would be a fully capable combat knife. During my own military service we also had presentation knives, but a lot of them were just “wall hangers.” This is not the case with Huey’s knife; it is a tough, tactical combat knife, the kind that you could buy early in your military career and carry for many years.
Airborne Delux Arrives
The Airborne Delux has a 6-¼-inch, clip-pointed blade of CPM 154 (RC 61). The blade is 7/32 of an inch thick, 1-3/16-inch wide and is bead blasted to give it a dull, non-reflecting surface. You can imagine in the current theaters of war how far a glint off a shiny blade might be seen. The handle is black/gray Micarta that is 5-1/4 inches long, 1-1/8-inch wide and ¾-inch thick, with a lanyard hole in the butt. The tang is tapered at the rear and the weight of the knife is about 12-3/4 ounces.
Read more – Tactical Life
(Featured image courtesy of tactical-life.com)
