Have you ever seen something in a display case and thought, “WOW, I bet that will cause some SERIOUS destruction”? That was my thought at SHOT SHOW 2024 when I was at the Halfbreed Blades display area and saw the LBA-01, their Large Breaching Axe. It was impressive, the entire line of products they had was impressive and left me wanting more.
After the show I was able to get my hands on not just the LBA-01 but also a MIK-05PS, their Medium Infantry Knife and I’ll say they are even more impressive in hand and use than I was expecting.
LBA-01, Large Breaching Axe
This is a tactical axe made ready for extreme use as an impact/MOE tool. Designed for military personnel and first responders who require a full-size axe, the LBA-01 is capable of devastating performance in the most demanding of environmental conditions. When they say devastating, that’s exactly what they mean! I was going to compare the axe capabilities to my 28″ Eastwing single-bit axe but there was no need, the LBA-01 is more than capable of standing on its own when it comes to destruction via the blade portion of the axe.
The axe is 8mm thick and made of Bohler K110 steel, often referred to as D2 steel, it’s renowned for outstanding hardness, strength, wear and abrasion resistance, K110 has excellent characteristics for making extremely rugged blades and hand tools.
There is a prybar tip at the base of the handle that I was anxious to compare to another breaching tool I have, the Gerber Downrange Tomahawk. As seen in the video the prying capabilities are fairly equal. The Gerber is built differently as a prybar and is a proven tool in the field but I found the LBA-01 to be equal in capability, you just have to use it differently than the Gerber. The one thing the LBA-01 doesn’t have is a nail-pulling notch, I don’t see it as a big deal but I can see where it would be useful on occasion. Or you could just use the LBA-01’s spike and take out the screw/nail and whatever it’s holding. Again, just do it differently.
You can check out the destructive capabilities of the LBA-01 in our video review and also see the comparison we did with the Gerber Downrange Tomahawk. There’s a part in the video where the LBA-01 pry’s part of the door frame off, I wasn’t prepared for and didn’t expect that but when dealing with a tool like the LBA-01 that is over engineered to cause destruction, that’s what you get!!
MIK-05OPS, Medium Infantry Knife
This “medium” sized knife is a highly capable fixed blade knife, delivering devastating performance as you’ll see. Intended for use by elite military units, law enforcement, and members of the specialist security community, the MIK-05PS (partially serrated edge) is designed with purpose and crafted to provide durability and toughness, the MIK-05 is also available in a plain edge variant with designation MIK-05P.
The first part that caught my eye was the handle and speaking with Jonathan Loftes about that he said he gripped molding clay and they used the impressions from that to create the handles for their knives. At first glance you may think it could never work or feel right but when you grip the knife you’ll see they got it right. Whether you wear gloves or bare handed, you’ll have a good, solid grip no matter your task.
The knife is made of Austrian 6mm Bohler K340 ISODUR tool steel. The entire tool is overbuilt for outstanding longevity and resilience to shock loads. Looking up the steel I found that K340 is an extremely high-quality tool steel combining toughness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance, making it an excellent choice for high-performance cutting tools. Specifically designed for use in industrial cutting applications, K340 is made utilizing a proprietary remelting technology resulting in material purity and homogeneity. One of the key benefits of K340 over other tool steels is its high toughness, which yields extreme resistance to chipping and cracking under heavy use involving high-impact or shock loads.
The testing we put this knife through was fairly standard up to the end when I decided to see just how tough the blade really is and started to pry apart the pallet I was using as the “test dummy”. In a word, WOW, the test was a bit extreme and I encountered more nails and staples than expected but the K340 steel more than stood up to the task and performed admirably.
The modified tanto point proved to be a strong piercer and went through everything I put in front of it, cardboard, plastic and wood. The door I was using wasn’t the strongest made door but it wasn’t a “cheapo” door either but the pommel didn’t care as it hammered through the outer layer with ease.
The only “damage” sustained during testing was a slight scratch on the side of the blade when I was prying apart the pallet and some of the green paint came off the pommel after I hammered into the door. Whoops, sorry Jonathan.
You can see how the knife performed here:
The knife now resides on my belt using the included belt attachment option.
Military, Law Enforcement and Security Specialist’s often are in situations where they need whatever tool they have to perform above and beyond the normal expected usage. When those times happen, it’s often a matter of life and death and the quality of their tools/gear and the trust those people have in them can turn the tide to their favor. When those times occur, rest assured anything from Halfbreed Blades would be an outstanding item to put your faith in.
Garfield out.
