AITOR KNIVES AITOR COMBAT TEC Tactical knife

AITOR COMBAT TEC

COLLECTOR'S ITEM!???

In depth discussion by BushCampingTools

WHAT CAN I SAY? The Aitor Combat TEC knife, now (for some crazy reason) is discontinued by AITOR of Spain!
Firstly, Aitor have a special machine which can grind this unique saw back into the knife spine. They use this machine to produce all their current models sporting this saw back. 

Out of all the saw back knives currently available on today's knife market, only this one designed by Aitor works properly and is very useful. A close second is the one from FKMD on their Combat Survival Knife. However, even this sawback knife does not cut as well as the AITOR design and can not clear green material, although better at man made materials (ply wood, mdf, plastic sheet etc), which a soldier might more readily encounter in an urban environment.

Side view of the spine saw.

Top view of spine saw

This saw can cut both dead and green wood and clears both materials very effectively. The purpose of the saw is not to cut entirely through branches but to weaken them in order to break them by hand or foot etc. The saw (I'am told by some Canadian hunters) can also be used to cut through bone and in fact is put there to cut bone for hunters! The saw can be very effectively used to cut notches into branches, sticks, scale fish, cut monofilament line etc.

It is simply a well thought out design and far from any gimmick. The saw back knife has been badly maligned mostly due to absolute Asian crap on the market and full of would be "Rambo" knives (that was not a saw but a wire cutter) that could not cut their way out of a wet paper bag. 

The Aitor Combat TEC has been individually Rockwell tested and bears the diamond imprint (HRC 55-58).

Vicious and effective saw back design

The AITOR COMBAT TEC, better than their fixed blade survival knives???

The small circle shows the location of the Rockwell hardness imprint from the diamond tip.

The Aitor Combat TEC knife is a FULL TANG design, with scales which are made from a phenolic resin. There were a couple of variations seen in this model; one with micarta scales and ground differently; one with a black oxide finish and one with a sort of camouflage pattern on the blade. The sheaths offered also varied: an injection moulded sheath similar to the Jungle King series of knives, made in house in Aitor; and the sheath which came with this knife, nylon coated rigid leather. It seemed that Aitor/Pielcu could not make up their minds as to any final design of this otherwise great tactical blade. Also the models which sported the phenolic scales appear to be ground differently. Some were quite blocky and had acute angles (not so comfortable) and this one I had bought (serial number B-021720), was very nicely finished by some proud craftsman (yes man, not woman, before any gets on their high horses here!).

This particular  AITOR Combat TEC was produced while the Pielcu company had taken over from the original AITOR company. There was much discussion in the social media amongst followers  and aficionados of AITOR knives;  that quality standards fell during this period.

The Aitor Knife steel, what is it?

It seems it is some sort of mystery about what steel AITOR was using for this knife. According to the box, they say it was an improvement over the famous 440C. Now on the blade is etched the constituent elements, of those we see Vanadium is listed. 440C does not contain vanadium and the addition of this element will yield under the right heat treatment regimes, Vanadium carbide formation giving good edge characteristics. Certainly I have no reason to disbelieve that they say it was an improvement over 440C. I have found that my other Aitor blade also using the same steel (my Aitor OSO Blanco Olivio) does not chip at all even using it against very dirty woods (sand etc), and keeps a very good edge as well. There is lots of here say on Blade Forums (LOL- of course this is on blade forums, as it's the main place for dented and crazy egos to make a stand!) that Aitor could not possibly be using something like BG42. The reason given, because it's Spain and "how can their knives be so cheap"??? "So it can't possibly be true".  No where have I read such fanciful claims such as this and total hubris from that sector of the American public, only thinking the US can do things when it comes to knives. Sorry but the Spanish have been making knives before white man was anywhere near even discovering America. Spain has still got a steel industry. Not ten years ago for example: Acerinox was the worlds biggest producer of Stainless steel!  The addition of Vanadium does not mean they were/are trying to copy BG42. If one visits Spain one will see it's not some backwood country. Ok they are not sending man to space (I mean real space as in the International space station) but neither is the USA right now. Everyone is using Russia right now as no one for sure trusts Chinese made rockets-just yet... I digress.

AITOR stating something about their steel quality on the box. Personally i find it more than good enough for tough outdoor work. In terms of sharpening this edge, it is similar to the other Aitor knife I own, an OSO Blanco Olivio (olive wood handled OSO Blanco hunting knife) and requires some skill in order to achieve a razor edge. The edge is probably towards the 58 HRC range in my experience with time taken on the ceramic stones to get a deadly edge.

Aitor have a reputation over many years, bolstered by the rich history of Spanish knife making, and really do not need to be boasting about the actual elemental constituents of their steel. The performance in the field speaks for itself. I don't know anyone who owns an Aitor blade, correctly sharpened, says they can't hold an edge or the blade chips etc or rusts. The current Aitor factory is no backyard operation either.

Serial numbered: B-021720, my Aitor Combat TEC knife. The "B" means it was produced while the company Pielcu briefly took over after AITOR business failed, previous knives showed the letter "A" in the serial number. The factory is now being run by another company, Rehabe S.L since 2014/2015. I should say here there is no listed postal address for this present company and it seems one has to "be in the know" in order to contact them. I have tried multiple time yet never ever had an answer. 

The phenolic composite scales are permanently fixed/bonded via rivets/bolts to the tang, the rivets appear to be stainless steel.

The blade

The main blade is slightly recurved and this is a recapitulation of a very very old blade design seen across Europe in knives and swords, 

Museum example of European (in this case Bulgarian Yatagan's pictured here) swords and knives. See middle sword/Big knife, showing a "recurved blade design" Take that Mr outspoken A. G. Russel (whoops sorry for offence to a knife God!)* AG Russell was always crapping on about how asinine a recurved blade was. Well sorry, he wasn't a knife GOD, he was just a very outspoken guy who was good at the time in marketing. Like for example, his gimmicky marketing tactics to sell the knives he made from all that left over Camillus steel. Putting secrete compartments within the tangs LOL, what a gimmick! A recurved blade has physics to back it up in design!

ie the slight inward curvature of the main blade. Unlike my OSO Blanco (white bear) with a hollow (albeit shallow hollow grind), the grind on the AITOR Combat TEC is a flat sabre grind. The Aitor Combat TEC knife is very strong. I bashed it into a fallen Birch of seasoned timber and abused it by levering off split wood!

Aitor has listed the handle material as "fenolgraf". Some sort of phenolic resin composite. Since the company has never answered my requested for information to be able to write this article, I can't tell you more about this material.

Straight out abuse of the AITOR COMBAT TEC knife. Result: a very strong knife blade capable of heavy duty work if required!

The Aitor Combat TEC, features a very strong, good pointed tip. The blade thickness is 5mm/0.2" and the blade has approximately 150mm/6" of cutting surface. The saw length is 70mm. The weight of the knife (only) is 298 grams (10.5 Oz.).

Like many knives (except Extrema Ratio, one brand that comes quickly to mind) their sheaths can let the actual knife design down. This Aitor Combat TEC is no exception. The scabbard works and protects the user but is hardly aesthetic and looks cheap. CAVEAT!! My >20 year old USA made Ontario Spec Plus scabbard of similar materials and construction and looks crap is still in one piece!!! The hard nylon version (like the Jungle Kings etc) looked much better. I'm sure Aitor were cutting corners as this company had gone into receivership a while back and now owned by another company. 

At 150mm length, or 6 inches, the knife is easy to draw and is nimble enough despite its hefty thickness and almost 300 gram weight. There is also a lanyard hole and the butt end is slightly pointed (no doubt can be used as a weapon too). After all, it is supposed to be a  tactical combat knife.

The Edge

Unfortunately, the edge was not razor sharp out of the box. It was just sharp, like my other Aitor. No quality control here. Although the edge bevel was extremely accurate and even along the length of the blade. Several people have told me that When Aitor was going through the company changes, quality changes such as "lack of quality in the finished product" was occurring. Such a shame for literally a Spanish iconic company.
The good thing however, is that the edge once rectified by me can really keep a keen razor edge and resistant to chipping etc at 55-58HRC, perfect for outdoor use. I did manage to pick up a brand new (if not slightly shop soiled-it had been sitting in the shops for some years) Aitor Combat TEC for about $50-00 US!!!!! That's almost a steal!

10 minutes on a Lansky ceramic stone and my AITOR COMBAT TEC KNIFE IS tomato cutting sharp!

What about that saw what can it do?

The design of the saw makes it useful for scaling fish, cutting fishing line and string, cutting through animal bone and or course cutting into both dead and green wood. Most saw back designs can not cut green wood effectively because the "kerf" of the teeth does not clear the sticky sappy green wood. This is not the case with this saw design.

Also the saw is excellent for notching wood for making traps, securing ropes and cordage, or simply weakening a branch so that it can be broken by hand.

Applications

With name like "Combat TEC", this spells to me a knife designed with a military purpose in mind. So does the Aitor Combat TEC knife satisfy this sort of application or is is just some stupid funky mall ninja knife??

Today's Soldiers, I am told, are generally using knives  for cutting all sorts of cordages and or ropes. They are generally not carrying huge choppers as they have to already carry so much gear on their vests. At 15cm or around 5 inches in blade length (total length of knife in scabbard-300mm) it's not huge. Generally, I've been told (and read) a soldier wants a strong tip. The maximum blade thickness comes to within 10mm from the "spear point-like tip". 

Note too, the back swedge (unsharpened).

Other than washing and drying this knife, there are NO bolts to loosen or be lost, so from that aspect the knife construction is simple. There is (was) a black non-reflective version offered and a camouflaged pattern on the blade (both no longer in production but possibly still for sale in some shop somewhere around the globe). There is zero rattle of the knife in the scabbard and no noise generated upon insertion and removal of the blade. The maximum blade depth is only 35mm, 

35mm to the knife belly

so the knife has a shallow profile. 

Ok so  if you are a real soldier then these things may interest you. Personally when one classifies a knife, as "tactical" then I want to see real tactical advantages designed into the blade and or scabbard, not some stupid knife sporting this name for would be if i could be arm chair survivalists/would be if i could be playing soldiers, ie non soldiers.

The curved inner blade allows better cutting of ropes in a typical arcing stroke as apposed to simply a sawing motion on a rope. That's physics by the way. But this design makes it a bit harder to sharpen by unskilled hands (ok get get skilled).

I believe the design is very good from a tactical standpoint. The knife at 5 inches blade isn't too long. The heftiness is well proportioned and balance good (right at the hilt). 

"Civilian" version, Perfectly balanced  at the hilt

The phenolic resin scales are strong as (you can see some general data here). The saw can be used to cut all sorts of things, scrape things, apply notches, etc. In short this saw design actually works.

Many military general purpose knives are good performers in civilian use. I believe the Aitor Combat TEC to also fall under this banner based upon what I've stated above and will shortly present my findings on the BushCampingTools Channel.

I might even go as far to say this would make for a good "survival knife" based upon my previously blogged criteria.

So in summary, I think this AITOR Combat TEC qualifies as a true tactical knife with military applications and practical use outside of this arena.

BushCampingTools

* A. G. Russel once was quoted as saying this sort of design is nothing short of asinine! Ok we can forgive him, he's an old man.

To be honest the edge hardness of tis blade is def HRC58 or even a bit higher as it takes some time to resharpen if left go dull, that's dull, not blunt!