I have tried several times to carry a karambit of some kind or another. Fixed and folders. My favorite and the one that lasted the longest was an Emerson Combat Karambit carried in my left pocket. Also had a fixed blade Emerson Karambit, and a few others. All fixed blade karambits for me had the same problem. Due to there unique shape the sheaths are always bulky and awkward. Folders are better but still just not my preference after about a year of trying to like them. Straight bladed knives with karambit style rings are much easier to carry. Like the new Bark River Donnybrook fixed blade or Fox DART folder
Buy a trainer said the clumsy guy who got stitches from going way too fast...
Doug Marcaida and Steve Tarani are very good instructors for a karambit.
Any of you fine folks carry a karambit of some sort?
I've been looking at a few options, both folders and fixed blades.
I'm not sure if they have any value as a utility knife or if they are purely defensive/offensive.
But I have a Fox folder.
It's in my closet.
I'm afraid to get it out.
As far as folders go, if you can find an original 5.11 Tarani CUB, it was probably the best value on the market. The current version has an AUS8 blade, but the original had a CPM S30V blade and at the end, you could get them for $50. They did not have a wave, but you could modify the back with a dremel to simulate a wave that worked really well. The size was perfect, the curvature of the blade was perfect, the angle of the grip was perfect, but you'd expect that from a knife that had Steve Tarani's name on it.
Which brings us back to the most infamous time someone Pulled a Rhino. A 5.11 Tarani CUB is what I was flipping around that night I got distracted and hooked the front, inner part of my right calf. I can testify that with appropriate sharpening techniques, the Tarani CUB will pass through human flesh with negligible resistance. That knife and the other I had paired with it are now "lost." I hid them from myself shortly after that incident and now I really can't remember where I put them.
I have to stress KokomoDave's advice: if you get a karambit and have any intention of using it as a weapon, get an inert trainer and practice, practice, practice (preferably with some training). Because of the shape, if you get hooked, it's going to bite deeply with very little pressure applied and you can have a very serious wound before you realize what happened. The most common injury is, of course, sticking the point in your wrist when you practice extending and retracting with the reverse grip. I know several people on INGO who have done just that.
If you're going to use it as a utility knife in the forward grip and aren't ever just going to flip it around, then you can treat it like any other knife/tool.
Your post (#9) is all that the OP needs to know !
I also own a Fox folder, with a wave, but when I carry a Karambit, it's this fixed-blade.
Who makes that? It looks like TOPS or ESEE, but I don't think it is.
Edit to add: found it. It's an Ontario, which is why it looks like an ESEE.
Sadly Ive never owned a karamit. I should pick one up to see what all the raving is about.
And supplies to treat treat the lacerations and punctures.