While visiting the 5.11 booth at SHOT, the 5.11 Heron, which is a straight-bladed knife, caught my eye. I can’t tell you exactly why it caught my eye, but I was attracted to it right away and had to test it out. After testing it out, though, I was able to figure out why I was so attracted to this little knife and am now able to verbalize those thoughts.
The 5.11 Heron has almost the exact design I look for in my caping knives. In my opinion, the perfect caping knife is 2 ¼-inches long and ¾-inches wide. The 5.11 Heron knife has a 2.65-inch blade and is ¾-inches wide. So it will work great as a caping knife. So, keep that in mind when you’re looking for a caping knife.
The 5.11 Heron has a narrow-pointed blade like a caping knife. The knife has a super deep finger groove for your pointer finger, which I really like. The back of the spine is slightly upswept so that you can press your thumb against it for stability. There are also some thumb grooves on the top, right above the bottom finger groove, to further stabilize your grip. I wish it had more thumb grooves on the spine because I like to position my thumb a little forward of my pointer finger for a more natural fit. But regardless, I still feel like I have a firm grip on the knife.
The handle has two holes in the front and grooves on top and bottom of the handle so you can weave on some parachute cord and make a paracord handle. I’m going to do that when I get a minute (Or, more truthfully, next time I see one of my buddies that is good at wrapping handles). That will make the handle more full so it better fills up my hand.
There is a hole in the back of the handle if you want to add on a lanyard. I don’t normally add on a lanyard but I think that I will on this one to aid in fast accessibility. And lastly, it come with an injected molded sheath which has a strong clip so you can clip it on your pants or pack.
I’m sure everyone reading this product Review can come up with five more uses that I didn’t think of, but here’s some tasks that I plan on using the 5.11 Heron Knife for:
- It is a handy, lightweight EDC knife. In fact, I’ve been carrying it all week and have found it handy to accomplish all of my normal EDC tasks.
- Like stated above, it will make a great little caping knife. I shoot a lot of pigeons & doves with my Umarex .25 cal. Gauntlet PCP airgun so I’ll use it to breast them out to make jalapeño poppers.
- It will make a great little knife to clip onto my backpack when I’m backpacking. Strapped on my shoulder strap or on the Molle webbing on a pack it will be handy and readily accessible.
- Many of you preppers will quickly recognize it as being a good knife to tie onto a staff to make a spear.
The MSRP on the 5.11 Heron knife is $32.00, and as is usual, we will close with the specs.
As a tactical tool or a multi-purpose knife, the Heron Knife makes a valuable addition your gear lineup. This last ditch style features an injected-molded sheath with steel clip for mounting via MOLLE webbing or belt carry. The skeletonized handle is both paracord and spear-lash friendly so wrap it for a secure grip to add another tactical feature to this versatile knife.
- 2.65″ Needle point blade
- Injection molded sheath with steel clip
- Sheath occupies 1 row of MOLLE (vertical mounting)
- Handle wrap holes and notches for paracord grip and spear lashing
- 6.5″ OAL l.15″ Thick blade l 6.875″ OAL in sheath
About Tom Claycomb
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net, and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal, you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”
Heron knife. I want this knife with a ring on the end big enough for my index finger to fit, ring size 12.
Le
Chamaza-good idea. I think w/ the exaggerated finger groove that it is almost like one. Try it out and see if you agree.