Smith’s Campaign Pocket Knife | Gear Review

Shortly after I became a writer, my editor assigned me an article on the best hiking boots. I sheepishly told her that I didn’t know that much about the top 5-10 different models/manufacturers. She went on to teach me a valuable lesson. She said, “Tom, you’re never going to be an authority on every topic that you write about. In those instances, interview and quote an authority.” Oh, that’s a good idea.

Somewhere along the above line of thought, sometimes as a writer, you have to test products that don’t fit into your world. Think about that statement for a minute. I think that I do as much with knives as anyone in America. I worked for the big beef packing plants for 45 years (At Con Agra, we killed and processed 25,000 head of cattle per day, plus had four pork plants and three lamb plants), taught knife seminars from Texas to Alaska and Vegas to Nashville, designed outdoor knives, and have tested literally thousands of knives. But even then, there are whole lines of knives that I’m not the world’s expert on. I’m an outdoorsman. Big time. But I can’t just write about the selective knife designs that appeal to me or I’d only reach 20% of the population, so I must cover them all. Make sense?

With all of the above said, today’s knife design doesn’t fit into my world, but a lot of people love Tanto-designed blades. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

Smith’s Campaign Pocket Knife

The Tanto design is credited to the Japanese samurai fighters, and it seemed to gain some popularity in America in the 70s or 80s, and is semi-popular now. People who flock to a Tanto design declare that it is good for two things:

1. Stabbing jobs. This is its main purpose originally for combat but in current times more likely to be used to stab into hard items/surfaces to rescue someone. Some even feel comfortable using a Tanto blade to stab into objects as hard as a car door.
2. Prying. Many people feel comfortable using a Tanto blade as a mini pry bar! There are quite a few knife abusers out there as evidenced by all of the broken tips that you see out there. Who knows? Maybe 10% of the population should carry a Tanto blade since they are always using their knife to pry the top off of something.

So, with all of the above said, if you’re a Tanto knife carrier, let’s evaluate the Smith’s Campaign knife. It has a reversible, point up pocket clip. It utilizes ambidextrous thumb studs to aid in fastly deployment of the blade.

The blade is securely held open by a liner lock which slides over almost dead center on the blade. That’s not necessarily the norm on most of the liner lock knives that I test. And if you’re a lanyard man, on the hilt of the handle is a hole in case you want to install a lanyard.

To aid in having a firm grip the Smith’s Campaign knife has finger grooves on the liner lock as well as thumb grooves on the top of the handle and on the spine of the blade. There is a slight texture on the handle and a finger groove for your pointer finger.

Now for the only drawback that I see. I’d recommend extending the handle ½ to ¾-inches longer. I have an average sized hand and my little finger hangs halfway off the back of the handle. If stabbing jobs are a big percentage of the jobs that you’re going to be doing with it then you for sure want to have a good grip.

Let’s dispel two myths. #1-You can’t slice with a Tanto blade. I think nowadays some 28-year-old nerd setting in his mom’s basement produces a YouTube stating something that he declares to be an undeniable truth when in all actuality he is clueless and yet everyone jumps on the same bandwagon and suddenly his mis-fact is preached from coast to coast as the Gospel.

No, a Tanto design is not the perfect blade design to perform all of our slicing jobs but it will be adequate to do a lot of our everyday slicing jobs. For instance, I literally just received a pair of Red Wing Elk Tracker XD boots to test. I’m setting here writing this Product Review so since the Smith’s Campaign knife is laying on my desk I grabbed it and easily slit and removed the plastic covering off of the boot box. Everyone now and rightfully so extols the drop point knife as the best design for slicing jobs. But-I’d remind you that until about 30 years ago nearly all EDC knives had an upswept design, not a drop-point and we survived!

The second myth to dispel-Tanto blades are hard to sharpen. I think the real problem is that we’re used to sharpening a drop point but actually on a Tanto design you just have to follow the straight edge all the way to the end. So really it is easier.

The MSRP on the Smith’s Campaign is $32.99, and as is usual, we will close with the company specs.

Live Inventory Price Checker

	Smith's Campaign Knife and PP1 Tactical Mini Combo - 50998	Palmetto State Armory	$ 49.99 $ 38.71
	Smith's Campaign Knife and PP1 Tactical Mini Combo - 50998	Palmetto State Armory	$ 49.99 $ 34.99
	Smith's Campaign Knife and PP1 Tactical Mini Combo - 50998	Palmetto State Armory	$ 49.99 $ 38.71
	Smith's Pocket Pal Knife Sharpener PP1	Palmetto State Armory	$ 14.99 $ 9.99

Product Features:

• 2.78” 420 Stainless black blade
• Ambidextrous thumb studs
• Reversible pocket clip
• G10 handle
• Lanyard Hole: Tether Ready
• Liner lock
• 6.5” overall length when open
• Smith’s Campaign 2.78″ tonto blade features a black stonewash finish that provides extra protection while providing a rugged look. The razor-sharp blade is made of precision heat treated 400 series stainless steel with an ambidextrous thumb screw for easy opening. Equipped with rugged custom G10 handles and sturdy liner lock design secures the blade open during use. The Campaign includes a reversible pocket clip.

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.”