From Chopping Marijuana south of the Rio Grande to a primary survival knife in the Peruvian jungles - this blade does it all !

(A 150 dollar piece with kydex that performs better than blades twice the price!)

Now this is a knife!  18 inches overall length with12 inches of 3/16 heat treated 1095 carbon steel cutting edge and canvas Micarta handles. The weight to balance ratio fits your hand like a glove and makes the knife feel much smaller than it really is. Manufactured by Newt Livesay specifically as a multi-purpose tropical blade/short machete, it outperforms most any other blade I've used in the jungle. Newt sells a lot of the standard model to the DEA and other groups who operate below the border. Newt also has a unique warranty - If you don't like or if it doesn't perform send it back. Simple - no hype or proof of purchase required!

The Rapid Deployment pictured (L) was used during our recent September  jungle trip. Doing everything from building thatched A-framed shelters to making trap triggers - this blade just kept on performing. I found it to be an excellent cross between the tried and true Ontario 18" government issue machete and a sheath blade (of which both are usually required for Gringos to perform all duties of jungle life). This knife will chop, bushwhack, skin, dress, whittle and clean your fingernails. No wonder the Task Force boys buy so many of these to chop dope (and other things) down in Central & South America. Take this one to the jungle and you need nothing else. Okay now you're wondering  how much Newt paid me to say all of this? Absolutely nothing.  When I emailed Newt about the problems I was having finding a good general jungle blade, he immediately wanted to find something that worked, so he played around in his shop with a standard Rapid Deployment until he ground out this modified (thinner) one for me.   Even his own shop was impressed with the modified blade because he emailed me saying that everyone in his shop was bragging about how the modified RD felt in their hand.

Surely it had some flaw you might ask....well, Newt ground the edge angle just a little steep for good jungle work, so it took me about an hour of re-shaping and re-sharpening to achieve what I was looking for. I now have a blade that will shave, chop,  or cut grass all the while holding an exceptional edge. I plan on visiting Newt later in the year and taking the blade back by so he can look at the edge and re-produce a few blades for me and the team. Bottom line - if you want a blade that works, without the outrageous price, then see Newt Livesay at Wicked Knife Co. We like his work so well that Wicked Knife Company will be producing the RTAK survival blade designed by us in the Peruvian jungles.

See more photos of the Rapid Deployment Combat machete and other special operations photos by clicking here.

[  NOTE: PHOTOGRAPHS & NAVIGATION SECTORS WITHIN THIS PAGE HAVE BEEN REMOVED AS WE DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO USE THEM ANYMORE  ]

I would like to thank Jeff Randall for permission to reprint this article.