"PJLT" CSAR Tactical, Combat, Rescue Knife
NOTICE!
I've made a new layout for the tactical knife descriptions, seen
on this page. I've separated the
components, briefly describing them in individual boxes. In those boxes
are links to dedicated pages describing everything about the part,
component, or accessory. The pages are substantial, and offer the
history, operation, materials, use, mounting, and care of each
accessory.
"PJLT" CSAR Tactical, Combat, Rescue Knife (Shadow Line)
Basic Kit,
All Matching in non-reflective black camouflage
Designed for serious use, this is a top-of-the-line,
wear-resistant and ultimate
corrosion-resistant knife and basic kit: a combat, tactical,
rescue knife , sheath, and accessory package
that is one of the best made. This package is reasonable, dependable, and useable. NO OTHER SOURCE
can supply what you see here, all finely handmade to work with your gear, your outing, your mission, and your
excursion, no matter the situation and exposure. This is one of the very best
combat, rescue, and tactical knives and kits made today.
Received the knife and I am sooooo glad I pulled the trigger! Thank you for a solid
knife and an easy transaction. Won’t be long before you hear from me again!
--T. T.
Thanks, T. T.!
Included:
The Knife
- Size: Length overall: 11.125" (28.3cm), Blade Length:
6.25" (15.9 cm), Thickness: 0.158" (4.0 mm)
- Weight: 7.8 oz. (221 grams)
- Blade: ATS-34 High Molybdenum Martensitic Stainless Tool Steel, Hardened and Tempered, T4 Specialty Cryogenically treated to Rockwell C60, proprietary surface oxide treatment "Ghost Slate."
- Bolsters/Fittings: 304 High Nickel, High Chromium Austenitic Stainless Steel, proprietary surface oxide treatment "Ghost Slate."
- Handle: Black/Gray Micarta Phenolic
- Type/Purpose/Origin: The PJLT is my popular
"PJ-Light," a CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) knife designed with
the direct input of United States Air Force Pararescuemen
("Pararescue Jumpers=PJs"), our nation's top military rescue
service. These are incredible CSAR warrior-saviors, saving the lives
of those injured in combat and military operations, going where
others won't go, under combat fire, by helicopter, by plane, by
parachute, or by SCUBA in the ocean, on mountain tops, across the
desert or anywhere the need arises to give aid to the sick and
injured. They are one of the most highly trained in the military,
the finest in service to others, "That Others May Live." They
are also the people that perform rescues where civilian rescue units
won't go, helping save lives in the most dangerous of environments.
Learn more about USAF
Pararescue and my Pararescue knives here. Many years ago, I worked
with them to perfect a design for their tactical and rescue
operations. The original knife was named "The PJ," and it's a great
knife, but the need arose for a lighter weight, smaller version.
This is how the PJLT came to be. Over the
years, the PJLT has become one of my most useful, depended upon,
popular knives.
- Blade Steel Alloy: This PJLT
blade is a hypereutectoid martensitic
stainless tool steel,
ATS-34, a high chromium-molybdenum tool steel. When properly treated, it's a
dependable, reliable workhorse of extremely high toughness, good
corrosion resistance, and high wear resistance. The extremely
high molybdenum of ATS-34, along with the high carbon and high
chromium results in profuse molybdenum-chromium carbides, increasing
toughness as well as wear resistance. This allows me to make a
tougher, thinner blade for lighter weight.
- Heat Treatment: This PJLT has my
T4 heat treatment, yielding an astounding blade in incredible
condition through advanced processing protocols. How advanced is
this treatment? It's a multi-stage cryogenic treatment,
involving temperatures ranging in over 1800°F
to -320°F (-196°C). The process is an evolution of my
advanced heat treating processes, and consists of 36 dedicated
and specific steps and takes 172 hours. This means that just to
heat treat this blade takes over a week. The reason for this is
scientific and critical, but yields the most stable, most
wear-resistant, most durable and long-lived structure of this
steel, profuse with fine multi-element carbides and a uniform
and unbelievably robust structure. This is a testament to my
determination to make the very best knives, steels, treatments
and kits in the modern world. I know of no one else who has
advanced the treatment to this level; it's unheard of in the
metals and knifemaking field. This is, simply
put, ATS-34 at its very finest advanced condition.
- Blade Design and Geometry: The PJLT blade has a
reasonable, lightweight design, suitable for piercing, yet robust
enough for rescue tasks. The knife has a deep hollow grind, that
will give long-term life, even through repeated sharpenings.
Sharpening
won't have to happen often, due to the high alloy and advanced
treatment of the steel. Clearly, this knife can last generations.
The tanto point offers a good piercing geometry, without being too
thin, and the half-length top swage reduces point profile without
sacrificing strength in the spine. The knife is strong and stiff, and the secondary point at the
yokote (the confluence of the straight edge and the tanto point
edge) can be used to bear down in cutting with pressure on the thick
spine, such as in cutting heavy textiles and materials. The straight
edges combine to form a total length of over 4", and the hammerhead
serrations at the choil and blade termination are about 2" long for a
significant, useable stroke. When I started designing knives for the
military, they requested serrations that work, and my hammerhead
serrations are the toughest cutting edges in the business. Being
made of ATS-34, toughness is at an absolute maximum compared to
nearly every other martensitic stainless steel.
- This is an extreme use, wear-resistant, extremely keen,
martensitic stainless steel blade
with advanced heat treatment.
- Blade Finish: The blade and bolsters are in my "Shadow" line of
counterterrorism, rescue, and tactical knife finishes. Answering
the request for completely subdued and non-reflective
surfaces, I developed the Shadow Line with my Ghost
Slate finish. This means darkening in a permanent
fashion not only the stainless steel of the knife,
blade, handle, and fittings, The gear in the
entire kit: the fasteners, the sheath parts, aluminum
mounts, accessories and rest of the package are in anodized or
oxide black. Read more about
my Shadow Line and Ghost Slate finish on my
Counterterrorism Knives page
at this bookmark.
- Bolsters: I bolstered the PJLT with my
signature zero-care, high nickel, high chromium 304 austenitic stainless steel bolsters,
contoured and rounded for comfort of the hands, and shaped and
radiused in the front face for easy cleaning. They are attached
with multiple through-tang pins of 304 stainless steel, and
the mounting is permanent, as well as extremely corrosion-resistant. This is the
same steel used for stainless steel nuts, bolts, and fasteners,
and the bolsters are heavy, thick, and solid, giving great
balance to the knife. The front bolster supports the narrowing
of the tang at the forefinger placement, and the rear bolster has a
substantial "hawk's bill" to help lock the handle into the hand. The
bolsters are dovetailed to create a solid, seamless union with the
handle material. The bolsters are treated in my "Ghost Slate" shadow
line for reduced glare and match the rest of the knife and gear.
- Handle: The
handle scales are black and gray Micarta® phenolic
that
is one of the most durable and dependable manmade handle materials
on earth. The scales are dovetailed and locked and bedded
under the bolsters, secured with 4 tight 304 stainless steel pins. The
handle shape is easy to grip and safe, and differ from my
typical PJLT designs with wide finger depressions rather than a full
rounded belly. This makes for a lighter knife overall, and it's a
comfort to grip. The design is comfortable also
in the reverse grip, with the thumb laid atop the rear bolster. The tang is fully fileworked with
a highly detailed alternating pattern for increased purchase and
handmade flair. The tang is fully tapered, with plenty of
thickness to support the butt at the rear bolster. The rear
bolster is solidly mounted to the tang with multi-peened
zero-clearance pins, and has a 5/16" through-tang lanyard hole for
extra
security when working elevated or near water or in special
circumstances that require insurance against losing the knife. The lanyard hole is chamfered
and dressed smooth for abrasion reduction of the lanyard
and is easy and fast to thread.
- Balance and Feel:
The center of balance of the knife is right at the location of
the forefinger, making the blade feel
very light but solid. The
PJLT feels ultimately useful without being overbearing, proven
tool refined by our nation's top CSAR military service, and the
honored experience of this knifemaker!
Included:
The Sheath
The Tactical Positively Locking Sheath
- Weight: 9.1 oz. (258 grams)
- Materials: Positively Locking (version 2.0) in
Black Kydex, Black Anodized Aluminum Alloy, Blackened
Oxide Stainless Steel, blue-anodized 6AL4V Titanium.
- Description: This sheath is one of my
positively locking models, originally designed for
CSAR use.
This is my proprietary design, the best possible sheath of its type
available in the world today. Actually, it is the ONLY type of this
sheath available in the world today!
Included:
Accessories: Belt Loops, Plates, Straps, Clamps
This kit contains my standard belt loop and mounting package.
- Standard Belt Loops: accommodates 0.190"
thick by 1.5" belt, black anodized 5052H32 high strength
corrosion resistant aluminum alloy, anodized black at 1 mil
thickness
- Medium Profile Belt Loops: accommodates
0.250" thick by 1.5" belt, black anodized 5052H32 high
strength corrosion resistant aluminum alloy, anodized black at 1 mil thickness
- High Profile Belt Loops: accommodates
.250" thick by 1.5" belt, black anodized 5052H32 high
strength corrosion resistant aluminum alloy, anodized black
at 1 mil thickness
- Vertical Flat Mounting Straps:
accommodates up to 2.0" wide belt, web, strapping, or gear,
clamps rigidly and vertically 90 degrees to the long axis of
the sheath, black anodized 5052H32 high strength corrosion
resistant aluminum alloy, anodized black at 1 mil thickness
- Horizontal Flat Mounting Straps:
accommodates 1" to 3" wide belt, web, strapping, or gear,
clamps rigidly and horizontally (in line with the long
axis of the sheath), black anodized 5052H32 high strength
corrosion resistant aluminum alloy, anodized black at 1 mil
thickness
- Horizontal Belt Loop Plates: allows
wear with the long axis of the sheath in line with standard belt, without rigid clamping,
accommodates .250" thick by 1.5" belt, welded black anodized
5052H32 high strength corrosion resistant aluminum alloy,
anodized black at 1 mil thickness
Included:
Belt Loop Extender
- Ultimate Belt Loop Extender (UBLX):
allows wearing with locking sheath and knife handle just
below the belt line, with DMT folding pocket diamond
abrasive sharpener, in black polypropylene, polyester,
black acetyl buckles. DMT folding diamond sharpener for
touch-ups in the field.
Included:
LIMA (Lamp, Independent Mounting Assembly
- Lamp Independent Mount Assembly (LIMA):
Backup, emergency, safety LED programmable flashlight and
independent black web frame and mount, in nylon stitched with high strength polyester,
anodized 5052 high strength corrosion resistant black
anodized aluminum mounting bar, 304 stainless steel ring
retainers, nylon elastic shock cord, with Olite I1R2 Pro
rechargeable
flashlight.
Included:
Sternum Harness Plus
- Sternum Harness Plus: allows wearing of
locking sheath upside down across sternum, handle down, in
black polypropylene,
polyester, acetyl buckles
Included:
Lanyard
- Lanyard: 550 black Nylon Kernmantle Rope (Paracord)
sliding noose lanyard
Included:
Duffle, Storage
- Duffle Bag: 1000 denier Cordura® ballistic
black nylon, waterproof polyurethane coated. Nylon, polyester,
polypropylene sling handle, embroidered patch, removable
embroidered name patch with hook and loop
- Storage bags and tins for hardware
Received the knife and I am sooooo glad I pulled the trigger! Thank you for a solid
knife and an easy transaction. Won’t be long before you hear from me again!
--T. T.
Please click on thumbnail knife photos of this PJLT!
To see many more options for mounting, wear, and rigging, please visit
these pages and look over their detailed photo sets. I've assembled and
mounted the knives and kit accessories in a variety of ways, and most of the
various arrangements are applicable to this knife as well.
