The “black knife” refers to an automatic knife manufactured
by Charles F. Ochs from 1987. This little blade, which Ochs says is in service
with the Army ARangers, Special Forces, SEAL teams, Marine Recon, FBU, US Border
Patrol DEA, and others was “designed…for Special Operations applications and
has been widely copied since its introduction.”

Some time ago, Chuck
Karwan wrote an article in Tactical
Knives (reproduced on Ochs’ website) on what he called “the mysterious
‘black knife,'” explaining that the late custom knifemaker Ron Miller of Florida
originally designed the push-button automatic black knife, which was later
improved by Ochs (who apparently took over marketing the knife to the special
operations community). Originally, the knives bore no identifying marks. Ochs’
site describes the black knife, model BLK-S, as a 440C stainless 3-3/4 inch
blade with a black oxide finish, fired by a coil spring, the blade and spring
fitted into an anodized aluminum handle.

For mere mortals who cannot own
automatic knives, Gatco (the Great American Tool Company) introduced the Timberline-badged
version of the black knife, the Vallotton/Ochs “Kickstart.” The blade, available
in plain or partially serrated, is 3.62 inches long with a 4.38 inch Zytel
handle. A button the handle, rather than being the automatic actuator, is the
means of enabling or disabling the knife’s assisted opening mechanism. The
spearpoint blade is AUS-8 and the knife is imported from Taiwan.

The
textured, ribbed handle is relatively thick (probably thanks to the selective
assisted opening mechanism it houses). It provides decent traction, though the
ribs are smooth and make it feel a little slippery. There are thumb grooves on
the spine of the Zytel handle, repeated at the butt (which features a lanyard
hole). Dual metal liners are visible in the spine as well.

The contours
of the knife form a small integral guard. It is comfortable in my hand, but the
Kickstart has one irritating quirk: Something inside the mechanism rattles when
the knife is locked open with the assisted opening on. It doesn’t do this when
the assisted opening is not used, or when the knife is closed. Fit and finish of
the knife overall are good, so I assume this has something to do with the
selectable nature of the spring assist.

The blade features ambidextrous,
graduated thumb studs. When the assisted opening mechanism is enabled, a light
push on these studs rockets the blade forward into the locked position. Even
with the assisted opening off, the blade opens very quickly, its action as
smooth as glass.

There is slight lateral blade play when the blade is
locked open. The liner lock engages the tang fully, but on the left side of the
tang, leaving some room for wear. Lock up is positive with an authoritative
“snap.”

The metal
pocket clip, which had good tension out of the box, is a little thinner than I
might like on a knife of this heft (the Kickstart has some weight to it, again
thanks to its mechanism or perhaps because of the large dual liners). It is
removable (and held in place with Torx fasteners) but can be used for
right-hand, tip-down carry only.

The black-coated spearpoitn blade was
nicely sharp out of the box, cut and penetrated well, and resharpened easily. It
is ground on both sides.

OVerall, this is a classy, if somewhat heavy
pocket knife with an interesting “tactical” lineage that could be used for
utility or for self-defense. It’s not an automatic “black knife,” no, but it’s
as close as most of us will get.>>