Custom knife makers began making similar knives intended for private purchase use by both civilians and military personnel. The earliest production company to make a tactical knife was Al Mar Knives with their SERE model designed for the military with input from Special Forces Colonel James N. Rowe in 1979. By the 1990s, tactical folding knife sales had risen sharply, and new designs were being regularly introduced at many large gun and knife shows. The trend began with custom knifemakers such as Bob Terzuola, Michael Walker, Mel Pardue, Ernest Emerson, Ken Onion, Chris Reeve, Warren Thomas and Warren Osbourne. These knives were most commonly built as linerlocks, although McHenry & Williams introduced the Axis lock, which is used by Benchmade Knife Company, under license. Blade lengths varied from 3 inches to as long as 12 inches, but the most typical models never exceeded 4 inches in blade length for legal reasons in most US Jurisdictions. Knifemaker Bob Terzuola is credited with coining the phrase "Tactical Folder". In response to the demand for these knives, production companies offered mass-produced tactical folding knives Companies such as Benchmade, Kershaw Knives, Buck Knives, Al Mar Knives, Gerber Legendary Blades and Spyderco collaborated with tactical knifemakers; in some cases retaining them as full-time designers. Tactical knifemakers such as Ernest Emerson and Chris Reeve went so far as to open their own mass-production factories with Emerson Knives, Inc. and Chris Reeve Knives. Critics of the "tactical" folding knife point out that the design is not well suited for individual combat when compared to a purpose-built fixed blade combat knife or fighting knife. The very nature of a folding knife means that it will usually have to be retrieved and its blade deployed during a fight – an impractical maneuver during a fight. Students of knife fighting also point out that any locking mechanism can fail and that a folding knife, regardless of lock strength, can never be as reliable as a fixed-blade combat knife. Lynn Thompson, martial artist and former CEO of Cold Steel pointed out in an article in Black Belt magazine that most tactical folding knives are too short to be of use in a knife fight and that even though he manufactures, sells, and carries a tactical folder, it is not ideal for fighting. See also Bayonet Hunting knife Knife fight Rex Applegate Survival knife "Yank" Levy fighting knife References Blade weapons Knives