The Stiletto Knife / Switchblade

History

A stiletto is a short knife, or dagger, with a long slender blade of various designs primarily used as a stabbing weapon. Its narrow shape, ending in a sharp pointed end, allows it to penetrate deeply. Most stiletti are not suited for cutting, even with sharpened edges. The Italian word "stiletto" comes from the Latin word "stilus" meaning "a stake, or a pointed instrument". The stiletto, also called a misericorde ("mercy"), began to gain fame during the Middle Ages, when it was the secondary weapon of knights. It was used to finish off a fallen or severely wounded heavily armored opponent. The pointed, stout blade could easily pass through most chain mail or find its way through gaps in a knight's plate armor. A severely wounded opponent, who was not expected to survive, would be given a "mercy strike".  

Hand to hand combat in the trenches of World War I created a new need for stilettos. Several versions were made by various countries, often grouped together in one class, nicknamed the trench knife. Likewise, World War II saw a resurgence of the stiletto style in the form of several variants including the U.S. Marine Raider Stiletto which was based upon the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife used by the British. Fairbairn-Sykes later designed the V-42 combat knife. All of these knives were not true stilettos as they were designed for cutting and stabbing as opposed to just stabbing.

Review

It was tough rating a weapon for this close combat, but I would have to give it a 6/10. This weapon would be extremely deadly compared to a lot of the other knives out there because of it's design for stabbing. If you were to stab a zombie in the head with a stiletto knife (Commonly referred to as a "Switchblade" in America and some other countries) it would definitely penetrate to the brain. These are extremely lightweight, and often eject the blade within a second of pressing the button. The downside for this weapon preventing it from getting a higher rating is the range.You would need to be extremely close to a zombie in order to stab it with this weapon, but if you didn't miss, you would be the victor in the end. However, I would recommend higher-durability weapons such as a machete or other sharp weapons over short-distance knives any day.