Michael Echanis - Warrior Knife

Warrior Knife

Although Echanis is tied to the development of the Warrior knife, now in a new evolution from Spyderco Knives, his input was minimal during the concept phase which took place while Echanis was alive. Wanner was the creative initial designer of the knife and was directly involved in the Al Mar Knives version and a further evolution under another specialty cutlery firm, REKAT, founded by Bob Taylor. Wanner had recommended to Echanis that he promote what would essentially be a HWD combat knife. This was to capitalize on the HWD knife fighting training he was receiving and the original "black book" from O'Hara in the 3 book series. Wanner, working with a custom knife maker at the time, created prototypes and Echanis is reported as offering his favoring of the emerging design. Taylor refined the original Warrior knife concept to the degree it could be both custom made and manufactured as a production product.

According to the Echanis estate Michael Echanis was exploring a knife project prior to his death and had contacted Gerber Legendary Blades in Portland, Oregon. Echanis was very familiar with Gerber's cutlery products to include the much favored Gerber MK II fighting knife he trained with and carried.

In an article written by Randy Wanner and titled (Circle of Stealth - Echanis' Revolutionary Sentry Removal Technique (Soldier of Fortune, October 1980, Pgs 37-39) Wanner, playing the role of the attacker, is seen using one of the prototype Warriors he'd had made for himself. Interestingly enough the "sentry" is outfitted with a Gerber MK2 fighting-utility knife, Echanis' blade of choice. However, Wanner himself refers to the knife he uses in this article as the "Echanis warrior knife" (SOF, October 80, Pg 39, Photo/Caption 2).

Echanis was already a strong proponent and user of the Gerber MK2 fighting knife which became available for troops in Vietnam. The Gerber became Echanis' most recognized personal weapon. Of interest is former Green Beret Al Mar's strong design input on the Gerber MK2 when he was at Gerber Legendary Blades. It was Mar who designed and successfully saw the serration feature incorporated into the MK2 knife which allowed it to be sold in the military PX system as a "survival knife" as opposed to a fighting knife. Echanis is credited by Bob Taylor for making a serration recommendation to Randy Wanner when the initial concept of the Warrior was be developed. No doubt based on his (Echanis) long time use of the Gerber MK2 with serration and the utility use such a serration offers. Taylor would work closely with Wanner/Al Mar to see the Warrior come out as a specialty production knife in the early 90s and then take over future evolutions of the knife under his own firm, REKAT. Taylor partnered with Spyderco in 2010 to see their version of the Warrior introduced.

The first comprehensive coverage of the AMK Warrior occurred when the knife was featured on the cover of "Battle Blades - A Professional's Guide to Combat/Fighting Knives" (Paladin Press, author Greg Walker, 1993, Pgs 137-141). Interviewed by its author for the chapter on the Warrior Wanner confirmed he'd handmade "a small number of knives and distributed them to close friends and associates". In the same interview Wanner credited Al Mar with bringing the Warrior into production as a specialty custom knife. "It it weren't for Al, the knife never would have been made," confirms Wanner. "He put a tremendous amount of time and money into the project (Pg 139)."