thumb|400px|link=The Rambo III boot dagger was a 10 1/2 inch, miniature dagger that John Rambo used to kill Soviet soldiers when he couldn't get close enough to use his Bowie knife. The appearance of the knife varies often, although it is usually a black non-glare finish. The knife isn't as long or thin as its counterpart, so it looks rounder and wider in comparison. The dagger is so small it can be held in the palm of Rambo's hand, far smaller than the film's hero knife.
Design[]
The knife is made out of a single piece of stainless surgical steel, unlike the Rambo II boot dagger, which features an ebony inlay in the handle. The knife is coated in a black non-glare finish, and is around eleven inches long total. There are many variations in this design, including a stainless steel variant and polished edges on the blade, although most commonly stick with the basic design of straight black.
Rambo III []
The boot dagger was presumably built or bought by John Rambo for use in Colonel Sam Trautman's rescue mission from Colonel Zaysen's prison camp in Afghanistan. The dagger was thrown at several enemies when he faced being shot. Rambo stored this in a loop on his boot, and thus it is commonly dubbed "the boot knife".
Rambo retrieved his stilleto and later told Hamid to leave while he pulled some shrapnel from his torso. Rambo later grabbed a 7.62x39mm Kalashnikov rifle round and used the boot knife to cut off the bullet before carefully dumping the gunpowder from the cartridge's shell into the wound before taking the knife and burying it into some flaming grass, using the knife to pick up the burning material like a torch. Rambo winced as he prepared to lower the flame to the gunpowder, which burned up the powder and instantly cauterized the wound painfully. Rambo would bear this scar for the remainder of the film, which Kourov would later bury his finger into, putting Rambo into immense pain. The knife was not seen again after the scene where he nursed his wound, although it can be assumed that Rambo kept the knife, unlike the Rambo III survival knife, which was lost in the deserts of Afghanistan during Rambo's fight with Kourov.
Variants[]
There are many variations of this knife that are sold.
- A single Gil Hibben handmade stainless steel replica with a polished mirror shine. This one is very valuble and is in the hands of a collector. Gil Hibben has made a second one for himself.
- Gil Hibben numbered handmade copies that are coated in a non-glare black or gray finish.
- UC-245, mass-produced United Cutlery replica with RAMBO III stamped across the handle. Each replica knife is coated in a non-glare finish and comes with a miniature brown leather sheath.
- As with other Rambo knives, unofficial Chinese or other forgeries likely exist and widely sold at likely low quality.