Peach Blossoms

I have been stuck in Port O Spain, Trinidad for work the last four weeks. Yes I know the weather is better than in my western NY home. There is very little to do here so I brought along some movies to watch on my computer.

The first movie, “Ashes of Time,” is a Chinese flick with English subtitles. It is a compelling story of love, betrayal, courage, inevitability, sorrow, all of the passions of life. Since I teach Japanese swordsmanship this movie appealed to me, not just because of the fight scenes but because of the introspective analysis of being a swordsman. The fighting men in this film are divided into two universal archetypes, hundreds of bandits, and two heroic swordsmen. Another character is an entrepreneur who employs and rents out heroes to kill the bandits. He has left his village, friends and love behind in his search for fortune and success. The swordsmen are looking for something more out of life but they too are caught in their own karmic cycle. One of the quotes that lingered in my mind was that “Even a swordsman needs to eat.” That doesn’t sound too earth shaking but it defines the conundrum facing a man who would be noble and righteous but who realizes he is losing his sense of worth and must sacrifice himself and his ideals to the necessities of food and shelter. To compensate for this disappointment and disillusionment one of them accepts a gift of wine from a woman who says that all of Man’s unhappiness results from memory. She promises this wine will erase his memory and each day will be a new start. As he allows himself to settle into a stupor of forgetfulness he says, “The only thing I remember is a vague fondness for peach blossoms,” the peach blossoms of his home village. Another of the heroes, losing his sight, goes into battle against countless bandits wondering if his wife will shed tears in his memory.

The movie affected me in many different ways. Maybe it is just because I am getting old and maudlin. (The dictionary.com defines maudlin as: tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental.) All I know is that as I get older I awaken more often with worries on my mind and a sound, restful sleep comes harder. I worry about silly things and serious things. I worry about our sagging economy, our disappearing freedoms, increasing taxes, and oppressive government intrusion into our daily lives. I try to remember how life was as a young child growing up in a truly free America, but “The only thing I remember is a vague fondness for peach blossoms.”

Same Old Same Old

It’s the same old stupid argument, over and over on websites and forums. My mistake is allowing myself to even respond to these threads. You know the drill, it goes something like this. “What if you’re walking down the street and you’re attacked by a knife wielding nut job who appears out of nowhere. What do you do?” (I mean how many times can people fantasize over this same scenario?) If I were a follower of Freud I’d say there was some latent sexual problem here folks. But honestly, why do these armchair commandos keep playing this mind game over and over? Do they sit there watching Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Torro whacking away at each other in “The Hunted,” while salivating and fingering their latest flipper speed assisted folder?

The rules of these mind games are always the same (1) you are carrying a custom folder by some trendy maker and, (2) the attack starts at less than the magic Tueller range of twenty one feet. The challenge is whether you can open said folder and defend yourself. At this point everyone dog-piles on and says the attack could have been totally averted through awareness. Excuse me, but if you walk past a doorway and someone launches themselves at you it was not necessarily an awareness problem. Not everyone in the real world lives in condition red 24 hours a day. So let’s move on to the second consideration.

Like some Mario brothers game, the next level of discussion (and test of your skill) is whether you can access and deploy your $650 custom folder in time. My response is always the same, if you are really that concerned about self-defense with a knife you need to dump the folder and buy a fixed blade knife. By the way, A fixed blade knife does not have to be "Rambo" big or unwieldy. Without fail, now the dog-pile howls, oh my god carrying a fixed blade knife is illegal in my state or town. Whatever! You ought to accept that attacking someone with a knife is illegal even if you are defending yourself. And if not technically illegal under the law, it will be seen as socially/morally illegal/unforgivable and you are going to find yourself fighting to establish your innocence in a court of law. In other words, guilty until proven innocent.

If I choose to carry a knife for self-defense then I carry with it the full awareness of its lethality and the knowledge of the consequences of my using it. Now that we’ve got that sorted out, I want that knife to be the most effective weapon I can carry accessibly concealed, legal or not. If I should kill someone with a knife while defending myself, whether it is a fixed or folder, open or concealed, single or double edged is probably not going to make a lot of difference to the jury. If I carry a knife for self-defense and I cannot get the damned thing open and locked (when I need it most) well that is going to make a big difference to me. If I don’t get it open then life gets very tenuous and I may not go to jail but straight to the morgue. My stance is that all of the time spent training how to open a folding knife could be more gainfully used in training how to actually use a knife.

So, is there someway we can get past these inane arguments on the knife forums and talk about something more meaningful, like maybe knife techniques, effective types of knives, or methods of carry? Or, will every forum newby have his own epiphany and start the same thread all over again?

“Hey, what if you’re walking……….

The Rhythm of One

Fresh copies of our first book, The Rhythm of One, are available again. They are still $30 shipping included in CONUS or to APOs. I will be out of town for two weeks but soon as I'm back we'll be shipping some. If you want one sooner contact our good friends at Spartan Blades US. These books have sold all over the world and the US. No magic, no razzle-dazzle, just plain tried and true techniques along with some of our personal philosophy about the edged weapons arts. Many thanks to our blog followers and the purchasers of our book.

Note: To reserve an autographed copy email me at ghdave2@hotmail.com

Truth or Consequences

“There seem to be a lot of police cars around here,” I remark. “This is a very bad neighborhood!” my taxi driver replies.

That is not comforting since the bad neighborhood extends to within two short blocks of my hotel. I am in a third world country and staying in one of the best hotels, but, just outside the door the streets teem with beggars and desperately poor people. Several months before coming here I told my boss about the safety warnings posted on the US State Depts. website. He laughed and said, “Maybe you will get a chance to try your skills.” A few months earlier a British couple wandered into the wrong neighborhood and were hacked to death with machetes. These sorts of crimes are not uncommon and seldom is there an arrest.

I am not especially excited about the possibility of testing my skills in a third world country. What was worrying me was the consequences of such an encounter. Reality sucks. If I should get into such a fight and lose I would simply be killed. If I won, I might spend the rest of my life in a very nasty prison. God knows my employer would not bail me out. What’s to like about these choices?

So I packed a cheap (expendable) folder in my checked bag and at the last moment threw in a tired Nealy Pesh Kabz. Neither one of these would raise any eyebrows in the USA. I figured worst case scenario they might get stolen. So as we’re approaching this seamy paradise the flight crew passes out the usual immigration/customs forms. One line asks if you are in possession of any firearms, explosive, or other weapons. Can you feel my sudden discomfort? I am normally a very straight-up honest person. What do I do, declare the knives and hope they don’t : 1) confiscate them, or 2) arrest me or refuse me entry because I have declared weapons? The other options are head to the bathroom and dispose of them. (Can you picture me throwing away a knife? Are there maybe cameras in the bathroom?) Do I just “forget” to declare them and hope for the best? As I stood in line, slowly, excruciatingly, crawling its way toward the customs agent I could see everyone being funneled, with their baggage, to an x-ray machine. After intense scrutiny of my paperwork and several probing questions concerning what sort of business I was there on, the Agent finally said “OK” and waved me on through. Somehow I had avoided the dreaded x-ray machine. I am not going to tell you which choice I made but I am safely back out of the country now. In a week I have to go through it all over again. What to do, what to do………

Iconic Fighters

Peter Bauchop of South Africa created the custom knives shown in this photo. Quite a few years ago I bought the smaller dagger he calls the “Witch” (top knife) and I had not come across many other Bauchop knives for sale since then. Luckily I happened on the black handled “Alleycat” for sale on the USN forum. Without a moments hesitation I purchased it. Then, a few months later, another one with a palm wood handle came available on the same forum.

Now it also a part of my collection. Bauchop-made knives are very rugged and well designed. They have always been highly sought after by South African armed forces and mercenaries (known euphemistically as contractors today). Bauchop knives are the African equivalent of a Randall-Made knife with their thick blades and graceful lines. Made from ¼ inch thick stock in a variety of steels, like A-2 and D-2, the blades of the Alleycats have a nice Persian sweep to the tip. The straight bladed Witch has a fully sharpened “false edge,” as do the robust Alleycats. Wth some difficulty I tracked down an email for Mr. Bauchop in South Africa. He is still actively making knives. All of you knife magazine writers and editors its time to get ahold of Mr. Bauchop and do a good article on him. His work is iconic and he will be listed in our new book when it comes out. I am very pleased, and honored, to have three world class Bauchop knives in my collection.