Know How To Use It

Item number three:

Do you know how to use that knife? That may sound exceedingly arrogant but when we are talking about using a knife tactically or in a self-defense situation your truthful response may mean the difference between life or death. You may or may not agree with what I am going to say. That’s ok, we can disagree and no harm is done when all that is at risk is some words and opinions floating across cyberspace.

Most of you know the old cliché,’ God created man, Samuel Colt made them equal. A knife has a similar equalizing effect when it’s brought into a conflict. It doesn’t need to be a big knife or an expensive custom knife. A friend of mine recently told me about answering a call where a man died from one thrust from a “two dollar steak knife.” (This friend just bought one of our Cobras for concealed carry.) There is another saying that is germane to this topic; a sixteen year old with a knife equals a black-belt with sixteen years experience. Or something to that effect. You get my point.

I have found that the concepts and techniques in our book, The Rhythm of One, stand up pretty good during randori, or free style sparring. (The photo is from our book) You’re right that doesn’t mean they will work every time on the streets or parking lots. A lot depends on how often you train and how seriously you train. I can tell you for sure what won’t work, and that is 90% of the techniques taught in strip mall martial arts schools. Why do I say that? Because I learned those techniques too and then I spent time figuring out how to counter them. Luckily I had teachers like Bob Cook sensei and others who went beyond the BS techniques to teach us serious edged weapons.

You need to find a teacher or school that is based in fighting/defending with edged weapons not just pie in the sky unarmed defenses. Real knife work is not pretty, it’s not Politically Correct. It is gritty and if you always win in class against the armed attacker, it ain’t real! It may be flowing and graceful or it might resemble a bad case of blunt force trauma, but given the statistic that the average knife fight lasts three (3) seconds, you cannot spend a lot of time waltzing around shifting grips and stumbling-bumbling around disarming your compliant “attacker.” If your teacher, or one you are considering, doesn’t approve of offensive knife training go somewhere else. What might be helpful is if next week I post a listing of books or videos that I feel are truly of value. I put this list in the appendix of our books but I’ll pare it down to the best of the best and share it with you. Maybe it will save you some money (because there are a lot of terrible books and videos out there) and maybe even save your life. By the way don't believe everything you see on Yu-Tube, there are a lot of strange things out there in cyberspace.

Oh yeah and one more thing. You might be the biggest, baddest knife fighter in the world, but if the SHTF and you aren’t carrying, you’re just another appetizer on the bad guy’s menu.

What Size Knife is Right

Obviously this is a very subjective thing so your opinions may vary widely from mine. Thats OK we all make choices, sometimes good ones and sometimes, well we don't hit it right the first time.

What size blade should you carry? This blog concerns item number 2 in our previous blog about what knife to buy. First, you need to define the purpose, what is your need for carrying a knife. Obviously if you are in the military and stationed in a combat zone then your need is for a knife large enough to dispatch an enemy combatant but light enough to carry on a daily basis. (Most likely you will also want to carry a medium to large size folder for utilitarian purposes.) In these conditions I would recommend a knife with a blade no shorter than 6 inches and no longer than 10 inches. Even within this size category the optimum blade length will depend on whether you are fighting a jihadi in lightweight clothing, where six inches maybe sufficient, or a Spetsnaz in full combat gear and body armor. In our upcoming book we discuss the major effect that clothing has on the type, size, and format of the weapon you should carry. This topic is an interesting study in itself. Making your selection is no different than choosing a mission-specific firearm. An M-4 in .223 is not the best choice for an 800 yard shot and a .50 BMG Barrett is not much good for clearing room-to-room in a building. But in general, the military combatant will be best served with a larger knife. A good example is this Fighter by Matt Lamey with a hand-forged, ten inch blade.

Many states have an upper limit on legal blade length of around four inches. I don’t know how they picked that size and in some states even carrying a two and a half inch blade may get you in trouble. You have to decide whether the risk of being attacked or killed is higher than the risks associated with carrying a weapon. No one else can make that decision for you. One time I had to make a fast run into NYC to find my daughter after she missed a flight. I am not going to tell you what I was carrying, just in case any over-zealous LEOs are reading my blogs. Lets just say that I was dressed for the occasion. Do not assume that around home or on local runs to the convenience store that you are safer and therefore do not need to carry (knife or handgun). Quite often it is under these circumstances that your guard is down and you are the most susceptible to an attack. Remember that not everyone you are going to come into contact with today is from your hometown. But to be reasonable, most people in your locale are probably not wearing body armor and carrying a knife with a four inch blade will suffice for most of your self defense needs. This 6.5 inch bladed Bowie, hand-forged by Matt Lamey, is a superb in-between size for EDC and it’s elegant to boot. It would be a terrific carry knife in a discreet shoulder harness.

On the very bottom end of the size scale are the popular two-finger knives and neck knives. Are these serious weapons? You bet they are! Illustrated is a two finger knife by a guy named Josh. This little knife is capable of creating a very nasty wound channel. But this still needs to be put into perspective. Would such a tiny knife stop a crazed terrorist who is intent on blowing a hole in your camp perimeter? Most likely the answer is no. Will cuts from a small knife stop a mugger or rapist? Damned right they will unless he is so strung out on crack that he doesn’t feel anything. So for the average citizen carry I am going to take a chance and say that even smaller knives with a 2-3 inch blade will bail you out of most encounters. To make the most of any weapon requires some serious training and a basic familiarity with human anatomy. You cannot stop a machine unless you know how it works. Unlike a firearm, a center of mass shot with a 2 inch blade is not going to produce the same results as a .357 magnum.

Ultimately the test of whether a knife is the right size or not is based then on two distinct hypothesis’. Hypotheses One: You need to kill your opponent and do it as quickly as possible (military and maybe LEO). Hypotheses Two: You need to stop an attack and escape, with the very slight possibility of continuing on to Conclusion One (primarily civilian and also LEO). Conclusion number one calls for a knife falling on the larger end of the size scale. Conclusion number two is closer to the opposite end. An entire world of cutlery choices, biases, and expert opinions lies somewhere in between the two.

Its No Big Secret

Sorry for not having something new posted this weekend but my computer was down : (

One of the most overlooked items in designing, manufacturing, or purchasing a functional knife is the sheath. Our new book will have a large section devoted to this topic. But for my faithful readers, whoever you are, I want to offer a little bit here on sheaths.

If you bought and worked with over 200 fighting knives you would begin to develop likes and dislikes. Some knives don’t balance well, some are too heavy, too long or short, and so on. It is the same thing with sheaths. Back when kydex was still in its infancy I bought an expensive semi-custom tactical tanto from a very reputable company. I loved the knife but……. The sheath was supposed to be a high tech, “operator’s” dream. Well the damned knife wouldn’t stay in the new fangled plastic sheath. I emailed the designer and his response was, “haven’t you ever heard of duct tape?” WHAT! I am supposed to duct tape my new knife in its sheath! Well I sent the knife off to Blade-Tech who made me a wonderful sheath for a fair price. Problem is I had already paid for one sheath that was totally bloody useless. I still have the knife and the original sheath is lost somewhere in a closet. How many times have you seen this advertisement? “Knife new in box with the usual kydex scrapes.” Wow that’s just what I want, a pre-scuffed custom knife.

Beside scuffing up a blade or losing the knife out, a sheath is supposed to have other functions. As a practitioner of Iaido I appreciate the good fit of a sword and saya. The saya (sheath) is a functional part of the sword package. It is the delivery system that you launch the sword from. The sword should exit the saya smoothly, effortlessly and without gouging up the blade. Why do we expect any less from a custom fighting knife and sheath? Your knife must ride comfortably, at the correct angle, and allow an uninterrupted flow of the blade from an at-rest position to fully deployed.

I have some kydex sheaths that require two hands and a major struggle to extricate the knife. This is not only unhandy, it is downright dangerous. Too many times I have seen people nick or cut themselves when tugging on a knife as it suddenly pops free. Then there are the floppy oiled leather sheaths that look like a beached jelly fish once the knife is pulled. You would not accept this in a holster would you? When I designed the Cobra I spent a lot of time cogitating over how I wanted it to be worn and how the sheath should be designed to enhance the knife and getting it into action. The result is illustrated here. It’s very simple. The knife is tensioned by your belt and the fit of the knife in the sheath. There are no straps, snaps, kydex popping etc to fight with. Your little finger indexes in the finger groove and the knife literally flows out of the sheath due to the FBI style cant. There is no “up and out” draw, only a forward movement slick as a striking snake. Yes leather sheaths will wear out over time and kydex may not. It is no big deal to have another sheath made. Spend some time with your favorite knife and see if it draws smoothly and comes out on target. If it does not, don’t buy a new knife just find someone to make you a new sheath that will work, hand in glove, like a katana and saya, or, if you insist on a new knife buy our Cobra.



PS this Puma knife was a radical design for its time and very exciting. But, the sheath will be given the dubious honor in our coming book of the worst sheath ever. It is made of cordura and plastic with the strap already broken from fatigue.

Picking Your Knife

Its no big secret that I like fighting knives. My father, the late Col David Decker, bought my first knives when I was in about 5th or 6th grade. Little did he know that he had ignited a life-long fascination I have yet to become bored with fighting knives. My bedroom in particular is slowly being taken over by fighting knives. Almost in a Harry Potter sort of magical state the floor, tops of chest of drawers, book shelves are all becoming covered over in knives.

People often ask me what type or size of knife they should carry. Well so far I have not found the perfect knife and that is what this short blog is about. Knives are like firearms. Sometimes a 22LR will do the job, other times you want that 44 Magnum. Finding the perfect knife hinges on several things, like:
1) what can you afford
2) what is its intended purpose
3) do you know how to use it
4) is it legal

Number one is something you may not have any control over. If a custom, silver mounted, Damascus Bowie is not in your budget, you just have to live without it. Number two is one of the most important questions. Do you want a knife for opening boxes and mail at work? (God forbid you get caught with that cute little pink Spyderco Delica at work!) Perhaps you just want enough knife to chase away bogeymen on the NYC subway or zombies in the Greyhound station bathroom. Number three, sure you’ve watched Steven Segal or Bernicio del Torro use a knife, but do you know how to use one? You’re a blackbelt in karate and learned a lot of complex disarms and self-defense moves in the dojo. Do you know if they will really work or how to use a knife? Probably not.

Legally, number four, even carrying that medium priced, medium sized folder may get you into a heap of trouble. Is it legal? That sometimes depends on number two. To be realistic almost no knife is one hundred percent legal, because if you use it the wrong way some lawyer will make you pay for it for a long time. What about a serious knife carrier, the insane nut-case with a big bowie knife slung under his arm or stuffed down his pants leg? Oops sorry, that would be me! If your job is facility security or executive protection, if you travel in high risk areas or you carry serious valuables, ie. Cash, Bonds, Jewelry, etc, then your knife requirements are probably going to be very different than Mr. Average Guy.

So begin your quest with number one and go straight to number two. Just a warning, there are no cheap, dependable, fighting knives that are worth carrying. Next, hunt around for a reputable edged weapons school (not a karate or TKD school) or contact us for number three, solid knife instruction. That number four, good luck with that one. I have accumulated knives with blades from under two inches to over fourteen inches and each one was bought for a specific need, imagined or otherwise. Depending on where you travel any of them might be illegal. So focus primarily on number two and be honest about what you really need a knife to do. Always buy the best knife you can afford, even if it hurts a little bit. Once you have it, come by and visit with us, we’ll get your training going in the right direction.

We'll look into each of these parameters in greater details in the upcoming blogs.