Grayman Stabber

“And now for something completely different,” as the Monty Python skit goes. Yes part of my degeneracy I blame squarely on the crew of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. But on a more serious note, this blog is truly about something different, a knife called the “Monkton Church Key.”

A few blogs back I said I was in line to get one of these distinctive push daggers from Mike of Grayman Knives. (Page back a few blogs for my review of his 8” Kordofan knife.) This stout stabber is made from ¼ inch thick steel and micarta®. That’s it, nothing especially exotic except the design. It came neatly tucked into one of Grayman’s plastic-lined nylon sheaths. The Molle compatible sheath fairly swallows up this nasty bit of self-defence knife and it would take up very little room on your pack or rucksack. With this novel design you have the option of a choked up grip or an extended grip. Grasping it by the very end you are provided with a substantial cross guard. The beauty of a push dagger design is that you never have to worry about your hand sliding onto the blade. With the Grayman design you never have to worry about your attacker’s knife sliding up your blade and smashing into the fingers of your knife hand. If you want a fuller, firmer grip, then you can choke up on the handle and wrap your fingers around the forward guard.

The black coated blade is symmetrically double ground in a chisel profile. Yes the back of the blade is perfectly flat. This does not reduce the penetrating power in any way. The one unique thing about a push dagger (that few people talk about) is the havoc it can inflict by stabbing in, twisting it like a door knob, and withdrawing it. The average knife handle does not give you the leverage to do this. For those of you who regularly practice “comma cuts” you will immediately see the advantage to this handle configuration. It is like turning a key in a lock. Mike says the name came from the habit of British Intelligence people training at Fort Monkton carrying “church keys” as a backup, last ditch, weapon. (It would also prove handy today to open your Boddington, or Guinness beer.) Most people today would not recognize church key as referring to a bottle opener. It doesn’t take too much imagination to see that if you grind the end off of one of these bottle openers a covert weapon reveals itself.

Like all Grayman Knives this bit of steel appears to be indestructible and deadly efficient. The price is well within the reach of even the greenest recruit. If you want a sturdy backup weapon you couldn’t do any better than to pick up one of these church keys. Now all I have to do is figure out where to add mine to my Eberlestock™ pack. Thanks Mike. (Please excuse my poor photos.) By the way, this is a stabber, do not expect it to have a fine edge for slicing. A double-edged blade this thick by nature cannot be sharpened to a high degree.
http://www.graymanknives.com/

Coming soon! A review of a rare handmade reproduction of William E. Fairbairn’s last known fighting knife, the Cobra.

Sheng Tung, Chi Hsi

"Sheng Tung, Chi Hsi:" Uproar in the East Strike in the West.
Sun Tzu

Old Sun Tzu knew a thing or two about strategy. His “The Art of War” is one of the most read texts on combat strategy and like Musashi’s famous “Book of Five Rings” has been widely used for many applications, from one-on-one combat, to corporate sales strategy.

This particular saying, "Sheng Tung, Chi Hsi", popped up while I was reading the late Che Guevarra’s manual on Guerilla warfare. Now Che’ is quite popular with today’s youth, many of whom have no real idea who he was. He does make for great T-shirt graphics. But I come not to praise Che’, but to bury him. Well not exactly that either.

Che’ (and Sun Tzu) recognized the value of deception, the art of the feint, and that is what I really want to talk about. When you are outgunned, literally or figuratively, you may find a little deception extremely valuable. A small sleight of hand can gain you vital time or distance. Misdirection and distraction are also tools of the professional fighter. When you are practicing a kata or you are doing some sparring see how you can take advantage of these tools. Where are the logical points that you can break the pattern or disrupt the form or flow to create an opening for your true attack? Mao Tse Tung in his manifesto on Guerilla war said that the three ingredients to successfully fighting an asymmetrical war were: time, space, and will. All of these men knew the art of fighting “small” wars required the creative use of deception to gain time or space.

For a more concrete example in knife work, thrust right then cut left. Begin an assault with a large movement and stop. Just stop! Then continue onward in the same direction or a different direction at a different speed. Change your timing and break the rhythm. Cut high then drop to a low squat and thrust. Attack straight in and rotate around your opponent’s block. There are hundreds of ways to employ deception and you should explore as many as possible. Look one way cut another. The only restriction is they must work at least ONCE. They may not work a second time because your opponent/training partner will be ready for them. Abide by Musashi’s sage advice and never try the same technique three times. When finished our new book, “When Two Tigers Fight,” will talk in depth about the art of deception and sleight of hand. In the mean time get creative but do not make a game of it. Keep an eye to the reality of mortal combat. Take a bit of advice and be wary of the opponent who is not moved by your initial feints, he may be more skilled than you have reckoned.

Crying Fraud!

A quick thought for the day. I see everyone in the Government is up in arms about the fraud at Goldman Sachs. The Feds are waggling a sanctimonious scolding finger at Wall street. I have paid Social Scurity Taxes for 46 years. Can anyone in Washington tell me where my money has gone???