Did somebody say, Knife Karate?

This article will serve as an introduction to some edged weapon techniques to be used in Conflict Management.  Why “Conflict Management”?  Well, if you train in “self-defense” you are by definition preparing to defend yourself.  And if you find yourself in a situation in which you’re defending yourself, you’ve already fucked up.  But shit happens.  On the other hand, if you use these techniques offensively, you’re a murderer or an assassin.  So let’s go with “Conflict Management.”

Our scope here is limited to using a concealed carry clip knife, designed for the purposes of maiming or killing another person using certain techniques.  Ya’ll can summon your pineapple pizza fractiousness to debate the best type of edged weapon for EDC.  I have my favorite:  an all black Kershaw Blur Tanto.  But really, almost any knife will do in a pinch.

Bonus points for identifying the firearm...

Learning to attack with an edged weapon is but one tool in your conflict management toolbox.  If you’ve not trained to fight hand-to-hand sans extrinsic tools, I strongly suggest you do so before playing with knives, especially to learn footwork.  My way of thinking about this is thus:  I am the weapon; the knife is a tool that in my hand becomes an extension of myself.

It is important to understand, upon learning any conflict management technique, that in an actual conflict, or even while training, you should not approach the fight as if you’re going to do move x *to* your opponent.  Rather, you and your opponent are going to do move x together, like it’s a dance.  You must connect with your opponent.  If you have trouble quickly connecting with strangers, you might consider taking some public speaking classes.  As Musashi says, “To learn the sword, study the guitar. To learn the fist, study commerce.”  You’ll be a better fighter if you’re a good public speaker.  Think about it.

Some preliminary points (as if there weren’t enough already):

  • If you play with knives, you will cut yourself.  You should always train with an eye to protecting yourself from your own blade.  Your enemy could strike out in such a way as to move your own blade toward you.
  • There is no such thing as a knife fight.  If your enemy in a conflict pulls a knife, do not pull your own.  If you’ve already drawn yours, and your enemy then draws xers, lose yours.  You don’t want to have to keep track of 2 blades in a fight.
  • Legal concern:  Knife wounds are messy, knife attacks are considered very personal, and blades are associated with horror movies.  Those are all things to consider if you need to convince a jury that you were legally defending yourself with an edged weapon.

 

Where to Carry

Concealment gives you an element of surprise, but it also makes drawing your knife more difficult. Practice your draw. Many people carry their blade in their front pants pocket on their weapon hand side. If you sense an imminent conflict, you can put your thumb in your front pocket, using your palm to hide the clip from your enemy, in preparation to draw the knife.

Is that a 30 round clip, or are you just happy to see me?

I carry mine in my weapon hand side back pocket. If you carry a wallet, get in the habit of carrying it on your non-weapon hand side. This gives you the option to draw your knife instead, if your enemy demands money.

If you don’t now “talk with your hands,” start. When in a verbal phase of a conflict, talking with your non-weapon hand is a great distraction from what your weapon hand is doing. …as is raising that hand in supplication to your enemy or to cover a cough. Coughing can also cover the sound of opening your knife. Practice these distractions in your day-to-day.  Catalog your interlocutors’ reactions.

 

Grips

First of all, keep your non-weapon hand between your blade and the rest of yourself, especially to protect your face and neck.  Here are the 4 grips we’ll discuss…

 

Extended/Normal grip, thumb on knurls.

 

Everything after "butt" is bullshit.

Inverted grip, thumb on butt, knife edge out.

 

Extended/Normal grip, forefinger along blade.

 

Inverted grip, thumb on butt, knife edge in. You’re most likely to cut yourself with this one.  You can’t protect your own weapon hand forearm, so only use for a probable major artery strike.

 

Grip Flips

Not recommended during a fight, unless you’ve got space and you’re relaxed.  However, it’s always best to practice at a level *far* beyond what you’ll actually need to use come game time.

 

Extended to inverted.

 

Inverted to extended.  Reverse the above.

 

Inverted, toggle between edge in and out.  Self-explanatory.

 

Targets

So, with the blade, you can hack away at your enemy’s chest like you’re Michael Meyers in Friday the 13th Redux, but the blade could break on, or get stuck in, bones, which is bad, so with a small clip knife I’d stick to soft targets, but you do you.

Ideally, you’ll strike a major artery early in the conflict and “only” have about 15 seconds more to deal with your opponent before xe bleeds unconscious.  The veins take longer, but cutting them will start to weaken your opponent.  The following bleeder targets are preferred because there are no first aid pressure points available to stop their bleeding (don’t judge me)…

  • Carotid Artery, either side of neck.  Pressure could be applied above your cut to stop the bleeding, but that’d cause your enemy to stroke out so… yeah…
  • Subclavian Artery, behind clavicle (collar) bone.
  • Axillary Vein, shoulder between humerus and upper rib cage.
  • Axillary Vein, armpit.
  • Abdominal Aorta Artery, behind intestines and stomach.  You’ve got several inches to push through, or more depending on the glory of xers beer belly.
  • Femoral Artery, inner thigh, the closer to the groin the better.  The lower the cut on the inner thigh, the more opportunity there is to apply a tourniquet above it.
  • Perineum, aka The Taint.  Difficult to get to, but it’s a painful wound and quite the bleeder.

Nothing left to cut.

Chances are, your enemy will have its arms extended to defend itself, so you might have to do some disabling to get to the choice cuts.  There may also be some clothing to slash through, and be prepared to hit bone.  Don’t get distracted by its hands – they’re low-value targets – only strike them as a distraction to move into a more effective position.  The arm targets…

  • Forearm muscles.  Upper arm targets are better, but disabling the forearm muscles and tendons diminishes/removes your enemy’s ability to grab you or make a fist.
  • Bicep.  Diminishes/removes ability to bend arm.
  • Tricep.  Diminishes/removes ability to straighten arm.

Aaannnd… the kidneys are a good pain target to opportunistically jab in passing from behind.

 

Strikes

First of all, keep your non-weapon hand between your blade and the rest of yourself, especially to protect your face and neck.  Bend your knees.  Lead with the hips.  Use the big muscle groups – chest, lat’s, core – more so than the small muscle groups – bi’s & tri’s.  Strike with your whole body, not just your arm.  In the vid below, watch the slowmo and you’ll see the subtle-yet-powerful hip- and legwork that is difficult to see at regular speed.  Notice (listen to) the footwork.  Notice the eyes on target, not on the knife.

Cut *through* the target, do not merely strike the surface. If you’ve ever wondered how people survive all those baton strikes in a pig pile, it’s cuz the cops don’t know this principle. Watch a video and you’ll see; they should be breaking bones. 

The following vid shows various strikes, grips and flips.  Let’s walk through it…  While opening with the gravity assist, I move unhesitatingly into 2 cross slashes at the neck, back and forth, using the extended grip.  From there, a thrust with the forefinger along the blade, ideal for the shoulder axillary.  Then a flip to the inverted grip with a downward neck slash (you can never have enough neck slashes), immediately followed by a hammer strike – neck again here, but also good for a kidney or taint shot.  Finally, an inverted to extended flip (which I fumble with in the slowmo) with an upward thrust to the abdominal aorta or armpit axillary.

 

In Part 2…

We’ll do some vids with a real person and a training knife, and I’ll narrate the moves.  Then, we’ll talk about how to safely train.