Friday, April 13, 2007

That's Not a knife Defense, This is a Knife Defense ...


I happened to catch a show on the Outdoor Channel the other night, in which the subject of knives was discussed -- in the context of when was it okay to bring a knife to a gunfight.

The man showing the knife stuff, a fellow well-known as a blade guy in MA circles, did some okay drills, and some demonstrations of how effective a knife could be in close quarters.

He did a few things against a guy coming in with a blade, using his own training knife, that didn't look terrible.

So far, so good.

Then he did a bare hands defense against an attack, which ended with a takedown, in which the knifer's arm and weapon were unsecured. I watched this, and I was thinking, "Hmm. He doesn't have control of that arm."

Sure enough, the attacker ended up on the floor, but as he went down, his extended arm slid through the defender's grip and the point of the weapon came to rest against the back of the defender's neck ...

Good Lord. What a wonderful way to get yourself killed.

I dunno who shot or produced the sequence, but that scene should have gone away. You don't want to be showing folks stuff that they can see won't work without putting their necks -- literally -- in jeopardy ...


10 comments:

Dan Gambiera said...

Think of it this way. They saw his stuff and got to see a couple of the dangerous weaknesses. If that hadn't been in there they might have relied on it.

Tiel Aisha Ansari said...

Nonono. That's a cutting board. This is a knife block.

Steve Perry said...

Actually, it's a portable butcher's block, and the comment implied is that if you did what this guy demonstrated, you'd get butchered ...

But I like your comment, which was more cleaver, uh, I mean, clever than mine ...

Bobbe Edmonds said...

What's the point of this? Can we pierce the veil here? Steve's post is clearly on the cutting edge of knifecraft, and his insights stab to the heart of the matter. Tiel, I found your response both sharp and penetrating. I think I got the general thrust of what you are trying to say.

Steve Perry said...

All that Nazi beer has made you dull, Kid ...

Bobbe Edmonds said...

Nazi Beer?!!?

Since when was Belgium the command center of the Third Reich??!?

Jeez Steve, yer gonna have me shooting Ghandi next...

Steve Perry said...

Remember what Santayana said?

No, probably not ...

The Nazis rolled over Belgium before the U.S. entered the war, and began using the existing gun factories to make all kinds of weaponry. The Browning High Power pistol, assorted machineguns, like that.

Beer, too,, and after they lost the war, they just kept up with the beer. Secretly, of course, so nobody would know ...

Bobbe Edmonds said...

"Music is essentially useless, as life is"

Probably, that's not the quote you were thinking of, but I wanted to show you the alternative view of the example you're using.

And I DO know about Santayana. Difficult to REMEMBER him, since he died almost 20 years before my dad even looked at mom and said "Now I want me some 'o THAT!" Sorry, I was born in the age where fire came from matches, not Odin.

And Belgium is a lot like France...They're sorry for the whole swastika thing, they were with us in spirit, bygones & etcetera.

You should look at it as a positive thing, alot of good came out of Belgium after WWII: Browning STILL makes a quality firearms (I owned a Browning goldtrigger 16-gauge in my teens & got a lot of hunting in with it) The beer is top-quality (not that YOU would know) and they have fantastic cuisine.

It's not fried, so that would be a minus in your book, I guess...

Bobbe Edmonds said...

I wasn't an alcoholic before I met you, Steve...

Steve Perry said...

Yes, I suppose that's true -- I've given you cause enough to turn to the bottle. Mea culpa ...