How big is it?

IT’S NOT HOW BIG IT IS, IT’S HOW YOU USE IT!

copyright 1994 Chas Clements

Her finger knives flayed his face open, arteries in his neck spewed blood into his armor. As he stumbled, blinded, he wondered how he had made such an easy kill for her. He died with the question unanswered, his great sword still clutched in his hand.

The little man capered and danced about; now shielding behind the blade, now reaching with a slash that would fell cane by the bunch, now pounding with the butt of the big knife he knows so well- he sees the man before him as just another piece of work in the fields he has toiled in daily for thirty years.

As his opponent reached for the throat, he pulled the little knife from behind his cummerbund and slashed the offending hand, the serrated edge biting through the motorcycle glove before rendering the hand useless. He turned to pop both tires before driving away from the thug who now had something useful to do with the rest of his night.

Each story illustrates that it isn’t the knife, but the style that prevails. We tend to think in terms of a ‘preferred’ size or style of knife for ourselves, each writer or teacher has a knife which is best for his style. But what can happen if that particular knife is not available, or not convenient to the situation or dress styling? Can we accomodate the challenge of fighting for our lives without ‘Ol Betsy’ riding in her usual place on the web gear? Can we use the battlefield pick-up or reverse the weapon carried by the enemy?

Lest you lose yourselves in pointless anticipation, let me now answer that question with a resounding; Yes !!

The secret with a large knife is to ‘ride’ the weight. Make gravity work for you by moving the inertia of the knife with the least amount of ‘suddenness’. Overcoming the weight of the knife by accepting the force in your wrist will get you killed. Learn to turn the direction of the knife by dropping the weight straight down through the point and rotating the axis of the blade to the new direction. Set the point and move your body around behind it,stay behind the edge, keeping the knife between you and the opponent.

Use two hands, support the blade with your foot or with your torso. Turn the flat of the blade to your opponent as a shield and make your attack with the butt end of the weapon- pound through his defenses with the weight and inertia. By and large, the large knife is best for fighting, all other choices are a compromise.

The knife of seven or eight inches in the blade is a utility knife in whatever dress, and styles are taught in all schools. This is the knife that you most probably have with you; it is your work knife, kitchen tool, tool-box blade. Think of it as your claw, the point of the spear made by your arm, the tip of your sword.

The small knife is a compromise of stealth, fashion or utility. A small knife requires getting close to the opponent and certifies that one cut is not going to end the fight. The secret of the small knife is sharpness and conceptualizing the knife as a fighting spike. The small knife must fit the hand/fist closely (more so than the larger knives) and the weight in the handle.

The styling doesn’t change much whether the knife is thin and light or dense and weighty because the combative distance hasn’t changed. The ideas of distraction, decoying, multiple cuts and stabs, piercing the bone, precision targeting of weak points. Small attention getting cuts, a plant with the blade and then leaving the knife in the body and moving the body to produce a larger wound channel.

If the blade is your chosen weapon, familiarize yourself with all sizes and styles. Each style of knife has its own secrets and applications but your body styling is what is going to get you home. Trust your training and your teachers. Do your style, it was conserved for you by men who gave their lives to formulate it.