has anyone defended themselves with a knife?

[rummy]

never had to draw, thankfully. had a situation years ago where i could have, but i was too busy trying to keep him off balance and didnt even remember that i had a knife.

this may be an option if you want to carry a concealed "fixed" blade, but dont want to fun afoul of the law.

I would highly recommend getting a couple of video from james keating - he is pretty much the go to guy for folder self defense.

i took a sayoc kali on weekends a few years back - the targeting and attack cycles were impressive to say the least and i would also recommend learning them just as a baseline reference. there is something to be said about the "singer sewing machine" style of knife usage, but a little bio-mechanical and vascular targeting skills would be good to know.

 

[sgt23preston]

Sgt Preston here...

I carry a Kershaw pocket folder clipped to my right front pants pocket...

The blade is only 3" long & it's half serrated...

Yes it's a spring assisted open type & a liner lock to make sure it stays open...

I'm a firm believer in situational awareness...

I've moved my knife to the palm of my hand many times...

I've moved my knife to the open (ready) position a few times...

I've honestly never had to use it...

BUT I'm fully ready to use it even to kill to stay alive...

I'd go directly to their Eye or Jugular Vein if nothing else worked...

Marines do NOT make good or easy victims...

 

[coopermania]

I've never used a knife to defend myself, but, I've had a 'pig sticker' pulled on me, a time or two.

In the '70s, I used to frequent a nightclub in College Park.
I was there one evening with a friend, when a drunk guy started yelling at a young lady, then slapped her.

My friend and I got to her, before the bouncer did.
My friend grabbed the girl and got her away from this guy, and I went for the drunk.
He shoved me and drew a 'butterfly' knife.
Before I could react, he came at me, and swung that knife.
I backed up and he stuck the knife into my right arm, just above the elbow.
The blade went in and hit bone.
When he pulled the knife out, blood started flowing. It hurt like crap.

He stopped and just stood there, watching me. That's when I kicked him in the groin, and knocked him to the ground.
The bouncers got him out of the nightclub, he was arrested, and the ambulance showed up.

I got patched up, and my friend wound up marrying that gorgeous brunette almost a year later!!!

My Mom made us promise we would NOT hang around The Starlight Inn.
My brother and I would tell her we were going to Ledo's.

 

[johnnyb2]

Same thoughts

I thought I was going to have to at a lamb of god concert at rams head live a few years back. I was standing at the urinal taking a piss and a guy seemed to have rushed at me while my back was turned. I saw him because I was looking over my shoulder and pulled my Kershaw out. turns out the guy was really drunk and actually fell over almost running into me. his friend apologized for him and all was fine... scary though to think of someone attacking you at a moment when you cant defend yourself.

I can tell you, there has been a time or two, when I had the same thought with my back turned. It would actually be a pretty good time to take someone by surprise. Since I have thought about it, when I am in there, one hand is....well....busy , while the other is in my pocket on my EDC....hahahahah never actually discussed this b4

 

[johnnyb2]

folder size

You can carry any folder in or out of your pocket.

Interesting, I have always thought that in Maryland, your pocket knife/folder, had to have a blade UNDER 4". Not sure where I found this, but for over 40 yrs has been my belief. Would be nice to KNOW for sure that I was wrong

 

[mr phil]

Sgt Preston here...

I carry a Kershaw pocket folder clipped to my right front pants pocket...

The blade is only 3" long & it's half serrated...

Yes it's a spring assisted open type & a liner lock to make sure it stays open...

I'm a firm believer in situational awareness...

I've moved my knife to the palm of my hand many times...

I've moved my knife to the open (ready) position a few times...

I've honestly never had to use it...

BUT I'm fully ready to use it even to kill to stay alive...

I'd go directly to their Eye or Jugular Vein if nothing else worked...

Marines do NOT make good or easy victims...

I have carried the Kershaw Ken Onion spring blade for ten years. Lifetime guarantee. They sent me a pack of replacement springs.
I would much rather CUT than BE CUT. Never had too and hope that I never do. But God help the idiot that makes me use it. But of course in Maryland I will end up being the bad guy.

 

[dogboy]

Interesting, I have always thought that in Maryland, your pocket knife/folder, had to have a blade UNDER 4". Not sure where I found this, but for over 40 yrs has been my belief. Would be nice to KNOW for sure that I was wrong

A quick search turned up this. Y can do more searches from the link and check for yourself.
https://web.lexisnexis.com/research...k-zSkAb&_md5=1f88276705a44bee7ccd8f0646c97566

I have carried the Kershaw Ken Onion spring blade for ten years. Lifetime guarantee. They sent me a pack of replacement springs.
I would much rather CUT than BE CUT. Never had too and hope that I never do. But God help the idiot that makes me use it. But of course in Maryland I will end up being the bad guy.

I live in MD and believe in personal responsibility and self-defense. I've long since accepted that I am a bad guy.

 

[Evil Twin]

Spyderco originally produced the ["White Hat"] Civilian/Matriarch for a Federal LE agency in which undercover LEOs could not carry firearms but could carry knives. At the time, it was one of only a few folding knives (and Spyderco's first) that were knives made to be used as a weapon and only as a weapon. The blade is made specifically to cut clothing including thick leather jackets/belts, extend reach further than a straight blade, allow limb manipulation/pain compliance through hooking, enable the use of 'prying' with the tip around tendons/eye socket/groin, and the tip is designed to 'bury' as it cuts to inflict a deeper, nastier wound that is much harder for an assailant to defend against and minimize damage once that tip makes contact with bad guy. There is no such thing as a "minor" cut with a Civilian, and there's no escaping the blade once it crosses over with the bad guy's limbs. It's IMO one of the most proven designs in a knife of that size for explicit usage as a weapon of self-defense. In the real world, the knife performs incredibly well and it does everything it is designed to do flawlessly. The Waved Matriarch, which was produced with the Emerson Wave, further improves upon the design giving the knife even faster deployment with all sorts of new carry options such as self-opening sheaths. IMHO someone's probability of survival increases a lot with that sort of knife and relevant information on correct usage...which is probably why so many LEOs (whom I presume can easily be targeted due to their work) carry one on a neck sheath 24-7-365.

I forgot to come back to this thread to mention it, but thanks to you, NickZac, I bought a Matriarch 2 with the Emerson opening device at the big Oaks show a few weeks ago. It's a pretty nasty looking blade, and I'm sure it would do far more damage than most blades. Thanks for the great review, and even better advice.

 

[cb51]

I forgot to come back to this thread to mention it, but thanks to you, NickZac, I bought a Matriarch 2 with the Emerson opening device at the big Oaks show a few weeks ago. It's a pretty nasty looking blade, and I'm sure it would do far more damage than most blades. Thanks for the great review, and even better advice.

Man, use that on someone justified or not, and make sure you have everything in your wife's name. In the civil suit after, they will make you look like Freddy Kruger and Hanibal Lechter all rolled into one.

We live in an insane time. Anything out of the very ordinary looking, is going to go very much against you. Even if you beat the criminal court and the politically aspiring assistant D.A., the civil trial will be tougher. Apyderco doesn't care what happens to you after they get your money for these Hollyweird looking weapons. They won't be in court with you. But the lawyer will have his hand on your bank accout.

 

[Indiana Jones]

Never had to use it but Ive definitely been ready to against a few loose dogs.


Sent from the Bantu Wind using Tapatalk.

 

[dogboy]

Man, use that on someone justified or not, and make sure you have everything in your wife's name. In the civil suit after, they will make you look like Freddy Kruger and Hanibal Lechter all rolled into one.

We live in an insane time. Anything out of the very ordinary looking, is going to go very much against you. Even if you beat the criminal court and the politically aspiring assistant D.A., the civil trial will be tougher. Apyderco doesn't care what happens to you after they get your money for these Hollyweird looking weapons. They won't be in court with you. But the lawyer will have his hand on your bank accout.

So.... You're saying you'd prefer the alternative? Not challenging. Asking. If it comes to that point, you're saying you'd prefer another option. What is that option? I would prefer to use the best tool in that final option. If this isn't it, please tell me what is, that is as effective and yet exposes you to less civil court liability? I'm all ears (or in this case eyes). Something that is legal to carry in MD, gives you the best possibility of surviving, yet exposes you to less civil liability. Please tell me. I really want to know.

 

[Roneut]

Man, use that on someone justified or not, and make sure you have everything in your wife's name. In the civil suit after, they will make you look like Freddy Kruger and Hanibal Lechter all rolled into one.

We live in an insane time. Anything out of the very ordinary looking, is going to go very much against you. Even if you beat the criminal court and the politically aspiring assistant D.A., the civil trial will be tougher. Apyderco doesn't care what happens to you after they get your money for these Hollyweird looking weapons. They won't be in court with you. But the lawyer will have his hand on your bank accout.

I've not been able to support this conclusion with the caselaw I have read over the past 10 years. I admit one limitation is that knives appear very rarely in cases where self-defense is raised by the defendant. But in general the appearance or type of knife never appears as a factor. The transcripts only describe it as "a butcher knife," "A butter knife," "a pocket knife" or "a penknife."

Best example I know of is In Re Julianna, even though it was a case that led to a Murder 2 conviction. This was a case where two high-school girls went at it during a football game. The weapon was a simple 4" folder of no specific description. The judge's long speech about why she was not acting in self-defense makes it clear that it was her actions, not her weapon, that made her guilty. While the victim was the initiator of violence and physically larger, Julianna was more than willing to "throw down" and ignored a dozen reasonable alternatives and avenues of escape due to her own aggressive bravado, suddenly stabbing the victim in the heart out of anger in the midst of what was essentially a "slap fight" between teenage girls, and bragged afterwards "I stabbed the fat bitch." Actions, not weapon.

 

[Haides]

I forgot to come back to this thread to mention it, but thanks to you, NickZac, I bought a Matriarch 2 with the Emerson opening device at the big Oaks show a few weeks ago. It's a pretty nasty looking blade, and I'm sure it would do far more damage than most blades. Thanks for the great review, and even better advice.

This must be one of those evil "assault knives" I've been hearing so much about. The handle is even black.

 

[cb51]

So.... You're saying you'd prefer the alternative? Not challenging. Asking. If it comes to that point, you're saying you'd prefer another option. What is that option? I would prefer to use the best tool in that final option. If this isn't it, please tell me what is, that is as effective and yet exposes you to less civil court liability? I'm all ears (or in this case eyes). Something that is legal to carry in MD, gives you the best possibility of surviving, yet exposes you to less civil liability. Please tell me. I really want to know.

Yeah, I'd prefer any alternative to a knife, especially one that looks like something out of a Hollyweird slasher movie. Not good for the jury to see. I love knives as a tool for cutting what needs to be cut, but for the subject of defense, I'd rather have any kind of stick in hand. 34 inches of hickory or ironwood beats any knife if you halfway know what you're doing. Cane/walking stick, pool stick, maglight flashlight, bar stool, chair, lamp, cut off piece of mop handle or shovel handle, jack handle, large wrench, anything that can block and let you retreat from the knife. There's no good way to deal with a knife with another knife that does not include you getting sliced and diced as well. Do you really want to go one on one with some crackhead or methhead swinging a blade?

The defense against a knife is stay the heck away from it while blocking and retreating away from it. Plus to defend against a knife means you have to have a second or two to pull and open it. Not likely if the criminal has done his job right, plus the criminals almost always work in twos and three's. One to to the deed and another as lookout and backup. Do you think you are up to fighting two on one with a knife???

Do yourself a favor and get training in sticks. Longer reach, can be carried anywhere, even on airplanes. And if you don't make it an 'old fogy' cane, it won't look like you're impaired. On the street, a rough stick is sending a different message to the street punks. And it's already right there in your hand ready to go.

A knife is nice to open the UPS package, or clean that fish for dinner, but they suck for defense.

I was attending group therapy at the V.A. hospital down in D.C for some PTS issues, and most of the guys and two women in the group were residents of some of the not so nice areas of D.C. like Irving street, and southeast. I noticed most of the guys had a very stout rough walking stick with them, in spite of them not really needing a cane. After one season and having some coffee we got in a conversation about the walking sticks, and the one big guy who looked like actor Forest Witicker, told me that it was for the "mean streets". It was a common thing for them to carry anything from a nice waling stick with african art carving to what looked like a piece of oak tree limb just cut off to the right length. They made no bones about it being for self defense. Kind of like sending the message; yeah, you may try to get my wallet, but that's gonna be after the fight. For the people actually living in what I'd call a combat zone, the stick was the preferred means of dealing with knife carrying street punks, who are basically cowardly little sheets.

I know from my own childhood growing up in D.C., that back then the knife was considered by most of the men to be a punks weapon. This was the 1950's, and the neighborhood we lived in was not the best. Going out at night, the menfolk just carried some kind of club. My own dad had a short length of shovel handle that he carried for walking his sister, my aunt, home at night to the other apartment building that was on the other side of the alley in back. Blackjacks were popular back then as well. I guess they weren't illegal then. But it was very common to see someone out for a walk, just carrying a stick of some sort, and it was understood what it was for.

Go with some sort of stick, and keep the knives for fish and game use. Or opening the UPS box.

 

[willy]

is that a blackthorn in there?

 

[cb51]

is that a blackthorn in there?

There are two blackthorns in there. The black one was brought back from England in 1982, and the brown knobby one on the left was bought in a little shop in Dublin. The finish is an oil finish, and it was from a rack of sticks the owner called fighting sticks. Sticks that were made for self defense and fighting bouts of organized Irish stick fighting events. It gets oiled monthly. It's my favorite "downtown" stick.

 

[cb51]

Best example I know of is In Re Julianna, even though it was a case that led to a Murder 2 conviction. This was a case where two high-school girls went at it during a football game. The weapon was a simple 4" folder of no specific description. The judge's long speech about why she was not acting in self-defense makes it clear that it was her actions, not her weapon, that made her guilty. While the victim was the initiator of violence and physically larger, Julianna was more than willing to "throw down" and ignored a dozen reasonable alternatives and avenues of escape due to her own aggressive bravado, suddenly stabbing the victim in the heart out of anger in the midst of what was essentially a "slap fight" between teenage girls, and bragged afterwards "I stabbed the fat bitch." Actions, not weapon.

I hope you really believe that, because I don't think you are keeping in mind where we live. This is Gansler land. The place where they put a nitwit like O'Malley in the big office. Screaming meemie liberal land. You use that Spyderco on someone, and the politically aspiring assistant to the assistant DA will hold it up in front of the jury and paint you with a very broad brush as a would be Hanibal Lechter. He may even have a screen shot of Anthony Hpokins with one. By the time he's done with the cheese head liberal jury, you'll be the next worst thing to Freddy Kruger. In court, appearances are everything. If you do squeak by in the criminal trial, you now have the wrongful death/injury suit brought by the family of the perp. They wil paint him as a poor socio economically deprived kid who didn't really know what he was doing because he ate lead paint when he was a baby.

You really want to risk all you have in a Maryland jury with an outlandish looking weapon? If so, make sure everything you own is in your wife's name.

Never use anything that you cannot explain as having a real world use that is innocent in itself. A Maglight is a flashlight, and a stout walking stick is because an old sports injury to your back has been bothering you. If you bash the liven' daylights our of some creep, when the cops come just remember to call the stick your 'cane. It's a cane, and you need it to help you walk.

Save the knife for cleaning the big rockfish out of the bay for dinner.

 

[dogboy]

....
I love knives as a tool for cutting what needs to be cut, but for the subject of defense, I'd rather have any kind of stick in hand. 34 inches of hickory or ironwood beats any knife if you halfway know what you're doing. ...

...Do yourself a favor and get training in sticks. Longer reach, can be carried anywhere, even on airplanes. And if you don't make it an 'old fogy' cane, it won't look like you're impaired. On the street, a rough stick is sending a different message to the street punks. And it's already right there in your hand ready to go. ...

... Go with some sort of stick, and keep the knives for fish and game use. Or opening the UPS box.

Thanks CB51. I somewhat suspected it might be some sort of stick or club you would prefer, but wanted to get the full input from you. I appreciate it.

When you say "training in sticks," to what type of training are you referring? Stick fighting? One of the So. American or Pacific island type arts? Or are you just talking about the typical stick manipulation as is taught in various Asian martial arts (Karate, Tae Kwon Do, etc.)? I actually have some rudimentary "training," if you could call it that, in bo staff. And even before that, I have been carrying a cane-length of the old Whistle brand (?) hickory walking stick in my Jeep, for if I need to stop somewhere that I don't like. Plus, I DO actually have a documented bad knee that sometimes "acts up," and at least once I actually needed that stick because I broke my toe while sparring and could barely put weight on it to get home.

Also have a couple more improvised impact-type tools in the Jeep that could make nasty surprises.

So I've kinda got the stick "acquisition" taken care of. Would be interested in hearing your thoughts on actual training, though.

 

[Yellowhand]

I was 16 and walking home from Drive-Rite where I was learning to drive to get my license. Two bullies, whom I attended school with, stepped out of the woods and impeded my path and proceeded to tell me they were going to kick my ass. I pulled my pocket knife, opened it up and proceeded to advance while warning them they were both about to start bleeding. They let me pass thus keeping their bodily fluids safely contained in the sacks they wore. I was never threatened with an ass kicking again by anyone from school through to graduation. I have carried a knife since I was 5 years old. Usually I would have taken on 2 at a time with just fists but these boys had me in weight and height and needed a lesson in civility/consequences.

 

[Second Amendment]

Never had to use it but Ive definitely been ready to against a few loose dogs.


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Funny you should mention defense against dogs. The very reason I started carrying a knife was because I was attacked by a German Shepard while jogging (actually walking at that time).