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Post by howler on Jan 10, 2017 21:05:35 GMT
It isn't really pointless, because you have to start somewhere and you can't have a bunch of people that walked off the street diving behind cover and blasting away while running and so forth or you're going to get people hurt / killed. There's always the chance something takes you out, life is uncertain. You can improve your chances with better situational awareness, not just reading emotions and attitudes but avoiding potential ambush spots, being able to locate cover / concealment, and if the environment is appropriate getting your weapon ready for draw (undoing clasps, getting clothes or whatever out of the way) so you can get to it quicker if you need it. You don't need a sixth sense to walk a little further away from the wall so you don't get blindsided at the corner. From The Sixth Sense..."I see dead bears".
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Post by howler on Jan 10, 2017 21:08:23 GMT
I posed the question of what "tiny" meant but it occurs to me to ask what "obsessed" might include, too. Nobody on this forum knows what "obsessed" means regarding sharp pointy stuff because we are ALL OBSESSED.
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Post by howler on Jan 10, 2017 21:13:50 GMT
It's interesting to see in the sources in Europe at least that self defense knives were quite large by modern standards. The "peasant protector" messers, the rondels, etc all had enough steel to penetrate to the heart and lung from any angle. Of course a blade this large couldn't be easily concealed and opened you up to defensive techniques that used the length against you. It may be that people attacked when they wanted to KILL you, not merely wound. So a slash wasn't seen as sufficient. This makes sense given that "self defense" was basically murdering the guy that started it. So it was kill or be killed. Also, the clothing may have had better anti-slash protection. Layered linen garments and wool are much harder to slash through than polly or cotton. I remember seeing a very stylish tight-fitting Renaissance jacket that was made of something like 20 or more layers of linen! Someone was worried about blades. But you'd never know it was armor just looking at it. Maybe that's why they favored powerful ice-pick style attacks. To drive through any secret armor into paydirt and kill as quickly as possible. It could also argue that the small slashing blades we use today are more about the *idea* of cutting a person than actually cutting the person. Even criminals are usually more interested in threatening or hurting than actually killing. Good post, and questions. Most people today (particularly in warmer environments) wear light clothing. And regarding blades, people REALLY don't want to get cut and disfigured, let alone a lethal stab. I mean, who wants a diagonal (to the bone) slash across the face, taking one of your eyes out in the process.
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Post by Cosmoline on Jan 11, 2017 1:17:30 GMT
Absolutely. It's also worth remembering that the conventional wisdom about how medieval people were terrified of infected wounds is largely bunk. They were sure terrified of wounds piercing into the torso, but anyone surviving to adulthood had to have a pretty darn good immune system. I remember one skull they found from the War of the Roses period that showed a healed sword cut that had gone through the man's face and cut his jaw in half! He died decades later of arrow wounds apparently.
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Post by howler on Jan 11, 2017 3:16:26 GMT
Absolutely. It's also worth remembering that the conventional wisdom about how medieval people were terrified of infected wounds is largely bunk. They were sure terrified of wounds piercing into the torso, but anyone surviving to adulthood had to have a pretty darn good immune system. I remember one skull they found from the War of the Roses period that showed a healed sword cut that had gone through the man's face and cut his jaw in half! He died decades later of arrow wounds apparently. No antibiotics was a bummer for some for sure, but you would indeed also have a heartier immune system. That dude sure lead a "dynamic" (put kindly for VIOLENT) lifestyle. Such injury, yet undone by arrows decades later.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2017 0:51:23 GMT
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Post by legacyofthesword on Jan 13, 2017 1:35:49 GMT
Ah yes... that's a good one edelweiss - thank you.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2017 4:45:34 GMT
A reason I will always remember that is a fairly recent chapter in my life experiencing medihoney daily for six months. The stuff works!
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Post by bluetrain on Feb 15, 2017 12:29:54 GMT
The best line I have read anywhere recently is "seems just like yesterday."
Although I've never been in a knife fight and probably never will, knives apparently still are considered combat weapons in the military, either as such or in the form of a bayonet. What is worth noting, though, is that practically all of them in use today are just about the same size. The classic Marine Corps Ka-Bar knife is typical of an issue military knife. Most seem to have a blade of six or seven inches. That isn't a small knife but none could be called a Bowie, with only one or two exceptions. The exceptions are supposedly not intended as combat knives but as survival knives. Even WWI trench knives were about the same size, though blade designs differed and some were home-made. But none of those would probably be thought of as small knives.
A paring knife just like you have at home in the kitchen would probably be a good last-ditch fighting knive, except that, chances are, the blade would prove to be a little on the weak side. But they can be sharp, which leads to another issue. How big does a knife need to be to be effect? Not good, just effective. A doctor uses a knife with a blade all of about an inch and a half long. Useful for what he does but it would be ineffective in a fight, I think. The classic knife fighting weapon is not a knife anyway but a straight razor, all of four inches long. You could probably kill a man with a razor if you had an ordinary hunting knife before he could kill you, all other things being equal (though they rarely are) but you'd come away looking like you'd been attacked by a mountain lion.
It does raise the question if there is any point to even having a knife with a decent (adequate, effective, etc.) fighting capability, especially a smallish knife. I imagine the same questions might be asked about really small pistols, like derringers or .22 and .25 automatics. For whatever they're worth, all of these things have proved to be very popular over the years. Perhaps they should be seen as surprise weapons.
Based on my own experiences, I'd say that cuts from small blades and impacts from rocks will not be a fight stopper from a physiological point of view. From a psychological point of view, it's impossible to predict. But a penetrating wound (stab wound) is something else, depending a great deal on where it is made. So, I'd say that the knife, whatever it is, has to have a stabbing capability, which a straight razor doesn't have. I'd even say that was so important as to make the cutting ability unimportant for fighting. This leads me to believe that a knife along the lines of a sgian dubh would be the best little knife to carry for fighting. And sure enough, there are lots and lots to choose from. No doubt Cold Steel has one. There are also some very similiar small hunting knives like that, too, usually with a thicker handle and a better sheath.
I still want a knife like Jungle Jim carried, the one he used to kill crocodiles. Oh, I know that's pure Hollywood and besides, they were really alligators.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Feb 15, 2017 16:05:40 GMT
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Post by joeybones on Jun 25, 2017 11:56:09 GMT
In NJ we have very vague knife laws. It is not illegal to carry a knife but you must have an explainable lawful purpose as to why you have one should you be questioned by a police officer.
Self Defense is the last thing you want to come out of your mouth. That statement indicates your intent is to use the knife as a weapon. Carrying a concealed weapon without a permit in NJ (which no one can obtain) is illegal.
People have been arrested and prosecuted for carrying Exacto knives, box cutters or regular pocket knives.
And if they can possible flick your blade open using centrifugal force , you get arrested for carrying an illegal weapon. NJ does not allow knives that can be opened by push of a button , centrifugal force or gravity .
NJ has many wierd gun and knife laws, in my town it's illegal for a store to sell toy guns. It's not enforced , but it is there.
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Post by bluetrain on Jun 25, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
According to one source, New Jersey falls somewhere below the middle in murder rates per 100,000 people. Alaska's murder rate is almost twice as high. One wouldn't guess that based on the low population in Alaska. In any case, the rate for New Jersey was 4.1 per 100,000, which doesn't sound very high. I assume that's per year. Assuming the same rate per year, which never occurs, your chances of being murdered in New Jersey in 60 years is 246 in 100,000, still not very high. In fact, it isn't very high anywhere. The incident rate for all violent crime is much higher, though.
According to the FBI, about 11.5% of murders are committed with knives or bladed weapons.
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Post by howler on Jun 26, 2017 7:36:00 GMT
In NJ we have very vague knife laws. It is not illegal to carry a knife but you must have an explainable lawful purpose as to why you have one should you be questioned by a police officer. Self Defense is the last thing you want to come out of your mouth. That statement indicates your intent is to use the knife as a weapon. Carrying a concealed weapon without a permit in NJ (which no one can obtain) is illegal. People have been arrested and prosecuted for carrying Exacto knives, box cutters or regular pocket knives. And if they can possible flick your blade open using centrifugal force , you get arrested for carrying an illegal weapon. NJ does not allow knives that can be opened by push of a button , centrifugal force or gravity . NJ has many wierd gun and knife laws, in my town it's illegal for a store to sell toy guns. It's not enforced , but it is there. Yup, you never say self defense. It is just a tool...self defense was the LAST thing on your mind. He came at me...and I was in fear of my life.
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Post by kalkikrosah on Sept 30, 2017 21:37:22 GMT
I like smaller knives for the maneuverability. In the kitchen I prefer to use this dinky 2.5" stainless steel knife for cutting up vegetables and thinner pieces of meat. You can make more precise cuts around bone and other similar tasks a whole lot easier with a smaller knife. And for self defense a smaller knife is more in line with what you would want to do because speed is king in a fight. You want something large enough to hurt them and make a fairly deep cut and small enough that you don't actually hit any major organs and actually kill them.
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Post by bluetrain on Oct 15, 2017 11:28:17 GMT
Someone said that as guns got better, knives got smaller, which sounds logical. Coincidentally, there are a lot of small handguns available now but that's actually been the case since at least the 18th century. But they certainly haven't disappeared, have they?
I rarely carry a pocket knife, partly because I don't like carrying things in my pockets, and partly because I've always had trouble keeping track of them. I invariably have one around somewhere when I'm in the woods and I do go to the woods fairly often. Yet I rarely seem to use them. I do try to seem them as tools rather than weapons but for everyday carry just about anywhere, I sometimes wonder if a hammer might find more uses. I have some small hammers, too, by the way.
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Ifrit
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Post by Ifrit on Oct 23, 2017 8:56:22 GMT
I recently obtained a 4" ti-lite, from cold steel. My 6" is so much more lethal and way cooler, but this small version is so compact that its ability to stealth is super cool. I really dig this version of the knife, just for stealth and the ease I would have hiding it in my sock or pocket. My 6" is heavy and feels like it wants to tear a hole in my pocket, but this 4" one doesnt have that same feel. Would be substantial for self defense
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