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An old fashioned rag mop.

3 (13.6%)

A pool cue.

8 (36.4%)

A large book.

0 (0%)

Your own knife.

4 (18.2%)

A holstered handgun but with your assailant now within twenty feet of you.

7 (31.8%)

Total Members Voted: 21

Voting closed: October 01, 2006, 03:38:38 PM

[410indashade]

I'm addressing the issue of an unarmed defender vs. the attacker armed with a knife or some type of sharpie.  I'm interested in what's been your experience.  And then I'll tell you mine.  Incidently, did  any of you read about Englands new, "Knife Amnesty" program?

[mleone]

You are going to get cut..

A person should really concetrate on minimizing the amount of times they get cut or stabbed as much as possible. While neutralizing the attacker with deadly force..

If you engage a knife fight you are going to get cut or even stabbed..
I strongly feel that students or instructors that say you won't get cut are selling magic...

Some are so stubborn to say "There is nothing one can do against a knife". This is purely defeatism..
You try and try and try to survive no matter what it takes...you keep going..

We assume our attacker is good with a knife or why are we even trying to train in the first place?
Their maybe times where some one walks away unscathed but Im sure its cases few and far between.

[Karl]

My View,

You will get cut,

depending on the way you are wired you will not feel it until it is over, one way or the other.

The hardest part i found about getting into a knife fight, try to prevent Tunnel Vision, control your breathing, don't freeze.


Stay Safe

[Nick Hughes]

Aarghghghhhhhhhhhh,

One of my pet peeves.  Saying you will get cut is negative thinking, defeatist and also not always true.

I've been in fights with knives and yes, I've been stabbed/slashed etc.  I've also been in way more where I haven't had so much as a mark on me.  (As a general rule, if I saw it I was able to get them without being cut, when I didn't see the blade initially is when I did get hit)

So, the better, more accurate statement would be "you should prepare yourself mentally for the (very real) possibility that you MIGHT get cut in a fight with a knife."  The "you will" line leaves no other possibility than being cut by someone.

Remember, people using knives in fights run the gamut from the low end where some drunk, inept cretin pulls one out and waves it about as a threat only and has absolutely no intention of using it, even if no other choice is available to him...all the way to some hyped up maniac with prison or military experience setting out to get you.  While you'll probably get cut by the latter, the former will never get you and everyone else falls somewhere in between the two extremes.  What will happen then will be a result of your training, his training and his intent.

Nick

[Professor]

You are going to get cut..

IT DEPENDS!!!!!!!    NOT NECESSARILY!!!!!

[JimH]

LOL,as soon as I read the topic I knew what I was going to write, I see those who say you will get cut and I figure I am in and then I read Nick's post and see his view is the same as mine,shot out of the water,lol.

I agree with Nick,you may POSSIBLY get cut.

Unless you watch it cut into you ,you will not realize you were cut until it is over.(you will feel like you were punched) watching it cut may cause a higher adrenaline rush or shock,but it depends on the mindset going in.
If you fear the cut  or if you do not care about what happens as long as you win.

If you decide to engage then do it,period,no half stepping either go at it and end it or give up,as Nick says,if you are mentally saying "I will get cut" this will cause hesitation of action and result in most likely telegraphing your intent ,when you get the nerve ,to go forward.

I have been in 6 knife altercations:
 I got stabbed at from behind while choking one guy out from the rear and his friend tried to stab me,but I turned and the stab turned into a slash of my arm.
Felt like a punch till I turned and saw he had a blade,no blood till later.

A second time ,(I had been taught to grab the blade and I did) ,a single edge blade  sharp edge  up and the attacker pulled back and I almost lost my thumb.
Blade cut through the meat under my palm,through the webbing around to the top.right around the joint,about 340 of the 360 degree possibility.
I saw it happen and realized what happened but did not feel the pain till later, there was not much  blood during or after the cut and I was able to use the hand,(not to try and grab any more lol),but closed fist and open hand strikes were fine.
(who ever came up with grab the blade must be grabbing butter knives,lol)

I had a guy try to rob me with a static blade and never got cut.

3 other times I was able to use improvise weapons on the street,(trash cans twice and a burned chistmas tree once)

If you must act,ACT,do not hesitate and do not think of the possibilities prior to the act,just do it or not,your choice to be made in a nano second.
(Also never grab a  blade,lol)
                                          .........................................
While attempting to post the professor posted and I agree with him also.

[tlouis]

Agree with Nick, Professor et all.. To say you WILL get cut is negative and, once agian it all depends on a lot of variables. I have seen and been involved in a few  knife confrontations and thats my take on it.

[Hock]

(moved here to the knife topics)

Hock

[410indashade]

I can tell that like me and unlike some other "knife experts" you've all had the unenviable experience of fighting for your life.  You will not be surprised at my story many of you mentioned similar scenarios of your own.  But I think they give the lie to "you will" in the subject of this post. 

I saw my first incident of empty handed vs. knife in Vietnam.  In this case, an M7 bayonet had the hilt sawed-off for ease of concealment.  One night in our hooch a guest who was the very definition of “liquored up” or pretending to be got bellicose and offered to fight his host or anyone else in “@#$%ing” hut.  So, I spoke up telling them to lower the volume a little so those of us who preferred to turn-in early could do so.   As I stood there in my G.I. issue underwear and flip flops he drew his hideout piece and sprung at me.  It was monsoon season in the highlands and I had been trying in vain to dry mud red water out of my hair with a wet towel.  As he lunged at me, a distance of some seven or eight feet I threw the wet towel in his face and made a panicked retreat.  When the host a Staff Sergeant I never liked anyway intervened and grabbing the assailant’s knife hand with both of his  hands began kicking the assailant’s legs until he went down, dropping the knife.  Bottom line, I gained a new respect for the NCO that intervened and I learned a valuable lesson that would serve me well in the future. 

I had just descended the staircase into the basement family room where a friend of mine was throwing a birthday party.  Where I found two brothers who were fighting.  The smaller of the two apparently getting the worst of it broke an empty beer bottle on the edge of a pool table and went after his brother who was trapped between the table and a staircase.  I was off-duty and unarmed but confident that I could handle the situation,  hadn’t I already seen a similar situation in the service?  Keeping my eyes locked on my assailant at a spot centered on his chest area.  I had retreated a couple of steps up the stairs in this manner when the larger brother passed me climbing fast and stopped just above me.  Then two arms were snaking around my neck, to my surprise it was the brother who had passed me.  My left hand was now gripping his top arm trying to pull it down.  As I tried to continue my retreat from the “sharpie” this officer went down on my backside.  Feeling, rather than seeing the wall of the narrow stairwell come into contact with my passenger’s head (as I went down) I threw my own head back into his face for good measure.  The guy with the broke beer bottle wasn’t going to give me a break.  Even as I regained my footing the attacker closed the gap.  As he slashed at my throat with the broken glass I passed his right hand (his weapon hand) with my left and leaning to my left brought my right hand around to parry and grab his right wrist.  Twisting the wrist to expose the point of the elbow and the nerve bundle that’s just above it this officer struck down across the elbow with my left forearm.  This did not loosen his grip on the broken bottle; however, when this officer began banging the sharpie wielding wrist against the banister he dropped the improvised weapon.  The action took perhaps fifteen seconds. ~FINE

 

[Rawhide]

Chuck Norris got in a knife fight once.....


the knife lost.

[Milldog1776]

Chuck Norris got in a knife fight once.....


the knife lost.

Jack Bauer got in a knife fight once.....

The knife committed suicide rather than face the inevitable.

Gotta go with Nick on this one, fellas. Never develop a defeatists mentality going into anything.

[Rawhide]

MORE stories 410indashade!  He uses cool words like bellicose!! ALRIGHT!   Great stroyteller!  More please!!  Arnold certainly has one as well? (he's a good story teller too - especially when he's demonstrating on you... its so....personal.)

[ghostrider]

I would agree with Nick....it's your attitude when facing a knife, gun, stick, or an angry guy with his fists. Mental strength is more important than just the physical when your fighting for your life. I have always told my students that even when you spar you should treat it like your life is on the line and by that I mean be serious about what you do. When it comes to training in self-defense there is no other way to be but serious because casual gets you hurt, crippled, or killed. There is no other way to look at it!

[arnold]

And if you go dancing you'll twist an ankle, skydiving you'll hit the ground, sledding you'll get cold. Might just as well stay home and watch old Barbara Streisand movies on an old TV. This way I can tape a see thru target to the set and shoot at her when the opportune moment arrives. Which should be about 30 seconds into the movie.
57 chanells and nothins on
And I always have an attitude, whether facing a knife, or trying to order ice cream at the local Braum's from someone just released from either the state hospital, or from the Katrina can't find a job program.

[Milldog1776]

or trying to order ice cream at the local Braum's from someone just released from either the state hospital, or from the Katrina can't find a job program.

Sounds like there might be a story there. Wanna share? Short therapy session?

Keith