carry

I've trained extensively with knives and consider them to be the most effective tool in dealing with close range self defense scenarios. You'd better believe that if I'm being physically assaulted/grappled, I'm not going for my gun unless there are yards between me and the guy, or I've got him on the ground and want him to stay on the ground.

If I need a weapon, I'm going for my blade. Yes, there is a higher likelihood that you'll incur an injury as well in a grapple, same with a gun. But knives are quick and very, VERY hard to disarm. So even if you incur an injury from your own weapon (much better a knife than gun in this case) you're less likely to actually LOSE the weapon and probably won't realize you've been injured until the firght reaches it's end. I've trained disarming pistols and knives from an attacker, let me tell you, I'd rather grab a chunk of dull steel any day than grab a 4 inch razor sharp blade. If you've got the stomache for it, a blade is a fantastic defensive tool as well as a utility tool for more uses than you or I could think to post.

Bottom line, you'll never see me without a knife of some kind. And within conversational distances, there's no better defensive tool for ending a fight... as long as you have some training with it.
~LT
 
I've carried one pocket knife or another since I was seven years old. When I lived on the far left coast, I couldn't legally carry anything more potent than a knife.

I still carry a pocket knife, though not for self-defense purposes.
 
I don't want to sound like an anti-knife carrying person, but I feel if you do carry a knife, you sure the hell better know how to use it, and not just think you know how to use it against an adversary aka BG, or an animal. At least an animal doesn't know how to use your knife against you.

TBS, I prefer pepper spray, or I even carried a flare gun with a pepper shot shell, but that's just me.

Carry on, to each his own, it's a free country.:D
 
Last edited:
How do you even walk with 6 knives, a gun, and probably keys, a wallet, and a phone? Do you wear cargo pants like every day or something? This is not meant to be offensive or an insult, I'm just deathly curious how you carry all that stuff.
Click to expand...

No offense taken, but I don't "clank" when I walk.

Most of my knives are small folders, and will fit in a pocket. My leatherman sits in a belt sheath, and a fairly small three-bladed folder sits in a left front pocket. Another slightly larger folder sits vertically in my back pocket, along the edge of my wallet.

Those three are no bother at all, and I don't even notice them unless they're needed for a cutting job of some kind.I use that Leatherman on an average of at least 10 times a day, so it's with me always, everywhere, with no exceptions.

When I'm doing something that requires a lot of small cutting, I add a small, spring assisted Kershaw knife that clips to the top edge of my right front pocket. It's a lot handier than digging out a pocket knife each time when stripping electrical wires, cutting smaller strings, and so forth.

If I'm camping, hiking, hunting, or I'm otherwise in the outdoors, I like to take a custom fixed blade with me. That one rides at 3:00, and actually gets quite a bit of use. It'll take an edge that I can literally shave with. This one is for skinning critters, cleaning fish, and so forth.

And I have a very thin neck knife that I sometimes carry. That one, of course, rides just inside of my button up shirt.

It's very seldom that I'll carry them all, but I have. Knives are very light, very easy to carry, and I really don't notice them being there for the most part. A 4 5/8ths Single Six weighs more than all six knives and my EDC gun (an aluminum framed J-frame) combined. The J-frame rides in an OWB holster at 4:00, under my left arm and inside my shirt at 9:00, IWB at 1:00, or in a coat pocket if it's cold enough to wear one.

Oh, and I wear Wrangler blue jeans typically, with a thin, snap-up long sleeved western shirt and hat. I've worn Carhart cargo pants, but they're too hot most of the time here in Arizona.
 
Last edited:
No offense taken, but I don't "clank" when I walk.

Most of my knives are small folders, and will fit in a pocket. My leatherman sits in a belt sheath, and a fairly small three-bladed folder sits in a left front pocket. Another slightly larger folder sits vertically in my back pocket, along the edge of my wallet.

Those three are no bother at all, and I don't even notice them unless they're needed for a cutting job of some kind.I use that Leatherman on an average of at least 10 times a day, so it's with me always, everywhere, with no exceptions.

When I'm doing something that requires a lot of small cutting, I add a small, spring assisted Kershaw knife that clips to the top edge of my right front pocket. It's a lot handier than digging out a pocket knife each time when stripping electrical wires, cutting smaller strings, and so forth.

If I'm camping, hiking, hunting, or I'm otherwise in the outdoors, I like to take a custom fixed blade with me. That one rides at 3:00, and actually gets quite a bit of use. It'll take an edge that I can literally shave with. This one is for skinning critters, cleaning fish, and so forth.

And I have a very thin neck knife that I sometimes carry. That one, of course, rides just inside of my button up shirt.

It's very seldom that I'll carry them all, but I have. Knives are very light, very easy to carry, and I really don't notice them being there for the most part. A 4 5/8ths Single Six weighs more than all six knives and my EDC gun (an aluminum framed J-frame) combined. The J-frame rides in an OWB holster at 4:00, under my left arm and inside my shirt at 9:00, IWB at 1:00, or in a coat pocket if it's cold enough to wear one.

Oh, and I wear Wrangler blue jeans typically, with a thin, snap-up long sleeved western shirt and hat. I've worn Carhart cargo pants, but they're too hot most of the time here in Arizona.
Click to expand...

That reminds me of a story at the gun range, one of the lower ranking range masters was claiming that he could take out somebody else with a knife if they are holding a gun without harm to himself, the older range master said "let's see you do it, I'm ready", as he had a 1911 on his side. It's was like "go ahead, make my day!!"

Knive's are good, but...............................:rolleyes:

That knife could be put up your *** real quikly.:D
 
If I've got my pants on a knife will be in my pocket. Not for SD but more-so for everyday needs. It's there if I'd need it.
 
That reminds me of a story at the gun range, one of the lower ranking range masters was claiming that he could take out somebody else with a knife if they are holding a gun without harm to himself, the older range master said "let's see you do it, I'm ready", as he had a 1911 on his side. It's was like "go ahead, make my day!!"

Knive's are good, but...............................

That knife could be put up your *** real quikly.
Click to expand...

Knives are great...for cutting jobs. I don't ever intend to use one for self defense. I carry a gun for that.

Perhaps, before butting in, you should go read my first post to this thread? I carry more than one knife on any given occasion, but they're for various cutting jobs that seem to come up pretty frequently for me. The person I replied to simply asked how/where I carried them. I use a knife several times a day for various things, and carry a firearm for defensive purposes.

Like this morning. I stopped by my mother's place. She had a skunk in a live trap for me to take care of, so I drowned it for her. I had to cut a rope to tie to the trap to pull it back out of the dunk tank. Then I notices a new gopher hole, so I dug it out with a duller knife I carry for such things, and placed a trap. Then we went into her garden, and I used another knife (a relatively clean one) for cutting a few things that needed harvested. Then she needed some wire fencing put up for a temporary pen for ducks, and I cut that with my Leatherman Wave. Then she needed a garden hose repaired, so I cut it in half, and put a splicer in to fix the leak. I again used the Wave tool (screwdriver) to tighten the clamp on the hose-splice. Since my wife sold one of her ducks, I needed to bring it home with me. We put it in a box, and then I had to cut a few holes for air so that it wouldn't suffocate.

That was all before 9:00 AM. I've been doing a few things around home this afternoon, and once again, the knives are used pretty frequently.

In ~30 years of carrying a firearm most of the time, I've never fired it in self-defense, but I do cut stuff with knives pretty steadily.

Knives = tool for cutting stuff
Handgun = self defense and/or hunting.

They both have their place.

Daryl
 
Perhaps, before butting in, you should go read my first post to this thread? I carry more than one knife on any given occasion, but they're for various cutting jobs that seem to come up pretty frequently for me.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you are correct sure, I do have a knife in my car for emergency purposes like cutting seat belts or what ever.
 
Unless you are well trained in USING a knife for self defense carrying one for that purpose is very likely to backfire on you. I carry knives everyday for cutting tasks nut for defense I will only rely on a handgun that I have a lot of experience with. Or a good pair of running shoes.
 
Unless you are well trained in USING a knife for self defense carrying one for that purpose is very likely to backfire on you. I carry knives everyday for cutting tasks nut for defense I will only rely on a handgun that I have a lot of experience with. Or a good pair of running shoes.
Click to expand...

That's exactly right. Here along the mes'kin border it's doubly so. Some of those ol' boys from the south are quick with a blade.

So I carry a gun.

Anyone who plans on using a knife for defense should also plan on getting cut up a bit...or worse.

Daryl
 
Knives = tool for cutting stuff
Handgun = self defense and/or hunting.

Most gun shop employees are armed with guns - usually in open carry on the waist. In one shop I frequent, one guy had two large throwing knives criss-crossed on his back for over-the-shoulder draw. Looked impressive, but I bet a BG could gun him down before he got one of those blades deployed as a "stopper".
 
Anyone who thinks throwing a knife is a practical means of self defense is on something illegal.... or OFF something that is mandatory.

Unless you are well trained in USING a knife for self defense carrying one for that purpose is very likely to backfire on you.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this wholeheartedly. I have a LOT of training with knives. I literally cannot even estimate how many hours I've spent training to be effective offensively with and defensively from a knife. Suffice it to say that it's been enough years for me to know a few things. The most important thing I KNOW about engaging in an attack offensively or defensively is this...

If they are the one with the knife, you ARE DEFINITELY GOING TO BE CUT.
If you are the one with the knife, you ARE PROBABLY GOING TO BE CUT.
And Finally: IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW MUCH TRAINING YOU HAVE. ONE SLIP HAS THE PROPENSITY TO KILL YOU.

This is why you should never employ a blade if you aren't properly trained with it; if you ARE trained with it, the most important training you'll get is when NOT to use it; and NEVER use a blade as a brandishing measure. (Even though well over 90% of firearms defensive uses are solved simply by brandishing this does not ring true for blades).

True knife fighting is terrible. It isn't clean-cut, "put you weapon down or I'll shoot you dead" then the guy either does or doesn't. If someone engages you with a knife in your hand (I don't care how large the blade is), it becomes a brutal, disgusting fight to keep your organs in your abdomen. It is a truly terrible thing that not many people truly understand. Hollywood has everyone believing that knife fights are quick and cool. Believe me, they are not.

I took up training offensively and defensively with knives because they are much more ubiquitous than firearms, and I wanted to be able to defend myself against a knife-weilding attacker whether or not I have a firearm. And do trust me when I tell you that defending yourself against a knife isn't about winning the fight and sending the guy off to jail or the hospital. It's about keeping at least half of the blood in your own body so you can survive until medical help arrives.

~LT
(I also carry a gun. And Gun > Knife is not always true. I'm also not allowed to carry my gun everywhere. If someone sneaks a blade in (much easier than a gun), I train for a good chance at survival then too.)
 
I remember one instructor telling the class "if someone pulls a knife on you, run. If a Phillipino pulls a knife and smiles, RUN VERY FAST!" ( and I mean no disrespect to anyone from that country) I absolutely agree that true knife fighting is terrible. I would much rather be set upon by 3 or 4 guys carrying Glocks than one guy who knows how to wield a knife.
 
If you've got to fight, you fight with what you've got. If a knife is all you have and you know how to fight with it, and the situation calls for it, then you use it.

I have trained some (not extensively) in fighting with a knife, and I wouldn't be afraid of using one. I also understand exactly what everyone is saying - and I agree. Someone who really knows how to use a knife in a fight (not the James Dean pig-poking technique) can cause some real damage.

I guess I'm the odd one out here. I'm willing to admit that I've carred a knife, occasionally, for self-protection, among other uses. Sounds like nobody but me here has ever carried a knife for self protection? Somehow I find that hard to believe.:rolleyes:
 
I guess I'm the odd one out here. I'm willing to admit that I've carred a knife, occasionally, for self-protection, among other uses. Sounds like nobody but me here has ever carried a knife for self protection? Somehow I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

I do not carry a knife for SD purposes. That is not to say I wouldn't use one if that's all I had in a life/death situation. I do not intend to ever use a knife to defend myself, but life has a sick way of forcing things upon us that we don't intend to happen.

My carry gun is intended for SD if needed, yet it's killed a lot of snakes and such, but never a bad guy.

Go figure.

Daryl
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top