Knife is a weapon that does not leave indifferent the representatives of the stronger sex. Today, such a hobby as collecting exclusive knives is far from uncommon. But today we will not talk about collecting edged weapons, but about handling them. Owning a knife is a whole art, which is difficult to master. But if you succeed in this business, then it looks very impressive and brutal.
Knife Basics
Start with the basics and gradually move on to more complex elements. The most important thing in learning how to use a knife is safety. You can learn how to work with a knife on special rubber dummies, this reduces the likelihood of injury to zero, and when you already clearly know how to perform the elements, you can already try to work with a real knife.
Knife Training
Learning on your own is difficult, it is much easier to turn to special people who aremasters in this business. A professional can quickly and safely teach you how to use edged weapons. At the same time, you can stop at simple techniques for owning a knife, or you can delve into this matter and achieve the highest skill. It all depends on your goals, free time and financial capabilities (in the case of paid lessons from professionals).
In addition, today you can find many video tutorials on the Internet. Here are collected a lot of tutorials from the best masters in their field. You can find basic lessons, or you can watch the most serious knife technique from the pros, this will help you understand where you need to strive and what exactly to develop.
Self Defense
You need to understand that knife lessons are for self-defense only. That is, by mastering the technique of working with melee weapons, you learn to resist people who own such weapons and try to attack you.
It should be understood that engaging in battle with a criminal attacking you is worth it only as a last resort. If it is possible to avoid conflict, then this must be done. Melee weapons are no joke, one wrong move and the situation can end badly for both the attacking criminal and the defending decent person.
But, you need to understand that the possession of a combat knife can, one day, help you out or even save your life and your loved ones.
Major misconceptions
There is an opinion that speaks ofthe fact that the knife from the hands of the enemy can be simply and easily knocked out by kicking it (knife). If you are not sure of the full success of such an action, then it is better not to try it. For a beginner, such a blow can end very, very badly, because an armed criminal can cut his leg, while for this he does not need to make any special efforts at all.
He just needs to turn the knife with the blade at you at some angle, you will do the rest with your own kick and run into the knife. Even experienced fighters practice this technique only on rare occasions. But it should be understood that a successfully delivered blow to the knife can really neutralize the criminal and even put him into a stupor for a while. This is the time to act.
Eight of eight
This is a basic, basic exercise for mastering the possession of a knife. The exercise begins to be performed slowly, gradually increasing the speed. The exercise is a mental drawing of the figure of the number eight in the air in front of you. You can perform actions with a direct or reverse grip, or by combining both options. It is worth saying that you can perform the exercise in horizontal and vertical variations. The difference lies only in the form of the picture that you depict with a knife during the exercise.
Mastering trajectories
This is an important point for knife technique. To easily master this moment, you need to mentally draw a ball around yourself in your head. The boundaries of this imaginary sphere will be in thosepoints where you can reach with the edge of a knife. Your task is to strike imaginary knife blows along the borders of a fictitious ball.
Strikes can be performed with a direct grip, reverse grip. You can also perform jabs, cuts, even blows with the butt of a knife handle. Gradually, the speed of the exercise should increase. In addition to increasing speed, there are more complicating elements for this task. With these complicating elements, your skill with a knife will noticeably add to your skill. These elements should be included in the exercises gradually, when you are completely confident in your abilities. These complicating elements include:
- Knife handling on the move.
- Working with a knife with elements of acrobatic stunts.
- Training in a confined space (imitation of a fight in the hallway, elevator, small room, etc.).
- Exercising with free hand to grab opponent or additional free hand strike.
- A two-knife workout with both hands while doing it.
- Exercises with one knife and a second auxiliary object (a knife in one hand, a stick, a bat, a golf club, an empty pistol, etc.) in the second hand.
- Work with rival dummies (the number of dummies increases from one to eight).
- Training with a real human opponent.
Features
It should be understood that the knife technique is not a joke at all. For example, if in the case of self-defense, you decide to use a coldweapons against criminals, it is important to understand that if you lose a knife during a skirmish and the criminals have it, then they (the criminals) will be able to use your knife against you, even if they did not originally plan it. This will happen at the level of instincts and aggression.
It is for this reason, as already mentioned, that a knife should be used only in exceptional cases, when there is nowhere to retreat, the conflict cannot be avoided and there is a real threat to your life or the he alth of your loved ones.
Besides, keep in mind that if you only master melee weapons, this does not mean at all that you are incredibly dexterous and skillful in battle, experience will come with time. In the early stages, you are a vulnerable, indecisive and inexperienced victim if you have a trained criminal against you.
Butterfly Knife
Very popular type of knives. The technique of owning a butterfly knife looks very impressive and spectacular. All these quick rotations of the blade around the axis of the brush look incredibly dangerous and bold. In fact, everything is not so difficult and not even so dangerous if you master the principles and basics of the technique.
The butterfly knife has an official name: balisong. The model is a folding folder. This knife model has distant Philippine roots. Owning a butterfly knife is an effective tool for self-defense and at the same time very affordable financially. Flipping models are also often used by people.
Flipping is a kind of separate and independent subculture in the world of knives. Flipping -this is a process that involves the extremely skillful possession of a knife and the demonstration of various spectacular tricks with it (the knife).
Flipping is considered one of the most advanced knife arts today. Initially, this trend originated in the United States. In our country at one time (the nineties of the last century), flipping elements were common in places not so remote. The most popular knife for this was just the balisong (butterfly knife).
At present, the criminal situation in the country has normalized to an acceptable level. Now flipping is done by law-abiding citizens who choose this knife skill as a hobby.
Knife Throwing
This is also a separate subculture in knife art. This direction is very spectacular. Learning how to throw knives is quite difficult if we are talking about the highest level, precise execution and close to perfect accuracy.
You can learn throwing on your own or take lessons from the pros. Both options have a place to be, but the pros will always quickly and clearly be able to give you a throwing technique. In addition, you can learn on your own from video tutorials from professionals in their field. Such lessons can be easily found today on the corresponding video hosting sites.
How to choose a knife?
If you are a beginner, then learn the simplest tricks on dummies. After you master the basics, and you already have a good command of the knife, you can consider buying some simple models. Of course, when you become a pro, you will want to buya real professional and exclusive knife. There are handmade models that are produced individually or in a single copy.
One piece of advice can be given for sure: if you are a beginner, then do not buy an expensive knife, perhaps after training for a couple of months you will realize that this activity is not for you and quit this hobby. And buying an expensive knife will just be a waste of money.
Another thing to pay attention to when buying a knife is the law. The fact is that some knives are just knives, and some models are already melee weapons. Melee weapons require a permit; a regular knife does not require a permit. We will talk about the features of this issue a little lower.
How to wear a knife?
Of course, safety is paramount. If the knife is folding, then everything is simple. You can carry it folded almost without any restrictions. If the knife does not fold, then you will need the appropriate sheath (holster), usually such devices have a fastening system either on the body or on the belt. You need to choose a place for carrying a knife so that it is both inaccessible to outsiders and accessible, convenient for you, so that you can quickly, if necessary, get a knife.
Legislation
In general, in our country there is a criminal liability for carrying bladed weapons without special permission. But it should be understood that not every knife is considered a melee weapon. Distinctive qualities of edged weapons:
- The blade is longer than 9 cm.
- Blade thickness over 2.4mm.
- The divergence angle of the handle and blade is not more than 70 degrees.
- Blade roll less than 9mm.
- The hardness of the steel blade is more than 25 Rockwell.
- The blade can go to a depth of 2 cm or more.
- There is a clear limiter for the fingers.
- The tip of the blade allows for easy stabbing (if there is a limiter for the fingers).
It is also important to know, in order to determine whether a knife is a melee weapon or not, you need to carry out a special appropriate certification or forensic examination. The appropriate punishment for carrying bladed weapons, if the knife is recognized as such, can only occur in the absence of an appropriate permit.
As a rule, today in specialized stores, the annotation to the knife model always indicates the moment that says whether a particular knife is a melee weapon or not.
Result
Knife ownership is an interesting hobby that may one day help you out well or even save your life. But you should not use a knife in any conflict. Always try to resolve aggression with words if possible. After all, you can do stupid things very simply, but sometimes you have to pay for them for an extremely long time. Moreover, in our country the line between self-defense and its excess is very thin. And defending with a knife, you can easily cross this line and become a criminal, saving your life.
Statistics say that the criminal is ninein ten cases, he will retreat if he planned to rob you and you will abruptly demonstrate to him deft professional knife technique, cutting chiseled figure eights in the air with the corresponding sound of the blade playing through the air from your quick manipulations.
Thus, you can defend yourself with a knife without actively participating in the conflict. A hobby can be rewarding, and your "knife show" is almost always enough to make the villains back off from their cunning plans. The main thing is to do it professionally and confidently so that your "spectators" believe you one hundred percent.
