It may be to large
It may be to large
I hear that all the time from the Ladies
Interesting that the article writer believes the "tanto" blade style is designed for piercing armor.
I brought home a "shrapnel vest" from the gulf. The old style layered Kevlar weighs-a-ton with shoulder armor vest. (shrapnel resistant, individual body armor, one each) and tried a few guns on it, and a bunch of knives.
The worst knife to stab through it? The cold steel recon tanto. No penetration. None. Break your wrist before it goes through.
The absolute best knife? Buck 110 folding hunter. Blew through it like it wasn't there. Stab Stab Stab easy and fast. Make sure you don't grip so hard you unlock blade! It's a real risk.
Applegate Fairbairn dagger - penetrate, but quickly slowed, it would go to the hilt, but took a full on blow to do it.
Unknown maker boot knife style dagger - just the tip. Not pointy enough to go in.
Cheap kitchen knife - broken, but penetrated.
"Uncle Henry" sharpfinger - right in. Not as nice as the buck 110 though, but not hard at all, and full penetration. Once it was even a bit dull though, just the tip.
The Buck 110 just ate it up. Didn't seem to dull it much either.
The cold steel Tanto felt like hitting the armor with a file, or a bar of flat stock. Jarring.
So what was I doing wrong?
As to what you were doing wrong (if anything), check with Roninsensei...but my take on knife techniques (and people with better qualifications may disagree with me) is to hit with a blade like you would with a hand or fist.
If you've seen a karate-do style punch, for example, then use the same body mechanics...only substituting a blade for the fist.
A hammer strike with the fist? Add a knife. And so on.
Bear in mind that a sharpened ice pick will penetrate a Kevlar vest better than most knives, if that's your goal.
Also--a bit off the subject--you can be entitled to carry a sheath knife at all times if you convert (or appear to convert) to a Shihk. They carry a blade called a kirpan, and while it wouldn't be my first choice as a combat blade...it seems like a design that could be capable of inflicting horrible, fight-stopping wounds.
This religious angle may help you--in some circumstances--negotiate a way around the laws and politics of carrying a knife.
i grew up in a time where every male- man and boy- had a pocket knife.
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