Tag Archives: Knife

Your most important basic survival tool and weapon in many situations.

Knife Fighting: Hand Grip Techniques

Posted by on December 10, 2011 Comments Off

Knife fights aren’t quite as common as they used to be, though it is useful to know how to use a knife as an offensive and defensive weapon.  To do this, you employ a variety of knife grips.  These various grips each have advantages and disadvantages.  Here are the two main types of grips:

  • Holding the knife in a forward grip (with the blade facing up out of your hand, as if holding a hammer) allows for more precision, skill, and a longer reach.
  • Holding the knife in a reverse grip (with the blade facing down out of your hand, as if holding an icepick) gives you for more power. The reverse grip is considered as much more challenging to effectively employ in knife-on-knife combat by everyone but the very practiced, in part because  reverse grips can require skills in footwork and quick defensive body movements to compensate for the increased danger of getting closer to your opponent.

Or, you could take a different route and bring a gun to a knife fight.  That seems to work for a lot of people.

Featured Photo by hondasniperlife

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The KA-BAR Combat Knife

Posted by on December 8, 2011 Comments Off
KA-BAR Knife

The KA-BAR (trademarked as KA-BAR in all caps) is a popular combat knife used by the US Marine Corps and the US Navy.  They are manufactured by KA-BAR Cutlery, Inc.  The KA-BAR is perhaps their most well known product (among many).  One handy trick employed by marines is to spray-paint the knife and its accessories with matte black spray paint in order to reduce light reflected from the blade and to provide a limited degree of protection from saltwater corrosion.

There have been several variations of the KA-BAR knives available through the years, such as both single or double-edged versions and newer models made from state of the art synthetic materials (such as handles crafted from non-slip Kraton).

Check out www.kabar.com to check out their quality products. Read more »

Improvisation: Making a Bone Knife

Posted by on November 17, 2011 Comments Off
bone knife

You can use a bone to craft an effective edged weapon. First, you will need to select a suitable bone, though note you should only use a bone knife only to puncture because such a knife can’t hold an edge and can break or flake if used for other tasks. Larger animal bones, like a leg bone from a deer, are the best to work with.

To make a bone knife, lay said bone on another hard object. Shatter the bone by smacking it with a heavy object like a rock. From the ensuing pieces, select the pointed splinter which would make the best tool. You can continue to shape and sharpen this splinter by rubbing it on a rock with a harder surface. If the piece that results from the shattering of the bone is too small to handle by itself, you can add a handle to it by lashing the bone splinter securely to a piece of bone which will serve as the handle.

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Improvised Weapons: Making a Stone Knife

Posted by on November 13, 2011 Comments Off

 

A stone knife created by the Aztecs

In order to craft a stone knife tool, you need three things:

  • A sharp-edged piece of stone.
  • A chipping tool – a light and blunt-edged tool used to break off smaller pieces of stone.  You can make a chipping tool from wood, bone, or metal.
  • A flaking tool – a pointed tool used to break off thin, flattened pieces of stone.You can make a flaking tool from bone, antler tines, or soft iron.

Begin by shaping the desired form on your sharp piece of stone by using your chipping tool. Try to make the knife somewhat thin. Next, using the flaking tool, press it against the edges. This causes flakes to come off the opposite side of the edge, leaving behind a razor sharp edge. Use the flaking tool along the whole length of the edge that needs to be sharp. With patience, this will provide you with a sharp cutting edge that can be used as a knife.  Lash the blade to some type of hilt.

Take note that while a stone knife will be useful for puncturing and chopping functions, but it will fail to hold a fine edge, save for some stones like chert or flint.

Featured Image by Daniel R. Blume

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Survival Gear: The Knife

Posted by on October 26, 2011 Comments Off
shadow knife hand

A knife is perhaps the most important survival tool at your disposal.  A knife has three basic functions: puncturing, slashing or chopping, or cutting.  You might need to cut branches to make a shelter or wood for fire, using a knife for self defense, food preparation (skinning and gutting prey, cutting up the meat), or cutting other materials like rope.  A strong, reliable knife is imperative and is essentially a mini survival kit unto itself.

When considering a knife to buy, there are a few other options to consider, such as a serrated blade versus smooth, carbon steel versus stainless steel, a fixed blade versus a folding blade. Read more »