A Review of the Gunting Knife

Joined
Dec 19, 2000
Messages
19
I am writing to compliment, Guro Bram Frank, for the development of a superior, innovative
self defense tool, the Gunting Knife. I have had the opportunity to view four video tapes by Guro Frank on his Gunting Knife and I decided to wait before posting a review of the tapes, until I had an opportunity to work with the knife, which occured, yesterday.

The Gunting Knife, operates as advertised in the promo literature and on the video tapes by Guro Frank. It is superior, in usage to pocket sticks, kubatons, flashlights, balisongs and other folding knives for the self defense situations that it was intended to be used in.

The Gunting Knife is designed to used closed position, 80 - 90% of the time that it is utilized. There is not another knife on the market that has that has this sort of design capability! The gunting has impact, locking and cutting capabilities. The handle angles, ramps and horns are fully functional and meet their designed intentions.

For those people who have FMAs and JKD backgrounds, who are familiar with the gunting techniques that are part of those arts the Gunting Knife will fit right into your arsenal of empty hand techniques. If you have already been trained in the use of the pocket stick, the transition to the Gunting will be quite smooth. The surprise will be found in the additional mechanical advantage that you will gain in your locking manuevers on the hands and wrists. You have never had this good!

From the perspective of the empty hand gunting manuever with the outside to inside parry and inside to outside strikes to the muscles and/or nerve points on the inside of the opponete's arm... your impacts just got stronger and more precise, while your opponent's chances of shrugging off the hit just got diminished one hundredfold!! In fact, your opponent's natural, reflexive retraction, may pull his arm away from you, toward his center line, before you fan engage a second strike to the insid eof his arm! The Gunting Knife, make the old adage 'steel defeats flesh', come alive with new meaning.

This is a powerful tool to add to your arsenal of tricks and tactics. I am not telling that it beats the hell out of everything else on the market, but I telling you that it significantly increases your power and ability to defend yourself without resorting to going to a lethal action level and that was one of Guro Frank's design criteria in developing the Gunting Knife. He wanted a tool that could defeat and stop an assailant, with out putting that person in extreme, life threating jepordy.

A unique feature of the Gunting Knife, is the ability of the user to open the knife, using the energy and limbs of the opponent. This is called *kinetic opening*. As your oppponent, strikes and you angle awy to begin your counter-attack, you can open the Gunting blade by pressing the ramp of the blade against the opponent's arm and using a small arcing motion, around the arm.

Guro Frank, has taken this action still further, by developing the concept of "bio-mechincal cutting". This means that if you are in a serious injury-life threatening situation and you need to use the blade of the Gunting, then you cut the extenders and retractor muscles of the upper and.or lower arm, to imobilize the assailant's arm. If the assailant's are has been immobilized, it cuts down the number of options for him use to continue the confrontation. This is a very innovative tool ans self defense concept. It is certinly worth your consideration and investigation.

I would strongly recommend that you buy a copy of the tapes put out by Guro Frank. The Gunting is not just another knife and if you are going to use it, you need to know how to train with it safely. The tapes are designed to give you that information.

In addition I would add that you need to buy a copy of the red-handed Drone. This is the training knife, that was developed by Guro Frank to accompany the live blade. It is virtually impossible to train with live
blade. Someone is going to get nicked or cut! The 'kinetic opening' feature of the Gunting, makes using the Drone an absolute necessity, in order to train safely, to avoid those nicks and cuts.

The drone mechanism is identical to the live blade. The diference is in the red colored handle and the non-edge of the Drane. The live blade handle is colored black, this elimiating any doubts about which blade is being used in the training.

The instructional videos: "The Gunting: by Bram Frank, Volumes 1 - 3", are excellent in terms of quality and content. These videos are done with instruction as the primary consideration. There is none of the "I want you to impress the hell out of you..." metality present. Guro Frank, enlists the help and support of a number of people, all of who are in the inital learning phase of using the Gunting. This very helpful and encouraging.

There is also a fourth video that is avalible under the title:
"Spyderco presents: The Gunting by Bram Frank".

This video is also an introdction to the Gunting Blade is a Spyderco promotional, but again it is instructive and very useful. I can not stress enough the advantages that one will gain from purchasing the tapes and Drones for training with the Gunting Knife. The Gunting is a great innovative tools and it is easy to use, once you become familiar with it's parts.

You can contact George Denson at 1-800-340-9664 for the prices and other
details regardig the four videos. You can also vist their web site at
<www.videos4selfdefense.com>

The one thing that Guro Frank and Spyderco needs to add to their package material that comes with the Gunting live blade or Drone is a description of the key parts of the knife. The ramp and horns, in particular, need to be distingushed. Beyond that point, I am convinced that the Gunting Knife is an excellent tool for self defense and I strongly recommend that you seriously consider checking it out, particularly, if you carry a folding knife for fun and self protection.


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Professor B.
Jerome Barber, Ed.D.
 
Very thorough ProfessorB.I have seen from other posts you are very skilled in MA and I couldn't agree with you more.Just wait until the CRIMPT comes out.It has a blue G-10 configuration,and all the sharp corners of the ramp,horns and handle,with a drone safe blade,but the teeth and tip of the ramp are those of the live blade.An excellent addition for those who are skilled and would prefer as I do to immobilize an opponent through painful application as opposed to any cutting a simple must later this year.Tell me from your point of view,didn't Bram choose an excellent cast for the video series,all different MA backrounds with some similarities in fighting style,all of which were brought together in use with the gunting.You had everything from jiu-jitsu to law enforcment control to FMA to pressure point application,even some basic grappling,any beginner could learn with a few hours and a training partner.One of the best series I've ever seen
 
I can't agree more with the above post. I've seen MANY tapes on various subjects and this series has been one of the BEST. Another outstanding point to notice, is that actual pain can be seen in the video series (non-intentional, checked), as opposed to the rather "mellow" approach followed in most other training videos.

EXCELLENT, BRAM!!
 
Great review! I couldn't agree more. The more you work with this tool, the more uses become available.

The Drone has got to be the most fun you can have with a training knife. I use it far more than the Live blade. It's been through hundreds of kinetic openings with no problems. The perfect demo tool as well.

I can't wait for the CRMIPT.

The Skunkworks holsters are sweet too.

Steve
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by whosyour:
Very thorough ProfessorB.I have seen from other posts you are very skilled in MA and I couldn't agree with you more.

JB: Thank you for the compliments.

Just wait until the CRIMPT comes out.It has a blue G-10 configuration,and all the sharp corners of the ramp,horns and handle,with a drone safe blade,but the teeth and tip of the ramp are those of the live blade.An excellent addition for those who are skilled and would prefer as I do to immobilize an opponent through painful application as opposed to any cutting a simple must later this year.

JB: This is the first that I have heard about the Crimpt. How is one to keep up with the innovations that Guro Frank is working on in this area? I really like the Gunting, as do the gentlemen with whom I train every couple of weeks. They are all blackbelts and two are police officers. The Gunting has enormous potential and its use is limited primarily by the imagination and ability of the user. But it is important to stress that
it is necessary for one to use the Drone Trainer, for safety in practice sessions. I have only had one session to work with the Gunting, but I can see a good deal more is possible than I was able to do with it in that one session.

Tell me from your point of view,didn't Bram choose an excellent cast for the video series,all different MA backrounds with some similarities in fighting style,all of which were brought together in use with the gunting.You had everything from jiu-jitsu to law enforcment control to FMA to pressure point application,even some basic grappling,any beginner could learn with a few hours and a training partner.One of the best series I've ever seen
</font>

The cast was good and more importantly, it was clearly acknowledged that these folks only had a few hours of training before the videos were shot. That allows all of those who will take the time to view the videos, to understand that one does not need to be a 'superstar' to learn how to use this tool.



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Professor B.
Jerome Barber, Ed.D.
 
Originally posted by steve22595:
Great review! I couldn't agree more. The more you work with this tool, the more uses become available.

JB: Thanks for your comments, Steve. I am in complete ageeement, with your point that the more one works with the Gunting, the more options open up for you and more comfortable one becomes with it, the easier it is to work with.

The Drone has got to be the most fun you can have with a training knife. I use it far more than the Live blade. It's been through hundreds of kinetic openings with no problems. The perfect demo tool as well.

I can't argue with you on that either, but it does seem that there are some counter-views over on the FMA Forum. A couple of people there are not as impressed with the Gunting,
although I can say they have never used it.

I can't wait for the CRMIPT.

JB: I am now looking forward to it as well.

The Skunkworks holsters are sweet too.

JB: I have not worked with the holsters yet.
the cost of the Gunting and two trainers put the holsters out of reach for the time being.
The one point that came across loud and clear in the tapes, was do not use the live blade in a training session. After working with the trainer and the live blade, we all agreed that the correct thing to do was use the trainer. As soon as my blades come in mail,
today or tomorrow, our training group will have 4 trainers to work with and the other 4 guys in the group are going to be purchasing trainers as well. Last night, I was told that another police officer wants to join the training group after he watched Mike use his Gunting to aid in a handcuffing. Nothing like seeing it work in the field!



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Professor B.
Jerome Barber, Ed.D.
 
ProfB,

I posted a few comments on the FMA forum. Most over there are just reserving judgement, which I think is prudent until they try one out for themselves. I did the same.

If you do decide to get a holster, don't worry about getting matching colors for each version of the Gunting/CRMIPT just go for basic black. That way you just need the one, keeping the cost down.

Of course I've got several Gunting Holsters, and am getting one made for my duty belt.

I saw that the "pocket holster" in another thread was olive drab. I think I'll have to order a standard Gunting holster in that color as well.
rolleyes.gif


The Spyderco Gunting - Tactical Tool/Fashion Accessory.
smile.gif


Steve
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by steve22595:
ProfB,

I posted a few comments on the FMA forum. Most over there are just reserving judgement, which I think is prudent until they try one out for themselves. I did the same.

JB: Hello Steve, I can agree with you on reserving judgement until someone has ahd the opportunity to try the knife and get a feel for it. It is a tad short for my point of view and hand size, but that also helped me to find that the Gunting worked as advertised. I would like a 3.5 inch blade.
that extra 5/8 of an inch would give me the
precise grip that I would prefer to have on
the closed blade for the manipulation of locks. This due, I suspect to my long time usage of the pocket stick and kubaton, which I sized for my own hand.

If you do decide to get a holster, don't worry about getting matching colors for each version of the Gunting/CRMIPT just go for basic black. That way you just need the one, keeping the cost down.

JB: Thanks for the infor on the holsters. I will bit on the cost and get a red holster in order to keep the training motif consistant.

Of course I've got several Gunting Holsters, and am getting one made for my duty belt.

I saw that the "pocket holster" in another thread was olive drab. I think I'll have to order a standard Gunting holster in that color as well. :rolleyes:

The Spyderco Gunting - Tactical Tool/Fashion Accessory. :)

Steve
</font>

Good luck Steve, and thanks for your comments and advise.

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Professor B.
Jerome Barber, Ed.D.
 
Well said PB.

I would add - get the break away kydex holster for it - it just pops out with gr8 speed and authority.

One of the best designs in the business.

And yes - I am proud to call Bram my friend – but all that is said here and elsewhere about the gunting is true -an amazing design.
 
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