Civilian hanging up in clothing?

[Bob Irons]

Sal,

Roadkill2 expressed a concern about the Civilian getting hung up in clothing when it's used in self-defense. I'm assuming he means the attackers clothing and not his own. I've wondered the same thing, but believe it is possible, but not likely. Do you have any pointers on this or tests to show whether it can/will happen and how likely it might be?

 

[Joel McNamara]

I assume you're talking about the serrated blade.

When I went through Erik Remmen's original Clipit course, we used both serrated and plain-edge Delicas against a dummy clad in a mix of pieces of denim, welding leathers, and cotton fabric.

Doing full-power slashes with the serrated blade, no one in the class ever experienced the knife hanging on any of the material. (I have heard Net stories about serrated knives hanging on clothes and literally pulling the knife out of your hand. My own and others' personal experience doesn't seem to support this though.)

I've never tried a similar test with a Civilian, but my guess is the tip sharpness would cut its way out without hanging.

As an aside, both the plain edge and serrated Delicas cut quite well during the exercise. Afterwards it was very difficult to identify which cut was made by which blade type.

Joel

 

[Bob Irons]

Thanks Joel,

Yes, it is the serrated blade. That is what I was hoping to hear.