Knives are great for SD, because I heard this one police force actually trains with them, and I hear this one cop this one time stabbed a guy to retain his weapon...
No, not just for those reasons. Knives are great for self defense because they are not single-use tools. So they can be carried, as you phrased it, "to cut stuff," but can also be pressed into service as remarkably effective weapons. Contrary to what others have said here, they do not require training to use. In fact, they are extremely intuitive. Nobody needs practice to know how to hurt someone quite badly with a knife. And I don't care how musclebound the Joe Felon in your scenario may be, his muscle is no more resistant to severing than anyone else's, which is to say that it's hardly resistant at all to a sharp, strong knife.
I'm not touting a knife as the be-all, end-all of self-defense. But you are woefully misinformed if you think it won't work--and, in most circumstances, work well--in that capacity.
The guy came at the ipod wearer with his knife concealed. No way you could deploy anything in that situation.
Completely agree. There just isn't much one can do to fend off that kind of attack.
The ipod kid was dumb. First for getting himself into the situation and second for not giving up the ipod fast.
Completely disagree. And I truly hope you don't ever take that blame-the-victim attitude with you into a jury box. Waiting at a bus station is "getting himself into a situation?" And he didn't permit himself to get robbed fast enough to suit you? You are whistling past the graveyard. That poor guy could have been any one of us, no matter how well trained or hyper-vigilant we might be.
What the criminal did in that attack is to deliver a preemptive strike to dominate, stun, disorient, and cow his victim. It's called "softening up the target." Almost nothing the victim could have done would have kept him from getting stabbed/slashed in that scenario.
What do you guys think of my final decision, the Talwar?
Ronnyls, I think that you made a great choice and that you're going to love the Talwar. In fact, when I read your initial inquiry, the Talwar was the first knife that I thought of that matched your criteria. A SAK is a great knife and a useful tool, but I suspect you're going to be mightily impressed by the sturdiness and build quality of the Talwar. It feels fantastic in the hand, too.
Welcome to the Forums! Please let us know what you think when you get your new knife.
-Steve
