Explaining knife uses in an urban disaster enviroment...

D

doggyknife

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Oct 14, 1998
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I've been trying to generate a list of knife uses for when you are in a disaster situation in an large urban environment. I will be explaining to a group of people the necessity of having a small to medium sized knife available when services (water, power, waste-treatment, food distribution, etc...) have been interrupted and structures have been damaged after a major natural/man-made disaster in a major city.

Though uses can cover conditions under most major natural/man-made disasters, the example disaster situation will be an earthquake in a large city.

Please keep in mind that the general audience consists of mid-20 to early-30 year old white-collar professionals, living in major metropolitan areas, who are regular consumers of luxury/trendy goods, with generally liberal views. Your basic "Yuppy-scum" if you want to use a mean label. This is one of the reasons I will likely play down the "defensive" knife use, and play-up the "tool" uses.

The uses I have down so far include cutting up food, opening supply boxes and food/water packets, cutting cloth for make-shift bandages and for splints, emergency medical tool (i.e., tracheotomy), emergency rescue tool (i.e., seatbelt cutter), and last-resort digging tool.

Any additional uses folks can recommend would greatly appreciated.
 
Another emergency rescue situation might be simple esape from a dead end -- a locked room or passageway.

Those yuppies were probably pretty typical teenagers recently, so an emphasis on the need for creativity and an adventurous outlook in overcoming adversity should go over well.

Besides the knife being a convenient size (the best survival tool being the one you have with you) I think you should suggest reasonable quality. Too cheap and flimsy and it simply won't last under any serious use. Any self-respecting yuppie should take pride in the value of his equipment!
 
Ok try these.I know more than one co-worker who got tangled up in wires and cables in fires.In an office or hallway of apartments they run these above the false ceiling,in fires they can drop down and entangle you.I suppose this could also happen in earthquakes and explosions.In any form of collapse you may become entangled or perhaps just your clothes are hung up ,again a knife will set you free.

Highrises often have doors that are locked from one side,stairways that only let you open the door one way or get into or out of at certain floors so "slipping"locks is a real possibility.I always carry a shoveknife for this,works as fast as a key.

I knife would not be my first chioce for breaching walls ect.but they can't walk around with an axe,so I guess a stout knife will at least give them some form of tool to at least score the wall and hack a pry.

So I guess I would say.

1.to free themself from entrapment

2. to get out,slip locks,hack through a wall or punch out a window

3.cut cloth for bandages slings ect.

4.keep the wolfs at bay

5 fix and repair things,cut rope and cloth to stablize debre

6.anyone of a hundred other uses you won't know till it happens
 
How bout this? The edged implement was (arguably) man's first tool (hammer is probably first). Anyhoo, when faced with a lack of the services you talk about, we are essentially thrown back into the stone age. Why be less prepared than the average cave-man. (Is this too far out? Maybe it will make sense to your particular audience.) Good luck.
 
Normally I don't comment on threads such as this ,but Tommy Hawk hit a key pont.
Strip away the very thin veneeer of "manufactured" energy ( electricity & oil ) and
our position as part of the "developed" world will collapse. Most people are so used to
this energy "drug" they no longer notice it nor can they envision life without it.

Tell most people (young and old ) this and they are ready to cart you off the the funny
farm. It really is to painful for them to think about or consider. In a lot of very real
ways America has gotten to spoiled and fat in this energy "drug" we use to much of.

That is why the need for a knife as a basic survival tool has been lost on way to many people.
I guess the softer the life the less prepared you become until you become so dependant on
others you can't survive without them.
 
How about the group of guys in the elevator in the World trade center? No on had a knife when their elevator stopped on a floor that had no opening. They had to hack through several inches of sheetrock with a brass window washers squeege. If they hadn't had this metal implement, they would have died. As it is, the barely got out in time.

Steve Ferguson
 
On a more simple level, how about opening a can of food or drink. Removing a splinter, even cutting some small wood etc. for a limited fire to warm yourself with. When your done with those tasks and want to sit back and reflect on what has happened to your world you can use the corkscrew on your SAK and "enjoy" a nice bottle of wine.
 
Thanks everyone for the additional information. I had already planned on using the WTC window squeege example as a reason for having a knife readily available. I'll be including some of the info you guys have offered here in my presentation as well.

As I said before, I will be presenting disaster preparation info to an audience of young urban professionals. A more accurate description of the presentation might be "the absolute least a lazzy-a$$ must do to prepare for a disaster" or "disaster survival for today's yuppy". I know many of these folks personally, and while they're basically all good-hearted Americans, the lack disaster preparation by this group can almost be described as negligent or even foolish. This is especially true considering the majority of them have grown up in earthquake country (California). I know that some of them regularly spend around $100+ on an articles of clothing made in china, and tons more on wines and electronic entertainment devices (then again some of us spend thousands each year on knives :p). One specific person (a good friend of mine from college) basically thought all homes came with automatic dishwashers (before he met me anyways). Though I should note he's probably one of the least "yuppyish" of the group. Yet the thought of spending more than $15 on a knife lead to comments of "waste of money" and "what in the world for?".

This mentality toward such a common and useful tool as a knife will most likely lead me to recommend good quality, but low priced knives from companies like BUCK, CRKT, and Coldsteel. I will also be recommending that a small to medium stainless fixed blade (let's just say 3-5 inch blade) be kept as part of the 72-hour survival kit (regular carry of fixed blades in office buildings is basically a no-no), and that at least a SAK/leatherman and/or sturdy folder be carried at all times.

Thanks again everybody, and keep that "disaster knife use" info coming!
 
Here's a thought .......

Ask all your friends to give you every single cutting tool in their homes for one week.
Then ask them to find other ways to cut or otherwise prepare or do all the daily
tasks that are necessary for each day. My guess is they'll have sore teeth and finger
nails and a wound or two from finding replacement cutting tools. They will ,however,
learn that knives / scissors are really the tools of everyday life and carrying one
really wouldn't be a bad idea after all.
 
about a week and ahalf after 9-11 I was at a local camping supply store buying myself a Spyderco Ladybug ( the only thing I could get into my office building that would not set off the metal detectors )...when a guy I can only describe as YUPPIe came in looking for a "dependable flashlight". He explained to the clerk that he lived and worked in a high-rise and he did not want to get trapped in his condo or workplace and not have a lightsource.
The clerk showed him all types of flashlights and he chose a 2 D Maglite. I told him he should probably get a good knife too..he looked at me askance and said "oh no...I could never use a knife !"
It is not as if I suggested he kill someone or something with his knofe ! I then explained that I meant something along the lines of a Leatherman. He told me that he did not know how to use one nor would he care to find out what to use it for.
 
I feel truly sorry for people that cannot understand the usefulness of a knife during an emergency. The fact is that we can think of many possible uses for a knife during an emergency but the reality is that during an emergency, all sorts of things can occur that no one can really predict. People who only imagine knives as weapons are so blinded by their predjudice that it blocks out simple common sense. The fact that one would have to list the possible uses of knives shows how disconnected many in this society have gotten from real tool use. The one thing to ask any person who assumes that knives are simply for violence is: "Do you own any kitchen knives? Do you have any scissors?" If they say yes, let them know that the tools they own have used to kill more people than a tactical knife, slipjoint, or multi-tool.
 
I loved Tommy Hawk's comment, "Why be less prepared than the average caveman?"

With all the supposedly large-cranial capacity modern homo-sapiens "yuppies" being described above, I'm not just talking about knives, either...

Stupid reality-challenged, weapons-fixated sheeple-sapiens! :D

Karl
 
In his recent post, Tightwad mentioned that without the "veneer" of manufactured energy, our current level of civilization would not exist ( a few creative folks would power their Palm Pilots with solar cells, but transistor technology would no longer progress and improve). If you remove the electricity and gasoline, we would have a much different everyday environment than we enjoy today. Food wouldn't come easy, TV wouldn't work. People would get restless. This would lead to problems greater than I can discribe.

I've always postulated that the knife is the single tool that seperates us from the Apes. The screw, the inclined plane, the lever, the wheel and the transistor have certainly contributed to the idea that man has evolved beyond the animals (not proven yet). But it's the sharpened edge, the cutting tool, which has contributed most to our "evolution". The cutting edge is the single tool that lets us to customize our environment more than any other. With only our will, our muscles, and a knife, we can defend ourselves, slay game for food, build a shelter and create the tools to make a fire; thus sustaining life. Given a bit more time, the sharpened edge can facilitate, and in fact become, art. No other single tool introduced to a primitive environment would have the same impact.

To try to seperate people from their knives is not just unjust, but is inhuman. The sharp edge an inseperable part of being human.

Just my opinion,

jmx

PS: It pisses me off to have to check my AlMar money clip when I fly these days.
 
Originally posted by Tony Perez
I told him he should probably get a good knife too..he looked at me askance and said "oh no...I could never use a knife !"
It is not as if I suggested he kill someone or something with his knofe ! I then explained that I meant something along the lines of a Leatherman. He told me that he did not know how to use one nor would he care to find out what to use it for.
Click to expand...

WOW! Are there REALLY people like this living in MY world? That's unthinkable. I'd really like to meet this person.:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Gatekeeper


WOW! Are there REALLY people like this living in MY world? That's unthinkable. I'd really like to meet this person.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That's so far outside my way of life I can't begin to imagine it! I mean, I've had a pocket knife since I was 6 or so, and my 5-year-old daughter is already pestering me for one of her own.

How do you live without a knife handy???
 
I don't understand why you need to explain to anyone what a knife is for. It is for cutting things, simple enough.


(edited garbage mouth word)

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Kevin
 
Great topic.It is hard though,to list emergency uses as they will be dictated by unforseen circumstances.Be prepaired,like the Scouts ya know?

You may want to say something like this,all the people that are going to come to try and save you,well most of them will be carring knives maybe they know a thing or two that you may want to copy.feel free to use me for an example if you wish.I'm a firefighter on a 525 man dept.I am a member of our "highrise team",fire in a highrise i'll be there(fortunetly not to often).I'll be carring an axe and a forced entry bar,This will get me into or out of any door or wall,but guess what I will also have a multi-plier and spyderco Rescue in my bunker pockets and either a Benchmade or Emerson folder in my uniform pocket.
When I'm wearing over 50 pounds of gear and carrring more, up who knows how many flights of stairs I won't take what I don't need!! and I won't go with out a blade!!!or 3 or 4;)
 
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