I Don't Understand Why.

The Tourist

The Tourist

Banned
Joined
Dec 23, 2001
Messages
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I was reading a new knife magazine at Border's yesterday, and the lead article was about the new Emerson Karambit. I've also read about the Strider Karambit. There's also the Spyderco Civilian, and Microtech's Kestrel and Vector.

Why is that shape good for self defense? Does the edge 'grab' better than a traditional design with more belly?

This is a sincere question.
 
Karambits are just popular right now.

At the end of the day, as long as the sucker cuts, you've won.

m
 
Thanks, Mick. I went back and re-read the article. There was some hocus-pocus about how the angle imitated the shape of a tiger's claw. All I know is that the re-curve's area is pain to sharpen, even with the special stones Ben Dale made for me.

Truth be told, I don't see the benefit of a re-curve in daily use. I might use a linoleum knife to aid in laying a floor, but that's about it.

I do like the pinky ring idea. In cold weather while skinning game, you could let the knife dangle if you needed two hands. I have a Buck Big Sky 403B with a ring on the handle, but I assume it's for a landyard.

Like anything else, I'm going to have to study this karambit.
 
What Mick said.

When I get mine, I'm only going to be using it for that "special occasion" so I'm not going to be worried about how hard it is to resharpen.

If you see a karambit being used by someone with skill (e.g. Guro Steve or his partner Brian, Tuhon Kier, etal), you will have a greater appreciation for the design.



Is it available yet? Is it available yet? ::jumping up and down::
 
Karambits might be popular now, here...

In the Indonesia area, they've been popular for probably over 700 years.

No slam on you Ich, but lots of folks think these things are gimmiky, but in the hands of someone who trains Silat (or similar art) they would be quite effective. (Emerson has some decent demos of his folding karambit if you haven't seen them.)

It's funny to hear people rip into balisongs... sure the mall pimp might have a neat toy, but in the hands of a FMA student or bantang doubtless they are very deadly.

Some people think Greco wrestlers or jiu jitsu players are faygs for rolling around on mats with other guys?

That old pistol that's been around for over 90 years? Wonder how that stacks up to more modern plastic, double stack designs.

What I'm sayin is that the Karambit might appear to be a gimmick or useless, especially if you are a convert to the Straight Blast stab em in the face style... If you already train at trapping and infighting, I'm sure you can do much damage with one of them. There are several attributes of the blade design that make them tailored to this type of fighting.
 
I don’t think anyone here was saying derogatory comments towards the karambit.

The fact is that currently, it has gained a lot of popularity.

Traditional karambits ARE a copy of a tiger claw. Evolution had perfected the design. In fact the word roughly translated means ‘little tiger claw”. Which is scary because it means that THERE IS a larger version.

MOST karambits ARE NOT traditional, and therefore do not accurately copy the curvature of the claw.

The point being made, before people began to get their sarong in a bunch, was that it is not any more effective than another knife.

There is no magic involved.

It’s a bent knife with a hole on the end. Which makes it twirlable and cool.

Yes it is very badass. Especially in the hands of someone like Steve.
But you should see the guy with machetes.

Mick
 
Krept,

This is why I ended my post with the 'sincere' dealie. I've learned that if you ask a question about something, sooner or later you step on someone's toes. That was NOT my purpose. However, I do like to learn about new things, and if there is a better mousetrap, then I want to use it.

I'm not a mercenary or an MA guy taking continuing adult classes. I suspected that the karambit had some historical origin; however, I have never heard of such a knife. In fact, when I saw the knife described as 'Javanese,' I thought someone had made a typo and the knife was really Japanese.

I think you are right in making the point about '90 year old handguns.' I am a great fan of the 1911A1, and I have over 25 years experience with 'gun fu.' I don't take offense when some kid says he only shoots an H&K USP because that's what some army guys now use. What I did do was buy my own H&K USP .40 SW and did my own research. I'm starting the process with the karambit by asking my first questions.

For right now, Mick and Ernie are offering this knife, and they haven't stirred me wrong yet. But trust me, I really hate sharpening those re-curve edges.

Sorry if I offended anyone in asking these questions.
 
Good stuff man. I don't think anyone got sand in the hot spot over this. My comment wasn't really directed at anyone in particular other than people that might see the blade and think WTF is this joke? Kinda like how I read a while ago that "balisongs are for kids."

Life is way to short to get upset about other's opinions regarding inanimate objects. Think about all the Glock vs. 1911 or 9mm vs. .45 or .223 vs .308 or AK vs AR threads on thefiringline.com. People get VERY heated about these kinds of things... the knife folks seem much more calm in this respect, although non traditional designs tend to attract a disproportionate share of WTFs.

Either way, I don't have a real karambit, so nothing to get defensive about. I apologize if my post seemed inflamatory, I wasn't agitated in the least... just trying to make the point that blades used in foreign MAs might be unorthodox, but that doesn't mean there isn't a niche that they really excel in.

Cheers!
 
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