I was talking to some guy about knife fights and getting stabbed...

MelancholyMutt

MelancholyMutt

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THe discussion turned to what a good length blade to use in a combat situation. He says that a 9 inch blade is almost minimal, discussing blade length and stopping power much like one would discuss Handgun stopping potential. He had been stabbed once with a four inch blade and recovered. My thought is that if someone stabs me with a thumbtack, I'm going down...LOL

Anyone been stabbed? did it stop you? (dead stabbing victims need not reply)
 
Stabbed once in a altercation with a customer.(I owned a bar) Knocked him out and broke both his arms on the curb before I called the cops and had him hauled off to jail.
Had it stitched up and was back to work in an hour and a half.But no big if you are a young man.(I was 29 at the time)
Now it would probably kill me.LOL
 
Darren Laur wrote an interesting article about stabbings. I beleive you should be able to locate it by doing a search on selfdefenseforums.com.

One of the significant points was not the length of the blade, but the number of wounds. Additionally it was noted that most of the people (in this research) did not realize that they were being stabbed.


I will try to locate it and post a link for your consideration in a little bit.

Ed T
 
Caught a cheapo pakistani 110 knockoff in the meat of the palm of the hand circa 1983. I thought that the brother of then-girlfriend's ex-boyfriend was just kidding. He wasn't. More of an annoyance really- took a Tetanus shot & couple of stitches. Wouldn't want to try it again however.
 
This topic has been addressed numerous times here. I don't think blade length is the most critical factor. Where you are stabbed is more critical for example. I have not been stabbed, except in error by myself. An acquaintance witnessed an attack (in self defence) with a one-inch Stanley craft knife. The victim died almost instantly due to his heart being punctured (the defender was acquitted).

A four inch blade could certainly reach most all vital organs and again a 1 inch blade is sufficient for puncturing a lung or severing many major arteries. What blade is optimal in an hypothetical situation is one thing, but in reality it will be the blade you have on you at the time, which for most of us will be 3-4 inches. Also, given that most of us will never have to defend ourselves in this way, it could be seen as a little, well, paranoid to be packing a mini-sword in your pants for such an eventuality.

Blades generally do not have great stopping power, unless you are going for an instant kill (a bit unnessary in most self defence situations) but due to excessive bleeding victims of blade wound are more likely to die than recipients of gun shot wounds as I understand it.


Kallisti.
 
Not trying to be a big dick or anything........
but these kinds of threads are not good for our cause.
 
The wound in the avatar, is something I recieved when someone decided to bring a knife to a fist fight(or a fist to a knife fight). I ended up stuck 3 times once in the stomach, once in the sideribs(pic)and the knife ended up 7/8 of the way through my left elbow, unlocked I might add. Fortunetly for me it was some piece-o-crap, something you'd see inline at the liquer store.3" blade that could of easily sent me on my way. It happened so fast, I thought I was just getting hit, until the took off running like he just seen godzilla. So, I ran to my car about twnty yards away and felt something wieghing my left arm down. Looking down, I see this half folded knife stuck, I mean STUCK in my elbow. I looked at my girlfriend who was stunned and told her to pull it out. She was obliviuos to what I had just said, staring at my situation. After one more , Pull It Out with some authoroty, she snapped out of it and tugged it out. Somehow I decided that night not to carry(dont know why?) but i didnt, but after thinking about it several times and even though I was very very lucky, It was a good thing I wasnt carrying.
 
Your experience is exactly the type of comment from the article.

Tom,
You may be right about where to discuss this.After all this is a place a lot of folks come to learn. We don't want any more kids turning out like this:
 
I agree an the placement of the wounds rather than the size of the knife. I mean if you get in the neck with a two inch blade it would be pretty bad. If I ever get stabbed(knock on wood) and they don't do it right, I will do my best to defend myself and the tool for doing that is my .357 rather than my knife.
 
I have to agree with Tom Mayo on this one, I don't think a discussion does anyone any good. I think people concentrate on the knife, and not the circumstances.

Case in point, a good friend of mine is a guard at a psyciatric hospital for the criminally insane. He's 6' 6" tall and bench presses way too much weight. He's ex-military, and after 20 years at this facility, he's seen it all.

A few months ago a teeny-weeny inmate stabbed him with a Bic Pen in the forearm. My friend goes down, the convict wins.

About the same time a prisoner in a local jail severely injured a guard with a sharpened comb. This stuff happens daily.

However, most of the stories I read in the newspapers make the implement the center of the news story. Imagine if a CQC7 had been used, I can see the headline, "Stabbing with a SEAL Knife Designed for Combat." The liberal press would make bubba-bait out of that for months.

Please read Mick Strider's sign off line, it says it all.
 
ROTFLMAO!! I LOVE that pic! Looks like a couple of my wife's former students.:D
 
That was sure a funny picture.
As to whether we should discuss it here, I think the thread may be moved to a more appropriate location
Kallisti: I'm not saying you're lying, but I highly doubt that a 1" Stanley knife is really going to puncture the heart... Sure it could puncture the lining of the chest area and collapse the lungs and perhaps strike some major arteries, but I really really doubt that a person of decent size would get his heart punctured by a 1".
 
When I was about 8 or 9, My brother and I were playing Ninja in my game room and whipping around a couple of cheapo butterfly knives. I accidentally slashed my brother across his right hand knuckles, To which I recieved a stab to my left upper arm. He got me pretty deep but I only recieved 8 stiches. We both still wear allot of scares from our time growing up together, But those were the only knife related ones. We both new better, But when your young you do some dumb sh-t.
 
yah i think what really matters is where you get stabbed, and it's really quite scary to stab someone because theres a lot of places you can hit that will kill the guy
 
I was stabbed with a Case slipjoint when I was a teenager. No fun, bled pretty bad. This was in 1955, and the doctor running a Q Tip sort of thing down into the wound, soaked in merthiolate, was worse than the pain from the wound. The size of a blade doesn't always determine the extent of the wound. I had an uncle (deceased now) that killed a man with a 21/4 in. blade. It was a slip joint knife and he stabbed the man to the right of the heart and just under the rib cage. He cut an artery and by the time he was transported to a hospital it was too late. Both men were drunk and got in an argument about something.
 
calyth wrote:
Kallisti: I'm not saying you're lying, but I highly doubt that a 1" Stanley knife is really going to puncture the heart... Sure it could puncture the lining of the chest area and collapse the lungs and perhaps strike some major arteries, but I really really doubt that a person of decent size would get his heart punctured by a 1".
Click to expand...

It may have been a major artery to or from the heart. The end result was as written and all too quick. A forceful stab will compress the part being penetrated and can give a short blade a much longer reach than one might expect.

I have to agree with Tom Mayo and Ichabod Poser after the fact. I was trying to make the point that length isn't all that. I see now I could have said that in a less sensational maner.

Kallisti.
 
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