In Battle, a Folding Knife is a Broken Knife

killgar said:
Ya know what's funny, I'm a member of two different biker forums, and there's more arguing and personal attacks on Bladeforums than on both of those biker forums combined.

Maybe bikers are a much more mellow bunch than knife enthusiasts. Heck, even the Harley and Honda guys get along better on those forums then a lot of the guys do on this forum. :D

Of course there are "bad" bikers in this world who do "bad" things. But there are also bad "knife enthusiasts" in this world who do "bad" things, often involving knives.
Click to expand...

Yes, but your "go-to" biker blade is, unlike most of those above, pretty freakin' sweet. :D
 
^Thanks Wowbagger for the detailed info.

As you can tell I have no personal experience with trying to cut through leather anything, I just assumed a leather jacket might provide some protection. But that's simply me going off of how hard it can be for me to sometimes puncture various other materials.
 
RedLynx said:
Yes, but your "go-to" biker blade is, unlike most of those above, pretty freakin' sweet. :D
Click to expand...
My knives are definitely NOT "throwaways". ;)

The term "1% er" specifically refers to the "outlaw" biker clubs/gangs. Like the Hell's Angles, Mongols, Banditos, etc.

As far as leather motorcycle jackets go, the REAL ones are intended to protect against abrasion (like sliding down the street after going down), but they are most certainly not designed for stopping a knife. I used the term "REAL" because not every jacket that looks like a motorcycle jacket is a TRUE mc jacket. Some are just "fashion" jackets with no real protection at all (very thin leather, weak stitching). A REAL mc leather jacket is built tough to handle the stress of colliding with the asphalt and bouncing down the road without coming apart (been there, done that).

Typically, the thickest leather used in REAL mc jackets is 1.5 mm thick. Those are the more expensive ones (like around $500). Less expensive ones ($200-$300) are often around 1.3 mm thick. Both thicknesses will offer good protection against the road, but neither will offer any protection against a knife thrust.
 
Last edited:
RedLynx said:
I know I have read one account but I don't think it was either of those... Jay Dobbins I think, but I think that was called "No Angel" or something similar.

Okay so, 1%er is a commonly used term to refer to bikers? This I did not know.
Click to expand...

Yea that's Dobyns' book, it's more than a little fictional...my brother knows the author as they worked in the same FO for a few months, couldn't say much good about him I'm afraid.

As to the Matriarch tip breaking, possible but not likely. The tip isn't really that thin compared to other Spyderco knives, I could only see it breaking if it hit something hard like bone. Also, the tip is so sharp that it could easily go through almost any garment I could imagine. The Matriarch is just a smaller version of the Civilian, the serrated reverse S blade is capable of inflicting some horrific slash wounds, especially on extremities.
 
John_0917 said:
Yea that's Dobyns' book, it's more than a little fictional...my brother knows the author as they worked in the same FO for a few months, couldn't say much good about him I'm afraid.

As to the Matriarch tip breaking, possible but not likely. The tip isn't really that thin compared to other Spyderco knives, I could only see it breaking if it hit something hard like bone. Also, the tip is so sharp that it could easily go through almost any garment I could imagine. The Matriarch is just a smaller version of the Civilian, the serrated reverse S blade is capable of inflicting some horrific slash wounds, especially on extremities.
Click to expand...

Aw that's too bad about Dobyns, ah well.

Yeah I am sure the Matriarch is an amazing wound-inflictor... good to hear the the tip is strong enough to hold up, as well.
 
killgar said:
.....As far as leather motorcycle jackets go, the REAL ones are intended to protect against abrasion (like sliding down the street after going down), but they are most certainly not designed for stopping a knife. I used the term "REAL" because not every jacket that looks like a motorcycle jacket is a TRUE mc jacket. Some are just "fashion" jackets with no real protection at all (very thin leather, weak stitching). A REAL mc leather jacket is built tough to handle the stress of colliding with the asphalt and bouncing down the road without coming apart (been there, done that).

Typically, the thickest leather used in REAL mc jackets is 1.5 mm thick. Those are the more expensive ones (like around $500). Less expensive ones ($200-$300) are often around 1.3 mm thick. Both thicknesses will offer good protection against the road, but neither will offer any protection against a knife thrust.
Click to expand...

First, a REAL motorcycle jacket is going to be horse hide--preferably front quarter, not butt.

Horse hide, in addition to being the only real waterproof leather, is also extremely tough, especially in 1.5 to 2 mm thicknesses. While it will not stop a strong blade stab it WILL offer some protection, most especially from slashing, although by no means total. It might buy a slight amount of time that could be used for escape or defense.

I know I would have some confidence if I had to use my horse hide jacket to fend off, say, a dog attack by wrapping my left forearm. I'd be confident it would gain a bit of time as opposed to no protection at all...and certainly offer more protection than cow, goat, lamb or similar fashion leathers.

IMO, when making such tactical calculations, clothing THICKNESS (example, in winter) should be more of a factor than clothing material.
 
EChoil said:
First, a REAL motorcycle jacket is going to be horse hide--preferably front quarter, not butt.

Horse hide, in addition to being the only real waterproof leather, is also extremely tough, especially in 1.5 to 2 mm thicknesses. While it will not stop a strong blade stab it WILL offer some protection, most especially from slashing, although by no means total. It might buy a slight amount of time that could be used for escape or defense.

I know I would have some confidence if I had to use my horse hide jacket to fend off, say, a dog attack by wrapping my left forearm. I'd be confident it would gain a bit of time as opposed to no protection at all...and certainly offer more protection than cow, goat, lamb or similar fashion leathers.

IMO, when making such tactical calculations, clothing THICKNESS (example, in winter) should be more of a factor than clothing material.
Click to expand...
Now I know this is Bladeforums, and I know that when two people disagree about ANYTHING here in General Discussion that it's customary for them to argue about it, including some name calling and insults made against each others intelligence. And that such an argument should go on for several pages until the thread gets locked. But I like to be different. So I'm just going to say-

If horsehide works for you, then more power to you :).

Personally, I'm happy with cowhide. And I have some experience sliding down the street on cowhide, so I know it works just fine for that purpose (providing it's quality leather and the proper thickness).

As far as what leather works best to fend off a dog attack, I have no experience with that.

P.S.- I know you weren't trying to start an argument EChoil, I was just being a smartass and making a joke about how easily and frequently threads turn into epic arguments around here ;) :D.
 
Last edited:
Dobyn
Click to expand...

Ha, ha
That's the name of my dentist. Probably no relation. Interesting side . . . he was my customer . . . when I would shave off my beard he would act (or actually get) Psssed off. I never could tell if he was kidding or what that was about. Weird huh ? And no he wasn't light on his loafers . . . as far as I know . . . I mean he had a daughter and stuff . . . I better switch topics . . .

And since we are talking about books O' Hunter S. Thompson wrote a biker book. I didn't read it. Any body know if it was fairly good/accurate ?

PS: I once slid down the pavement on my butt and a carving knife literally saved my butt.
Here's the knife.
The accident was about twenty five mph. The knife was in the back pocket of some thin cotton pants.
Moral of the story : always keep a knife in your back pocket for body armor. :p

The gouges are visible but I was surprised how little damage happened to the scales. I mean I was really on it for a ways. Didn't really hurt the knife.



PPS: I don't pretend to know anything about bikers but when I was around six years old the guy next door was a full on member of Satan's Irons. I spent a bunch of time over there talking to him and polishing chrome on his choppers. He used to give me a very fast ride down the block now and then, I was up front hanging onto the peanut tank.
No 'lectric starters for him. I used to run to the window of my parents house to watch him kick one over because if it didn't start right off often there would be a big blue BALL of flame pop out of one of the straight pipes. VERY COOL ! ! !

He was a really great guy. A surveyor and a National Guard. Big sucker. We have the same first name "Rocky".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top