Keith and the rattlesnake.

On the general discussion forum there is a thread "Busse knives as fighters?" to which Jim March posted an interesting and thoughtful reply, categorizing fighters into light and fast or heavy but slower.
http://bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum32/HTML/001686.html

I've spoken before of the 12" Sirupatis having a spirit which would teach you in a zen sense how to use it. I've also remarked that the baby Sirupati scares me at what it has to teach.

Now I remember the story that's pertinent.

Some of you will remember Elmer Keith, the father of the 44 magnum. One day back when he was still carrying the old Single Action Army revolver, he and a friend were out walking when Keith almost stepped on a rattlesnake. The next thing he knew, he'd levitated 20 feet away, and was standing there with a smoking gun in his hand which he didn't remember drawing, much less firing.
Meanwhile, his friend was nearly dying of laughter, and when asked what was so funny, the friend replied "When you stepped on that snake, you jumped, and shot at that snake once on the way up, once at the top, and once on the way down!"

Jim considers a 15" BAS and up as a heavy chopper. But hand him a 15" Sirupati or 17" Chainpuri weighing 14 ounces, and I'll bet Jim could handle either as well as the 12" Sirupati is a reflexive reaction for me. It moves faster than I can think. It's the mongoose against the cobra. So don't forget the light fast khuks.
 
Yvsa

Yvsa

Joined
May 18, 1999
Messages
15,395
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I have a Walking stick/Flute that I covered in Pacific Coast Diamond Back Rattlesnake.It was a big female that tried to bite me 22 years ago on the Morongo Rez just east of Banning California.
I "bit" her with my .22 rifle that I was hunting rabbits with.
If your interested in tanning a snake skin the best way I have found is to skin the snake using a pair of scissors to cut down the belly.That saves the scales from causing the knife to slip and make an irregular cut.
Tack the skin onto a board stretching the skin as you go,flesh side down.Then get a bottle of Glycerin from your neighborhood drugstore and wipe the skin every day for a week,every other day for 2 weeks and every 3 days for a month,once a month for a year.Somewhere along in there during the first month,depending on the weather the scales will start sloughing off and the beauty of the skin will really start showing.
After about 6 months you can take the skin off the board and ue it if you wish.Mine stayed on the boardfor years and when I took it off it was soft and supple.
You can use any of the smaller khuks to chop the head off the snake.
If you're really fast you can use one of the small quick ones to do that when the snake "strikes" at you.
wink.gif

Just be careful of which way the head flies off,it may hit your wife!
smile.gif
Worse yet in some cases it may hit your dog.
Just tzn.
wink.gif

Not about the dog though!(VBESEG)

On the serious side I Love my little 17" village Sirupati.It sleeps under my pillow.If you don't remember that's the one that gave me thoughts of doing some exotic dance with it while naked.
Now that's a Scary thought!!

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>>>>---¥vsa---->®

If you mix milk of magnesia with vodka and orange juice do you get a phillips screwdriver?

Khukuri FAQ


 
When I was living in Nepal I had a sarki make me two pair of Cobra skin cowboy boots and he did a great job. I showed him a picture of a pair of boots in a catalog I had and he duplicated them to a T. Of course, both pairs got away from me. The only consolation is my son has one pair and I might be able to wear them when I visit.

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Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ

 
Rusty, by the way, I have a friend who also really likes the 12" Sirupati I showed him.
 
Welll....hmmm. See, speed is relative. The fastest big fighting knives have *barely* enough metal to hold together in a "social encounter" and shouldn't be used for heavy woodcraft at ALL. Classic examples are the Mad Dog Panther, Ernie Mayer Black Cloud Fighting Bowies and the Bill Bagwell Hell's Belle or related designs.

The lighter Khukuris will be fast FOR A KHUK but...if a guy does a fast cut/stab motion to your chest with a Panther, you're not going to solve that problem using pure blade speed and a Khukuri. It ain't gonna happen. You might smash the hell out of him *while* dying
frown.gif
but that's not a good answer.

Now, that's not to say you're definately screwed. You just can't rely on blade speed for the solution. You can rely on REACH if you've got a longish piece and you practice a gameplan where you MOVE YOUR FEET and get the hell out of his way while counterattacking. The problem is, he's got a blade speed/maneuverability advantage from hell as he tries to nail your incoming wrist - if you've done the "dodge" part right that's his only remaining target.

A 21" lightweight Khuk *can* beat a 14" overall "ultralight fighter" but it's a near thing and you'd best know what you're doing. In my view, if you're running a 12" - 14" blade you're best off with a "fast type" versus a Khukuri.

Now, all that said, part of what I'm implying is that my Outsider really isn't all THAT optimal for pure knife-on-knife. At 13.5" overall it's got more smashpower than a similar sized Khukuri. But it's not all that fast compared to a Panther. The good news is, it's VERY unlikely I'd ever meet a Helle's Belle on the street, with equal range but faster. I'm more likely to confront a folder, butterfly knife or a club of some sort and in THOSE cases I'd be in hog heaven.

I've been pondering the subject and am considering designing a "pure speed fighter" in the 13" - 14" overall length class. Should be interesting...

Jim
 
Jim, did you play with a 12" Sirupati while you were visiting with Bill? About an 8" blade, and about 9 ounces. That was the point of the story about the snake. I can't see there being much difference in the speed between the Sirupati and say, a zytel endura.
I'm probably missing something, though.

>>edit<<

Ah, *now* I see what I missed: "x+y" does not always equal "y+x".

Example:

"Don't take a knife to a gunfight" is very emphatically NOT the same thing as "Don't take a gun to a knifefight".

PS: What about that 14.7" 17.5 oz. Panther vs. the 20" 16+ oz. Kobra?
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Somewhere, a village is being deprived of an idiot.




[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited 15 December 1999).]
 
Back in '92 I was camping at Joshua Tree Monument with some buddies. An unfortunate rattler came through our campsite. On a drunken dare I teamed up with my buddy Ray to catch it live. He pinned it's head with a stick and I swooped in to make the grab. Only problem was Mr. Snake decided to squirm free and take offence at being mishandled. Here I was straddling one pissed off rattler. Good thing for me he decided to make a break for it rather than bury his fangs in my groin(that old joke about the prospectors comes to mind!).
Ray repinned the snakes head and I, after threatening him with extreme violence if he let it get away again, made the grab and successfully transplanted the live critter out into the desert away from the campsite. He wasn't that big(about 2 1/2 ft) and I swore I'd never kill another snake needlessly after killing a gorgeous 35" Coastal rattler (huge for the coast range!) back in my foolish youth.
Always a pleasure,
Sutcliffe
 
Rusty, the comparison between a Zytel Endura and a 12" Sirupati isn't as relevent as you'd think. The Endura is light, but *short* - you have to do more arm movement to perform an "intercept".

A better comparo is between the 12" Sirupati and a 12" overall "lightweight fighter". Rusty, if you've never held a Mad Dog Panther, you need to. It's...almost freaky, the way the tip can move to wherever you need it RIGHT NOW, how you can effortlessly lash out in any direction especially since it's double-edge like all these big lightweight fighters are. They're at their best on "defense", picture a Patriot missile intercepting a SCUD.

You're not going to whip the tip of a 12" Sirupati around as fast.

The good news is, building a serious lightweight properly balanced double-edge fighter is NOT EASY. You'll almost never have to head-to-head against such a critter on the street...all the specimens I know of are up over $150 at an absolute minimum and a couple are in the $900 range for handmades.

Jim

[This message has been edited by Jim March (edited 15 December 1999).]
 
I should make clear that in the Khukuri's favor, a "lightfighter" can't block a hevy club smash, or even parry it well enough. A Khukuri can, or at least has a chance. And skill will always more than make up for a "blade deficit"; I'd hate to face Bram with his 3" folder even if I had my 21" Chainpuri-oid...

But it's still fun to talk about "theoretical bests" in given size ranges. In my book, the 12" to 14" overall range is dominated by the big lightweights in blade-to-blade fights.

Jim
 
Well, my two cents on the topic of knife fighting, is that just like in any fight, the one who is focused and determined is going to do better than one who is lacking in the motivational department. I remember a priceless scene in the movie, "Crocodile Dundee," in which CD and his girlfriend were walking around in the city when some punks came up with a switchblade and demanded that they surrender their wallet and purse. The girl suggested that they do as they said. When CD asked why, she said, "Because they have a knife!" CD responded by saying, "That's not a knife... THIS is a knife!" And he pulled out from under his coat a blade that must have been a foot and a half long. The punks' eyes went about as wide as dinner plates and they ran off. One beautiful aspect of the khukuri that shouldn't be overlooked is its intimidation factor. If someone pulls a blade on me, and I respond by drawing my khukuri, I certainly think that odds are, I'd get the same response. *L*

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When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.

 
David, I've "been there, done that" twice now: that sort of intimidation really, no-BS *works*. Bill's seen my smallest daily-carry knife, the 5.45" Sifu #1...that's the *smallest* I carry for defense.

Jim
 
Unfortunately, most of the punks in my neck of the woods are packin' firearms. Seldom do they use knives. That's why I carry my five-shot, snub-nosed .38 instead of a serious blade. Even an experienced blade man is at a real disadvantage when facing an opponent with a handgun.
 
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