Still Love the Combat Karambit!

R

reconranger

Joined
Sep 23, 2007
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The Karambit has been my EDC carry knife in town for a year now (12 is my EDC out in the bush), and I have absolutely no regrets!

I avoided this absolutely superb knife for years, thinking it was just some kind of gimmick. Then I finally broke down and bought one and practiced the techniques, and I have to say that I think this is the most reasonable self-defense knife for any very CQC situation. Defending against it...is nearly impossible!

The whole technique is based on severing your opponents tendons and the blood vessels in their extremities, which are going to be the most available targets. You leave your opponent with useless limbs hanging there, and bleeding out profusely......
 
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I carry my Spyderco Karambit every now and again and have to agree that the style is legitimate. I'll have to be getting an Emerson now too :D
 
Where did you learn the techniques? I see Emerson has some karambit videos out. Have you seen those? They look pretty good.
 
I have the videos, and they were very hard to find as I recall. If you go to the Emerson web site, there are some demos on there that you can preview.
 
Another more advanced technique is knife boxing. Turn the Karambits around blade facing forward, and block and parry all your opponents moves, just like a boxer would. Thing is, you have a blade ticking out of each fist!
 
The kerambit is great but i think people get caught up in the romance of what they hear about it way too much.

Iv trained in kerambit techniques from my back garden in Scotland to a beach in Malaysia and a few places in between.

The style basically looks to lock up or hold down a person while you butcher them.
Hacking away at the extremities, "boxing" or trying to taget tendons is not something that will work unless you want a knife "fight".

If you want a knife kill or physical disablement you need full control of your opponant by getting control of their weapon, locking them up or taking them down. This is a knife kill, not a knife "fight"
It is obviously more complicated that I just described but the "tap tap, parry" crap I see way too often just makes me cringe.

A knife is a tool for killing NOT fighting.

:thumbup:
 
So....does this mean that I can't hack up the badguys and watch them bleed out? :confused: I think that just about any knife would perform great if you know what you are doing with it. You already have the element of surprise if you practice waving your Emerson enough.

In the time it takes the attacker's brain's nerves' atoms' nucleus to think "oh shit," you can have your Emerson drawn and slicing away at stuff, kerambit or not :D.

I better stop, I don't want to turn this to prac-tac :foot:.
 
batosai117 said:
So....does this mean that I can't hack up the badguys and watch them bleed out? :confused: I think that just about any knife would perform great if you know what you are doing with it. You already have the element of surprise if you practice waving your Emerson enough.

In the time it takes the attacker's brain's nerves' atoms' nucleus to think "oh shit," you can have your Emerson drawn and slicing away at stuff, kerambit or not :D.

I better stop, I don't want to turn this to prac-tac :foot:.
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At the end of the day you can do what ever you want with it :D

To make kerambit use different than just a "normal" knife your better off using specific tactics that compliment the blade shape and over all design.

You dont have to listen to me though, im just a guy you dont know on the interwebs :p

:thumbup:
 
Haze said:
At the end of the day you can do what ever you want with it :D

To make kerambit use different than just a "normal" knife your better off using specific tactics that compliment the blade shape and over all design.

You dont have to listen to me though, im just a guy you dont know on the interwebs :p

:thumbup:
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I've always done what reconranger said he did, avoid the kerambits. I just don't like the looks of it, and I'm more of an EDC, "One Knife to Rule Them All" kind of person. So the CQC 12 is my "Precious" right now :D. When the funding is good and I can find one for a reasonable price, I wouldn't mind getting one and trying it out.
 
while i'm no big fan of k'bits (they are just too specialised for me) with the proper training they will work,
 
Another + for the Karambit is that finger hole! Held backward (index finger in the hole), no way am I going to drop it (even if injured), and no way is anybody going to disarm me! Yet...I am still able to use my hands, and have a lot of useful motion and possibilities.

Held blade forward (pinkie in the hole), you still have a lot more control over the knife than with a conventional handle.

Yet another area where the Karambit excells, is stopping an off-side gun grab! Carry it on the opposite side from your handgun, and just start cutting tendons on your attacker......
 
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People who are stabbed, often report that they did not realize they were even stabbed until after the fight was over. What they felt, was more like a very hard punch. People die from stab wounds all the time, but the wound tends to close up and they don't bleed out as quickly as one may think. (BTW, I worked for the medical examiner of a large populous So. Calif. county during my college years....so I have seen enought knife and gunshot wounds to fill everyone's nightmares!!!)

Get a stab in if you can for sure, but a slash is going to disable your opponent more quickly, either by severing tendons and/or major blood vessels. The former leave his limbs useless, and the latter makes him lose conciousness. Also, don't underestimate the deterent effect when one sees/feels their own blood flowing out all over the place.

Consider slashing with a conventional knife that you have to hold in your hand (even if injured), vs a Karambit which is practically anatomically attached to our hand! The Karambit is the best tool for the job.....
 
With all the blood, you better hope the your assailant dosen't have HIV/AIDS. It could get into your eyes, if they are near you. Some of the people on the streets are interveinous drug users, etc.
 
If I see a knife I would try to get away from the person would pulled it. If I couldn't and was forced to, then let the games begin.
 
rick43t3 said:
If I see a knife I would try to get away from the person would pulled it. If I couldn't and was forced to, then let the games begin.
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All this goes without saying! But, I would rather be alive with HIV (which is very survivable these days), vs dead laying in an alley right now. (BTW....I work with peoples blood/bacteria/viruses every day.....and believe me, HIV is the absolute least of my worries....it is a very fragile "envelope" virus!)
 
rick43t3 said:
If I see a knife I would try to get away from the person would pulled it. If I couldn't and was forced to, then let the games begin.
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Correction: If I see a knife I would try to get away from the person who pulled it.

Oh, I agree with you completely. I would just rather do my thing and move out quickly. Let them come to an understanding, regarding their fate.
 
I have owned a Spyderco Civilian for 15 years. Same techniques, and so forth. I like this type of knife.
 
I will check out Emerson. I own a Benchmade Emerson CQC7. I like the Emerson Bowie model. It looks good too.I like the hole in the Karambit. Very secure.
 
I carried a 7 for many years, then switched to the 10 for a while. Now for "outdoors" carry I pack the super strong 12 on my pocket (and a Fallkniven fixed blade in my "survival" kit). But, I do like that 13 bowie blade!!!
 
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