What is your pick for best self defense Spydie

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To overly rely on any object (knife, gun, etc.) or any one move (groin kick, fist punch, etc.) like a talisman is not wise. Tools (and empty-handed skills) have their place, but the best defense is awareness, avoidance (whenever possible), and awareness of the legal aspects of SD.

I've heard of instances where someone was stabbed literally dozens of times and continued to advance aggressively and fight. Due to the effects of adrenaline, drugs or alcohol, people often do not feel it when they are being stabbed. OTOH...there are instances where a single stab wound has immediately stopped someone cold. It depends on the situation and the individuals involved. Human beings are an odd mixture of extremely fragile and extremely durable. EVERY situation is different, and NOTHING is guaranteed to have the desired effect.

BTW...a kick to the groin doesn't always work, either. People often say, "Just kick 'em in the groin." I've actually seen instances where a groin kick only enraged the recipient. They might have collapsed in pain afterwards, but the adrenaline rush allowed them to continue the attack (and sometimes even emerge victorious). Many streetwise criminals are also well aware that someone may try to kick their groin, have defenses for it and often a nasty surprise counter waiting.

Sorry if I went OT, but wanted to bring up a few points.

Jim
 
Another thing with knife self defense as was already mentioned is if you kill them as with say a slash across the jugular or puncture wounds to vital organs is the possibility of jail time. The self defense part is to try and immobilize them and escape which means not just wildly slashing for superficial wounds but cutting tendons or muscles that will no longer allow the targeted areas to work while that be hand, forearm, traps, bi , tri, back of leg and several other locations. If the things that cause a hand to close or open are severed they don’t work. That all being said it takes training and that may not even work when the moment comes because we don’t really know how we’ll react when the time comes and god forbid if it ever should.
 
The waved Matriarch is pretty much intended exclusively for this purpose and is incredibly damaging if used correctly.

I know this because I used one against an attacking pit bull several years ago, in one upwards slash it cut about 70% of the way around it's neck/throat area and went through absolutely everything except bone. The tip and several of the teeth broke off, the dog died later, the owner was arrested (on unrelated warrants for several violent crimes) and I settled a lawsuit against the apartment complex for a solid sum (they knew the dog was dangerous, it has been involved in incidents before and they knowingly didn't do anything, gross negligence on their part).

So yeah, it's pretty effective.
 
Spydiechef, so I can hopefully dissuade the attacker from fighting by making a delicious stirfry.

If you absolutely MUST fight, I'll offer my favorite quote: "If you suddenly find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck."
 
SilvaSpyder said:
Another thing with knife self defense as was already mentioned is if you kill them as with say a slash across the jugular or puncture wounds to vital organs is the possibility of jail time. The self defense part is to try and immobilize them and escape which means not just wildly slashing for superficial wounds but cutting tendons or muscles that will no longer allow the targeted areas to work while that be hand, forearm, traps, bi , tri, back of leg and several other locations. If the things that cause a hand to close or open are severed they don’t work. That all being said it takes training and that may not even work when the moment comes because we don’t really know how we’ll react when the time comes and god forbid if it ever should.
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While biomechanical cutting certainly works I am not sure how reliably it can be pulled off in self defense scenarios where the fight is so close and intense that I can not run.

Slashing or stabbing someone will almost certainly get the police involved one way or another and you ending up in court is likely.

As to arguing in court “I didn’t want to kill him just stop him.” This mentality has gotten people in trouble in court before. For example sometimes a person argues, “well I shot him in the legs because I didn’t want to kill him.” This actually opens the argument that you used lethal force when you didn’t have to. Using a knife or gun to protect yourself the court will view as lethal force. People have gotten in trouble because the prosecutor brings up the argument that if you didn’t shoot or knife to kill your attacker then you weren’t really fearing for your life and used lethal force unnecessarily. The argument is based on if you really feared for your life then you would have shot or cut to kill.

Now in court if they determine you did fear for your life and fired hitting the assailant’s legs by chance; that is considered “normal.” The issue arrises when it becomes apparant that your plan for self defense was to maim your attacker and then escape. They can argue that you should only be using deadly force when you feel you have to kill your assailant to defend yourself.

You hopefully won’t get in convicted of a crime if you used deadly force to stop a deadly attack as in self defense. However one can certainly get convicted for using deadly force to defend oneself if the court determines that you felt you could use a deadly weapon without the intent to kill your assailant.
 
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GatorFlash1 said:
I'll go with the 92 mm Spyderco Citadel Auto.

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I just don’t see why in a world where waved knives exist why anyone would pick an auto as a self defense knife. Drawing and opening your folder is one of the most crucial things in self defense and if I can do all that in one gross motor step then that’s the best option in my eyes.
 
Sometimes just the noise of cocking a gun, or snapping open an auto edc may be enough to stop a confrontation
 
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SavageSick said:
Is there a reason to prefer it over the Civilian (Size/Weight/Carry-ability/Price)?
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Personally, I looked at the Civilian and went with the Matriarch for a few reasons.... the Civilian is twice as expensive, the Civilian has a thinner blade at the tip and the Civilian is bigger than the Matriarch. The Matriarch is Endura sized, which is big enough for me.

I also like the black on black stealth colour combo I was able to get in the Matriarch as well as the Emerson Wave opener.

Lastly, this style knife is not something I would carry as an EDC, so I didn’t want to drop over $200US for a knife I wouldn’t use often. I think my Matriarch was $90US, which wasn’t bad.
 
This topic comes up about self defense and no mention about Michael Janich and the yojimbo 2 comes up? Come on now, the yojimbo was designed as the self defense knife. It is not a box cutter, it is not designed to cut vegetables or cut rope. It is the passport to safety, get you home, walk the dark streets at night knife. If you need to check out the you tube videos about Mr Janich.

If you don’t know Michael Janich / yojimbo 2 collaborations you should get acquainted with that paring if your going to consider a self defense knife. Any knife can be used for self defense but the yojimbo 2 was built for that purpose and designed by janich.
 
Any knife Sypderco sells can be used for self-defense but, among those specifically designed for that purpose, I like the Introvert the best because it is the easiest and most intuitive to use.

The unique flip design allows for quick deployment and the positioning handle allows you to quickly insert your index finger in the hole and place your thumb on top of the blade to establish a fighting grip on the knife for quick defensive slicing action and secures the grip in such a way that it would be very difficult to lose your grip on the knife (even if subject to a counter leverage move).

I also have the Yojimbo, P'kal and Karahawk (as well as a Lapu Lapu Corto - the Gunting look alike) but these knives, are require specific training to use properly and (except for the P'kal) are much slower to deploy. However, for non-lethal and/or non-cutting applications, the Gunting is probably best but again you need specialized training and practice to use it effectively.
 
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SilvaSpyder said:
Another thing with knife self defense as was already mentioned is if you kill them as with say a slash across the jugular or puncture wounds to vital organs is the possibility of jail time.
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IMO..Better to take a chance of getting some jail time than to take a chance of permanent cemetery time..
 
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