What makes a fighting knife

[ndoghouse]

I liked my Glock 23! It was butt ugly but sure felt right and was very reliable. I got a G30 afterwards because a friend was planning to get reloading equipment and thought it would help keep cost down but that didnt happen. The double stack stubby handle even with a mag extension still dont feel right in my sausage fingers.

Hmmm? Musta misplaced that Bowie after the pic? Maybe i stuffed it under the coffee table?...nope? Maybe that life insurance salesman that came by the other day grabbed it? Milkman? hmmmm?

 

[brownie0486]

IMO two types of fighting knife for blade shape are out there: slicers and stabbers. Rest are mixtures of the two.
I too think lighter and nimble knife is preferable. I remember someone was arguing that Junglass could be used for a fighter, and they were very adamant that a big person will be able to swing that knife easy...

I think 5-7" is optimal length.

The Bowie is actually superb at both. The sharpened clip point is excellent at slashing using the back cut [ gives one a little more reach and the clip will produce a vastly superior wound than any knives primary edge ]. The bowie is also adept and excels at stabbing.

As for optimal length in a fighting long knife, Bill Bagwell, the knife maker/trainer of the Bagwell Hells Belle and bowie training suggests the long knife doesn't have full potential until it's between 10-11.5" long.

This Bagwell bowie I carry is likely one of the premier fighting knives on the planet, and most experts in the know agree Bills Hells Belle is a pure fighter. This one not a Belle shown, but it's got a lot of speed built into it. I've trained with Bill on a few occasions, he knows the skills I possess with long knives and thus worked more speed than normal into through his genius skills with steel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kXp5zGqwmw

 

[gurkha berserka]

The Bowie is actually superb at both. The sharpened clip point is excellent at slashing using the back cut [ gives one a little more reach and the clip will produce a vastly superior wound than any knives primary edge ]. The bowie is also adept and excels at stabbing.

As for optimal length in a fighting long knife, Bill Bagwell, the knife maker/trainer of the Bagwell Hells Belle and bowie training suggests the long knife doesn't have full potential until it's between 10-11.5" long.

This Bagwell bowie I carry is likely one of the premier fighting knives on the planet, and most experts in the know agree Bills Hells Belle is a pure fighter. This one not a Belle shown, but it's got a lot of speed built into it. I've trained with Bill on a few occasions, he knows the skills I possess with long knives and thus worked more speed than normal into through his genius skills with steel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kXp5zGqwmw

Im gonna have to get me one of those soon.

 

[blue lander]

How's this for a fighting knife? I just picked it up recently, probably from the Philippines. The blade is only about 6 inches long. I think the hilt was made from bolts and knobs from a hardware store.

 

[brownie0486]

Im gonna have to get me one of those soon.

Just under a two year wait presently.

 

[Bawanna]

Waiting makes the heart grow fonder, dang I'm full of famous quotations today, least I think it's a famous quotation, maybe only slightly famous.

 

[J W Bensinger]

How's this for a fighting knife? I just picked it up recently, probably from the Philippines. The blade is only about 6 inches long. I think the hilt was made from bolts and knobs from a hardware store.

They do know a little about making fighting knives:
with my Yoj 2 for scale

 

[Seriousbladeno1]

Hi guys,i am not sure if i can post this here,but i guess,it may be at least somehow linked to thread "fighting knifes" in good and funny way....I still can not stop laughing,my stomach hurts after reading parts of the thread "tacticlol knifes"-in General knifes discussion,here on Bladeforums....I am sure,long time members here may know,but those who don't and wanna have some real fun, recommend you to go through "tacticlol knifes" you will be crying!

 

[J W Bensinger]

Hi guys,i am not sure if i can post this here,but i guess,it may be at least somehow linked to thread "fighting knifes" in good and funny way....I still can not stop laughing,my stomach hurts after reading parts of the thread "tacticlol knifes"-in General knifes discussion,here on Bladeforums....I am sure,long time members here may know,but those who don't and wanna have some real fun, recommend you to go through "tacticlol knifes" you will be crying!

Well, that tacticlol thread is 40 minutes of my life i'll never get back lol

 

[syco1138]

I've always though that a trench knife was a good choice. Not a original obviously, but something from the Chaos lineup.

 

[J W Bensinger]

I've only been asked to make one trench knife:

And a Ruination bowie, since we're bowie-ing

 

[Seriousbladeno1]

Well, that tacticlol thread is 40 minutes of my life i'll never get back lol

Yes,i fully understand this loss of time for you...i am here only to relax, not to promote or sell stuff

 

[J W Bensinger]

Yes,i fully understand this loss of time for you...i am here only to relax, not to promote or sell stuff

Oh no-it was hilarious. I just couldn't stop reading it

 

[Seriousbladeno1]

Oh no-it was hilarious. I just couldn't stop reading it

Well,i really killed some of my time on it deliberately, as nearly cried from reading some of the responses to that mall-ninja stuff there...i am sure many knife designers are focused more on art than functionality,that is very understandable and some pieces are real art,some is just mass produced junk,but the reaction people to that was most hilarious to me...

 

[davidf99]

That Philippines kriss posted by Blue Lander reminded me of a blade that I got last year. Here are some photos, not of mine but almost identical to mine:

View attachment 519141 View attachment 519142 View attachment 519143

This is a big boy, 22" overall length, 22 oz. It has the most vicious edge of any knife or sword I've held. Not just sharp, but all those curves would do terrible damage in a slashing move (or a stab, for that matter). I keep my hand well away from that edge. The tang goes all the way through the handle and is peened over at the butt like an HI knife, with a substantial round keeper. The handle is either horn or a very dark, dense wood like ebony. I think it's horn. The edge is full convex on both sides.

I read a posting about these knives by a military guy who was stationed at Clark Airforce Base in the Philippines in 1969-70. He says they were made by indigenous people in that area, called Negritos (which is engraved on some of the blades). Probably sold mostly to GIs, they were made by the thousands, so pretty cheap. They used steel from the leaf springs of jeeps and trucks (sounds familiar) and the brass guards were made from old shell casings.

I don't normally collect Philippine blades, but I really like this one, and it is most definitely a fighting knife.

 

[blue lander]

Wow, nice! Mine doesn't really have an edge at all. It's sharp enough to puncture someone but not sharp enough to cut anything. I tried to sharpen it up a bit but the stone just slides off the blade. The steel's really hard like a bayonet. The blade's only about 6 inches long, making it too short to really do much more than stab so I guess it doesn't matter.

 

[gurkha berserka]

Just under a two year wait presently.

I look into it last night and you are correct sir. I did find a couple used ones but they wanted over $1200 for them. I am going to put an order in for one with my tax money. I love the look of it and I bet it handles like a dream

 

[Kismet]

Somewhere back on the second page of this thread, khukuris were discussed and the methods of use for them.
If I am recalling correctly, maybe some where in the Blade Forums Archives section, the subject came up and Bill Martino quoted...er...maybe Pala...maybe someone else who had served as a ghurka.

The answer to the question of "how do you fight with a khukuri" was "Strike to head, good. Strike to arm, good. Strike to leg, good."

Other, vaguely remembered, knife fight training involves similar blood-letting strokes, cutting major veins or arteries--jugular, femoral, etc, or slashing through ligaments or tendons. If the target is bleeding out, or can not hold a weapon or be mobile, you have done your work.

Almost every instance I can remember adds the caveat: "Nobody wins a knife fight."

Be well and safe.

 

[Bawanna]

"Nobody wins a knife fight."


Pure words of wisdom right there. I've heard that many many times.

Don't plan on knife fighting without getting cut and getting cut sucks really bad.

 

[ndoghouse]

"Nobody wins a knife fight."

Might as well just pull the pin on a grenade. Quicker and painless..one would hope.

This Dhankute might qualify as a good fighting knife.

Its a little longer than id want to conceal but its got a heck of a skull crusher.