You're all carrying your knives backwards!

Edited, David... but be at ease... I know the Maker's got a great sense of humor and recognizes intent and lack thereof.

Good man. We're all mostly friends here.

But good thing his line of work must include soft spoken people. He wouldn't have liked working at my old job.

With respect
 
I sometimes carry an EDC fixed blade instead of a folder for utility. How I carry it all depends on the knife. I've found myself liking strong-side edge-down for horizontal carry on soft loops. I tend to prefer edge forward for vertical OWB on a Tek-Lok but that's usually because I'm carrying high relative to my belt line for some degree of concealment. (Sadly, there are people who feel scared or uncomfortable when they see another person carrying a small knife. While I think that's utterly ridiculous, I find it best not to stir up unintentionally ignorant or weak-minded people at the grocery store.) My aging shoulders don't agree with the arm movement to fully grasp an edge-rearward vertical handle from a high-hip position.

When I travel to places where I can't carry a concealed firearm, an EDC fixed blade becomes my primary defensive tool and I'll carry a folder for utility. That means a slightly larger fixed blade and I switch to edge-forward IWB. It usually pushes back a little from my hip with a slight forward cant. That means drawing tip-down and that's fine. If it's back further around my hip, then the cant increases and it becomes comfortable to reach back and draw it tip-up/edge-forward.
 
Edited, David... but be at ease... I know the Maker's got a great sense of humor and recognizes intent and lack thereof.

While I am sure we don't share a common perception of the Maker and His sense of humour, I respect and admire the graciousness of your reply. Thank you.

Good man. We're all mostly friends here.

Agreed!

But good thing his line of work must include soft spoken people. He wouldn't have liked working at my old job.

With respect

No disrespect taken. Of course, your guess is a little off base. I have worked in kitchens, factories, trash processing plant, in the bar, in the barn, on the roof, and among just about every kind rough-around-the-edges character there is up to and including drug dealers and a certain criminal bike club (they were patrons where I worked, I did not work with them!). And for years now, I have been every bit as respectfully forthright with these types as I have ever been with my Bladeforums friends, about my dislike of inappropriate language and my belief that it does disservice to civil society when we default to it even in public and with people we don't know. And I typically find the same type of response: people often don't fully understand why I feel that way, but are happy enough to be cool about it, like Velitrius was. And whenever they have melted down over a simple statement of "I feel that's not appropriate", it doesn't hurt me, but rather does me (and whoever is around) the service of revealing a kind of instability that we might be better off avoiding.
 
While I am sure we don't share a common perception of the Maker and His sense of humour, I respect and admire the graciousness of your reply. Thank you.



Agreed!



No disrespect taken. Of course, your guess is a little off base. I have worked in kitchens, factories, trash processing plant, in the bar, in the barn, on the roof, and among just about every kind rough-around-the-edges character there is up to and including drug dealers and a certain criminal bike club (they were patrons where I worked, I did not work with them!). And for years now, I have been every bit as respectfully forthright with these types as I have ever been with my Bladeforums friends, about my dislike of inappropriate language and my belief that it does disservice to civil society when we default to it even in public and with people we don't know. And I typically find the same type of response: people often don't fully understand why I feel that way, but are happy enough to be cool about it, like Velitrius was. And whenever they have melted down over a simple statement of "I feel that's not appropriate", it doesn't hurt me, but rather does me (and whoever is around) the service of revealing a kind of instability that we might be better off avoiding.

You sound like a real stand up guy, Mr. David! Trying to work on myself is a daily battle. Having a wife and daughter is motivation to better myself, but I definitely have my days.
 
I am not a martial artist of any kind, have never played one in movies or tv, do not carry a knife for self defense, but I have been soldier and been in combat. Our issued Camillus MK2's were carried on the right hip in a standard sheath, edge facing rear. To my knowledge, no soldier was ever killed or harmed by his knife facing backwards for some martial arts thing.

Haha. I don't take issue with what you are saying at all. But a soldier in combat is a whole different context, and not one I was referring to, nor one that even entered my mind, with my encouragement of edge forward vertical hip carry. Mike Janich actually talks in the previously posted video about how it is ill-advised to allow one's urban EDC and self defense philosophy to be shaped by historical and/or combative contexts that are not logistically or legally appropriate to our modern lives.
 
I like carrying my right handed fixed blades on my left side since I'm a lefty.
I have a Reeve Nyala that I totally prefer "on the wrong side". I was going to order a lefty
sheath, but decided it was great as is and no changes needed.
 
I just took a quick look at the CM vid, and his method is the opposite of the more legally defensible and threat stopping philosophy expressed in the Mike Janich video in JParanee's post. Matt's advocating center mass thrusts as opposed to the MBC philosophy of "defanging the snake", and Janich talks about both the science and legal aspect, both of which indicate the MBC approach is preferable for 1) stopping the thread and saving your life, and 2) keeping you out of jail afterwards. Don't take it from me, listen to what Janich has to say for yourself. But long story short: just because a wound is fatal and will cause a person to bleed out, doesn't mean he will stop trying to kill you yet. But if you cut his wrist tendons, and the quadricep just above the knee, he literally cannot attack you or chase you, and you (hopefully) don't have to answer for causing the death of another person.
Practactitastic!
 
I'll have to practacticactice a few times to be able to pronounce that one!
David,

My bio-med degree included anatomy, in which I have no reticence in blabbing that I scored 98%. I know, right? Where did that 2% go?! :mad:

I could almost not agree more with your tactical approach. I am, in my native English vernacular, what is known as a short-arse. Wiry, perhaps, but a short-arse. Anatomy is such an important aspect of any physical encounter, be it loving or violent.

The knee, sir, both one’s own as a striking force, and the other person’s as a weak point, is a very crucial thing. Also, the Achilles tendon. I refer not to loving, but to the sad reality of violence, and am now myself guilty of practacticality! :p

If you can sever a tendon then, good gracious, I take my hat off to you! I could maybe do it to someone unawares. Personally? A certain kick to the knee cap plus a few other targeted, anatomical, strikes is what I carry in my armoury, and it is just my short-arse, wiry body.

I work with offenders (not as prison staff), some of who do very long sentences for sticking knives into people. I found my home in Systema. Nothing is ruled out, but you don’t start by assuming possession of a knife. Unless you have one... ;)

Warm wishes,

Tom
 
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I'm not going to even attempt to argue for one second that a fixed blade isn't vastly superior to a folder for a defensive carry back up to your firearm. I just like to be a little more discreet (no handle sticking out anywhere). However I am currently exploring small fixed blade options (I don't want to go under 4 inches) that can be discreetly carried as comfortably as possible.

[...]

I am open to suggestions for a small fixed blade and carry methods that will meet my requirements, so if anyone has them, I'm all ears.

Hi friend, since you are interested in options, I thought you might like to see this thread with my philosophy on fixed blade carry for utility, and self defense. You can adapt the method I demonstrate in the video to suit concealment, simply by draping an overshirt over the handle. I also recommend my new Prevail model because I designed it to excel at utility, and be highly versatile for a variety of self defense styles, most notably the Mike Janich philosophy of MBC. It's a "non-scary" knife with great utility and SD capability.

Here's the post:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/youre-all-carrying-your-knives-backwards.1777285/#post-20356812

Deployment speed is fast, under a second, but from concealment you would obviously add a slight delay to that, which could be minimized through dialing in your technique for lifting the shirt and grabbing the handle.
 
It is in fact truly sad, to see so many advocate carrying knives for self defence.

Not so much for the way they conduct them selves.

More for the lack of them feeling safe in their surroundings. Must really suck to walk around with such a feeling of insecurity.
 
It is in fact truly sad, to see so many advocate carrying knives for self defence.

Not so much for the way they conduct them selves.

More for the lack of them feeling safe in their surroundings. Must really suck to walk around with such a feeling of insecurity.
That's easy to say when you live in Denmark, I myself carry a pistol for self defense living just outside of Philadelphia that had 499 homicides in 2020.
 
Hi friend, since you are interested in options, I thought you might like to see this thread with my philosophy on fixed blade carry for utility, and self defense.
Hi David, Thank you for the invite to this thread.
I've read the posts, and watched the videos, and I now have some new things to consider, so again, thank you.
 
It is in fact truly sad, to see so many advocate carrying knives for self defence.

Not so much for the way they conduct them selves.

More for the lack of them feeling safe in their surroundings. Must really suck to walk around with such a feeling of insecurity.

You're confusing insecurity with preparedness. But a knife is just a backup weapon for me.
 
It is in fact truly sad, to see so many advocate carrying knives for self defence.

Not so much for the way they conduct them selves.

More for the lack of them feeling safe in their surroundings. Must really suck to walk around with such a feeling of insecurity.

I guess you would say I work all day feeling insecure, or I wouldn't have a fire extinguisher in my knife shop. :rolleyes:
 
It is in fact truly sad, to see so many advocate carrying knives for self defence.

Not so much for the way they conduct them selves.

More for the lack of them feeling safe in their surroundings. Must really suck to walk around with such a feeling of insecurity.

No, not sucks any more than living in a country that has no constitution and having a government telling you what you can own and not own. I'll take the insecure in very strong preference to living in a nanny state where you are helpless to defend yourself if need be. Like your country has zero crime, no murders, no prisons?

I'm sorry, but I stopped believing in never-never land a long time ago. Theres not a single country on earth that has zero murders, no crime, and has never had innocent people killed by some violent criminal. Spare us your conceited snideness that is born of total ignorance of what its like to live in a country much larger than yours with a 100% more diverse populace, with no history if being ruled. We have more people in New York City than your total country.

Don't mistake preparedness for insecurity. It was our preparedness that kept you from having to salute with Sieg Heil when you were occupied by the Nazi's. I understand that the German takeover of Denmark was the shortest in history; 4 hours. But then I guess an unprepared populace can't fight back much.
 
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