Rick Oshay

I do have professional training. Slash or stab? It does not matter if you dont have a target. Knifing your attacker will not instantaneousely stop him in his tracks (Did someone mention crack / PCP addict?) unless you sepparate thier brain from thier spinal column. So basically, unless you decapitate your assailant you have to do maximum damage in minimum time to the body's structural connections and internal organs to create shock and extreme blood loss. Meanwhile your at contact distance with your attacker(s). You have to train, train, train. You have to be able to locate and strike the body's weak points. Can you locate and strike his femoral artery? Is your blade long enougth to penetrate into the thoractic cavity and sever his cardiac arteries? Oh Yeah, I remember the point I wanted to bring up (no pun intended, lol)...Saw teeth on the spine of a fighting knife may look really cool in a movie, but in real life have a tendency to get stuck in stuff like clothing or rib cages, and should be avoided........... Anyway, I think it's easier to carry and be proficient with a large caliber firearm. Whats that old saying 'bout "the more we sweat in training , the less we'll bleed in a fight"??

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Joshua M. Smith

My trainer stressed serrations for its increased cutting ability. He was a former Army Ranger who saw action btw.

I do both from an earth grip (usually). The handle is used to strike. I'll go after blood vessels, tendons and especially nerve centers. I'm fond of the idea of taking out an attacker's arm, then the attacker.

I can't really illustrate what I'm talking about without someone using my camera, and there's nobody here at this point.

Make an X with your arms. Attacker is right handed, I'm left handed. Catch the attacking arm with your right hand, slash under the armpit with the knife in the left hand, severing an important artery and hopefully knicking a nerve bundle. Move up, slash the side of the neck. From there plunge downward into the base of the neck. Two cuts and one stab, and you're well on your way to winning.

I gotta go to sleep, but I'll see what I can do about pics, or at least a more coherent discription.

Josh <><

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AzQkr

My trainer stressed serrations for its increased cutting ability.

Not all serrations are created equally, consequently, not all serrations will give increased cutting ability in various mediums they have to bite through.

In my own testing years ago and that of James Keating of Comtech fame [ one of the emeritas' in the world of knife knowledge ], and reported and discussed ad nauseum on bladeforums with others finding the same results, serrations are not conducive to increased cutting ability on clothing, the teeth drag on the materials, thus slowing the blade some resulting in cuts that are not as deep.

Serrations increase cutting ability in cardboard, on ropes, etc, in loose clothing which may bundle/bind they are not as effective [ as a rule ] over a nicely sharpened straight edge blade.

Now, another thing that needs to be addressed is that most will not keep their knives sharp enough all the time, or use a dedicated blade for SD only, keeping it razor sharp. The serrated blades create more cutting edge per inch of blade, so they stay sharper longer as a rule, and thats one of the reasons why many carry a serrated blade to begin with, it requires less resharpening overall.

I carry straight edges blades exclusively for SD. The edge gets touched at least once a week to keep it honed to it's full potential whether it touches anything in between those times or not as it is not as sharp as when I've just finished touching it with the stones after only a few days.

How many sharpen, resharpen their knives nightly/weekly, let alone anytime the edge actually has had to work during the day? Not many from what I've seen.

Many tell me over the years their knives are sharp. Upon inspection and testing, they are not. They see the edge on my blades and know what sharp is. Big difference, but then being anal about the edges of my blades has always been an issue

Brownie

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Blackeagle

John Farnam did some tests using knives against ballistics gelatin protected by leather and denim. The results seem to show that a knife's sharpness, quality and profile have a big influence on their ability to penetrate heavy clothing. The leather and denim were effective against cheap, dull knives. However, sharp, high quality knives penetrated with ease. In particular, knives with points that aren't designed for stabbing did poorly when trying to stab through heavy clothing.

ELCruisr

Actually a Tanto profile is meant for slashing at an unarmored target. Their armor piercing abilities are a lot of hype. What you can do with one you can do better with other shapes. I know, I've done it.

Japanese weapons were fairly easily defeated by the armor of their day. Most duels were fought unarmored. Japanese edged fighting also involved relatively small amounts of thrusts, due to their physiques. They concentrated on slashing techniques. Europeans concentrated more on thrusting because of longer legs hence a very different weapons shape evolution.

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Seamusalaska

Wikipedia has a fairly concise history of the evolution of and uses of the Tanto in its various forms. I once read somewhere (don't you love it when someone says "somewhere", but I really can't remember) that the first tanto design wasn't really a design per say but a resharpening of a broken samurai sword so as not to waste the metal. It was designed to slash but that pointed chisel end does have its uses.

Shadowsbane

the area under the arms (if held straight down) offer some of the best opportunites for attack especially if one is quick enough to act upon those areas being exposed. All of that extra clothing can be used against them as well because it slows them down while offering you something to grab at.

This is where all those anatomy classes really would come in handy, lots of vital arteries that will bleed out more blood then a BG has in a very short time. Personally if in that situation I would manuver behind the BG and deliver a blow about midway down the left side of the back, around 3 inches or so away from the spine. Good chance of puncturing the lung along with another organ. Sucking chest wounds tend to handle the rest.

A sharp knife means everything however, as AzQkr and others have stated. I worked in a sushi bar for a long time, so all of my knives make razors look like butterknives. They dont really hurt when the cut you, but then they dont have to if they are used right.

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Tangle

I basically agree with AzQkr. In my edged weapons training we did some slash/cut drills with serrated and straight edges - I now carry straight edges.

Sharpness is critical and knives seem to dull as if by magic by just carrying them. A SD knife should be dedicated to that, not SD and general purpose use.

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Joshua M. Smith

I dunno. I prefer serrations for cutting through tendon and fur on animals I shoot. I've never had a problem with hangups on what could arguably be called "leather" of a sort.

My "always" SD knife is only 1/3 or so serrated, but they're there and have their uses. My "sometimes" knife is a fixed blade Colt Steel Master Hunter. It has no serrations.

I'm serious about keeping my knives sharp to the point that I carry a medium diamond sharpener and very fine ceramic stone in my pocket, and will sit there sharpening whichever knife(s) I happen to have on me, preferably around the campfire but I'll take it out if I'm in the privacy of my car waiting on someone and put a few strokes on it then as well.

Josh <><

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AzQkr

Joshua;

My boss at the gun shop is the VP of the Az Predator Callers Assoc and has been a professional game trapper in two states for over 2 decades.

I've seen him skin and quarter yotes and pigs out here at the back of the shop in just minutes, literally. He uses a sharp straight edged blade.

I just asked him what the assoc members prefer [ straight or serrated ] as a rule, and he tells me not one of the predator callers uses a serrated knife that he is aware of to slice or skin.

He mentioned he uses serrated for cutting across hair onto bone like at the head and the feet areas, but that serrated edges require you to saw through and are not as effective at slicing as straights.

Not sure what that tells anyone, but he is a pro at skinning game animals with thousands of animals in that capacity under his belt.

Brownie

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