I have taken a lot of heat from knife gurus, knife manufacturers, and knife enthusiasts from recommending that one not use a knife for street defense. Look, I am—as far as I know—the most experienced live steel knife fighter on the planet.
I wrote The Logic of Steel, the King James version of ‘getting stabbed’ bibles.
I like to stab people, and have done so in duels and in criminal altercations.
I have ripped people apart with blades, sharp and dull, and did not feel a bit of remorse.
I like knives, have been sleeping with a three pound bowie knife for 35 years. My most durable human sleeping companion only lasted 15 years, and when she told me the knife had to go, I moved into a separate room.
I love blades!
And I am telling you, don’t carry a blade for defense unless you are willing to do time in a joint where they cross swords of a non-metallic kind.
But, if you are looking for a reliable home defense tool, that will not go through the wall and kill your neighbor, does not have to be registered with our Master, and can be bought by the case load so that there is one in every corner of every room [actually, in my bathtub, I keep a scuba knife, as it won’t rust.], I am suggesting a knife.
What kind of knife?
The brands change, but they are available in dollar stores and grocery stores in the dollar section for $1 apiece.
“One dolla!”
Yes one American dollar for one Chinese knife that is sharper than anything our hairy ancestors were hacking each other up with in the Black Forest while the Chinese were experimenting with paper currency and chemical weapons.
This is a Chinese made butcher knife with a full tang handle, retainable grip, and a 9 inch blade—the shining porn star of kitchen cutlery.
The Bowie knife is a redesign of the ages old butcher knife. When that big goon Jim Bowie decided that the best way to win a sword fight was to grab the little twerp that just ran you through and shove mom’s butcher knife into his belly and twist it until he ‘heard his heartstrings sing’, he didn’t have to do much redesign work.
Everyone has a butcher knife at home, so there is an excuse for it to be there and at hand. When they come for you in your home, send their hand across the floor. Remember to compassionately call the ambulance before the police, give the fool a clean towel, and use your salad tongs to put the hand into a zip-lock bag.
Oh yeah, and thank the Chinese.
Hey James. As far as butcher knives are concerned you can still buy American and not spend too much. Ontario Knife Company’s Old Hickory line of old fashioned wood-handled kitchen knives. They don’t cost much and give you good value for the money. Not as cheap as your Chinese made blade at one dollar certainly, but buying one still won’t bust your budget and force you to stay home and watch TV next Saturday night. And they’re made in the USA to boot! Ontario makes butcher knives with 7”, 10” and 14” blades. They also make a wood-handled ice pick (ala Murder Inc.) and an old style, double-edged, wood-handled sticking knife for slaughtering livestock (you know, as in “pig sticking”).
www2.knifecenter.com/brand/71/Old-Hickory-Kitchen-Knives
The edge on these knives, as they come from the factory, usually need a lot of work to even out and get shaving sharp. But as is, with the factory edge, you can still do a lot of damage with them against home invaders, with either cut or thrust.
Smoky Mountain Knife Works sells an inexpensive leather belt sheath that will fit either the Old Hickory 7” butcher knife or the 7” slicing knife to a tee. So you can wear your knife at your side while guarding your castle. Just as Jim Bowie wore his “big butcher knife” at the sand bar duel.
smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/Smoky+Mountain+Knife+Works/Generic+Sheath+fits+Straight+Knives+up+to+8%22+Blade/SH6.html
I have a pair of bowie-size Ontario machetes that we fitted with hand-guards and dulled and have used for gladiatorial combat bouts since 2001. These things will go through you even when dull, and he have had some nasty near-maiming experiences with them. The quality—and I'm not a quality knife guy—seems to me very good. I can only imagine how nasty their butcher knives are, and as always encourage made in America—or at least North America—products.
I appreciate the links. I really do encourage everyone to consider bowie-sized or slightly larger blades for home defense. Think of the effectiveness of trench knives and cutlasses in close quarter combat in the past. A chop and stab knife has much to recommend itself for close combat.