Nero the Pict sent me this link to a very cool bit of brutal nerdishness, with an examination of these desperate weaponry innovations. At ten minutes, the French nail is an ideal shank.
My pick for primo melee weapon at close quarters has to be the entrenching tool. In the truncated chaos of battle the chop serves better than the slash. The few group fights I’ve been in with weapons have been insanely frantic, and striking from inside the opponent’s arc is clutch.
Lynn Thompson’s Cold Steel knife company has a combat entrenching tool for sale. Check it out for home defense.
Note, how disinterested the British military was in providing effective melee weapons for its soldiers, and how much more innovative the Germans were. The history of American military combatives is pretty good.
I do like these guys. But please, if the zombie apocalypse hits, and I have one of these guys on either side, I think I’ll use them for zombie bait and stake them out for the zekes.
When it comes to your stick fighting training, working on the smash inside of the opponent's slashing arc is key to success with improvised hand weapons like the ersatz club and spade.
Hand Weapons of World War One: Knife, Club, & Spade
link › patreon.com/InRangeTV
If you are interested in this subject, you should definitely go check out The Great War:
link › youtu.be/HfKUd8bvQfc
Janes, according to my father in law, the entrenching tool made a great grilled cheese sandwich too!
I ruined one of these things chopping down trees. It survived Korea, but not my ownership.