Your attacker will most likely number 2-5, with 1-2 weapons among them.

You never, ever advertise that you have a knife by displaying it, for, if they have a gun you may be shot and if they don't they might morph into boy scouts cleaning sidewalks as they call the police on you.

The knife is a proximity weapon.

You want to stay close to your attackers.

If you only knife one—you are legally toast. If you knife one you must knife another or he becomes a witness to your unprovoked attack. Also, if one has a gun, you either want to be right on top of him, or on top of his buddy—your new human shield.

All your work with the knife should take place within grappling range. Tactically, this requires the ice pick or reverse grip, favored by the military and savages since the beginning of time, for sentry removal.

I tie the sheath of the neck knife, upside down, to a belt loop just behind and above the front pocket of my pants. The sheath has to be checked occasionally, when putting on pants and after a work shift, run, piss, etcetera, to make certain that the edge is facing away from your groin. The butt of the knife hangs upside down in the front pocket. I make sure that the bottom inch and a half of the sheath tip is exposed above the pocket rim. For this reason I wear shirts that hang a few inches below the belt.

If you are attacked, place a high left hand on your attacker while you draw.

If you are threatened out of touch range refuse your right side and use the left hand to gesture and distract or to cover the drawing hand so that the knife cannot be seen. A darkened knife—blued or painted or Damascan—is helpful for reducing the visual trace further.

Slide the forefinger and middle finger under the garment and along the belt, hooking the paracord and then sliding under the sheath, which will begin to rise from the pocket. When the two four finger and thumb wrap the base of the grip as it ops out of the pocket, squeeze with the bottom two fingers—this is the power in your forearm—and pull the blade free along your belt buckle, keeping the blade low under his line of sight and close to your body. By depressing the pinkie side of the wrist the back [spine] of the blade will ride against the outside of your forearm, and the inside of that that forearm should be against your body.

Engage the enemy who touched you, or the nearest of the pack, with your empty hand, on shoulder or top of head, or with a hand in the face. I prefer shoulder control. Use this left hand to push him into the right hand, which will either rip cut below the ribs, or hammer the point in below the ribs.

If rip-cutting keep moving in the direction the blade is cutting while you keep your left hand on his shoulder to feed him to your blade, like he's a tree branch going in the chipper. When shadow-drilling this your empty and passes over your knife hand.

Try to keep him between you and his friends.

Get to the next closest man. Check him with a pushing left and spike him. Don't rip cut while closing, only when already in touch range.

Your spiking targets are best below the ribs. Ideally you slam the blade into the solar plexus below the breast bone and then rip diagonally toward his right hip.

Do not spike in multiples. Ripping will do more to affect his ability to harm you than stabbing again. Besides murders stab an average of 8 times. You don't want to profile like a murderer, if only forensically.

Spike and rip in the edge's direction and move in that direction. Do not pull the blade out until you hit bone.

Your spike should be a lateral back hand from his heart down to his naval.

Spiking from navel to groin you want the edge facing down as you spike upward, and then rip down. You want a blade that can rip through a belt for this.

Spiking the right side of his neck and head will probably require a slightly diagonal hammer fist.

Spike, and push rip to the following targets.

Spiking the left side is problematical as the ice pick forehand on the high line is easily countered and this gives your man his only chance for a disarm and shows the rest you have a knife.

My favorite left side spike is the kidney, but then you might look like backstabber, so never make this the first stroke.

Try this variation. While checking his right shoulder you slam a lateral forehand spike into his spleen under the floating rib. You then twist the blade so the edge is pointing to his right side and rip all the away out as you feed him into the stroke with you left and travel just ahead of the spilling guts.

When spiking the rib cage or chest always deliver with a lateral blade and then rip between the ribs until you hit the breast bone of clear the right side of the cage.

Spiking the face and throat with a lateral jab, is doable, but a little too cute for this scenario.

Practice this blade work on a punching bag, slap-checking and push checking with your left hand on the high line and mid line and ripping and spiking and ripping mostly on the low line. Do practice coming back o to the highline with the blade as you slide your checking hand down his right arm to the elbow to neutralize the threat. Usually, when the checking hand is low, the weapon is high and when the checking hand is high the weapon is low.

If he has a knife in a traditional grip this is the game, attacking with that empty hand against his elbow and driving that spike right into the base of his neck above the collar bone and ripping out with a pushing slice.

This is nasty, brutal and short. Drill the same strokes over and over and over.

Try this as an example of scenario building on your bag, knifing with an empty fist or a roll of pennies in hand. When you rip cut remember to keep the heel of your hand in contact with the bag so he eats all 2.5 inches of your steel:

1. Draw as you check the shoulder of the guy punching you by closing and placing your open hand on his shoulder, limiting damage he can do with the punch.

2. Rip the blade across his belly as you push him to your right with you left into the blade edge and you travel from right to left, ultimately dumping him into or at the feet of whoever was on your right as you close with the fresh meat to your left.

3. Jab this guy in the eyes with your fingertips or slap his forehead. As his chin lifts plunge the blade into the neck and rip cut out as you shove him and close with the next man.

4. Imagine the next man is trying to take your head off and duck as you rip cut across his thigh. As you pop up, check his arm. If it checks at the shoulder spike him in the armpit and rip-travel past him. If it checks the elbow than slam the point into the side of the head and use his kabobed head to run into whoever is left.

The basic concept is check, spike, then rip while passing.

When I get together with Sean next we will hopefully video this method.