TuhonBill
06-14-2008, 01:13 AM
The subject of Pakal (icepick grip) in Pekiti knife comes up from time to time, so I thought I would post an article (from the Fall 2002 PTI newsletter) that addresses the subject.
YOUR KNIFE'S FAVORITE FIGHTING STYLE
By Tuhon Bill McGrath
Copyright 2002
I adapted this article from a lecture I recently gave at the New England Blade Smith Guild's 2002 seminar. I was invited to speak at this event to give knife makers some idea of what knife users in the martial arts/defensive tactics community look for when choosing a knife for defensive purposes. I began my lecture by stating that the Pekiti-Tirsia system is well known in Filipino martial arts circles for its close quarters techniques with the knife held in reverse grip.
I pulled the tactical folder from my pocket and stated, "I didn't choose the way I would use this knife in a defensive situation, the knife did. Reverse grip is not how I would fight if given a choice".
Ask any cop which gun he would take to a gunfight and he will usually name a shotgun or assault rifle as his weapon of choice. Yet, the firearm most used by police in actual gunfights is a handgun. For several reasons, from convenience to politics, a handgun is the firearm a cop will most likely have in his hand when the excrement hits the air flow device.
In a similar vein, when I am asked what my favorite fighting knife is, my usual answer is "A SWORD!" Just as with police firearms, those of us who carry a knife for defensive purposes usually have to restrict ourselves to something less than what we would choose if we knew things were about to get ugly. In our case, rather than carry a 40" sword, we often must rely on a knife with a blade of 4" or less.
Now guys, I am sorry to be the one to break the bad news to you, but size does matter.
A 4" folder just can't do the work of a 10" Bowie no matter how much you wish otherwise. Not to say you can't get the job done with a 4" blade, you just have to use different techniques. Would you use the same shooting technique with a snub nosed revolver as you would a bolt-action sniper rifle?
Carlos Hathcock was a Marine sniper in Vietnam. He is credited with ninety-three confirmed kills. I would hazard a guess that no pistol instructor in the world has had ninety-three confirmed kills using his pistol in combat, yet you would be making a mistake to try and use the late Sgt. Hathcock's sniper-rifle techniques with your own defensive pistol-despite the proven success of those rifle techniques in combat. Can you imagine coming face to face with a knife armed mugger, dropping into your best sniper prone position, taking the time to get an accurate estimate of the range to target, taking a deep breath, then letting it out slowly while carefully squeezing off a shot? Sounds pretty silly doesn't it, yet many "knife fighting" instructors are having their students practice the equivalent by giving those students who carry a pocket knife techniques designed for a sword.
"But these are combat proven techniques!," you protest. They may be combat proven, but I have to ask, proven with what? Are you training in techniques designed for a 16" bolo or a 36" rapier, while you carry a 4" tactical folder?
I was trying to get this point across to some students at a seminar once. I had just shown a reverse grip knife technique in which you hook your opponent's weapon arm and swing it away from you to expose a vital target. I noticed that one student was adding an extra motion by slashing at the arm first. I explained that adding the slash with the knife in reverse grip would waste valuable time without any appreciable effect on the opponent's fighting ability.
The student responded that he had learned the technique from a reputable Filipino martial arts instructor. I responded that the technique was probably designed for a knife much larger than the one the student normally carried (and a warmer climate than the student normally saw in his home in northern Europe as well. Any opponent this student would meet would be wearing heavy clothing most of the year which would act as pretty good armor against a slash with a small knife).
To illustrate the point that it was difficult to get an effective reverse grip slash with a pocket knife, I had all the students take out the knives they actually carried on a daily basis. The school was undergoing renovations at the time and had some gypsum board lying stacked in a corner. I had the school's head instructor hold a five foot piece of the gypsum board while the students tried to cut it with their knives held in reverse grip (edge facing out, as the student had done). One by one they came up and slashed, only to find that their knives barely scratched the paper surface of the board. I forgot though that to cut gypsum board, you only have to score the paper surface. Well, what happened next could not be done on purpose if they had practiced it for a year. As student number four made his slash, the instructor tensed, causing the board to break. Having the resistance of the board suddenly disappear caused the instructor's hands to drop...right into the path of the oncoming knife. The knife cut across three of the instructor's fingers. Because the instructor was still holding the piece of gypsum board, his fingers were flexed and the knife happened to cut right at the flexed knuckle joints, the most delicate possible place. I examined the hand and found what I suspected I would find, that only the skin was cut. I asked the instructor if he felt any pain. He was surprised, but he said he felt no pain. I then had him grab my arm and squeeze. He still had his full strength. I explained to the students that if the instructor had been cut with the large knife that the reverse grip slashing technique was designed for, his fingers would now be on the floor. The instructor returned from a trip to the emergency room and was back participating at the seminar with just a few stitches.
I am a New York State Court Officer. I now work in a quiet rural area, but when I worked in New York City I would see defendants coming through the system with any number of knife scars. About once a month or so I would see defendants who had scars on their throats that went nearly ear-to-ear. Someone with a little knife and little technique had tried to cut their throats and had done a poor job of it.
I received most of my training in the Pekiti-Tirsia system from Tuhon Leo Gaje in the 70's and 80's. No one gave a thought to liability concerns back then, so he often had us use live blades in our training. I remember once cutting a training partner on the back of the forearm with a balisong. I examined his wound and saw that the cut was about three inches long and went halfway down to the bone. His reaction? He applied pressure above the wound to lessen the blood flow and then spent some time looking inside the wound while wiggling his fingers. "Hey look Bill. You can see the muscles moving," he said, obviously not very impressed by the wound. Had I made the same cut with a sword, his arm would have been completely severed.
I'll say it again: A knife is not a sword.
Worse than taking combat sword techniques and trying to extrapolate them down to small knife techniques is trying to use sport as a basis for combat. Are you being taught in your "knife fighting" classes techniques designed for the sport of fencing, whose tools and techniques are a hundred years removed from their combat origins? Take a look at a modern sport fencing saber and compare it to an actual cavalry saber from the early 1800's.The sport saber has more in common with a car antenna, in terms of weight and balance, than it does to a sword that can split a man in two. Yet people are being trained in "knife fighting" techniques derived from sport fencing. This method of developing a system of fighting is known as the "If the only tool you own is a hammer. then all problems start to look like nails" method. This leads to some of the silly things you see in some knife fighting books, like using a knife blade to parry another knife blade. Works great with a saber, but this parry can get you maimed if you try it with a small knife.
(Note*Some great research is being done by John Clements at the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts in the sword techniques actually used in combat in Western Europe in the medieval and renaissance periods.
Checkout his web site at: http://www.thehaca.com/and see how far removed the techniques shown in the combat manuals of those eras look compared to what you will see at a modern fencing school.)
So how does one use a small knife effectively? Experience from several sources tells us that the thrust rather than the slash is the technique of choice to end a fight quickly with a small knife. Historical, as well as ongoing, edged weapon combat in the Philippines tells us this. Closer to home, you can do what I have done in the way of research. Speak with those with first hand experience. Get in contact with correction officers and ask what type of knife techniques prison inmates use (especially the older "lifers"). You will find that the slash is used to wound and warn, while the thrust is used to stop and kill. In addition, I have spoken to several war veterans down through the years who have done sentry removal armed with a blade. To a man, they all relied on the thrust to do the job when armed with anything of Kabar size or smaller (one man did have a partner in 'Nam who used a hack rather than a thrust, but that was with a machete. The resulting decapitation was effective, though messy).
Another point you should keep in mind is that people often don't die in real life as quickly as they do in the movies. You may thrust a man right in the heart with your pocketknife only to have the man return the favor several times with his own blade before he falls dead. That is why Pekiti-Tirsia and many other Filipino martial arts puts so much emphasis on controlling the opponent's weapon arm, even when delivering a technique that should be a "fight stopper". Remember, attempting a sword technique with a small knife against an armed opponent intent on putting several new holes in your anatomy can buy you a one-way trip in a black station wagon with no rear seats and the word "Morgue" stenciled on the sides.
Regards,
Tuhon Bill McGrath
YOUR KNIFE'S FAVORITE FIGHTING STYLE
By Tuhon Bill McGrath
Copyright 2002
I adapted this article from a lecture I recently gave at the New England Blade Smith Guild's 2002 seminar. I was invited to speak at this event to give knife makers some idea of what knife users in the martial arts/defensive tactics community look for when choosing a knife for defensive purposes. I began my lecture by stating that the Pekiti-Tirsia system is well known in Filipino martial arts circles for its close quarters techniques with the knife held in reverse grip.
I pulled the tactical folder from my pocket and stated, "I didn't choose the way I would use this knife in a defensive situation, the knife did. Reverse grip is not how I would fight if given a choice".
Ask any cop which gun he would take to a gunfight and he will usually name a shotgun or assault rifle as his weapon of choice. Yet, the firearm most used by police in actual gunfights is a handgun. For several reasons, from convenience to politics, a handgun is the firearm a cop will most likely have in his hand when the excrement hits the air flow device.
In a similar vein, when I am asked what my favorite fighting knife is, my usual answer is "A SWORD!" Just as with police firearms, those of us who carry a knife for defensive purposes usually have to restrict ourselves to something less than what we would choose if we knew things were about to get ugly. In our case, rather than carry a 40" sword, we often must rely on a knife with a blade of 4" or less.
Now guys, I am sorry to be the one to break the bad news to you, but size does matter.
A 4" folder just can't do the work of a 10" Bowie no matter how much you wish otherwise. Not to say you can't get the job done with a 4" blade, you just have to use different techniques. Would you use the same shooting technique with a snub nosed revolver as you would a bolt-action sniper rifle?
Carlos Hathcock was a Marine sniper in Vietnam. He is credited with ninety-three confirmed kills. I would hazard a guess that no pistol instructor in the world has had ninety-three confirmed kills using his pistol in combat, yet you would be making a mistake to try and use the late Sgt. Hathcock's sniper-rifle techniques with your own defensive pistol-despite the proven success of those rifle techniques in combat. Can you imagine coming face to face with a knife armed mugger, dropping into your best sniper prone position, taking the time to get an accurate estimate of the range to target, taking a deep breath, then letting it out slowly while carefully squeezing off a shot? Sounds pretty silly doesn't it, yet many "knife fighting" instructors are having their students practice the equivalent by giving those students who carry a pocket knife techniques designed for a sword.
"But these are combat proven techniques!," you protest. They may be combat proven, but I have to ask, proven with what? Are you training in techniques designed for a 16" bolo or a 36" rapier, while you carry a 4" tactical folder?
I was trying to get this point across to some students at a seminar once. I had just shown a reverse grip knife technique in which you hook your opponent's weapon arm and swing it away from you to expose a vital target. I noticed that one student was adding an extra motion by slashing at the arm first. I explained that adding the slash with the knife in reverse grip would waste valuable time without any appreciable effect on the opponent's fighting ability.
The student responded that he had learned the technique from a reputable Filipino martial arts instructor. I responded that the technique was probably designed for a knife much larger than the one the student normally carried (and a warmer climate than the student normally saw in his home in northern Europe as well. Any opponent this student would meet would be wearing heavy clothing most of the year which would act as pretty good armor against a slash with a small knife).
To illustrate the point that it was difficult to get an effective reverse grip slash with a pocket knife, I had all the students take out the knives they actually carried on a daily basis. The school was undergoing renovations at the time and had some gypsum board lying stacked in a corner. I had the school's head instructor hold a five foot piece of the gypsum board while the students tried to cut it with their knives held in reverse grip (edge facing out, as the student had done). One by one they came up and slashed, only to find that their knives barely scratched the paper surface of the board. I forgot though that to cut gypsum board, you only have to score the paper surface. Well, what happened next could not be done on purpose if they had practiced it for a year. As student number four made his slash, the instructor tensed, causing the board to break. Having the resistance of the board suddenly disappear caused the instructor's hands to drop...right into the path of the oncoming knife. The knife cut across three of the instructor's fingers. Because the instructor was still holding the piece of gypsum board, his fingers were flexed and the knife happened to cut right at the flexed knuckle joints, the most delicate possible place. I examined the hand and found what I suspected I would find, that only the skin was cut. I asked the instructor if he felt any pain. He was surprised, but he said he felt no pain. I then had him grab my arm and squeeze. He still had his full strength. I explained to the students that if the instructor had been cut with the large knife that the reverse grip slashing technique was designed for, his fingers would now be on the floor. The instructor returned from a trip to the emergency room and was back participating at the seminar with just a few stitches.
I am a New York State Court Officer. I now work in a quiet rural area, but when I worked in New York City I would see defendants coming through the system with any number of knife scars. About once a month or so I would see defendants who had scars on their throats that went nearly ear-to-ear. Someone with a little knife and little technique had tried to cut their throats and had done a poor job of it.
I received most of my training in the Pekiti-Tirsia system from Tuhon Leo Gaje in the 70's and 80's. No one gave a thought to liability concerns back then, so he often had us use live blades in our training. I remember once cutting a training partner on the back of the forearm with a balisong. I examined his wound and saw that the cut was about three inches long and went halfway down to the bone. His reaction? He applied pressure above the wound to lessen the blood flow and then spent some time looking inside the wound while wiggling his fingers. "Hey look Bill. You can see the muscles moving," he said, obviously not very impressed by the wound. Had I made the same cut with a sword, his arm would have been completely severed.
I'll say it again: A knife is not a sword.
Worse than taking combat sword techniques and trying to extrapolate them down to small knife techniques is trying to use sport as a basis for combat. Are you being taught in your "knife fighting" classes techniques designed for the sport of fencing, whose tools and techniques are a hundred years removed from their combat origins? Take a look at a modern sport fencing saber and compare it to an actual cavalry saber from the early 1800's.The sport saber has more in common with a car antenna, in terms of weight and balance, than it does to a sword that can split a man in two. Yet people are being trained in "knife fighting" techniques derived from sport fencing. This method of developing a system of fighting is known as the "If the only tool you own is a hammer. then all problems start to look like nails" method. This leads to some of the silly things you see in some knife fighting books, like using a knife blade to parry another knife blade. Works great with a saber, but this parry can get you maimed if you try it with a small knife.
(Note*Some great research is being done by John Clements at the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts in the sword techniques actually used in combat in Western Europe in the medieval and renaissance periods.
Checkout his web site at: http://www.thehaca.com/and see how far removed the techniques shown in the combat manuals of those eras look compared to what you will see at a modern fencing school.)
So how does one use a small knife effectively? Experience from several sources tells us that the thrust rather than the slash is the technique of choice to end a fight quickly with a small knife. Historical, as well as ongoing, edged weapon combat in the Philippines tells us this. Closer to home, you can do what I have done in the way of research. Speak with those with first hand experience. Get in contact with correction officers and ask what type of knife techniques prison inmates use (especially the older "lifers"). You will find that the slash is used to wound and warn, while the thrust is used to stop and kill. In addition, I have spoken to several war veterans down through the years who have done sentry removal armed with a blade. To a man, they all relied on the thrust to do the job when armed with anything of Kabar size or smaller (one man did have a partner in 'Nam who used a hack rather than a thrust, but that was with a machete. The resulting decapitation was effective, though messy).
Another point you should keep in mind is that people often don't die in real life as quickly as they do in the movies. You may thrust a man right in the heart with your pocketknife only to have the man return the favor several times with his own blade before he falls dead. That is why Pekiti-Tirsia and many other Filipino martial arts puts so much emphasis on controlling the opponent's weapon arm, even when delivering a technique that should be a "fight stopper". Remember, attempting a sword technique with a small knife against an armed opponent intent on putting several new holes in your anatomy can buy you a one-way trip in a black station wagon with no rear seats and the word "Morgue" stenciled on the sides.
Regards,
Tuhon Bill McGrath