Q for Mr. Janich!!!!!!

[travis quaas]

Mr. Janich,

I would call you to ask this question. But, I was thinking maybe getting everyone's opinion on this might spur some great conversation!



My question:



Would it be a "good" thing to have a somewhat dull tip on the the blade, for MBC applications?



The reason for my question is that I have always been taught to have a very sharp knife. "A sharp knife is a safe knife." to quote the Boy Scouts. But, I spoke with a Marine, and he was suggesting that having just a little bit of a dull knife would put the receiver of the cut in shock. He mentioned something about the cut "tearing" versus a "clean cut". The act of tearing would do the damage to put this person into shock. I would hate to mis-quote this gentleman. And I am sure I am doing a dis-service to what he was telling me. But, I'm sure you get the gist of what I'm trying to pass on. I wonder if the Military should be passing this bit of "knowledge" to their service-men and woman if it is not true. And if "tearing" is objective, why not just go with a SpyderEdge blade? I'm sure that when a person is wearing a Leather Jacket, you want a sharp knife to slice right through the material, outcome of a more penetrating cut. But, with a few controls here, assume that the receiver gets the cut on bare skin. And yes, assume that the "attacker" would still want to structurally stop the receiver.



Sorry for rambling. Your feedback is much appreciated (to everyone)!!



TQ

[Mr.Skin]

Hey Travis,
Go with sharp. Wound tearing is not going to help with biomechanical cutting. Never count on shock.

[Jimd]

Travis: Would it be a "good" thing to have a somewhat dull tip on the the blade, for MBC applications?>>>

Definitely NOT!
You want the sharpest possible blade and point that you can acquire. Every little bit helps.

I've seen people get stabbed and not even know it, continuing to fight for 30-60 seconds before they began to feel the effects of their wounds.

One man, in particular, died of his wounds, though he didn't succomb for a few minutes.

A sharper tip might mean a bit more penetration, and that could make the difference between your prevailing the encounter and your death.

Just my .02

Sniper -- One Shot, One Kill

[Michael Janich]

Dear Travis:

Thanks for your post and the question.

I'm sure that the gentleman you spoke with sincerely believes that what he told you is true. Unfortunately, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there concerning knives, martial arts, firearms, and related subjects. This misinformation ranges from benign errors to true fantasy B.S. In his case, I'm confident that it's the former.

To answer your question, forget the dull tip and get a knife that does what it's supposed to: cut AND puncture. A dull tip will not tear flesh instead of cutting it, it will just fail to cut or it will cut very poorly. As for inducing shock, there is never any guarantee of that happening because it depends on many different variables. Even if shock did occur, it is not guaranteed to stop a determined attacker -- the real goal in our approach to edged-weapon use. As Mr. Skin pointed out, biomechanical cutting or what I call structural stopping is your best option for stopping someone quickly with a knife.

If you're going to bet your life on an edged weapon, I believe that weapon should be as sharp as possible -- both at the point and the edge. Anything less is like loading a pistol with blanks.

I hope this answers your question.

Stay safe,



mike j