‘How-To’ Archives
The Power Slap
One of the dangers of striking to the head of a human being is that the skull and jaw (with teeth in it) present some very real dangers to the striking hand. One can easily break a closed fist when hitting the skull. Punching someone in the mouth can cut you badly -- or leave the other party's teeth embedded in your hand. (Nasty infections [...]
High-High-Low Combination: An Example
An important concept in self-defense, when delivering physical force to another human being, is to overwhelm the opponent byrefusing him the ability to focus properly. One way to take the initiative (and to keep it) in a fight is to hit the opponent in rapid succession from different directions in different areas of the body. This produces a [...]
Anatomy of a Palm Strike
The following shots are motion captures from real-time video of a training session. The technique demonstrated is a simple horizontal palm strike to the opponent's ribs, in this case on the opponent's right side. These shots illustrate some important principles when delivering a palm strike using this method. It uses very little energy but [...]
Correcting SOG Safety Problems
I'm a big fan of several of SOG Knives' assisted openers, including the Trident folder pictured here. There is a feature built into many SOG folders that acts as a safety mechanism to prevent the spring-assisted blade from opening unintentionally. In normal use, the safety can be used or not used as desired. If the knife is used extensively, [...]
The New York Drop Opening
I'm not sure just why this folding knife opening method has been attributed to New York as opposed to somewhere else, but we'll call it that for the sake of this article. The "New York Drop" is a means of opening a locking folding knife with only one hand. It works best -- actually, I should say it only works -- with knives whose blades protrude [...]
The Folder Wrist Snap
Any folding knife -- regardless of whether it has a thumb stud, thumb hole, or other means of one-hand opening -- can be opened with one hand by taking advantage of centripetal force. That's a fancy way to say that you can snap your wrist hard and make the blade snap open into place. It was during my college days that my friend Jay, a [...]
Make Your Own Polymer Pocket Stick
So many people have e-mailed me to ask where to purchase polymer pocket sticks that I figured I should just explain how to make them. The "koppo" pattern is the one we'll follow for example here: a stick with a finger loop for two fingers of your hand. You can take any cylindrical object and add a finger loop to it using the koppo wrap, but for [...]
Basic Balisong Manipulation
Open, a balisong knife or "butterfly knife" is a knife like any other, albeit with a very strong lock (in that the knife cannot close as long as you grip the handles). Getting the balisong into the "open" position is what makes this knife so much fun, however. The first time I saw a balisong being "flashed" open was at the school bus stop [...]
Understanding Push Knives
The push knife is touted by some as the most intuitive of edged weapons. This is because, with its T-shaped handle and slim "neck," the knife puts the blade forward of the knuckles, protruding through the fingers. Any punch with the fist clenched around that knife becomes a potentially lethal thrust with the knife, making simple the transition [...]
Pocket Sticks for Self-Defense
Five or six inches of wood, plastic, or metal doesn't seem like much, does it? A dowel not much bigger than an ergonomic writing pen is actually among one of the most effective close-quarters self-defense weapons you probably aren't carrying. Innocuous, usually legal, and very useful, the pocket stick is an accessory that everyone can [...]
