I'll start with the video.  The tape, about three quarters of an hour in length, begins with several inspirational quotes.  No graphic editor was used for the text portion of the video.  Instead, a camera was pointed at hardcopies of the text.  At times the camera shakes.

Mike Ruppert, head of RENOTT, introduces himself and jumps right into the material as the tape begins in earnest.  Production values are generally poor, though the video clarity isn't too bad.  Some sort of cloth backdrop is used behind the instructors.  I found it ugly and distracting.  The lighting is good, however, and unlike some instructional videos I've seen, I can actually tell what Mike looks like.  The camera zooms in when necessary and pans back when preferred, avoiding those one-long-take-on-a-tripod static recordings that constitute some tapes.

Also distracting -- and much more of a problem -- is the audio.  While the sound fades out near the beginning of the tape, audio technicalities aren't generally a problem.  What is a problem is that Mike is, quite literally, yelling almost the entire time he is on screen.  Viewers may find this as irritating as I did.

Incidentally, the tape comes with a paper hand-out on which is typed both an outline for the tape contents (a very nice feature, particularly handy for doing a review of the cassette) and a diagram of cutting angles.  I don't believe I've ever purchased a tape before that came with such an outline, and this little addition was quite welcome.

Mike says, early on, "As far as I know we're the only club in Southern Ohio that knows true pressure points."  He says RENOTT is affiliated with George Dillman.  This type of statement sets the tone for much of the video, as Mike says things like, "I'm an expert strangler and have in fact choked about 12 men out in real street fights."  More than once he mentions Filipino stylists and Ninjutsu practitioners to describe their shortcomings. (For example, on using the "palming" technique to defeat the "Oriental" knife-fighting reverse-grip style he demonstrates on the tape, Mike says, "I personally have done that to many... Ninja Students.").  And there are several unnamed knife instructors of whose teaching Mike does not approve, including those from a "California company" and a "plastic-handled Spyderco instructor off the West coast."

Mike begins by explaining the difference between what he calls the full saber (thumb on top of the handle) and quarter-saber (thumb on the side of the handle) grips.  I prefer that modification of the saber grip myself, when not using a reverse or hammer grip, so Mike and I are in agreement there.  However, Mike goes on to say that that in RENOTT's tests, the failure rate of a "Filipino" thumb-on-top grip "to cut simple rope" is unacceptably high -- rendering those unnamed Filipino stylists incredibly vulnerable to attacks by gangs of hanging rope, one presumes.

Mr. Ruppert advocates carrying only "tip-down" folding knives to avoid the thumb-stabs only too possible with "tip-up" clip carry.  Again, he and I are in agreement.  I prefer tip-down, though I don't feel so strongly about it that I don't own and carry tip-up knives.

A demonstration of three different knife opening methods follows.  One can use the thumb hole or stud provided with one's knife, Mike admits, but he considers this method "slow and ridiculous."  I'm not sure why a knife designed to be opened in this manner shouldn't be opened in this manner, as a tight wrist snap is all that is necessary to make it as fast as anyone could possibly need it to be, but Mike is very adamant on this point.  He demonstrates the "blade push open," in which the finger pushes against the blade itself for better leverage (Mike has fitted the blades of his knives with friction tape for this purpose) before executing a wrist snap.  This is a useful opening to know, but I consider any opening that involves pushing against the flat of the blade to be inherently unsafe.  Finally, Mike demonstrates the "New York" opening, a handle-drop technique involving holding the flat of the blade while snapping the handle down.

Mike emphasizes knife sharpening heavily, telling the viewer that any knife fighting school that doesn't teach you to sharpen a knife is not doing you justice.  He demonstrates the sharpness of a RENOTT blade by cutting newsprint several times -- and by shaving hair from his arms.  (Mike has what Thomas Harris called knife fighter's mange -- patches of baldness in his arm hair.)

The hair-shaving, newsprint-cutting demonstration is followed by a detailed explanation of how to safely close a rocker-bar locking folder with one hand.  There is also a good discussion of how to safely hand off a knife to someone else.  These are worthwhile techniques as shown, and among the few segments of the cassette that I really enjoyed.

Mike goes on at length about his preference for the reverse grip over the forward grip.  I've never worried to much about this one way or another, other than to dismiss those who tell you you must hold a knife a certain way.  Why eliminate valuable tools from your toolbox?

The "New York" open previously described appears to be the foundation for RENOTT's knife defense, in that it is presented as the fastest way to open and attack with a knife.  No repositioning of the hand is done (unless there is "time" for that).  Rather, the RENOTT trainee opens his or her knife with the handle drop, and then, gripping the razor-sharp blade with his or her fingers, slashes with the exposed one or two inches of the knife.  The companion text describes this as follows:

This technique strikes me as quite unsafe, anchored fingers notwithstanding.  If my knife is sharpened to RENOTT's razor standards, I can't imagine wanting to hold it by the blade (even with two fingers) and execute slashes against resistance (clothing, muscle, skin with bone beneath it, etc.) in this manner.  Additionally -- a point made to me by Don Rearic in conversation -- I think opening a knife this way under stress would cause the user to drop it as often as not.

With practice it's very easy to draw your knife by the handle and quickly snap it open as it was meant to be opened. The RENOTT NY Open is useful to know, but teaching it as preferable sounds to me like a solution to a non-problem.

There is a lengthy section on the tape devoted to the RENOTT ready stance, in which the knife is held down behind the leg and the free hand is held vertically to protect the head, neck, and torso.  I don't know as I would deliberately hold my knife quite so far out of action as Mike does here, and I think the off arm should remain fluid and be used for grabbing and trapping where applicable, rather than worrying too much about precisely where it is. 

Perhaps the most (unintentionally) amusing segment of the tape comes when Mike demonstrates a carotid artery choke on himself.  (To me, he appears to be grabbing his throat too low to be choking the carotid arteries, but I could be mistaken.)  He literally starts coughing after choking himself too hard.  Kids, don't try this at home.

The next segment covers how to execute leg cuts.  It is followed by a demonstration of the New York open followed by a "#1" angled cut.  These look to me to be giant, almost looping, 45° slashes.  Mike demonstrates them from the ready position.  I don't presume to consider myself a knife fighting expert, but these really seem inadvisable to me.  Over-committing one's strikes in arcs that look this large is just begging for the opponent to get within the arc and neutralize the attack, in my opinion.

Mike goes on to discuss moving from a New York open forward grip to his preferred reverse grip.  He also spends some time discussing large knife fighting (another RENOTT course) and the purpose of blade guards (quillons).

Mike's demonstration of the "inverted V" cut with the reverse grip appears to me to suffer from the same large, overcommitted strikes as does his previous slashing demonstration, as near as I can tell.  It's not clear to me what he's targeting, either, though he says it could be the neck or the arm.  It's a big, full-body motion that I just can't recommend in good conscience.

The discussion to which I previously referred, in which Mike talks about using the "palming" technique to defeat an Oriental, reverse-grip linear attack, is next.  Repeatedly on the tape, when Mike says that "Filipino students [do this]," or "Ninja students [do that]," I just couldn't help but be put off.  Without naming precisely whose students these are, and where, it seems inadvisable to me for anyone to generalize in this fashion.  And without knowing to whom Mike is referring, there's no way to know if his knowledge of the systems he is criticizing is accurate or not.  I'm quite sure he is stating the truth as he sees it, but I wish there was some way more easily to analyze the validity of these assertions.

A demonstration of the reverse grip against left- and right-handed attackers is followed by free-hanging rope cuts and balloon cuts timed with an electronic timer.  I enjoyed these sections of the tape more than the others, because they feature Mike's assistant instructor.  He speaks in a normal tone of voice and seems much less agitated, unlike Mike's more animated, louder instruction.

The last segment of the tape compares and contrasts draw cuts (pulling through the cut), chop cuts (hacking with the edge), and thrusting (pushing through the target).  Mike asserts, in the tape and in the companion book, that cutting is far superior to thrusting with blades under five to six inches in length.  This, to me, seems very questionable.  It is equivalent to saying that a thrust from a Buck 110 can't hope to equal the offensive power of a slash from the same blade.  Generalizations of this type -- again, akin to eliminating valuable tools from your toolbox -- simply do not help one in the pursuit of self-defense.

Mike's assistant begins to wrap up the tape at one point, at which Mike interrupts by shouting out a few more technique tips.  The tape finally ends when the assistant again closes the instruction and walks off camera.

The companion text, Basic Defensive Knife Techniques Course, is a photocopy job bound with plastic spiral binding.  It contains considerably more detail than the video, much of it in expanded outline format.  Lengthy lists of credentials for Mike Ruppert and Robert Walko are included, as are RENOTT's training rules.

There's plenty of worth in the book, though the outline format is a bit fragmented and not very enjoyable to read.  Everything from knife construction and nomenclature to legal concerns is presented.  There are sections on knife grips, opening and closing techniques, carry methods, and the pros and cons of various grips and techniques.

One section on "knife myths" again reiterates Mike's disdain for stabbing when compared to cutting.  It also includes a discussion that I did not mention from the tape, involving placing one's back to a wall.  Mike claims, on the tape, that this is advantageous, and that "all animals" either "crouch down" or put their backs "to a wall" when confronted because this is the best way to prevent an attack from behind.  As the book states:

There is also a list of recommended movies and books.  The list includes a curious mixture of texts, from the excellent books by John Clements on swordsmanship to the mediocre Prison's Bloody Iron.

Techniques demonstrated on the video are covered in detail in the text,  with references to a full-color section of copied photos that appear at the back of the book.  (Detailed explanations for the photos are included in a separate section.)  Though they appear crudely copied, a welcome addition is the inclusion of relevant newspaper and magazine articles (used with permission), including an excerpt from the captivating Ayoob Files: The Book.   

I would most certainly not recommend buying the book by itself, though the video can stand without the companion book.  Ultimately, however, I can't recommend either one (though the video from RENOTT is relatively inexpensive by the standard of other instructional videos on the market).  There's material of real worth here, but it is mixed with assertions with which I simply cannot agree.  This, in conjunction with the... irritating... nature of the presentation's audio, makes RENOTT's Western Knife Fighting video less than satisfactory.