Keith Pascal's 10 Days to Better Knife Fighting, which I received in PDF e-book form, is an impressive stack of paper.  Weighing in at 200 pages (though, to be fair, Keith likes to use a lot of white space to emphasize passages), the book is a drill-focused training curriculum.  Keith states that it "will help you improve your knife fighting skills, so that you will be able to defend yourself in almost any clash of blades.  Guaranteed."

That's a claim that takes guts to make.  I'm not about to theorize whether the book's contents – or any book's contents – can guarantee a given level of success in fighting with an edged weapon.  What I can do, though, is offer a concise and objective look at what Keith's book contains.

From the outset, Keith tells the reader to "run away quickly from any book that advises you to block and then counter."  He points out that students depicted in his book's photos are checking, not blocking.  Checks, by definition, don't maintain contact (according to Keith) "long enough for your opponent to cut" the checking arm.

Keith writes clearly in a style that is easy to absorb.  As an instructor he obviously takes a didactic, perhaps pedantic tone (your perception will vary based on your level of experience).  Breaking the text up into small, easily read paragraphs, he sprinkles the text liberally with photographs (some of which are really interesting and have a truly artistic bent).

"I am not teaching you how to instigate a fight," Keith writes.  "You are into self-defense – it just so happens that every one of your responses cuts."

As the title implies, the book is divided into ten sections, each intended as the training program for that day's session.  In Day One, Keith explains the importance of cutting with your first movement to deal with a knife.  He describes an imaginary bubble around the body, penetration of which prompts an intercepting cut.  In the drills outlined, training partners work together exchanging techniques, moving back and forth to trade attacking and defending roles.

Keith also explains the use of the hand check "for safety," in order to stop the opponent's knife arm from continuing its path to your center after you cut it.

By definition, these drills involve using a knife to defend against a knife – a "clash of blades" that can be construed as reinforcing an unrealistic "dueling" approach.  Keith commented on this in e-mail to me, saying that he thought he'd stated clearly that this was reciprocal training and not dueling.

In Day Two, Keith elaborates on Day One's drill.  He wants you to keep your hands in front of your body to shorten strike time.  He warns against cradling or chambering the knife arm and runs through using the knife – both the blade and the spine on a single-edged knife – to stop an incoming strike.

Day Three is devoted to fighting to the outside of the attacker's body, to his blind side.  As a Wing Chun practitioner and knife exponent I prefer these methods to fighting to the more dangerous inside.  Day Four, though, follows up with fighting to the inside – which Keith admits is something at which many martial artists cringe.  Nonetheless, he jumps right in, describing partner drills for this aspect of knife-on-knife defense.  He also describes a drill in which the attacker feeds successive attacks with knives held in both hands.

The book is dotted with little tips and extra segments, such as an "eye fake" that makes "a killer knife tactic" and various "super practice" sessions for each day's work.  There are notes, too, through which Keith alerts the reader to specific points, and even some martial arts "quotes to ponder."

At the halfway mark, Keith reflects on the first five sessions.  "In the last five days," he says, "you have been exposed to a large variety of exercise.  Some will be new to even the most seasoned knife fighters.  How do I know?  I invented some of them."  He then moves on to Day Six, the drills for which focus on developing reactive speed.  Redirecting an incoming knife is also covered.

Day Seven's exercises involve range – entering another's offensive range and the dangers of "duking it out."  Day Eight is a brief treatise on knife throwing (to end a fight, to intercept an approaching attacker, or to distract, Keith explains).  Following up throws or drops with unarmed strikes is illustrated and discussed.

At the Day Nine mark, Keith suggests using colored markers for partnered sparring with "knives," including role playing for marked (and therefore disabled) limbs.  In the Day Ten section, he devotes more time to kicking and punching in conjunction with knife defense, "using whatever it takes."

Concluding Day Ten, Keith writes that 10 Days to Better Knife Fighting "could serve as a complete system" for the beginner.  He hopes the more experienced will also pick up useful drills or insights from it.  "I am not trying to change you," he explains.  "I do hope you find something that helps you to further refine and define your personal knife fighting style."

My e-book was accompanied by a bonus treatment of Slicing Checks and Blocks and a text on Circle Stabbing for Fast Improvement.  You can find a link to purchase 10 Days to Better Knife Fighting on this page.

Few subjects are as immediately polarizing as "knife fighting."  There those who object to the very term, considering it an example of weapon fixation to the exclusion of developing realistic fighting skill.  Some readers will doubtlessly despise this book, while others will find that it suits their outlook perfectly.  I'm of the opinion that there's no such thing as a book on "knife fighting" that I don't want to own – but I won't try to convince you that the contents of this training guide are gospel truth or heretical lies.