(9 June 2021, 18:58)Mortblanc Wrote: Ajax, YOUR folding knife might be only a fire lighter but I have several that are a bit more versatile, even the small ones.
If you take a look at Charles Harris's avatar you will see one such model. It is a government issue pocket utility knife. It has been our standard since about 1900. The main change in all those years was the switch from black bake-lite handles to stainless steel back in the 1960s.
Every year each new US Air Force combat crewman, and people from out other service branches, go through the Air Force survival school. It is a requirement for some MOS. It is a two week school and over two million people have completed it over the years. Each one of them was carrying one of those utility knives through the course.
For the course it is paired with a US Pilots' Survival Knife, which was designed by the Marble Company back before WW2 and modified for military use during WW2, and is still in use. Until a few years ago it was packed in the survival kit under the seat of every US military plane and helicopter. They have now changed to another form with more modern plastic grips and a slightly changed blade shape.
I have carried the utility knife for much of my life, and carried one for two years in combat. It's primary use was opening C-rat tins and cutting bits of paracord for stringing shelters and hammocks. There was also the occasional turning of a screw on some weapon or piece of kit or poking a hole in something with the awl. It was used almost daily.
So was the AF Survival Knife I carried. That was used a bit more stressfully for rough work that would damage the utility knife. It was also a loaner knife for those times when some fool went into the field without a functional blade. It was always returned in rough shape since most fools consider a knife nothing more than a crowbar you can cut yourself with.
I also carried a dedicated combat knife.
It is a beauty with 20cm blade, Stag grip, brass guard and pommel, set up in a left handed sheath for my needs. 50 years wear on that knife and good as new. It has hardly been taken from the sheath.
You see, in combat the knife is the one thing still considered a personal weapon and status symbol. E-men get the issue stuff but officers often sport expensive edged weapons, judged by brand and quality.
I received a couple of days dedicated knife fighting training from some very qualified people and they agreed with me that knife fighting was down their list of ways to survive a close quarters fight. Hand to hand unarmed combat was not in their scope of comprehension. Anything you could lay hands on was a weapon and that was their focus. We worked a whole morning on how to kill with an entrenching tool.
I still have the combat knife, 50 years down the road. In fact I still have a model of all three. There are 4 of the utility knives floating about, two AFSK knives in some box, and the old combat knife in the sock drawer.
Now if I hear a thump in the night and open that sock drawer it will not be to fetch the combat knife. No, there is a S&W .40 caliber M&P in that same drawer.
The knife is in there to remind me that as long as I have one bullet left, hopefully, someone just brought a knife to a gunfight!
The hand-to-hand experts taught me that.
I know that you don't believe in guns but I assure you, they exist, even in your culture.
I congratulate both you and CH for your tools.
My son has one Swiss army knife which has a few rudimentary tools including a folding blade. He also has a small Leatherman (an inexpensive USA brand) multitool which also has a folding blade. His main fieldwork knife is actually a diving knife as it is full tang, has a cross guard, a gut hook and a serrated edge as well as a scandi grind and has a hard plastic, locking sheath for additional safety.
I have a large Leatherman (an inexpensive USA brand) which has several multi tools, plus a small folding blade. These are good for feathersticks and trimming paracord and fire lighting - I'd never dull my main knife on a ferro rod. My small camp knife is a 4" Buck (an inexpensive USA brand) and is also full tang - I dislike half tang for any work where robust use may be required. The Buck is good for skinning and drawing small game and pheasant which the local guns give me for free. We both carry a half tang Remington as a sock knife as they fit comfortably in our combat boots.
I have a KA-BAR BK7 combat bowie and it never leaves my home. There are no laws being broken here. I have taken logs INTO my home and used the Becker to split them - it goes through a piece of wood the diameter of my thigh like butter. It is full tang and has replaceable grips which is probably why all my SF pals favour them. The only time THAT knife leaves my home is when the power system has been neutralised: jibs, food riot, zoombies whatever (deliberate spelling mistakes in case of algo - don't wanna get the site shut down) otherwise it is out of sight.
I also carry a small, dedicated tool kit for small vehicle work. I worked in Avionics and Aeronautics for - gosh - about 30 years (has it really been that long?!) My commercial work focussed on Airbus A350 and Boeing 747, 777, Pilatus and Raytheon corporate jets. My military work (and I have to be careful here) was naval, aircraft and land based platforms for both UK and USA.
I also agree the first thing that comes to hand can be a weapon - but only if you have the imagination to know how to use it. Thankfully most zoombies watch the tv and swallow what they are told to - they won't last a week as they do not think, especially not out the box. I do not care for their chances.
I also know that there will be many situations when the discharge of a weapon - suppressed or otherwise - will damn a group. I guess that is why my SF pals love their KA-BARS as much as I do. Silence is golden.
You say "I know that you don't believe in guns but I assure you, they exist, even in your culture."
With respect may I ask you how you know that I don't believe in guns?
Pistols, rifles and shotguns are all perfectly legal in the UK. So are longbows, recurve bows, compound bows and crossbows. It really is a shock how many folks cannot even shoot a recurve worth a damn, mind. I'm not going to advertise what I have with 40 'guest' accounts present. The sneaks can go f themselves.
Access to firearms is not the problem - situational awareness is. This is true all over. The countries are divided. Those who think the air is gonna kill them and those who know the Govt. is gonna try. Trying to get both sides round a table to agree will kill us all, unless the cure beats the ptb to it, of course.
Go check out Boston Dynamics Parkour Robots - still wanna bug out to the woods with these guys on patrol? I think the preppers may have to rethink strategy.
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