Knife Fighting: Folding Knives

There  is a lot of bullshit written about knife fighting, so lets deal with one of the big myths peddled by a lot of self-defence instructors: you won’t ever have the time to open a folding knife in a knife fight. This is about as stupid as saying you won’t ever have the time to draw a firearm. People have been doing it in Europe for centuries with no bother.

Everyone has heard of the Italian (or Milano) switchblade, which is a superbly designed ultra efficient automatic opening stiletto.

The butterfly knife is another fast opening folding knife design. If you heard that they were developed in the Philippines, you’ve been misinformed. They date back to at least 1710 in France and were in production in Europe throughout the 18th and 19th  century. There is no record of them in the Philippines until the early 20th Century.

The usual brigade of limp wristed, cross-dressing, bed-wetters have banned the carrying of switchblades in most places — not that that matters — so spring assisted knife was designed. They open nearly as fast and are usually legal to carry.

But even a normal folding knife can be opened with one hand in less than a second.

The Extrema Ratio – Nemesis

The navaja (traditional Sevillan fighting knife)