Now that I am almost back to normal, (my wife says I never was normal) I am picking up my swords and getting out my hakama and gi preparing to resume practicing Iaido. For over a decade I practiced kenjutsu and batto-do. My love of commando knives is equaled only by my love of Japanese edged weapons; katana, wakizashi and tanto. Recently a friend gave me a reproduction of an O'dachi, a katana nearly six feet long. I won't be swinging it around in the dojo, though I am in awe of any warrior who could have used it. Most of the Japanese samurai of the period were not much above five feet six inches in height.

​One of my favorite swords came from Bugei Trading Company many years back, they called it their "Peace" sword. That is an odd name for a weapon designed to vivisect humans on the field of battle. The theme of the sword is based on a haiku by Basho, a famous Japanese poet. The saya is black with golden tufts of grass. The menuki are golden horses romping about after a battle, freed from their riders, and the tsuba also reflects the theme of mounted samurai. 

Summer Grasses
All that remains.
​Where Samurai used to dream.

Memorial Day will soon be upon us and that brings me back to the title of his blog. Perception. Like most people I tend to romanticize what I love and demonize what I do not. Where I see noble warriors in the samurai, my mentor saw only bloody killers, in drab uniforms, in pill boxes, killing American soldiers. He was a youth during WW-II and had an unrelenting hate of the Japanese, but somehow he overlooked the equally horrendous murder of people by the Germans and Italians of the Axis powers. The Germans looked like us, the Japanese did not. For him the Japanese were the boogeymen of his dreams.

If only somehow we could all see each other as human beings perhaps we might be able to resist killing each other. As I think of Memorial Day certain words came to my mind: valor, honor, duty, chivalry, service, but also compassion, tenderness, and dare I say it, love.

Monday I am going to be officiating at a memorial service for an old friend. Like me, he was a Vietnam veteran. Did he hate the Vietcong or Communist Vietnamese soldiers? I don't really know, we never talked about it. After all "they" did not look like us either, it was easy to demonize them as the enemy. In case you are asking, no I did not, do not, hate them. What makes a people invade and attack another people? What drives thousands of men to fight and kill other people they do not know, people who never offended them? If we should hate anything it should be the governments that stir up nationalistic fervor, who create false justification for going to war with other nations. I found the Vietnamese and the Japanese to be wonderful people. They are people just like us, when divested of their governments' desire for power and greed. And who are we to put on the robes of purity after killing hundreds of thousands of people in the name of Freedom and Democracy? 

These men freely shared their 400-year-old tradition with me and asked nothing of me in return except that I stay true to the Art. If I were to hold a grudge against anyone it would not be the Japanese but the Washington war-mongers who stole four years of my life to fight communism in a foreign land, who caused the death of my father by Agent Orange, who stole the innocence of America's youth for political gain and greed, who opened the doors to the drug trade and addiction. These monsters look just like us. As the political commentary of a Pogo cartoon once said: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Have a safe and thoughtful Memorial Day, and may God bless America.

On April 25th, I had some surgery to hopefully fix all of my recent health issues. I was only in the hospital overnight and came home to recuperate. So, this is why you have not seen any recent postings. Things are progressing well, and I have spent today getting photos and listing new knives for sale.

Honestly folks I do not need over 400 fighting knives to care for and to check for rust and oil etc.  I love them all but it makes sense to downsize. We are planning to relocate to Idaho and that is another reason to weed out duplicates and knives I have worked with and discovered their intricacies. I intend to get back to practicing sword work and my katana are calling for attention too. Carbon steel blades do not like to be neglected!

I also owe a good friend money for a knife that I intended to pay off in a month or two and it is stretching out way too long. Thanks for your patience Kevin.   

I also have other hobbies and obligations to meet. For example, I am carving a new cross for our house in Idaho. For those of you who do not know, I am an ordained priest and have responsibilities therefor to other people, serving their needs. A long way to go on the cross but the hospital stay interrupted it. So, bear with me as I get my shit together and list a few knives to sell, write a few blogs, and get back on track.  Have a great week.      

You might have tried to visit this site a few days ago and not been able to get on it. Neither could I. My geek squad (aka my daughter) fixed it for me. Very frustrating days of trying to figure it out myself. I also had a man interested in buying one of my knives and between the site problem and his email address not working I never did make connection. 
I wanted to address a few things concerning knives out there on the internet for sale. Lets begin by understanding that any knife that says WW-II Fairbairn with a damascus blade is NOT a WW-II knife. Any of the ones with unusual grips or steel grips are most likely made in India. Some of these have been artificially patinated or are older models but not WW-II. If you have any doubts ask where it was made. If the logo is spelled WILKNSON, with an "i" missing it is an India made knife. They are not terrible knives but they are not WW-II and should not command prices of a WW-II F-S.  Note the unusual shape of the pommel . These knives come with wooden grip section and all metal. Nice looking knife but definitely not WW-II. Some of these knives clearly state Pakistan but many are not so obvious. 
​No original F-S knives had a square ricasso except the First Pattern. This is a dead giveaway.

Lets say you are starting out collecting Ek Commando knives. Most of the ones on the market are post Vietnam era, not WW-II. There are a few Miami Eks but not many on ebay. If the blade is etched for WW-II, Korea, and Vietnam, GUESS WHAT. It's not a WW-II knife. Only liberals could rewrite history to include the 1960-80s in the WW-II era. Right now Eks are a hot item and even the cheapest model with cord wrapped grips are selling for silly prices. Will the prices ever come down? I don't know, but it depends, in part, on how willing people are to pay outrageous prices. After the WW-II Hampden, CT. knives, then the Vietnam era Miami models, the Virginia Eks are desirable and then last of all the later Blackjack versions. This is an Ek Model 2 from Richmond, VA. 

You know I am bored when I do two blogs in one day! But I figured I ought to do more than espouse on my new knife. So here is another blurb from my unpublished "Two Tigers" book.

The Long and Short of it: 
The knife that you choose will determine the techniques that you use.  This is a mantra that I used in my last book, and in this book we will go into greater detail of how the size and format of a knife actually does affect knife usage.  No, bigger is not always better!  Even in a combat theater it is generally impractical to carry a knife with a blade over 8 inches long[1].  Today’s man-at-arms is often burdened with a rucksack weighing sixty pounds or more along with his rifle and other gear.  The last thing a serviceman needs is a clumsy, three-pound, sixteen inch-long, "combat" knife slapping at his side as he races into a firefight or climbs into his armored Hum-Vee or Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
 
For the purposes of this blog I have divided knives into the following sizes.
·         Large Knife: blade lengths of 7-10 inches or longer
·         Medium Knife: blade lengths of 5-6 inches
·         Small Knife: blade lengths of 3-5 inches or less
 
Over the years I have vacillated, trying to decide upon the ideal blade size for a pure fighting knife.  Despite the sizes just given I have finally concluded that for me, in a true one-on-one knife duel, I would prefer to use a knife with a blade length between 9.5 and 10 inches.  As I said before, this is not a practical sized knife to be carried on a daily basis.  For daily military use I would still recommend 7-8 inch blades, and for concealed, every day carry knives I might prefer 3 to 5 inch blades (a compromise partly due to knife laws).  Chas Clements, a kuntao stylist, in a 1994 article[2] said that,
 “By and large, the large knife is best for fighting, all other choices are a compromise.”  He continued on to say that “The small knife is a compromise of stealth, fashion, or utility.”
​
I know there are many knifemakers and authors alike who will take strong exception to my choices of sizes and Mr. Clements' advice.  That’s OK, we all have a right to our own opinions. I also recognize that there will be occasions where fighters may need to resort to using bigger instruments of destruction, such as bolos, machetes, or even swords.  An acquaintance - who had been in Vietnam during some of the last bitter fighting - once told me that he never got into a knife-fight: “But I sure messed-up some people with an entrenching tool.”  There you go.  All you can do is weigh my suggestions and other’s opinions against your own experience and skills and decide for yourself what size knife common sense dictates for you.  By the way, just in case you were considering buying an entrenching tool for self-defense, they are extremely hard to carry concealed.  This doesn’t mean you might not want to throw one under the car seat for those days you might get stuck in snow or mud, or need to take off the top of some low-life’s or Zombies head in a violent encounter.  There is a full range of techniques designed especially for these tools taught by the Russian Spetznaz.  A good entrenching tool for this type of defense (and general emergency situations) is available from Cold Steel™ or off Ebay. 
 
 

[1] Many combat units prohibit their members from carrying a private purchase knife of any size.

[2] Heartless Monkey Knife, Chas Clements 1994 internet article

The photo is of two "Argentines" deigned by Laci Szabo/James Keating. Note the Spanish Notch in the blade's edge, something James A. Keating re-established on fighting knives. The "notch" is a blade-catcher and was something found on Spanish fighting knives and adapted to some Bowies. These are a light, fast blade for defense or offense.

I am 74 years old and I have been working with and collecting fighting knives for over 60 years now. My bedroom is a virtual armoury. On the walls, shelves, in my closet, under my bed, are broadswords, katana, wakizashi, tomahawks, dirks, Bowies, kama, karambit, hand and a half swords, rapiers and small swords. If it cuts or stabs I probably have an example of it. My wife, bless her, has allowed me to pursue this obsession.

The latest addition to my collection was the Channing HN-12 that came a few weeks ago. I have not let it stray very far from my hand since i unboxed it. You can tell when a person bonds with a blade, or a gun, by how often they feel it is necessary to pick it up. Note that I said person, not man. I have been blessed to know several women warriors who have the same appreciation for weapons. The HN-12 is phenomenal. It is part Star Wars, part bronze age, a bit of Scilian Vendetta, part Arkansas Toothpick. It has a blade like my Oakeshot Type XVI sword from Albion. The balance is perfect, like one of my Metford Fairbairns. 

Are you getting the feeling that I like this knife? Yeh I really like this knife! After all these years it takes something special to get my martial juices flowing again. This knife is the ticket. After messing about with over 500 fighting knives, over 6 decades, doing silat, a little tantojutsu, a smattering of Bowie training, classes in fencing and rapier and dagger, seminars on broadsword and dirk, reading every knife-fighting book in print (and many out of print) this tweleve inches of steel trips my trigger. Did I need it? No; well yes, because of the effect it has had on me. Thank you Channing for the terrific blade.

I was very pleasantly surprised on Saturday to find a long, skinny box in my mail. I had been waiting a few months for this package and I was not disappointed. It is a new HN-12 from Channing Watson of HavocWorks. I reviewed his HN-9 a while ago and decided I had to get a copy of its big brother. 

I ordered my HN-12 with the optional patinated copper scales. The black scales are nice, but I knew the balance would be better with the heavier material. I was 100% right.  It balances just like an F-S knife, floating on the forefinger as W.E. Fairbairn demanded. The knife is 12.25 inches overall. The blade is substantial and the reinforced tip will resist tweaking or breaking under load and combat applications.  Although it lacks a formal guard I have no doubts about the gripping force created by the ingenious shaping and texturing of the scales. I seldom use the term, but I think this knife is perfectly designed for any purpose and missions it might be used for. The kydex sheath is light in weight, high quality, and a perfect fit on the knife, with a spring clip for IWB or boot carry.  As critical as I am of fighting knives, I find nothing I would change on this combination of knife and sheath. Great work Channing! If you want to own a knife destined to be the Future of the F-S genre' get on Mr. Watson's list. 

I am working on the next volume about 2nd, 3rd,pattern, Fatman, beaded & ribbed, OSS, etc. Here is part of the introduction. I have made the dedication to the forgotten men and women of my generation who went off to war.

Some will say I should have dedicated this book to the men and women of World War II. That thought did occur to me of course. Those service members, and the civilians who provided unflinching support for them, are remembered today as the “Greatest Generation.” I would not for a moment deny them that glory. But who remembers the forces who fought and died in Korea, or in small incursions all over the world where we have tried to play policemen, judge and jury. What about Vietnam? Does that sound jaded? I suppose it does. Who will remember the sacrifices of the maimed and dead from Desert Storm or the dozen years we spent in Iraq and Afghanistan? We need to never forget them either, but this is dedicated to my generation. Already history is burying their memories. 
There is a saying that “Violence is never the answer, until it is the only answer.”  Somehow we forget, that after the flag waving and the bands playing, that some people are bereft of loved ones or are left to care for permanently disabled veterans, husbands, wives, or children.
I was one of the lucky ones and my limited time in combat left me unwounded, physically and spiritually. Some of my classmates came home bodily in one piece, mentally fragmented, and several of them committed suicide years later.
“We, the U.S. have lost over 158,000 American lives to the Vietnam war and that count is still rising.
Approx. 58,000 in Vietnam. 100,000 or more to suicide and most of those occurred after the men came home.”
Over 100,000 US Vietnam Vet Suicides To Date! (rense.com)

For many the war never ends. I was nineteen when I went over, many men were even younger. That’s an impressionable age, especially for a young citizenry who were far removed from the horrors of World War Two. I remember one man in our bootcamp company who had never been out of the mountains of West Virginia. He was a giant of a man who fainted flat of his face when he was confronted with a needle. He wore red flannels with the flap in the back. He could not read nor write. How did some unscrupulous recruiter get him inducted? Did the recruiter get a bonus based on providing live bodies?
I think we were all glad to see the Hillbilly sent home. While we, were left to silently ponder our own fates.
One of the greatest thinkers on war postulated that: "War therefore is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will."
-Carl Von Clausewitz.
I wonder if Clausewitz ever considered the violence enacted against the populace by its own government to compel them to fight and kill in a foreign land, people whom they had no reason to hate, to achieve some unholy will.
It has also been said that “War is politics by other means.”  Funny how that works out. We in the US have a bi-cameral form of Government. Conveniently one body will start wars and the other end them, at the appropriate time. Then they vigorously blame each other thus preventing the general population from seeing they have been duped, and prevent them from rising up in indignation against the war mongers. These are "proxy wars" fought away from home where the indigent peoples are sacrificed for the "greater good" of democracy, or socialism, communism, what ever name you recognize it by. 

I have been a collector of edged weapons of war all my life. I have also been an opponent to war, generally believing that disputes should be resolved mano-a-mano, sparing the thousands of bloodied innocents. We reward the engineers of weapons of mass destruction and the generals who lead the lambs to slaughter. It ought to be the other way round, with crusty, ribbon bedecked, Generals dying for their righteous causes and rosy cheeked  lads asleep in their beds, dreaming of fair maidens.
​
I grew up in a military family, the eldest son of a US Army colonel. He was the consummate warrior who died early, not from acts of war, but the chemistry of Agent Orange. He was nearly immortal on the battlefield and loathed the waste of soldiers under his parental watch. So, included in the casualties of my generation’s war, I must count my father, Colonel David Wm. Decker. What’s not to like about war? Finally, to quote poet Allen Ginsberg; “War is good business, invest your son.”
 Allen Ginsberg, The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971

The Dynamics of Cutting: 
For over forty five years I have been experimenting and training with many types of fighting knives.  Just when you think you know everything there is to know about a subject something new comes up.  That’s how it was for me with blade geometry and the dynamics of cutting.  My test-cutting mediums are not very exotic.  They consist of simple cardboard tubes, hollow tubes formed by loosely rolling two sheets of newspaper, or foam swimming pool noodles. 
​
One night at our dojo I spent time working flow drills with a new knife from Laci Szabo called the Kamaitachi.  This knife is like a kerambit on steroids or some African inspired cutter.  When I emailed Laci about how he intended for this knife to be used he replied, “it is the simplest of all of my knives to use.”  Sorry Laci, but that didn’t answer my  question.  Because of its unusual hooked shape I dismissed the Kamaitachi as a stabbing weapon and concluded that it would only be suitable for ripping and tearing actions.  Despite this I decided to try some experimental thrusts with it.  The stabbing qualities of the Kamaitachi really impressed me!  I thought that the offset point would create an undesirable torquing effect upon impact but it didn’t seem to.  When used for thrusting it works best if it is held in what I call a modified reverse grip.  In fact for any technique the kamaitachi seems more comfortable when held this way.

A bigger surprise awaited me when I tried slashing with the Kamaitachi. It performed poorly.  This was a disappointment considering its talon-like curvature.  Based on this one practice session I dismissed it as a cutting weapon. Later I decided that maybe the Kamaitachi and I needed more time together.  There is an old saying that, “familiarity breeds contempt,” not so when it comes to weapons.  In this case familiarity proved to be what I needed to adapt to the Kamaitachi’s quirks.  By applying a whole new blade approach-angle I finally achieved the results I was looking for and discovered a new level of cutting efficiency with the Kamaitachi.

Laci’s stated design philosophy is that a knife’s ergonomics ought to be tailored to the way a human being moves, not the other way around.  That makes sense to me.  I feel like I have also figured out which way to move my body to keep the Kamaitachi happy. The top knife is the exotic Szabo kamaitachi.

Cutting practice in the dojo. Making a clean cut on a free-standing cardboard wrapping paper tube. If the cut is not perfect the tube will just fly across the floor. It is not a matter of power or speed, just the precise angle that the blade intersects the cutting medium. This knife is a real chopper made by a man in Canada. Photo of the knife is below.

I have been trying to login for three days, emailed customer support, tried resetting my password and using a unusually large number of cuss words. I finally figured out the right combination. I have been working on volume three of my books on Fairbairn-Sykes knives. It is focused on 2nd and 3rd patterns and OSS stiletto. Volume 2 is about ready to go to print with a slight delay. what this has made me realize is the breadth and depth of my collection. This is good for you the readed but terrible for my checking account. Right now I owe a friend for a dagger and sales of my knives have been very lethargic. If you see something on here i have for sale, ask me. Maybe I can do better on price. NONE of the F-S are for sale or the agents knives. So please do not ask. 

Anyway I am glad to be able to login again and will post more later. I have a good friend who I am going to begin teaching knife defense. It has been a long time since I taught because of the "plandemic." It ought to be fun to teach again. He wants an alternative to using a handgun for defense. Today legal gunowners are under tremendous attack from the government. Always have a "plan B." 

​Here is one of my original O.S.S. daggers. It belonged to an agent serving in the CBI theater or combat.

This is the knife I need to pay off. It is a Paisley (yes Ron I know he didn't exist). The person I am buying it from bought it in a Trade Fair in London in the 1990s. It is unique in several ways that confound me. It has "WSC" stamps on the blade and "30946" on the grip, along with "008" on the side edge of the ricasso. The WSC is not for Wilkinson Sword, but then maybe it is. I don't know what to say about this knife. It is a very nicely converted 1903 Lee-Metford bayonet. ​

​"Sheng Tung, Chi Hsi:" Uproar in the East Strike in the West.
Sun Tzu
 
Old Sun Tzu knew a thing or two about strategy. His “The Art of War” is one of the oldest texts on combat strategy and like Musashi’s famous “Book of Five Rings” has been widely used for many applications, from one-on-one combat, to corporate sales strategy.
 
This particular saying, "Sheng Tung, Chi Hsi", popped up while I was reading the late Che Guevarra’s manual on Guerilla warfare. Now Che’ is quite popular with today’s youth, many of whom have no real idea who he was. He does make for great T-shirt graphics. But I come not to praise Che’, but to bury him. Well not exactly that either.
 
Che’ (and Sun Tzu) recognized the value of deception, the art of the feint, and that is what I really want to talk about. When you are outgunned, literally or figuratively, you may find a little deception extremely valuable. A small sleight of hand can gain you vital time or distance. Misdirection and distraction are also tools of the professional fighter. When you are practicing a kata or you are doing some sparring see how you can take advantage of these tools. Where are the logical points that you can break the pattern or disrupt the form or flow to create an opening for your true attack? Mao Tse Tung in his manifesto on Guerilla war said that the three ingredients to successfully fighting an asymmetrical war were: time, space, and will. All of these men knew the art of fighting “small” wars required the creative use of deception to gain time or space.
 
For a more concrete example in knife work, thrust right then cut left. Begin an assault with a large movement and stop. Just stop! Then continue onward in the same direction or a different direction at a different speed. Change your timing and break the rhythm. Cut high then drop to a low squat and thrust. Attack straight in and rotate around your opponent’s block. There are hundreds of ways to employ deception and you should explore as many as possible. Look one way cut another. The only restriction is they must work at least ONCE. They may not work a second time because your opponent/training partner will be ready for them. Abide by Musashi’s sage advice and never try the same technique three times. When finished our new book, “When Two Tigers Fight,” will talk in depth about the art of deception and sleight of hand. In the mean time get creative but do not make a game of it. Keep an eye to the reality of mortal combat. Take a bit of advice and be wary of the opponent who is not moved by your initial feints, he may be more skilled than you have reckoned.