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 So here is another blurb from my unpublished "Two Tigers" book.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.”
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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.
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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