Garrison Fighting Knives

**Permalost** · Posted On: 11/02/2010 11:10am

I came across this very odd knife design on the web:

It's allegedly based off of the Manual de Baratero that talks about fighting with an old style of scissors. The idea is that the curved blade can be used to hook and pressure limbs in a way that a conventional knife can't. It looks awkward and bulky to carry around and I'm sort of skeptical of designs that haven't been devised in any blade culture I've seen, yet it also looks like it has advantages. Thoughts?

Here's their website:
https://garrisonfightingknives.com/Home.html

**gregaquaman** · Posted On: 11/02/2010 11:27am

I think people get caught up with the flash and just loose the practicality. So you get a knife that exels at armlocks but becomes less effective at just stabbing people than your average kitchen knife.
And I dont like rope handles.
This all goes back to my pig sticker theory. The most common design of knife for killing up to a 200kg animal either looks like a dagger or a bayonet.

**goodlun** · Posted On: 11/02/2010 11:45am

Well it sure looks mean and I do like style points if you pulled that on someone they would probably **** their pants, but I think I will stick with my cold steel tanto

**Permalost** · Posted On: 11/02/2010 12:08pm

Originally Posted by gregaquaman

This all goes back to my pig sticker theory. The most common design of knife for killing up to a 200kg animal either looks like a dagger or a bayonet.

There's a school of thought in knife fighting that many factors trump deadliness. Concealability, ability to draw quickly, defense, ability to disable limbs etc may be more important than "can it kill a big animal?". A karambit, for example, doesn’t have a long blade that can pierce deep, but it can disable limbs and is easily concealed. This weird Garrison knife looks good for disabling limbs, but doesn't look concealable or explainable to law enforcement. Also I recognize that in my years of carrying knives, I've used them to cut rope, open boxes and letters, cut electrical tape, cut fishing line, cut sandwiches/burritos etc in half and a thousand other little tasks, yet I've never had to cut a person and have only drawn it in an altercation once. What I'm getting at is that a knife you carry should have a utility function or you'll be known as that guy that carries a fighting knife when you take it out to open a box at the office or whatever, and that one doesn't look particularly useful as a utility tool.

**goodlun** · Posted On: 11/02/2010 12:25pm

Originally Posted by CodosDePiedra

that one doesn't look particularly useful as a utility tool.

It sure doesn't look like it and I most certainly wouldn't take it out in the office to open a box(this takes me back to a found memory of sitting at my desk learning how to use a butterfly knife). While a bit unwieldy and bulky you sure could use it to open boxes, cut string, get into letters, I think it would cut a CA Burrito just fine. But all and all I think it belongs with the united cutlery stuff looks cool may want to hang it on your wall but is more of a "stunt" knife.

**Permalost** · Posted On: 11/02/2010 12:31pm

It kinda reminds me of a main gauche- a bladed weapon that can be used to “catch” incoming weaponry, only because this is the modern day and we don’t have swords, its designed to catch a limb holding a weapon, and it does this by using a wide blade shape instead of a wide guard. In a postapocalypse Mad Max/Waterworld type of existence where blade fighting happens when there’s a dispute over who gets the last few drops of pee to drink, it looks like it would be a good offhand weapon to complement your bowie/kukri/warclub, but until then it’s just too “weapony” to carry around.

**goodlun** · Posted On: 11/02/2010 12:37pm

Originally Posted by CodosDePiedra

but until then it’s just too “weapony” to carry around.

Although I don't recommend caring a Ka-bar in CA or any fixed bladed knife for that matter.
I think you would run into less problems caring around a Ka-bar vs this thing if you did end up in a situation where you had to explain yourself to a LEO.

**gregaquaman** · Posted On: 11/02/2010 12:49pm

K bar you could go camping with for example.

**Carpe Noctem** · Posted On: 11/05/2010 3:23pm

Ugh, just...no. That thing's gayer than a forty-pound box of dicks.

I can't see carrying that ANYWHERE. Civilian? Good luck explaining that Klingon-looking POS. FFS, carry a folder or, if your area supports it, a small fixed blade. Either will do defensively or (99.9999% of the time) as a tool. For serious self defense? CCW and a lot of training.

Military? Go right ahead and try. I'm not saying that you can't have fixed blades on your gear, but something like that is going to flag you as being THAT GUY almost as badly as walking around the FOB with a bigass bowie strapped to your leg.

Sorry for the mini-rant, but that thing just really tripped my "bad taste" switch.

**Permalost** · Posted On: 11/05/2010 3:34pm

Originally Posted by Carpe Noctem

Military? Go right ahead and try. I'm not saying that you can't have fixed blades on your gear, but something like that is going to flag you as being THAT GUY almost as badly as walking around the FOB with a bigass bowie strapped to your leg.

If I was in the military and THAT GUY, I'd rather carry my bigass bowie knife strapped to my leg.