Knife Fencing Training

Knife Training for knife fencing.

Which training knife to use for knife fencing?

Your training knife!

Today I want to talk to you about Training Knife and training knives for short fencing but not only.

There are a lot of them on the market but if you want to train seriously you have to use the right tools whether it’s personal defense or short knife fencing.

On the market there are different shapes, “colors” and different materials but to carry out an effective workout it is necessary that you know some essential things about training knives to carry out an effective and naturally safe training that is a fundamental aspect and that you must never neglect.

The training knife is a tool used to simulate the use of a knife safely during training for knife fencing, for martial arts, self-defense such as Krav Maga, but a lot in Philippine Kali.

Unlike a real knife, the training knife is designed to be bladeless or to have a blunt blade, so as to reduce the risk of injuring the coach or other participants.

Often you see videos on the net on social networks such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube of pseudo masters with training knives unsuitable and dangerous to do an effective and safe workout, really ridiculous to see this and qualifies the person in the video because it means that he has little knowledge of the subject and above all does not have what is often cited idea of situational awareness which is a basic concept of self-defense.

There are several types of training knives available on the market, including plastic, rubber, wood or beveled stainless steel knives.

Each of these materials has its advantages and disadvantages.

For example, plastic or rubber knives are lightweight and easy to handle, but may not be realistic enough in simulating the use of a real knife.

In contrast, aluminum or beveled stainless steel knives are heavier and offer a more realistic feel, but can be more expensive and require more precautions in their handling.

The use of the training knife can be useful to improve your knife handling technique, such as the position of the hands, the grip of the knife, the fluidity of movements and the speed of reaction.

In addition, the training knife can be used to simulate real combat situations, such as attacking an attacker with a knife, and to develop an appropriate defense strategy.

However, it is important to keep in mind that the use of the training knife requires proper training and compliance with safety rules.

In particular, it is important to use the training knife only under the supervision of an experienced instructor, use appropriate protective equipment and always respect other participants during training.

Training knife or knife training materials:

• Aluminium
• Steel
• Wood
• PVC
• Rubber
• Polypropylene
• Nylon.

Often during internships, courses or videos on the internet you see people using soft rubber knives or wooden knives, or objects that do not remember the shape of the knife at all.

This is a mistake that is better that you do not do, you do not have to use that type of training knife especially in the technical study, in the Sparring For safety reasons and if you do not have complete protections it is necessary to use rubber or foam knives but this is still an incorrect condition but necessary if you do not have complete protections such as fencing masks.

Your training knife must have the shape and size of the real knife you want to use and above all be without a tip and without wire but of a rigid material.

Attention!!! Regardless of the training knife you have to absolutely protect your eyes and genitals although I have to tell you that it is necessary when you have more control and ability to eliminate protections because if you always use protections when you do not have them you feel helpless, as if you lose confidence and it is something you can not afford.

Knife training or training knives that are on the market:

Soft rubber knife

These are training knives that I don’t recommend you use, do not use them in your training because they do not allow you to perform Disarm, flexing the tip when you come into contact you do not know if your grip is solid or if you would have lost the knife on contact, they are too light, these are toys.

Some have shapes that reproduce knives on the market, beautiful to see but still not usable for the study of technique, on tires,etc.

In the images below you will see some examples of rubber training knives but that I would exclude buying.

Hard rubber knife

This type of knife is very used, remains light and with very rounded edges.

As colors and shapes there are no limits.

You can use them to make a realistic sparring even if they are very light and the feeling is that it is not a knife.

The cost is very low.

Compared to rubber ones they are more suitable and you can work safely.

Tracer rubber knife

This kind of training knife has the blade thread that is dyed with paints to check the cuts during knife sparring.

You can also do it with hard rubber knives and a canvas tape from upholsterers or by coloring it with a lipstick.

The paint on the blade remains on the skin and on the mesh going to highlight the cuts suffered.

It is a good method to understand the danger of a knife that even in narrow spaces and without much loading can inflict cuts.

Clearly the goal is to have no sign.

Even zero to zero in knife combat is fine.

Expanded material knife

This type of knife training or training knife I use only to perform assaults at maximum power and “violence” to test the physical and mental condition.

The advantage is that you can train with few protections and pull in all parts of the body.

This is one of the knives that I recommend to test in certain exercises because you can work at maximum power with confidence.

The study of the knife is essential to carry it out step by step and always remember that safety is an element that you must never neglect.

Wooden knife

This type of knife training or training knife is usually used in traditional martial arts, often the shape does not really resemble a knife even if it resembles a “so much”.

It is a light knife, without a handle.

Personally, I do not even do this even if you practice traditional martial arts.

During one of my journeyS I did not have an aluminum training knife with me so I made a wooden one but with the shape of a real knife, I made it as similar as possible despite having a thickness of at least 8 mm and to avoid the wood chips I rounded the perimeter edges and put a handle with a “grip” used for tennis rackets.

I do not discourage them because they are too light, often without a real form of knife and in particular chipping you can injure your training partner when you throw slashes.

Aluminum knife

The best training knives are made of aluminum are cheap and functional.

They allow you to have a knife-like shape and size but have a thickness, rounded tips and a lightness with respect to the metal that allow you to work safely.

Attention! However, consider that it is always a metal object and that it can still do damage, so you should always pay close attention.

Although I do not use many protections I recommend at least to wear protective glasses and protection for the genitals in training and for sparring the fencing mask as well as the shell and other elements such as elbow pads and knee pads.

The stiffness allows you to have a more realistic workout and allows you to perform if there is the possibility of disarming even during sparring.

I think this is the only training knife that you have to use to learn the technique, then for sparring I can also accept variants of materials or coatings in expanded polyethylene to create protective masks over the knife, but I repeat they are exceptions for special jobs.

For sparring I use aluminum knives and 320N fencing masks.

The protections are very important but it is also important that the knife you use is as similar as possible to the reality that is already psychologically staggered because it is still a “fake” knife.

On the market there are of all shapes and sizes with different prices.

Metal knife

I personally have one of metal knife training, very valid although heavier than an aluminum knife making training potentially more dangerous.

The knife is thinner, it does not cut but still if you take it on your fingers you feel it much more on the bones than an aluminum knife because of its weight and the thickness of the blade.

The advantage is that it does not bruise, does not row much and you work with a knife that has a real weight, which is very important.

My advice is to take your knife that you want to use and lift the thread and tip with a wide range and train with this type of knife to have the same handle shape size and weight.

I know it’s an expense and it’s a duplicate, but that’s how you learn.

Shock knife training

Shock Knife Training knives, thecurrent on the blade wire, are plastic knives but that activate an electrical discharge through a button.

The goal of this knife training is to have a real response to the knife wire, because you often touch the blade but it is not said that you come into contact with the sharp wire.

This type of knife should bring training to a more real response.

Personally I tried it, interesting but only as an additional tool to the classic aluminum training knives.

Training butterfly knife

It is a classic balisong or knife butterfly but without tip and without blade.

Often used by those who want to become a specialist in the opening and closing tricks of the butterfly

I use this type of knife I decided to take it off by taking off a real one and rounding the tip, because those on the market do not have the weight characteristics of real butterfly knives and the mechanics are less precise.

I also made an aluminum one to use in training with training partners and for safety do not have the weight of the metal knife.

They are fine to learn tricks but remember that you have to learn how to handle the sharp blade and then you have to use a real knife.

The blade you must learn to know it, manage it to your advantage and above all respect it.

Karambit training

This is Karambit in a full or close-up version.

These must be made of metal but there are also plastic but I honestly think it is useless because it has to have a proper weight in order to handle it and understand it in its use.

I use the closeable version of FOX which is a good training karambit and wanting you can take the real one that has the same weight and size shape features so you get used to feeling the same weight and shape in your hand.

Remember that in order to perform rotations and extractions you have to have something as I have already told you as similar as possible to the karambit you want to use.

The wooden or plastic versions are not very suitable even if safer training with your training partner.

To study the technique initially is fine but then you have to use a real Karambit, maybe at the beginning protecting with a tape the tip but later you need to become familiar with the “naked” weapon.

Push Dagger by training

It is a very special knife, but it has considerable advantages for the simplicity of use.

Personally I use it to learn the defense from this type of attack that is very complicated, the position of your guard and the saves have to be modified with deviations, consider that they are often all tip attacks and some slashes, however it remains a very insidious type of attack.

Many special forces use the push dagger, which remains a very dangerous object on the melee.

Train with this object both as an attack but also as a defense to understand what can happen and what strategy to adopt with such a tool.

Very dangerous indeed!!!

Training knife

A small training knife, used a lot in Philippine martial arts.

Useful in the study of techniques with this type of knife.

This knife training is hardly on the market but I have some versions, if you are interested write me an email.

Conclusions

Now I hope you have a slightly clearer view of the choice of training knives or knife training.

It is essential to train with the right tools especially for safety in training, you often see training knives that are absolutely not suitable both from a technical point of view and also as a safety that must always be in first place.

Train with aluminum knife training!

Street Fight Mentality & Fight Sport!

Andrea