Train what you carry?

[jks9199]

I think its REAL important to train that way, it only make sense..But what do I know, I'm just a dumb street cop..Now for disarming practice I don't mind using the aluminum fixed blade trainers..The LE community needs a quality folder trainer for realistic training...

The catch is that many, if not most agencies specifically say that any "utility knife" carried by an officer is not carried as a weapon. An officer that has to fall back on using his utility knife in self defense has to articulate that he didn't have a chance to use a "real" weapon.

I'm not personally aware of any actual incidents where a cop has used a knife defensively; doesn't mean that they don't happen -- just that I haven't heard of them.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Hope you post a picture of it when your're finished...

Hell, I'll send you one Drac, if I ever get anything made that I'm happy with.

 

[tshadowchaser]

In class Charlie and I may pull out a trainer from anywhere on our body at any time durring the class to keep the students awear of how easily they may be cut in the street.
No the trainner I use in class is not the weight or exact shape of what I carry but I do try to carry it in the same areas I do my street knife

 

[Mr. E]

One big use of a drone training knife is to test your grip by hitting solid objects. If your hand slips and you end up grasping the blade portion, you drop the knife or you get an injury it is best to learn the weakness in what you are doing before you get into a real situation.

I have drones for just about all of the blades I would probably carry. I even got one knife after finding a really messed up one at a garage sale for about the cost of two newspapers. I liked the feel of the knife so much that I got a new one and ground the messed up blade down for a drone.

 

[Josh Oakley]

My friends and I actually train with the knives we carry. For our daggers, we keep them in the sheaths. For folders, the flat of the blade. For my curved folder, we go real slow. Works out pretty well.

 

[Josh Oakley]

I should note: in general, I would not normally carry a curved folder. In fact, my knife is serrated except for the last centimeter of the blade. It'd be a bloody mess if I ever had to actually use it, but my job requires cutting a lot of rope on a daily basis, and a straight, non-serrated blade (ideal for knife fighting, IMO) is just not practical for rope cutting. I'm not a fan of carrying one utilitarian knife and a second for self defense, so I carry the one.

But especially for a tactical folder, it's important to train with the knife itself, rather than a copy. I practice draw cuts ad nauseum, and have gotten pretty darn good with a reverse draw cut. Right now, I'm working on a revers draw cut from the pocket position, and it's coming along nicely. I've also incorporated cardboard boxes, so that I'm actually making contact with and cutting something. I know a few people that practice draw cuts, but they never actually make contact with anything. This in my opinion is dangerous because you won't know if your angle is correct for making a true cut, and you won't really know if your hand position is correct and that the blade won't fall out of your hand on contact with something.