Revised Schedule for Bram Frank Seminar - Lockport, NY

[DoctorB]

The SCHEDULE for the Gunting Knife Seminar to be conducted by Master Bram Frank, on the weekend of September 28 & 29, in Lockpart, NY, Has Been Revised!

The open to all segment of the seminar will be held on for one (1) day only - Sunday, September 29, 1 - 4pm at

The International Schools of Self Defense,
5901 South Transit Road (NYS RT.78),
Big Lots Plaza,
Lockport, NY.

The seminar fee will be $55 advanced, paid before
September 23, 2002 and $70 at the door. Advanced payments may be mailed to:

Jerome Barber, Ed.D.
Suite 230
5999 South Park Avenue
Hamburg, NY, 14075

Make the seminar checks/ money orders payable to Bram Frank.

If you wish to purchase a Spyderco Gunting Training Drone - the red handled version. send a check/ money order for $125 to the above address and make it payable to Dr. Jerome Barber. Please have your order in before September 5, 2002. There will not a shipping and handling fee because you will receive delivery at the seminar site.

The original Saturday date for training has been deleted from the
schedule due to the fact that Master Frank and I have received a number of requests from institutional representatives for closed door training sessions and his travel schedule and other bookings have made it impossible to to extend his visit to the Buffalo area, beyond Monday, September 30. Therefore we needed to alter the orginal announced schedule of training.

It has taken quite awhile for the Gunting Knife to begin to gain the kind of attention in the USA and Canada that it has been receiving in Europe. There have been over 100 articles published in Europe, about the Gunting in the past two years since its introduction on the market.

Unfortunately for us here in the USA and Canada, Spyderco has not spent any significant advertising dollars or actively sought
reviews of this tool, in spite of a very good sales volume from the
European market, in both individual and insitutional (police and
military) sales. In the USA and Canada, the Guntinng is becoming known via the oldest and least precise method that we have in the market place - word of mouth.

I really believe that the Gunting is a unique and valuble self defense tool. I enjoy the fact that this kniiife has three (3) modes of utilization: impact tool, joint-locking tool and bladed tool. there is not another kniife on the market today that has all THREE use
possibilites, that i am aware of at this time.

Respectfully,

Jerome Barber, Ed.D.

 

[arnisador]

We never got a review!

 

[DoctorB]

Originally posted by arnisador

We never got a review!

Hello Arnisador,

Per your request, here is a copy the review posted by Mr. Absolom Jones on the Escrima-Arnis List, on October 2, 2002.

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Bram Frank Seminar Review
by Absolom Jones
Oct 02, 2002 11:16 PDT

I would like to report that I attended two Gunting Knife Seminars featuring Master Bram Frank, Chief instructor of the Common Sense self Defense/ Street Combat Arnis group and the designer of the Gunting Knife.

Saturday's seminar (September 28) was a special invitation only program for LEOs and the Sunday program was open to the general public. The Saturday program was dedicated to the using the impact and joint locking features of the Gunting to assist LEOs with bringing people into complience and handcuffing procedures.

A number of the LEOs in attendence were somewhat skeptical of the Gunting at first. As the seminar moved forward, they began to alter their opinions, particularly when they were getting 'tagged and bitten' by Master Frank, and one another as well. The 'logic' of the Gunting is quite simple, strike nerve centers, muscles and joints to effect a response and then move on to another point until you have secured a lock and/or take down.

This seminar was also used to introduce people in this area - Buffalo, NY - to the newest incarnation of the Gunting series, the CRMIPT - Close Range, Medium IMpact Tool. This Gunting configuration has a blue handle, a dulled, non-cutting blade and the raised edges on the live blade on the 1. the ramp, 2. the head and 3. the Persian Butt. This hybrid configuration is an
ideal law enforcement personel because it gives one all of the impact and locking qualities of the live blade version without the possibilty of having someone cut by a police officer. It is far more powerful than the training drone, which in the hands of a good jiu-jitsu or chin na person is quite a formitable tool for exacting pain complience from an individual.

I was very impressed with the presentation by Master Frank. He expalined what he was doing, why he was doing it and the reaction that he was expecting from his opponent, as well as what some possible alternate reactions might be, including the fact that the opponent was not affected by a particular manuever. He was very thorough. The better control that an
indiviual has over the basics of stances, stepping and empty hand joint-locking, the more effective their Gunting techniques appeared to be when working with a partner.

Master Frank's approach to the training was to build up from a simple evasion to a stiking counter, to a defense by the attacker to the counter, then to a counter the counter move by the original defender. This simple set of transitions allowed for each individual's own personal art to come out as their understanding of the tool developed.

By the end of the seminar, both the LEO's and the invited guests were showing some acquired comfort working with the tool. There were some bruised arms, thumbs and fingers, a couple of people had red marks on their necks, but everyone seemed very pleased with the program. If the sale of gunting training drones and CRMIPT's are indicative of success, then this seminar was a totally successful to the max!

The Sunday Seminar was another beautiful event. The audience was, for the most part made up of diffent people than those who had attended the day before. With one exception, all were martial artists and the presentation was similar, yet different. At this seminar the Gunting's unique kinetic opening feature was demonstrated, after the impact and locking features had
been explored. It is this feature that make the Gunting truely unique in the world of tactical folding knives. Having the ability to open the knife against another person's body or an inanimate object is absolutely fascinating and scarey! Several times during this seminar, we were admonished Not To Open the Gunting Against Your OWN Leg!!! One look at the difference between the live blade and the training blade made it obvious as
to why one should follow that advice and heed the warning.

Equally interesting to me was the mix of martial arts styles represented at this seminar: Shorinji Kempo, Isshin Ryu, Danzen Jiu-jitsu, Paradigm Kenpo, Independent Escrima/Arnis, Plum Bloosom Preying Mantis, Master's Kempo, Liu Seong Kuntao Silat, Wing Chun, Goju Ryu and Krav Maga.

I would like to note that Master Frank, announced that Dr. Jerome Barber and Sensei Michael Carvelli are the CSSD/SC representatives for NY State. Dr. Barber, was also recognized as the Gunting Knife Certification Officer for NYS.

All in all, this was a seminal event in terms of knife training and
utilization in this area of NYS. I am very pleased that I had the
opportunity to attend both programs. I want to thank Sensei Carvelli, for sponsoring me at the Saturday seminar. The Sunday seminar was every bit as good as the previous day's event, yet it was different and helpful in terms of content and direction. Having attended two of Dr. Barber's, 'empty hand, pocket stick, kubaton & gunting' seminar programs, I was familiar enough
with the Gunting Knife to take full advantage of what Master Frank was teaching, but there is nothing like seeing the innoventer, playing with the tool.

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[arnisador]

Sounds fascinating. I'm glad I got a Gunting!