Zepp said:
So, Tulisan, what safety precautions do you take when training with a live blade? (You got me curious.)
No problem sir. I was giving people some time to throw out their responses before I offered mine. Sometimes if I respond too soon, people either go "yea that makes sense" or they go "I don't want to waste my time argueing with this long-winded guy;" but either way, they don't post their opinions.
Anyways, my "live blade" precautions are fairly simple, common sense stuff. However, sometimes good sense isn't too common, especially with the ego driven world of the martial arts. So, safety is worth discussing.
Live Blade training:
First of all, I want to say that training with a live blade is impairative for learning knife work. Many people don't train live blade at all, and I think that this is detrimental to their knife skill. When your working with a trainer, you may be doing things that would be ineffecient. Doing live blade work and blade awareness prevents working your training blades in an ineffecient manner.
That said, ONLY do Live blade work for SOLO TRAINING. The live blade is not for partner work, and it is not for sparring
**. That is why
trainers were invented. There are a multitude of good trainers out there today that work enough like the real thing for partner work. Use them.
Now, I know that some people will (and most likely rather futilely) argue with me on the idea of only using the live blade for solo training. They'll say that their Silat master or their FMA master does live blade partner work, "with the scars to prove it!" so that means that it must be a good idea. Bullstuff. Here's a news flash for some of you, and please don't take this offensively. Just because a guy is Asian and older then you, that doesn't mean that he knows what the hell he is talking about. Furthermore, just because someone is a "master" at the martial arts, that doesn't mean that they know everything there is to know about life. That said, some people long ago in a place far far away may have trained live blade partner work, and they may be very good and reputable. Hell, I have done it myself, but at least I will admit that I was wrong, and that it isn't worth the risks. However, if your master jumped off a bridge, would you do it? Just because someone did something long ago far far away, that doesn't mean it is smart for you to imitate the behavior.
Man, this should all seem like common sense, but I have gotton into and witnessed so many frickin arguements on and off forums over this. I have even heard someone say something like this once, "I met this guy who was the most skilled blade master I have ever seen. He's old and from Indonesia and he showed me the scars up and down his arm from his live blade work. Hard way to train, man, but worth it if you want to get that good." Arrrrgh. So why's he so good, dude? Cause' he's asian, and he has scars? Oh I see. The people who advocate unsafe training are usually doing it to appease their own psychological need to be better then other people who train safely, so they will refuse to see a different way, despite what idiotic thing comes out of their mouth to justify it. And yes, these people are out there, and I won't be suprised if they find this thread.
Now, one might ask themselves, why in the world would someone not be on board with everyone else in the 21st century, and insist on training partner work with the live blade? Usually it is because of myths surrounding the idea.
Myth #1: The "old school" way of training partner work was with the live blade. This is a total bill of stale goods. Too bad this idea is not founded by history. Trainer blades in all cultures that have blade arts have been used for as long as we know of. We are talking hundreds of years. Filipino masters in the arts I do have often used the stick's and wooden daggers to immulate the blade for partner work. The Japanese always had wooden versians of their bladed weapons. Training weapons have always been used, and have always been available, as far as we know.
Now, even with training blades available, just like today, there were people in the past who trained live blade with a partner. Some of these people may have been pretty good. However, to say that this was the "old school" way of training, or that "only the true blade masters trained this way" is a false claim. Also, just because someone 50 or 100 years ago didn't have the tactical education that we have today (and trained a certian way because of it), that doesn't mean we should immulate these ineffeciencies.
Myth #2: Live blade partner work is more realistic then using a training blade. This is also B.S. Live blade partner work is actually LESS realistic then using a training blade. This is because you trade one reality for another.
When you have a training blade, your not concerned about cutting your training partner. So you can do your drills "live," you can spar "live," and you can challange your training partner and really make him work. You can train as hard and as realistically as possible with each other, without having to worry about cutting each other. When you train live blade, all of a sudden, you and your partner have to be extra careful not to cut each other. Your drills now become very gentle-like dead patterns, for fear that if one of you are too unpredictable, then one of you will be cut. Now, if you think that dead patterns are realistic, then you have another problem that is probably worth a different conversation all together. The point is, you trade one reality for another. You trade the reality of an unpredictable, resisting attacker, who is trying to cut you for the "reality" of a sharp object. This trade off makes your training less realistic instead of more.
Now, one may run into some clown who will try to say, "Oh no, we train live and real serious when we use live blades against each other." Just know that this is total B.S. too. If it were true, then they're injury rates and mortality rates would be high, and this is also called fighting not training. I have yet to see a case that fits this criteria.
Myth #3: You need to train live blade with a partner to develop 'blade awareness.' Also false. First of all, you develop any blade awareness you need through your live cutting drills and solo live blade training. Solo live blade work tells you how to cut, which is what you need. Second of all, the trainers they make now are realistic enough to tell you if you screwed up something or not on the other guys blade, and they tell you this without injuring you. This is all the blade awareness you need, and live blade training with a partner does nothing to add to this.
Myth #4: You need to do partner work with a live blade to learn how to deal with the fear and adrinaline of a real blade encounter. This is also false. When one is talking about this, one is talking about dealing with the "adrinaline dump" of a real fight. There are a lot of ways to train to deal with the adrinaline dump that have been addressed in modern tactical and reality based training circles, as well as in the competition martial arts circles. And I assure you, none of these involve the faux-reality of live blade partner work.
Now, if you are talking about "fear of the blade" in general, I find that doing careful and gentle live blade drills with a partner does very little to address this fear. At least, it does little to address this that your live blade cutting practice doesn't do. You live blade cutting practice informs you of the strengths and limits of your tool; and this knowledge is usually what disapates any "fear of the blade," beyond a good healthy fear of course.
When to do live blade training, and what precautions to take
Again, you save the live blade work for solo practice and for cutting drills. When you do cutting drills, you could use a variety of things depending on how big of mess you want to make; paper, cardboard, meat, tami mats, bundles of straw, etc. These are all very effective. Here are some safety measures, and things to be careful of.
1. Usually, keep the sharp parts pointing away from you (best at target). Yes, there are a lot of exceptions to this one.
2. Keep your knife clean, dry, and sharp.
3. Don't cut things that will break or chip your knife.
4. Be careful when drawing your knife, whether it is sheath or folder. Don't put any of your body parts in the way of the blade when drawing.
5.
BE EXTRA CAREFUL WHEN CLOSING OR RESHEATHING YOUR BLADE!!! Wha? Yes, be extra careful when closing or resheathing your blade. Most people I know who have cut themselves while training have done so from putting the blade back rather then taking it our or actually cutting. I've seen people close knives on their hands, stab themselves in the legs while trying to close a folder there, slice themselves because they were "wiping the blade off" on a body part, Slice their hand when resheathing from holding the sheath too high, and stab themselves because they missed the sheath all together when resheathing. Most of these accidents happened because the person is trying to close or resheath too fast, or they simply aren't paying attention when they are putting the blade away. There is no tactical reason for having to resheath the blade quickly. You need to draw quickly; you can take your time when you resheath. Also, realize that when your closing or resheathing, this may be the one time that the blade is actually pointing towards your body; when you look at it like that, then you will better understand the need to be extra cautious here.
6. Make sure you have a tight grip. You don't want to slip up on the blade. You don't want to drop your blade. Start off slow and make sure that your grip is secure. If there is danger of slippage, wear a protective glove.
7. Eye protection is suggested, especially if what you are cutting might create debre.
8. I'll say this again, but start off slow, and work your way up to speed. This will allow you to catch mistakes that may cause injury.
9. Keep others clear of your blade. No one should be at arms length from you when you are cutting.
Anyways, that should cover most of the safety precautions that one should take when training live blade. There is just no good reason to not take these measures in my opinion.
PJMOD
** There are few exceptions to training live blade with a partner, and that is when one takes the proper safety measures. I know that some people out there will actually put on leather stab proof gloves that cover the forearms, fencing masks, and stab proof vests, and they will do some training that way. Although I think that doing so trades one reality for another as well, I am not against this when one is taking the correct safety measures. So, for you guys, I am not talking about you when I yell about not training live blade partner work; however, I also know that you guys are the minority.
