Trainer: Delica or Endura?

[amar]

I have a live Delica 4, and an Endura trainer. The trainer is larger for my hands. Was wondering if a Delica trainer would be better suited to practise the open/close/flick and other skills or is the Endura sufficient.

Is the choice based purely on the size of hands, or is there more to it? Does a larger blade help in training?

[The Mentaculous]

I think it's most effective to have a trainer that best simulates the knife you carry and use. Certainly, from a training perspective, any instructor would suggest having a matching set of a trainer and live blade. If you're just using it to flick open, etc, I guess it's not as crucial, but I'd imagine that it's still more effective to have something that goes with the blade you actually use. Since you got the trainer, you should get yourself an Endura (and/or Delica trainer) and some classes!

Hope this helps a little at least. I have no actual live weapons training myself, so I'm just repeating what I've heard. I have watched some instructionals

[Michael Janich]

It's definitely best to have a trainer that replicates your carry knife as closely as possible. Remember that you'll need to practice all aspects of defensive knife use, including drawing and opening the knife and flowing directly into contactg with a partner. This is where folding trainers that are mechanically identical to their live-blade countrparts are worth their weight in gold (for the record, Spyderco was a pioneer in meeting this need).

Carrying a Delica and training with a larger Endura may give you a false sense of security when it comes to deployment, since its larger and has more blade mass. Also, note that the blade weight of the Delica trainer is matched to the saber-ground Delicas. The FFG blades are lighter and therefore more challenging to open under stress.

Good luck with your training!

Stay safe,

Mike