Pluses and minuses to everything. The Karahawk makes a good alternative. Same concept of gross motor skill slashing motions being effective, but with the finger ring for retention. The counter to that is those who consider finger rings more of a liability than a benefit. With the thought the ring is a good way to get a broken finger.aicolainen wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 2:20 amI had some intentions on making a dedicated thread about this at some point, and that would probably have been the better approach, but I'll ask here anyways.ladybug93 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2023 3:55 amall this talk of self defense while running reminds me of an ask i've made several times. we need a salt version of the black matriarch 2 with a wave. when you are winded, you need a knife that will deploy quickly and take less dexterity and skill to cause damage. that knife was conceptualized for people that had little training to defend themselves effectively. it would make a really great running self defense knife for anyone concerned about that.
spyderco, please make us a salty mother!
I'm not trained in any type of self defense and SD is never a consideration when planning for any activity. Yet I did get myself a Matriarch 2 just to have as a show piece. It's the first time I've ever put my hands on reverse-S blade, and it got me thinking.
As you point out, in line with everything I've read up until now, these reverse S blades are supposedly useful for people with little training, and I wonder how that can be?
Beyond the mean looks, that might cause some potential perpetrators to think twice, it doesn't stand out as an obvious choice for an untrained person like myself.
What I see, through the lens of my untrained eye, is a knife only good for slashing motions, with a blade shape that would transfer very much energy into the opponent in the event that you get a good hit. This is obviously great from the primary perspective of hurting/fending off your opponent, but on the flip side, all this sudden buildup of energy will try to rip the knife out of your hand. Given that an untrained person might not have the greatest grip strength to begin with, and that this sudden opposite force may come as somewhat of a surprise, could easily lead to a dropped knife and a very bad turn of events.
I may be totally wrong about this, but in my view a design that's not constrained to just one mode of attack, with a blade shape (and maybe even edge type) that's more forgiving with regards to snagging, would intuitively be better suited for a beginner/untrained person. Again, just my intuition, no experience to lean on.
I like having a substantial paracord fob on my Matriarch2. It not only helps in drawing from the pocket, but give you a little more to hold onto should your grip slip. Two fingers on the handle and two on the fob isn't ideal, but it's better than two fingers on the handle and two holding nothing.