Ed Schempp Balance, a self defense knife?

[Ed Schempp]

I had a couple of things in mind when I designed the Balance. I wanted to have a more affordable design on the market. I wanted to enter the small knife market. And I wanted a knife that I could gift to ladies that they would actually carry. It is not reflected in the forum but half the population is a reasonable market to participate.

I have several MA lady friends in Spokane that work in dialysis. Many of the patients have lost their kidneys do to excessive recreational drug use, and many are associated with gangs. Most of these ladies carry a cricket. I wanted to put a Balance in their pocket or where ever.

This is not a knife that I would take into armed combat. It is intended to be very concealable so that this would be available and in emergency situations could give these ladies a fighting chance.

The knife does afford a secure three finger grip with lots of leverage, and therefore does meet my criteria as concealable back-up line of defense.

Yes I would prefer a cane or stick but I don't need a cane and a stick is not always available. Meanwhile this knife kicks butt on blister packs and cigar tips...Take Care...Ed

[unit]

Yes I would prefer a cane or stick but I don't need a cane and a stick is not always available. Meanwhile this knife kicks butt on blister packs and cigar tips...Take Care...Ed

For some reason this makes me laugh.

I think this knife is very interesting, and wonder if you have considered making a larger version of it...perhaps a Delica-length handle?

Again, cool knife, and I am happy to hear some of your thoughts behind design. Somewhat regardless of what you intended for it...it would almost certainly be better than nothing if those were your choices.

[Nonprophet]

This thread has plenty of expert opinion so maybe I can offer some experience and leave the martial considerations to the experts of which Doc and KaliGman can reasonably be considered such. Two things and I'm not sure who I'm agreeing or disagreeing with. First, the balance is so small that, if used by a person with even a little bit of a devious mind, can be brought into play before a person knows it's there. Since this is SELF DEFENSE we're talking about and not dueling with a knife that means that when the attack happens a person defending themselves from a life threatening attack (and it had better be so if you want to stay out of prison) get's to surprise the predator. Even an unskilled slasher can easily make several cuts before the other person even knows they're cut. While this might not immediately disable them, with any luck at all they will flinch away and allow a person room for escape. If the knife is as sharp as Spyedercos normally are, even ONE slash is enough that very soon loss of blood may be a real consideration much less the associated potential nerve damage. Second, and this point goes along with the first one, most times people who are stabbed or slashed by surprise don't know they've been cut intil they either see all the blood or after the conflict is over. Adrenaline takes over and the person very often things they are being punched or grabbed when they are actually being cut to ribbons. This makes surprise work in the defenders favor but on both sides of the action it also means that unless a nerve is cut immediately the person will most likely still be "in the fight" until they realize they're being cut (and fear sets in if they aren't determined) or they get wobbly from blood loss (which takes a lot). Unless dealing with a trained experienced killer or knife fighter (same thing really) then the concealed nature of the small blade CAN work against you in that displaying the knife while cutting can induce a flinch/fear reaction because then the person can see you are cutting even if they wouldn't feel it. Hope that my contribution to this thread was productive!