The Disciple is specifically
designed to be easily concealed and carried but also to serve admirably in an
open carry role as well. The entire concept behind The Disciple is to have a
small fixed blade that draws fast and is legal in many areas. A knife that can
be used to clean fish or while hunting to clean game, if you so choose. But
still be 100% viable for defensive purposes if the situation demands it. What a
concept! A small knife, legal in many areas that you can actually carry without
breaking a bunch of laws. This is not a knife that gets by on “Combat”
looks, but one that is very effective for Self-defense.
The Disciple is designed not
only to be used in reverse grip with the cutting edge facing inwards, it is
designed to be comfortable in that role. Most knives do not feel comfortable in
this position.
Please take note, from this
point on in the article, I will refer to “reverse grip edge in” as
“Pakal” as this is more accurate and shorter.
The
Knife
Taking a ruler across the
edge, from in front of the choil where the edge actually begins to the point,
the edge is three and one quarter inches long. This is a bit deceptive as the
edge has a nice curvature to it, which gives you more cutting power.
From the front of the Micarta
scale to the point is just over three and one half inches long.
The overall length is just
about seven and one half inches, overall, a nice, compact package that is very
easy to carry.
As far as my stainless steel
ruler is concerned, the blade is one-eighth of an inch thick! Absolutely razor
sharp with a needle point, this knife is designed for effortless penetration and
equally effortless cutting on the withdraw or during hooking maneuvers. Trace
Rinaldi really did an outstanding job of configuring this knife to do precisely
what needs to be done.
Just a bit more on the point
of The Disciple. Many people might think that a knife designed for thrusting
would have a different profile than The Disciple. Please consider the words of
another fine Craftsman:
"One might only have 50 or 60 foot pounds of energy behind a stroke, but,
when concentrated on the needle point of a blade, it literally adds up to an
astronomical amount of pounds PSI [Pounds Per Square Inch]."
- Bob Engnath
No, The Disciple is not a
Classic Tanto, but the observation rings true as to the reality of having a very
fine point. The fine point and the overall thin profile of The Disciple are made
possible by utilizing CPM-S30V. Just as important as the steel is the
heat-treating of the steel. The Disciple is heat treated by Paul Bos who has a
reputation in the industry that is legendary. Experienced Knifemakers like Trace
Rinaldi have discovered that this steel can be ground quite thin while still
retaining so much strength, it truly is an incredible steel. All of this
combined with good corrosion resistance and edge retention adds up to an awesome
package with an ease of carry that is hard to beat.
No Guard?
This knife is guardless, with
this method we will be discussing; a guard would be superfluous. A guard could
impede the draw from concealment, becoming entangled in clothing, especially if
you are actively fighting an assailant or grappling with them. The knife is
easily thumb-capped with the thumb on the butt of the knife; a guard on this
type of knife would be redundant.
Some do not like
thumb-capping, saying that the thumb could break on a hard thrust. I think if
you have thrusted that hard without thumb-capping, your hand would go down the
blade anyway. I have tested this using the Trainer on various dense objects and
I have not found that capping with the thumb would be injurious to the thumb.
The focus should be on working
your grip to increase strength and protecting your hand. Thumb-capping is a very
secure method. As with any endeavor related to fighting, you have to have a very
strong grip. It does not matter if the weapon is a firearm, stick or a knife.
With that in mind, the knife
has a small, integral guard and remembering how the knife is designed to be
used, the little finger fits into this integral guard nicely and locks the hand
in place. The green Linen Micarta scales that form the grip are comfortable in
the hand yet it is finished by Trace Rinaldi so the Micarta is not “slick”
to the touch but has a “grippy” feel to it. Micarta is as pleasing to the
eye as it is tough.
All
of these attributes come together – along with the actual shape of the
knife’s handle, to make for a secure package that is not only fast in the
hand, but fast to draw as well.
Kydex Sheath
You can have an excellent
knife and if the sheath is not up to par, you don’t have a System. The Kydex
Sheath is cleanly executed and practical. More importantly, Trace Rinaldi struck
the balance between security (retention) and being able to draw the knife fast.
Remember that you might be rolling on the ground with someone, you might get
stomped a bit before you can legally justify using a weapon anyway. It will do
you no good if your knife is so fast on the draw that someone kicks the sheath
hard while you are grounded and dislodges the knife and you roll over onto it compounding
your injuries.
Just a quick tug and the knife
is out, but it firmly holds the knife and that is exactly what you want for
safety as well. Knives that are very easy to draw with a slight tug are
preferred over those that you can simply “lift” out with two fingers very
easily.
The Sheath has a Blade-Tech
Tek-LokÔ
that can be moved to a few different positions or it can be removed and the
knife carried a few other ways as well. Depending on your familiarity with
various ways to utilize ParaCord, you might come up with a few other ways to
carry the knife. The Tek-Lok is secure on the belt, much more so than many other
attachments people often use for Kydex or Concealex Sheaths.
The Trainer
There are so many people who
are carrying knives for defensive purposes that are fooling themselves. While it
is true that the folding knife is even more reliant on having a matching
training knife, it is still incredible to have a dulled and rounded version of
your preferred fixed blade.
The Trainer that Trace Rinaldi
has crafted matches the overall feel, balance and weight and really lets you
know the capabilities of the knife’s grip and how it moves, especially against
someone being combative to a degree.
Because this is a steel
Trainer, or Drone, as some prefer to call them, you still must exercise extreme
caution when using one with a training partner. The Trainer can damage you, they
hurt when they are misused and can cause injury. It can knock teeth out, injure
eyes, throat cartilage, break fingers, wrists and ribs – quite easily with
someone who is overzealous.
There is no way around it. It
makes no sense whatsoever to have a small defensive knife and then train with an
aluminum or rubber Trainer that is much larger than the knife you are carrying.
The Trainer is the same basic
size and shape as the live version and it feels perfect. It has Red G10 scales
for the grip; Red is becoming the “Industry Standard” for “Training
Color” now.
You need a Trainer for light
to medium – highly controlled – contact, the reason being, you have to know
what it is like to move limbs out of the way after thrusting or hooking into
them. Nothing is going to pull the limb out of the way like metal, even hard
rubber does not have the power that metal does. Metal gives you feedback and
allows you to actually feel how it would be to really perform the movement.
Again, you must be very careful with a Training Aid like this.
Not many people want to make
such a device for Training and Trace Rinaldi should be commended for that as
well.
What is “Pakal?”
This is not merely a review of
a knife. The knife is excellent, but the knife was designed with a specific
method in mind and that method is “Pakal.”
Pakal in the Visayan dialect
of the Philippines means to rip. Pakal is synonymous with “Ice-pick Grip”
and more importantly, having the knife in a reverse grip with the edge facing
inwards. Yes, the edge is facing in and not out to the attacker. Like an
animal’s claws, Pakal movements are designed to pull in and tear apart flesh
and not push it away. Shearing through pulling limbs in - an almost Praying
Mantis type of movement with the knife in Ice-Pick Grip is another way to
describe some of the movements in close-quarters combat using Pakal.
This is an unconventional grip
to some people. Many well-meaning people that do not understand it are quick to
say, “No, I want my edge facing the attacker so he has to fight through the
edge to get to me.” That is a valid statement and method of fighting with a
knife, however, when used as a criticism of Pakal, it is not valid.
The reason it is an invalid
criticism is because Pakal Methodology is primarily a thrusting method as
opposed to a cutting method. If one does not understand this, one cannot
understand Pakal. The thrust creates openings that can be exploited and any
cutting, shearing and tearing is usually secondary.
When you push someone away and
they are still viable, if they come back in again, you have to clash with them
again. And in that moment, everything can go wrong. You don’t want to have to
engage, then continue to allow them to disengage and reengage you over and over.
They might get lucky. Yes, you might get lucky as well but in a world where
multiple attackers are a very real concern, do you really want to keep playing
that game hoping you hit the jackpot and the other guy doesn’t?
If you slash outwards, even if
you are fast and strong, the assailant may still have the opportunity to fade
back a bit and diminish your cut, robbing the power from it. In the Pakal
Method, that becomes the mechanism that wounds them. If they do not pull back,
we pull back and rip and if they do pull back, they rip themselves anyway. Much like a snare, they are already caught and their only hope is to try
to ride the blade to avoid the damage, a difficult thing to do in a fast-moving
altercation involving weapons.
In order to understand Pakal
Methodology, you must understand that it is primarily a thrusting method and
cutting is secondary with the cuts being ripping and shearing wounds. These
are not “slicing” slashes and cuts, as many people are accustomed to from
exposure to other methods.
Further, to completely grasp
Pakal, you must understand the dynamics of real world assaults instead of
squaring off and Duelling. You must intimately understand the reality of sharp
force injuries that are documented as well.
Pakal:
Guerilla Warfare with a knife.
What exactly is the
“method?” The method is, as we have discussed, having a knife in reverse
grip with the edge facing in and not out towards the attacker. What does this
method offer you? Let’s break it down.
Guerilla Warfare is
Unconventional Warfare. If using forward grip or other grips could be described
as “Conventional,” this method is best described as “Unconventional.”
In Guerilla Warfare, the rule
of the day is to hit and run. You do not utilize lengthy engagements with the
adversary because lengthy engagements can be quite costly. Guerilla Warfare is
all about deception and feints to set the opponent up in a place of weakness
that can be taken advantage of.
If Self-defense is not “War
in microcosm,” then why do so many Martial Artists study works like Sun
Tzu’s “Art of War?” Strategy transcends the amount of people that are
fighting. Pakal is deception and relies on speed, ferocity and controlling
tactics to keep you safe.
You do not have the luxury of
time in a world of multiple attackers who might very well be armed in this day
and age. You cannot become entangled with one person and make the engagement
with that one person a Chess Game. The Chess Game is the entire environment and
not one person.
Pakal is thrusting and ripping
at the core of the movements, the short blade is best used in that manner and
especially so in reverse grip. People wear military-type heavy jackets, denim,
leather and if you think about how sophisticated criminals have become, the
possibility of encountering a violent predator wearing some form of real body
armor should not really surprise you. Slashing against heavy leather jackets,
fresh denim and Kevlar body armor is not going to have much effect unless you
have a very large knife that is razor sharp. You can cut through these materials
with a smaller, sharp knife if you anchor the materials to something that does
not yield. When you try to do that on a fast-moving attacker, everything can
change, they move and take power away from cuts.
Because of clothing and the
flailing movements in a fight, the short knife is best used primarily as a
thrusting weapon. The basic idea being, when a weapon-bearing limb comes into
your sphere of influence, in that area that is dangerous, instead of cutting it
like you see in more Conventional methods, Pakal dictates that you try to thrust
into it. If the thrust lands, you pull and rip and the startle reaction of the
attacker increases the wounding. As this is happening, you pass that limb as you
move by them if at all possible, and you strike them again, several more times
with the goal being – incapacitation.
If the thrust does not land
and the point is not buried into their weapon-bearing limb, you get a hooking
movement that still shears and that shearing effect is incredibly powerful –
much more powerful than merely slashing outwards with the edge facing out.
In the Pakal Method, the first
thing that touches the attacker wounds them. The point is obvious, thrusting
into that limb or some other part of the body. If that fails or the point should
skip across, you get a hooking pass that cuts on contact.
I always tell people this, if
you are attacked by someone that has a knife, do you think you could get your
hands out there to slap the limb that is holding the knife? They usually answer
like this, “Yeah, sure, but that is not knowing how to fight with a knife
either.” It is that simple. You have a knife in your hand; if you can then get
your hand out there to slap that incoming, attacking limb holding a weapon, yes,
you can bury the point of a knife into that limb and destroy as you control.
Any attempt to stop this can
be met with Pakal “Jabs” to the facial area and/or neck. This can get the
attacker’s hand(s) up to protect the face, giving you something else to
target, hooking or thrusting into those limbs to pull them down and away,
wounding them as you do so because your edge is facing inwards and you are
pulling.
Pakal Jabs to the face are
linear, fast and non-telegraphic and they are generally directed at the face to
get the person to turn away or cover up so you can then have them in a position
of temporary weakness. You can then exploit that weakness, end the fight and
save your life.
Pakal Jabs and short, very
tight – arcing thrusts as well as hooking to pull, clear and cause extensive
damage is the focus of Pakal. Repeated thrusting to the face, neck, chest, lower
abdomen and kidneys, as necessary, until the assault on your person is stopped
is the rule of the day. Why such a ferocious method? We will discuss that in a
moment. There are very few “One Shot Stops” with knives and there is no
really “safe” way to disable someone or cause enough hemorrhage to the point
you could consider the movement an instantaneous cessation of hostile movement
on the part of the attacker.
Obviously, if the person is struck several times and he surrenders or falls to the ground, you would not be justified in “finishing them off.” We are not advocating that at all. It would also be against the general concepts of “hit and run” and getting out of the area – to stay there and “finish” someone. That’s not in the game plan although it might be in a Military application of the same method – out of necessity.
There is also the possibility
that as you go by them and/or get behind them, having multiple attackers closing
in, that you could thrust the knife into the body. Then, using your other hand
wrapped around them, grab your knife with both hands to sink the knife and
control them. You can steer them with the handle of the knife; you can steer
them into other attackers or you can position the attacker you have under
control in between you and the other attackers. These sorts of movements are
also in some schools of Japanese Tantojutsu.
There is much more, but you
can only place so much of this material in an article. It really is that simple
and the goal should be to hit and run and not spend time on any attacker. Your
goal should be to get beside them safely and ultimately behind the attacker.
Like the Guerilla, you want to cause confusion if you have multiple attackers
and not simply stand there and engage one attacker until you are in a hopeless
situation where you are surrounded.
There
have been – possibly – millions of words written about “Handgun Stopping
Power” and the “One-Shot Stop.” Most One-Shot Stops come from shotguns and
rifles, not handguns. If we ignore Central Nervous System (CNS) hits, when these
One-Shot Stops do come from handguns, it is usually because the person being
shot believes that they should go down, a psychological response ingrained
through watching popular movies, etc. Then there are people like one of the
Miami bankrobbers, Michael Platt, that continue to fight even though they have a
severe wound, possibly mortal, or several serious wounds. They go down only when
their body tells them to, they continue to fight. This is why you see one
trained man go down from a .22 long rifle hit to somewhere in his torso and
another man like Platt continues to fight with an artery severed from a 9mm
hollowpoint bullet. One Law Enforcement Officer in that now famous “Miami
Gunfight” stated that Platt actually smiled as he shot while spurts of blood
erupted from his severed brachial artery in his upper arm. That wound, left
untreated, will obviously lead to exsanguination – bleeding out – but direct
pressure can stop it. People have survived far worse in combat.
There are three basic One-Shot
Stops:
·
CNS hit or a devastating hit
to the heart or thoracic aorta where either structure is instantly and almost
totally destroyed.
·
A Psychological “stop”
where the person believes they are supposed to react a certain way when shot.
·
A Surrender “stop” where
the person believes if they continue hostilities, they will be killed, and they
give up.
There are so many people out
there, no matter how skilled they are or how well-meaning they are, that are
perpetrating myths. A person will not necessarily exsanguinate (“Bleed Out”)
in thirty seconds from a cut that severs their brachial artery in their upper
arm.
This
could be a fatal wound if:
-
Their
blood does not clot.
-
The surrounding tissues do not
cause pressure to stop the flow of blood (tamponade).
It is not an instantaneous
“stop.” Unless the person believes that is supposed to stop them and they
pass out from shock, from their own reaction to it. Or, they might believe that
the only way they can survive is to immediately cease their assault on the other
person, they surrender and/or run away.
Dr. Newgard states that in
most cases, it would take transection [complete severing] of the thoracic aorta
to cause enough hemorrhage to cause unconsciousness in about 4 to 5 seconds.
(Originally in an Article about Handgun Terminal Ballistics at
firearmstactical.com) All hemorrhage is cumulative, to be sure, but that is a
lot of time in a fight and especially in a fight where the person you are trying
to incapacitate may have an edged weapon of his/her own or a firearm. It's not a
great situation to be in.
“For an average 70 kg (155
lb.) male the cardiac output will be 5.5 liters (~1.4 gallons) per minute. His
blood volume will be 60 ml per kg (0.92 fl. oz. per lb.) or 4200 ml (~1.1
gallons). Assuming his cardiac output can double under stress (as his heart
beats faster and with greater force). His aortic blood flow can reach 11 liters
(~2.8 gallons) per minute. If one assumes a wound that totally severs the
thoracic aorta, then it would take 4.6 seconds to lose 20% of his blood volume
from one point of injury. This is the minimum time in which a person could lose
20% of his blood volume... This analysis does not account for oxygen contained
in the blood already perfusing the brain, that will keep the brain functioning
for an even longer period of time.”
-
Newgard, Ken, M.D.: "The
Physiological Effects of Handgun Bullets: The Mechanisms of Wounding and
Incapacitation." Wound
Ballistics Review, 1(3): 12-17; 1992.
In Self-defense, we are not
concerned with killing someone. You must be justified in using lethal force if
you use a knife because the knife is lethal force. But the goal is not killing,
rather stopping the assault on your person as quickly as possible.
What we are intensely
interested in with regard to Self-defense is incapacitation. Newgard simply
points out that it is nearly impossible to cause “instantaneous
incapacitation” without wounding the central nervous system.
When the vascular system is
targeted, a determined and motivated attacker will remain viable until
hemorrhagic shock occurs. What this means in the realm of firearms is, you may
have to keep firing and striking the attacker until he goes down and the knife
is absolutely no different.
Consider that. How can you
expect someone to go unconscious in thirty seconds from arterial bleeding –
from an arm cut, when it takes four to five seconds to lose consciousness if
their thoracic aorta is cut in half? It is fantasy. The Vascular Nurses and
Trauma Surgeons I have consulted have said that they cannot accurately predict
how long it would take for someone to “pass out” from their brachial artery
being severed. Although they are all in agreement that larger arteries and veins
are capable of this in several seconds up to several minutes. This depends on
many different factors.
Again, many well-meaning
people know that this is not reality and they have taken another path, instead
of focusing on vascular targets, they target the structures of the body that
allow hostile movement to continue. They seek to disable the attacker by
targeting muscle groups, tendons, etc. The muscles and tendons that control grip
and arm movement primarily.
Like hemorrhage, structural
damage is all cumulative, but there are still no guarantees that you are going
to sever enough muscle or sever the tendon you are targeting in a fight where
people do not behave the same way they do in a martial arts demonstration.
People become ballistic in their movements, especially with knives, what you see
in these various demonstrations is not necessarily the reality you are going to
face when you are trying to save your life in the street.
In the street, people don’t
stand there and freeze and allow you to carve them like a Thanksgiving turkey.
Unless they have totally lost touch with reality because they are an Emotionally
Disturbed Person (EDP), chemically fueled on a drug like PCP or they are simply
not scared, when something touches them that is sharp and/or pointy, they act
more like they have touched something very hot. They become spastic in their
movements, quick to move away. We wish to capitalize on this common reaction. We
want to make the most of it.
And if that person that has
attacked us is still viable and threatening, more vital areas have to be
targeted.
This is what Trace Rinaldi’s
knife, The Disciple, is designed to do. Easy to carry openly or concealed, fast
to the hand with an excellent carry system, capable of deep penetration and
vicious shearing.
The details of trauma
are important because the study of that will save your life. The subject of
using edged weapons for Self-defense needs to be on a firm realistic footing
like firearms now are.
You examine, closely, some of
the instructional materials and methodologies being sold today and you will see
people squaring off and when a solid hit is landed to the hand, people turn
away, they give up, more or less saying, “I’m
dead!” This is not a fight. That
is a Duel to “first blood” and that’s not reality.
If you think everyone is going to cease hostilities because they lose a finger
or something, you have another thing coming when you meet someone who is really
serious about damaging you.
If someone were trying to get
in your car with your child, would you fight even if you were wounded? Of course
you would! Why don’t we consider the fact that some violent criminals are just
as serious about their goals as we are?
A lot of these ideas are based
on Duelling. There are no multiple attackers, there are no secondary weapons
coming into play, there is nothing but the Duel to these people. There are
valuable things to be learned from these people and what they teach and put
forth, but some of it is terribly flawed.
It has been said, “proximity
negates skill.” We have heard this in the past and on face value, it is true
to a degree because even a skilled person can be killed in close-quarters combat
by accident.
When you examine how assaults
happen in the street, the phrase “proximity negates skill” loses a lot of
value. We are no longer speaking of people squaring off; we are now in the realm
of drawing a Self-defense weapon while being choked, beaten or restrained by one
attacker so another can strike us. These are real world assaults, someone might
push you into a wall and then they are reaching for a weapon and you have to
react. Close proximity on the street is a given, people do not attack you from
across the street.
I don’t know what lurks
around the corner and I don’t know what will jump out in my face or if the
person will shrink at the sight of a weapon or their own injury or blow
themselves up like the hood of a Cobra.
Regardless of the danger
inherent in close range with a knife, if you are going to carry one and truly
rely on it, you better know how to fight in that range. Instead of saying it is
futile to do so or making up excuses as to why you are not focusing on this.
This is where real world conflict happens on the street. It is right in your
face. It is not squaring off to Duel and having an agreed upon distance or
distance predicated upon the threat of your knife being in a guard…threatening
their entry.
You’re out shopping and
minding your own business and it happens! You’re not going into a situation
where you are going to confront someone and challenge them.
The question then becomes,
when all of the concepts and ideas put forth fail and you find someone drawing a
knife after they have thrown you forcibly into a wall or a vehicle, what will
you do then? Do you think you will magically create range? I don’t think so,
that’s why I study everything and you should too.
The most effective
method of using an edged weapon for Self-defense, in my opinion, is not
to rely
on pain to dissuade a homicidally aggressive human predator, nor to rely
on hemorrhage or even structural damage. No, it is to combine all of those
elements into a strategy that does not stop until the assault on you has ceased.
Trace Rinaldi – A
craftsman of the highest caliber, renown for his survival and tactical designs,
Trace was the ideal choice for this project. He is an exceptional maker in the
custom “tactical” market because his focus is first on function. The
workmanship on his knives and his keen eye for detail is a testament to his
ability. When first approached with this project Trace displayed real enthusiasm
and took the time to understand the unique design elements demanded by this
unconventional knife. During the process Trace obtained an understanding and
appreciation for this knife and its use in close quarters defense scenarios.
Daniel Long –
Interested in knife design and more so in their application to defense
situations, Daniel served an integral role as both a designer and as the liaison
between Trace and the rest of the design team. His background is in grappling,
western fencing, Filipino martial arts and Thai boxing.
Daniel’s eye for aesthetics has been honed over the years through his
exceptional work as an artist and was an essential contributor in the final
design.
“Southnarc”
– A narcotics agent in the southern United States, “Southnarc,” his
pseudonym on the internet, is an accomplished martial artist whose background is
extensive. He began his training in the martial arts in 1974 in Tae-Kwon-Do and
he achieved the level of 1st dan in 1982. After leaving Tae-Kwon-Do,
“Southnarc” began training in Shorinji-kempo and Aikijitsu in 1983 and
continued until 1986. At the same
time he trained in Kito-ryu Jiu-Jitsu and Aikido, both of which he has attained
dan ranking. Subsequently
“Southnarc” trained in Inosanto/LaCoste Kali in 1988 at the Francis Fong
Academy and he has experience in Wing-chun with Sifu Fong and Muay-Thai with
Ajarn Surachai Sirisute. He was
introduced to Bukti-Negara and Serak Silat through Pendekar Paul Dethours and
Mande-Muda Silat with Pendekar Herman Suwanda.
In his extensive study of these arts, he has logged over 200 hours
personally with Guro Dan, Sifu Fong, and Ajarn Chai.
“Southnarc” also studied in Kito-ryu in ’90 while concurrently
studying at the Fong Academy.
“Southnarc” began training
with Doug Marcaida in Pekiti-Tersia Kali in 1993 and focused on this art until
1997. From 1997 until now he has
focused on integrating his training into a product for Self-defense and
law-enforcement through observing academy cadets as the lead Defensive Tactics
Instructor. Over two thousand
police officers have been trained under his supervision and he is currently an
active-duty narcotics officer.
His efforts to spread the word
on this method have no parallel. Not many understand this method and
“Southnarc” has gone to great lengths to share his passion and spread the
effectiveness of the Pakal Method and much more.
I have learned valuable skills
from such a diverse group of people, from Bikers and Ex-Convicts through Martial
Artists in Ed Parker’s Kenpo System, Bando, and on through Defensive Tactics
from Police Officers. I was shown the Pakal movements from a long time
Pekiti-Tirsia Player who was primarily an advocate of forward grip and not Pakal.
This also changed my view on the Filipino Methods I already understood and
practiced.
A special thanks to Daniel
Long for the information on CPMS30V as I tend to not keep up on steel
developments. This is a steel that has some very good properties! Also, thanks
to Daniel for Bio information at the end.
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