Merc Worx Saraphym

This edged weapon might not be a Guardian of God’s Throne, but it will make a fine Guardian when you are out in a hostile environment. It does not matter if you are carrying this edged weapon on the modern battlefield as a secondary edged weapon for when everything goes wrong or if you are carrying it as a primary weapon in an urban environment where you might find yourself surrounded by multiple attackers. The Seraphym will serve you well.

Almost any knife can serve in a utility role and we all know that. There are very few knives that seem so focused on absolute incapacitation through repeated thrusting than a Push Knife, a/k/a Push Dagger.

When a properly constructed Push Dagger is locked into the human hand, it’s as if you were born with a spike protruding from your skeletal system. That being the case, this type of knife is possibly the strongest thrusting weapon ever devised that is also easily concealed.

Out of all of the Push Daggers that I have owned, the Merc Worx Seraphym is without a doubt, the finest of them all. The only one that even comes close to it is an Al Mar Knives “Snubby” Push Dagger I once owned but even the AMK Snubby was not as well-built as this knife.

I’m judging the Seraphym in the presence of some of the finest Self-defense Push Knives known. The aforementioned AMK Snubby, Cold Steel’s Trio: Urban Pal, Urban Skinner and Terminator. Offerings from Blackjack Knives and Benchmade Knives limited production Kuma Zume (“Bear Claw”).

I have owned all of these knives in the past and still have a couple of them in the gear box. The Seraphym is quite different.

The T-style of grip that defines the Push Knife does not only allow for extraordinary transfer of power from your body to the target, it also allows for extreme security against loss and attempts to disarm you of your weapon. The T-configuration also lets you carry a 3 – inch blade Push Knife like the Seraphym more comfortably than a conventional knife because the overall length of the Push Knife is much shorter. Not only does this make the knife easier to carry, it also conceals much better than a more conventional style of knife.

For a concealed fixed blade, this gives you a good amount of blade length with ease of carry and concealment, quite a plus when you add in the attributes of security that these types of knives possess.

The Nuts & Bolts of the Seraphym

Steel 154CM

Hardness RC 58, Cryogenically Treated

Micarta Grip

Available in CPM S30V as well.

$250.00

The actual execution of the knife is excellent. It is very secure in the hand even though the T-grip is not as wide as some popular Push Knives; this also makes it easier to conceal.

The Sheath

The sheath, like the knife, is excellent. The knife arrived out of box just like this.

The Kydex is very well done, everything is crisp where it should be crisp and smooth where it should be smooth. The additional piece of Kydex allows for both horizontal belt carry and vertical (high ride) belt carry.

The ball chain gives away the neck carry option, doesn’t it?

The knife is well-built and it is substantial, but not heavy in my opinion, certainly not heavy enough that it would be a concern wearing it around the neck. It’s quite comfortable in that role if that is the way you wish to carry it.

The Kydex holds the knife very well and it only takes a firm tug to release the knife. With inverted carry, there is always the concern that the knife will fall out. I don’t see that happening with this knife and sheath.

The knife could be worn in a number of different ways and versatility is always great. Wherever the knife is most comfortable in the waistline, it can be carried there with this carry rig. You could also tweak the sheath a little on your own and just use it for pocket carry.

For those in the military or anyone else who envisions a situation where they might be taken to the ground, perhaps a simple and heavy duty elastic band could secure it in the top of a boot as well. This would allow access when someone has mounted you and has pummeling your face on their mind. You could bring your legs up, which is natural in grappling, and you have access. (Ever mindful that in order to use lethal force, you must be confronted with grave bodily injury or lethal attack.)

If you could not find an elastic band, you could remove the additional piece of Kydex and you could rig it up with paracord so it won’t be lost and will always be there when you need it.

With body armor, an improvised sleeve of velcro and elastic could be constructed and this could be placed in the straps in under one arm. Holes could be poked/bored through that improvised sleeve and the two-piece Chicago Screws provided with the sheath could then secure the sleeve to the sheath.

Of course, this also depends on what Unit you would be in because some Commanders don’t particularly care for their Troops having “unauthorized” or otherwise “non-issue” pieces of gear, including personal weapons. Imagine handing a nineteen year old young man an M16 with an M203 Grenade Launcher or a Squad Automatic Weapon and his knife, a private-purchase knife, becomes a “dangerous issue,” please. Make the madness stop.

This does happen, however, and it has been discussed with regard to Tomahawks in this current conflict with Iraq. Unbelievable.

I can understand that the guys are carrying so much equipment, but if they choose to carry a knife…no one should really care at all. They should not care as to type or number of them either.

The Street

The Street is another issue, but there is crossover. On the battlefield, “Mission” and “Self-preservation” come into play. On The Street, your “Mission” is “Self-preservation.”

So, all of the various carrying strategies still carry over. You won’t have load-bearing equipment to hang knives off of, walking down the street, but you will also have so many other pieces of clothing, etc., to conceal Self-defense weapons.

On the battlefield, M-16, or more lately, the M-4 Carbine, that might be the weapon of choice, on The Street, you might be carrying a snub nosed and hammerless, Smith & Wesson or a compact Semi-automatic handgun.

The Seraphym fits into both roles very well. It’s just a very good and powerful weapon to have when you need it. I don’t think you will break this actually using it to defend yourself. I think you would have to lock this knife into a vise and beat it with a hammer. Anything can be broken, but this knife is very tough indeed.

“Knifefighting & Self-defense”

A fairly hot-button topic, always has been, it is now and so shall it always be.

Just what do you have to know in order to use a Push Knife?

It’s rather easy, actually.

Here is that Keating guy again! He sure does get around, doesn’t he? Innovators usually do. Jim Keating is a prime example. Ten years or so ago, he put out a Push Dagger tape via Comtech, Combat Technologies, you should contact him for a copy.

What can I tell you? There are only so many ways to move. Only so many ways to fight. Anyone that wants to create a “Push Dagger System” and they are going to sell that as something “new” at this point would probably be misleading you.

The answers to your questions are to be found, I should say, can be found, in various places.

One line of thought that I have always maintained when it comes to the Push Knife is this, I don’t ever want to run into someone that can Box, a Boxer that has a Push Dagger in his hand. And I sure as hell don’t want to run into someone that can Box and they have two Push Daggers. If you want to look up the definition of “Ugly, Deadly Brawl,” I could not think of a better definition than that of a Boxer with a Push Knife in his hand.

Look at the links between Fencing and Boxing, you are going to see a lot of viable movements, strategies and methodologies for the Push Dagger. Parries, Circular parries, they are effective with knife in forward grip, reverse grip, reverse grip with the edge facing in and they are definitely effective with a Push Dagger.

The rule of the day, as it is with so many things in the combatives realm, is non-telegraphic striking. A simple jab in Boxing will poke a hole in you with a Push Dagger. Seems so obvious, seems so silly to even state it, but many ignore this. Boxing, like fencing, like Kali, Arnis and Escrima, have elements of deception in there that you take advantage of.

I can’t teach you how to use a Push Dagger on this website and I probably would not even if I could…it is, after all, just a website. But I can point you in the right direction and I just did.

Explore and learn. Just to give you a direction, think “Cloak & Dagger,” meaning, light jackets and coats, think “Brass Knuckles and Push Dagger.” That line of thought is prevalent in a lot of streetwise people who know what they are talking about. One sets up the other. Baseball Cap and Push Dagger.

The Legal Angle

So, I am not a Lawyer and I am also not a Judge. I’m not going to condemn you for carrying something that is “questionable” or even blatantly illegal for every person must make that choice based on a realistic and honest threat assessment of their own life, where they work and live, etc.

That means I also do not instantly dismiss certain devices out of hand and say, “Oh forget that, you’ll go to prison if you use that.”

There are places where you can carry a Seraphym legally I imagine and more than that, you can carry it without regard in any area. That is up to you.

This is an article about a knife, not the law.

Not a “Guide to Monday Morning Quarterbacking.”

If I start concerning myself with that, I might as well take the website down.

I’m not telling you to carry it either. You know the drill by now and you know what I have to say.

“Judged by 12 or carried by 6.”

Do the 12 ever appear magically at the crime scene when it is going down?

I believe it would be immoral for me to tell you to break the law or to acquiesce to it when it seeks to take a good Self-defense tool from your hands.

The reason I feel this way is very simple. If I really believed that the basic, most natural Law of Man, that of Self-preservation, could be trumped, there would be nothing left soon that would be suitable for Self-defense.

MercWorx

Thanks to the fellows at MercWorx!

Their logo will take you to their site.