In 1827, James Bowie carved his way into American history at the Sandbar Fight, and soon every fighting man of the South and West had to have a knife like his. The bowie knife could cut like a razor, chop like a cleaver, and stab like a sword, and many considered it deadlier than a pistol at close range. So great was the dread it inspired that by 1838 it was banned in several states—a ban that did little to stanch the flow of blood. Bowie's story is well known, but what of the other cutters and stabbers of his day? Gunfighters have long been celebrated, but those who fought with the bowie knife have been largely ignored—until now. Unearthing accounts from memoirs, court records, regional histories, and newspaper archives, Paul Kirchner, author of the Paladin bestsellers The Deadliest Men and More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived , presents their stories for the first time in Bowie Knife Fights, Fighters, and Fighting Techniques. Kirchner identifies and profiles the four greatest bowie knife fighters of history, as well as numerous other wielders of the blade. He details the weapon's use in the Texas War of Independence, the Mormon exodus, the Mexican War, the slave system, the Gold Rush, Bleeding Kansas, the Civil War, the Lincoln assassination, the Indian Wars, and the Western frontier. The book describes bowie knife fighting tricks and techniques and provides numerous accounts of knife-against-knife and knife-against-gun encounters. Its final chapter surveys the continued use of the bowie and other fighting knives in modern warfare.

Greg Walker evaluates daggers, bowies, switchblades and utility blades according to their design, performance, reliability and cost. He pays tribute to the legendary designers -- Fairbairn and Sykes, Randall, Gerber, Applegate and Al Mar -- and gives you an insider's peek at the best up-and-coming bladesmiths. He examines the pros and cons of benchmade vs. custom-made and forged vs. ground blades, as well as answering questions about steels, throwing knives, bowies, bayonets, training knives and much more.

This is the classic book on knife fighting from one of the world's foremost experts. From it, you will learn all the facets of the art: assassination methods, history and development of knife design and in-depth reviews of the techniques perfected by Fairbairn, Biddle, Applegate and others. Rare photos and never-before-published info on Oriental techniques.

Whether a side-street skirmish or an all-out war, fight scenes bring action to the pages of every kind of fiction. But a poorly done or unbelievable fight scene can ruin a great book in an instant. In Fight Write you'll learn practical tips, terminology, and the science behind crafting realistic fight scenes for your fiction. Broken up into "Rounds," trained fighter and writer Carla Hoch guides you through the many factors you'll need to consider when developing battles and brawls. • In Round 1, you will consider how the Who, When, Where, and Why questions affect what type of fight scene you want to craft. • Round 2 delves into the human factors of biology (think fight or flight and adrenaline) and psychology (aggression and response to injuring or killing another person). • Round 3 explores different fighting styles that are appropriate for different situations: How would a character fight from a prone position versus being attacked in the street? What is the vocabulary used to describe these styles? • Round 4 considers weaponry and will guide you to select the best weapon for your characters, including nontraditional weapons of opportunity, while also thinking about the nitty-gritty details of using them. • In Round 5, you'll learn how to accurately describe realistic injuries sustained from the fights and certain weapons, and what kind of injuries will kill a character or render them unable to fight further. By taking into account where your character is in the world, when in history the fight is happening, what the character's motivation for fighting is, and much more, you'll be able write fight scenes unique to your plot and characters, all while satisfying your reader's discerning eye.

Every person should carry a small knife and know how to use it for self-defense. It's that simple. That's the major thrust (sorry, pun intended) of JKD's Way of the Blade. You don't have to be a Navy SEAL to know how to correctly utilize a basic knife for your self-defense and this book will show you how. Of course, the overwhelming majority of people, when considering a weapon for self-protection, disregard the pocket knife and figure a gun is the only game in town. They do this for three primary reasons. First, Hollywood bombards us with movies where a knife wound is at best a paper-cut. Remember Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and how, during an epic battle with bad guys, Jolie throws a knife that hits Pitt's character in the leg? He gives her a look and she shrugs and smiles. It's all so funny in the movie - and then he pulls it out as though it's just a hangnail. Then he walks off and continues killing the enemy with nary a limp. Well, that's all nonsense and yet a big reason why so many people think a knife won't work for self-defense. Next is the common myth that you shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight. That line is nearly ubiquitous in pop-culture and what makes it dangerous is that it sounds so self-evident. Well, it's actually untrue. Sure, a knife wouldn't do you much good if you were landing on Normandy Beach but that's not what you're using your knife for. You're using it in the event of a sudden, violent encounter in a parking garage, a sexual assault and things like that. And in those environments the knife actually has considerable advantages over a gun. Think about it: it's easier to carry than even the smallest sub-compact; it never runs out of ammo; it's multi-directional. Oh, and don't forget, it's virtually impossible to accidentally kill someone with your knife too. Once a gun is fired, the bullet goes where it goes. You have no leadership over what that bullet does. This ought to worry any self-defender. The next mistake the book corrects is the misuse of the blade for civilian use. Bruce Lee's Intercepting Fist method, otherwise known as Jeet Kune Do, was based heavily on fencing concepts. JKD's Way of the Blade, therefore, takes these same simple and true principles and applies them to small knives and tactical folders. Dominant knife methods other than JKD are generally Kali based, which favors a thousand fancy moves and multiple cutting angles. But such complexity is both too dangerous (complex actions break down under stress) and contradictory to most self-defense scenarios. How can you justify cutting a guy 50 times anyway? JKD's Way of the Blade will teach you to avoid complexity and keep you within the confines of proper moral and legal use of your weapon by showing you the same simple principles Lee taught in his empty hand method. For modern self-protection, the small knife is indispensable. JKD's Way of the Blade will teach you everything you need to know to confidently carry and use one. You'll learn the best and only way to hold the blade as well as the integrated footwork and cut that will keep you safe. You won't learn a hundred different techniques you'd never use unless you were applying to Ninja school. Instead, you'll get the single strike at the heart of the entire method. Yes - just one striking technique. That's all you'll need. And you'll learn how to protect the blade from grabs too.In all, it will revolutionize the way you think about self-defense and knife work.

This book binds the timeless observations and invaluable advice of master bladesmith and blade combat expert Bill Bagwell under one cover for the first time. As the outspoken author of Soldier of Fortune's "Battle Blades" column from 1984 to 1988, Bagwell was considered both outrageous and revolutionary in his advocacy of carrying fighting knives as long as 10 inches and his firm belief that the Bowie knife was the most effective and efficient fighting knife ever developed. His assignment as a contributing editor to SOF was to test and evaluate contemporary knives from all over the world, and he soon earned a reputation for cutting to the chase. Candid and frank almost to a fault, he told it like it was - and he could always back it up. Sixteen years after his first column made its debut, Bagwell's convictions on knife design and blade technique have gained validity in the industry, and he has earned the respect of even some of his most vocal critics. This book provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the design and use of Bowies and other big knives and learn which blade designs and combat techniques stand up to both the rigors of battle and the test of time.

The kukri is one of the oldest combat/utility knives in existence today. Recognized as the national weapon of Nepal, the kukri has been associated with the British Army's fearsome Gurkha brigades since their creation. The unique downward slope of the blade gives the kukri its distinctive look and renowned ability to effect powerful, accurate cuts. In this latest addition to his "Fighting Weapons" series, Dwight McLemore explores the full range of kukri training and deployment. He presents a sprinkling of history with informed discussions of fighting approaches and numerous training exercises on cutting, thrusting, blocking, and the associated movement of a kukri fight. By mixing modern and historical concepts and illustrating the text with hundreds of his highly acclaimed instructional drawings, McLemore has created the first and perhaps ultimate training guide to this unique weapon. The Fighting Kukri is a must for martial artists, blade enthusiasts, historical reenactors, fight directors of stage and screen, and men and women of the armed forces.

Definitive and compulsively readable¾an illustrated guide to the use in knifefighting and beyond of contemporary knives by long-time Blade columnist and master weaponsmith, Hank Reinhardt. Deadlier than the club, more ubiquitous than the sword, the knife is the universal edged weapon of all humankind. As our society has grown more advanced, and more reliant on technology, there has been an increased interest in the weapons of the past, and this sharp-edged guide to the use of the knife will whet the appetite of expert and layman alike. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).