Masters of the Blade: Blog

DON’T BE IN SUCH A RUSH TO DIE!  I have had the good fortune of traveling around the world to teach Knife work to students from all walks of life. In my seminars I often ask the participants to take a moment and think about who they consider to be the most dangerous person in the world with a knife. Inevitably responses come back such as Dan Inosanto, Nene Tortal, or some black bag spec ops type. Then I tell them that I will bet them my pay check that I could kill any of the names on their list with a knife. This is about the point where I hear dissatisfied sighs and start seeing eye balls rolling. This is the point where I get the looks that say "You’re an arrogant son of a bitch”.  Once I have acquired the disdain of the crowd I then explain to them an important lesson. I explain that killing someone with a knife is not that hard. Not hard if you have no concern for your own safety. I do believe that if I made a one-shot kamikaze run with a knife I could kill virtually any o...

1) What is the name of your art?  ACI (American Combatives Inc.) WWII Combatives  2) How do your students address you?  By name – Joe.  3) What initially drew you to the edged weapons arts?  I have always loved edged weapons and they are tools used in my profession.  4) In what edged weapons art(s) are you formally credentialed, and by whom?   I am certified in ACI under John Kary. I studied Kni-com under Bob Kasper  5) Who among your instructors most influenced you, and why?   John Kary, Because of Johns positive attitude showed me you can defend yourself with simple tactics no matter what your handicaps might be. I was transitioning from military to law enforcement and the techniques made sense to me.   6) What predominant art did he/she practice?   Earlier John was a practitioner of several arts holding black belts in them. He predominately studied CQC techniques from WWII by Fairbairn and Sykes among others....

THE FOUR GOVERNORS  George Silver in his works discussed why trained men were often hurt or killed by men of little or no training. His exact words were: “many valiant men think themselves by their practices to be skillful in their weapons, are yet many times in their fights sore hurt, and many times slain by men of small skill or none at all.” Silver identified above all other causes the lack of the Four Governors was to blame for this condition. Silver expressed that without the Four Governors it is impossible to fight safely. When reviewing the Four Governors you will see that they are points of very sound advice and should be taken to heart by any Practitioner who is serious about their study of arms. The Four Governors serve as a guideline and foundation for success in combat. Let us introduce you to the Governors as described in Silver’s work “BRIEF INSTRUCTIONS UPON MY PARADOXES OF DEFENCE”. “The first governor is judgment which is to know when your adversary can reac...