_________ SWAT MAGAZINE ISSUE TWENTY EIGHT APRIL 2000 __________ / \___________________________________________/ \ / Cheap Knives - how to make and use them \ / Author: Midnight [midnight@military.bn3.com] \ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Use may remember a previous file on knives which was not written by me. This one talks about cheap knives, you know, ones you can pick up for 2 dollars. Remember, if you get your ass busted by the cops or kill some poor fuck with anything you might make from here, it ain't my fault. First of, cheap knives. Yes they are rather crude and may break but they are an effective self-defense weapon. You might note that most items I mention here are for self-defense. If you know you're gonna be in a fight, take a knife but as a last resort. Either a gun or plank of wood with a couple of nails shot into it or somthing. Anyways, a cheap folding "swiss-army" type are the best. Some may include serated (sp?) blades as well as a sort of sharp blade. If you wish to get one, make sure the main blade is at least 2 1/2in long. No point in using something long as a quarter. With the folding knife, you may want to sharpen it to a fine point. Then, you might want to convert it to a fixed blade. For this, find a piece of stainless steel that will fit in the space where the main blade would go. Either use that liquid metal shit or braze/solder it to the bland and the casing. If you plan to use the other tools included with the knife, converting it to fixed blade may not be the what you're looking for. At this point, you might be thinking that this is bull shit and you decide to spend your, let's say 30 dollars, on some cool looking single folding blade with a lock. Ok. Just think, you spent most of the money of that cool looking casing, that "maintainance-free" ball breaing joint and the locking part. What a waste! Why not buy like 10 of those cheap "swiss-army" types? If some cop see's you with those 30 dollar and up knives which open and close with those neat parts, well, those are more likely to make the fuck suspicious than a "swiss-army" knife which even boy scouts carry. Now to the part on making them. I have made a few from some pieces "borrowed permenatly" from my tech class at school. Here's a real real crude yet cheap one. You'll need: 1 piece of metal/steel whatever width and length you prefer 1 piece of plastic at least 1" by any length super glue/epoxy/hot glue electrician's tape or somethign else for a grip for the handle Instructions: First, decide on a length and blade width. Go ahead and cut the metak to the size you want. Cut an angle to one side (see picture). Not to scale ----------------------------------- | | before angle is cut ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- \ | after angle is cut, you might want to ---------------------------------- put a long angel on it (can't draw too ^^^^^^^^^^^^ at least sharpen that much good with ascii art) Sharpen one or two sides of the metal using the picture as a template, you might wish to increase or decrease blade length. After that, cut the plastic so it's the same width of the blade but only as long as the unsharped side so the sharp area is not covered, duh! Then put the metal in between the plastic like a sandwich. Here, check for a close fit then glue these pieces together and put in a vice or under some bricks and let sit over night. After that, wrap the tape or other material around the plastic handle and presto, cheap blade useful for some stuff. You could add nails to the one thin side and use those nails to fuck up some guys face when you punch them with the cheap shit in your hand. This little bastard is good in a sense that is can be manufactured quick and cheap and you won't have to worry losing lots a money in the event that you have to toss it or the cops seize it. If anyone reading this goes out one night to see what uses it has and to see how it fairs in a one on one battle, let me know what happens. I personally don't do that shit so I can't give you results. This little bastard should be used as a last resort when all you have left are bare hands or if you have the element of surprise and can whip out this thing quick when the ememy least expects it. How to effectivly use a cheap knife I'm sure many of you will skip this part and I don't blame you. It's just an add-on to the last section. Well, if you got a "swiss-army" type knife with no locking feature, this may seem like a disadvantage but not really. If you look at the botoom of the blade, you will see an unsharpened piece about 5mm long. This piece may save you ass. if you hold the knife closer to the bottom, if you make a wrong move, the bland may close on your fingers, cut youself, drop the knife and get your ass whooped. But if you put your finger all the way against the 5mm unsharpened part, this will hit you finger first, instead of the blade which will prevent it from closing. You might feel a small pinch but that is better than the blade cutting you! Personally, i prefer to hold knives with the blade pointing out from my pinky finger. This way, you can punch some fucker with a hook, then follow through by cutting up there face. Some with an upper-cut. With stabbing, you get more power from a downward strike than and upward strike. Guess that's about it, if anyone has suggestions and stuff like that, email me and I might add it in my next article.