During a recent class in which we practiced knife disarms, we spent
the last half-hour or so using improvised weapons. The scenarios of
this class were loosely based on being "held up" with a knife, such
as when an attacker thrusts a knife into your personal space and
demands your valuables, or presses the knife to your throat in a
surprise attack from behind. Earlier in the week we had practiced
knife disarms working from static positions, such as a tight hold.
The partner attacking grabs one arm and presses the knife to the body
with the other, or from behind, holding the knife to the throat while
grabbing the other arm and stretching it back. We explored this topic
from both tight holds as well as when the knife is just thrust or
otherwise presented as a threat. We practiced avoiding the knife
thrust as well as escaping when it is already pressed to your throat.
Some of these positions were quite dangerous to contemplate, a knife
to the jugular and the arms tightly locked, or being choked with one
arm while the other thrusts the knife into your face. Freeing from
chokes, and from the knife pressed closely to your throat, reveals
the importance of breath. Inhaling and expanding your chest can mean
the difference between life and death, another second of precious
air, or a hair's breadth distance from the blade.

However, I don't want to get too into that, as I've covered chokes
and holds in many previous logs. This is just about the improvised
weapons we worked with in the final part of the class. Edgar brought
us some props: some clothing, a newspaper, a book, and a wallet. We
took turns trying the different improvised weapons. My partner and me
were given the newspaper first. This is of course a very likely prop
for a New Yorker to be carrying. So I pretended to read the newspaper
while my partner threatened me with the knife, and then I threw the
newspaper over and around the knife using it to shield my hand while
I disarmed. It worked pretty well, I thought. The newspaper has to be
open, as if you are reading it, not folded up, otherwise, it's not
large enough to wrap around the knife. But once it's tossed over the
weapons, you can kind of just slide your hand down and the knife
falls away quite easily. My partner didn't think the newspaper was as
effective as I did, maybe because it is a little unwieldy. Because
it's such a common item, it's good to know that it can be used to
protect yourself. And who would suspect a flimsy newspaper could be a
weapon strong enough to prevail over a knife?

Next we were given a hardcover book. This was my favorite improvised
weapon. Thrown over the blade, it takes just the slightest downward
movement to knock the knife clean out. When the blade is shut tightly
between the pages, it's very difficult to pull out again. A hardcover
book is also formidable weapon by itself. After the disarm you can
easily use the spine or the corner of the book to punish the
attacker. Vlad demonstrates this on the Confined Spaces tape. The
attacker creeps up on him while he's reading at the desk. I love that
fact that he carefully closes the book as if to mark his place, so as
not to telegraph, before pulling the attacker forward and slamming
the spine down on the back of his neck.

Some of my computer textbooks would make deadly weapons, I am sure.
Our next prop was a pair of pants. It was meant to stand in for any
item of clothing. We practiced simply tossing the pants at the
attacking person's face to blind them. You often see this in movies,
but it actually works if you aim well so that the clothing is wrapped
around the attacking person's face. Then we tried tossing the pants
over the knife as our partner's thrust it at us. To do this, you need
to use a whip-like motion. My partner was quite skilled in getting
the pants to wrap neatly over the blade. He explained that he had
lots of practice snapping wet towels at his children!

We also practiced using the tee-shirts we were wearing to wrap around
the blade as our partners attacked. Of course a tee-shirt isn't
really much protection against a blade, but a jacket or a thick
sweater would be enough to prevent you from getting badly cut.
Especially a leather jacket, which is very good protection against a
knife.

The wallet I found to be the trickiest, as you have to aim more
carefully to wrap the wallet around the blade. But if you were
reaching for your wallet and opening it on the pretext of handing
over some money, it could work. If the wallet were still in your
pocket, though, it would take too long to get it out. However, when
properly applied, it does work very nicely to protect your hand and
allow you to effect the disarm.

To further illustrate some of the principles, we practiced removing
the knives from our partners' hands as they "sheathed it" by pressing
the blade between the palms tightly. To remove the knife, you can't
pull it straight. You can rock it up or down and then remove it with
a whip-like motion (not unlike snapping a we towel), or twist it a
little and then whip it out. If you try to pull it out straight, it's
impossible to budge. This is why the book works so well for
disarming, it holds the knife even more tightly than between the
palms. Since I always have a book or newspaper when I ride the train,
I was grateful for these lessons in their practical application as
tools for disarming an attacker.

*Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel