Guro Dave Gould

BrownBear here is something that I wrote awhile ago for my International Students, it does deal with your line of questioning. I hope that it helps.

I strongly feel that your ability to pull, open and execute with your blade is crucial in that if you can`t gain access to it when and if you need it, it is of little use to you.
unfortunately this is an area in which too many pilipino warrior art enthusiasts blatantly ignore when it comes to the knife. Most people assume that when a possible life threatening situation befalls them that their knife will automatically transfer from the pocket to the hand. Which certainly will not be the case without the proper training. Your ability to pull, open and execute when the need arises is key and is an art within itself.

Basically, in Lameco anyway, there are 7 openings / starting positions from sak-sak (blade out position) and 7 from pakal (ice-pick grip), but feel free to invent your own as necessity calls on your own experience and creativity. However, the openings should be trained in order to maximize your ability to gain access to your knife post haste while dealing with various attacks on your position (punches, kicks, defending the shoot, defending a knife attack, etc...) and through realistic perception / reaction time, economy of motion, and proper positioning the training should allow you quick access to pull, open and execute in under a second with a fixed blade, folder or neck knife. Or for that matter any blades that you have access to belonging to your opponent as well. keep in mind though that economy in motion plays a big part in your ability to do all of this with success. If you can`t pull, open and execute with your folder in less than 1 second you`re to slow.

The secret to quick deployment is to clear any and all pathways leading to your knife (t`shirts, keys, coins in the coin pocket, belt if you carry on the inside of your waistband, etc...) and getting immediate access and quickly establishing a firm grasp on the knife handle is key, once you have contact with your knife it should only take a fraction of a second to pull and open at that point. Once you pull the blade you should be opening it almost immediately out of your pocket, whether by inertia or thumb-push, as soon as the blade firmly locks you have to immediately counter with a combination of thrusts or slashes on your opponents position. Again let me reiterate that the time in which it takes you to pull, open and execute with the first strike should take no more than 1 second, if it takes longer than that it is too slow...

In the U.S. depending on how threatening the situation escalates itself will dictate how you should respond and whether or not you should use deadly force. In which case you have 3 options all involving pulling your knife with intention and speed but not necessarily opening and executing with it. The three different levels of escalation which will dictate your degree of response are:

(1)- You sense trouble and pull your knife unopened as a precaution but feel that your life isn`t in danger so if provoked to fight you allow the closed knife to stay in your hand as if it were a 'roll of quarters' in the old days to solidify your hand which increases your punching capabilitiy and impact. But not using the handle to come into contact with your opponent at this point.

(2)- The situation escalates to a more dangerous level but does`nt justify taking a life. This will enable you to use your knife handle to put down the situation by defending against punches, kicks, shooting-in, etc... but doesn`t justify deadly force.

(3)- The situation escalates to an extremely dangerous level leaving you concerned for your life so this justifies you opening your blade and executing with reasonable deadly force (if another weapon is involved otherwise it will be seen as manslaughter).

You can escalate to the level of threat that exists within the present altercation but you are not allowed to over escalate the situation. (knife to emptyhand, etc...) This mentality gives you three options by which to deal with an altercation, you can use punches (fist loading your knife), the handle of the weapon, or the blade itself depending on how the situation escalates itself. So basically you have three options within one weapon.
But above all the most important aspect of this progression is to be able to gain access to your knife when you need it and then you will respond accordingly 'on the fly' so to speak as you evaluate the situation at hand and decide which level of response to execute and proceed with.

Notice that when I began the previous paragraph I stated within the U.S. these things apply, I can assure you that your options will not be so limited in many third world nations. So when you travel abroad you have to switch your mentality to become more operational and be willing to do what you have to for the sake of self preservation and survival... A different world with a different set of rules Not so much in Western Europe as in Eastern Europe, South-East Asian nations, or Central / South American nations.

Guro Dave Gould.