"Flexible Impact Weapons" part The End

Yes, but what about other things?

By Cedar, of course.

Now that we’ve (briefly) discussed saps, someone always wants to know about “sap-adjacent stuff”. As you can imagine I Have Views about other esoteric weapons, so let’s discuss a couple of them.

First is brass knuckles. I know a lot of OG cops, brawlers, and street fighters who love their knucks, and did (do) good work with them; and I know there are trainers out there who still have a fondness for this particular tool.

I’m just … not one of them. A fight inside touching distance is a chaotic affair with a great deal of force being applied by all parties. There’s impact force from punches, kicks, elbows, knees, and foreheads; there’s gravity from falling or being slammed; there’s angular/rotational force from being thrown, and there’s ripping force from something being grabbed and shoved — and the average human male can bring an incredible amount of force to bear when he gets ahold of something and brings his entire body into the shove.

If you have something wrapped around a finger¹, this is a recipe for a dislocation (at best), or a fracture, degloving², all the way up to (at worst) an amputation. This sort of thing really doesn’t do anything to improve your outcome in a fight.

I once attended a very good class on weapon disarms — defending against same —and one of the first things that I noticed was the the dummy pistols we were working with all had their trigger guards cut away. Already suspecting the answer, I asked the instructor why no trigger guards, and he informed me that “Enthusiastic young officers with testosterone encephalopathy³” were injuring way too many trigger fingers in training.

I’m not a big fan of knucks. If you need something similar, get a Comtech Stinger. Every bit as good as — if not better than — brass knuckles, without the downsides.

Sap gloves. I’ve got a pair of these around here somewhere. They’re an improvement on brass knuckles — they’re basically a pair of gloves with lead clay or shot in the knuckle area — but they’re awfully fiddly to put on. Not a “Grab, Yank, Smack” kind of affair, you kind of have to know you’re on the way⁴ to a fight with these things. If you’re taxpayer-sanctioned to go deal with violent people, they’re a decent tool. Otherwise, leave them at home.

Palm saps. Very fond of these little jewels. A palm sap is a puck of lead that fits in the palm of your hand, held in place by a strap that goes around the back of your hand. Easier and quicker to put on than sap gloves, if you have one in a jacket pocket, it’s but a split second to put it on; and they’re sneaky as hell because they’re hard to see. And they give you a Biblical open-handed slap.

Palm sap on the right.

Finger saps. Ugh. Nothing more than a down-sized palm sap, with a strap that goes around a finger, rather than the hand. Honestly, they’re not big enough to hold a decent weight of lead, and they have all the downsides⁵ of brass knuckles. Not a fan.

Pocket sticks. Call them kubatons, yawaras, kogas, or palm sticks, anyone who’s interested in self defence should definitely take some courses in using these things — with two caveats:

1. Do not put your sodding keys on your bloody self-defence tool⁶. If you have to fight with that tool, during the scuffle there’s a non-insignificant chance that the keys you hung on it are going to depart company, headed for God only knows where. When that happens, the 4,000-pound weapon that is also damned fine armour, as well as being a 75 EmPeeHaitch transport away from the situation, and the storage place for a whole bunch of potentially useful stuff of yours … is no longer an option until you find those keys.

2. By all means train the throws, takedowns, and joint locks that a pocket stick afford you — as long as you understand that when it comes to nut-cutting time you’re going to be ice-picking it into whatever part of his upper-body is handy until he changes shape or catches fire, and you can run away. The throws, takedowns, and joint locks are fun to learn, though.

The really great thing about pocket sticks is that every technique you learn with pocket sticks translates beautifully to so many other everyday things. Marksalot markers. AA flashlights. Folgers-Adams keys. Large closed pocketknives. Pistol magazines. Large metal pens. All of these, and more, work just as well with standard pocket sticks drills.

My favourite pocket stick is a KeyDefender from ASP. Not only does it have several doses of OC, but if the critter decides that he still wants to dance after getting a face full of Spicy Hate, I’m already holding a pocket stick. Let’s tango!

I’m seriously tickled that ASP is finally putting pocket clips on the latest generation of Key Defenders. That was a modification I wound up doing to all of mine over the decades.

Anyhoo. I hope this has been somewhat educational. I’ll go back to light-and-fluffy posting for a while.

Ian

1. This includes wedding rings. If you’re a married gentleman who wears his ring (I approve) get a silicone tear-away ring, and save the metal one for special occasions.

2. Google that, but make sure you have an empty stomach first.

3. I am reliably informed that “testosterone encephalopathy” isn’t an actual medical condition. Parents of teenage boys, and anyone who has ever had to train young men, tend to have a different opinion.

4. Prosecutors often use hurtful terms like “premeditation” in these cases.

5. Seriously. Degloving. Brr.

6. That goes for the Comtech Stinger, too.