Frag Out! Magazine

KNIVES - SURVIVAL The karambit has better cutting properties than an ordinary knife because it was patter- ned on the scalpel with No. 12 blade. Alike as in the first myth – even if we assume (with a great stock of goodwill) a such pe- culiar origin of the karambit, this theory is an absolute nonsense. Using my wide spectrum of contacts in the medical industry, I sought information about an application of this unusual scalpel and, by the way, I acquired a mentioned blade. As it turns out a scalper No. 12 which ensures foundations of the legend is used only for cutting out stitches and therefore has its curved shape (which facilitates hooking by a thread) and a rounded tip which is supposed to prevent wounding a patient. Decidedly, it is not a demon of cutting. A ring at the end of the handle ensures security and prevents from falling a knife from the hand. As long as a ring practically precludes falling a knife from one's hand, even when a grip is released, a security issue seems to be arguable. Considering various circumstances in which a palm might be opened during a fight, holding a finger im- mobilised in the steel ring does not seem to be the best option. Depending on the knife position – it can be very painful or more, so I resigned from checking up a possibility of breaking a finger hoping that it would be forgiven. The karambit is a weapon specialised in the biomechanical cuts. In order to verify this legend I was to build a simple model of a wrist, however a lack of time and materials which I wanted to use enforced me to neglect this ambitious plans and to perform a test on the piece of a line assembled lowly above a board. As it turned out, a karambit incomparably efficiently than a knife with a straight blade managed to cut a line. This test were repeated three times and each time a result was the same. A straight knife struck in the board while not cutting a line to the end, a claw from Wołodia each time hooked out and cut it. What does this experiment prove? I guess nothing, but if it proves something, it would be that in the third myth it is a little bit of truth. A separate issue is a possibility to provide a biomechanical cutting during a fight which is not a funny game with palms up and palms down known from the movies advertising martial arts which use a karambit. Myth #4: Myth #3: Myth #2:

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