Self Defense Knives - Knife Safety

We have talked about how to choose a knife and some of the differences
between self defense knives on the market.  Let’s take a step back and
talk about knife safety.  This may seem a bit counter-intuitive given
the topic of self defense, but safe and proper handling of your knife
is critical in order to minimize the chance of injuring yourself.  If
you have chosen a good quality knife, the blade will be extremely
sharp and will stay sharp.

First, if your knife is not in your hand it should be folded and in
its sheath.  If you set it down somewhere it could injure you or
someone else accidentally.

If you ever drop your knife, do not try to catch it.  It can do
considerably more harm to you than will happen to it if it hits the
ground.  There should be some good repair shops in your area who can
help you if your knife is damaged (just do a search for ‘knife repair
city, state’).

Do not use your knife for prying.  With few exceptions, knives were
not designed to pry and doing so can damage the knife such as breaking
off the tip or chipping the blade edge.

Keep your knife sharp and clean.  A sharp knife will do what you ask
of it and a clean knife will open when you need it.  A dull or dirty
knife may be difficult to open and may snag during use.  If you have a
blade that locks, dirt can prevent the locking mechanism from
functioning properly which can result in the blade closing or opening
unexpectedly.  Use a sharpening stone to sharpen your knife instead of
a power grinder which can make the edge brittle.

If you are handing your knife to someone do so by handing it to them
handle first.  For added safety you want to be holding the back of the
knife blade close to the handle.  Hold the blade between your thumb
and index finger with the blade pointing toward the sky and the back
of the blade resting between the knuckles of your thumb and index
finger.  This minimizes the chance of the blade slicing your hand when
the other person takes the knife.

Always keep the blade facing away from your body. In other words,
never cut towards yourself.  No matter how skilled the handler, a
blade will eventually slip and can do some serious harm.

To recap:

    Store your knife in its sheath
    Do not try to catch a falling knife
    Do not use your knife for prying
    Keep your knife sharp and clean
    Hand a knife to someone handle first with the blade pointing away from you
    Always keep the blade of your knife facing away from your body

In a future post I will provide some more information about caring for
your knife.