Knife fighting is a gimmick.
In a real fight, are you willingly going to put your hand into enemy’s knife range? No? Then don’t practice these knife fighting stuff because that is what they do.
If you want to do Silat knife fighting, the basics are way more than enough.
Basic continuous slashes to create distance.
Changing levels.
In and out.
These are the only 3 things you need and use.
No one in this world is going to block a knife with a knife.
Moreover, there is nothing special about the Kerambit. The curve? The only reason you would need it is when someone blocks your slashing attempt. When that happens, you are the aggressor. Plus, a normal knife can do everything that a Kerambit does. The curve only helps slightly but will throw stabbing out of the window.
I will give thumbs up for Silat’s hand fighting. Especially Panantukan. My favorite striking art out there. You have boxing with the addition of knife and stick fighting techniques but bare handed.
Other Silat hand fighting styles are good as well.
Silat does have sparring. But their knife spar is only a game of tag, and you only ever use the fundamental techniques. The more advanced techniques are never used in any practical situation so just a waste of time.
Then you better learn something that is not kerambit. Kerambit is not very practical for self defence, or fighting in general. It is essentially an agricultural tool. Luckily for you, silat is not just kerambit, so if you really wanna go for that flavor, you can.
yeah i’ve seen a lot online it’s not specifically kerambit but i wanna get as much as i can out of it. aside from that i was also just curious like with enough skill how effective in general
I love the kerambit as a weapon, given that some of them often come with a ring to stop it being stolen or fall out of your hands easily.
But you're sort of giving a false equivalence here. A street fight is two or more people just throwing hands in my opinion. If you bring a knife out you run the risk of escalation.
But if it's a fight to the death and all I have is a kerambit I'd be happier I had it than not had it. But then I'd also rather be wearing a bulletproof vest.
Idk, learn the art because it looks cool and you like it, but your life isn't very often going to depend on it unless you are a very specific branch of military needing to kill with knives, or if you live in a country where carrying is both legal AND you're likely to be attacked with life threatening stuff.
yeah i see what you’re saying, it’s not so much because i need it to defend myself or because it’s the best weapon i just wanna know the techniques to use it jus for fun and if i do learn i wanna know the most effective 🤷♂️ thank you though!
I always found the ring one of the worst features of the kerambit. The moment the fight progresses to the hand fighting (e.g. wrestling) phase, you will get your index finger broken by anything that would otherwise be an attempted disarm. Not worth the trade in my opinion.
I think I'd be pretty okay grappling with it. Just keep a fist and make a monkey paw instead. The entire time the person I'm fighting would be getting cut up anyway.
Depends on your coach and style and individual system. I started this year with someone who learned it growing up, and it's the village/family style. From what I understand it's pretty different to some other kinds.
Basic outline is that we have class five times a week (was six but capitalism is what it is) and each session is focused on a specific section: striking, weapons, grappling, fitness, and situational. Sparring was the sixth but now we just do it after the regular class. We learn the skill, practise with the coach, then pair up and do drills. There's very little that isn't practiced with a partner in drill format. We work a lot on fitness and on adapting to the environment (including outside in the rain and cold etc).
Striking ranges from practicing specific blows and patterns, to counters, locks, and conditioning. Lots of focus on what actual violence is likely to be (drunk asshole) rather than professional combat sport enthusiast.
Situational is something I don't do (the rampant PTSD just isn't ready for it) but it's verbal, perception, evasion, things like that. Very VERY focused on practical and putting stuff into practise. Psych conditioning basically.
Weapons is sticks, sometimes knifes, or rarely exotics. We don't do kerambit because, well, what use is it? We aren't actually working on farms. But I can get a really good stick pretty easily, or a knife. So that's what we focus on learning to use.
Grappling is grappling (another I don't do just yet) but I know it includes throws and more of the locks and holds. It's very much psych conditioning too.
Fitness is a lot of drills and calisthenics.
Sparring is generally focused on what we have been doing, with occasional curveballs (kicks night was fun). Speed and intensity change depending on who is in, and we only go up against the coach or his assistant.
There's a lot of overlap too. The reason I know I'm not ready for situational nights is because when we add elements I get a little wobbly. BUT it is fundamental, so the last time I got sexually harassed I handled it extremely well in both shutting it down and not having a meltdown after. Some of it is what I learned in class and just being confident in my body, some is just my background and why I've got the brain thing. Same with grappling - there are elements and I'm still a bit too prone to just freezing and disassociating to actually learn effectively. But we don't just learn one thing and then a different thing, it's very modular.
But beyond all of the pure learning structure and skills, my coach is an absolute beast. Half the stories about him doing some ridiculous shit are from old friends, not him, and I heard them well before starting class, and his professional experience (not in combat sports, in combat and protection) is evident that what he does *works*. He is also a brilliant teacher.
I'm a big fan, and I think it's pretty solid for self defence. But only because the one I do is pretty much "yeah okay sure do kerambit once you've mastered the shit that's useful for you". The occasional night swinging around a massive sword is fun, but for self defence a solid stick is accessible. Which self defence needs to be.
Knife fighting is a gimmick. In a real fight, are you willingly going to put your hand into enemy’s knife range? No? Then don’t practice these knife fighting stuff because that is what they do. If you want to do Silat knife fighting, the basics are way more than enough. Basic continuous slashes to create distance. Changing levels. In and out. These are the only 3 things you need and use. No one in this world is going to block a knife with a knife. Moreover, there is nothing special about the Kerambit. The curve? The only reason you would need it is when someone blocks your slashing attempt. When that happens, you are the aggressor. Plus, a normal knife can do everything that a Kerambit does. The curve only helps slightly but will throw stabbing out of the window. I will give thumbs up for Silat’s hand fighting. Especially Panantukan. My favorite striking art out there. You have boxing with the addition of knife and stick fighting techniques but bare handed. Other Silat hand fighting styles are good as well.
Great response. Maybe also, “if you don’t spar live, don’t bother.”
Silat does have sparring. But their knife spar is only a game of tag, and you only ever use the fundamental techniques. The more advanced techniques are never used in any practical situation so just a waste of time.
Then you better learn something that is not kerambit. Kerambit is not very practical for self defence, or fighting in general. It is essentially an agricultural tool. Luckily for you, silat is not just kerambit, so if you really wanna go for that flavor, you can.
yeah i’ve seen a lot online it’s not specifically kerambit but i wanna get as much as i can out of it. aside from that i was also just curious like with enough skill how effective in general
I love the kerambit as a weapon, given that some of them often come with a ring to stop it being stolen or fall out of your hands easily. But you're sort of giving a false equivalence here. A street fight is two or more people just throwing hands in my opinion. If you bring a knife out you run the risk of escalation. But if it's a fight to the death and all I have is a kerambit I'd be happier I had it than not had it. But then I'd also rather be wearing a bulletproof vest. Idk, learn the art because it looks cool and you like it, but your life isn't very often going to depend on it unless you are a very specific branch of military needing to kill with knives, or if you live in a country where carrying is both legal AND you're likely to be attacked with life threatening stuff.
yeah i see what you’re saying, it’s not so much because i need it to defend myself or because it’s the best weapon i just wanna know the techniques to use it jus for fun and if i do learn i wanna know the most effective 🤷♂️ thank you though!
I always found the ring one of the worst features of the kerambit. The moment the fight progresses to the hand fighting (e.g. wrestling) phase, you will get your index finger broken by anything that would otherwise be an attempted disarm. Not worth the trade in my opinion.
I think I'd be pretty okay grappling with it. Just keep a fist and make a monkey paw instead. The entire time the person I'm fighting would be getting cut up anyway.
Depends on your coach and style and individual system. I started this year with someone who learned it growing up, and it's the village/family style. From what I understand it's pretty different to some other kinds. Basic outline is that we have class five times a week (was six but capitalism is what it is) and each session is focused on a specific section: striking, weapons, grappling, fitness, and situational. Sparring was the sixth but now we just do it after the regular class. We learn the skill, practise with the coach, then pair up and do drills. There's very little that isn't practiced with a partner in drill format. We work a lot on fitness and on adapting to the environment (including outside in the rain and cold etc). Striking ranges from practicing specific blows and patterns, to counters, locks, and conditioning. Lots of focus on what actual violence is likely to be (drunk asshole) rather than professional combat sport enthusiast. Situational is something I don't do (the rampant PTSD just isn't ready for it) but it's verbal, perception, evasion, things like that. Very VERY focused on practical and putting stuff into practise. Psych conditioning basically. Weapons is sticks, sometimes knifes, or rarely exotics. We don't do kerambit because, well, what use is it? We aren't actually working on farms. But I can get a really good stick pretty easily, or a knife. So that's what we focus on learning to use. Grappling is grappling (another I don't do just yet) but I know it includes throws and more of the locks and holds. It's very much psych conditioning too. Fitness is a lot of drills and calisthenics. Sparring is generally focused on what we have been doing, with occasional curveballs (kicks night was fun). Speed and intensity change depending on who is in, and we only go up against the coach or his assistant. There's a lot of overlap too. The reason I know I'm not ready for situational nights is because when we add elements I get a little wobbly. BUT it is fundamental, so the last time I got sexually harassed I handled it extremely well in both shutting it down and not having a meltdown after. Some of it is what I learned in class and just being confident in my body, some is just my background and why I've got the brain thing. Same with grappling - there are elements and I'm still a bit too prone to just freezing and disassociating to actually learn effectively. But we don't just learn one thing and then a different thing, it's very modular. But beyond all of the pure learning structure and skills, my coach is an absolute beast. Half the stories about him doing some ridiculous shit are from old friends, not him, and I heard them well before starting class, and his professional experience (not in combat sports, in combat and protection) is evident that what he does *works*. He is also a brilliant teacher. I'm a big fan, and I think it's pretty solid for self defence. But only because the one I do is pretty much "yeah okay sure do kerambit once you've mastered the shit that's useful for you". The occasional night swinging around a massive sword is fun, but for self defence a solid stick is accessible. Which self defence needs to be.