1. Get a drone. The importance of a training drone that mimics your "sharp" one sans a cutting edge cannot be understated. While they are not suitable for partner training, you can use them for two person drills. You can also practice deploying your knife in surroundings or circumstances which a sharp knife might not be the best idea... inside your car on your nice leather seats, while rolling around on the ground, deploying your strong side knife with your weak hand, etc.
2. Practice "draw and strike" drills with your folder. Quickdraw and attack at Angle 1 of the 12 (or 13, which I like better) Basic Angles of Attack.... repeat for all the angles. Practice this with the folder closed ("palmstick" style), the folder opening by an inertial opening (if yours will do that), a thumb opening, and any other opening style that your knife of choice might permit (for instance the "wave" motion of the EKI knives).
3. Carry your knife in the same spot, every time, all the time if at all possible. In uniform, I usually "deep pocket" my folder to avoid flack from the powers that be. Out of uniform or in utilities, I always have my two folders, surefire flashlight, and "defender" tool in the same spot. Whichever tool I need, I know exactly where to reach for it and I can deploy any of them without having to think about it.
4. It is fine to vary the knives you carry, but make sure they open the same way, lock the same way, and the blade is oriented the same way (i.e. tip up or tip down). During a demonstration for my CQC class about five years ago when I was making the transition from "tip down" to "tip up", I had a home-made deployment trainer I had made. The problem was, it was a "tip up" trainer and all of my motor memory was for "tip down" knives. My thumb was pawing frantically for a thumbstud that wasn't where I thought it would be and it took about ten seconds to realize why the knife wasn't opening, flip it around in my hand (practice those finger rolls and flips for sabre to reverse...) and orient the knife so that I could open it. Meanwhile, the meat puppet was doing a very effective job of beating the crap out of me (had it been real vice a demo, I was wide open and he would of had me).
5. For some opening photo sequences, look at the following courtesy of Pete Kautz:
http://alliancemartialarts.com/spyderco.htmlLook here for some quickdraw drills (these are FUN)
http://alliancemartialarts.com/stickit.htmhttp://alliancemartialarts.com/atcc.html6. One training drill I would have my class do was for one person to be given a deployment trainer, both kneel and face away from each other. On the instructor's signal, they go at it. The objective is for the guy with the knife to draw and deploy it without getting disarmed or "whupped" first. For safety's sake, as soon as he got the trainer out and open, we would call halt, and replace it with a foam knife cut out from a flip-flop. Yes, that is a little too flexible which made things funny sometimes, but given the dynamics of a ground encounter, we didn't want to use anything rigid that would injure the other person while they were struggling. As soon as the knives were swapped, the whistle would blow again and it was back on. The students loved this drill and it was a great way to finish out a unarmed vs. the knife class.
Dan
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Topic: DEPLOYMENT OF YOUR TACTICAL FOLDER?? (Read 1344 times)