Steve Perry over at "Old Enough To Know Better" has a post up called "Anybody Got A Knife?". He jokes about the number of knives carried by Silat practitioners; two, three, four?
So I thought I'd unpack my little McGiver tool kit. Some out of my pockets, some out of belt sheaths, and some out of my Pacific Northwest Hippie-Woodsman-Tactical Vest (Brown Duck from Duluth Trading).
The inventory rotates from pocket to pocket as necessary. I've won a few Beer bets from other tradesmen at our local Tavern, in a throw-down game called "tool time". You empty your pockets and count up the tools or items that could be improvised tools. Sometimes you need a third-party judge to throw out items such as toothpicks or credit cards. I've won two Beers so far. Here's what I have today:
1 Atlas rubber-palm gloves
2 multi-tool
3 flashlight
4 E harmonica
5 C harmonica (you never know when bad music could break out)
6 carpenter pencil (doubles as kubotan)
7 writing pen
8 folding knife
9 knife sharpener
10 Swiss Army Knife (mostly for the wine corkscrew)
11 magnifying glass (can start fires)
12 Kubotan
13 Bic lighter
14 elastic tie
15 guitar pick
16 Tavern token for one free Beer (emergencies, you know)
2 comments:
Filipino martial artists are just as bad as Silat guys. My own FMA instructor gave me shit for not carrying a knife with me.
Of course, my former workplace had strict rules against carrying any kind of weapon on the premises. Even the one-inch long pocket knife on my key ring was expressly verboten.
At a Dan Inosanto seminar here in Tampa 10 years ago, Guro Dan was telling us how one of his FMA teachers gave him shit for not loading up on knives before leaving the house.
"Hey! We're going to eat in Beverly Hills!" Inosanto told him. "I don't think we're going to need our knives."
His instructor told him that he should always be prepared. Inosanto's own guro had seven knives on him, including two wooden ones. The wooden ones were for "throwing away" or distracting your opponent.
Personally, whenever I go to a tournament or seminar, I can always spot the FMA guys. They're always packing knives.
Blimey. Looks like an accessory pack from Texas Chainsaw Massacre!
:-o
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