Fixed Blade Carry
Fixed Blade Carry
Rethinking my fixed blade carry position -- is appendix carry the answer?
My conversation with Ehtan Curtis of Vandrer Knives (this week’s podcast guest) got me thinking (see episode below) …
It’s no secret, I carry a fixed blade knife on the daily and frequently talk about how and where. I carry in the waistband, edge forward, in the 3 O’clock position.
To me, it has felt like the optimal position for an emergency self-defense draw in reverse grip. It is however, somewhat visible in profile and perhaps advertises the knife more than intended. But more importantly, the 3 O’clock position is practically inaccessible in any quick and meaningful way to my left hand.
Enter, appendix carry.
When I lived in NYC, I used to appendix carry my folders regularly. If police officers spotted folding knife clips protruding from the pocket, it was well within their purview to hassle you, or worse.
Appendix carry worked well for me then as the clip hid mostly behind the belt, even with larger folders like the Vaquero Grande. I found the knife fit in the natural fold between my torso and leg, even when sitting but somewhere along the line I abandoned that carry position.
Maybe it was when I left the city for the ‘burbs and began driving and just sitting more.
In speaking to Vandrer’s Ethan Curtis, appendix carry became appealing once again for a few reasons.
Accessibility to the knife with both hands.
Allowing the off hand to remain at centerline to either lift the shirt to access the knife, hold out the off hand in a defensive posture, or in Curtis’s case, access a firearm simultaneously.
Centerline appendix carry is also starting to seem safer to me in terms of weapon retention. In a scuffle with a motivated attacker, the appendix region, being in the middle, is simply easier to defend with both or either hand.
And if I honestly think it through, if an opponent knows I have a knife, they will be going for that knife. I know I would. That’s how it works with the guys I train martial arts with who carry a trainer knife, after our techniques we’re always grabbing for each other’s knives.
The only way to know for sure whether 3 O’clock or appendix carry works best is to pressure test it with those people who don’t want to kill me, like my training buddies. I know, I know … a gun beats all else in a self-defense situation but that’s not always an option, a knife nearly always is.
So, learning how to best deploy a fixed blade knife in a life-or-death situation is worth the effort.
I’ll let you know what I find.
Knife Junkie out!
Bob
P.S. Do you carry a fixed blade, and if so, how do you carry? Love to hear from you!
Ethan Curtis, Vandrer Knives - The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 401)
Ethan Curtis of Vandrer Knives is my guest this week on Episode 401 of The Knife Junkie Podcast (listen or watch below).
SPOILER: Listen to the audio podcast for a special discount code on Vandrer Knives!
Podcast Episode 402 this Wednesday
On this week’s mid-week supplemental episode of The Knife Junkie podcast (ep. 402), dropping live on Wednesday, Bob looks at his full tang favorites.
If you would like early access to each podcast, as well as “bonus” video content from each week’s interview guest, join The Knife Junkie Patreon group. You’ll get access to this week’s mid-week podcast tomorrow (and every Monday thereafter) as well as early access (on Friday’s) for the Sunday interview show.
There’s three levels of support — and all three get early access and bonus content. Join today!
