How to make cheap and resistant training knives (Or why you shouldn't spend your hard earned cash on some overpriced trainer made in Shmuckistan)

Everyone dreads the purchase of training equipment for RBSD training: Many of us (especially the married- with-children-and-a- mortgage type) cannot afford to buy a training suit worth 1,000 USD or a special training knife worth 400 USD. Although the above mentioned equipment might be good to great, many of us (especially those living in countries where such equipment are equal or more than a month' salary) may not afford them.

So, unless you make 40 to 50 thousands USD per month, the most you can spend on RBSD training gear ranges from as little as 20 to 100 USD a month.

The purpose of this article is to help the reader make his own inexpensive (and relatively durable) training gear.

Let us start with making an economical (under 5 USD per knife) yet resilient training knife.


Material needed:

1- A wad of A4 printing paper (Cost: quasi-free if you own a printer or fax. 5 USD per pack of 50 sheets, can be used to make other knives or scratch paper)

2- A roll of clear scotch… NO, NOT THE WHISKEY! That’s for after the training, when you’re in your bathtub, listening to God Save the Queen. God, I love that anthem, makes me wish I was British. Ahem! So, I was saying some scotch adhesive tape that can be used to make two knife trainers. (Cost: 1 USD)

3- Another roll of brown or darker and larger adhesive tape that can be used to make two knife trainers as well. (Cost: 2 USD)

4- 50 cm worth of aluminum foil (optional) (Free if you’re married and have a wife that cooks. A 50 feet aluminum foil costs less than 3 USD in Lebanon and can be reused)

5- Two 7 to 10 cm long stripes of sand paper (optional. Cost: 3 USD maximum)

6- A tube of super glue (optional. Cost: 2 USD maximum)

7- Small bamboo stick, 20 cm long (optional. A 2 meter long bamboo tube, with a 1 cm diameter costs less than 1 USD)


Tools needed:

1- A Hammer (A maximum of 10 USD will get you a good hammer that’ll last many years, unless you pound the squid with it. Mwahahahahha! I wanted to make this joke for years :D )

2- 20 minutes of your precious time

3- A hard surface that you don’t mind bashing with your hammer (Not your squid ;) )


Instructions:

First, take the A4 papers (20 pages should be enough) and roll them, squeezing them as hard as you can.

Then, while maintaining pressure on the roll, start taping the bottom with the dark-colored adhesive tape, also squeezing it to the best of your ability. (Requesting some friend’s help would be optimal here, s/he squeezes the roll while you add more pressure and loop tape around it. Still not talking about the squid… oh forget it!)

After covering the entire roll (pay special attention to the top and bottom ends of the cylinder-shaped object) with the larger (darker) adhesive tape, use the hammer to flatten half the “tube” obtained. Make sure you hammer it forcefully from both sides.

You should now have something looking like a knife. Make sure to reinforce the knife obtained with more dark tape (especially the “blade” or flattened part, that might be subject to bending if you hit something hard like a wall or a skull with it).

It is now time to use the aluminum foil: wrap it around the blade segment, making sure to cover the point or edge. (This will make the blade more life-like) Follow this up by wrapping the aluminum-covered blade and edge with clear “scotch” tape.

Finally, take the two sand paper strips and glue them to the edge of the blade, not forgetting to merge them at the tip of the trainer; this is an optional part, for those who are looking for an even more realistic (and painful) experience.


Acid testing the cheap training knife:

Make sure that the training knife is hard enough by stabbing a brick wall 3 or 4 times: if it doesn’t bend, then you are quasi certain that the point won’t collapse while impacting your Training Partner (TP). To test the sandpapered blade, select a carton and slash it hard. If it tears through it, you might want to soften up the sandpaper by rubbing it against something you don’t like, for example your neighbor’s fence or your mother in law…’s car. Seriously, you want to TP to “feel the burn” not lose body parts.

The only problem with the knife is that it might bend when grabbed by your TP or yourself during knife defense and/ or knife drills (especially the infamous “Saving Private Ryan” knife drill). You can either use a bamboo core to prevent this from happening or make another knife when this one gets destroyed.

Comments? Marriage proposals? Divorce papers? Flames of Recca? haha, that's a joke for the Anime freaks out there ;)

Let me have it!