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Mouse Knives by Lynn C. Thompson
The legendary Jeff Cooper, Gunsite Instructor and the Father of
modern tactical handgun shoot-ing once remarked that he would
rather carry a hatchet than a Mouse Gun for self defense. Coo-pers
pioneering research and training changed the way we study modern
pistolcraft. When it came to guns, he knew what he was talking
about.
The phrase Mouse Gun has become almost a term of endearment for
small pocket pistols over the years. I myself often use the term to
describe smaller firearms in my collection. But its origins stem
from dedicated research on the part of Jeff Cooper into the role of
a handgun for personal protection. Cooper knew that when examining
your self defense options with honesty you must evaluate the
limitations as well as the potential of every tool in your arsenal,
and a lightweight, low caliber pistol is severely limited in its
uses for self defense!
This brings me to the concept of Mouse Knives. Its a phrase Ive
been using more and more over the last 5-6 years as Ive watched so
called self defense gurus in the media extolling the virtue of
their small tactical folders for per-sonal protection.
It has become commonplace to see 2-3" fold-ing knives in the
hands of tactical experts in magazines, being sold as the ideal
self defense tool but, like Cooper, we must research the true
potential of these weapons and tools. We must be intellectually
honest and look at the genuine merits and failings of these modern
day Mouse Knives. For the purpose of this article, I will define a
Mouse Knife as a blade under 4" that is being used for self
defense.
Cold SteelsMouse Folders
From Top:Mini Tuff Lite
Tuff LiteMed. Voyager Tanto
Med. Voyager Clip PointRajah III
Hold Out IIICounter Point II
Medium G-10 EspadaMedium Espada
Photos by Mike Barroca
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Advantages First and foremost in this list of advantages when
discussing small
knives is the law. In many states and countries this blade size
is the only legal option. A small knife is politically correct. It
is unassum-ing and non-threatening. Its not going to scare people.
This isnt always a good thing, but Ill get to that...
They are lightweight. You can comfortably carry a Mouse Knife
ev-ery day, even when wearing light summer clothes or a suit.
Theres no excuse to not have one by your side. We all know that
there is no point in buying something for self defense if it stays
in the house. Its with you, and thats a huge plus.
They are easily concealable. The small profile of a Mouse Knife
makes it ideal for concealed carry. Its better than fingernails!
Any knife is better than no knife at all. When your life is on the
line, any advantage, no matter how small, is worth taking!
In a self defense situation they are harder to disarm. A small,
light, fast knife is a very difficult thing to see, let alone
disarm. Or is it? Ill explore that further in the
disadvantages....
Disadvantages Mouse Knives lack punch. They lack the surface
volume to make
big, penetrative cuts and thrusts. You simply may not get enough
edge on an aggressor wearing heavy clothes to do any significant
damage. In that fearful life or death struggle, a scratch may not
be enough.
The Mouse Knife has no intimidation factor. They arent scary, no
matter how many sexy curves designers add to make them look
frightening and those curves, well, many of those curves are often
for aesthetics. They dont aid performance. In many cases they
actu-ally limit the knifes capabilities.
Limited Grip is also a problem. Its hard to get a strong four
finger grip on these little knives. This limited grip is going to
cause disarms. This is the flip side to that adage that is commonly
shared amongst advocates of small knives for self defense that
those quick little knives are impossible to disarm. We have found
that when dealing with a smaller knife its easier to get around the
steel and to reach, parry, or control the opponents arm. You do not
have the comfort of 7 inches of steel between you and the
aggressor. Weve also found in our studies and research that while
the aggres-sor might have a harder time locking in on your blade,
you may possibly disarm yourself - Without a solid grip on that
knife with all four fingers you may well lose that blade if you
over-swing, mis-judge distance or clash with your opponent. It
happens more often than you would believe. Its hard to keep a good
hold on a small knife in the mad scramble that is a self defense
situation.
Its better than fingernails!
Cold SteelsMouse Folders
From Top:Mini Lawman
Mini AK-47Mini Recon 1
with Spear Point,Clip Point, and
Tanto PointBlade Styles
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Lack of range and reach. You are going to struggle to fight and
leave unscathed. Again, its an ugly truth, but its the truth. Your
blade is too short to equally oppose longer weapons, and its too
short to stop people from closing on you. Once they have got
control of your knife hand its a whole different game! There are
answers to this but you will need a much broader skillset in order
to survive that type of encounter unharmed
You cannot adequately block, parry or deflect an opposing weapon
with a small knife unless you are exceptionally skilled. Its not
enough knife for the job!
Strength. Many thin, lightweight knives on the mar-ket today are
simply not strong enough. Their tiny little blades not only have
minimal cutting power, but they are supported by weak little locks.
As a Kali practitioner I train to de-fang the snake whenever
possible. I attempt to cut the aggressors arm or hand in order to
disarm him or dissuade him from press-ing the attack. Its a very
valid technique that is functional for self defense. In our
extensive sparring sessions we found that the shock of impact upon
some knives was simply too much for their locks. The lock was
actually failing when the blade was hit! This is not acceptable!
Its a sad truth, but many of the knives out
there that are being promoted and marketed as tacti-cal tools
are not the best self defense option! Again, I implore you to be
intellectually honest when it comes to choosing a knife to defend
yourselves and your loved ones! If you choose to carry a Mouse
Knife for self defense then you must accept that -at best you are
MINIMALLY ARMED
Now I can hear many of you saying But Lynn, you MAKE small
knives! This is true. I also carry small knives as part of my EDC.
Partly this is due to the fact I have studied and trained
extensively with smaller knives and I know their limitations and
ideal uses. I have trained hard to find the best ways of making
them work. And primarily, of course, they are COLD STEEL
knives!
Cold Steel and Mouse Knives Anyone who knows me well knows that
I have
a passion for Mini Revolvers and Pocket Pistols. In my DVD
series Never Unarmed I explore not only their advantages and
disadvantages in great depth but I also discuss potential ways to
use these firearms for self defense. I always strive for that
intellectual hon-
esty and try to explore the pros and cons of every self defense
option, and pocket pistols have their place within my personal self
defense ethos.
The same can be said for Mouse Knives. I often carry a small
folding knife in my shirt breast pocket or attached to my keyring.
But it is not the only knife I carry. Depending on where I am
going, who I am with and what I am wearing I have been known to
carry up to 9 knives at a time. I also regularly carry a large
fixed blade (usually a Natchez or Laredo Bowie). You could say that
when it comes to EDC and SD carry, I have lots of options and one
of them is a Mouse Knife. ___________________
Cold Steel is an international company with friends, fans and
customers worldwide. Attitudes and laws in regards to self defense
and the use of edged weapons differ the world over. I count amongst
my friends individuals who carry spears and machetes as part of
their daily EDC. A small folding knife to them is a tool first and
rarely considered as a self defense implement. I also have friends
and customers who are extremely restricted in their choice of tools
for person-al protection, either by law, or personal choice. I make
my Mouse Knives for them.
When it comes to designing Cold Steels Mouse Knives I try to
overcome as many of the smaller knives natural disadvantages as I
can. Whenever possible I try to design my smaller fold-
ing knives in such a way that the user can retain a strong, four
finger grip on the handle. I invest a lot of time and research into
handle ergonomics while exploring as many grips (ways of holding
the knife) as possible. The curves in my knives arent put there for
aesthetics, they are for grip. Form always fol-lows function.
Even my smallest knives feature our Tri-Ad Lock. It would be
remiss of me to create the sharpest knives without making the
strongest ones too. I love my customers fingers! Ive seen too many
flashy little pocket knives that make woeful self defense tools but
lovely little cigar cutters for your precious digits! The Tri-Ad
lock is designed to not only lock up like a bank vault, but to
survive the rigours of combat. This is the true purpose of all
those spine whacks and over-strike tests. If Im fighting for my
life I will try and cut and rake and stab with that knife at every
crazy angle I can. Ill hit with the pommel. Ill do anything I can
to survive. In that frantic melee the last thing you want is for
your knife to collapse and cut your fingers!
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I try to make our small Cold Steel knives with blades that are
as wide as possible. They not only have the structural strength to
survive, but they also have as much surface area as possible to
facilitate a deep cut. Look at our knives and compare them to those
of my competitors. See the dif-ference in thickness and width? This
is why!
With a wide shallow V cross sec-tion or a really high hollow
grind the blade can slide in much deeper before it wedges. It has
much greater shear-ing potential and it cuts much deeper than a
narrow blade. A good example of this is our Mini Tuff Lite. Its
re-ally wide with a great hollow grind.
Its a fine example of a lot of cutting potential packed into a
small Mouse Knife!
Whenever possible I try to include a serrated option for our
small knives. Cold Steels serration pattern is de-signed
specifically to grip and rip. Its also one of the few serrations on
the market that you can snap cut with. Our serrations bite deep. If
youve only got a small knife to save your life, serrations will be
a blessing.The 3" Hold Out is my personal favor-
ite Mouse Knife. It has a very wide, flat grind, a beautifully
tapered continuous-ly curved cutting edge and a very acute, needle
sharp point. It has the incredibly strong Tri-Ad Lock. The handle
allows great traction and strong four fingered grip in a variety of
hand positions. Plus, its easily concealed and light enough to be
carried all day. To me, it may well be the ultimate self defense
Mouse Knife
Bigger is BetterAnyone who has seen my Warriors
Edge DVD knows I am a fan of big knives. I have been training to
use large fixed blades for many, many years. With a Bowie knife in
my hand I feel there is very little in this world to fear.
Cold SteelsFixed BladeMouse Knives
From Top:Mini PalSuper EdgeUrban PalMini Tac SkinnerMini Tac
TantoCounter Tac IISafe Maker IISecret EdgeSafe Keeper IIIDouble
Agent IDouble Agent II
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Not everyone is willing or able to carry a Bowie Knife every
day. Not everyone enjoys the freedom I possess to openly carry a
large fixed blade knife. This to me is a great shame. The world
would be a very different place if every hard working, God fearing
soul had a Laredo Bowie on their belt!
I also carry several large folding knives, often XL serrated
Vaqueros or Hold Outs. Theres a very simple reason why I love big
knives so much and why I pro-mote them so heavily they work! Big
knives get the job done! We see it all the time in the world of
mixed Martial Arts: Height, weight, strength and reach are all huge
advantages. Translated to blades, we see length, weight, strength,
sharp-ness and reach. All of which give you the tactical edge. Big
knives are scary. They have the fear factor. I know sev-eral people
who have stopped a fight by simply pulling an XL Espada from their
pocket. The resounding clack of that Tri-Ad Lock and the glint of
light along that wicked 7.5" blade will make even the bravest of
bad guys think twice before stepping up to cause you harm. Theres a
comfort in that.
Big knives do more damage. A well designed, large Cold Steel
knife has more cutting edge, more weight and more surface area to
inflict massive damage. For example - If you carry an XL Vaquero
Voyager (one of my personal favorite folding knives) the width,
thickness and length of that knife is potentially three times that
of the average EDC. Add to that the extend-ed reach that our
Voyagers specially designed grip affords and you are a power!
Im a firm advocate of large knives for self defense. Look at our
Spartan series, our XL Voyagers, Our Hold Out I (another personal
favorite), the Rajah II and our Espadas. All big, strong, sharp
dependable knives that can easily be carried and concealed, yet
they have the decisive edge in a true self defense situation.
With a Bowie knife in my hand I feel there is very little in
this
world to fearCold SteelsXL Espada
Cold Steels Laredo Bowie
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Photo of Mouse Guns
Mouse Guns
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Mouse Knife Tactics
There is always a place for Mouse Guns, and Mouse Knives as long
as you appreciate and compensate for their limitations. Once again
- be honest with yourself! Examine your choice for self defense
critically and if you are not willing to use a larger knife then at
least invest some time and thought into how to make that small
knife work best for you.
Seek out instruction. If at all possible, this is your best
op-tion. Find a good instructor and train. Studying Martial Arts is
a worthwhile and life changing endeavour. Its always a good thing.
It enriches your life and makes you stronger.
If at all possible I suggest training with Guro Ron Balicki (in
my opinion hes one of the worlds best!) or any of his M.A.R.S
instructors worldwide. I also recommend my War-riors Edge DVD
series.
Make a foam training knife (PVC pipe wrapped in furnace foam and
duct taped) the same size as the knife you use. Put on some eye
protection and find a training partner. Get your partner to feed
angles at you. Move around. Try things. Use this safe time to test
things out. Learn your strengths and limi-tations as a fighter just
as you are learning the strengths and limitations of your
knife.
Here are some basic techniques to think about, to try and to
explore. This is barely scratching the surface of the
possibili-ties that are available to you, but its a great place to
start:
Pressure Cuts
Here I enter into Rons cutting attack and momentarily controls
Rons knife arm while countering with a pressure cut to the bicep.
The
goal here is to sever the bicep and brachial artery. For best
results present your edge at an angle to the target and press it in
hard and slice down to the bone while being sure to draw your
entire edge through the target thereby maximizing the depth and
length of the cut. Its gruesome stuff, but we are training for true
life or death self defense.
If you must carry a .25 ACP caliber pistol, do not load it. For
if you load it, you might use it. And if you shoot somebody with
it, and they find out about it, theyre likely to be very upset with
you.
Jeff Cooper
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Counter Cut Defense
Here I step into Rons slashing attack and counter cut the
fingers holding the knife. Then I immediately re-engage Rons knife
hand
with my empty hand to pass it to a safer position while I close
to get better control and deliver a second disabling cut. Then, if
neces-sary I can finish the encounter with a deep thrust to the
throat.
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Counter Thrusting to Forearm
Here, Ron attempts a cutting attack but I stop-hit the attack
with a deep thrust to the forearm followed by a vertical whip to
Rons
fingers causing him to lose control of his knife.Stop-hitting
with a thrust requires excellent angle recognition and point
control. Drilling both of these things with a patient training
partner is a great place to start. Wear some arm protection, use
a blunt padded training knife (a foam trainer is ideal) and feed
those angles! Slowly and carefully increase speed and intensity.
Its a tough technique to master but lightning fast in its
simplicity and direct-ness!
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Alive Hand Defense #1
I can also augment my short blade with the judicious use of my
non-knife hand. Using the edge of the hand to viciously cut into
the
wrist or forearm can shock the knife arm momentarily and stop
its progress long enough to deliver a counter attack - like this
thrust to Rons throat.
Alive Hand Defense #2
Rons thrust to the lower body is intercepted by my palm strike,
which pins Rons knife against his hip just long enough for me
to
counter with my shorter blade with a thrust under the arm.
Alive Hand Defense #3
When youre armed with a much shorter blade than your opponent
you must be prepared to use every tool at your disposal for
attack
and defense! Using the bottom of your knife hand as a hammer can
put a lot of shock on an attacking limb and disable it long enough
for you to close with your opponent and land a telling thrust.
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Counter Punching with Alive Hand
If you are well versed in the gunting techniques found in
Filipino Martial Arts youll find you are frequently able to use
your alive hand to punch an incoming knife hand off line long
enough for you to land a counter cut with your shorter blade. For
best results practice hitting with both sets of knuckles and with a
straight or bent wrist.
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Counter Thrusting
If you insist on carrying a knife with a short blade it had
better have a substantial handle that you can hang on to, and a
dangerously
sharp stabbing point because a counter-thrust against opponents
armed with longer weapons will often be your only viable
choice.Here, Ron attempts to slash at me. I take a short step
forward and to the side and counter thrust with my 3" Hold Out to
Rons fin-
gers. The goal is pin one or more fingers against the enemys
knife handle and shear them off - thereby substantially weakening
his grip. Hopefully doing enough damage (both to his fingers and
his courage!) to disarm him.
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Pressure Cutting
For maximum effect always try to control your opponents
attacking limb while countering with a pressure cut. The goal is to
immo-
bilize him for a fraction of a second so that you can press your
blade deep into his flesh and draw the entire edge through the
target.
Many thanks to Ron Balicki for his assistance.
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Food for Thought...One of my aims here at Cold Steel was to
make tough knives that can stand up to any task. If you only had
one knife to depend upon, itd be one of ours.
Our Recon 1 series is a prime example of this. A tough, reliable
work horse with a multitude of uses. But, if you are also relying
on your knife to protect yourself and your loved ones you need to
consider how you use it on a daily basis.
EDC (Every Day Carry) and SD (Self De-fense) need not be one and
the same. If you only have one knife for every task you need to try
and keep it sharp. If you are cutting cardboard and packing
material all day in a warehouse or factory then your knife isnt
going to be in prime condition to back you up when you need it.
Remember, if you only have one knife Keep it sharp!
I believe in the principal of a DEDICATED SELF DEFENSE KNIFE.
Many of my employ-ees carry two knives. The Mouse Knife is there
for the EDC chores. A secondary knife is there for Self Defense.
This is a good option if you are worried about offending or scaring
people with a large politically incorrect knife. A big knife can
still easily be concealed. Use the small knife in public and keep
your self defense knife concealed. You wont scare or intimidate
anyone but the bad guy.
The great thing about Mouse Knives (as we ex-plored earlier) is
they are small, lightweight and easy to carry. If you are only
comfortable carry-ing a small knife or if the law restricts you
from carrying anything larger, why not carry two? A knife in each
hand is also a big advantage. If you carry two, why not carry
three? Use one for those everyday cutting chores and keep two with
their factory edge for those what if moments?
In conclusion. Take time to assess your choices for self defense
carry. Be intellectually honest Explore whats best for you and what
you are comfortable carrying. Go to a local dealer or drop into our
showroom in Ventura and try a large Cold Steel folding knife. You
may be sur-prised at how easily it carries and how comfort-able
(and comforting!) it feels. If you do decide to carry a Mouse
Knife. Think honestly about how you could use it when the metal
meets the meat. Train hard and stay safe.
Alternatives to Mouse Blades:(From The Top)Counter Point II5
1/2" Paradox4 & 6" Ti LitesHold Out I & IIKobunCounter Tac
IRecon IsXL Voyagers Large EspadaSpartan