Recently I had the pleasure of doing some business with the folks at EDCWeapon.com. The site provides a variety of brass knuckles, batons, kubotans, blades, and other products, including jewelry. The jewelry is intended for use as defensive weaponry in non-permissive environments (NPEs). While, sadly, a variety of their products would be contraindicated for daily carry in my state, I found plenty of items that I can own legally (and one that is a candidate for daily carry). The nice folks at EDCWeapon.com sent me a sampling of three items: a cylindrical knife, a pocket stick, and a steel cable whip (something of a personal favorite).
An Unusual Knife
The knife is the TC21 Titanium “Cyclone,” a cylyndrical model evocative of those combat daggers floating around the Internet that purport to be next-level fighting blades. This one is a lot more reasonable than those more lurid takes on the concept; it has a chisel tip and would make an excellent defense spike. It’s very strong and exhibits excellent machining.
Mine came with a simple plastic pen cap for the tip. You could rig up a tubing sheath or any number of improvised sheaths to carry this, if you chose to tote it; I actually made my own Kydex slip sheath for it. The titanium construction makes the blade very light, but it feels superbly sturdy in the hand. I find myself playing around with it and working my way through point-driven strikes (such as with Piper knife). This would be an amazing implement for that kind of work.
An EDC Pocket Stick
As awesome as the Cyclone is, I was a little leery of carrying it in my state; it might be asking a lot of my local constabulary to be tolerant of such an aggressive tool. That’s where the pocket stick comes in. EDCWeapon.com sent me this gorgeous little pocket stick, their Tomahawk TC4. This is the “color” variant; there are silver versions available too.
This is again titanium, with an aggressive anti-roll pattern. The grooves (which I’m tempted to call knurling, but which isn’t by definition) make for as secure grip. Like the Cyclone, the Tomahawk exhibits good machining, feels remarkably sturdy in the hand, and is still quite light for daily carry. The tapered design means this thing would hit like a window punch (and could be used for that purpose, come to think of it). It would be devastating in that capacity.
I whipped up a little Kydex pocket sheath for in-pocket carry to cover the tapered tip, but you wouldn’t need that. You could use the through-hole to add a key ring or lanyard and just carry it as a kubotan-style keychain. I quite like mine.
Then There’s That Cable Whip
It may be a personal failing, but I’ve always enjoyed unusual, exotic, “alternative” weapons. The steel cable whip definitely qualities. I’ve owned a few of these over the years; the one from EDCWeapon.com is called the Stinger and is a great example of this “genre” of weapons.
It’s a length of plastic-clad steel cable (without a terminator or cap at the tip) connected to an aluminum “skull crusher” handle. A piercing tip is inset in the aluminum. Four screws, removable with a hex wrench, secure the cladded whip to the handle. (Mine bears some of the scars of a brutal workout I gave it, smashing plywood scraps in my basement.)
The Stinger is aptly named, given that the tapered handle would make a formidable striking tool on its own. When used as a whip, however, it sings through the air and slashes its targets with heavy authority. The knurling on the handle (which is actually knurling) provides an excellent grip.
The key to using a tool like this is to follow through, much like striking with nunchaku (although there’s less danger of “snap back” because the whip is only semi-flexible). You have to be careful to map out your strikes so that you don’t slash through your own limbs when dealing power-strokes. (Something about that sentence feels unwholesome.)
It may be the least practical of the tools I received, but this one is definitely my favorite. I find myself working out with it frequently here in the office. Fortunately, I’ve not managed to destroy any of the books or bric-a-brac yet. Still, should I be set upon by any of the various ninja who have threatened me over the years, I will be well-defended, indeed.
Get your Tomahawk, Cyclone, Stinger, and many more legal defensive weapons at EDCWeapon.com.