Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!rpi!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: mamba@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Paul A Deisinger) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Sawbacks on knives Message-ID: <10747@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 30 Oct 89 02:51:31 GMT References: <10227@cbnews.ATT.COM> <10268@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lines: 42 Approved: military@att.att.com From: mamba@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Paul A Deisinger) In article <10268@cbnews.ATT.COM> dkrause@orion.oac.uci.edu (Doug Krause) writes: > > >From: Doug Krause > >In article <10227@cbnews.ATT.COM> munnari!csc.anu.oz.au!bxr307@uunet.uu.net writes: >#I was always taught that the sawback on a knife was not designed for cutting. Wrong >#Rather it is designed for use in stabbing an opponent. The Sawback is meant to >#ensure that air is let into a wound and that the wound is ragged enough to >#prevent "suction" from the difference in air pressure between the insides of a >#body and the outside which make it difficult to quickly withdraw the knife >#from a wound. Although it is possible that this could be a use for the sawback on knives it is NOT the intended use. A typical "survival" or "combat" type knife with a sawback area of 3-5 inches can go through a 2x4 in approximately 30 seconds when being used by an experienced person. The usual design of this sawback (as is on the issue M-9 bayonette) is extremelyrugged and is not prone to dulling while still being able to rip it's way through a variety of materials. > >Would the air pressure difference on something as thin as a knife really >affect "performance" that much? What you want to make a wound from a knife truly effective is what's known as a "blood groove". The blood grove is simply a "ditch" in the knife that causes there to be an opening along the blade to allow the flow of blood from the body even if the blade remains in the wound and would otherwise stop it up. You will find this groove on the top half of the flat of the blad of most hunting knives, you will also find it down the center of some double edged combat and boot knives. Paul Deisinger -- My other .sig is a porche. Boongawa.