# Marker Knife Video!



## Brian R. VanCise (Apr 30, 2010)

Here is a video that popped into my inbox yesterday and it shows some pretty realistic marker training and that you will probably suffer some cuts, stabs in an altercation.  Definitely a good watch so go to my blog for the details:

*The Instinctive Edge*


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## Brian King (Apr 30, 2010)

Nice clip Brian. While I agree that it is likely that a person may get cut I myself do not like the marker drills all that much. The set up is usually too one sided. The person with the marker can go psychologically and physically at or near100 percent knowing that they cannot really hurt their &#8216;victim&#8217; while the victim has to try to disarm or throw the attacker. Even if the drills allows striking, for many since the attacker isn&#8217;t really hurting them most do not strike the pen marking thug. How many times is the pen marker bleeding (have yet to see a clip with the marker ending up with a broken nose) at the end of the drill or knocked out? It is interesting to see the change in both marker and victim when instead of a harmless marker you switch the weapon to a scratch stick; it changes the &#8216;game&#8217; considerably. The one thing I do like with chalking drills (also shows edge not just tip work) is it shows how often an attacker cuts themselves and the victim. This knowledge can be used to increase or minimize the likelihood and chances of those occurrences. 

If people have not faced a mad man with a marker it is worth it to do at least once but I don&#8217;t overly dwell on it. 

Thanks for posting the clip in your blog Brian
Regards
Brian King


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## Brian R. VanCise (Apr 30, 2010)

Hey Brian,

Good point and I agree.  However, I think it is a good drill with some tangible benefits.  I know when we do chalk drills you can hit the other guy but that of course is not real either as his stab/cut does not do the damage that a real blade would do.  Still it does allow for timing, locking and seeking control.  Yet in the end it is just a drill.  Similar to full contact stick fighting with rattan which allows you to work on your speed, timing, contact, etc. but is not the same as getting hit with hard wood like Kamagong, hickory, etc.  So the practitioner must always realize that any drill, sparring, etc. is not quite the same as a real encounter but they can help you some!


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## Dwight McLemore (Apr 30, 2010)

Bryan:  Insteresting clip and seems to be a worthwhile drill. Using the markers is probably a lot like what one encounters with the home-made shanks such from the corrections environment.  I,m not a big fan of markers because there are some really good felt & chalk trainers that can produce the same results. I'm working on a project now that is similiar . Would like to see some of this with some big blades and how leavering the edge around might affect the outcome.  Thanks for posting

Best
Dwight


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## Brian R. VanCise (Apr 30, 2010)

I agree that I like chalk better than marker and also better than lipstick or any other thing out there. Chalk is simply easier to clean up and comes out of white t shirts when you wash them. Marker takes a while to get off skin and forget about it on clothes. Lipstick, well a white t shirt will never be the same. I will say that lipstick is the most dramatic to look at though.


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