[broken]

wondering what everyones idea of a bedside knife to keep by my shotgun would be,i watched the knifetest.com destruction videos online and bought a olive glock field knife 78 since it did so well in the test and for 29.00 ,inexpensive,and mine did come hair cuutin/razer sharp.ive had a chinese spyderco copy plus my s/w hunting knives.

[TimboKhan]

I keep my good ol' Kabar by the bed, but I have to say it is less for defense and more for back scratching. Frankly, I can't think of much I would rather do less than go from a dead sleep to knife fighting. Perhaps falling out of a plane while showering or something would suck more, but only just barely.

[broken]

yeah i checked out some kabarswhere i bought my glock, but they were 65.00 and up, ive seen them 40.00 to 45.00 for short bowies online.i like the leather stack handle.

[kamagong]

I keep this Himalayan Imports khukuri nearby.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/410/gunsandknives004oy3.jpg

[Deltaboy]

I keep my 4 inch bootknife close by my Sigma 40.

[gallo]

A Mexican machete just for such an occasion. :)

[22-rimfire]

The machete is a good choice. +1 ....or a Khukuri.

[GENTLEMAN OF THE CHARCOAL]

Amen on that Timbokhan. I don't want to knife fight no kind of way anyway. I'm afraid I didn't understand the import of that question anyway. What difference does it make and what good would our answers do him anyway? Hell, USMC Kabar, Buck skinning blade, Woodsman Pal, chopping axe, Old Hickory, what the hell? If the situation get's that far along then he's already far past our ability to give advice or succor. Whatever I had laying there would sure be razor sharp I know that....

[theotherwaldo]

The other function of a bedside blade is to chop through drywall quickly. A portable emergency exit, so to speak.

[66912]

Paul Chen Katana. Would there really be any other option?

[EmGeeGeorge]

I have surrounded my bed with 20 bear traps... I unscrew all light bulbs prior to turning in... I know where every trap is by memory...

Next to the bed it a 3 foot length of old car suspension course-ground on one side into a blade, and a duck tape wrap handle.

I had to have my attack chimps thumbs surgically removed so he can't wield it tho...

Nothing weird though, he sleeps in a large bird cage suspended from the ceiling and avoids the traps by brachiation on lengths of rope suspended from the ceiling...

[glistam]

I know exactly what I'd do in that situation. I'd pick up my clock and say "Don't be alarmed." Then when he's standing there looking puzzled, I bash him in the head with it.:D

Seriously, don't think blade. Think PepperFoam. Won't splash back or ruin the room, but will hurt like hell. Plus if it turns out to be your brother or best friend, he'll be alright with after a few hours sitting in front of a fan.

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

LOL GLISTAM!!

I nearly choked on my Nachos!!!

[conwict]

None. I keep a pistol on the bedside table and a rifle next to the bed, and someone would have to come through more than one locked door to get to me - I'd probably be awake/have time to aim the gun.

I can see having a deployable knife beside only in extreme situations, like espionage/counter-assassination type stuff. Not really something I am concerned about.

[HorseSoldier]

If you're planning on having a firearm handy for a primary defensive weapon, as per the OP, I think you'd want to keep something (relatively) small -- if you've already had your gun neutralized it's probably because your assailant has closed the distance on you and you're in a grappling situation, or about to be. At those ranges a katana (or baseball bat, for that matter) is going to tend to be less useful than a knife you can bring to bear at point blank ranges.

The Glock knife wouldn't be my first choice for a general field knife, but as a back up weapon by the bedstand it would work well enough. The previously mentioned Kabar or other alternatives would give you a wider wound channel, which couldn't hurt, but in the kind of scenario being discussed, you'd be wanting to blitz the bad guy with multiple stab wound as fast as you could deliver them anyway.

[Marlin 45 carbine]

there were some years back a time when I owned only one firearm - an H&R 'long tom' 12ga which I kept it in near bedroom corner and a small carpenters hatchet with lanyard cord hanging from bedpost.

[conwict]

"The burglar was shot with an H&R Long Tom at point blank range from 12 feet...."

[Sunray]

If you can't make a problem go away with a shotgun, how is a knife going to help?

[Cosmoline]

Forget a knife. If it came to that and I didn't have a firearm I'd want a razor sharp gladius at the very least. You don't want a fair fight. Esp. with knives.

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

I agree with Cosmoline: Get a Mainz, dude.

[GENTLEMAN OF THE CHARCOAL]

Matthew.G.George!!!! Thank you for making my day sir!! I'm still snickering. That was the funniest thing I'vd read on here in a long time! Thank you sir!....

[azyogi]

My bedside choice is a Dirk, as I wear that with my kilt. Over the bedroom door is a gladius length short sword. By the front door is the claymore. I plan on shooting any problem, but they are decorative and offer a queiter alternative. A good blade seldom jams and never runs out of ammo.

[NobleSniper]

A simple whittler knife is all I want and have as far as a knife by my bed. Something to clean my nails with after I have sent aforementioned bad guy to the infernal hot place with something that goes click click click bang (sound of a Colt single action) :D

[MikeJackmin]

It's weird; logically, I know a blade is of little value when a firearm is kept just as close, but I have always kept a blade by my bed, for as long as I was old enough to have one. Some deep part of me just wants it there.

I figure that impulses like this are a kind of birthright, a little artifact of our past as survivors. I see no harm in keeping it alive.

[GENTLEMAN OF THE CHARCOAL]

Azyogi, just curious here. Just exactly who or what do you plan on fighting here?....

[Gryffydd]

http://www.schmitthenner.com/CS95BOA.jpg

[azyogi]

I don't plan on fighting anything, my blades are mostly for Renaissance Faires. Stainless Steel is not meant for combat, but having them around, why not, have them all around. Rereading my post I may have confused some think Braveheart not directional landmine. My plans for self defense involve a .357, but I still do katas with scy and numchuks. I think it goes back to the Para-military group I belonged to as a boy, their moto was 'Be Prepared' whoops should I mention para-military training or is the BSA still PC? While I'm asking why is PC, P C, shouldn't that be incorrect?

[kamagong]

Forget a knife. If it came to that and I didn't have a firearm I'd want a razor sharp gladius at the very least. You don't want a fair fight. Esp. with knives.
I have one of those too...

:D

[Telesway]

I do have a knife beside my bedside table in addition to a gun because if you're really caught sleeping and someone's on top of you, a knife's sure as hell a better weapon than a gun.

Ask yourselves this: if you were to wrestle with a guy, fighting for dear life, would you rather he had a pistol or a knife? I know I'd choose he had a gun any day.

In our krav maga club we spar quite a bit with weapons and I know I'm not the only one who thinks that a knife is a far more dangerous item in extreme close quarters than a gun. If you don't believe it, try it out yourselves: take a paintball gun and a magic marker, give both to your partner and have him attack you first with the paintball gun (at close range) and then with the magic marker (again at hugging distance). I'll bet you get more "hits" from the magic marker than "splats" from the paintball gun.

So yeah, I have a regular cheap knife on my bedside table right beside the gun and if I wake up too late to shoot the bastard from a distance, I'll go for the knife and ventilate his body.

[theotherwaldo]

I figger that I'm more likely to be trapped by fire than by invader. Since I sleep in an interior room, the bedside blade's for chopping through whatever wall isn't hot if the hall gets blocked by a fire.

[conwict]

In our krav maga club we spar quite a bit with weapons and I know I'm not the only one who thinks that a knife is a far more dangerous item in extreme close quarters than a gun. If you don't believe it, try it out yourselves: take a paintball gun and a magic marker, give both to your partner and have him attack you first with the paintball gun (at close range) and then with the magic marker (again at hugging distance). I'll bet you get more "hits" from the magic marker than "splats" from the paintball gun.

This seems to assume that a hit from a knife is equally effective to a hit from a gun. I don't want to get stabbed or shot...but I know which one ends fights faster.

[The Highlander]

I have an ancient aluminum teeball bat and my current edc (ie- depending on what I'm edcing, that's what'll be there. More often than not it's one of my tenacious's)

[Innova]

I keep an Aitor sitting on the bedside. Probably will never need it, but it is there.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u53/gabenash/oso-negro-aitor-knife.jpg

[HorseSoldier]

This seems to assume that a hit from a knife is equally effective to a hit from a gun. I don't want to get stabbed or shot...but I know which one ends fights faster.

Both can end a fight quickly -- the problem with an opponent who gets into knife range is that you're not likely to get cut just once, and trying to bring a gun to bear also reduces your ability to defend yourself from the knife.

Not saying that makes the gun a bad idea, just saying that up real close there aren't a whole lot of good options, and even if gun beats knife (which I agree) when you get into stabbing range, "winning" the fight can still easily mean permanent/crippling injuries, etc. Better than being dead, but still . . .

The son-of-a-b**** is not gonna get close enough to me to use a knife. I'll done have his brains blown out a little while before he get's that close. Guaranteed....

Unfortunately, the Tueller Drill or whatever says that if the bad guy can get inside 21 feet he can cut you before you can draw on him . . . from open carry in a duty belt holster. I've heard some people bump this up to 30 feet these days for open carry, not sure what the going thinking is for draw from concealed carry.

Serious self-defense has to include options/strategies for what happens when the bad guy does get the drop on the good guy, the weapon being used for defense type 3s at close range, etc. It can and does happen, and "I'll always shoot the bad guy" just isn't a realistic approach to self-defense.

I have an ancient aluminum teeball bat

Would have found that kind of funny until I saw a big halibut beat to death with one. Definitely not eager to get in the path of a teeball bat after that.

[azyogi]

Good points Horsesoldier, but isn't the Tueller Drill heresy around here?

[TimboKhan]

Well, like I said, the ol' kabar is by the bed next to the 66. I realyl do use it as more of a backscratcher, but if that was it's only good use, then I would just keep a backscratcher by the bed, y'know?

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

conwict-


Knives are better at severing things physiologically necessary for function, like tendon, nerves, etc...

You slash the hand just so, and the hand that was choking you is now permanently limp.

[Telesway]

This seems to assume that a hit from a knife is equally effective to a hit from a gun. I don't want to get stabbed or shot...but I know which one ends fights faster.

Do you mean a good hit from a knife or a bad hit from a knife vs. a good hit from a gun vs. a bad hit from a gun?

Yes, the question is rethoric but here's my point: a bad hit from a gun will do little else than annoy the attacker (e.g. the bullet just grazes a large muscle, barely making a scratch) and if it happens to be a pistol and he's grabbed the slide/barrel, you most likely have to deal with a jammed weapon as well now. If we're talking about good hits... well, a good stab to the throat ends a fight pretty quickly, don't you think? Or stabbing/cutting any of the major arteries (not quite as quick but generally talking seconds here). Additionally there's what DAVIDSDIVAD said; a cut/slash can render a limb useless with one hit. What I mean is both weapon types can deliver show stoppers.

I can also tell from personal experience that losing 1/3 of all of your blood makes you very, very weak, slow, possibly unconscious, and practically leaves you at someone else's mercy (be it an attacker or a paramedic, luckily in my case it was the latter).

This is not to annoy people or anything but I honestly recommend trying out the paintball gun vs magic marker drill in which the attacker is really trying to "kill" the defender and you go full force. It's pretty damn difficult to take away a knife from a determined opponent especially since you can't really grab the knife itself since only the blade is exposed but you have to grab the knife hand whereas with a gun all you have to do is grab the gun/move it/yourself out of the line of fire and the gun is useless.

I do think a gun is the superior weapon but at wrestling distance the knife is, imo, a bigger pain in the ass to deal with than a gun (especially a semi-automatic).

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

Paintball?

I'd go for airsoft first.

[conwict]

Yes, I agree that FACING a knife or a gun sucks...but I think that for the reasons mentioned in your post and mine, a gun is pretty adequate for bedside protection unless you have stealth ninja problems in your neighborhood.

[Telesway]

DAVIDSDIVAD, sorry, meant airsoft. Got the two mixed up as English is my second language.

conwict, true, but since a knife beside the gun doesn't really hurt (and knives aren't that expensive either)... well, I'm a fan of the adage: "what happens to paranoid people? Usually very little." :D

[HorseSoldier]

(and knives aren't that expensive either)...

I can tell you don't spend a lot of time drooling at the Strider or Randall, etc., websites . . . ;)

[broken]

interesting perspectives from everybody on the subject,i guess ive been reading to much massad ayoub articles on self defense around the house,shotguns-pistols-knives-self defense techniques for my wife and daughter,i bought em mace ,stun guns,and knives to put in their purses.

[conwict]

BTW, I know this is the NFW forum, so I don't normally say "a gun" as my answer...I didn't mean to appear flippant. Sometimes if I stay in an unfamiliar area I keep a really sharp 3.5" blade drop point hunter fixed blade on the stand, but that's mainly if it was on my belt.

[The Highlander]

Would have found that kind of funny until I saw a big halibut beat to death with one. Definitely not eager to get in the path of a teeball bat after that.
Yeah it's a pretty nasty little weapon. I like it better than a full size bat because of its maneuverability in confined spaces. I've got a sawwed off mossberg 500 with a foward pistol grip that would really ventilate a perp, but unfortunately I didn't read the fine print on my 12 month apartment lease up at school so now I have to keep them stored "off site". I've been thinking about bringing it anyways.

[wheelgunslinger]

I keep a cold steel smatchet and a tomahawk by the bed in addition to the gun and mag light. If the gun fails, jams, malfs, etc, I have my choice.

[bikerdoc]

OK guys I agree, guns, knives, canes, mag light, whatever at the bed side. I got them all.

Now think about this,
A good layered defense means hardening your domain,.... having multiple layers for the BG to get through,.... good sensor lighting, dogs, alarms,etc......

So we dont have to go to the nightstand goodies.

It also helps if you have a rep in the area for being someone not to screw with.

[Telesway]

bikerdoc, very good point! Geoff Thompson talks about that when he wrote about the guy, who had bitten a man's nose clean off in a bar fight. Nobody even went near the guy in a bar because he had such a rep for being a crazy ****er. I think Thompson called that a "psychological fence", meaning an invisible "barrier" you have around yourself that nobody wants to cross for fear of getting hurt. Kind of like posting a sign on your yard gate with a picture of a big dog.

Also agree 100% on the other stuff: a decent alarm system, night lights in the yard, trained dogs etc. Whatever to work as a barrier between yourself/your family and hurt. I think that knives, clubs, even guns are for those moments when all other security measures have failed and it's time to do man's work (according to some old samurai axiom, all of it bloody business).

I find that the items I use the most at night is a flashlight (for just about all night-time wanderings around the house) and the gun (for double checking that it wasn't a bg when something went 'bump' in the night).

[Todd A]

good sensor lighting, dogs, alarms,etc......

+1 doc...

More important than any bedside weapon.

Since I have my edc stuff at the side of my bed these are the knives that are there.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm99/toddma/100_1161.jpg

They are not what I will reach for for HD.

When my dog goes woof, I reach for my Mossberg. No need to worry about waking up with someone over my bed.

(Unless they are Ninjas. :eek: )

[kmrcstintn]

guess it depends on what is in my pocket; usually a Gerber EZ Out folder, a Meyerco G10 folder, or a bigger CRKT Falcon folder that I wear while on hunting grounds; my fixed blade hunting/gutting/knives stay with the huting gear

[NJGarand]

Next to my .45 in the closet is a SOG Fusion Tomahawk.

http://www.warriorsandwonders.com/images/sogF01T.jpg

[acmax95]

I have my EDC CRKT M-21 by the bed. There is also a Buck 110 and a K-Bar Warthog next to my 1911 in the nightstand. And the Kbar in the dresser drawer, and the shotgun in the closet....

[Hunter125]

I have a S&W S&R Tanto on the bedside table. But my first line of defense is the 870 by the bookshelf and the 3" deer slug on my bedside table. Like Sunray said, if that won't get rid of my problem, a knife won't do me much good.

[Gordon]

Big Bowie or Ax or sword to remove the trophy to put on a pole outside the bedroom as a warning!

[DutchmanDick]

I keep a 200-year-old Indian tulwar and a katar (and a 14" steel buckler) by my night stand, along with a carbine. The sword and katar are for when I have my kids - less chance of a bullet going through the thin walls of my 57-year-old house (just wallboard and 1x2's), if I'm using a blade (at least, until I can get the kids safely into my room and lock the door).

[Black Toe Knives]

I am knife guy first and foremost. I see a knife as a tool for cutting and second as defense weapon, never as the other way around. I keep a 12 gauge with buckshot as my Bedside blade. If I can't cut them in half with 12 gauge buck shot. A knife ain't going to help me.

[shockwave]

I know a blade is of little value when a firearm is kept just as close

Your entire home should be filled with weapons. Firearms are a single component of your entire defense layout. Swords, staffs, spears, sais, knives, nunchaku, etc. There should be serviceable tools in every room so that you always have a fall back. Unarmed combat training has to be a daily practice because your hands and feet will always be your most immediate tools. Guns are kind of nice in a "hope you get lucky" sort of way, but I would never count on them as my only defense. The swords are quick to bring into play and devastating.

[Mitch from LA]

Your entire home should be filled with weapons. Firearms are a single component of your entire defense layout. Swords, staffs, spears, sais, knives, nunchaku, etc. There should be serviceable tools in every room so that you always have a fall back. Unarmed combat training has to be a daily practice because your hands and feet will always be your most immediate tools. Guns are kind of nice in a "hope you get lucky" sort of way, but I would never count on them as my only defense. The swords are quick to bring into play and devastating.
After reading this thread I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not.

[kayak-man]

I have a few options: I keep my SOG Seal Revolver by my bed incase to leave the house in a hurry. The way the sheath is made on that one I can just shove it in my waistband and be fairly confident that it will stay there. I also have a machete in the space between my bed and the wall. If someone breaks in and I end up rolling out of bed, its right there (O.K. thats just the mall ninja in me talking, The real reason I keep it there is because if I just put it in the shop with all the other tools it would get lost.)
Really though, if someone breaks into my place, I'm curling up into a ball, hugging my pillow and pretending to be asleep. Some people will say that this is a stupid idea, but I think its briliant. Did I mention that I keep a KaBar under my pillow?