A thought about concealed pointy or sharp things and their employment in bad, really bad situations. In my opinion (somewhat backed up by experience on scenes where these kind of weapons were actually used....) the shock value of such a weapon employed from utter concealment was as great a factor in any outcome as the actual damage done in the encounter.
Against an individual with some skill - you'll never know that a blade or spike was involved until you've been hit.... Witnesses to knife encounters that I spoke with almost never saw the blade. They usually reported that one individual was "hitting" the other.
We can speculate whether one type of hand weapon (as opposed to firearm) is more or less effective in actual use, but I believe you really have to consider every portion of the equation in these kind of encounters. The human animal's response to violent encounters (or the clear threat of this kind of encounter) varies so widely that you can come up with every sort of result and have real world incidents to back up your point of view. I've seen victims that never knew they were cut or stabbed until after whatever happened was over and done. I've spoken with folks threatened up close with blades and similar weapons and noted every response possible from immediate flight (of the victim) to immediate and successful attack (by the victim). This ranged from the large and fit individual that fled on sight of a blade to the little clerk who turned into a raging tiger at the mere sight of a threatened blade attack (and everything in between).