knive fighting

Discussion in 'Filipino Martial Arts' started by krys, Jul 31, 2003.

  1. Gravity

    Gravity New Member

    Origin of the Tres Cantos?

    Nice reading your reply / confirmation Juramentado. Most likely the Tres Cantos idea sprang up from the desperate creativity of hardened inmates in one of our country's prisons.

    I came to know about that knife when our office messenger got stabbed in Dec. 2002. The police caught up with the suspect and that's how I saw for the first time the Tres Cantos. I couldn't help but admire the ingenuity of whoever made up this kind of knife.

    Mr. Parsons, I would try to post a picture of a Tres Cantos as soon as I can borrow my friend's. He's got one and he's a night watchman. But understand that the Tres Cantos is not a full production knife - being as what Juramentado said, a highly modified ice pick. Besides, its reputation (as a favorite weapon of underworld characters) is well, bad enough.
     
  2. Rich Parsons

    Rich Parsons Valued Member

    Re: Origin of the Tres Cantos?

    Gravity,

    Please call me Rich.

    I am just curious is all. Not going to judge or critique, I am only trying to picture, and ice-pick egts me a better image, yet I would still like to see one.

    Thank You
     
  3. shoto-kali

    shoto-kali The Chosen One

    when i was growing-up in manila during the 70's and 80's, ice pick, tres cantos, pana and sumpak are the favorite weapons used by the 'underworld character'. ice pick and tres cantos are the favorite weapon they want to carry around, its cheap to build and easy to conceal. i've seen one ice pick that looks like a 'bic' ballpen, he remove the inside led/ink of the pen leaving only the ballpen head and replace the inside with a metal pick/blade.

    in the early-90's batangeno modified this, instead using the bic ball pen, they start using a 'parker pen', this time its a full functional bussiness type pen, you can even put it through a xray machine and it will only come out as a regular metalic pen, but inside it is a single bladed knife, during those time i bought one of this for only P80 (less than US$3)

    why ice pick/tres cantos is the favorite side arm they use ? beside the info i've stated also earlier, they say if you stub somebody with this (one fast blow), blood dont usually comes out of your body and person who got stub thinks that he just got pinch and in just a few minute the person will faint and die for internal blood cluth.
     
  4. juramentado

    juramentado lean, mean eating machine

    yup. Icepicks cause massive internal bleeding when it's used to pierce organs like the liver and kidneys. unlike a conventional knife wound, an icepick hit will not bleed a lot but the damage is done. The disadvantage is that the icepick does not allow the user to slash.

    one method of mugging being used in Manila is ideal for icepicks. The victim is approached from behind and the mugger gets his arm around the victim and starts to walks beside him, smiling and appearing to onlookers as a friend of the victim. The mugger already stabs the victim a little, make 1/2 inch or more, just to make sure that the victim is sufficiently scared and will not try to resist. Goods are take and the mugger walks away.
     
  5. Goju

    Goju Yellow Belt

    Hey Yoda, to answer your question, a few posts back. Because I train at a japanese ma school (dojo) We practise mainly karate and japanese kobudo, but we also learn other ma. WHen it comes to eskrima, sensei and some of the other black belts teach it, I have no idea what style it is or who sensei + other black belts learned it from. Also, sensei is a qualified instructer in so many things, so lots of our training combines with other things too. We practise karate but we add in jujutsu, tai chi etc, when we do escrima, some of our drills and technques come straight from escrima, some from unarmed vs knife attacks, some from tanbo jutsu (short stick, same size as escrima sticks), and other styles too. So, I doubt it is a very traditional style, but i still find it very interesting, all I know from "real escrima" is the basic techniques, the 12 strike drill, and foot work.
     
  6. Gryphon Hall

    Gryphon Hall Feeling Scholler

    Tres Cantos: A Treacherous and Sneaky Weapon

    Yes, this is probably the only real effective way to use such a sneaky and treacherous weapon, that is, unfairly. However, it is quite unreliable in duels, really. I am not very fond of it.

    Honor would seem to dictate that Martial Artists avoid using such a "sucker punch" sort of weapon, but it makes sense to train with it to know how it works and make understanding how to defend against it possible. I must admit that I myself never went up agains that weapon, but two highschool classmates did (I am 28, so that was a long time ago). One didn't know he was stabbed, but it didn't matter because it entered him improperly, though it nearly skewered one of his kidneys; the other knew he was going to be stabbed, and was stabbed, but moved his body in such a way as to minimize the damage inside. Both were lucky to be alive, but it does demonstrate that it is not as deadly as a real knife.

    Actually, hindi rin; the way that a person trained in the classical arts would wield the tres cantos is very different from the way a coward sneaking up behind you to stab you would, and that can sometimes be a very unfortunate and fatal blind spot.

    Nakakahiya man sabihin, but I am not formally trained. But sometimes I would spar with formally trained fellows and I would do well, then some bloke who never trained at all comes at me with a ball pen and embarasses me by poking me in a way that leaves no doubt that if it was an icepick, heck! if he had the cap off and he really shoved, I would have had a third hole down below, if you knew what I mean.

    That's the dilemma, I guess. We need to train to defend against it, but how?

    Pax.
     
  7. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    imho, as what brother teacher showed me, pakal grip for this weapon. if you know how to use a knife in pakal grip then you can easily work it.

    a friend of mine who lives in tondo says: "anong pakialam ko diyan sa fma na iyan! kung patay, patay!" (what do i care for the filipino martial arts! dead is dead). that is why you'd better choose your teachers wisely. make sure that the technique is firmly rooted in reality and not some fantasy.

    note: i met him when i served as a namfrel volunteer at thier polling center. later, he was involved in on of the "my way" stabbings.
     
  8. Chase

    Chase New Member

    Hi S, Defending yourself with a knife can be fast & bloody, but from practice with the knife I've learned a lot more about timing & speed as well as not to fear getting cut, while at the same time respecting it, & it only grows after you get a few stitches.
    Ingat ka, ;)
     
  9. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    yup! i know that part! :D :D :D
     
  10. Chase

    Chase New Member

    Ah, well, the best lessons are the hardest more often than not. ;)

    Ingat ka,
     

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