Throw away edged weapons or otherwise known as ditch weapons are becoming more and more popular with those that travel. I have been following Ed’s Manifesto on Facebook for some time now and he focuses a lot on knowing the local endemics of your destination. Doing some homework ahead of time on your destination will better prepare you for type of clothing needed, local customs and of course the laws wrapped around knives and/or concealed carry. Ed recommends having an ‘endemics notebook’ that you can write down important information about your destination and where you will be staying/visiting. Things such as emergency numbers, local stores, local laws and the overall atmosphere of where you will be.

Back to our topic of throw away edged weapons. There are a few reasons why people do not bring their knives with them when traveling, but the two most popular seem to be not knowing the local knife laws of your destination or you just don’t want to risk TSA taking your knife from checked luggage. Either way there are ways around this is you want to have some type of knife or edged weapon on you for emergencies. Typically when I travel and want to obtain a knife once at my destination. I don’t want to spend a lot of money on one and I want to be able to ditch that knife before leaving. If I need to defend my life in a dark corner of the world I want to be able to ditch that weapon and run too. Just take a look at the mindset of criminal behavior and recent terrorist attacks. Edged weapons are becoming more and more common in attacks. Better to be prepared with something rather than nothing at all.

What are your options?

The most common right now is the fruit knife craze. Victorinox makes a great little birds beak fruit knife that has a curved beak blade similar to a karambit. You can order these off Amazon if you choose to prepare ahead of time and pack a few in your checked baggage when traveling. The great thing about the Victorinox fruit knife is the handle. The handle is long enough to allow you a full grip which in turn gives you the best possible retention on the knife during use. Used correctly the curved beak blade can cause massive amounts of trauma to the human body, especially if you go to work on your opponents face.

You will surely be able to create enough space to get off the X and ditch the weapon. The last thing you want (especially if in a foreign country) is to get caught with a knife covered in blood. There are some handle mods you can do to the Victorinox Fruit Knife in order to assist with the orientation of the knife in the dark or if you are under an extreme amount of stress.

Another route is to go to the local dollar store, grocery store or hardware store and you’re sure to find some cheap fruit or paring knives. I went to my local dollar store and picked up a pack of 4 paring knives and a single larger paring knife. Both were purchased for $2 out the door and now I have 5 improvised ditch knives to use. Even if I don’t use them I’m only out $2.

For both the Victorinox fruit knives and the cheap paring knives you’ll need to have some type of sheath to keep them in your pocket without stabbing yourself in the leg. Making an improvised pocket sheath is equally as cheap as the knives themselves and only requires a little thinking outside the box. The only materials needed are a water bottle, bic lighter and maybe some electrical tape.

This is demonstrated on Ed’s Manifesto Facebook page as well. Empty the water bottle, using the knife cut out a section of the water bottle to wrap around the blade portion of the knife. Use the light to heat up the plastic to form it the knife so that there is a little retention. Once that is done go ahead and wrap it a few times with some electrical tape or duct tape.

Once the sheath is completed you knife have a cheap concealable knife to use during your travels.

In an extreme last-ditch situation you could even fashion a plastic eating utensil into a point driven weapon.

From Ed’s Manifesto:

“Point driven meant for stab and break off type work. Finger dip for retention. 2 minutes on the sidewalk, takes a bit more on carpet, but not much. It will go through flesh, but your targeting will be limited. Better than nothing.”

Gear shown in this article:

Victorinox Birds Beak Knife

Kydex sheath for Victorinox Knife

Paring Knives

Electric Tape

Lighters