It goes without saying that most members of the self-reliance community prefer to be armed with some type of weapon when they go outside the home. Many members in the community carry concealed firearms for this purpose, when and where the law allows.
Concealed carry is not available to all people in all areas, however, as state and local laws differ greatly throughout the nation. The vast majority of survivalists I’ve observed prefer the convenience of a pocketknife.
Question: How confident do you really feel about your knife fighting skills?
Unless you’ve been trained in martial arts, the answer should be a resounding “Not very.”
Edged weapons take advanced training to wield effectively. And as we’ve all heard, the chances of having your own blade turned against you are very high if you’re not properly trained.
Pocketknives, in particular, require you to close a lot of distance between you and any would-be attacker. As I’ve said many times, putting distance between you and the threat is what keeps you safe. Bottom line: You don’t want to get close to any combatant if you have a better option.
At home, where our defenses are strongest, we rarely spend time considering the devastating readymade weapons lying around. Why would we need to? However, should an assailant come after you at a friend’s home, or in a public place, an improvised weapon may well make the difference in who goes home… and who goes to the ER (or the morgue).
Here are a few common objects that can be converted into devastating weapons in seconds:
Closet Rod – Simply open the nearest hall closet, lift up on one end of the closet rod and allow all the hangers to slide off onto the floor. Instantly, you’re holding a 4 to 8 foot staff-like weapon that will give you both reach and momentum to use against an attacker.
Wooden rods will work great as an improvised baseball bat, but metal closet rods make even more gnarly weapons. Metal rods often have sharp edges on their open ends. Thus, you can both swing them at an attacker and stab an attacker in the face or abdomen. Use your imagination; it can be pretty gruesome.
Chain Lock – A bike chain lock, if you’ve ever thought about it, is a readymade deadly weapon. Several of the most popular locks on the market are made from highly reinforced, thick, chain links and held together with heavy locks that are just made for swinging.
Even one of the lighter chain and lock combinations commercially available make great weapons that extend your effective reach and keep attackers at a distance. Even a glancing blow to the hand of forearm will do serious damage to an opponent. A direct hit to the head, neck, or torso could easily be an instant “fight ender,” or worse.
Fire Extinguisher – The fire extinguisher is on this list for several reasons. First off, fire extinguishers are both present and easily accessible in most public buildings (see my Fire Extinguisher Self-Defense).
Second, a fire extinguisher can shoot a concentrated12 to 15-foot stream of irritating, powdery goo into the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears of the attacker — it comes out fast. A direct hit from the contents of a fire extinguisher can temporarily blind an attacker, not to mention irritate his airways.
Last, the fire extinguisher itself can be used as a blunt force weapon as a last resort. Fire extinguishers are both heavy and metal; both are good characteristics of a club-like weapon.
BONUS: Newspaper – Newspaper can be found pretty much anywhere. What few people realize is that it can be converted into a devastating weapon in about 42 seconds. Simply roll it up as tightly as you can manage, then fold the roll in half once. This will give you a short, super strong baton known as a “Millwall Brick.”
This weapon was developed by European soccer hooligans and can be quite devastating at close range. Using it is simple; just swing the short club at your opponent’s head and/or neck. You’re not necessarily trying to hit a specific area, just to make good contact. Even if your opponent blocks the blow with a hand or forearm, they’ve taken damage in the exchange.
The downsides to this weapon are the time it takes to roll the newspaper up and its relatively short range. On the other hand, this weapon is incredibly easy to make and quite easy to conceal.
What other everyday objects can be turned into lethal weapons at a moment’s notice?
A key ring with the keys splayed out between the webs of your fingers on your dominant hand is an effective “raking” weapon to the face. Your hand can be in your pocket if you are in a potentially dangerous place, such as a parking garage at night. A good ink pen in your shirt pocket is also a good weapon to inflict puncture wounds on an assailant.
A high lumen flashlight, especially if it strobes, can buy you some extra time. I am an expert with nunchucks and feel that I could take out most assailents with them. If you want to learn nunchucks, start very slowly, because if you try to do too much too quickly and whack yourself, you will hate them. Brian
I have trained in “martial arts” between 1973 until my “semi-retirement” in 2006, and I agree that “hand weapons” do indeed require more than a little training in their use. Check out a local Kendo school to get at lest some ground work in using a closet pole. (Besides, Kendo is probably the most “fun” of all the martial arts… practiced in Japan by literally all ages.)
Also, a spray bottle of household cleaner set on “stream” can be almost as effective as a can of mace.
Most importantly is the “mind-set” of not being a victim… being a sheep-dog, and not a sheep.
I was taught the key ring technique back in the seventies. It has the additional advantage of leaving distinctive marks identifiable in court.
Another weapon few people think about is their clothes iron. It’s solid, it’s heavy and when you swing it, baddie is going down.
The best weapons I’ve found when out and about are my teeth, fingernails, knees and feet. The guy who grabbed me from behind to rape me put hand over my mouth. I opened mouth wade, his hand slipped in, I bit down. Then I scratched all his skin I could reach. When I got turned around, I kneed his groin and stomped on his feet.. As he was withering on ground, I ran away.. You don’t need to be a black belt to protect self.
I always keep a can of wasp spray in my car (in the door pocket) sprays a nice long steady stream
These are all great but there are two that are not listed. 1st- Wasp spray. It shoots 20 feet accurately, is as effective if not more than pepper spray. Is not expected to be used and renders an opponent vulnerable for either your assault on them or to flee. If you kept spraying the wasp spay into their mouth you could kill them, ahhhhh. 2nd are the red laser pointers you can get just about anywhere. They are cheap, very effective when shined in an assailants eyes; it renders them next to blind for a couple minutes giving you time to do whatever. Great weapon for ladies to have on your key chain. The Laser works in day time as well as night. Guys they work for you too and kids can use them as well and cats and dogs love to try and catch the light.
My key ring has a tool I use for untying knots. I cut a 2 to 3 inch section of a knitting needle, drilled a hole in the blunt end and it goes where I go. Walking to and from car, it lays at the ready concealed by my index finger as a nasty surprise for a would be attacker. Sternum, throat, eyes are primary targets..and a knot or two.
Now that’s taking a bite out of crime! 🙂
Any short length of wood, plastic or metal can be used as a yari stick or kubotan. A belt can be wrapped around the hand or swung using the buckle to strike an attacker. A briefcase, clipboard, handbag, or even your shoes can all be used to defend against a knife attack.
In the home keep a can of insect spray, the kind used for long distance of 10 to 20 feet , used for wasp, etc. You can also keep a can handy in you car in the event that you can get to your car if you are being followed. A shot of this to the eyes will stop the biggest. attacker in his tracks. The only problem is that in this liberal world that we now live in you would probably go to jail for using chemical weapons.
A little planning is a good thing. To expand on the closet rod idea, cut a piece of wooden rod about 3 feet long. Wrap Duct Tape or Gorilla Tape on one end to increase your grip. Then sharpen the other end to give you both a club and a stabbibg weapon.
A tape recording of my wife nagging me should send anyone heading for the hills within a few seconds 😉
But in case that doesn’t work, a couple rolls of quarters in a tube sock should help out.
I was going to post this a little while ago but just now remembered to to it so here goes: Weapons around the house, my first would be a #2 shovel. Most of the average quality and all of the better quality have a heat treated carbon steel head that can hold as well as take a near razor edge. This gives a very long slashing weapon as well as a partial thrusting weapon. The best would be a USFS fire fighting shovel as this has a considerably more aggressive point for cutting roots and limbs and is simular to a civil war spade bayonet.
Second would be a 20oz. or greater steel handle framing hammer, with the longer handle you have considerably more leverage when compared to a conventional hammer and have first hand knowledge of the hammer slipping and the claws sutting the artery in the wrist of the user.
My third unconventional weapon could/would be a chair or bar stool. The legs make great impact/thrust weapon with multiple points of contact. plus you have distance and the back provides a bit of a shield if the attacker has a knife or other type of edged weapon. I purposely stayed away from such things as screw drivers, scissors/hears and other kinds of pointy cutty things around the house. Just a little food for thought.
Another good one for the attacker to get his guard down is the play scared then as quickly as possible with two fingers in his eyes using either hand, followed by knee or kick to the balls and ending with grabbing his head coming down hard onto your knees. I taught that to my daughter and it worked, If I did not taught her that she would had been beaten, rape and even dead. My daughter was 16 at the time.