Hey Rich, I just noticed that the knife appears made (handle wise) to be held in the sabre grip, with the edge down or in the reverse grip with the primary edge out.

I hope they go with pepper spray, because I believe everyone should get to experience that stuff - even if it is from their buddy's accidental discharge. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Been there, had the done to me THREE TIMES! It ain't pretty and it don't feel good, but If you had a sinus blockage before, you won't have after!

The last time that I spent much time researching an inexpensive/throw away self-defense knife, I recommended a Cold Steel Kobun -- they can be had for about $30 from Amazon. In addition to price, requirements were that it couldn't be a dagger or "Bowie" and it had to be concealable.

When I was in high school, I carried a comb that had come with a handle in my back pocket (it was the 70's, so that wasn't as uncommon as it would be now). I removed the handle and substituted an icepick. One day a guy tried to pull a pocketknife on me and I had the point under his chin before he'd opened his blade, so he put it away and moved along. An ice pick with a "sheath" like this: http://www.amazon.com/Harold-Stainless-Steel-Covered-Pick/dp/B0001V489W/ might be worth considering.

I say mace and distance until they Are ready for are ready for some serious selfdefence training.

So, can any of you guys recommend a way to start training? I sometimes worry about self defense myself. I think I have come to the conclusion that if I am under threat only for my material possesions at gun point per say. It would be smarter to hand them over.
Now, if my families life, or my own is being threatened, that I believe is the time to fight to the death if necessary. But how can one prepare for that? I have no training. I suppose some basic just some basic boxing or something similar would be best right?

Are you talking knife training or straight up self defense? For the knife, any of the filipino martial arts systems are nasty with a blade. Joe Blow with a knife is bad news...being trained with a blade is d-a-n-g-e-r-o-u-s!!

For general self defense, i say Brazilian Jiu Jitsu...some folks will disagree, but I think the mechanics are just brilliant and nothing gets you up and running faster.

Not necessarily knife fighting. I am considering just some boxing. Just to have some experience in hand to hand combat. There arn't many places around my house to train/learn/take lessons. Thats the problem.

Steeley, get a pistol, a CCW permit and take some pistol marksmanship classes. Some law enforcement agencies offer self defense classes as well. Many cover armed and unarmed defense. I recommend learning both.

As for martial arts ... unless you plan to spend a lot of continued time in a dojo, save your money for a gun instead. Taking a few lessons or even enough to move up the belt system a few colors is just enough to give you the confidence to get your butt in trouble.

I like Krav Maga. Its intuitive. But mindset is still where its at.

What about at your College? Check the Phys Ed dept.

I love Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, BUT its not everywhere yet and even in LA where its on every other corner the prices are still high.

Remember Brazilian Jiu Jitsu may have some "new" techniques but its 80-90% Judo with some wrestling techniques thrown in. So if you can get some Judo usually at the "y" or at least a Japanese Cultural Center its also usually cheap. Judo is usually about $30.00 per month while BJJ can be $125-$250 per month depending on the teacher and location.

But Check your school for Judo or wrestling. The conditioning is AMAZING!!

My favorite quotes for Grapplers:

"Nothing hits harder than cement"

"The ground never misses"

"When we fight we WILL go to the ground and I will be there waiting for you" Rigan Machado

MM
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The problem with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (and some other ground fighting arts) is that they tend to focus one on one, which is great unless his buddies are kicking you in the head.

I remember being a white belt (Aiki Jiu Jitsu) and taking apart a 2nd degree black belt (there black belt was Gojuru Karate) while sparring quite easily. He had spent the last 10 years learning a martial art that was based on katas and no real physical contact, while I had spent the last 10 years mis-spending my youth.
Even among the same martial art there are differences between schools in what they specialize in.
Tournament Hapkido is much different then combat Hapkido asan example