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Alternative and Improvised Weapons – Part 2, by J.M.

Posted By SurvivalBlog Contributor On In Contest,Self-Defense,Weapons | Comments Disabled

(Continued from Part 1.)

Some Theory

While most people instinctively understand the concept of ‘pick up something heavy and hit them with it’, it’s useful to understand some of the theory behind weapons in order to make more informed decisions about what to carry and how effective it can be. The goal of most weapons is to apply energy to the target, whether through simple impact force, penetration, explosion, chemical reaction or other methods. For impact weapons, Newton’s Law of motion say ‘Force = Mass x Acceleration’, which roughly translates to the heavier something is and the faster it’s moving, the more force (energy) will be applied to the target. However, physics also tells us that the heavier something is the more energy will be required to transport it and get it moving. Hitting someone in the head with an anvil will stop most threats, but carrying an anvil around and throwing it at someone is probably beyond the ability of most people, so we need to optimize the amount of weight we can effectively carry around and use. Force is typically measured in units such as foot-pounds (ft-lb), which is what I’ll be using for this article. (Note: I realize that the science of measuring force and energy is a lot more complicated than I discuss here, but I’m just creating a basic framework for later discussions).

Another useful concept is that of the surface area over which the force is applied. For example, if you take a 4’ x 4’ sheet of ¼” plywood and whack someone over the head with it, you’ll probably only annoy or mildly disorient them. If you take that same mass (weight) and concentrate it down into a metal ball and hit them in the head with it at the same speed, you may crack their skull or knock them unconscious. Penetration weapons like spears, darts, knives, etc. take this concept to it’s ultimate end, applying a large amount of force into a very small area (the tip), allowing it to penetrate skin, tissue and organs. The force applied over a given area is usually measured in pounds per square inch (psi) or Pascals (Pa), and I’ll be mentioning psi in this article.

Based on these laws, deciding on what force-related weapons you should carry or improvise comes down to quickly and accurately applying the maximum amount of force to the smallest possible area of the target in a form you can easily carry and use. Note that weapons such as chemicals and fire don’t necessarily follow the same rules regarding force, but they are still a method of applying energy to a target, just in a different form.

The other consideration is the target itself – where do you hit them to cause the most damage and neutralize the threat. The human body is a remarkably wonderful machine, but it has a lot of significant weak points that can be targeted to cause maximum pain, discomfort or damage. Some of the best targets are (in no particular order):

Impacting or penetrating any of these areas with even a moderate amount of energy can temporarily or even permanently disable most attackers. Learning about the body’s weak points and practicing attacking them can help you develop a more effective instinctual fighting method; for example, while you may inclined to swing a club at someone’s head, hitting them in the knee can be a more effective and faster way to disable them, and it’s a lot harder for them to defend against.

Weapon Categories

There are a lot of different ways to categorize weapons, but for the purpose of this article I’m going to group them based on two criteria – the type of impact they are designed to have on an attacker, and their effective operating range. The possible types of impacts are:

Effective operating range is how far from your body the weapon is designed to be effective. There are basically three ranges that I considered:

I’ll be referencing effective ranges later on.

Tools and Supplies

While I tend to recommend alternative weapons you can always have with you, in some situations you may need to expand your arsenal to handle a longer-term or more severe scenario where you don’t have access to firearms, such as a national grid-down situation with massive social unrest and long trip home. Note that if I have to fly someplace where I’m not allowed to have a firearm I still carry some tools in my checked suitcase like my Gerber Downrange Tomahawk [1], which provides a combination powerful weapon and useful tool. If I’m driving to a customer site I usually take any weapons or tools with me and leave them in my trunk, but I always take a simple innocuous toolkit in with me. If you are always allowed to have a multitool or Swiss Army Knife (SAK) with you wherever you go then you can probably skip this section. Note that SOG used to sell a multitool called the ‘Powerlock Traveler’, which had no knife blade, that you could actually carry on a plane here in the US but it’s been discontinued, although you can sometimes find them for sale on eBay.

Why tools? Wherever you are you’re almost always going to have access to vehicles, bicycles, trees, furniture, equipment, fixtures, building materials, hardware, chemicals and other supplies that you can use to improvise effective weapons; however, taking things apart and assembling weapons can be impossible if you only have your bare hands to work with. A simple tool kit that will get through pretty much any security or law enforcement check can give you the ability to collect parts and materials to produce a wide variety of weapons. This can include things like pieces of metal you can sharpen into blades or spear tips, nuts and washers you can use to make a weighted weapon, pieces of pipe or wood you can use for a club or spear, and many many more. Note that I’m not talking about rebuilding an engine or building a house – just performing some basic disassembly, assembly, and cutting tasks.

Here are some useful tool options that you can include in your kit:

Note that I’m not proposing that you carry a full-blown tool kit with you – even having just a keyring screwdriver and wallet card wrench will significantly improve your access to weapon-making components and supplies. There are also various compact combination tools [25] available that combine a lot of different tools into one, and those without a knife blade will usually pass most security checks.

The ‘full-sized’ kit I usually carry in a checked bag or suitcase consists of the following:

Here’s a picture of the kit with the pouch I carry it in (minus the trauma shears, which are in my IFAK):

[26]The whole thing weighs about 7 oz., and I’ve used it to disassemble everything from bicycles to ovens, as well as to practice fashioning weapons from materials I’ve found in the hotel rooms and trash. I once used the kit to take apart and fix a HVAC unit in a hotel room that was rattling so loudly I couldn’t sleep. If I’m traveling somewhere where I can take a multitool then I usually bring my Leatherman Wave, the one card of Leatherman bits, the Shomer-Tec saw, and the titanium adjustable wrench.

 

(To be continued tomorrow, in Part 3.)