Attack!

 Around 2001 Massad Ayoob designed a folding knife for Spyderco to fit between the ribs, the intercostal space, and lacerate the heart and lungs.  Who is Massad Ayoob, and why should his ideas be put into production?  Google his name, will you?

The Ayoob Clipit blade fit's rather nicely

His knife design locked the blade open at an angle of less than 180 degrees.  This allows you to utilize the knife with the wrist very close to the strong, neutral position.  More on that later. 

The original knife was produced as both a fully serrated and plain edge with a black Almite handle and a blade made from VG-10.  Almite is a surface coating used on aluminum for decorative and protective reasons.

The use of VG-10 in a knife blade designed to slice into human flesh was ironic.  VG-10 was initially produced for Japanese chefs.  The steel’s properties soon caught the attention of other knife companies.  Spyderco was not the only one to utilize this steel.  Al Mar, Camillus, Boker, SOG and Fällkniven were among VG-10 users.

By the way - - If you aren’t reading this at Tactical Talk has been stolen and used without my permission.  Please let me know at Frank1karl@yahoo.com.

What I thought was interesting is that Spyderco even made the Ayoob Clipit.

Years ago, Joyce Laituri told me Spyderco didn’t like making knives whose sole purpose was to harm people.  In the movie, Hannibal, Spyderco was approached to provide knives.  Such product placement is a free commercial worth millions, so of course, they agreed.  They did ask if their knives could be used by the good guys.  That didn’t happen and Hannibal Lecter used a Harpy.

Despite this desire to be on the side of the angels, Spyderco will make purpose-driven lethal knives if LEO and military agencies request those designs.  The Ayoob was in the 2001 and 2002 catalog but disappeared in 2003.

The Ayoob Clipit sprint run  note the angle between blade and handle

Despite the short run, the Ayoob knife picked up a vocal following and Spyderco has brought it back as a sprint run.  I hesitated on the original Ayoob Clipit, but I did get one of the sprint runs.  I really like mine.

The current Spyderco Ayoob C60GPGY has a G-10 handle over steel liners.  The scales are set up so you can move the pocket clip to facilitate your favorite carry method.  The clip holds the knife slightly visible in your pocket, an important consideration for anyone concerned about concealed weapons.  The visible portion of the knife eliminates the concealed aspect.  A David Boye release lever is incorporated to reduce the possibility of your grip accidentally unlocking the knife.  I don’t believe there are any actual documented cases other than those few that were engineered to demonstrate the potential.

The Ayoob is a purpose-driven knife and still very good looking

Surprisingly, the steel used on the sub-four-inch blade is CPM CRU-WEAR.  It is an interesting steel, but you should know its limitations.  The elemental composition gives it better wear properties than D2 tool steel, better toughness than M2 steel, and more compression strength than either.  But the properties of any metal are essentially a teeter-totter.  Raise one property and another property sinks.

The property on the low end of the teeter-totter is corruptibility.

CRU-WEAR has only 7.24% chromium.  The steel’s carbides are primarily produced by the presence of 2.4% vanadium and 1.6% molybdenum.  These tiny carbides are more of a ceramic particle, very hard, and they pin grain boundaries preventing movement.  

Unfortunately, the free chromium level is too low to provide stain resistance.  That’s something very important when dealing with corrosive substances, like blood.

So what makes this fighting knife special?

But before we address this, let me remind you that an expensive, purpose-driven knife doesn’t give you the upper hand in any conflict.  In Paul L. Kirk’s ‘Criminal Investigation’ published in 1955, Kirk noted the most common knives used in crime are cheap kitchen knives or sharpened screwdrivers.  This hasn’t changed.

Don’t end up in the morgue because you believed your special tool gave you a God-like advantage.

There are several things that make this knife special.  The first was already mentioned.  The blade is designed to fit between the ribs and penetrate deep into the chest cavity, lacerating lungs, heart and other vital structures. 

Perhaps the most notable feature and innovation is the angle between the blade and handle.  I’ll let Massad Ayoob explain it.  "With a typical knife, thrusting lifts the blade's point above the line of the forearm, like a boat prow going through water. The faster, harder or more resistance encountered, the higher the prow rises deviating the blade off course from its original target which can mitigate the depth of the cut.”

Being a folder, you are more likely to have the knife on you when it is needed, as compared to a fixed blade.  This too is an underappreciated feature.

What Ayoob doesn’t explain, Jim Davis does:  “Regarding wounds, stab wounds are far more prone to kill a person than slash wounds.  Stabs tend to penetrate and hit arteries and organs, causing internal bleeding.”  http://tactical-talk.blogspot.com/2021/01/jim-davis-on-knives.html

When you are fighting for your life, severe measures are called for.

The blade/handle angle allows your wrist to lock into its strongest position, which we call the neutral position.  The wrist loses strength when it is at extreme ranges of movement.  This property is utilized in both disarms and joint locks.  The Ayoob Clipit lets you cut and stab with your wrist in the neutral position for better control and grip.

Ayoob Clipit with the wrist in the neutral position for strong slash or stab

Endura with wrist almost set in a wrist lock.  A significantly weaker grip

Surprisingly, Spyderco amplifies these ideas, stating:  “The C60's radical angle brings the blade into line with the long bones of the forearm, channeling the body's force directly behind the line of the cut resulting in minimized blade deviation and maximized accuracy.”  This statement may represent a fundamental change in philosophy on purpose-driven lethal weapons.

Let me point out that deep penetration isn’t the knife’s only purpose.  In 1942 W.E. Fairbairn published “All In Fighting,” which contained his ‘Timetable of Death’, a estimation of how long it took to lose consciousness and die from a knife injury to several major targets.  Some of these were subsurface locations, almost all are reachable by slicing with a 4-inch blade. 

This chart has been updated by C Grosz and M Janich with additional information as well as Janich’s Counter-Blade Concepts.  I recommend having both references on your bookshelf as part of your affirmative defense.

The Spyderco Ayoob is a limited sprint run.  I find the Ayoob C60GPGY an attractive knife.  You’ve been warned.  They’ll run out fast.