Floro Fighting Systems

We are pleased to announce the first images of the NEW FFS KNIFE.

After many months of consultation between James Seckold and prominent Aussie Knife Maker ABS JS Shawn McIntyre. We are proud to show the prototype design.

Shawn will be working hard to produce the first “aluminium” version so that James and I can test it out.

Stay tuned for more updates

Ray Floro

So far the results have been excellent. 

It’s amazingly adaptable to small “improvised” weapons such as keys and pens.  The trick here is to re-enforce the base of the item with your palm, and then “pinch” the body with your thumb and forefinger. 

Held in such a way, the grip provides an very nice extension of the weapon that maximizes it’s reach.

One thing that has come out in teaching this new method to my students is that the weapon arm needs to be held STRAIGHT whilst executing the strike.
Any BEND in the elbow actually causes the strike to slow down.  Either by telegraphing the strike, and mechanically it is just slower.

The bend also tends to decrease the power of the strike.

Another important discovery is that just before the moment of impact; it is more effective to turn your palm UPWARDS.  This final motion will give your strike more of a thrusting trajectory and will allow for more reach.

Upon withdrawal, again KEEP THE ARM STRAIGHT. 

One more tip is to keep a strong grip, which will mean the knife will be held at nearly 90% to the wrist. 

This will allow for a more powerful blow without sacrificing reach and accuracy.

Ray Floro

The concept of living off the land with nothing but a knife has always intrigued me.  Of course living in the city makes it hard to do any of this since the local supermarket is just down the road, and killing any wildlife is considered illegal or environmentally sensitive.

I do however try and practice the knife skills now and then.

I bring up this topic because this week, the topic of survival and survival knives came up during a lesson with one of my students (Jean).  He himself was interested in survivalism, but was not aware of any special methods of using the knife.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to show him a few tricks.

The BEST method I’ve learned of using the knife which has so many practical applications is to utilize the BATON.

Here, you simply fabricate a strong, stout stick, so that you can use it as a “hammer” or as a “baton” to hit the spine of the knife.
By using the baton as an impact tool in conjunction with your knife, you can achieve remarkable “chopping” and “cutting” ability even with a small bladed sheath knife that would only be possible with an axe. 

The method is simple.

Simply lay the edge of your knife at the point where you would want to cut.  With your other hand, you hammer down on the back (or spine) of your knife so that the blade is driven into it’s target. 

With this method, I have cut down small trees.  You can also split thick firewood down to kindling size twigs. Not only did we do that, but with Jean, I wanted to show him how to make a quick but proven hunting tool which the Australian Aboriginal people used for thousands of years.

We decided to carve out a “Woomera” (other countries know this as the “Atlatl”).  This is a spear thrower made from a branch about 2 feet in length. One end is the handle; the other end has a “hook” which is placed in an indentation at the end of a spear.

By throwing the spear in this way, it, in effect “lengthens” your arm, giving GREAT leverage, giving the spear more power in the throw.
We found a tree branch lying around in the back of my home.  It only took us about 20 minutes to whittle the bark off, and carve the “hook” at the end of the Woomera.

What we had then was an extremely serviceable and effective spear thrower. 

Jean had never known about the “Baton” method, yet it only took him minutes to learn. Not have thrown a spear with a Woomera before….it only took him 15 minutes to get the hang of it.

Of course consistent accuracy over a distance and stalking prey would take A LOT more practice.

However, in just over half an hour, he learned how to use EASILY FOUND natural resources to arm himself with an effective hunting tool. Compare this to trying to make a Bow and Arrow and even to try and master a sling.  I feel this method is superior and much easier to make functional. 

Maybe one day, I’ll even make a video on these methods.

Ray Floro.

It is also a surprise that the majority of these people, who know all the nuances about knives, know nothing about sharpening knives.

It took me MANY years and a lot of money to finally settle on a sharpening method that I am happy and confident in.

I cringe at the memory of all those beautiful knives that I destroyed trying to attempt to sharpen them.

I have bought and tried nearly every existing sharpening system on the market. 

Some good, some absolutely hopeless.

So what do I PERSONALLY use these days for sharpening my edged pieces.

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I prefer this for no other reason that I seem to be able to generate more power and apply greater speed and non telegraphic striking that the more recognized “forehand” grip. Nevertheless, it has always concerned me that I could only generate these qualities with the reverse grip.

In the last few days I was talking to James Seckold (who is an Instructor under FFS).  He has been researching larger “bowie” type knives. 

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We are ALL concerned with the “quest” to find the PERFECT technique.
My purpose with this topic is to share the many discoveries and improvements that we experience throughout our training.

ARRESTING AND RESTRAINING.

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For that I do apologise.

The last few weeks has been a bustle of activity with private lessons increasing, seminars being booked and overseas students visiting.

All good fun, and encouraging as I function better when busy.

So many things to write about, yet so hard to know where to start.

But it came clear to me where I SHOULD start when I was having lunch with one of my students, and he asked the most obvious question. “How did you start developing F.F.S.”………..good question.

Since I was 7 years old (I’m turning 45 this year) I have always been fascinated my Martial Arts. I can still remember bugging my Dad to enroll me in the local Karate dojo.

It took me another year of constant nagging to finally be allowed to join.

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Opinion—A reply to the statement that there is a greater chance of being involved in a street confrontation involving an edged weapon in 2008 than in the 70’s or 80’s.

Comment—You are far more likely to be hit by a car, fatally stung by a bee or suffer fatal food poisoning! I work with the police and they state that rates of reported assault and violence are the same or slightly lower than in the 70’s. It is a greater focus by the media on sensationalist incidents that makes it appear more prevalent. I myself have never been assaulted in my adult life, despite playing in a band late at night in pubs. People with training often put themselves into positions more cautious people might avoid, due to overconfidence. I enjoy martial arts, but think that avoiding a confrontation is preferable to training yourself up to deal with it aggressively. Anyway, that’s my opinion. —End

Is the risk of knife assault overstated now in comparison to 15-20 years ago?

If you have any opinions on this please leave your comment.