I would like to encourage fighters to consider fighting Stick y Daga with the dage being a substantial aluminum blade. The idea here is to develop skill sets that discourage bum rushes into messy..."
Crafty: could u elaborate on ideas you have that would discourage "rushes into grappling". If I understand u correctly you are connecting the weapon with discouraging that. Assuming I understand your thinking can u explain how this would discourage such tactic? Also would u help me understand why u would want to discourage this or are you saying that we need to develop better responses to "bum rushes ending in grappling"?
There has always been a propensity during the fights with knives to do things one would probably
not do if the blades were real. Using shocknives, cattle-prods and large heavy aluminium trainers amongst other weapons, is one way to add a bit more realism by virtue of not wanting to be hit due to the very real possibilities of pain and/or physical damage.
When the weapon is treated as just another blunt object there seems to be a lot more close quarters striking, clinching and grappling with less emphasis placed on what damage a live blade would be doing and addressing that problem appropriately. The end result is typically a mess with both participants "dying multiple messy deaths".
This is what Guru Crafty appears to be referring to in the quoted text.
As an aside, there probably is a lot to be said also about learning to mitigate "bum rushes ending in grappling" with edged weapons. For that context DLO is the key. So in a way, you might be right on both accounts.
BTW - I don't recommend cattle-prods... they tend to scar.
Afterthought;
In addition to using weapons as mentioned it's helpful to talk to your opponent to re-iterate that you both want to treat the blades as live blades whether just daga versus daga or espada y daga versus xyz. Bitch Linda and I used little folder trainers in a Gathering once but treated them as very real sharp blades. It made for a very tactical and fun fight. There was no pain compliance with the little knives, just an equal understanding on reality. That may be helpful as well and that will be easy to set up in a closed Gathering with people who truly get it. Have fun!
