PTI Blog

“Smell the blade.” said my Indonesian Penchak Silat instructor, Suryadi “Crazy Eddie” Jafri.

“Why?” I replied, not understanding what this had to do with the question I had asked him.

“Billy, just smell the blade.”

Eddie had given me a small Indonesian knife, with a pistol grip and a 3 inch, leaf shaped blade of black damascus steel. It had a strange, elongated hole that looked to be deliberately forged into the center of the blade. The whole thing was small enough to fit into the palm of my hand.

Basic symmetrical sparring, with two evenly matched opponents, each using the same evenly matched weapon, is a great way to introduce students to many of the skills they need for combat. They can even stay in this symmetrical mode their whole martial arts careers, if the only place they will ever fight in are tournaments.

Things are different in a real fight though.

    Comparisons Based vs Rules Based learning methods (and how to combine them).   I read an interesting article several years ago on an experiment...

Here are some of the knives I’ve chosen for my wife to carry for daily use as well as her protection, based on my 40+ years teaching Filipino martial arts and 30+ years in law enforcement.

I was asked recently for my recommendation for an Every Day Carry knife (a.k.a. EDC). The parameters were that this knife should be capable for sel...

TWO NEW TUHONS FOR PEKITI-TIRSIA INTERNATIONAL This week I promoted Guros Scott Faulk and Jack Latorre to the rank of Tuhon Guro “Chief Instructor...

I am writing to ask all my fellow edged weapon instructors who have knife videos on the internet, for them to remove any of their videos that teach knife attack techniques or strategies specifically against an unarmed opponent.

The following structure closely follows the way I learned Pekiti-Tirsia knife work from Grand Tuhon Gaje in the 70’s and 80’s.

( Originally printed in the Winter 2000 PTI newsletter ) When I started training in the Pekiti-Tirsia system in 1975, I was 14 years old. It very q...

Most blade based martial arts have included wooden swords as part of their training.
The samurai had oak training swords called “bokken” and european swordsman of the Middle Ages and Renaissance used hardwood wooden swords called, (in English,) “wasters”.
The Martial Arts of the Philippines are no different, but the most common wood used for training traditionally is a vine-like species of palm known as rattan (one of 600 species of Calameae).

The following is adapted from the lecture I gave as part of my job as a firearms instructor for the New York State Court system. I am not a lawyer ...

Introduction: There are three categories of Pekiti-Tirsia Hand vs Knife training. Each has its pros and cons, depending on the needs of the student...