Bullet Proof Vests and Knifes

[eyeball]

can a bullet proof vest withstand a knife shanking? :confused:

[Erick Gelhaus]

on whether it is a thrust or a slash. For the former, it depends on the force generated.

[Seeker]

How to best defeat a vest with a blade? Say a Ka-bar?

Does a stab require a lot of force? Can it be wiggled in? What about if you put it against the vest and then thrust?

Anybody have a vest they can use for research?

[SMHeaton]

In the Second Chance catalog, they have vests that are specifically designed to withstand knife attacks (It seems to me they market these more heavily to corrections officers.) and on other vests they have warnings that the vests will not defeat knife attacks.

So I guess it depends on the design...

Regards,
SMHeaton

[Double Naught Spy]

The most correct answer is NO. Ballistic vests are not designed for dealing with knives and ice picks. Stab vests protect against these threats, but not bullets.

Of course, a nice thick vest would help protect you against slashes, just as wearing a few layers of denim jacket. Here, the ballistic vest simply provides a thick layer of extra clothing. A high tech Second Chance ballistic vest that is very thin would be poorer at this task than an older and low tech very thick vest.

I do recall that some companies make combination vests, but they are about twice as thick since they do two jobs.

[Jorah Lavin]

I think that if I was expecting to be exposed to knife stabs, I'd infest in some finely made interlocked chain mail (http://www.micronet.net/users/~armadillo/hauberk.html) to wear under a bullet-resistant vest.

Now, if I could walk and breathe with this combination is another question.

-J.

[PreserveFreedom]

This is another reason that the steel plates should be considered in a vest. A blade may defeat kevlar, but it won't punch a steel plate.

[eyeball]

haha... that stuff is like the stuff that King Arthur and the knights of the roundtable used to wear... lol

[Jorah Lavin]

but I assure you, good-quality chain mail was the high-tech of that era, and still does the job it was meant to do; slow or even stop pointed and edged weapons. With good-quality alloy steels and titaniums, a modern version could be light and impressively strong.

-Jorah

[eyeball]

lol :p

[Coronach]

They use very fine chainmail to armor some divers to resist shark bites, there is absolutley no theoretical reason why some form of very fine hi-tech material chainmail would not work amazingly well against thrusts or slashes by the average knife.

I, myself, considered this some time ago...and I'm sure I was not the first.

Mike