Knife fighting, avoid it if you can.

Over at John Mosby's the favorite “slash vs. stab” sort of conversation has come up, and John makes a very good point about slashes not being particularly lethal.

John is correct, most knives, no matter how impressive the blade, are not well suited to actual deep slashing the way a saber, scimitar, or katana is.  Of those three swords, I'm only familiar with the Japanese sword based martial arts to comment that the targets of those slashes are generally the femoral artery, gut, throat, brachial artery, and head.

So what follows is my personal thoughts, based on study and practice without ever getting into a swordfight or knife fight.  In fact, actively avoiding any sort of situation where I might get the experience that would make me a first hand expert.