How to Turn 12 Everyday Items Into Improvised Weapons – Art of Manliness

While rare, violence often strikes when you least expect it. To counter violent attacks, you need to be fast and furious. Hand-to-hand combatives are a great tool to have up your sleeve to quickly dispatch an attacker, but you should always be looking for force multipliers—tools that make your counterattacks even more painful, damaging, plus effective.

Having some sort of defensive weapon—be it a firearm, knife, or spray—as part of your EDC is never a bad idea, but sometimes you don’t have one on you (like when you’re in an area that prohibits weapons), your own attacker has taken or knocked your weapon away, or you’re in a position that makes drawing your tool hard to do.

Thankfully, you’re constantly surrounded by potential weapons that can be rapidly accessed to counter chaotic attacks. To find and employ them, you just need in order to hone the most important weapon in your arsenal—your mind.

In the right hands, seemingly innocuous, everyday items can be turned into lethal weapons. Such a transformation just requires violating those objects’ Aristotelian telos —the end for which they were made. If your life is on the line, I don’t think old Aristotle would mind.

Below we offer twelve suggestions of everyday objects that can be turned into improvised weapons. Use this as a jumping off point to think of how other objects could save your life in a pinch. When you’re out and about in public, practice scanning your environment and considering what might be used as a weapon if needed. Think of it as creating mental models for your OODA Loop so you can win the fight if/when it comes your way.

Pot of Hot Coffee

There’s nothing like the smell of coffee brewing when you first wake up in the morning. And if you are ever attacked while pouring your cup of joe, you can take comfort in the fact that you’re not just holding something wonderfully fragrant, but a great weapon as well.

Smash the pot into your attacker’s face. The blunt force will stun him, the shards of glass will embed in his kisser, and the scalding hot espresso will make your pet wish he stayed home that morning.

Coffee Mug

Same principle as the coffee pot, just on a smaller scale. Throw the hot coffee from your mug into the attacker’s encounter and then proceed to bash him in his fleshy mug  with caffeinated ferocity.  

Fire Extinguisher

Fire extinguishers cannot only save your valuable life inside a fire , but in the violent attack as well. Spray the assailant in the face to temporarily distract him plus disrupt his OODA Loop. While he’s figuring out what’s going on, forcefully bludgeon your pet in the head with the extinguisher’s canister.

A Pen

In the right hands, the particular pen can indeed be mightier than the sword. A stainless steel pen like this Zebra number can be used to stab a good assailant. Hold it with an overhand grip and aim for vulnerable parts of the body like the face and throat. If you really want to up your writing-implement-as-weapon game, get a true tactical pen like this Smith & Wesson .

Keys

Your keys can start your car or let you into your house. They can also savagely maim a violent attacker. Hold the keys in your hand so their points are coming out between the fingers of your fist. Proceed to punch your own attacker in vulnerable areas of the body like the encounter and tonsils.

Locking Carabiner

Carabineers are an important tool for mountain climbers and have become a go-to key holder with regard to action-oriented gents. They can furthermore serve as field-expedient knuckledusters within a pinch. If you want to use a carabiner as an improvised weapon, make sure it’s big enough to fit around your fist and has a locking collar (to prevent it from snapping open while you punch a mo’ fo’). While aluminum carabineers should be able to withstand the impact, for added strength, use a steel one.

Wristwatch

For a variation on the above, turn your metal wristwatch into a quick-n-dirty knucklebuster simply by holding the bracelet inside your fist, and positioning its face across your middle knuckles. James Bond uses their Rolex Oyster Perpetual in this way to knock out a bad guy within On Her Majesty’s Secret Service . Keep in mind that the effect of this move will likely break your timepiece. Bond was able to write off the destruction associated with his watch to his expense account. You won’t. Of course , losing your watch will be a small price to pay if it saves your life.

Aluminum Water Bottle

An aluminum water bottle helps you stay hydrated while avoiding all those testosterone-lowering xenoestrogens found in plastic bottles. It can also be used to inflict blunt pressure trauma on the violent attacker. Ideally, you want the bottle to have some liquid in it in order to give your makeshift club more heft plus weight. Bash your assailant’s head and face with it.

If you’ve got some time and if your container has a key ring, put your belt through the ring and tie it off. You’ve got yourself a medieval flail.

Belt

Just as you should remember that your own belt should match the color of your shoes, you should also remember that it can be used as a weapon in the pinch.

First, you can use the belt the same way parents used to employ it on their kids back in the day—for whoopins. But unlike its use in dishing out old fashioned corporal punishment, you are not going to hold back on your opponent. Give him the particular ass whoopin’ of a lifetime. Make sure this individual gets the buckle end of the belt. Aim for the face. The advantage of using a belt as an improvised bludgeon is not only the significant damage it can inflict, but the distance it allows you to place between you and your attacker.

The second way you can use a belt as a weapon is as a force multiplier when strangling an enemy.

Hornet Spray

I got this improvised weapon idea while interviewing Navy SEAL Clint Emerson . Hornet spray is pepper spray on steroids. The former can usually shoot up in order to 20 feet and provides a much more directed stream than you find with the latter. What’s a lot more, the chemical used in hornet spray is much more potent than pepper spray and can potentially permanently blind an attacker.

Keep in mind, that due to the possible maiming effects of hornet apply, one should only use it in life-threatening situations (like during a home invasion). Using hornet spray as an everyday self-defense tool will be illegal in most jurisdictions.

Flashlight

Every man should not just carry the flashlight , but know how to use this in a tactical scenario . Not only can it help you find stuff in the dark plus act as a deterrent to would-be attackers, it can also be utilized as a tool. Maglite Heavy Duty D Cell flashlights make for a great makeshift billy club, and many specialized tactical flashlights end with a serrated or even toothed bezel that can be used being an improvised striking device during an attack. After you’ve shined the bright light of a high-powered flashlight within your attacker’s eyes and disoriented him, strike his face with the toothed bezel as hard as you can. The motion should be like forcefully stamping him having a giant rubber stamp.  

Smartphone

Today’s smartphones have been designed to take a beating; consequently, they can be used to give a beating.

Tightly grasp your smartphone in your hand and slam the edge and corners of it into vulnerable body parts like the eye, nose, plus neck.

You could also put your own phone in a sock or other piece of clothing to make an improvised sap—a weighted impact tool.

Whether you’re at home, the office, or out on the town, everyday items that could be turned into weapons are all around you. Should you find yourself facing a chaotic threat, be ready to grab something and win the fight.

Tags: Self-Defense & Fighting