Dark History Behind Brass Knuckles - The Best Self Defense Weapon

Alan Max
3 min readApr 9, 2019

--

As you might have guessed already, that today’s article is about the dark history behind the brass knuckles, which are regarded as the best self defense weapon by a number of people. Anyone who lays their eyes upon this cool looking yet simple weapon, becomes somewhat curious about its origins.

You might have also given it a thought, at one time or another, wondering like who made these brass knuckles (or one of its variations) that can only have one purpose for existing and that is to hurt someone. One thing is for sure that hitting a person or getting hit with the knuckle duster, available out there, can give a single output — real pain and misery.

Dark History Surrounding Brass Knuckles

A person can wear this modern day self defense weapon, also known as knucks, on their hand(s) to increase the force of their punch. But its roots go back to the time of the ancient Romans and Greeks, in which period, it enjoyed the same glory as real brass knuckles do today for being one of the most interesting fighting tools invented by humans.

While famously known as brass knuckles, there are more than a few names by which people call this weapon such as the likes of knuckles, knucks, knuckle dusters and etc. You can find all of its versions on Knife Import at wholesale rates!

Real Brass Knuckle

Weapon’s Evolution in Rome and Greece

Historians believes vary when it comes to the exact designs of the knucks back in the days, when real gladiators roam around in Rome. However, everyone agrees upon “Caestus”, being the roman predecessor of the brass knuckles for sale I find in the current times. The caestus were basically leather straps worn on the hands, keeping the fingers uncovered. But sometimes the ancient weapons came with metal balls attached on the knuckles with more leather straps, while other ancient spiked brass knuckles even came heavily covered in nails.

Few experts, on the matter, say that it was Greek fighters that wore hand guards made out of leather thongs way before romans made the caestus.

Use of Knuckle Duster in American Civil War

In 1800s, right around the time of the Civil War, varying materials were used to create hand gloves that were quite the same as wholesale brass knuckles found in stores near you. Materials used in making these weapons were:

· Wood

· Iron

· Lead

· Brass (of course!)

During the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln, the use of knuckle duster was quite prevalent as his bodyguards often wore them when at his guard detail. Perhaps this the reason, why you can see a pair of real brass knuckles on display at the Ford’s Theater National Historical site.

Invention of the Brass Knuckle Knife

With the passage of time, variations of the modern day self defense weapons were made that looked purely menacing as they were modified to be more lethal and not any less hurtful. One of two most lethal transformations was the brass knuckle knife that was basically a sharp blade with knucks as a handle grip. This lethal version was formed during World War I and is famously known as the Mark I Trench knife that had a seven-inch blade and brass knuckles instead of straight handles.

These blades became so popular among US soldiers that in the second world war, every soldier was given trench knives of their own.

While the other fearful version of this weapon, was the Apache Revolver that was simply a gun with knuckle duster grip. The shooting capabilities of this weapon cannot be the same as other guns, but it was still an addition to the already effective brass knuckles, so it must have been something good to have as a backup for the French criminals who used it back in the 19th century.

Now, in case you want to get some knucks for yourself then just make sure you get wholesale brass knuckles for sale as they will cost you very less.

For more information, please read other articles on Knife Import’s blog, thank you!

Read More: 5 Reasons to Buy Brass Knuckles for Self Defense

--

--

Alan Max

I’m Alan Max working as Writer/Marketer at Knife Import. We are the wholesale distributor of knives and swords. Real brass knuckles available at knifeimport.com