Sharpened Fingernails

Recently I've been cutting my nails to end in points. Seems like a good idea to me to add a little extra damage to strikes to the eyes and for a little extra leverage when grappling. (And also could be very good to get to pressure points)

If anyone has any thoughts or knowledge about this I'd be interested in hearing them. Any ideas how to get them to be as sharp as possible or to cause the nails to grow thicker?

I don't know if I could get them to the point where I could cut through surface veins anytime I grabbed someone but that would be ideal.

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Originally Posted by hiddenmantis

Recently I've been cutting my nails to end in points. Seems like a good idea to me to add a little extra damage to strikes to the eyes and for a little extra leverage when grappling. (And also could be very good to get to pressure points)

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and you can play a mean flamenco too!

why not just save your time there killer and buya pair of these?

http://www.moviestore.nu/moviestorec.../shop/553s.jpg

oh and one more thing...






(facepalm)

just think of all the nasty infections you can give someone aswell!!! :D

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Originally Posted by uki

just think of all the nasty infections you can give someone aswell!!! :D

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have to be careful putting them contacts in though:D

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Originally Posted by goju

have to be careful putting them contacts in though

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not if you don't wear any... now... if your not careful while wiping your butt... :p

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Originally Posted by hiddenmantis

Recently I've been cutting my nails to end in points. Seems like a good idea to me to add a little extra damage to strikes to the eyes and for a little extra leverage when grappling. (And also could be very good to get to pressure points)

If anyone has any thoughts or knowledge about this I'd be interested in hearing them. Any ideas how to get them to be as sharp as possible or to cause the nails to grow thicker?

I don't know if I could get them to the point where I could cut through surface veins anytime I grabbed someone but that would be ideal.

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i know of one master i trained with that claimed they did this when younger....and used them to cut eins on the wrist etc.....not sure if i believe it to be honest how strong are the nails (and can you imagine getting one ripped out if it gets caught on something?!)

Its much easier and safer to carry your keys and put them in your fist should you need to really cut someone or tear their flesh in a fight

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Originally Posted by uki

not if you don't wear any... now... if your not careful while wiping your butt... :p

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lololol!!!!:D

it's not neccesary. One of my female students was a massage therapist-nails trimmed very short-for obvious reasons. She was working a rear neck grab(mastoid) takedown with a male student and due to the sweat, her hand ripped across the back of his neck. She pulled out a ribbon of flesh from under her nail.

The truth is, if you want a good Tiger Claw-it's not the nails, it's the fingers that will rip and rend flesh and muscle, grab tendons,etc. train your hands and grip.

This is real Gung-Fu. There are no shortcuts.

another thing-if you ever grab clothing, and the guy resists, you can rip your nails out or back which is extremely painful-to YOU.
Obviously you have never trained shuai-jiao, judo, etc. you cannot have long nails and expect to do any grappling or grabbing of clothes.

(you also obviously don;'t have a gf, cause the tantric dim-mak would be out of the question):D

typically, people who have fought know a few things:

1. keep your hair short

2. keep your nails short

3. keep your shirt tucked in

all of these things have a direct impact on your chances of success in a scuffle.

ask me why! :)

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Originally Posted by Frost

i know of one master i trained with that claimed they did this when younger....and used them to cut eins on the wrist etc.....not sure if i believe it to be honest how strong are the nails (and can you imagine getting one ripped out if it gets caught on something?!)

Its much easier and safer to carry your keys and put them in your fist should you need to really cut someone or tear their flesh in a fight

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keys can damage your hand a lot more than they will go through someone's jacket and harm them. better to have one key and to hold it against the thumb as if to press with it.

a bunch of keys between your fingers is a hollywood mistake. It's like holding a semi auto sideways which will invariably drop a few hot cases down the front of yoru bad ass gang shirt. lol

anyway, it's a good rule of thumb to NOT follow with any hollywood advice or anything you see on TV. It's almost always wrong and will hurt you as much as you are trying to hurt someone else.

kiss. :)

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Originally Posted by TenTigers

There are no shortcuts.

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iron ball juggling seems to kill most of the competition in terms of developing a good tiger claw... and you can't have long nails to juggle them either because they tend to get broken... LOL :p

As mentioned by others, long nails are no advantage in a fight, or even in training. Once my right thumb nail got torn right off during training, and as you can imagine, it wasn't fun. And my nails weren't long, either. It took a long time to grow back. Nowadays I work as a massage therapist, so I have to keep them especially short.

I could also imagine that long nails will interfere with your ability to make a proper fist for punching, too.

I agree that long nails are a problem for fights. Mine however are fairly short, just pointed instead of rounded on the tips.

I got this idea from a friend of mine who works in law enforcement and grapples and grabs people's clothing regularly, with out problems. I have to wonder if the trouble with grabbing clothing was done by someone with long supermodel nails or happened in fights that you imagined.

I'd like to point out that I'm not looking for a shortcut. I know there is no subsitute for diet, training and real life experaince. I also know that there will come a time when I'm looking for any advantage however small. And finding it or failing to can make a big difference in what happens next.

some people are just genetically pre-dispositioned with certain traits, one of which could be having stronger fingernails than the average person... i knew a guy in hungaria who ran black oil from russia and he was reknown for being able to bite beer bottle caps off with his front teeth. :D

if they are long enough to form any shape other than the line of your finger/nail bed, then they are too long and will catch on clothing.
I cut my nails 2-3 times per week. Before grappling, before my guitar lesson, and before a "date."

I got scratch one time while bouncing, nasty little scratch on my neck.
Put some alcohol and some polysporin and a bandage and I was fine.
The guy that did it got some hospital time for it though.

In TCM, the liver rules the tendons and the outward manifestation are the nails. So a TCM person might advise to strengthen your liver qi, which probably seems completely superstitious to most here, but surely couldn't hurt. Who doesn't want a strong liver? That being said, I've heard tell of formulas akin to Iron Palm liniments, used to strengthen the nails. I'm sure someone thought up stuff like that but I'm skeptical about it. Of course, there are many ways to strengthen your nails with collagen and what not - just ask your manicurist. There's collagen in tendonous muscle, so perhaps TCM isn't that far off. Change your diet and eat all the tendon. In China, beef tendon soup is common fare. In America, we discard the tendons for pet food and process the meats into Mcnuggets, and then toss in a toy to sell it as food. But I digress....

Working as an emergency medic in the music scene for over 20 years, I've cleaned up plenty of fights, including many cat fights where long nails were involved. I haven't seen that many nail breaks. I've seen a ton of superficial scratches. I've seen a few pretty good scratches, but nothing nearly a crippling or lethal blow.

In Chinese culture, long nails were viewed as an expression of wealth, particularly the pinky nail. Only people who didn't work could keep long nails. I remember one of my sihing used to sport this - I thought it was surprisingly effeminate for him as he was pretty macho in every other regard. The aristocracy used to wear nail guards to protect their nails.
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/asianideas_2100_775616567
Now I know you're thinking that maybe you should keep some nail guards in your pocket for self defense, but that's just silly. Better to keep a box cutter. And your shidi won't think you're gay.

the claw still comes from your finger tips not from the nails

seriously spend time strength your grip and youll see what people are talking about

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Originally Posted by goju

the claw still comes from your finger tips not from the nails

seriously spend time strength your grip and youll see what people are talking about

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*curls fingers into a claws* nothing like the tiger claw combined with the mason grip. :D

defin. agree grip is more important than nails imo. tentigers stated it best.

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The truth is, if you want a good Tiger Claw-it's not the nails, it's the fingers that will rip and rend flesh and muscle, grab tendons,etc. train your hands and grip.

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