Stop Bleeding!

After breaking in my balisong, fresh from a trip to Batangas, I was finally spinning the blade in a constant flow. A week of gradually loosening up the blade with some oil and the monotonous click…clack…click…clack, and I was ready to show off. With my girlfriend watching, I flipped the blade through my fingers, around my thumb, over the top of my hand then with a fumbling swat, I hurled it into the top of my foot. I first looked at her and she at me, then we both looked down. Of course I was barefoot.

By the time I had hopped to the bathroom to dress my wound, there was a lot of red. I’ve reamed out plenty of the cheap silver butterfly knives over the years, but eventually my preference is only to use the real thing – a thick handled, hand crafted balisong with water buffalo horn handles and brass fittings. Not only does it have a better weight, but the size I like has a spine on the blade that’s nearly a quarter of an inch thick. Well, this makes a really nice hole. “Honey, will you go get the himog!?”

In my travels to Indonesia and the Philippines, I found that very potent herbal medicines often accompany the fighting arts. Injured during an attack, bruised from constant drilling, or cut in the field, no fighter will survive without some form of emergency medicine.

Years ago, Grand Tuhon Leo Gaje brought some oil for me when I was visiting him in Negros. We were riding in a taxi. Indicating a splash of the oil with a quick thrusting gesture to his own arm, he told me:

“When you get cut, you take this. If you get shot, you drink it.”
“What is it?”
“It’s himog.”
“What does it do?”
“It stops the bleeding.”

My balisong wound probably needed 6 or 7 stitches. It wasn’t that bad, but it was one of those cuts where you could see light colored flesh inside. I poured a little himog over it. The oil clung to my foot and the cut closed like a ziplock. Although I trusted Tuhon’s description of the oil’s properties, I was truly shocked. My girlfriend was amazed. No more blood came out of what was just previously a flowing wound. I put a bandage over it and checked it after a few days. Not even the band-aid had bloodstains.

Since that experience, I have tried to hoard as much himog as I can get. Often delivered in a very unceremonious, plastic, suave shampoo bottle or old whiskey pint, himog is made from the roots of a special tree. The roots must soak in the base oil to transfer the healing properties to the oil. Other ingredients and incantations may also accompany the recipe depending on the source.

At some point, I realized that there may be a time when I may not be able to get my hands on any more himog and some of the other herbal medicines I have found overseas, so I began to research other options that I could either buy or make myself. My students and I have used several of these herbal remedies for years. Some of them eventually made their way to Kali Gear for others to try.

Aside from direct pressure and other first aid measures, options to stop bleeding in the field include everything from modern blood clotting agents or styptic powders such as Kwick Stop or Quik Clot to herbs such as comfrey root powder or even powdered cayenne pepper. (No, sadly, it doesn’t sting.) Sprinkle the powder in the cut, and the bleeding stops. I carry some with me every time we train. Live blade demos ginunting vs. ginunting and on-the-spot knife tapping against the latest tactical knife at the DPS academy always makes me wonder when the next cut will come. Otherwise, it seems like I most often just cut myself practicing.

More serious cuts may benefit from super glue or duct tape in desperate situations. If training to defend your life includes improving your unarmed fighting skills or learning to use a weapon to improve your odds for survival, then it only makes sense to prolong your life by being prepared to deal with injury in one way or another as well.