http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/25/nihon-u...ke-a-superhero/

Hrm... I may just buy one for the hell of it.


What can I say, I'm an impulse shopper.

What would you rate that armored t-shirt?

I'm thinking B/I rating of 0/3. It's strong enough to stop a knife thrust and a knife has a damage code of (Str/2 + 1). Let's assume that a standard modern day Japanese street slot has a Str of 2, Agility 2, and close combat 1 (knows how to swing a knife, baseball bat, and punch somebody... it's not that hard). The victim doesn't know close combat and has an agility of 2... therefore defaults to 1 die to dodge. Most likely the victim will fail. This should net the stabber 1 hit. Knife does 2 damage + 1 from the net hit... DV of 3 and doesn't penetrate... therefore B/I rating of 0/3

that is . . do they come in black too? O.o
if so, i will have to ask an business associate and buddy of mine to bring one of those back for me, when he goes there next time o.O

Oh for christ's sake. Stuff like this and the soda machine disguises are always coming out of Japan. This is a perfect example of what happens when people try to deal with crime with heavy doses of fantasy rather than anything grounded in reality.

i think a chest like that already comes with a 2 impact armor......

jokes aside..
guess i can't stab japanese tourists anymore =p

let the americans wear their heavy, clunky, uncomfortable vests with plates . .
and let the tiny japanese wear something that won't turn them into a turtle that's been turned onto it's back if they fall over ^^
but yes, that vending machine disguise is . . silly at best . . i'm just waiting for the out-cry, when a woman complains about being molested/groped by someone because she was wearing one of those made to look like one ot the japanese panty-vending-machines and somebody tried to steal some from the vending machine . .

Japan has a long tradition of crazy-ass inventions. Or maybe the US has a long tradition of knowing about every crazy-ass invention or trend to come out of Japan. But really, a lightweight stab vest isn't that weird.

Well I think the "American" vests are designed to stop... you know, bullets.

I'm also reading that it isn't very resistant to "sharp points" a feature I feel comfortable saying is standard with most knives. So Stormwatch you can continue to stab Japanese tourists, just not slice at their torso.

Of course this is in light of the 8 person "run by knife attack" that just went down on the mainland. Not even really sure how it works but they guy killed one person and put several others in the hospital.

And good lord? Almost 600 US?

I was going to point out the stabby part too.
However, most knife fighters agree that stabbing is definitely not the way to go because it leaves you open for counter attacks. Slashing is totes where its at.

I mean it really isn't useless it's just... something I would pay 500 dollars for.

This might be flame bait but... bullet proof vests, still pretty good at stopping slicing attacks right? Mine is made of some damn heavy material and even without plates I feel comfortable that something trying to cut me open is going to have a hard time of it. I guess a "pointy blade" good penetrate but as stated, that's not the prefered way of going about things.

Oh come on, we're talking about stabbing clueless Japanese consumers with too much money, not dueling with Indigo Montoya. I don't think that the knife wielding criminal is going to think, "No, I musn't stab, lest I eat yon riposte!"

Stabbing is generally how you attack a person's torso; the short sleeve shirt isn't terribly useful, and a soft vest only offers minimal protection for stabbing attacks (it's basically just a piece of restricting, tough fabric at that point). The long sleeve version of this shirt, if it's really effective, is exceptionally useful, though. In a knife fight, your forearms are going to get slashed at and probably cut up pretty badly, while stabbing attacks to the arms are not common. I wouldn't pay $500 for one because I find it easier to just avoid fights, but it's not a bad concept.

I used to wear a stab vest for work. It wasn't too bulky, and it was supposed to stop like 80 pnds of stabbing pressure. Supposedly really good against slashings though. I never counted on it though, and I wouldn't count on that shirt at all.

When you took the armor out of the canvas, it looked like a quarter inch thick malleable metallic thing....

I have no idea how well ballistic vests stack up to slashings....

Apparantly this shirt doesn't do that well against 'pointed weapons'.

Which to me says it's slash and cut resistant but not stab resistant.

Might be okay vs a knife stab, as at least part of a thrust with a knife involves cutting, but an ice pick probably will slide right through.


-karma

i wonder how it would fare against a katana O.o

For those who are inquiring about the stab resistance of ballistic grade kevlar vests: I have heard that a number of British police officers were killed by knife wounds that penetrated their bullet-proof vests, so I would assume that they do not impart sufficient protection.

"ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber."

Sounds a lot like Spectrafiber or Dyneema. Probably the best material widely available for soft armor.

Protective vests are made of several layers of material, this sounds like it is just one of those layers, made into a shirt.

Why not just get a chainmail shirt from ebay? Wouldn't that provide superior protection?

ever worn such a thing? they are hella heavy and uncomfortable to wear too . .
your hairs getting stuck between the links for example . . try and pull out one hair and then think about having that all of the time . . and you will not get through a single metal detector with something like that . .

A knife thrust will probably puncture easily enough to be quite dangerous. While I'd be very curious to see some NIJ style testing, I would not expect this to provide significant protection against a stabbing attack.


Probably not well. A sword is a very different magnitude of force from a knife.


I doubt it. Spectra and Dyneema do not provide significant stabbing protection, just like pretty much all current soft ballistic armor. A single sheet of the stuff cut into a shirt would be useless.

Kevlar is meant to catch bullets and does not work as well against knives. On a side not I like how it said "watch out for archers on the roof." It made me think of Troll bows = )

er, you're supposed to wear some kind of undershirt with mail.

They said that they've seen it turn aside some viscous knife strikes. I think that this is from normal people not the Japanese gangsters it was designed for so I would guess they had a strength of 3 and agility of 3. The Knife does 3 damage +1 from a hit and has a DV of 4 with no penetration. I think it would probably be 0/4 armor rating.

The reason that I went with the average being 2 instead of 3 is because I thought that 3 was the average for 'Runners and not for John & Jane Doe Street Slot.

I see. I am a fan of the theory of "2 is average for someone who doesn't use it much, 3 for someone who does." So your average computer programmer would have 2 strength but 3 logic.

Actually from personal experience bullet-resistant vests protect very well from slashing, but a narrow knife or icepick will penetrate. We did quite a few experiments in the academy to emphasize.

How much damage did a slash tend to do to a normal soft vest (say, IIIA)?

...I wonder what the DV and knockdown modifier would be when one of these is wadded up and launched from one of those air bazookas you see them use at NBA games.

Now that's what I call ballistic armor.

I have some kevlar gloves that are damn cut resistant. Said they were designed to protect against knife attacks. I've also seen kevlar weave shirts and pants that claimed the same. How effective is it?