Another skill from Western fencing which is used with the Bowie knife is the Derobement, or the Disengagement. This technique is a circular evasion away from the attacker's blade and onto a new line, and can be used offensively or defensively. Like other fencing based principles, it will be more easily applied with large knives than pocket knives, though an expert can apply it with their empty hands as well, and this technique was adopted by Bruce Lee as a core principle of his Jeet Kune Do.

This is not surprising, however, as the successful use of the Disengagement is predicated on having sensitivity to the opponent's movements which was something Bruce clearly had in abundance. This is the fencing equivalent of chi-sao and trapping hands kind of work, and if one does not have blade sensitivity then their techniques will be robotic and unworkable at full speeds, just like with other trapping range skills. The Disengagement is also seen in elements of the JKD Single and Progressive Indirect Attacks (SIA / PIA).

Offensively, the Disengagement can be used after any beat or contact on the opponent's blade. As the opponent presses back into your blade, trying to close the line your beat has opened, you circle with the pressure and strike him on another line. The transition can be from high line to low line, from inside line to outside line, or any mix and combination of the above. Experts are capable of using multiple Disengagements in a single attack as need requires. Like trapping in general, however, a Disengagement is only used when it is needed. One does not look to use them any more than one looks to trap. If a simple attack will work, it is preferred over any more complicated technique.

Defensively, the Disengagement removes your weapon from the line of the opponent's attack and sets up your counter attack. When seeing these techniques in pictures it is easy to image a counter to them, but when done at speed these techniques can fool the eye and are not as easy to counter as it might appear from still images. This all comes down to sensitivity and timing; one must avoid the attack and instantly counter on the open line. Not the easiest of skills, but one of the true art, and a worthy one to aquire.

Tod comes rushing in with a powerful slash to my hand.

Timing his slash and moving with the force, I Disengage under his attack...

To deliver a high snipe...

And quickly recover back on guard.

In training, it is important that you and your partner are protected so you can practice them safely and realistically. In these pictures were are in ACW kit with live steel, but in actual training you should have at a minimum a good 3-weapon rated fencing mask and some kind of safe training knife that you can comfortably hit your partner with...a lot. If you are not really trying to hit them, it will hold them back from really learning. (Just remember that in every drill the roles will reverse and they will be the one dishing out the lumps at some point.) If you don't have safe training blades, then you are putting the brakes on your ability to gain advanced skills.

Though this seems a common-sense way to train, many people do not understand it. They seem to feel that once you don a fencing mask and take up a flexi-dagger or other safe Bowie trainer that somehow you are now "competeing" or doing a sport. These people are "missing the jet-boat" so to speak, in that having the mask and safe weapon are to let you train safely, yet in an environment of constant real threat and contact. This is about training and developing specific skills at high speed, not simply random sparring. It is about mutual growth and real-time learning, not who won or lost by some rules. To echo the wisdom of the Dog Brothers "If you have learned something or made a friend today, then you have won!"