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If you don't live
close to a knife fighting school, you can travel to attend seminars and
camps--usually week or weekend-long training sessions with other like-minded
students.
Or, you can read books and watch videos to get the gist of an instructor's
doctrine, and practice the techniques with your partners. Paladin Press has
probably the largest selection of knife-fighting resources--including
videos and books by Ryan, Keating, and Janich, as well as older texts
by Fairbairn, Applegate, and the like. Paladin was for many years the
only publisher who would touch "outlaw" topics like recipes
for explosives, hit man training guides, and yes, knife-fighting texts.
For example, they have the exclusive reprint rights to John Styers' USMC
knife fighting text, Cold Steel. But of course, just as you can't "learn karate
from book," you can't learn knife fighting solely from reading
a book or watching a tape. Build Knife Fighting Into Your Style I think the best way
to learn knife fighting is to incorporate knife techniques into your current
style. People fight the way they're trained. Regardless of their current
training, under stress they'll revert back to whatever they consider their
"root style".
If you lose your knife, you'll use techniques from aikido, kung fu, tae
kwon do, or whatever style you've performed millions of repetitions in.
Logically then, you should see how the inclusion of a knife into the mix
affects your base techniques and your ability to fight.
Consult your teacher to see what he or she can teach you. Often, your teacher will be intrigued as well, and will want to see what works and what won't work in knife scenarios. You could "spar" with chalked training knives, or just felt-tipped markers. The visual feedback from all the "hits" gives you a chilling insight into how devastating knives can be. (Note: Always wear eye protection when sparring with knives--even "soft" training blades. Some instructors advocate throat protection as well). Realistically include knife offense as well as self-defense. Gone are the days where drills include a powerful-but-limiting x-block followed up by a reverse punch to the chest, or where uke just holds the tanto out there so you can easily blend and execute your aikido technique.
For more information, check out the resources here at About Martial Arts. Train hard!