Monday, March 11, 2013

Wandering the Internet


I just started writing about sharpening and I ran across an article in Wired about sharpening.



It’s their idea of a review of sharpening stones, mostly for kitchen knives.  I didn’t see a single folder or serrated knife being used to test the sharpening stones and systems.  I liked Wired, but they are a very Yuppie techie-orientated website.  Still, if you’re interested in Japanese water stones you might find their comments interesting.

If your lifestyle is better typified by having pan-fried walleye for breakfast and following tracks in the snow you might find Field and Stream more to your temperament.  Field and Stream has come up with their list of the best 20 knives of all time.  You should take a look, some of the selections may surprise you.

I agree completely with their selection of Ka-Bar’s Marine fighting knife and Leatherman’s multi-tool, for example, the Wave.  But Busse's Battle Mistress and Marbles Ideal Sheath knife?  I’m not too sure about them.

If you believe that the right fashion accessory or brand of shirt will get you in bed with incredible hotties, (usually pictured in the sidebars) or you need someone’s approval for the beer you drink, you might want to visit Made Man.  No, it’s not an organized crime site, although I can’t see how that would be any worse than this site.  The advertisements and the all the rest just confirm my belief why marketers pander to the young.  The reason?  Simple.  They aren’t old and cynical.

 
Still, they have a selection of 7 pocket knives that you've just got to carry to be part of the boy's club.  They may be right about that. The first was a very nice Benchmade 3150 Impel which is backed up with Emerson’s Gentleman Jim.  You might also find the other five knives interesting too.

Maybe the best thing about other people’s lists are their selections.  Assuming they just didn’t flip open a knife book and pick nice pictures and names, there was a reason for their choice.  Your job is to try to see why it was selected. What would you replace it with? Sometimes you’ll discover something different and unique about a knife.

TSA vs. the Knife Culture
So unless you’re living in a cave (How did you get internet service in there?) you know that TSA will allow small pocket knives on board domestic flights.  Here’s the poop from Yahoo news:

“Starting April 25, passengers flying on U.S. flights will be allowed to carry small pocket knives – blades less than 6-centimeters, up to two golf clubs, ski poles, as well as sporting sticks used for hockey, lacrosse, and billiards. Baseball bats will remain on the no-fly list, though wiffle-ball bats and souvenir baseball bats (less than 24-inches long) will be allowed.”

The blade has to be under 2 some odd inches, non-locking, no serrations and other silly stuff.  People are up in arms, but you can bring a hockey stick or souvenir base ball bat on board.  I don’t know, what’s the difference between a cop-on-the-corner’s night stick and a souvenir baseball bat.  Oh yeah…. The souvenir baseball bat is easier to hang onto when you swing it.

No comments: