The Knife Edge: One Man, So Many Knives

Rules of Engagement

2012-01-16T20:02:00.001-05:00

Had a chance to talk to two different military men on temporary leave from Afghanistan at the gun show this past weekend. They didn’t know each other but they each told the same interesting story.

We’ve all heard about rules of engagement. They define when a person can open fire in a war zone. The rules are designed to help the military create goodwill with the population.

Some make good sense: Only women can search women. Our police try to follow that rule as well. Other rules, well, I can only shake my head in confusion. For example, troops can fire at an insurgent if they catch him placing an IED but not if insurgents are walking away from an area where explosives have been laid.

Given these complex rules, you can imagine many Afghanis know how far they can push it with impunity.

Traveling in the bazaars or between locations you’re likely going to be confronted. The Afghans know when you can and can’t shoot, but you don’t know how far they want to take it. However the rules say nothing about being cut with a knife.

“The sound of a switch blade opening alarms them,” the first told me. “If you want to protect yourself and not get into a fight carry an auto knife. They hear it and most of them will back off.”

Worth its weight in gold

The other said the same. “They come up to you and put their fingers in the muzzle of your machine gun. They know your limits from the rules of engagement.” The second man shrugged. “But take out your Beretta or knife and they’re not so sure.” He gave me a wolfish grin. “See, the rules don’t say anything about knives.”

So if you’re heading to Afghanistan, get a quality automatic knife to carry with you. You might want to add a good fixed blade. A fixed blade will always be faster, surer and stronger, but it’s silent out of the sheath.

Sub hilt fighter - custom made by Torson

There is nothing like the comforting clack of your auto locking open on a dark night.

Benchmade Auto Rift - doesn't look like an auto, but pull back on the axis lock....

Of course, you’re in harm’s way so you may have to use it.

New Edges and Observations

2012-01-10T18:52:00.002-05:00

Speaking of sharpening….

I picked up an Eze-Lap diamond hone for work. I use a rubber mill knife to cut rubber hoses and belts at work. Many of these products have Kevlar fabric which can be cut but ruins the knife edge. My co-worker has been using a cheap ceramic pocket sharpener in which he has ground a flat spot. The diamond hone works better, but I noticed a “thunk” at the end of the sharpening stroke. Of course, when you work with microscopes it’s easy to take a look.

I found a small bump at the edge of the hone. I don’t think it will affect the sharpening, but it gives me the shivers every time I make a stroke.

Eze-Lap coarse with bump at the edge

A new Spyderco has arrived. It’s the Balance. The closed knife resembles an equal arm balance, the favorite of classical analytical chemists. That’s not me, but still it speaks to me.

Spyderco Balance

Open, it’s a mini- gurkha knife or khukuri. The knife is less than 3 inches closed and weighs 1.4 ozs. That’s less than two first class pieces of mail!

The handle is carbon fiber and the steel VG-10. The small clip can be moved to any of the four positions: tip up, tip down and right or left.

If you look at it and ask what’s it’s for, well sorry, but you’re not a knife person. Sometimes they are just for the heck of it. Other times you have a specific need that a knife fills in a specific way.

I had a knife on sale on eBay, a byrd Meadowlark from Santa Fe Stoneworks in spiny oyster.

byrd knife with Santa Fe Stoneworks spiny oyster grip

Somebody got a very good deal, but that’s beside the point. It didn’t want to sell here so it sold somewhere else. The thing is, the winning bid came in the last 12 seconds. Was it sniping software, fast reflexes, or just good timing to get the bid in so late that nobody could counter bid?

As a seller or buyer, I’m not sure I approve of sniping software. But if you really want something, bid your maximum in the last 15 minutes. eBay will auto bid to your max against incoming bids. You’ll either get it or not at some price including your maximum. But you will not fall victim to a sniper while trying to get a deal.

Sharp Conversation

2012-01-08T19:23:00.001-05:00

After dinner she put down her glass and looked over to me, “How often should I sharpen my knife?”

I looked at her and then over to my wife. We had just finished dinner and I was sharpening our guest’s pocket knife at the dinner table. Clearly some sign was needed before I carried on. I got it.

“If you wait until it’s dull, you’ve waited too long. It’s always easier to touch up an edge than to bring a dead edge back to life.”

“What about electric sharpeners?” She asked a good question and I had half an answer.

“Depends. Some people press too hard, leave it in contact with the rotating stones too long and heat the blade up too much. That will damage it.”

There’re really only a few things to remember about tempering and steel. Tempering is actually a softening step. The martensite that forms from austenite can make steel so hard as to be unusable. Tempering allows other softer structures to form and make the steel usable. Too much tempering, too soft to hold a good edge. Too hard and the blade snaps too easy.

Almost all the structures that give steel its incredible properties are diffusion based. Diffusion is driven by time, temperature and moderated by distance. Heating a knife blade at the thin edge will affect the steel more than heating the spine the same amount. And the effects of heat cycles are cumulative.

So how often should you sharpen and how?

I believe you should sharpen when the edge seems to be getting dull. If you’re butchering a deer you may want to touch the blade up often. If all you do is cut string and open paper envelopes, you can go a long time.

In the kitchen you should touch up the blade of your chef’s knife before you use it. The sharpening steel doesn’t sharpen the edge, it draws the wire edge out. That’s a good thing, as the wire edge is the really the source of sharpness.

You’ll find it easier to keep a sharp knife sharper than resharpen a dull knife. And I learned that the hard way.

Last summer was a time for “trench warfare.” I was running underground cable to my soon-to-be-built garage. After it was up I got a lot of help from my friend Rick with wiring the garage. With all the cutting and trimming my favorite work knife, a CRKT Crawford Kasper folder, became very dull.

How dull?

So dull it refused to cut anything.

I could have taken it to a professional sharpener and had it re-edged, but as penance and hard luck lesson, I resharpened it myself with my Spyderco sharpener.

Spyderco Sharpmaker

I’m still working on it. I get it sharp, but as soon as I need it for some job it slides toward dull. I haven’t been able to spend enough time to push it from sharp to very sharp, which is where I prefer my knives.

I also use the Lansky system. The ability to hold each progressively finer grit stones at the same angle is a gift from the knife gods.

Lansky system

The downside: it’s a lot of work to set up properly just for a little touch up.

Benchstones. I’ve got more than a few. The key to good benchstone sharpening is reproducibility and cleanliness.

Gunk up the natural pores in the stone and it will not sharpen. So use a good oil and clean it off when you’re done.

Holding the knife edge to the same angle through each stroke is critical for a sharp edge. We can all get better at it, but some people are gifted at it. I’m not one of them.

Years ago I bought a Buck Honemaster to help me sharpen my knives.


Buck Honemaster	You can see a dull strip of metal towards the edge sitting on the wood. That's metal wear from sharpening blades.

It clamps on your blade and holds it at the angle you select. The angle isn’t very reproducible between sharpenings, but you can get a fine edge with it. Of course, as you wear metal from the knife edge, you wear metal from the Honemaster. It’s a strange sensation knowing you’re destroying the means of making a great edge while you’re making a great edge.

Buck Honemaster holding my Commando Cutlery on the fine side of a benchstone

On the whole, sharpen your knives before they get dull. They’ll work better, faster and easier. A sharp knife reflects well on its owner.

Christmas Knives

2011-12-10T19:53:00.001-05:00

Christmas knives are often new, exciting slivers of steel and polymer (yes, Virginia, unless you have stone or bone handles, it’s a polymer) that catch our attention for a few moments around the tree.

“Oh! Helen,” he said, over the sound of wrapping paper being shredded. “It’s a hand-made tactical friction folder from Frantic Forge! It’s just what I wanted.”

Her comeback was not entirely unexpected.

“Oh, John!” She managed to be heard over the kitchen timer and the sound of bubbling pots. “It’s just what I wanted! A hand-made bread knife combination turnip carver from Kitchen Dungeon Forge.”

This scene is played out in front of Hanukkah candles and Christmas trees all around the world. Trust me, I’ve had a few of these moments myself.

While we’re lost in admiration of our newest knives, there’s a few knives from Christmas past still hanging around. If, like Marley, I’m forced to drag a chain of knives with me through the next world, I hope these are attached.

Electric carving knives, one of mankind's most enduring inventions

That’s my brother-in-law carving a turkey. He’s mastered the art of carving a bird. When I try that my results look like I used a hammer. I always enjoy watching him make short work of a bird.

If I had one knife to symbolize family and friends it would be a knife like this.

What would a holiday be without family and friends? I’m sure countless men and women in our armed forces could tell us from past experience. It makes my eyes water when I think of all of them overseas, so far from family and friends with only their comrades near. It’s an imperfect world, but I believe the Man Upstairs has a special mark by each of their names in His Book of Life.

God bless and keep ‘em safe.

The Cold Steel bread knife: good for cutting bread and fighting ninjas

My wife loves to bake bread. Could there be anything more fundamental to the human condition than bread? We break bread with friends. We welcome new members to communities with bread, and we give bread to loved ones departing on long trips. “I packed you an extra sandwich,” mothers used to say to sons, daughters and husbands when they departed on a journey. It’s something I miss.

Christmas spirit – the short version

Whether or not you believe in Christ as Redeemer, can there be any question that his message of peace, love, harmony and forgiveness has value for men and women then and now?

Everyday we hear the Siren song of the modern world. For a few days at Christmas be like Odysseus’ sailors and pour wax in your ears and ignore the material world just a little. Enjoy the real Christmas values: Peace, Home, Family, Friends, Harmony, Love and Forgiveness.

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

Bread Knives and Knife Rights

2011-11-20T17:53:00.001-05:00

The Dexter Bread Knife

My wife has acquired a new bread knife. She has a short story about it, but it is more of a precautionary tale than a story about a knife. You can read it at http://tactical-talk.blogspot.com/.

There’s also a link on my sidebar.

Knife Rights under Attack

It’s not often I recommend an article about knives in an NRA publication. Some of you may see a distinction between the knives you own or collect and a handgun. There really isn’t one. Knives can be used in a very deadly fashion. Just watch any Cold Steel video as they slice and amputate with single strokes of their knives. Knives can be clearly more dangerous than handguns.

Our government’s response to anything is to pass laws. It is the only thing, other than spending your money, they can do. Few laws are passed for one specific reason. The bill, its supporters and the author may tell you it has only one purpose, but there’s always more. We are way too complicated to do much of anything for one single reason.

For example, Boston is considering requiring businesses that sell knives to be licensed. It was pointed out to the city council that stores operating in Boston are already licensed and regulated by law. They are restricted from selling any knife with a blade 2 inches or longer to anyone under 18. This made no impact on the city council because “The modern way of approaching these issues is to go after the source of the items rather than the criminals themselves.” Remember, we’re not talking about drugs or white slavery, but pocket knives.

That do you think? Is Boston interested in protecting you or raising money and making businesses more easy to manipulate?

Knife laws are passed not to protect you, but to control you and make you dependent on the government and its agencies. I have a blog about the British government telling Boy Scouts not to carry their scout knives when in uniform (http://knifesearch.blogspot.com/2010/06/hells-angels-and-boy-scouts.html) . Seems those friction lock knives with can opener and awl are just too dangerous.

New York has declared war on any knife that locks open, can be easily opened, and clips in your pocket. England lost their knife rights through the usual tactics of separate, divide and conquer.

Read “Will Knives Fold?” in the NRA’s December 2011 issue of America’s 1^st Freedom and you’ll see a history of those tactics continuing to this day. You’ll find it on page 38.

You may not like the NRA, but they will tell you a different side of the story.

Benchmade Auto

2011-11-15T19:36:00.000-05:00

The knife business isn’t all edged steel and handle choices. There’s a lot of basic business involved. Determining demand, placing orders, overstock, profit margins and, of course, dealing with mistakes.

A Benchmade Auto-Rift (9555SBK) arrived the other day. I have a customer who has been waiting quite some time for it. Unfortunately Benchmade shipped my wholesaler the black serrated blade, not the black plain edge he ordered. The wholesaler just assumed it was the right order and shipped it to me.

Benchmade Auto-Rift Model 9555SBK

I was so happy to see it, I didn’t check it either. My wife caught it right before we finished packing it up.

I checked with the customer and I’m ordering him another knife. I can send it back to my wholesaler, but I’d really like to save myself from jumping through flaming hoops to return it and get all my shipping back.

I’m going to try to sell it locally. It’s a nice knife and the picture in Benchmade’s catalog doesn’t do it justice.

Want to find out more about the Auto-Rift? Here’s a link: http://www.benchmade.com/products/9555

I just keep telling myself it’s all part of the adventure of life.

Reflections on Veterans Day

2011-11-11T23:09:00.001-04:00

By the end of the War-to-End-All-Wars, the cream of Europe’s best was ground into hamburger and the Spanish flu pretty much ended any nation’s ability to field men. To celebrate not having any more men to kill, the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of 1918 was declared Armistice Day.

Following the war, President Woodrow Wilson celebrated Armistice Day by inviting 2000 soldiers to dinner at the White House. The main course? Ravioli, the canned fad food that was sweeping the nation. Hey! It was 1920 and canned food was so new and novel, it was almost as good as the second coming. Woody’s meal started the now forgotten tradition of eating ravioli on Nov 11.

Sweeping changes don’t always start on the west coast or in trendy New York discos. Alvin King, the owner of a shoe repair shop in Emporia, Kansas, was the epicenter of Veterans Day.

“Why not,” I imagine him thinking, “remember all veterans on Armistice Day?” Alvin did more than just think about it, he acted. The following year President Eisenhower, a veteran himself, signed a bill May 26, 1954, making Nov 11 Veterans Day and a Federal holiday.

Since Ike, world wars have been called police actions and I can’t begin to recount all the places American service men and women have been stationed at and therefore died in. Despite their sacrifices the theaters of war have expanded. It was called total war and now we call it asymmetric war. But it means the same; each of us has a stake in the outcome and duty to participate.

Clausewitz codified most of it in the 1830s. Clausewitz observed that conflict causes an erosion of separation between the military and the civilians. He wasn’t the first and he isn’t the last. The battlefield has arrived and is living in our parking lots. The woman in the bunker with an M-16 has only a few degrees of separation from the woman pushing the grocery cart down the store aisle.

Law enforcement, in all its facets, is only one degree. The average citizen who picks up their phone and drops a dime on suspicious behavior is another. The fireman who goes into a burning building looking for victims or the postman who notices mail building up at the home of the elderly and acts, all soldiers of the conflict. They are all part of the total war. Our national character forms from our behavior and willingness to be involved. Each of us sacrifice some, some sacrificed all.

It isn’t a perfect system. We let strangers feel us up at airports for the illusion of safety. Politicians pimp to voting blocs. Citizens sell their votes and freedoms to the empty promise of safety and security in an unsafe world.

So if you sit down to an Italian meal tonight, enjoy your ravioli. Spend a second remembering all the veterans, who have, are, and will stand up and be counted. Think about how every day we need to act to preserve our freedoms and way of life.

Cambridge Show 2011

2011-10-26T21:27:00.001-04:00

I attended the Ohio Classic Knife Show in Cambridge last weekend. The low attendance let me stop and kibitz with the sellers without feeling I was interrupting commerce.

Outside the show a blacksmith demonstrated his skill.

Wide aisles and few people gave you room to have conversations.

Kathy Bone was engraving ivory and we talked about how hard it was getting to buy ivory. She does very nice work on knife handles as well as small jewelry pieces.

Engraving ivory, not for the faint of heart.

She had a money clip with Ulysses S. Grant engraved in ivory. It was very nice, but since I seldom see Grant on any of my pocket money, I passed. You can reach her at WVscrimshander@yahoo.com if you’re looking for a special piece.

I stopped at Bill Johnson’s table (WCJohnsonknives@gmail.com). Like many custom makers he had a lot of fixed blades. I especially liked one of his green bone-handled blades.

With all the wonder materials available to modern knifemakers, isn’t it odd that some of the most ancient materials are prized the most? Perhaps it’s some ancestral memory, some prehistory hand/mind link that draws us to the materials used to make the first tools. And maybe we treasure them because they are so different from ubiquitous modern materials.

I spent all my disposable cash at Joseph’s Designs and Buckeye Custom knives. All I can say is, it’s a good thing I didn’t have more money on me.

Joseph’s Designs specializes in flint knives. (http://www.collectorcabz.com/) No, not the blade but the handle. He gets his flint from Flint Ridge in Ohio, thought to have some of the most colorful flint in the world.

Joe replaces the handles on different knives with an almost semitransparent flint, rich in color and pattern. I found a nice Tree Brand Boker with an etched main blade. The flint handles have a pattern reminiscent of wood. The colors include red, black, white and brown giving it an almost pinkish glow in the translucent stone. I’m not much for friction fit knives, but this one spoke to me.

Flint, in case you’re interested, is a fine grain form of quartz (beach sand). Strictly speaking, it’s classified as a ‘chert’, but it seems to be found only as inclusions, sometimes very large inclusions, in limestone. Flint has two interesting properties. One is hardness. Flint is about 6.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. Quartz, found in almost all dust, is 7. This means flint will scratch from normal use so care needs to be taken. The other is flint will strike a spark from iron even when wet. Despite the relative softness of the stone, flint will take a fine polish.

I also bought a nice fixed blade from Pete Winkler (http://www.buckeyecustomknives.com/) . The handle is a nice slab of wood called Pacific Madrone. The brass pins and green dyed, stabilized wood gives it the look of polished stone. The 4.25-inch blade is A2 steel with a Rockwell “C” scale hardness of 58. This is the first convex or ‘appleseed’ grind I’ve owned. Pete assures me that with normal use it will not need sharpening, just a stropping with a nice piece of leather he provides. This will be interesting. The knife has no bevel to speak of as the steel flows continuously to the edge. As a result it doesn’t look sharp, but don’t make the mistake of testing it with your thumb, unless you want to be called Tommy Split-Thumb.

Man shapes steel and steel shapes the man.

More bits and Pieces

2011-10-16T19:17:00.001-04:00

I was at a gun show last weekend. The weather was too nice and the only people inside were tire kickers and the vendors. If I had my druthers I would have been outside too!

I saw something I don’t like. Fellow was wearing a phony police badge on his belt issued by some collectors group. I’ve seen similar things in gun magazines for CCW. It’s not knife related, but it’s worth mentioning.

Don’t be a strange ranger, a wannabe police officer. Having a phony star doesn’t get you a better table; police aren’t impressed that you’re imitating them and everyone associates phony police ID with child molesters.

At the show a fellow came up and was admiring the American made knives. He kept repeating, “That’s good. That’s good,” as he inspected each one. Then he picked up a Spyderco.

“These made in Japan?”

“Yes sir, they are.”

“I thought these things were suppose to be $35?” It was clear he expected the Japanese knives to be significantly less expensive than American knives.

I knew at that point he wasn’t going to buy anything.

“That was in the 70s sir.” Talk about sticker price shock.

I don’t refer people to other publications very often, but sometimes people say things better than I. Check out the Jan 2012 issue of Blade. Doug Metzer’s editorial “The China Syndrome” is worth reading. You can read all of it at http://knifeshowcase.blademag.com/ Click on the forum tab.

I agree with Doug on several levels. “American consumers will never pay for a knife made in the USA. They vote with their wallets. Demand for union wages, regulations in the steel industry and more have driven business out of America.” Here’s the chilling part: “The consumer will not sustain the inflated prices of U.S.-made products.”

Tool or Membership Card?

I get many customers at my table looking at the American-made knives. Only a few buy. The given reason in many cases is “It’s more money than I’m prepared to spend.” Can’t argue with that, but it does cause me to scratch my head wondering if I’ve missed something when I see them buying from the “2 for $5” pile at another vendor.

What I think I’m missing is, I see knives as tools. Tools I’ll use to make my life easier, safer and possibly to protect and save it. I want a quality tool. Others see the knife as a club token: I have a knife so I’m one of the boys.

ESEE-3

2011-09-19T18:58:00.001-04:00

The UPS man just delivered a box of knives. I have to wonder what he thinks about all the knives that arrive. It’s only human nature to try to form a picture of a person based on what little you know or at least what you think you know.

I remember reading about an OSS (Google it!) training drill in which you searched a room and based on what you found, construct a picture of the unseen occupant. One trainee found a blond wig and a hypodermic needle and announced the occupant was a transvestite drug-user. Turned out the drill was a test to see how you use your imagination.

I wonder if the UPS driver thinks of me as a human porcupine brisling with edges?

One of the knives that just arrived was an ESEE-3 from Randall’s Adventure. It’s a nice knife. 8.25 inches of 1095 carbon steel with a greenish gray micarta handle. A fine line of green separates the micarta from the epoxy-coated steel. Very tastefully done. The blade is 3.75 long so you have enough handle to use the knife. I was surprised to find the false edge wasn’t! About half of the top of the blade was razor sharp.

It's a nice looking knife and felt good in my hand.

The green layer adds a touch of color to an otherwise dull gray handle.

I like stainless in guns, but more and more I find I like high carbon steel in knives. The carbides in the iron make bigger and more sparks with a ferrocium fire starter rod than stainless does. Of course, carbon steel rusts, so the blades are often coated with epoxy or other finishes, but you still need to take care of them. I just wish they would leave a little one-inch saddle of uncoated steel on the spine. It bothers me to have to use the blade to generate sparks.

I really like the sharpened false edge. More and more of my knives sport a sharpened false edge and a dull spot I can press on for more force. Of course you really have to think that through. Slipping onto the edge will injure you and complicate whatever you were attempting to do.

I wanted to compare the look and feel of the ESEE-3 to my DPxGear HEST knife. The HEST is a little specialized. The handle is hollow with just enough room for a couple fish hooks and monofilament line, maybe a lead shot sinker or two. The blade is shorter than the ESEE but thicker. A reflection of anticipated prying needs. It too is a single piece of 1095 steel.

Never will be twins separated at birth, but maybe distant cousins.

The HEST is a sweetheart for me. I met the designer (and author) Robert Pelton. Read his book “Dangerous Places.” I found it riveting and not all the places are in third world countries. Some are just a state over from you. His goal was to produce a classic “bug-out” knife. One that could be used to make little cuts in people surrounding you trying to pick your pockets. Not much more than paper cuts and still pry a lock off a door, pound through a plaster wall, discourage your enemies and still open a beer bottle with your friends.

It’s a lot to ask of a knife. But if you have the skills, then the HEST has the chops.

I hate both sheaths. The ESSE has a pukey tan Kydex sheath called coyote. The HEST has a nice but wide Kydex sheath in black. Both come with molle adapters. Both can be lashed onto a strap or other things and neither has a system for a belt loops. Yuck! I belt-carry more then I molle-carry.

Sure you can lash both to a belt. Who knows? Maybe there is some advantage to being able to untie a knot and let the knife and sheath slip away quickly and without any fuss. I guess it’s hard to proclaim that you’re unarmed and peaceful when they find a fixed blade knife sheath on you.

Blackie Collins: Among The Eternals

2011-07-27T20:36:00.001-04:00

Blackie Collins the knife maker passed on last week.

He never seemed to get the publicity, I always thought, like Randall or Loveless. Perhaps it was because he didn’t make exclusive fixed blades. Instead he designed knives and sold the rights to manufacturers. Of course, when manufacturers cheapened the design, took manufacturing short-cuts and produced less than ordinary products, you know who got the black eye. As a result it seems much of his talent was relegated to the position of spear carrier while the stars took the center stage.

Still, he founded Blade Magazine, one of the leading voices in today’s knife culture. His Strut’N’Cut knife helped fuel the assisted opening knife craze. And there cannot be any doubt this self-taught knife maker influenced what you carry in your pocket.

I had the opportunity to meet him years ago at a SHOT Show in Las Vegas. I was at the Meyerco booth when the factory rep said:

“Do you know Blackie Collins?”

“I’ve heard of him, but I don’t know him.”

“Would you like to meet him?

Of course I said yes, expecting a short hello, a hand shake and a few seconds of idle chatter.

I got the hand shake and more.

“Would you like to see my newest design? Blackie asked, while unrolling a 6-foot long sheet of paper. There, in large scale, was one huge drawing of a knife he was designing. He explained the design, talked about the steel and manufacturing problems. It was wonderful and I still regret I didn’t have my present understanding of steel and knives. I would have been able to understand the significance so much more.

Then he posed for pictures with my wife holding his knives.

Graciousness. That’s an attribute that fitted Blackie Collins. I’ve meet other designers. Talked with knife company owners, even gotten a few freebies to try out. They have been nice, charming and interesting, but I don’t associate graciousness with anyone else.

I did a quick Google search and found a quote I want to share with you:

“There’s no high like creativity.” Blackie Collins.

Rest In Peace, Blackie. We’ll miss you.

Late Arrivals

2011-07-03T17:59:00.002-04:00

I just received a late shipment of knives. Trying to anticipate what the consumer wants seems futile. Well, we all know what the consumer wants: top quality name brands at dirt cheap prices with full and total lifetime warranties against all damages, misuse and loss. Heck, I want that myself, but I’m not likely to see that either.

But part of the fun of selling knives is guessing the market and trying to get quality products in front of the consumer. Here are some knives I like:

TOPS FDX mini-axe

It’s too small to be called an axe, even a hatchet. It’s more like a cleaver. The FDX is made of 1095 steel, so you’ve got to take care of it, but it should make better sparks with a ferricium flint compared to stainless steel. It’s 3/8-inch thick and has a 2¾-inch blade and is 7¼ inches long. I see it shaving wood tinder, chopping small kindling, disjointing or quartering a freshly caught meal. I also see it as a great comfort in a dark alley. I think it needs a cord-wrapped handle and a lanyard.

CRKT’s Kommer Fulcrum has always attracted my attention. The open blade unlocks like any liner/frame lock but opening it is a little different.

Slide the bolster towards the blade and magic happens.

To open, slide the bolster towards the blade with your thumb. This action starts the blade opening. Now slide the bolster back to its original position and the blade is locked open. That’s the only way you can open it. It can’t be flicked open.

I have a serious bitch with New York City. With all the social problems they have, the elected officials are attempting to sidetrack the voters with flick and tactical style knives. There’s a witch hunt for sellers of these types of knives. Us tool carriers are also on their radar. So, if you’re going to NYC, this could be the knife to carry, better still…. STAY HOME. NEW YORK DOESN’T WANT YOU.

The Kommer Fulcrum is an attractive knife, but then I’m partial to blue and clever mechanisms.

My last knife is also from CRKT. It’s a little neck knife called the Folts Minimalist.

I always like neck knives, but having an unbreakable noose around my neck is troubling. Still, having a 2-inch stainless steel blade on me is a comfort.

Add a button-battery light and another survival tool of your choice and you have a leg up on getting home.

Partial list of suggested tools: flint, whistle, dog tag signal mirror, fire-starting glass, compass, P38 can opener, Kydex-sheathed saw blade. Must I go on…?

The Minimalist also comes with a belt adapter.

In The Trenches They Were Sharpening Their Knives...

2011-06-22T19:03:00.001-04:00

It’s been ‘trench warfare’ at my house for the last month. I’m having a garage built and running the electrical line for the garage. This simple act called for me to crawl under my porch, move about a half ton of stone and quarter ton of sandy soil resulting in a trench from the house foundation to the garage. It would have been a lot easier if I could have removed the full length porch from the back of our house. If I had those kind of resources, I would just buy a new house, so it was trench warfare. I ran into an underground retaining wall and had to drill and chisel out enough concrete to make a 6-inch depression for the rigid conduit. I spent so much time under the porch I found I was enjoying it. Unfortunately, mole man syndrome set in and I was eating 47 times my body weight, so that had to come to a stop.

The knife side of this is I cut a little barrier plastic, shaved some roots and truncated cord in the digging process. All of which took its toll on my CRKT Crawford Kasper folder. Add a little dandelion subsurface root decapitation (I know, decapitation is the wrong word, but it always reminds a me of a guillotine). This was followed up by lots of cardboard cutting. My knife was soon too dull to tear newspaper.

When I need to sharpen something fast, I reach for my Spyderco sharpener. The stones were getting a little dirty. So, with a little abrasive cleanser, water, a rag and a little elbow grease, the residue from previous sharpenings was gone and the stones were ready.

Removing old metal helps give the stone more 'bite' and faster sharpening

I like Spyderco's system. Hold the knife perpendicular to the ground and glide it down and back against the stone and it’s like a magic show.

Presto-Change-O! A sharp knife!

It’s so simple that even I can get a sharp edge in under 5 minutes.

Two medium stones, two brass guards, two fine stones and a plastic base. It goes everywhere.

A good friend of mine recently received a long awaited fixed blade from a local knife maker. Tim is a reluctant knife maker, so I’ll hold his name. My friend commissioned a fixed blade in the sub-hilt fighter style and asked the knife maker to give it his interpretation. It took awhile, but it was worth the wait. Even the sheath was nicely detailed.

Single Edge Sub Hilt Fighter

The maker did a very nice job. I wish my photo did it justice, but I had only minutes to set something up. I also found out that one man’s sheath knife is another’s pocket knife.

I guess the folder in the side pocket is back-up. Hey, one is none...

Blade Show: Comin’ Home

2011-06-14T20:09:00.004-04:00

It was a long trip home. The weather cooperated. It was in the 80s and overcast. More importantly, the traffic cooperated except for a little bit of the interstate south of Cincinnati in Kentucky. KDOT closed a three lane road down to one lane and the traffic was so backed up, we got off and had to find another way.

I felt bad about leaving a day early. I had looked forward to this show and writing about it. I almost felt I was cheating myself. On the other hand, I gained a day to get things (like this) under control before returning to work.

I found some interesting knives for myself. The slender South African dagger from Safari Consulting in the previous blog just speaks to me. I’m so glad I got it.

I picked up an unusual knife from Shadow Tech Knives. The main edge is a straight edge, which should be easy sharpening. The sharpened false edge is curved downward. I don’t think it will be too hard to re-edge when the time comes. The steel is 1095 and the blade is powder coated to help fight rust. I like the weight and look of the knife. Most importantly is how good the knife feels in my hand.

Shadow Tech

I met Peter Janda from FIN Designs several years ago at TDI. I have one of his holsters for CCW and I’ve admired his work in kydex for some time. He’s been designing knives and has found a home with Ka-Bar. I didn’t like his early folders. Oh, the designs were nice. They felt good in my hand and were mechanically well made, but my thumb and his opener tended to get snared in the handle’s curves. The FIN Velocity doesn’t have those problems. The clip is reversible and the knife is tip up, my favorite carry position. It’s made in China. Oh, grow up! It’s a world market and we have to compete. I understand Europe doesn’t have this country-of-origin hang-up. Perhaps that’s because they have always traded back and forth.

FIN Velocity Folder from Ka-Bar

Benchmade is advertising using Cerakote Gen II on all their BK and SBK blades made in 2011. The coating is reported to reduce visibility ~ “…provides a visual, near infrared and thermal management….” It’s not a Harry Potter cloak of invisibility, but if you need to control/reduce your visibility, it’s a start. Hint: I bet you could find a link to a studio that does powder coating with this same material.

Last thoughts:

After talking to Ed Fowler I may have to re-evaluate my thoughts on Randall knives. Ed reports that Bo Randall wanted to make a sharp knife that didn’t break. These properties come at the loss of edge retention. Use it and you have to re-sharpen. That’s not so bad. The knife was very successful with the military for this reason. It didn’t break; it just had to be re-sharpened. Still, 400-500 bucks for a factory knife….

Blade Show: T plus Two

2011-06-11T21:11:00.002-04:00

It’s my last day. I was planning to spend all day Sunday at the show, but frankly I’ve seen enough and I’m not seeing anything I can’t live without. I’d rather save some money for making Kydex sheaths.

Okay, I admit it; I bought a few knives just for the sake of ownership. I have always enjoyed Loveless knives from his naked lady period. So I checked the prices. I hope you invested years ago. A nice, well kept Loveless from this period runs around $2400. You will not find any naked ladies from Loveless in my collection.

I did find Bossie Knives now known as Safari Consulting. I bought a little dagger with a black iron wood handle that I couldn’t resist. I bought one last year in giraffe bone. I’m not really a dagger kind of guy, but these little guys just speak to me.

I sat in on Ed Fowler’s presentation. His message to consumers and knife makers remains a constant beacon of sanity. Test your knife to destruction. No one knows what the future will bring and you may need that knife to perform far outside of its intended role. Ed bends his knives back and forth from 90 degrees to 180 degrees without breaking. He expects to be able to do that several times, hammer it flat and still have a usable knife. He differential tempers the steel to create a hard area backed up by a thick soft spine so that a crack only grows to the soft metal and still leaves you with a knife you can use. Of course this isn’t cheap. His knives aren’t very attractive, and they run several thousand. Here’s the catch: use his knife and if you don’t like it, even after you use it, send it back and you’ll get your money back.

Spyderco is always doing interesting things. They see a market in Canada, NYC, California, England even Germany for smaller and sometimes non-locking knives. Many cities are restricting blade length, as if a one-and-half-inch blade is less dangerous than a two-and-half-inch blade. I just know that we legals follow the law while criminals do what they want.

Spyderco isn’t the only company doing interesting things. Most of the knife industry is trying to get their hands on your disposable income. Kershaw is showing off some very thick fixed blades which are a radical departure. Bear Knife is introducing a tactical line complete with an auto opener. Two years ago they were telling me (of course, I’m a nobody in the knife industry) they would never have a tactical line. Things are a-changin’.

I also sat in on the cutting contest. The knives are regulated and carefully controlled in an attempt to make it a skill event. It’s a little artificial, but it is exciting to watch someone cut through a water bottle long ways starting with the cap. Chopping the 2x4 in half is one of my favorite spectator sports. Unfortunately, I’ll never see it on TV so I guess I’ll be back at the Blade Show next year.

What, you don’t think that it’s much of a sport? Okay, here, you try it: With a single stroke, cut a tennis ball into two pieces. Okay, now do it while the ball is rolling. How’s that working for you?

Blade Show: T plus One

2011-06-10T19:17:00.004-04:00

We lined up and at the sound of the noon bell they threw the doors open and we rushed in. The land grab of 1889 had nothing on us.

First impressions – not great. Oh, the vendors were nice and the attendees interesting, but the show seemed flat to me. Maybe I’m just jaded.

Lots of Randalls, all at high prices. I understand that I can pay $400-$500 for a new one and wait 2.5 years for delivery or I can pay $700 (and up) now and walk off with one today. I’m not a collector so I tend to sooner or later use and resharpen my tools. I just can’t see those prices for a fixed blade factory knife.

We also found a lot of empty tables. That’s somewhat understandable. What’s sadder are the tables which sold out of everything before the show opened up. You thought the VIPs were first in? You forgot about the trading the night before in the hotel lobby and the selling between the dealers. If you absolutely must have the first access to the sellers, there’s only one answer: Buy a table.

We came across a German knife maker, Robert Kaufmann. This is his second trip over from Germany and each time he has sold a large fantasy knife. His most recent effort was a large take-apart fixed blade. Wow!

The sheath came apart, and the knife handle was pinned and wedged in place so it could be disassembled by hand. The handle held two matching chopsticks and each stick held a thin stiletto. My photo doesn’t do it justice. It was beautiful and a marvel to watch Robert slip the knife and sheath apart and then together.

Mantis has bought the design rights of a ringed knife from the father and son design team of Grant and Gavin Hawk. That Hawk family has some clever ideas. What does the knife look like?

Think of a donut with a hidden blade. The concept is way cool, but in all honesty, I’m not sure of the absolute function of the knife. Still, Mantis wants to rock the knife world and they are doing it.

I stopped by Benchmade to show them an auto of theirs I acquired recently. It’s a Mini-Reflex, but it’s different from the current production. The butterfly is labeled Bali-Song, not Benchmade. The blade is bead blasted not black-coated and the back of the blade says pre-production 1998.

Benchmade tells me they used ‘pre-production’ in place of ‘first production’ which they use now. The blasted blade was used in only a few small lots and Bali-Song is long gone. The knife is somewhat of a collectible, so I will fight the temptation to carry it.

I stopped at Busse/Swamp Rat/Scrap Yard. They didn’t have much on display and were taking orders. Honestly, I’m not impressed with the line-up of these knives. It’s the same as last year, just different handles.

If you want to see different styles of knives, go to TOPS. It’s a shopkeeper’s nightmare. So many different styles or SKUs, no matter what you stocked you won’t have what the customer wants. But if you need a specific shape, use or style of blade and thickness isn’t a factor, you’ll find something there.

I stopped to watch an engraver work on a knife. He used a sharp tool, a magnifying glass and a vice. From there he carefully cut and carved his design

by pressing hard sharp steel against another piece of metal. Five booths down another engraver worked with a stereomicroscope. A camera picked up the image for an overhead screen and he used power enhanced tools to engrave a piece of steel. Modern and more traditional just feet apart. The same contrast is found with hand sharpening on fine stones and powered continuous belts. You’ll find works of art at one table and crude semi-finished knives at another. Perhaps the best thing about the Blade Show is the contrast among people as well as the knives on display.

Blade Show: T minus 1 And Counting Down

2011-06-09T16:35:00.001-04:00

We’ve arrived at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel, the home of the east coast Blade Show. It’s a very nice hotel, big and comfortable, deserving of a big name. I’m going to call it the hotel.

The Blade Show is setting up and only vendors and display staff are allowed in the hall. Mere mortals like myself are shunned from paradise, at least until tomorrow. I’ve got two Blade VIP passes from a friend at Spyderco which will grant us early entrance tomorrow at noon. This elevated status ends at 2:00 when everyone is let in.

What does it take to be a VIP? Do you have to write an article, sell/buy $20k in knives a year? Nope, just throw money at them or know someone in the business.

Everyone thinks the best deals are made during this 2-hour interval. Nope. The best deals happened prior to the show. Buyers and sellers are just meeting to consummate the deal. It’s like an arranged marriage, but no crying on the wedding night. The second best time is tonight and tomorrow after dinner. People will wander down into the hotel lobby, drink, tell tall tales and show off knives. If you’re in the right place and time with some stories of your own and wad of cash, you could score big.

Here’s the first photo of the Blade Show, the main entrance. From this point on it will never be this empty. Tomorrow through Sunday the entrance will be alive with people.

The trip down here through the rest of Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia wasn’t bad. Hot, but overcast which is not a bad combination for travel by car. I must be used to Georgia drivers. They didn’t seem too bad, so far. Last year I almost got a ticket for safe driving, but I convinced the state trooper to let me off with a warning and a promise to never use my turn signal to change lanes. Seems the local drivers don’t know what to make of proper lane changes.

Blade show 2001

Blade Show – T minus 2

2011-06-08T20:25:00.001-04:00

The Knife Guy is on the road. My destination is not Atlanta, Georgia but the Blade Show held just outside of Atlanta. It’s been a good trip. My wife and I stopped in Cincinnati to have dinner with my brother and then it was on to the overnight stop in northern Kentucky.

So far my biggest problem is deciding which knives to carry. The initial decision was to have travel knives and show knives. This resulted in two major decisions. (Hey! To me they were major.). This process is moving me in the wrong direction, but I’m going to stick with it.

Last year I noticed most of the attendees had several knives on them. It was the polite icebreaker to ask, “So what are you carrying?” This required you to be able to show the knife off. More than one person had a belt hatchet but I didn’t see any swords so I figured I’d be safe with pocket knives.

I selected my SOG Spec Elite and my byrd Pelican. The lower case 'b' on byrd is correct. The trade name does not have a capital letter. The Pelican with its sheepsfoot blade has been discontinued, but I still think it’s a fine knife.

The show knives were not as diverse. I selected Spyderco’s PPT and a Santa Fe Stoneworks reworked Police model in blue-dyed mastodon molar. For a third knife I selected Ka-Bar’s original TDI fixed blade self-defense knife.

Since Benchmade is going to be present, I brought a Benchmade auto that has 'pre-production' marked on the back of the blade. I hope to find out what that is about.

It’s been a hot day and beer has been iced down for about half an hour so it’s time to sign off. Tune in tomorrow for another report.

Is and Isn’t: Memorial Day

2011-05-29T12:55:00.001-04:00

May 30 is a grass roots holiday. It was first started in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania in 1864 when local people decorated the graves of Civil War soldiers. The trend spread and soon became a “ritual of remembrance and reconciliation.” Following the War-To-End-All-Wars, Congress included the dead from the First World War.

Now the reality is that it honors all our brothers and sisters who served, many of whom died in service to our country. We call it Memorial Day.

It never was meant as a sales promotion for Mega-Mart.

It’s a time to reflect on the sacrifice the living and dead have made for our country and, by extension, us.

It isn’t just a day off to mark the beginning of summer.

It is a time to have family around you. The death of each of these men and women ended a family line of possibilities. Who knows what other friends and family would gather with us if these lives were not cut short. Their sacrifice makes us their spiritual descendents and we should honor that every day.

It’s not a time to catch up on house or yard work, but it may be a time to tend to forgotten service mens’ graves.

Use Memorial Day to celebrate your freedoms any way you want including the sale at Mega-Mart. Just remember that someone paid the price for that freedom. Spend it wisely.

The Unintended Collector

2011-05-24T19:07:00.003-04:00

At what point do a couple or three things become a collection? Two birds don’t make a flock. Three people enjoying a couple beers aren’t necessarily a party. So when does a couple of cheese knives become a collection?

I think the question is better defined if we assume a collection has variation. Six identical steak knives isn’t a collection. It could be the beginning of a party, but it’s not a collection. The degree of difference is also an important component.

I have a friend who has a collection of Peterson’s “Field Guide to the Birds.” Each copy is essentially the same, but one is hard cover with gold leaf edges. Another is a limited printing bound in leather with uncut pages. Others are the 1st through 5th editions, while others are mud stained from use and the last is the large print edition. It is the variation among the books that makes it a collection.

I can speak from experience: I have a similar collection of Sherlock Holmes books in my possession. Sherlock’s knife connection? Holmes uses a jack knife to fix his correspondence to the fireplace mantle. In modern England, he would be hard pressed to find a legal knife to pin his correspondence anywhere.

One day my wife realized she had a nice little cheese knife collection growing in the kitchen drawer.

The Arthurian cheese knife plunged into a block of cheese reads FROMAGE, or French for cheese. No surprise the blade is marked “Le Chef Sympa”. We bought that one on our way to the Finger Lakes region in NY. (Wineries were not on our tour, but the Corning glass museum was and is still an excellent destination.)

Knife number two is unknown; the blade is stamped with a simple “Stainless – Taiwan”. She got it from her mother, but it is not by any stretch of imagination an heirloom.

Knife number three is all plastic and we think we bought it at Cheese Haven in Port Clinton. We were on our way back from Camp Perry and I needed to stock up on fermented cow’s milk.

The fourth knife is another all plastic mystery knife. We bought it at a kitchen store on a trip to somewhere. Kind of tells you how impressed we are with it.

The last knife is made by Rada. It has a brushed aluminum handle which gives me the shivers every time I pick it up. It’s a little gruesome looking. If the blade were a little thicker you’d swear it was designed by Klingons for interrogating prisoners.

Which knife cuts the cheese the best? (Actually I wrote all of this so I could use that line.) The honors go to the untouchable Rada and mystery knife number 3.

Old and New Friends

2011-05-20T06:00:00.003-04:00

I’m looking forward to seeing old friends at the Blade Show.

Santa Fe Stoneworks will be there and their work is hard to beat. I own several and I can’t bring myself to use them. They’re made to be used, but they are just too nice. I’m not one to carry an unusable knife. I recently cut my lawn and pondered the growing dandelion population. I don’t like to use weed killer, but I do. Unfortunately bad weather prevented me from dosing the lawn. My pocket knife let me cut the subsurface roots and remove the weeds. That made the blade butter knife dull. And that’s okay, 'cause they’re tools I use and I can resharpen.

Of course my favorite knife company Spyderco will be there. I like these people. I like their products, and I have a sweet spot for them. After I wrote my first article on the Bob Lum (green) Chinese Folder they mailed me a congratulations card for getting published. It meant a lot to me.

Ka-Bar is another company that has helped me and I look forward to seeing them. John Benner from TDI is a classic and I recommend his school to everyone. I hope he’s at the Ka-Bar booth. Both my wife and I look forward to seeing him.

There’s a few companies not listed that I’ll miss. Blind Horse Knives doesn’t have a table or booth, nor does James Pengov. I met James at a gun show, admired his engravings and helped get him a table at the yearly WRCA Show. No, I didn’t pull any strings. I just lent him my cell phone and encouraged him to call and reserve a table. His work does the rest and I have no question about his success.

I’m not a dedicated collector. I buy, save or use knives that catch my eye, fill a need or a concern. Because of this, it’s doubtful I ever have the type of collection relatives will fight over. I take a perverse sense of pride in this. So it’s interesting to see a new venue at the show.

This year’s Blade Show, sponsored by Tactical Gear Magazine (tactical = $$$ + black), will also be the Tactical Gear Show. Your Blade Show ticket is good for the gear show which runs the same time. If you are confused about the connection between knives and tactical (I’m not, but some of you may be) check the equation above.

Blade Show Count Down

2011-05-16T13:00:00.002-04:00

I’m thinking Blade Show.

Of course you know when it will be, right? In the days before June 10 through 12, a migration of edge lovers will converge on Atlanta, Georgia. There are great knife shows all over the country, but excluding the industry-only SHOT Show, the Blade Show is the premiere knife show in America.

I’ll be blogging about my second trip to Capital of Cut, the Empire of Edge, the Satrap of Steel. I hope you follow along. I never know what will happen. I’m staying at the same hotel as the show so I may have a better chance of interacting with the attendees.

A schedule has been released of presentations, all the better to plot your course. Of course there are a few conflicts and hidden reefs. Everyone wants to hear Ed Fowler, so the conflict between his presentation at 11am and the 11:15 demo of renaissance swords and fencing in the courtyard remains unresolved.

I’m not a Buck collector so the conflict between Jens Anso’s “How to Texture Knife Handles” and the Buck Collectors is a non-issue.

Despite my interest in Loveless knives, anytime I can hear Ernest Emerson talk, I’m going with Ernie. No question on that. He’s an interesting character (I don’t think he would mind being called a character) and a good speaker. He preaches the gospel of self-reliance and self-protection. I’m on board for that.

World War II Randalls at 11:00 sounds interesting, but I just don’t know. I just can’t get my mind around collecting Randalls, much less paying what seems like stupid money and then waiting 5 plus years to get a custom factory knife. So Practical Knife Sharpening with Ed Fowler is going win that conflict.

Surprisingly, the knife cutting competition last year was not well attended, at least from my perspective. I expected a larger crowd. I’ll be there again, but I cannot help but wonder about the practicality of it. It’s a highly specialized sport that tightly regulates the knives used. This shifts the competition to the luck and skill of the knife wielder. Most of the time that’s a good thing, but… Is the Blade Cutting Contest like Indy Car racing?

Supporters argue that the lessons learned from making 500 miles of left turns (tells you where I fall in this argument) have value to modern tire, auto body and engine design. I know a little something about Indy tires and they have no relationship to the tires on your car.

So, do the lessons learned about steel, tempering, grind and grip needed to win the cutting contest have any relationship to the knife in your pocket? I just don’t know.

Glass and Steel

2011-05-10T20:44:00.002-04:00

One outcome of a recent trip to Florida to visit my parents was my father giving me his father’s pocket knife. The knife has come full circuit. My grandfather passed away by his own hand when I was in eighth grade. He was very sick, suffering from emphysema and was chained to a large green tank of compressed oxygen. I always felt I understood his actions as tragic as they were.

I didn’t know my grandfather very well. Relations between these two grandparents and my family were strained and I never knew what was the cause. I still don’t. It’s in the past, buried and dead.

I do remember he used to give me old foreign coins. He delivered soda to bars on Chicago’s south side and he used to find foreign coins that people tried to slip into the soda (?) machines. I’m still a little surprised about the prevalence of soda vending machines in the 40’s and 50’s. What do I know? I remember he was a junker, a collector of copper wire, lead and newspaper for scrap sale. Like many Americans he was green before the concept of recycling. At the time it was called making ends meet. He liked to make elaborate bird cages of wire that he slipped through holes he carefully drilled in little wooden bars. The cages were all painted silver and always reminded me of castles. I’m sure the birds weren’t impressed by their cages, but I was.

My father gave me the knife after the funeral. It was a three-bladed folder, with one broken blade, two excessively sharpened blades in a beat up handle. It was a crap knife then, but it meant something to my father so it meant something to me.

Where's the rest of the blade?

When I moved out to my first job, I gave the knife back to him. I didn’t know what my life would be like, but I knew I’d lose grandpa’s knife. Since it meant more to my father than me, I knew he should keep it. And he did. Some thirty years later he brings it out. The warm moist Florida air hasn’t been kind to the knife.

“Here,” he said. “Take your grandfather’s knife back home with you.” I’m glad he still remembered it.

the little pen blade - gone!

It must have been a nice knife at one time. Brass liners, a nice metal shield in the white handle and silver colored bolsters. Grandpa sharpened the blades past usefulness and somewhere snapped the pen blade. I touched up the base of the two remaining blades, but I can’t see a maker’s mark on either blade.

Sic transit gloria mundi!

I’m cleaning out my garage and ran across several old glass knives. Oh! They aren’t what you think. They look like little glass triangles.

Used glass knives....

I used to make them by scratching a thick glass bar and breaking the bar first into a square. A second diagonal scratch and a split turned the square into two imperfect triangles. If you did it right you got an incredibly sharp straight edge on each half.

Glass knives and a little bar stock

You could do it with a carbide scribe and glass pliers, but it’s easier to use a machine. The machine? It’s called a glass knife maker, of course.

The broken glass edge is so sharp you can’t find anything sharper, but it’s fragile, very fragile. What are they used for? Despite their fragility, glass knives are used to cut frozen tissue so thin you can look through it. I used these knives to cut transparent sections of tires and to shape resin blocks and samples for the cryo-microtome. With a cryo-microtome you can cut samples so thin you can shine electrons through them. That’s very thin.

A few problems with that edge. It was brittle and dulled quickly. Left overnight, the edge (from absorbing moisture) would be dull and useless. Bump the sample into it a little too hard, and the edge would explode glass shards in your face.

Still, if you wanted to cut tissue, rubber tires, plastic and so many other things so thin you could see, literally see, through your section, you needed a glass knife.

Weekend Adventure

2011-04-24T19:37:00.002-04:00

I was unpacking my ditty bag and my little Swiss Army-style knife slipped out and splashed into the water-filled sink. I keep a little Kershaw with the ditties because of its multi-functions: two small blades, sturdy little scissors, nail cleaner and file, good tweezers and the all important fruit peeler. A hair blower and a little oil and the knife is as good as new.

I was unpacking from an overnight expedition to Camp Perry for the pop-up spring pistol match. It’s a fun match to raise money for the Friends of Camp Perry and run by the Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association or ORPA. The goal, worthy in my mind, is to improve the lot of service men and women stationed at Perry for tune-ups before shipping out. A very worthy goal.

It’s a fun match. Seven half-size humanoid plastic targets pop up and down forty times controlled by computer.

Nuff said!

Target rich environment

At most, two targets stand and you have to shoot them down. You get about 5 seconds per group, which is plenty of time to tactically engage each target with a pistol. Tactical come from a Latin word meaning ‘shoot the closest one.’ There are several scholars who believe the word actually comes from a different root meaning ‘make it black and cost more.’ What do I know?

I used to believe the targets had a steel plate behind them that sensed the impact and took the target down. This trip I stood in back of one (before the shooting started) and saw no plate, just holes.

It appears the plastic is a ‘self-healing’ material and the impact of the bullet vibrating the target is sufficient to trigger a response. It seems to work for .22 cal through .45ACP. Still, starting with a partially punctured green guy, adding 8 or more holes per target each relay, the 14th or 30th relay shooter starts to wonder, “Am I missing or am I shooting through a hole?”

No matter the score, it’s a fun time and we managed to eke out a dry and warm day. Friday was cold and rainy and Easter Sunday is cool and rainy, but Saturday was warm and sometimes sunny. But the wind!!

If you go to Camp Perry which is pressed into the shores of Lake Erie, be prepared for wind, wind and MORE WIND!

But truth be told (shooting anything .22 or bigger from 10 to 30 meters at a half-humanoid target), the wind isn’t a significant factor. I had a great time.

So is the Kershaw the only knife connection? Of course not. I know in our little group every shooter had at least one pocket knife.

SOG Spec Elite in pocket - Mouse gun in hand
(I asked...)

So I’m estimating there were at least 100 blades, maybe more at Perry. I know I had two.

Cosmoline Adventure

2011-04-19T20:16:00.002-04:00

Everyone likes getting mail, so when the package arrived, I couldn’t wait to get it open. I suspected it was the sailor’s knife I recently won on eBay. I opened the package and found a cocoon of newspaper. When I sell stuff on eBay I try to pack the item so no damage can occur. After all, once it sells, I am sending it to its rightful owner so I want to be careful. So, seeing the wad of paper, my first thought was “wrapped the way I wrap things!”

Unrolling the knife revealed a grease ~~covered~~ slathered oval shaped object. Well, there was so much cosmoline I wasn’t sure there was a knife present.

The time honored method of cleaning cosmoline from rifles is to stand in a hot shower in your skivvies and scrub the rifle with your toothbrush. Yuck…

I knew I needed a different way. I did find a site what showed a hot steam method and listed other methods of cleaning cosmoline.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/cosmoline/pdf/cosmoline.pdf

Partially cleaned - Now for the soak!

The best I’ve seen was a large two-tub ultrasonic unit at the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot. You just opened the bolt and placed it in one tub for half an hour and then into a second bath which contained a rust inhibitor and light oil for a second half hour. When you came back your rifle was waiting for you. The cost was around 25 bucks and everyone who bought a surplus rifle thought it was a deal!

I wiped the majority of cosmoline off with old newspaper and submerged it in a solution of equal parts:

Mineral spirits,
Clenzoil,
WD40.

Between an old toothbrush and a spare turkey baster, I cleaned off most of the cosmoline. The blade compartments were too deep for my brush, so I cut a strip of cardboard and scoured them out. Still, it required a lot of soaking. If I were smart I would have left it in the solution overnight, but I was too impatient to wait.

Nothing Like a good soak

I finally got the gunk out of all the nooks and crannies. My cleaning solution went from a nice clear green to a muddy, turbid gray. I was afraid to use it on anything else, so I disposed of it.

It took a lot of wiping with rags followed by paper towels but I got most of the solvent removed. I suspect it will have to wait for a sunny hot summer day when I can wrap it in newspaper and leave it in the sun while I work around the yard. It would not surprise me if more cosmoline worked free in the heat.

Well at least I don’t have to worry about oiling it or protecting the blade for awhile.

Benchmade VS Spyderco

2011-04-14T19:43:00.001-04:00

People ask, “What should I buy? Spyderco Delica or Benchmade Mini-Griptilian?”

Good question, and as of now I don’t know which I would recommend, the Delica or the Mini-Griptilian.

First let’s ignore price. It isn’t that I don’t want to get embroiled with deutschmarks, yen or dollars, but really, the difference in money isn’t that much.

Also let’s ignore the stud option on the Griptilian. That’s one less factor to compare.

	Delica	Mini-Griptilian
Handle	Flat, easy to nestle in pocket	Round, more natural feel
Lock	Spine, requires changing grip	Axis, just needs a free thumb
Clip	Movable to all 4 positions	Movable, left or right only
Steel	VG-10	154 CM, option of 440C
Weight	2.5 oz	2.56 oz
Blade Length	2.87 in	2.9 in
Handle length	4.25 in	3.87in

Well, that certainly makes it easier, right?

Benchmade Mini-Griptillian with the cool reptile shaped blade

Truthfully, no. I like the natural feel of the Mini-Griptilian. The handle swell fits my hand and my wife’s hand equally well. I like the flat thin Delica as it fits my pockets better. Both knives open well but the Mini-Griptilian has a slightly smoother opening and a much better closing.

I prefer tip-up carry and I match the knife to either right or left pocket. Either knife works for me.

Blade length? If I can’t get most of the jobs done with either blade length, then the job calls for a specialized knife.

Weight? If you can tell the difference between the knives based on weight, you are one sensitive dude.

I’m not a steel junkie. Yes, there are some very special steels that give you incrementally better performance, but could you tell in the double blind cutting test? I’d wager you could with sophisticated testing equipment. By hand? Nope!

Spyderco Delica

So where does this leave me? I gotta go Spyderco. Mostly for emotional reasons, these knives are tied to me. The Delica was my first tactical knife. My first published article was about a Spyderco. My favorite tactical teacher carried Spyderco. The first knife I gave my wife was a Spyderco. And most important, they are completely dependable.

Benchmade, it’s a great knife. My wife carries them and loves them. So it remains your choice. If you can’t decide, well, that’s nature’s way of saying buy them both.

Mini-reptile, not Griptilian. Hard to fit in pocket or open

A Number Game

2011-04-11T20:51:00.001-04:00

All blogs no matter the topic, knife, airgun or apron wearing, all blogs attempt to attract readers. We ~~write~~ blog, therefore we seek an audience. And bigger is, in this case, better.

Let’s cut through the mumbo jumbo and stats we get from blogger or wherever you get your numbers. We all feel this way sometimes.

Take it away Stephan Pastis’ Pearls Before Swine

A Carry Knife To Remember

2011-03-27T20:05:00.001-04:00

One of the more innovative knife designs, in my opinion, is the TDI knife made by KA-BAR. This small fixed blade knife is the brain child of John Benner, the president and chief instructor of Tactical Defense Institute located in West Union, Ohio.

The original TDI Knife with reversible clip sheath

The previous mythos was while struggling to retain your firearm against one or more ~~thugs~~ assassins (let’s be real – they get your gun, you’re dead) you would take your free hand, reach down into your pocket, slide the knife clipped there out, open it and strike your opponent with the business end of the knife. I’ve trained it and it doesn’t work very well.

John’s idea was a small fixed blade that would be practically invisible behind an officer’s reloads and could be taken out by grasping the handle and cutting your way to safety. He wanted something that a person could strike hard and fast with and not have to hold back in fear of injuring himself.

The short bladed, curved handle knife with clip sheath has become a favorite of LEOs and armed civilians. I have carried mine for days at work and nobody paid any attention to it.

Recently I have been hearing about a folding TDI knife. Part of the problem was designing a lock that would hold the knife securely open, not accidentally close while fighting, and still have that curved handle to prevent you from sliding up onto the blade.

It’s been introduced. Called the TDI Sidelock, KA-BAR has introduced a folding knife modeled on the TDI fixed blade. The handles are G10 and the knife is set up for tip-up carry. You can switch the pocket clip to left or right carry.

The TDI Sidelock -- Bigger bladed, stout design but … better than the original?

Yes, it’s made in China, but it has KA-BAR's quality and knowing John, he would never let his reputation ride on crappy workmanship or materials. The blade locks open with a stout liner lock. The lock has a low profile to prevent accidental closing.

It’s a fighting knife. Oh, sure you can use it as a letter opener, cut string and maybe make shavings to start a fire, but it’s clear what it’s designed for. Take his knife class and you’ll see it in action and learn how to put it in action. http://www.tdiohio.com/cqpc.htm#knife

I like it. I think highly of John and everyone thinks highly of his school, but I’ve got to say the knife misses its purpose: To draw an edged weapon efficiently, quickly and immediately deploy it to save your life. The only justification I can see is not being able to carry a fixed blade. Once the blade is deployed; you have a powerful tool for self-defense. I already own one.

Jail House Knives

2011-03-21T19:30:00.001-04:00

A lot of my coworkers find the monthly safety meeting a complete waste of time, except for the donut you snag after you sign in. I don’t share that view. Safety meetings have a lot of useful information. Sometimes they remind you of how insensitive companies can be and other times it can be quite amusing.

One of our departments uses homemade utility knives. Picture a foot long, one inch wide strip of steel. Like from the duct work in your house. Now bend it in half. That’s the body of the knife.

Image a second piece of the same material, but this one is a 1x2 inch rectangle. Fold it short ways over the back of the knife body so that about half inch of metal overlaps from the back to the front of the knife body on both sides. This forms a locking buckle that can be slid up and down. That’s the knife, almost.

Slip an industrial utility knife blade in the front of the knife, slide the buckle forward until the extra thickness of the utility blade jams the buckle and ...Presto! a homemade utility knife.

They showed a picture of it. It was the nicest prison shank I have ever seen! The buckle was made from brass, so little tapping with a hammer tightens it up nicely.

The back end of the blade is exposed to your fingers, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone. I know a lot of people wear the cut resistant yellow Kevlar gloves at work, so maybe they figure, what the heck.

The company is now going to replace them after a worker took a swing at the plastic sheeting that pallets come wrapped in, missed and cut his arm. The only question from the workers was, “Are they paying for new ones?” The answer was yes, which made everyone happy.

Me, if I need a utility knife and the company didn’t pay for it (why else would you make a utility shank?), I’d buy one. This seems a lot safer and easier than making a POS* knife.

Knife front:

I ran into a fellow who was shopping for a knife with a sub 3-inch blade at the last gun/knife show. He didn’t find anything at my table, but I asked him why he needed that length. Many cities have sub 1.5-inch or a 3-inch no serrations blade rule. I was wondering if his company has a similar knife policy. (Me? I carry two pocket knives with different blades for different cutting conditions. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

Him: I need it for work.

Me: Where do you work?

Him: The jail.

Me: I’m surprised they allow you to carry a knife on the job.

Him: Everyone is supposed to have a cut-down knife.

Me: Oh!

I’m still surprised about this, but police tell me most people in jail are on good behavior because they are going to trial and hope good conduct will buy them some juice with the courts.

*POS 'Piece of Shot', (dot the o)

Cleveland - The Edge of Spring

2011-03-10T20:23:00.001-05:00

The creepin’ crud is evident at work so I don’t feel too bad about being under the weather myself. In fact, most of the chemistry lab has called in sick!

Let me explain why I find this so amazing: we don’t have sick days. If you’re hourly or piece work (the chem lab is all hourly), you could lose half percent per sick day of your bonus. Based on last year’s bonus that could be, …let’s see, …carry the six…over $100 a day plus your daily salary! Sick days are like a big fine you have to pay to the company.

I hear welders are in great demand but the supply is low. It’s not an easy job, but making something (other than rust and shavings) out of metal has to be rewarding. I can’t imagine the pride a welder must have when he points to a bridge or building and exclaims, “I built that!”

It’s been suggested we hire teen heart throb Justin Bieber to say he relaxes by welding, and in two years we could be over washed in welders.

Hmmmm, maybe that’s not such a great idea after all.

I’m back from Florida enjoying this wonderful, damp, miserable weather Ohioans call early spring. It’s true there is no place like home, but Florida had a lot going for it.

The perfume of orange blossoms drifts though my father’s backyard and into my mother’s house. It takes you awhile but you can sniff your way to the source. Watch out for the busy bees.

Next to orange trees Dad planted several lemon and grapefruit trees which he started from seeds. It does a man good to plant seeds and see the resulting trees blossom heavy with fruit.

By accident the lemon and grapefruit met, dated a while and moved in together. The resulting fruit, rounder than any lemon you have ever seen, has a subtle but distinct grapefruit taste.

On one of his trees he has a staghorn fern.


Hey, Rocky1 Watch me pull a fern outa my hat!

It’s an odd looking plant, reminds me more of moose antlers, but what do I know. Still, for an amateur botanist like myself it’s very close to heaven.

Of course, there’s the Gulf of Mexico. The pelican squadron was not fully activated. I watched one scout glide over the shallows looking for fish. Do they ever flap their wings? They always seem to be gliding so gracefully over the waves.

Scout to base--sighted fish--starting run...

When I’m at the Outer Banks, where the Atlantic Ocean is rougher, the post graduate pelicans fly in single file formation, gliding low over the water’s surface between waves. They disappear from sight flying in the trough between the waves and reappear as the wave passes. Quite wonderful.

There are some downsides to Florida. Bugs…you’ve got to professionally spray once a year to keep the ~~cockroaches~~ palmetto bugs at bay. You should also learn to love mildew. I believe it is Florida’s state fungus.

And of course, any fresh or brackish water spells alligators.

I spotted this guy hanging out at a pond near Venice Beach.

I’ve got to admit my first two thoughts were: Oooh! They taste like chicken and I could get a really nice knife sheath out of him.

Yeah, Florida has some downsides, but did I mention the sunset over the gulf?

On The Knife Front...

Best comment I have heard recently weighing in the practicality of carrying expensive knives:

“Do I carry an expensive knife I could lose or a cheap one I’m embarrassed by?”

This could be the touchstone to parse your differences between cheap and expensive. Look at your carry knife and ask, are you embarrassed when your buddies ask to borrow your pocket knife?

Better Words Than I Have----

2011-03-10T12:36:00.004-05:00

If you love knives, click on the link on my sidebar. http://bowieknifefightsfighters.blogspot.com
Check out the comments for March 10 2011. England is trying to find a new source to blame their internal problems on. We are following England's example with gun control and knife control is on the horizon. See England, see your future. It isn't nice.

The Sun Is Warm And The Wind Is Sweet

2011-02-27T21:36:00.001-05:00

The wind doesn’t cut like a knife. Sunglasses aren’t worn to prevent snow blindness. Any sand we have is to run between our toes and not for traction. Why?

I’m not in Cleveland today. I’m in sunny Florida were the natives are bitching about how cold 78 degrees is. Me? I think it’s Heaven. Especially ~~after~~ during our winter.

I’m down here celebrating my father’s 90th birthday. He and my mother decided to leave the northern states and move to Florida after he retired. None of us kids live down here, so they established a beachhead and grew into the community. They’re happy, but I still worry about them. My wife is able to help her mother with daily activities but not only can I not help my parents, I don’t get to visit them either. Florida is just too far for a weekend jaunt.

My father gave me his father’s knife. At one time it was nice and new, but like a lot of old timer’s knives, the blades are literally sharpened away. Still, I’ll treasure it as it is. It is one of the few connections I have to my grandfather. I’ll get a picture up later.

I like this group of people outside of Chili’s. They look like a nice family so I took their picture for my blog. Well, it was either them or hire actors for a family shot.

Really, this is part of my family. I’m still missing a brother and sister. They haven’t arrived yet. I hope they are alright. Travel can be hazardous.

One of the reasons I think Florida is heaven besides the warm winters is the botany and biology. This is one of the little guys I see hangin’ around the house looking for a quick meal.

Flies? You got flies, maybe yes?

Warther Expo Recap

2011-02-23T20:18:00.002-05:00

The Warther Expo is over for this year.

Was it a success? I’m taking a page from Bill Clinton. It depends on your meaning of success. If success means getting friends and other knife aficionados together under one roof, it was a success. If you define success as high attendance and foot traffic resulting in sales, the answer is no. Reasons and excuses aside, attendance was down. But it was still great fun!

For those who did attend, great deals, wonderful knives and outstanding sausage sandwiches were available. Here’s some of what you missed.

Communication was difficult in the large open room we occupied. We soon came to depend on the man known as The Voice.

I didn’t know you could still buy Warther combat knives with the metal sheath. They are, I’m told, a special order but one can be made for you.

James Pengov was set up at one table with his lovely engravings and tools. James makes knives, but his engravings are spectacular.

Work in progress Jim@pengovinc.com

My spies tell me (I talked to his father) James is working on achieving national recognition and is close to completing his apprenticeship. Expect his prices to jump, but they will still be worth it.

I showed you one of Jack Hatton’s miniatures in a previous post. Here’s one of his small decorative knife handles. (For reasons not understood by me at least, Jack's miniature is at the bottom of this blog, at least it was in my previews.) Jack can be e-mailed at hattongwy@aol.com

I can't begin to figure out how someone carves a figure this small and so nicely.

Warther knives were quite well represented; after all it was the Dale Warther Memorial Expo. I didn’t know Dale very well, but he always said hello and I miss seeing him at the knife club meetings.

I am always surprised at the stories people tell of finding a Warther treasure at a yard sale or flea market. You see them on eBay once and a while, but these knives have developed quite a following in Ohio. It was a great chance to see the displays.

But don't let me confuse you. There were plenty of other knives.

If you couldn’t find something to your taste, well, you weren’t looking hard enough.

And if by some strange chance you have acquired all the knives you want (How can this be?!?), there were wood cases to display your collection.

Well-made wood boxes and cases always remind me of my mother’s father. He was an old-world cabinetmaker. He came over after the First World War and could make magic with wood. He would have never allowed it, but I sometimes wonder if I should have taken a year or two off between high school and college to study under him. Boy, talk about paths not taken and only dimly understood.

Even in the middle of the hubbub and excitement, you could find knife makers lost in thought thinking about their next creation.

See you next year!

Knives and Hearts

2011-02-15T21:03:00.001-05:00

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and if you missed giving that someone special a gift or at least a card, you have to wait a year. Better still, do it sooner, or that someone special may not be in your life that long.

The day was originally named after Saint Valentine in 496 by Pope Gelasius. The saint’s day was removed from the Roman calendar in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. Not exactly a cutting edge holiday, it has shown remarkable staying power. Most nations have some custom or celebration marking the love between two people. They go by various names, but I like the Guatemalan day, “Dio del Carino” or Day of Affection.

Naturally, I didn’t forget my wife. How could I? She grounds me, lifts me up and has my back. I would not be who I am without her love.

So what did I get her?

It’s a neck knife made by Gary Bucklew. The small 2-inch 440c steel blade has a dyed giraffe bone handle. The knife and its dark leather sheath is supported by a tiger conch shell necklace. I think it’s lovely and she likes it too. Or, at least she’ll wear it.

I got a partial mystery knife.

It’s a sailor’s knife with non-lockable marlin spike, sheepsfoot blade and can opener. The main blade is stamped Coricama and is claimed to be (here’s the mystery) 1950-ish Italian navy issue. I haven’t taken the time to research it.

I like odd knives. Not any oddity, but oddity as a result of function. Doctors’ knives are the perfect example. A proper one has a spatula for compounding and mixing, a slender blade for lancing boils and other minor surgery and a metal base for grinding medical ingredients.

Sailor knives are the next best example. A spike for working knots free and splicing lines, a blunt tipped knife to prevent injury while working on a rolling ship and can opener for survival rations are often the key components.

I’m already looking at other sailor knives and wondering if there’s a book or website where I can learn more.

Dale Warther Memorial Knife Expo - 2011

2011-02-12T20:28:00.001-05:00

I found my Spyderco Salt. We both looked at it but it was hidden under several flat bags of disposable ear plugs. My wife claims I keep them around to block her out, but the truth is I take them out of my pocket at the end of the day and forget them the next day. Somehow the Salt slipped under a few pairs and was overlooked.

You can imagine my chagrin when I moved the box of Kleenex next to the ear protectors and noticed a hole looking out at me. So, Lassie has come home and I for one was glad to see my knife.

The Dale Warther Memorial Expo is in full swing. Several club members have their Warther knife collections on display, but the family is showing knives which may have never been seen in public.

I find these closet knives very interesting. Don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I think there are 5 maybe 6 basic patterns to the depth of the Warther knife universe. This is clearly wrong. On display is a one of only four sets ever made of three knives. One of them is a Bowie with the traditional Warther jeweling. I hope to find out more about them tomorrow.

Here are a few images to enjoy. Frankly, if you’re a knife person and you’re within two hours, it would be worth your drive. Sunday is our last day until next year.

One of the knife vendors specializing in factory new

Flint handled knives by Joseph’s Designs

Ohio has some of the most colorful flint in the States, possibly the world. The patterns are one of a kind and I love look into the handle by way of translucent patches of stone.

The entire knife is under an inch and a half!

Miniatures are hot! The three or four Jack Hatton had were gone within hours of the opening bell. You can see why too.

By the end of the day the customers had petered out and there were more vendors than buyers. This makes for good deals if you know how to bargain. Sunday promises to be a good day for buyers.

Behind every successful event there is a core group of worker bees to keep everything running smoothly and on course. One of the many the show can’t do without.

The Missing Knife

2011-02-06T19:30:00.002-05:00

I find myself in the same predicament Little Bo Peep did. Oh sure, I know where my sheep are, but I’m missing a knife.

There are many knives like this knife, but it's not my knife.

I’m not sure it’s lost. Things aren’t really lost until you stop searching for them. Just because you can’t find your car keys doesn’t mean it’s time to call the dealership and order a new set. It just means you have to look a little more.

I’m missing my Spyderco Salt. I got a fully serrated Salt several years ago when they first came out. I remember packing it in a salt paste to see if I could get it to rust. After 12 hours of keeping the paste moist I cleaned it off and found a clean blade. But I wasn’t surprised. It’s a Spyderco.

My nightly knife ritual varies. During the week when I wear the same pair of pants to work, I leave the knives clipped in the pockets. (Yeah, I carry two knives, different tools for different jobs.) If I go out that evening or even if I don’t, two different knives are clipped into the after work pants. On laundry day I have a different ritual. Everything comes out of the pockets and goes on the counter.

My wife has a simpler ritual on laundry day. She checks my pockets because she knows I’m forgetful.

Superbowl Sunday morning she discovered I was missing a knife. I did a quick tally (Let’s see…one SOG, one CRKT, one Endura, two byrds….Where’s the Salt?) and found out I was missing one. Call out the dogs!!

The seat belts in our cars tend to catch the clips when I get out, but the knives usually end up next to the seat. Checked both cars, no dice.

We were at a restaurant last night and it’s easy for a knife to work out of your pocket and onto the seat or floor. We called, no dice.

Checked the couch. I’ve lost and found knives there before. No dice.

Checked the clothes basket.

Checked the counter, again.

Checked the workbench where I sharpen knives.

Checked the cars, again.

Patted the pockets of clean pants I just put on, just in case.

NO DICE!

I have one more chance. I remember it at work on Friday. I could have put it down by the microscope, or on my desk. I don’t remember opening any packages, but that doesn’t mean too much. I tend to forget the routine daily functions. I hope I never get in real trouble -- (“Where were you the night of Dec 22 when Col. Mustard was killed with a candlestick in the kitchen?” The detective said. “Ahhh, I don’t know,” I reply.)

Sure, I can order another one, but it won’t be the same. I used that knife to publish an article. I got it from Joyce who has greatly helped me in my fledgling attempts to publish knife articles. For a lifeless lump of steel and plastic, it was a great comfort in my pocket. It was a touchstone to so many people and events. A new one wouldn’t be the same.

What to Celebrate in January

2011-01-29T20:24:00.002-05:00

January is almost over and that means two things: The Dale Warther Expo Knife Show is coming up and January is almost over.

To celebrate this winter milestone, my wife and I went to Russo’s (http://www.russoskitchen.com/) for dinner. Let’s be honest. It’s not cheap, but well worth it for a once-in-a-while treat. I recommend the Navajo Taco, but you are forewarned: If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen and away from this dish.

What’s it like? It’s a 90 mile an hour head-on collision between Creole and Southwest cooking! The staff has very little control over the hotness of the peppers used in the recipe. The wise diner asks, “How hot is the taco running recently?” Enjoy!

We’re closing in on the Dale Warther Expo. http://knifesearch.blogspot.com/2011/01/getting-ready-dale-warther-memorial.html I’ve ordered knives for the table and now I just have to wait for their arrival. Frankly, the show is a conundrum to me. I want to sell quality knives and I’m willing to make a little less money to get a good knife in your hands. But most of my customers seem to want three dollar knives. There is by definition no such thing as a quality $3 knife!

I could sell more knives and make more money with junk knives, but I know they’re junk and you should, too. If you depend on them, they will fail you.

The Warther Expo has the potential to attract customers looking for quality knives, but if I overstock, those knives will not sell later at the gun shows. It’s tough line to walk, so there isn’t any sense in complaining.

Personal note

I got the Spyderco Citadel I always wanted. I approached the new owner (remember they bought the bag of knives?) and we settled in to negotiate the sale. It was a tremendous bargaining session that degraded to arm wrestling and ended up with a spitting-for-distance contest, but I got my knife.

Now can I carry it? The police officer I spoke to just shook his head. “Murky, very murky, the law is, ~~young~~ old Jedi. Own you may, but neither sell or buy can you.” (Yoda mode off!) He suggested his department was more interested in activity and intent. Of course, there is this if-you’re-not-noticed, you’re-not-noticed strategy. If you use it in self-defense, you have more than enough problems, so carrying an automatic knife may not be of any significance to you at that point.

On the internet front:

My wife found a link on how pocket knives, specifically Gerber autos, are made. I have always had a fascination about how things are made and I think this video is very interesting.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/40579-factory-made-military-knives-video.htm

At the end of the video the narrator explains how this knife is just too deadly dangerous for us civilians to own. Apparently how you open a knife is the defining feature that makes a knife deadly.

Last words…………………

Do you know who this person is?

During toast to China's president (What?) Hu Jintao 19 Jan 2011

Sure you do. It’s Hillary Clinton. Up front I should say, I don’t like Ms. Clinton. I think she’s a carpetbagger and that clinking sound you hear are skeletons rattling in her closet. Real skeletons, not just bad acts. But nobody without a trial deserves a photo like this. It was taken by a professional news agency and frankly, they should have destroyed it.

Treasure at the Gun Show and I Was There!

2011-01-17T20:30:00.001-05:00

It was a pretty good weekend, knife related. I was at the Medina Gun Show and managed to sell a few knives and I had a lot of fun talking to people. Everything was going great and then a fellow walked up to me and said:

“Do you buy knives?" He was holding a big, torn glossy shopping bag in both arms.

I used to say no, but now I say “Sometimes, but I’ll be happy to look at them.” He handed me the bag, and I was expecting low-end Frost and Iron Warrior. I can’t tell you how surprised I was. The bag was filled with unused Spydercos in excellent condition. He had a wonderful selection of both new and discontinued models.

I have to admit, I immediately wondered if they were stolen. I’ve never seen such a treasure trove. He explained he was a collector and wanted to sell them as a lot.

He had a Citadel 83mm Spyderco Auto.

CPMS30V steel, aluminum handle, 3.35-inch blade, 4.8 ounces of comfort

I fell for the Citadel’s blade shape. The grip and blade are just right for my hands and I really think they have the best positioned release and lock.

The round gray button is the release while the sliding switch is the safety.

The only thing that could be better would be a small button safety and a current size beveled release button in the present locations. This way you could just slide your thumb over the safety and onto the release in one smooth motion. I’m a big fan of smooth, continuous motions. Let’s not be herky-jerky when working with tools.

Actually he had two. I’ve only seen them at the Spyderco booth at the SHOT Show - where I couldn’t get one to write about for love nor money. I mentally added the prices and figured he had at least $1000 of knives there.

“How much are you asking?” I asked.

“What would give me?” He replied and added, “I know what they’re worth.”

I just don’t carry that kind of money with me. So I walked him over to my friends who buy and sell knives. After they dickered a bit they came to an agreement and money changed hands.

How much did they pay?

Sorry, you don’t get to know that. But I think they did well.

What did the old fellow have?

A partial list includes:

Police, plain edge C07

Citadel, C119P

Cricket, stainless steel C29

Dragonfly, plain edge C28BK

Native 3, plain edge C78

Scorpius, plain edge C87

Poliwog, plain edge C98

And perhaps the holiest knife of all,

The D’Allara Rescue.

9/11 found NYPD Officer John D’Allara on the phone to Spyderco. “I need knives, rescue knives. The searchers don’t have the right stuff. Can you help me?”

Of course they did. Who wouldn’t? People from all over the USA drove to New York City to help after the Trade Towers collapsed.

John climbed into the debris field and starting passing out the much needed knives. An unstable steel plate slipped free and crushed John.

As I understand it, Spyderco recovered that plate and used some of the steel plate in the building of each D’Allara Rescue Knife. And when the steel is used up, the D’Allara pattern will be retired, never to be reissued. I can’t think of a holier knife than that.

Well, actually I can, but Osama bin Laden hasn’t been captured….Yet!

Getting Ready: Dale Warther Memorial Expo

2011-01-12T21:01:00.001-05:00

It’s been a hard day and a long drive home and the Muse has taken the evening off so I’m typing solo. I think he’s out carousing again. When he gets back I can smell beer and sawdust. It doesn’t bother me too much, but I’d rather be out with him than at work.

The last couple days have been interesting; I put two knives up for auction on eBay. I wanted to help out a friend who wanted to sell them, but didn’t feel comfortable doing it online.

The pink Delica with a plastic clip had a reserve price and the bidding just, and I mean just, made the limit. Spyderco hasn’t made a plastic clip knife in quite sometime. This one was squirreled away in a dresser drawer and never carried.

The other was a nice NRA knife made by Benchmade. I was hoping it would go for a little more, but my friend is happy with the sale. I like the knife, but the position of the lock made the knife, in my opinion, difficult to thumb open. Still, it’s made in America and a Benchmade to boot. What’s not to love?

I thought both knives were worth more than the winning bid but I’ll concede you have to find the right buyer. I am also reminded of the sign I saw at a flea market:

“Why is my stuff sh*t while everyone else’s sh*t is stuff?”

I’m not sure it makes sense, but try selling stuff and I’ll bet you come to agree with it.

It was exciting to anticipate the bidding. Most of it happened in two phases, one right after the knives got posted and the other in the last 10 minutes. There is something addicting about watching the auction. Every time you check you expect the bid or the numbers of watchers to increase. When it doesn’t happen you worry and second guess yourself.

Ahhhh, but let the price increase and it’s drinks-on-the-house happy. During the last three minutes you’re constantly refreshing the screen, like a down-on-his-luck gambler sticking quarters in a Vegas slot machine. We both are convinced this time will be the one. Wow! That’s a lot of excitement over a sale.

Speaking of sales - - The Dover Knife Expo, now named in honor of Dale Warther will be this February 12 and 13 at the Dover Armory (2800 N. Wooster Ave., Dover, Ohio). Use the link in the sidebar for WRCA for more information. There will be a nice selection of used, new and custom knives on display and for sale.

I’m stocking up on knives for the upcoming show in Medina, OH this weekend. So I came home to find the following waiting for me.

I'll take one from the right, two from the middle and one from the front row!

It was a lot of work to get everything priced and entered into the inventory sheet but my wife helped me and it went fast. I’m not really complaining about it. You see, it was a lot like Christmas all over!

Cutting Down the Highways

2011-01-06T20:39:00.001-05:00

It comes as no surprise that many traffic accidents are the result of divided attention. Look down to change the radio settings and if someone steps out from between parked cars, you’re in trouble. Many states have made it illegal to talk on a cell phone or text while driving equating them to driving under the influence. Ohio tried to pass legislation outlawing texting and driving. Unfortunately this didn’t pass.

Everyday on my migration from work to home I see evidence of texting and driving. You can too if you look for it. Watch for the slow but steady drift into another lane combined with the jerky head bob as the driver looks up to confirm he or she is still on the road. This activity is occasionally punctuated by the texter jerking the car back into its lane.

But I saw a topper the other day. It was a man driving an SUV big enough to have its own zip code with his elbows. No, he wasn’t handicapped, well not physically at least. He was holding an orange in his left hand and cutting into it with a knife held in his right hand. See what I mean about how he might have another type of handicap?

I resisted blowing my horn at him to see if I could get him to cut himself. I was afraid he’d lose control of his metal juggernaut and kill someone. He still may have.

My wife just got a new knife. Free!

She was our local supermarket and they were passing out promotional knives. I’m not going to tell you who made it; I don’t want to give them any publicity. It’s called Paring–Partner. It sports a surgical stainless steel blade so dull that if it was used in surgery you’d have a valid malpractice claim. It was so dull I’m not sure it isn’t really a spatula.

It's sooo dull and it isn't even sharp!

I probed around with a magnet (this stainless is magnetic) trying to find out if it has a rattail tang. I think it’s a partial tang blade simply molded in plastic. It’s made in China, and the retail price is $5.00. I don’t know if anyone would buy this knife at five, but it does suggest reasons why I have trouble selling good knives.

My Hero

2011-01-01T11:39:00.001-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Say goodbye to 2010. It wasn’t a horrible year, but Lord knows it wasn’t a great year, and greet baby New Year 2011. Good Luck to us all!

I have a new hero for the new year. No, it has nothing to do with a knife, but it does have something to do with those irritating people who think they don’t have to follow the same rules as everyone else.

Now I’m not talking about wearing white socks with black wingtips or sneaking a 40-minute lunch when everyone else takes 30. Those things affect you and not the people around you. Zoom ahead in the closed traffic lane and then cut into line so you don’t have to motor along at 15 mph like everyone else and you deserve the one finger social salute. Still, it’s a minor bump on the road of life.

But now, endanger a plane full of people by not complying with the lawful orders of the crew, I think you should be taken off in cuffs and prosecuted.

So when the teenage boy decided he didn’t need to turn off his iPhone on takeoff as instructed by the cabin attendant he moved into that special class. Now I’ve been told by crew members that we have to turn off electronic devices because during those dangerous moments of take-off and landing there could be interference with the communication and navigation of the plane. True or False? I don’t know, but the minor inconvenience in exchange for getting off the plane at my destination seems more than reasonable.

Should an evacuation be required after a hard landing, that hard plastic case could bounce off someone causing a head injury and making an already bad situation worse. At best, you would have only one hand if necessary to help rescue yourself, delaying others.

So when this teenage rebel without a brain decided he was special, Russell Miller acted. He “Gibbs” him.

You know, that open hand slap administered to the back of the head to tell you to wake-up and make better decisions. The iPhone was turned off.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/29/idaho.plane.incident/index.html?hpt=T2

Unfortunately, Miller was arrested when they landed in Boise, Idaho. So much for the western myth of the lone man standing up to wrong and people standing with him. They arrested the wrong fellow. The teenager should have been taken off in cuffs.

I urge Mr. Miller’s lawyers to move the case to the jurisdiction I’m in. Give me a shot at the jury pool and I’d find him not guilty and pin a medal on him.

Strong words? Maybe, but are we sheep or a nation of people who know the difference between right and wrong and support right?

KNIFE FRONT

There’s a comedian who claims humor is all around us and we just have to look for it. He's right. Look and you will find.

Last year a distributor sent me a 13-month calendar with nice advertisement photos of knives and knife brands. The last page is January 2011. It sports a nice Blackhawk auto-knife, the CQD Mark 1 type E. It’s a nice knife sporting a black AUS 8 blade in a high friction handle. It’s marketed at the military and police, but even with the auto feature, a fine knife for civilians. (None of your backtalk. - - Sometimes we’re not too civil ourselves.)

It’s lying on a suppressor (AKA silencer) and visible are the words “Front” and an arrow. Well, it makes sense; it could have female threads at both ends. But there’s more, the next line down says “Towards Enemy.” I never thought we needed to remind people which way to point the gun.

Happy New Year and stay pointed on target.

Fine and Fancy Knives at Christmas

2010-12-28T18:51:00.003-05:00

Another Christmas has arrived and departed and on the whole it was pretty good. Not to say it couldn’t be better, but Lord knows it could have been worse. I was with family of which most are friends; the food and drink was good, and the weather was good for traveling. We were all warm and had homes to return to and jobs waiting for us today. Having spent two Christmases in the last eight years unemployed I cannot tell you how nice that is.

I had a chance to handle a spicy little knife from Santa Fe Stoneworks. The handle isn’t stone (surprise!) but dyed wood. It’s from their Kaleidoscope collection. Santa Fe still has a few pre-bankrupt Camillus brand 3-inch lockbacks which they are using up. It’s a nice knife, especially since you can get it for less than 50 bucks.

Santa Fe Stoneworks Kaleidoscope

I was waiting for my mystery knife. The clues consisted of a generic policeman and a woolly mammoth. My Spyderco Police model with blue and green dyed woolly mammoth molar grip arrived!

Hurray!

It arrived as a fully serrated edge and not the plain edge I ordered.

Booo!

Molar from a woolly Mammoth - amazing, just amazing!

Still, it is a spectacular knife.

Banging on the Door

Had a minor incident the other night. Banging on the front door at twilight brought me around to the side door. A fellow with a hard sell about shoveling and a calcium chloride treatment tried to convince me I wanted his services. I wasn’t interested, but he didn’t want to take no for an answer.

One of my concerns is the “criminal interview.” It’s like a shark bumping into you to determine if you’re lunch or another shark. His hard sell felt like a shark bump. Of course, standing there with a sharp CRKT Crawford/Kasper folder in his blind spot (with my thumb on the stud) made it a lot easier to bump back.

As my friend Tom says, “No blood, no foul.”

Lanyard Making

My wife has gone back to her oval-hole Benchmade Ascent. It was made with an opening stud as well as a round thumb hole. She has both the round and oval hole versions. She has also discovered how nice a lanyard can be for retrieving the knife. Since I like to do knotting and such she asked me to make her a lanyard and I was happy to do so.

First we picked out the colors and the pattern (square or spiral) and I went to work. A lanyard should be fitted to the person and knife, so I started, first with a fitting to make sure the lanyard would lie flat when the knife was in her pocket.

Size does matter!

After a few trial and error starts I got the size of the loop on the knife right and then we were off to the races.

I’m reasonably happy with the way it turned out. So is she!

A Christmas Wish - With an Edge

2010-12-22T20:00:00.001-05:00

This year I’m not asking for my usual Christmas wish of Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men. I’ve been asking for this for over 40 years and I’m still coming up short on the request.

This year I’m asking for Understanding, Prudence and Fear.

Understanding so that we understand the other person and they us. From understanding we can begin to solve our problems or at least minimize our conflicts.

Failing understanding, I want prudence, the gift that lets us ask about the outcome of our intended actions. Maybe then we will think more about the last drink for the road, planting an IED, or launching an attack. All of which would lead to a better world.

No one should live in fear, but maybe a little fear about the consequences of our actions might make us a little better off. Whether it’s building an IED, repeating a nasty story about your boss, or the decision to make your holiday money at gunpoint, a little fear about blowback might give you pause to try something else.

Christmas is a schizophrenic holiday.

For many it is the beginning of a cycle that celebrates an opportunity to connect with our God. For many of these same people it’s a time to indulge in lavish gifts and Dionysian bouts of eating and drinking. Economic factors have forced decisions on many people to celebrate the holidays in what they must only consider as unnatural restraint, while others ponder the crushing weight of bills due in January. And still there are those who choose to make the holidays a time to connect with friends and family.

Mix all these people together; add the uncertainty of the New Year, spice with enough snow and cold to make doing anything difficult, and you’ll understand why the holidays are so tense.

Despite all that, have a Merry Christmas, and don’t take anything too seriously. Nobody gets out of this world alive anyway.

A Slice of Life

2010-12-20T18:56:00.002-05:00

The world is a wacky place. People have strange ideas, customs and responses to problems. Add a knife to the mix and we see why you shouldn’t play with a saw blade when it’s working.

Take Helmut Seifert for example. He’s a factory worker in Bielefeld, Germany, and he has a 17 year old daughter. It’s natural for a girl that age to have a boyfriend, but a 57 year old boyfriend is stretching the limits of credulity. Fearing that the older man might have some less than honorable designs on his daughter, Helmut went to the police.

Here’s where the trolley comes off the tracks. Helmut learned the unfortunate truth about law enforcement. The police are good at drawing chalk outlines, filling out the paper work, and catching the criminals but not so useful for preventing a crime.

What’s a father to do? Who knew what this fellow had in mind for his daughter? Drugs, prostitution or simply steaming up the windows of a parked car - take your pick of any, all or none. Helmut had an answer and acted on it. He castrated the man with a bread knife.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/13/helmut-seifert-german-man_n_796173.html

The victim is expected to survive and now goes by the nickname of Wee Willy.

Helmut isn’t ratting out the names of the men who helped him. Nice to know you have friends like that. But a bread knife?

Several years ago I got my wife a Spyderco bread knife. It’s almost a Roman short sword and the serrations can only be described as fearsome. I use to enjoy the smell of warm bread, but after Helmut’s adventure, the aroma of fresh bread will only make me mentally check my status at home.

The loaf you’re talking about is just bread? Right??

Cutting Off The World For A While

2010-12-07T20:38:00.003-05:00

It was time. In fact it was past time and overdue. Getting out of the city, away from WiFi and people texting and driving, away from the normal daily grind that saps our will and drains our soul and reduces us to flotsam on a sea of disaster…. You get the idea, a break was needed.

One of my favorite getaways is a state park in West Virginia. The cabins have flush toilets, running water, heat and a fireplace.

Of course, there’s hiking and deer-watching if playing dominoes, cooking with your friends and good conversations aren't enough. I had hoped for a dusting of snow to cover the ground to hide the wear and tear we humans inflict on nature, but I didn’t get it. Still it was nice enough.

As a scientist I know that increasing the surface area while decreasing the volume will make the wood burn better and what’s a fireplace without a fire? So I split the wood the park provides. I came prepared with a ¾-length axe and a hatchet. The first day left me with sore shoulders. While I expected some soreness, this was medication-level soreness. Only one thing to do: sharpen my axe!

I typically take my Spyderco Sharpmaker and an EZE-Fold sharpener when I travel. One side of the EZE-Fold is a coarse diamond. Flip it over and it’s a fine diamond. It didn’t take much work to true up my axe edge. The next day, lots of wood but no soreness.

The trails are marked, but still it doesn’t take much to wander off the path, so it’s prudent to take a few things with you. The yuppie canteen or water bottle works nice as do a small flashlight, knife and personal space blanket. Matches or a lighter is also suggested. Most of that stuff fits in a coat pocket, so you don’t look like you’re the last member of the forgotten survival squadron.

The two knives I like (yes two, check the archives for why one is none and two is one) for these adventures are the Buck Nighthawk and DPx H-E-S-T.

The black bladed Nighthawk is on the left and HEST is on the right. It snowed as I repacked the car for the trip home.

The Nighthawk has the mass and edge I needed to free up a sapling or tackle a big knife job like quartering wood. It doesn’t work too good for cutting fir sticks. The blade is too thick, but if I ever needed a big knife, the Buck Nighthawk is a great starting place.

DPx H-E-S-T is a collaboration between Robert Pelton and RAT Cutlery. H-E-S-T stands for Hostile Environment Survival Tool. DPx suggests a prescription for Dangerous Places. I met Pelton several years ago. He wanted a knife to carry in some of the world's most dangerous places, like Beirut, Sierra Leone or Detroit. Not too big or expensive that it can’t be conveniently lost or given away and still big enough to attend to survival chores or make hesitation cuts in people.

My only complaint is the sheath has only a makeshift lashing for belt carry. Who knows, maybe that’s an advantage in dangerous places. For me it drops into an outer pocket on my winter coat and stays there until I need it.

It was a good weekend and I’m back to work. Let’s see how long the recharge works.

Working Kydex

2010-11-25T19:32:00.001-05:00

My friend just showed me a silver-bladed Gerber Guardian Back-up he bought. It’s a nice knife. Actually it’s a dagger and while I like the lines, the lack of guards and its double-edged blade always make me a little nervous. Having sliced fingers open before, I would prefer to avoid it in the future.

He didn’t care that much for the original sheath and since he’s been working with Kydex, well, one thing led to another.

He did a nice job.

...And the award for clothing goes to .... Kydex!

The handle locks into the sheath with a positive click and stays there. You have to want to remove the Back-up. It isn’t going to fall out by itself. He mounted a belt loop so that the knife could be carried sideways, kidney position. The clip is also removable so other carry modes are possible.

It was nice to sit down at Thanksgiving and talk turkey with him about working with Kydex. I have at least one project stalled due to weather and ideas for a couple other projects. All I can say is nice work!

103 Stories High

2010-11-23T19:12:00.001-05:00

The glass observation ledges at the ~~Sears~~ Willis Tower lived up to their reputation. It took a little internal pep talk to step out on to the glass floor 103 stories in the air. First it was toes over edge followed by heels on edge. I figured if the glass started to crack I’d have a 50-50 chance of hurling my weight backwards into the building.

The Edge- Willis Style

Finally I got both feet out into space and the teenager next to me started to jump up and down. He almost got a busted nose for that stunt.

It's the next best thing to walking on air and not as windy!

It was vey nice to look out into space and see my college an apparently short distance away. UIC formerly known as UICC has undergone significant changes and it’s easy to see them from the Ledge. Gone are the second story walkways and the addition of dorms is very noticeable. Not so noticeable to the hard science people (because we didn’t spend much time there) is the completion of the Arts and Humanity building. The campus ran out of money and built only half the building. They had a staircase to the second or third floor that ended in a blank wall.

It was slightly overcast, so we could only see a couple miles in any direction, but it still remains one of the great overviews of Chicago.

These feet belong to the reason I'm standing out here.

Later we experimented with the subway and surface buses. People were very nice to us and helped with directions and instructions. My only complaint was that the bus/subway card vending machine only takes cash in dollar amounts. No credit cards! You always end up losing odd bits of money as fares are never whole dollar amounts. Many of the stations are dirty, noisy and congested but proved useful to get around.

I just got my new 2011 Spyderco catalog. Quite a few interesting knives, but it does bother me to see the knife industry cave in to the liberal notion adopted by many cities and a few countries. Of course, Spyderco is not the only company making these knife changes.

The liberal notion? It seems to be a belief in mechanical voodoo. At the core of the matter is the belief that evil spirits live in objects like tools and by making them less safe or harder to use the evil effects are diminished. By requiring that knives can close on your fingers, can’t be opened with only hand, and not clipped to pocket, the crime levels will go down. Told you it was mechanical voodoo.

I like Barrett’s stance on his 50 BMG rifle and California. He will not sell them to California police because the state has outlawed them to the general population. He accepts delivery of these rifles for repair and modification, but will not ship them back to the state agencies. They have to pick them up themselves.

Keep your edges sharp and your wits about you!

Weekend Chicago Style.

2010-11-20T10:36:00.002-05:00

We’re spending a get-away weekend in Chicago. I’m staying just ever so south of the Loop, but still in downtown Chicago. I hope to do the ~~Sears~~ Willis tower. Perhaps if I get my courage screwed up I’ll try the glass booth observation platforms on the 103rd floor. It’s not the height that gives me the willies, it’s the glass floor.

Chicago is an anti-knife town. Spyderco used to make a short-bladed knife called Chicago to reflect the big city’s belief that objects are possessed with an evil spirit. It had an opening hole, but didn’t lock open and had a sub 2-inch blade. In my opinion non-locking blades are more dangerous to the user. As for blade length, well, your surgeon takes you apart with a small sub one-inch blade.

The result of this superstition is the logical belief that if you could get rid of these demon infected tools the city would become a new Eden. Sort of “let’s-not-cast-out-the snake-but-chop-the-apple-trees-down” (check your Bible for cross-reference) approach to crime.

Being dependent on someone else for my safety rubs me the wrong way. Still, I remember what a lawyer told me: it isn’t a crime until you’re arrested. I’m staying under the radar.

Television Knives

2010-11-16T20:49:00.004-05:00

Whenever I run out of ideas to write about (Hey, like most of you I have to work for a living and sometimes the Muse gets buried by the day’s activities), I like to see what’s the knife of the day.

You know, what brand of knife is being carried by which fictional TV character in this episode? A couple of years ago Hannibal the Cannibal was sporting a Harpy by Spyderco. I still get requests for that knife. Before that, some now forgotten cable show about Soldiers of Fortune sparked an interest in Newt Livesay neck knives. I know this because I still have one of them hanging from a lamp over my desk.

I was catching up with the recently returned “Burn Notice” last night. This season Michael Westen is sporting an Emerson Sark. Oh, you’d know it if you saw it. It has the Emerson Wave designed to catch on the corner of your pocket and pull the blade open. The blade is a wicked looking curved talon.

Emerson makes many fine combat knives, expensive but worth it!

Michael used it to cut and build a prop bouquet of flowers to further the plot. Not the best demonstration of an Emerson knife, but still not bad.

Last season, I think, one of the characters passed out knives to everyone proclaiming “combat knives for everyone.” The knife? Just happens to be one I carry, the SOG Spec-Elite I.

Ahh, product placement! Usually it’s a car, laptop or cell phone, but it’s nice to see a familiar edge now and again.

"Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue"

2010-11-11T12:15:00.003-05:00

Veterans Day November 11 2010

Let’s cut right to the bone on this; I didn’t think of it but I sure wish I did. The quote belongs to Admiral Nimitz in reference to the Marines on Iwo Jima. I know it refers to all the men and women of our armed forces. They served our country then and now, and with God’s Blessings, will do so in the future.

Let’s remember them in our prayers and thoughts while they serve and give them a chance when they return to us.

I, you, we owe them that much.

When Pumpkins Run Wild: Jack-O-Lanterns

2010-11-07T19:52:00.001-05:00

I finally got the pumpkin carved to ~~my wife’s~~ our satisfaction. No really, we decided we liked it and I was all ready to hand out candy.

BOOOOOOO! Are you scared yet? You will be.

I remember when people made popcorn balls and home-made taffy, but those days are long gone. Even today an adult must be careful about talking to young children. There are too many creeps and sickos, so I limit my conversations to a simple reply “Hello” to children in the presence of their parents.
But on Halloween night, my wife and I can sit in our driveway and talk with the children and their parents. It was a good night.

I had among many superheroes and monsters:
3-1920 flappers (they claim I was the only adult to recognize them),
1- naughty nurse (I thank the gods I don’t have a teen-age daughter),
1- wrapped Christmas package.

Almost all of the Marvel Comic characters with the exception of Doctor Doom were accounted for. He doesn’t seem very popular. Go figure.

Zombies were big this year as were the assorted and interchangeable monsters from the current crop of horror flicks. Surprizingly few vampires, which really sucks....
No wonder nobody thinks of jack-o-lanterns as scary. Maybe next year I’ll dress up as an IRS agent coming over for an audit. That ought to scare the beans out you.

I'm from the IRS. I want to see all your tax returns and records for the last 12 years!

BOOOO!

Jack-O-Lanterns

2010-10-31T17:00:00.001-05:00

There was … (cue: large animal breathing in background) was a time that a man … (cue: sounds of chains dragging on stone) would take a knife and press it against flesh. And he would try to carve a new face … he would slip and cry out in pain … and … and (Oh the horror of it!) the mouth lost another tooth!

Yes we are. We’re talking about carving gourds, specifically about carving pumpkins. Happy Halloween! BOOOOOOOO!

I read some people use saber saws to jig-saw carve jack-o-lanterns. I know how messy that would be. One year I tried to use a chain saw to get an edgy effect. It took me days to clean the pumpkin guts from my saw and to mop up the splatter.

Go back to the simpler approach, I say. I saw a dad and his son sitting on the front porch today, each carving a pumpkin with a knife. They were surrounded by orange chips and cubes of pumpkin. I miss doing that with my father. He’s in Florida, a little too far to go to carve gourds.

I have a few tools I always fall back on.

I start by laying out the operating table. That’s a piece of plywood covered with newspaper. I use my wife’s pewter-like scoop to scrape out the pumpkin. The yellow wood and red plastic knives are really pumpkin saws. The red one is designed for children. It’s pretty flimsy but the small size lets me cut tighter curves. Next to it is a Columbia River Knife and Tool fixed blade. I’ve had it for years and can’t remember its name, but it’s a new addition to the lineup. I wanted a small, but stiff blade with a guard for the open cuts. Next to it is CRKT’s Big Eddy fileting knife. I really like this knife for cutting flesh… pumpkin flesh that is.

Like any good surgeon I mark the cutting field and then ad lib.

Eeeeuuwww! Pumpkin brains!

My wife and I sketch the mouth; argue about eyes, eyebrows and ears. (I’m opposed to ears, they seem ineffectual in adding more character to the face.)

Say AHHHHH and open wide

Soon we get the face ~~knifed~~ carved out. Because we are working on the outside of a thick-walled, misshapen ball, the features seen on the inside of the pumpkin are smaller than the outside. I need to open up the features so light can come out and I’m after translucent edges. I just think that makes for a spookier jack-o-lantern.

Oops! Got to trim the mucous membranes back a bit

Finally I get it finished and out on the porch. I’m looking forward to talking with the kids and handing out candy. It’s the one time of year I can interact with children like this. I really enjoy talking to them and their parents.

As a child, I thought Halloween was for kids. Now I know it’s for adults.

I can’t wait to see it all lit up.

Ohio Classic Knive Show

2010-10-24T19:38:00.000-04:00

The Ohio Classic Knife Show ground to a halt Saturday and I do mean ground. This isn’t a knife edge judgment that could go either way. The show flopped.

From Saturday noon to 5:00 pm there were always more vendors than shoppers and if you sold a custom knife, well, you were lucky. I didn’t take any pictures, but if you want to know what it was like I have two mental images for you.

Imagine a silver picture frame and now fill it with inky blackness. That’s what the show looked like. If that still leaves you confused, picture a vacuum cleaner.

Why is a good question. In sales, it’s a number game. It’s simple. The more attendees present, the larger the fraction of potential customers. The more potential customers, more chances you have to make a sale. Empty isles mean no sales.

Where was everyone?

I don’t know. Days in late autumn that beautiful are gems to be enjoyed. OSU played Purdue (they won 49-zip - - doesn’t sound like it was a good game) and Cambridge is OSU land. Cambridge is kind of in the middle of nowhere (I’m sorry, I love Salt Folk State Park and the area is lovely, but it’s a destination.) Maybe the knife makers were not national draws and maybe the show wasn’t advertised enough. Maybe it was the free admission to last year’s buyers that had the same saturated customers coming back because it was free and something to fill the day.

A new regime is taking over. We need this show to be a success. It is one of the very few opportunities for purchasers and purveyors to meet in the market place.

Classic Knife Show - - Cambridge Ohio

2010-10-22T20:52:00.002-04:00

Today was the opening of the Cambridge Knife Show, or as it is properly known, the Ohio Classic Knife Show.

The show is Friday and Saturday and it was explained to me that Friday was selected for a large group of older, retired folks who want to attend an upscale knife show without the younger, more energetic crowd. Sunday was deselected as the hosting community has a deep religious and family orientation and would prevent attendance on Sunday until at least 2:00 pm. That leaves Saturday.

I believe this explanation based on the ~~old~~ mature crowd we had today. But in all honesty, crowd is not the right descriptive word for the attendees. Sprinkling of, or dusting of people might be the best term.

Here are a few images:

My Favorite Table - All we need is customers

Vendors setting up and trading among themselves

The show had a lot of custom knives. The typical commercial collector knives were present, Buck, Case and such. Not too many current factory produced knives were represented.

Whats missing from this picture? -- You.

One treat was Andrew Denko, the inventor of Cold Steel’s Tri-Ad lock and one of their designers. This mechanism is reported to be one of the strongest locks in the commercial market. He had several of his own knives on display. They are simple but well made, elegant folders designed for hard use over long hours. Keep an eye on him. He’s going do interesting things in the knife world.

If you could find a knife you liked, well you didn’t look very hard.

Something for just about everyone.

Tomorrow is the last day. the weather reports warm, but rain and cloudy. It could be perfect knife show weather. More later!

Bridge Day, Fayetteville WV

2010-10-20T19:19:00.000-04:00

It’s a knife edge that separates you from free fall. You lean out and know without looking the river is 876 feet below. You stuff the demon screaming “I want to live!” into an unoccupied corner of your mind, lean out and give in to gravity.

Gravity takes over. You have less than 7 seconds to live. You don’t have to worry about reaching terminal velocity, 161 mph. Your out-spread legs and arms grab the wind knifing by you and slow you to 120 mph. Still too fast! To survive a water landing you need to get your speed down to at least 60 mph. Slower would be better. The odds don’t look good.

Still, you brought the right equipment and you used it to survive last year’s BASE jump at the New River Gorge Bridge, so it should work again.

My name is Knife Guy and on the third Saturday of October my beat is the DLZ.

Preparation starts early. Some say it starts the day after last year's event. National Park Service, Sheriff, State Police, Secret Service, US Marshals, WV National Guard, Rope Rescue Services, Water Rescue, Jan Care (emergency 1st aid and transport), several raft companies, the Governor’s office and Vertical Visions start with an after action report and the paper work builds.

Down in the gorge we wait for the emergency vehicles to arrive.

This year the water is low and moving slowly. Fayette Station rapids are showing more rock than I’ve ever seen. And water rescue places an orange cone on an exposed rock in the water landing zone.

The landing area is taped off…

And the Drop Landing Zone is marked.

Up on the bridge, the platform and diving board are extended.

Look up 876 feet

It’s a long way up, but two rappellers start jumaring their way up to the bridge’s under structure. The climb is noteworthy. One is towing an American flag. The other brings a West Virginia state flag and what might be a club flag.

And at 9 o’clock, they jump.

Some landings are:

OUCH!!!!!!!!

Hard!

Wet!

Mystical!

And some not without risk.

I had a chance to talk knives with the professional water rescue people. What kind of knife would you carry on a rubber raft if you needed to cut the chute away? Water landing has some risk involved. Lines could get tangled; the chute snags on rocks; the river pulls you under. The rescuers better have knives.

The boss lends out orange Spyderco Rescue knives (C45OR) and Benchmade model 5 Rescue Hooks. Oh, yes, there were other personal knives, but he wants everyone on the river to have a good knife. Study the professionals I always say.

It is an incredible experience. Each jumper lives on the knife edge. A slip the wrong way and tragedy waits. Just to hammer the message home, the last jumper of the day does a head stand on the platform and cannonballs out into space. He straightens out and deploys his chute. It’s a skydiving rig.

Five exits before him three jumpers simultaneously exit and deploy their skydiving chutes and they land safely in the river. The boats fish them out.

The last jumper deploys, but skydiving rigs don’t open as fast as BASE rigs, those rectangular flying wings. His chute takes too long to fill.

The water rescue team takes him out of the river on a backboard and put a cervical collar on him. Everyone is silent and grim as they scurry to get him in the ambulance and to the hospital. I still don’t know his condition.

Life is a knife edge and we are all on it.

Customer Watching

2010-10-14T21:00:00.000-04:00

Any knife show will bring an assortment of nuts potential customers and over the years I have come to recognize them. I anticipate several novel sightings at the Cambridge Knife Show (Ohio Classic Knife Show) and I’ll blog about them. But the Medina gun show last weekend brought out a different one: the grunter.

We routinely see:

Snapperus excessivnous: This species has two main variants - the major snapper who opens every knife possible with a snap of the wrist once or twice and then leaves. The minor variation is the Little Snapper who selects one or two to open. This species suffers from OCD and would remain handling the same knife until he passes out or is chased away (the charitable thing to do).

Swapus bargainous: With a call sounding like “Would-ya-trade…” this bird attempts to parlay previous purchases into new purchases. This one is very friendly and quite social and never lingers long enough to become a problem.

Usamadeus selectivous: The quite rare variation is the customer who demands his knives are made in the USA and will uncork his wallet and purchase the higher priced knife. The more common variant makes the same demand, but then balks at the price. This one may be confused with the next species.

Priceus notunderstoodous: This is typically an older customer who can’t understand why prices are higher as compared to his first and apparently only knife. The confirming tell is the two-bladed folder he bought in 1948 for $8. If he shows you the knife, at least one half of each blade will be sharpened away.

Holdus internetous: This is a very secretive species and is often mistaken for the rare Genuinus customerous. They typically ask to see high end knives which they have read about and seen online. The goal is to evaluate your product and experience it before they purchase online. These customers are often found in high end bike stores and are known as Tirekickous cheapums.

The newest discovery in the customer ecological niche is Gruntius maximous. This customer signifies his pleasure or disapproval with grunts, snorts and other low pitched throat warbles. Opening each knife is accompanied with a small shrug and vocalization. He doesn’t buy anything either.

I’m applying to the National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/index.jsp) for a grant to identify, tag and survey this unique population and research why the females of these species are rarely if ever seen. My wife claims it’s because women have more sense.

Cutco: Making the Cut

2010-10-10T20:50:00.001-04:00

Labor Day has arrived, passed and signaled the end of summer. Despite the warm temperatures and sunshine, one only needs to look at the brilliant early morning colors of the leaves to know that Ol’ Man Winter is down the road at the end of the block.

But, I am reminded of Memorial Day for some strange reason. For many people Memorial Day is simply a day off from work and an opportunity to cook out and have the family over for undercooked steak and charred hot dogs.

Many of us remember to put the flag out and thank God for the men and women who stood up and told our nation, “Count on me!” A lot of these people never came home and after all these years are still missing. Let’s not forget our children who are serving today and the next generation. We need to teach them about the value of our way of life and what sometimes is required to preserve it.

I find it interesting that knives and the military have always been associated. Probably with good cause. Cicero the Roman railed against the improper use of the Roman short sword. (“Stab!” he used to say. “Don’t cut.”) What is a short sword, but a long knife? As a backup weapon or in extreme close quarters combat, 6 inches of good steel can be the difference between you and your buddies going home or not.

One of the Cold Steel promotional disks features a soldier talking about being wounded and having to kill his assailant with 4 inches of Cold Steel to save his buddies. I’m not ashamed to tell you that tears came to my eyes.

So to celebrate Memorial Day my wife bought a knife. It seems appropriate. It’s a small Santoku style 3-inch paring knife from Cutco. It appears there are some detractors of Cutco, but the knives have a certain charm. See for yourself. (http://www.cutco.com/products/product.jsp?itemGroup=1720)

I like the handle. It reminds me of Ek fighting knives. The handle is longer than the blade providing adequate gripping surface and it has a palm swell to better anchor the knife in my mitt. The knife weight is in my hand and not in the blade. All of which I like.

I am also amused by the use of Santoku in the description. Over the last couple of years it seems to be the hot descriptor. I guess Santoku is the kitchen version of tactical.

Trimming the blog's extra words out

I’ll soon be blogging about the Cambridge Knife Show in Cambridge, Ohio. (England is too far to go for a knife show, assuming that’s even possible.) The show is Friday, Oct 22 and Saturday the 23rd. Tune in for that.

Santa Fe Stoneworks

2010-09-29T20:26:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite knife companies graced the cover of the latest issue of Knife World. What, you don’t read Knife World? How is that possible? No matter, you should. The articles are fun, breezy and enjoyable as well as useful. Borrow a copy and I think you’ll want to subscribe. (In full disclosure, Knife World has published me but I read it before I got published and I renew my subscription every year.)

Santa Fe Stoneworks is featured in a nice article with a lot of color images and stunning knives. I have been interested in Santa Fe Stoneworks for several years after first seeing their work at the SHOT Show. My wife and I always stop by their booth at the SHOT or BLADE shows and buy more than we should. To describe their knives as art would not be inappropriate.

I was always under the belief that Bill Wirtel founded the operation, but it seems a fellow by the name of John Iverson started the company, but it has flourished under Bill. He tells me to watch BLADE magazine for another article.

I need another knife. Well, they are accessories for men.

I’m after a more “artsy” looking knife and it has to be hand made. The maker tells me he’s already working on Christmas orders, so it may be a while before I get it.

What did I order?

Not telling. But I’ll give you a hint:

Here are two images. These are dyed-in-blue wool hints.

Figure it out? No? Well, stick with it.

Fun at Work

2010-09-25T10:52:00.001-04:00

We had a family fun day over the weekend and no, there are no photos. The company has very strict policies about taking pictures inside. So no images of mom at her work station.
Still it was very successful. One department froze bananas in liquid nitrogen (about 321 degrees below zero) and used the super hard fruit to pound nails into a board. Stretchy gummy worms shatter like eggshells at that temp. That was a big hit with the kids.

But it was the robot welding of metal airplanes that was a hit with most adults. The planes were about 8 inches long and the robot welded the wings and tail to the fuselage in seconds. Just snap parts into a jig and press go.

Another demo was a high speed camera used to slow down the impact of a Nerf bullet wiping out an empty soda can. The spongy Nerf bullet would strike the can and compress slightly before the can started to tip up and jump off the table. This was also very cool. (Personally, I would have liked to have seen slow motion videos of the rope cutting at the Blade show. Maybe I’ll suggest that for the next Family Day.)

For our part in microscopy we showed everyone dead bees. A co-worker brought me a bag full of dead carpenter bees. Don’t ask. I don’t why he was saving bees. They were pretty beat up, but I made do. I wanted to show the adaptation of the third leg to hold pollen. I would then segway to yellow pine and prickly pear cactus pollen. The yellow pine reminds most people of Mickey Mouse.

M-I-C-K-E-Y--- Why? because we like you.....

The prickly pear cactus had some very interesting surface morphology. My boss wanted to show insect parts so I had a bee’s head mounted so you could see the compound eye. Unfortunately the head fell off the mounting block and is roaming about in the scanning electron microscope.

LUKE! There's two Death Stars!!

And for a little more detail on the exhaust port weakness............

"If I can just fly down and plant one in that port...."

We didn’t have any give-a-ways, so I suggested we give each child who asked a dead bee. The suggestion wasn’t taken.

For myself, I liked the laser cutting demo. They were making bottle openers by cutting out shapes in steel with a CO2 laser. The beam cut through the steel like a knife blade in balsa wood. Sparks shot up and out and it was magnificent. The laser power peaks at 3200 watts. That’s like lifting a one pound weight 140,800 feet every second.

I’m not sure if that’s actual beam energy or power consumption. Lasers are very efficient at converting light into heat, but not so hot in converting electricity into light. The beam could have been 320 watts of laser energy consuming 3200 watts of electricity. Still, with that power level the only practical safety precaution against exposure is not to be exposed.

BAD MISTAKE......

Here’s an example why manufacturers and the NRA preach safe storage of ammo. Safe storage is defined as “clean, dry, cool and away from un-authorized users.” It’s a .223 from Wolf and the steel case has started to rust.

Wolf .223 steel case. I like 'em. They feed and function...What's not to like?

Sure, you could wipe the case clean (don’t use a penetrating oil or you could kill the primer) and shoot it, but I wouldn’t. You’re never really sure what will happen.

Of course, in all fairness to Wolf ammo, I know how it was stored: in the wet grass overnight for at least two rainy days. No wonder a little rust showed up. I found it out on the range one morning. It was probably ejected from a rifle when the chamber was cleared.

Still it was a good object lesson: remember to wipe off your carbon steel knives after using them.

Ohio State Fair Cuts the Competition

2010-09-20T20:29:00.004-04:00

The Ohio State Fair is over and I miss it already. While I can’t speak for other fair grounds, the Columbus fair grounds are amazing. We took the sky-lift to the far end of the fairgrounds intending to eat our way back to our exit. It also puts us near the poultry exhibition.

Chickens, man, lots of chickens, every place you looked! I really enjoy seeing all the variety of chickens. Some have feathers elongated like swords, while other feathers remind you of fish scales. The colors and patterns of each feather are quite remarkable. Modern chickens are reported to be the descendents of “jungle fowl.” After seeing all the variations, I can believe this.

Doing Hard Time: 20 to life

My wife and I stopped to see the butter cow, another must-see on my list. It’s a life-size cow sculpt from butter. Over the years a butter calf has been added as have various themes. This year the butter theme recognized the Browns and Bengal football teams. Keep that in mind when you see them fumble their way across the gridiron. May be they got the butter football by mistake!

New to me, but not to recent fairgoers - two dairy cows were waiting to give birth. One, the 1100 pound one, looked very uncomfortable. The other, at a petite 800 pounds, looked just bored. The vet was standing by and Bessie’s delivery was going to be public. The vet looked bored too. The only excitement was from the fairgoers.

Traumatize the kids? Perhaps, but then again maybe that’s what we need to see to remind us of our humanity and our connection to the real world. We see the doctor dramas, shoot ‘em ups and splatter films and somehow we forget where we come from and how we got here. Life is special and precious and beautiful. Let’s not forget it.

The only knife vendor was Cutco. I really like these knives, but….Oh, the price! Buy these knives when you’re 25 years old. Then you and your heirs will get real value from your purchase. They are so well made I suspect they will last that long.

Since 9-11, security is the reason for everything. The belief in security as an absolute is a trap for the un-wary. The state fair was no different. Let me make this perfectly clear, as Dick Nixon used to say. I like the police. I couldn’t do their job. They are the line between anarchy and civilization. Having said this, I know they sometimes get stuck with jobs that seem rather silly. Still, they keep as straight a face as possible and do the job.

I was worried about the two knives that I typically carry. I didn’t want to have both taken for security reasons, but I wanted to have at least one on me for security reasons. So I took the one that would be the ~~easiest~~ cheapest to replace and left the other in the car. I stashed my carry knife in my shoulder bag along with my camera.

This joke was on me. Each entrance had ONE metal detector. Just one detector to handle the ~~hundreds~~ thousands that would stream through. You placed your pocket stuff and any carry-in on a table next to the detector and stepped through the little doorway. The officers then handed you back your stuff unsearched, unscanned and un-x-rayed.

I forgot to take my keys and metal kubaton out of my waistband. I left my little flashlight clipped to my shirt, and my shirt pocket was decorated with a small wire-bound notebook and pen, not to mention my metal belt buckle. I didn’t clink when I walked, but it was close. Despite all the metal, I didn’t set off the detector. I suspect there wasn’t any power to the unit.

Security is an illusion. You want to be safe? Keep your eyes open and be prepared for trouble.

Speaking of security, our motel was behind a gentleman’s club. I suspected we might be in for trouble when we arrived at the motel. The door separating the day lobby from the night lobby was a heavy steel door with four of the largest steel hinges welded in place I have ever seen. I have seen high-end safe doors with smaller hinges. Of course the desk clerk is behind 2-inch thick bullet-proof glass. The wavy surface and imperfections in the glass made her look like she’s under water. I thought she was a mermaid.

What caption could I type, that you aren't thinking?

We had a room half way down the side of the motel and the club must have been closed, because we didn’t see anyone. We put a chair against the door anyway.

Remember Sept 11 2001

2010-09-07T20:05:00.000-04:00

As we approach the ninth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, we are only a little better off. The mastermind of 9-11 is in hiding; we have instituted security measures that many suspect are more flash than bang, and we have forgotten that we are in a war.

It’s a war unlike anything we have experienced before. Future battles are being fought today. Our enemy is polarizing and recruiting the disenchanted. They and their supporters are maneuvering ordinary activities to win future propaganda events. They are using the freedoms we hold dear to twist and hamstring us until, they hope, we explode and demolish our way of life ourselves.

Who are they?

They are the people who want to bring us back to the 12th century. They are men and brainwashed women who feel ordinary women are too inconsequential to have a voice in their lives. And yet these inconsequential women are so powerful that ordinary mortal men must be protected from their feminine wiles. Our enemies are those who would return us to a caste system based on religion with themselves, naturally, on top.

Well, I say “Nuts to them!”

In 2002 I was at Goodyear and one of the fellows remembered the first anniversary with the following article. He told me I could use it because it belongs to us all.

Here it is:

“Well, they certainly got our attention!”
Jeff Cooper: Cooper’s Commentaries; September 2001

On September 11, 2001
The road maps of our lives are marked by the mile markers of life altering events. It becomes easy to retell our lives by reviewing these events. September 11, 2001 was such a marker. My reaction was first of a horrific accident and then of wondering if at war. I remember the shock and concern in my wife’s voice as she phoned me to both share her concerns, to alert me and yes, warn me. I remember the looks of disbelief and confusion on the faces of my co-workers was they numbly moved like ghosts through the building. As the horrors of the day continued to weigh us down, the seemingly endless flow of information continued to flesh out details of what could only be considered an act of war.

We wondered why and how and who would do such a thing. My thought would flit to living, breathing passengers riding to their deaths on those four airliners and wonder what I would have done in their place. But my thoughts could not linger there; the horror was too great. We asked ourselves who allowed this to happen but despite the finger pointing and blame shifting, we were reminded what some of us never forgot:

“The condition upon which God has given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.”

John Philpot Curram July 10 1790

We have discovered, or perhaps remembered that we are a nation of activists. Even as the dust billowed outward like a malingering evil fog, men and women were answering the challenge. Ordinary men and women converged on New York to do what they could. Our neighbors started raising funds to send to the survivors and rescue workers. People and companies oftered the use of resources with no thought of personal reward and gain.

We prayed for survivors, but we never really expected any. It is said you never find any atheist in foxholes. It also seems in times of tragedy we also turn to a higher power whether we believe or not. We did symbolic things: we turned on our porch lights; we looked into volunteering for air marshal service; we wondered about forming neighborhood guards. Fortunately these things were not needed, but I am sure we would have answered the call.

“A nation needs heroes. It needs examples of valor so that it will know just how it ought to behave.” Teddy Roosevelt

As the criminals who committed these acts were identified our nation rolled up its collective sleeves and went to work. The current conflict is too close to see clearly in perspective. History will eventually sort it out, but I do believe it is necessary. Freedom has a heavy price. I am reminded of Hitler’s invasion into Poland. If England and France would have stood up to the mad little painter, Nazi Germany would have folded. All three countries were ill prepared for war, but by attempting to appease this mad man the world was forced to pay a bill with huge late payment fines. We were late on that payment too. Think about our actions in Afghanistan. There is a bill to pay here too. Realize not everyone will love us or do we need everyone to love us, they just need to understand our commitment to liberty and freedom.

Where does this leave you and me? Can there be any question that the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was a crime against America and Americans? The recovered videos by CNN show our enemy preparing to commit additional crimes against English speaking countries. Should it be a surprise that we and our staunchest supporter, England, share the same tongue? I have no suggestions for you, but for myself, I’ll read a little Jeff Cooper, become a little more indignant about crime and resolve that I will not let them get way with it. I recommend this path to you.

Patsy Cline never had a knife like this

2010-09-01T20:09:00.000-04:00

I was wrong.

There isn’t much wiggle room on the knife edge and those of us who attempt to live out there have to face one fact: Sometimes you’re wrong and you’ve got to own it.

I don’t like country/country-western/western music. Something about the sameness of the music or the typical rhythms the vocals have. Of course there are the themes: cheating, lost love and unrequited love. Of course that covers also most forms of music.
I never liked Patsy Cline.

Recently National Pubic Radio had a review of a CD, “Patsy Cline: Sweet Dreams - Complete Decca Collection 1960-1963.” I normally would switch stations, reviews of old CW singers don’t rock my boat, but this time I stayed tuned because I was waiting for a later report I was teased with. I don’t remember what that was, but I remember the review.

After listening to a sampler of selections in chronological order, starting with the first and moving to the last, I have to change my mind. Listen to her first “I Fall to Pieces” and then “Crazy” written by Willie Nelson. The difference is impressive. This record also helped establish Willie as a talent to be reckoned with. Then listen to her “Sweet Dreams.”

Patsy Cline died in a plane crash in 1963. She was just about to become the center of a storm in CW music. Patsy Cline would have been the most influential female vocalist of the 20th century, and no doubt, would have changed country western music in ways we can not imagine.

NPR has an excellent review of a newly assembled CD called “Patsy Cline: SweetDreams The Complete Decca Masters”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129526320

And of course, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline for much more information.

I was wrong and I admit it – Patsy Cline could sing.

On The Knife Front

I just got my hands on a CRKT Ignitor. It’s an assisted opening knife but what separates it from the rest is the lock. The lock doubles as the opening stud.

Opening stud and lock, two functions in one

Press the opening stud into the blade and it depresses the lock on the other side of the blade.

It takes a little practice to incorporate the press and then the flick,

Now just flick the blade forward and it opens. This knife might be legal in NYC… The blade can’t be flicked open unless you unlock it first.

Open Sezs Me!

Note, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t even play one on the radio so carrying this knife in NYC could be hazardous to your bank account. Cheaper to just stay home. Safer too! Besides considering how unfriendly NYC is to the knife and gun culture, why would you want to go any way!

Knife specs? I thought you would never ask:
Blade: 3.38 inches long, 0.11 inch thick and made of 8CR14MOV steel
Handle: G10
You can get it plain edge or that wicked Veff serrated edge
Weight: a nice 3.5 ozs.

I think the assisted knife craze is leveling off. But still, this is one nice knife and I think I’m going to enjoy it.

The Duke of Numbnuts and Listing

2010-08-24T20:08:00.000-04:00

Unsensible Manly Things

I wanted to write about manly things, but what could be more manly than high speed automobile jumps on your average stretch of I-675?

Seems the Dukes of Hazard County have moved up to Sugarcreek Township around Dayton. Or a least their half-wit cousin, Numbnuts, has.

Get a load of the video: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/08/video-insane-100-mph-crash-caught-on-tape/

The 19-year old genius decided he needed to pass a police car at 100 miles an hour and the grassy median between highways was the perfect place for it. The dashboard camera of the cruiser caught the action as Numbnuts shot past him, used the metal crash barrier as a ramp and catapulted himself and his car up and into a bridge support. Eee-haw!! Ride 'em cowboy!!

I have been known to state the gene pool needs a little natural chlorination. If you don’t believe me, watch the video again. All we can hope is he left a little highly specialized tissue in the wrecked car and is now out of the procreation lottery. I understand he survived in critical condition. I’m sure someone loves him, but…..

Sensible Manly Things

I have a friend who had list of things he thinks every man should be able to do with some degree of ability. As I remember them and in no particular order they were:

Ride a horse;

Build a fire;

Shoot a gun and hit your target;

Pitch a tent without instructions;

Read a map (I think he meant topographic and not road.);

Sharpen a knife.

Looking at the current crop of young men around me, I have to wonder if their list might be:

Change or recharge batteries in an ipod/pad/phone thingie;

Drive a shift stick;

Open a beer bottle without an opener;

Golf just over par;

Make reservations.

That’s my list drawn from my interactions with them. I’m sure their list isn’t quite so vacuous.

My list from my younger days was:

Darn socks and stitch a button on;

Sharpen a knife;

Build a fire;

Cook a simple meal more or less from scratch (No TV dinners—Do they even make them any more?)

Change a flat;

Put a bit on a horse.

I asked my wife to name 3-5 things she thinks any man should be able to do. I think I caught her off guard. After sputtering a bit she came up with three:

Drive a car;

Cook a subsistence meal (no peanut butter and fried banana sandwiches, men!);

Operate a computer.

Seems modern woman has lower expectation levels than I would have thought.

With time comes maturity or at least some kind of an excuse for it. My basic list now is:

Keep a knife sharp;

Stitch a button;

Drive a stick shift with a clutch;

Build a fire;

Cook a simple meal for two;

Know which target needs to be shot and when.

Of course this is all minimum listing and just a little sexist. Everyone should be able to change a tire or diaper, gas up a car, fill the washer reservoir and burp a baby. I used to say change plugs, replace hoses and belts, but every time I stick my head under the hood my brain spins.

I don’t know about darning socks, but everyone should be able to fix a button, repair a hem or a small rip. This doesn’t seem too unreasonable. Preparing food seems like such a useful skill, but I know people who couldn’t grill a steak or bake a potato if their life depended on it.

You should be able to balance a checkbook, clean a bathroom or a fish (your choice) and paint a wall.

All these lists deal with survival at some level. There also seems to be a note of caution that more primitive skills could be called upon. Maybe I should add knap flint and shoot a sling-shot.

What’s your list? I’ll publish it.

On the Edge – Continued!

2010-08-17T19:46:00.001-04:00

“Morning comes early in northern Greenland. The bright sun made the igloo walls glow with inner light. The howling wind had abated. I had survived the arctic storm.”

“I pressed on the snow door plug, but it failed to move. I was frozen in. The storm had formed a layer of ice on the igloo protecting me but imprisoning me as well. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. You simply chopped a new hole in the ice wall and crawled out. I reached for my smatchet, knowing the heavy blade would make fast work of this problem. It wasn’t in my sheath. It wasn’t in my sleep bag. It wasn’t loose on the floor. “

“I saw it in my mind’s eye. I had placed it under supplies on the sled last night so I wouldn’t lose it in the darkness. I had intended to slip it back in my sheath before I pulled the snow cork in behind myself. It was still outside.”

“I was trapped. I had no way out.”

Sven paused to let the enormity and irony roll over us. He was trapped in the classic locked room with no way out, but clearly he had escaped.

After a few moments, I was about to break the silence when Rodger spoke up.

“Are you telling us you’re dead? You look very much alive to me.”

“I thought you would immediately see how I escaped my predicament. I needed a knife and didn’t have a knife, so I improvised.”

It must have been clear from our faces we had no idea what he did.

“The solution,” Sven said “was alimentary. I dropped my trousers, had a bowel movement and shaped the still warm excrement into a stout, knife-shaped form. It soon froze and hardened and I chopped a hole big enough to wiggle through. I found my knife where I put it, recovered my gear and freed the dogs from their ice covered dens.”

“The rest of the trip was uneventful.”

Sven went back to his paper and the knot drifted apart. I waited until everyone had left before I leaned over and partially pulled his newspaper down.

“So, how does a turd knife lay claim to the expression of ‘two is one and one is none?”

“It doesn’t. But when I returned to camp, I requisitioned a second knife. The quartermaster wanted to know what happened to the first one and I explained that two is one …”

“I supposed,” I interrupted him, “he gave you one.”

“He was a very intelligent man and immediately saw the sound logic in it.”

Having satisfied my question, Sven sat back to finish his paper, but not before snagging my untouched spare brandy.

I was about to comment on the theft when from behind the newspaper came, “After all, two is one…”

On the Edge…An Adventure.

2010-08-08T21:01:00.002-04:00

It was one of those snowy, blustery winter nights Cleveland is so well known for. On such a night only the mad or foolhardy venture outside. I had already decided to spend the night at the Explorer’s Club.

“Why not?” I thought. “My wife is out of town, the club’s larder is well stocked, as is their bar, and the small member suites are more than snug and comfortable.”

Don’t bother trying to find us. We don’t advertise. The outside of the building looks like an abandoned building complete with nine-foot rusty chain link fence. The only membership requirement is a life of exploration and adventure. If your idea of adventure is Grand Theft Auto III, don’t call us; we’ll call you.

The chairs were arranged in the Members’ Reading Room in clusters. Of course, conversations were discouraged in the room according to club by-laws. I found both a book I had been meaning to read and an overstuffed chair just the right distance from the roaring eight-foot fireplace. At my signal Butterling, our majordomo, brought my standing overnight order which he quietly placed on the end table I shared with another club member. He was politely and quietly ensconced behind a foreign newspaper in the other chair.

I had just relaxed and began to luxuriate in the warmth of the fire when one of the members, taking a shortcut to the door, noticed my two double brandies and cleared his throat in disapproval. His rude behavior was not lost on me.

“You know, two is one and one is none,” I foolishly snapped back at him.

The rude member was already out of earshot and if he had heard me, chose to ignore me. Unfortunately, my neighbor behind the newspaper choose not to.

“Yimminy, that’s so true.” It was Sven Olsen, perhaps the oldest and most gregarious club member. He folded the newspaper and placed it on his lap.

“Did I ever tell you how I invented that saying?” he said, raising his voice over the crackle of the fireplace.

This created a dilemma. We were in the reading room and I was loath to surrender my chair by moving to the conversation room. Sven was a prolific storyteller and he was setting up to spin a yarn. While I doubted the whole cloth of his stories, I had previously done enough research to verify many of his tales.

“No, you never did,” I said, throwing caution to the winds. What kind of adventurer would let a few rules stand in his way? I said the fatal words. “Tell me more.”

“It was summer 1955, and I was between classes at the University of Helsinki.”

“I didn’t know you had a degree, old man,” Rodger interrupted. “What was it in?” One of the newest members, Rodger had not learned proper manners and most likely never would. I still regretted not blackballing him.

Sven paused to take Rodger in. “It was a non-degree program. I was pioneering independent study. Later they gave me an honorary degree in…. but that’s another story.” Sven paused and got back on track.

“With the summer free and troubled by a significant lack of funds, I was casting about for employment. Word reached me that the CIA was looking for….”

“You worked for the Central Intelligence Agency? Rodger interrupted again. “What? We didn’t have any spies that spoke Swedish?”

“What your spies can or cannot speak is of little concern to me.” Sven’s accent flared up as he lost his temper. “Nor did I know they were the CIA at the time. I was a bright young man aware of world events. I suspected it was some government agency, possibly one of Britain’s MI groups.”

“Since the cold war was heating up and the Nordic communities had no love for the Russians, I took the job. On the surface it was a simple job. I would ski from various base camps to specific points in northern Greenland where I would place explosive charges and set them off at specific times. Someone, somewhere collected measurements for some purpose.”

“It was an adventure, my friends.” His accent faded again. I often wondered about Sven. He spoke several languages without accent. Even old agents have to retire somewhere. “There was no GPS, no apps for your cell phone; just you and your dog team, a chronograph, slide rule and sexton.”

Olsen demonstrating his Igloo building skills for BBC journalists

From the Cleveland Explorer Club Archives

Sven looked over to Rodger, whose investments had tanked when the housing market stumbled. He was attempting to get a government jump-start loan for a new business.

“For two weeks at a time,” Sven continued, “you lived on what you and the dogs could carry and by your wits. Independent, free and living on the edge. There was no bailout if you made a mistake.”

“It was a harsh, cold, white landscape filled with beauty that could surprise you and turn on you at any moment. I spent many nights watching the Northern Lights pirouette across the dark skies.”

“There were other teams, but I was the most successful, reaching specific locations by specific deadlines and it became a matter of pride. I carried few extra supplies, reasoning my mobility and success depended on selecting only the most important items. I chose carefully.”

“Besides the technical equipment, I needed dried fish to feed the dogs and myself, a small stove, a double-bladed smatchet and, of course, a short barreled shotgun set up for slug. Polar bears….” Sven gave a little involuntary shiver. “Nasty little javlarna.”

By now Sven was in his element and most of his accent had vanished. His tale had captured our imaginations. Several of the other members gravitated to the growing knot of listeners. I even caught sight of Butterling hovering on the outer edge of audible range. Even Rodger knew better than to interrupt the yarn.

“What I didn’t take was a tent. Instead I planned on making what Americans call an igloo. I used the smatchet to serve as a snow cutter and spatula. With a little practice I was able to cut and place rings of snow blocks to make a passable shelter in less than 30 minutes. The dogs, born and bred for this; simply curled up in a snow cave I’d carve for them. This system worked remarkably well. At least until I made a mistake.”

Smatchet reported to belong to Sven Olsen.
From Cleveland Explorer Club Archives

“It was my third trip out. The employer was more than happy with my notes and placement of the explosive charges. Noting how well I handled the long and arduous treks, they asked me to travel even farther north on longer trips. I was happy with myself for earning both their confidence and the increase in hazard pay.”

On my third day of the last week out, a storm closed in almost without warning. I barely had time to get the dogs sheltered, watered and fed before the storm was on me.”

“It was white-out conditions and the wind stung like a whip. I started cutting snow blocks, but the storm and gusting winds made work all but impossible. Yet I couldn’t stop. I had to finish. The igloo meant survival. Freezing and in the dark I was working more from memory and force of habit. I cut the last block, dragged my sleeping bag in and pulled a snow block in behind me. It was like corking a bottle from the inside.”

“I sat for a few moments in the darkness listening to the storm grow worse and pondering my fate. Tired and exhausted I crawled into my sleeping bag and shivered myself to sleep.” Sven paused and look deeply at each of us. “I didn’t know if I would wake up or not.”

…………To be continued