Knives in the Net

It’s been an interesting couple of days for knives. I started searching online for news about knives, mostly in preparation for attending the Blade Show and found a link in the New York Times to a South American knife maker. http://www.artisanalknives.com/index.html


He specializes in Damascus steel with a traditional look that results in folding different steels onto themselves over and over…Did I mention you need to fold it over again?

I wish the website showed better images of his knives. The New York time suggest Damascus knives run about $150 an inch but Artisanal Knives charges significantly less. From the few images I saw at the website, I liked the simple, clean lines that give his knives elegance.

The UK is in the grip of weapon frenzy. Crime and violence continues to skyrocket. A recent news report recounts the tragic death of a youngster at the hands of a gang. The gang or mob (as they should be called) attacked him with baseball bats and knives. This adds to the growing tally of violence and death from crime in the UK. Of course pocket knives are a great bone of contention and are viewed by the English justice system as offensive weapons with no redeeming purpose. That little Case canoe the boys of your Scout troop gave you as Scout Master could get you hard time in England.

Concerned about UK’s problem of offensive weapons British scientists have warned the population about knife wielding robots. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7692660/Danger-robots-with-knives-could-attack-humans-accidentally.html

It seems that these tools could be armed with other tools that could be used in an offensive manner injuring humans.

Somebody, please anchored them to ground before these bubble-headed ideas make them float away. It appears the scientists were not talking about autonomous Cylons bent on destroying their human masters in an orgy of knife fighting.

No, this is more of if robots-were-using-knives-to-cut-something-and-you got-in-the-way, or if they ran into you, you might be stabbed. There wasn’t any discussion of what could happen if a 250-pound robot runs into you at 45 mph, or if a metal arm weighing 30 pound whips into you at 100 ft per sec. If you are wondering, just a few words to help: bones break, metal bends.

I must kill-kill-kill...and vacuum the floor!

I don’t know. Maybe we should be worried. My robotic floor cleaner, Rhoomba, has been hanging around the kitchen knife drawer a too much for my comfort.

Tools and Intentions

We drop our pocket knives in our pockets and sometimes forget how these tools can be used. I try to remember what Mas Ayoob told us about knife attacks every time I gear up. To paraphrase: “Imagine the smallest, most gentle woman you know standing with a 6-inch kitchen knife in her hand. Now imagine that person with a wild, distorted grimace on her face and swinging that blade like she was a Waring blender. Now, who wants to take it away from her?”

Recently Deputy Clay Grant Jr. was doing a little off-duty shopping at Target (the name suggests what’s going to happen) in West Hollywood, California and ran into a woman wielding a knife in each hand. http://www.kxxv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12419226
Fortunately it ended up okay. If by okay you mean injuries are acceptable but nobody died.

That wasn’t the case in the Big Apple, AKA New York City. The Akron Beacon Journal reported in the May 3 issue that Hugo Tale Yax from Guatemala attempted to assist a woman in the Big Apple. I don’t have the details, I don’t know who the woman was or why she was attacked, but in the end someone knifed Hugo. Hugo was a homeless man, but he felt the need to risk all he had, his life, to help this woman. The Beacon reports that security tapes show New Yorkers walking past his still bleeding body without any attempt to help him, much less call the police. I don’t have any real comment. The story says it all.

On the whole, neither New York nor West Hollywood has any really attraction to me as a destination.

I was looking in the employment ads (What! Don’t you ever wonder if there isn’t a better job waiting for you?) from last Sunday. Tucked in among the rest of the ads I found a little something of interest. A private bank, (that’s the way they described it) is looking for a financial officer with the usual and at least one very unusual criterion. They want someone with an underground degree in finance.

Did they want a deep rock miner? Or can you get a covert degree, one that no one will confirm or deny? Is this the handiwork of some secret financial task group working on the edge of international legality?

You tell me - IMF: International Monetary Fund or Impossible Mission Force?

This blog will self destruct when you are done reading it.

Laser Knives, Not Just for Luke Skywalker Any More!

In a CCW class I had a student with a laser sight on his handgun. It’s the first time I’ve seen one like his. Most are under the barrel or off to one side, but this one replaced the rear sight. This placed it above the bore.

The battery and on button were on one side and the laser on the other. You push the battery side once to turn it on and a little diode glows telling you and anyone behind you the laser is turned on. The fellow had a little trouble with it. After couple shots it would turn itself on. While some might think of this as a labor saving device, I like the idea of making my own mistakes and not leaving it to a faulty switch. Still the laser did give me an idea.

I’m surprised that someone hasn’t incorporated a laser in a knife handle. Sears has them in cut-off saws. The saw draws a laser line where the blade is going to cut, saving you from cutting something you don’t want to cut. Like your fingers.

The Bosch-5412L-12-Inch-Dual-Bevel-Slide-Miter-Saw-with-Laser-Tracking . Oh boy!  How many knife blades do you see on it?

That could be done with a knife. A couple diode lasers and the knife could show you the direction the blade will go if you push it. If the laser is on your fingers or your other arm, that’s the knife’s way of telling you to reposition something out of harm’s way.

Diode lasers use milliwatts of power. They are very efficient and just sip power out of a battery. If, or when we get the beam up to around a watt you wouldn’t need a knife. You’ll just blast through the object.

When that day occurs, I wonder… will there be laser collecting clubs?

Swiss Army Knife

It’s hard to imagine not owning a Swiss Army style knife. I keep a few around including one with a bent knife blade tip, the results of flicking it into a wooden seat. The straight blade screw driver and bottle opener have proven in valuable to me!

The original knife was actually built by two different companies, both of which shared the Swiss military contracts. Why two companies? Here lies the tale of romance, competition and intrigue. But I’m going to leave that all out.

In 1890 the Swiss Army was supplied by a German company. This caused Karl Elsener a patriotic Swiss citizen, to start a Victorinox to provide the Swiss Government a knife made in the homeland. Later, his general manager, Theodore Wenger started a different company. I think you can guess the company’s name.

Hummm…the plot thickens!

The two companies were located in different parts of Switzerland, each with their own regional dialogs. In an effort to stay neutral, the Swiss government split the military contracts down the middle.

Eventually it was for naught, Victorinox now owns Wenger, but swears the two lines will remain separate and whole.

As a side note, Wikipedia claims “The term "Swiss Army knife" was coined by US soldiers after World War II, presumably because they had trouble pronouncing its original name, "Offiziersmesser.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Army_knife

One additional note: I asked Victorinox rep at the SHOT Show if they were ever considering the tactical knife market. At the time they said no, largely due to price considerations. Their studies suggest $30 was the best price point for their markets and they worked to stay in that neighborhood.

WIRED Magazine’s website thinks the Victorinox’s Presentation Master is one gadget no truly self respecting geek should be without. www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_victorinox_pm_knife

It has the normal tools plus a few more. I don’t need to detail them for you, follow the link and find out for yourself. Just let me say 16 gigs of computer memory and a Swiss army knife for a $240 is quite a difference from $30.

You’ve come a long way, babe!

Eyes of the Beholder

A recent knife club meeting proved what we already knew: There is no definition of beauty. It also showed, quite to my surprise, there is agreement on ugly.
Each participant in the show-and-tell had either a Barlow style knife or an “Ugly Knife” to show off.  It’s the presentation of the knife and its story the club members find so delightful.

There are times though, you wish the raconteurs would either:
A) get to the point,
B) stay on the path to the subject.

Despite the wandering story paths, it is amazing to see the excitement and enthusiasm that knife owners generate over their knives.

What’s a Dodo?

The dictionary defines it as:
A large flightless bird that tasted like chicken to hungry 18th century sailors;
The pet named “Pickwick” owned by Spec Ops agent Thursday Next www.thursdaynext.com/index2.html or;
A single bladed knife made by Spyderco, but now out of production.

Spyderco’s Dodo was the bainchild of Eric Glesser. Designed with a bird beak, full belly blade and a handle of blue G-10, the knife was a proof of concept of a ball bearing lock design. It had a limited production run. The G-10 handle was almost impossible to slip out of your pocket. While there wouldn’t be any fast draws you didn’t have to worry about losing it either. Four years ago this Dodo went extinct too.

Recently one surfaced on eBay. e-Bay is quite un-predictable. The right person sees the item and the price can skyrocket. Other times the rocket has a fast fuse and blows up in your hand. 

The right people were on line for this Dodo. It started at 99 cents and 38 bids later the Dodo went for $222.50!!! The winning bid sniped it in with 7 seconds to spare. His winning eBay bump? $2.50.

Today’s Rumor
Sal Glesser is rumored to be designing an updated Dodo. Big deal…You all ready knew that, didn’t you.

Conterfeit Randalls

I don’t buy old knives. The guy at the table next to me did. The conversation went:

“Do you buy knives?”

“Sometimes,” said the vendor.

The seller unzipped a Randall Guardian with stacked leather washer handle and concealment sheath. The blade looked good and the leather looked likes it was handled a bit, but well taken care of.

“It’s a nice Randall. I’m not very good with Randall prices.”

“And you call yourself a knife dealer! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU? You should know what its worth.” The seller was getting more than a little cranky.

Every once and a while you get a prickly customer and I could see the vendor had dealt with this before.

“What are you asking for it?” The vendor asked politely. After all there is no sense in burning bridges.

“Well.” The seller drew himself up another three inches taller. “I know what it’s worth, but I’m not telling you. And you call yourself a dealer.”

“Well, okay, let me see the knife again.” The seller handed it over and the vendor produced a small, but powerful flashlight. He carefully studied the Randall stamp, looked at the edge and felt around the leather washers and silver cap.
“Well the edge is very straight and it doesn’t appear to be resharpened.”

“That’s right.” The seller leaned in to see what the vendor was inspecting.

“It’s too straight. These were hand-made and this edge is machine. Look at the fine polishing parks on the edge. Randall used a courser edge polish then and I think the stamp is too dark.”

It was obvious where the story was going. I just sat there hoping a customer wouldn’t come to my table and prevent me from hearing the end of the story. The owner stood dumb struck, so the vendor kept going.


“Well, there are some nice counterfeits coming in now, but ten years ago phony Randalls were the rage. Some were so good, well, they were very good. So buddy, here it is. If you paid more than $80, you got taken.

“I suppose” the seller said condescendingly, “you’d like to buy it for your fake collection?”

“No thanks, I got enough junk.”

The seller stood there riveted to the floor, slowly turning red. I swear his eyes started to bulge. If he had been a boiler, I would have hit the ground and prayed the safety valve would open before it blew.

“But Jimmy might. He’s usually at that end of the building,” the vendor waved toward a distant corner, “but I haven’t seen him today. He might give you 80, maybe 90 bucks for it.”

The seller grabbed for the knife, but the vendor pulled it back.

“Hey, watch the blade.” he said. “It may be junk, but it’s sharp junk.” He put the knife down and the seller snapped it up and was last seen jamming it in his case as he stormed off.

I looked at the vendor. “That was a counterfeit? Sure looked nice.”

The vendor looked at me and shrugged. “What do I know about Randall knives? That guy was an orifice. They I know about.” He went back to looking something up and I returned to hoping for customers.

American Switch Blade

Rumor has it…………..

I understand Schrade is making a limited production run of an American made retro switchblade. I hear it will be under 1000 total production with three different bolsters.

An American Retro Switch Blade!?!?!?!!!!!    Tune in for more.