The rumor mill is abuzz!
No, it's not about about what's-her-name or the other one's boy toy. This is important.
A reliable source claims Tactical Knives is stopping production. No date on the finial issue.
The publishing game isn't what it used to be. Readership is falling off. Many people blame the Internet with its free (almost) content, online blogs, videos and ability to constantly deliver new daily content.
I'll miss Tactical Knives. But then I always enjoy reading. Sitting in the doctor's office reading magazines from last year never seems a hardship to me.
So long, Tactical Knives, you'll be missed!
What’s your life game? I discovered long ago my life plan involves knives. Folding knives, fixed blades, pocket knives, survival knives, tactical knives, it doesn’t matter to me. As long as it has an edge, I’m interested. Join me as I write about life, knives and the things seen from the knife edge.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Spyderco vs.?????
The expression “It’s a poor knife that cuts only one way”
has found its way, with some minor modification, into detective fiction,
adventure romances, and science fiction, just to name a few. I’ve even pointed out to students that a
tactical flashlight points in both directions.
But the Spyderco Civilian is a knife that cuts only one way. It comes with a special note.
Here’s the text. As
an ‘abridger’, my apologies for any misrepresenting the sentiment behind
Spyderco’s statement.
“Spyderco has
traditionally maintained what we call the “White Hat” position. …that the future of mankind in the world must
lie in cooperation and greater socialization.
…We recognize that a knife ... can be used (solely) to defend oneself…(but) we
have never produced such an item. Spyderco
… caters to the law enforcement personnel on a worldwide scale. They would be the good guys, or ‘White Hats’. It has been requested that we … provide an
effective last-ditch defense in assisting the “White Hats.”
The Civilian model is
the first of several folding knives designed and produced as a law enforcement
back-up defense weapon. The Civilian
model was not designed to kill. … It is designed to ‘hit and run’ in a self
defense situation.”
While it’s true the Civilian isn’t designed to stab, it is
designed to make an ocean cut. With the
reverse-S shape and the tremendously powerful Spyderco serrations, anyone you
cut will be cut deep and wide. It’s also
well established that many effective targets on the human body are just under
the skin.
The Civilian and its ilk (the Matriarch – versions 2 and
Lil’) aren’t the only Spyderco folders that focus on the grittier side of
self-defense. The P’kal has very strong
roots in self-defense as does the Yojimbo 2.
But only the Civilian was designed solely for self-defense. It also comes with a tag that amplifies its
purpose: “Notice – This knife was not
designed to be used as a utility knife.
Its unique design will not support everyday use…”
Why does Spyderco feel it’s necessary to include this
statement?
I don’t know. It
could be legal preemptive boilerplate; maybe it’s an attempt to assuage
personal feelings that such things are still necessary in this world. Maybe it is guilt from knowing that no matter
what you attempt or intend, someone will misuse it.
Let’s get to the Civilian’s specifications:
- Size closed 132 mm*
- Blade Length 104 mm
- Clip Right side only, tip up or down
- Blade Hollow ground VG-10
- Handle Steel reinforced G-10
- Edge Do you have to ask? Spyder-Edge!
- Thickness 10.4 mm
- Cost I’m not sure how to answer that. When push-comes-to-graveyard, what’s your life worth? If you never need it, what’s it worth to have your grandkids inherit the knife and wonder what kind of freaky stuff were you into? The more conventional answer is it retails for $280.
The only Spyderco folder made specifically to cut human flesh. The Civilian. |
Do you need one?
This isn't a typical, "If I don't have one, I must need one" answer.
I just sold one to someone who, because of his job, will be
going into dangerous surroundings.
Because of his job, he can’t take a firearm, nor will there be guards
surrounding him. He feels this knife
might stand between the grave and his returning home.
I, on the other hand, took his Civilian out of the soft-sided
pouch it comes in and opened it. The
Spyder-Edge glittered like jewels set in silver. The reverse-S blade has grace and flows
outward from your hand. The insulating
G-10 is warm to the touch and the handle naturally finds a sweet spot in your
grip. My thumb, trained from decades of using
Spydercos, found the hole without any thought on my part.
I made a few air cuts.
The Civilian almost seems to anticipate your movements before you
do.
It’s a work of art, lovely and f@^king scary as hell.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Re-branding: It's Not Just for Wall Street
I get a lot of catalogs.
All sorts of catalogs ranging
from clothing, woodworking equipment, outdoor stuff, guns, shooting supplies
and of course, knives. I read them
all.
I recently got a catalog from
a company that sells high-end work clothes.
I’m sure you’ve seen the catalog.
You can purchase a canvas sport coat or extra long tee-shirts to prevent
butt crackitis from them.
Recently I saw a knife that’s
an old favorite of mine. It’s the Boker
Sub-Com. It’s been re-branded as the
Boker Biscuit Knife.
It works better as a money clip or clipped on your shorts behind your belt buckle. |
The re-branding seems to have
affected the price.
The catalog prices it at
$46.95.
The 2013 Boker catalog lists it at $48.95.
My supplier lists the retail
cost at $49.95.
It’s a nice knife and it’s
true. It fits well in the watch pocket
on men’s jeans. Not too many of us carry
pocket watches any more. That’s kind of a shame. There was a certain class to taking the watch
out of your pocket and pushing the stem in to pop the protective cover off the
crystal.
The 'Biscuit' also works well as a money
clip.
I’m getting ready for the
Blade Show. We called the hotel to make
a reservation and was told:
- They are full.
- All Blade Show attendees and vendors have to check out Sunday morning, because they have a new show coming in Monday and they need the rooms for those people.
Sunday morning at the show
should be interesting.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Blackjack Panga
I just put a Blackjack Panga on eBay.
It was made at the original Effingham, Illinois company.
Blackjack's Panga with the original black box |
The Panga was made for two years starting in
1991 and fizzling out in 1992. It’s
estimated that only 1200 of these knives were made.
The
blade is made from 420HC steel.
According to that fountainhead of knowledge, Wikipedia, “420HC is a higher carbon content 420 stainless. The HC stands for "high carbon" and
it can be brought to a higher hardness than 420 and should not be mistaken for
it. Buck Knives uses
420HC extensively.”
Blackjack,
it seemed to me, wanted to be the factory version of Randall Knife. I have a Randall in a
display case and a similar new Blackjack.
Based on appearance and feel, they have succeeded. But Randall has this cache: handmade, served
in Vietnam and a favorite of our Armed Forces.
I have a friend who told me when he went in the service his father gave
him a Rolex watch and a Randall. He’s
been hooked ever since and has quite a collection.
With
Blackjack you can buy the same knife as a Randall, pay half the price and get
it today and not after the five-plus year wait Randalls routinely have for a
“custom” knife. But somehow the original
Blackjack Company never took off. Maybe that’s
because they were copying and not creating their own signature look. Whatever the reason Randall remains HOT!
The
Panga was billed as a machete. I’ve
swung a more classical, heavier machete and it’s clearly a job for the young
and energetic.
Note traditional logo of daggers through an ace of spades! Looks like crossed swords! |
Based on that experience
I’m not sure the Panga’s edge would hold up to clearing vines and cutting
brush. It may have well have been designed
for a more specific use in the jungle like butchering fish, cutting small vines
for rope and discouraging other people.
It looks like a long butcher knife.
The sheath looks a little raggy, but it's NIB? Not a good design!!! |
Friday, February 21, 2014
There is a season.......
Two
men once came together to form Blind Horse Knives.
They
started small and over the years grew the company and made some damn fine
knives. I wrote about a small kitchen knife they made for my wife.
Digging
through my fixed blade collection I found I had a knife from both L.T. Wright
and Dan Coppins from before they joined forces.
Both are very cool!
I
understand Blind Horse Knives has dissolved and Dan and L.T. have gone separate
ways. We’ll miss them but I look forward
to seeing their new knives!
L.T.
was kind enough to send me the following:
“Blind Horse Knives dissolved because the owners
wanted to take things in different directions. Both shops will continue on, but
as new, separate companies. Both companies will honor lifetime warranties on
all Blind Horse Knives. Both new companies will hold the same
ideals of quality craftsmanship at affordable prices. Knife enthusiasts that
like Blind Horse Knives should look to both new companies as they will both
strive to make hard working knives for many years to come.”To check out the new companies please visit:
L.T. Wright Handcrafted Knives:
www.ltwrightknives.com
740-317-1404
info@ltwrightknives.com
Battle Horse Knives:
www.battlehorseknives.com
740-995-9009
info@battlehorseknives.com
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Mini-Onslaught
I got my first Bob Lum knife by accident. I saw Spyderco’s Chinese Folder and fell for
the leaf-shaped blade and green handle and bought it.
I’m not a big collector of Lums. I like the functionality and graceful lines
but it’s difficult to justify custom knife prices, so I settle for selling the
factory versions of them. You might
uncharitably call me a knife pimp - I make a little money from the transaction,
but I thoroughly enjoy getting quality knives into appreciative hands.
I’m quite excited about Benchmade’s Mini-Onslaught that just
arrived today. It’s a Bob Lum design and
it’s quite a little charmer. One side of
the blade has the Benchmade butterfly logo and the other side has Bob’s chop.
The 3.45-inch blade is sharpened from 154CM steel with a
Rockwell C hardness of 58-61. The curved
grip is black G-10 which is reinforced by stainless steel liners. I looked at the handle and I would swear it’s
micarta. Of course, G10 has changed over
the years from short chopped fibers in resin into glass fabric.
I really like the Axis lock Benchmade uses. The modified clip point blade simply glides
open and the thumb hole (licensed from Spyderco, I understand) is 0.43 inches
in diameter. That’s large enough to
easily capture your thumb for opening. Benchmade
says the Mini-Onslaught weighs in at 3.9 ounces.
The left side showing the famous Benchmade butterfly. |
Benchmade retails the knife for $170 on their website. I suspect I’ll be able to do better.
Sadly, Bob Lum passed away Dec 2007. In his thirty years of knife making, some of
his designs were never released to the commercial market. It’s kind of
nice knowing that even after he’s gone, we’ll still see a few new Lums
in the future.
Monday, February 10, 2014
But is it a sport?
The Winter Olympic Games at Sochi, Russia 2014 |
I don’t enjoy some of the Olympic winter games. Team ice dancing, snowboarding or free-style
snowshoeing hold no interest to me. (There
is no free-style snowshoeing.)
I find downhill skiing, luge, and even curling to be much
more interesting.
What? You’d rather
watch people sweep the ice to get better glide from a large metal puck, than
beautiful women and handsome men gracefully moving over ice while performing
feats of strength and impeccable timing?
Yes, I would. I’d
rather watch a Biathlon or even plain cross-country skiing events than snowboarding.
It’s because many of the winter Olympic events aren’t
sports.
Here’s my list:
Sports
- Alpine Skiing
- Biathlon
- Bobsleigh
- Ice Hockey
- Cross Country Skiing
- Curling
- Luge
- Nordic Combined
- Short Track Speed Skating
- Skeleton
- Ski Jumping
- Speed skating
Non-sports
- Freestyle Skiing
- Snowboarding
- Figure skating
What makes the difference?
Am I one of those guys that figures a sport has to
have a ball? The only thing close to a
ball in my list above is curling and that’s like ice bowling with brooms.
Do I need speed?
The rush of air past my face from hurling down a mountain or do I need a
chase like in speed skating? No, that’s
not it either.
Let’s sharpen the edge of this monologue and cut
to the core. Sports don’t have style
points.
It’s that simple.
Pick any conventional sport: baseball, soccer, American football,
golf. It doesn’t matter if it’s a team
event or a single person. The winner is
determined by total points. In golf low
score wins; in bull's-eye shooting it’s high score. The scoring is direct and measurable. There are no style points.
Do you gain or lose points because the arms are bent differently? |
Style points?
What do you think is happening when the judges award scores on whether
they thought your toes were pointed sufficiently or deduct points because your
back was arched too much? Those are
style points.
Yes, I believe figure skaters and freestyle snowboarders
are athletes.
There’s no question about
that. I’m not sure you could claim the
two middle people on a 4-man bob-sled team are athletes. Seems to me all they need to know is how to
quickly fold their bodies around the other team mates and have a low center of
gravity. I don’t see them or curlers out
doing 10-mile runs or bench presses to stay in shape. But I could be wrong on that.
You don’t have to have a league or a stadium/arena
to have a sport. You don’t have to have
followers. You do have to have measurable results, not opinions.
I used to fence with a foil. Who the heck follows fencing now a days? I would if it was on TV.
You had five judges to score hits or touches as
they say. The competitors were supposed
to own up to feeling a touch. What made
that subjective activity a sport was three touches won the match. Nobody got style points for a loud appel, a flamboyant
balstra, or graceful riposte. You got
points and won by countering your opponent’s defense and offense and scoring three
touches in the target zone before they did.
Then what are these events if not sports?
They are performance art.
It’s not the costumes, the music or
rehearsals. It’s the scoring. Anytime you have judges tell you the timing of
the performers was off, or a leg wasn’t fully extended, or the 360 revolution
was too high, you have an art form.
You want further proof? I've got it.
Anytime you have compulsory movements, you have an
art. I’ve never been to a martial arts
event where the contestants were required to do a front leg sweep or reverse
punch. You did that stuff for determining
rank/belts, but competition was always decided on points scored by hits.
Could the Swan Lake ballet be a sport? By the Olympic standards, yes. You have a limited time to perform, there are
compulsory moves, and the performers have a variety of costumes and are
evaluated on style points. The
performers are beyond a doubt athletes.
But truly, would you consider Swan Lake a sport?
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