Energizer LED Penlight, BIG value for small dollars

In the last decade or so, LED (light emitting diode) flashlights have flooded the personal lighting market, and with the exception of certain mega hot xenon or halogen light makers (Surefire for example), LEDs are becoming the standard. Even Surefire and Streamlight, known for their more traditional superbright bulbs, are ever expanding their selection of LED lights. The advantages are obvious, they are more energy efficient, cooler running, and more durable than traditional flashlight bulbs, as well as lasting virtually forever. LED technology just keeps getting better. Regardless of the flashlight manufacturer, you'll hear company names like Cree, Nichia, and Luxeon, when reading specifications pertaining to the actual LED "bulb" used in various flashlights. Nichia is highly regarded in this category, as one of the finest leaders in LED technology, and you'll find their diodes in dozens of manufacturers brands. Along with companies like Luxeon and Cree, Nichia LEDs are very highly regarded for brightness and quality. It surprised me that this little $7.00 (avg. US price)penlight from Energizer comes equipped with a Nichia LED "bulb".

Model PLED23AE, is one of the few "pen lights" that is actually very close to the dimensions of an actual writing pen, only very slightly thicker and longer,it's about 6 and 3/4 inches long, with a single Nichia LED bulb protruding slightly out of the tip. There's no reflector housing, or cover, as LEDs are generally very tough. It's got a nice pocket clip which works well, and some lightly engraved "checkering" toward the front, where you might grip it like a writing utensil. The body is likely made of aluminum, as seems to be the pocket clip. It's activated by a simple plastic clicker button, very much like many ballpoint pens. It comes with two AAA batteries (Energizer brand of course), and the last inch or so where the switch and clip are located, unscrews, and batteries are dropped in positive side down. I originally bought one of these at my local Target store for my teenage nephew as a little extra to give him with his birthday gift about a year ago. He's pretty mechanically inclined and clever, so I figured he'd find a use for it, after we opened it, I was a bit remiss about giving it to him, as it's such a cool light for the price. I mean, realistically, this little tool is about the same price as a fast food combo meal, batteries included, and loaded with a super premium Nichia LED!!


It was with this in mind, that I picked up my own a few weeks ago. I have a ton of flashlights in all different quality and price ranges (hence the "Bright" in my blog's name). Because I own so many lights, I didn't open this one right away, as I've been using my little Fenix E01 (I actually have 2! of those!)
I'm glad I finally did crack open the little Energizer though, as it's been immensely handy in the car, as my dome light is pretty shitty. I was at a stoplight, and my can of Swedish snus slipped out of my hand and onto the floor, pulling out and activating the Energizer very quickly, I was able to spot my tobacco can on the floor and retrieve it before the traffic light changed. I have a few generic yet high quality LED flashlights which have a super focused spot beam, and they're alright, but I actually prefer a wider, more diffused beam like the one produced by this little Energizer. With the tightly focused lights with a thick glass lens, fine work up close can be tough because of the precision of the beam, whereas the little Energizer throws light not only far, but rather wide, since the tip of the "bulb" sticks out a bit from the tip.

This little penlight might also work well as a last ditch defensive impact weapon, kubotan or yawara stick style. I'm not so sure how the light would hold up after using it to jam into some part of an attacker's body, but it is thicker, and heavier than a good ol' ballpoint pen, and I'm sure could definitely be used in a manner similar to a koppo stick or the current self-defense writing pens being sold by companies like Benchmade, Mil-Tac and many others.

If I had any real clout, aside from being a blogger, and gave out awards for "editor's choice" products or something like that, this Energizer LED penlight would certainly earn a "Best Value" ribbon among budget flashlights. No, it's not going to blind an attacker, but you could certainly poke him in the eye with it, or slam it into his jugular! No, it's not IPX-waterproof-dive-rated, but it's certainly weatherproof enough to use it to change a tire in the rain if you get a flat. I'm a big proponent of "you get what you pay for", but this is a situation where for less than the price of lunch, you can get something that works as promised, and will certainly last you several years, if not more. It should also be noted that Energizer claims it will run for just over 100 hours on a single set of (2) AAA batteries, and they also cover it with their limited lifetime warranty. This is the type of flashlight that's likely to be swiped a by a rotten co-worker, or misplaced because of its small size before you'd ever have to think about it malfunctioning, or sending it in for a warranty repair/replacement. Of course, such value for such a low price has a potential ethical cost...it's Chinese made, like pretty much everything else these days, so if you're hellbent on buying American, you can go with the oldschool Maglite, and have an indestructible light with severely outdated (except for their newer LED line) and underpowered light output, or go with something a bit more pricey, like any number of excellent flashlights from Inova or Surefire, both of those companies manufacture right here in America, and have some budget models available as well.

Foreign manufacture aside, this bad boy sports a Nichia LED, is EXTREMELY energy efficient. It's reasonably durable and has a pocket clip in addition to its light weight. Best of all, you should be able to find 'em at places like Walmart, Home Depot and Target (where I got mine). For far less than $10, this would make an awesome stocking stuffer for pretty much anybody, from DIY folks, to hobbyists, mechanics, outdoorspeople. Who doesn't need a good flashlight, especially this time of year in North America! Energizer is here, and Optics Planet has them for about 8 bucks.

Nite Ize S Biner

Nite Ize is probably best known for many years of providing aftermarket accessories for Maglite flashlights. They've built a solid reputation for innovative products since their beginnings around 1989. I remember seeing their headband device that converts a mini Maglite into a headlamp, more or less. They now even make LED upgrade kits for your durable but dim oldschool Maglites check this out.

Nite Ize makes a great non-locking, minimal load bearing dual-gated carabiner they call the "S Biner", obviously due to its shape. Our very own Crime.Wav; aka Joel had his housekey and a bottle opener attached to a metal S Biner many months ago when we hung out. I'd seen them before, but that was the first time I'd gotten to mess around with one, and really think about the practical applications. I was initially turned off by how wiry and light weight they are, however, now that I've had my own keys on a light blue plastic version for awhile now, the minimal weight is my favorite part! I'd always been a devotee of real mountain/rock climbing carabiners for attaching stuff to bags and packs, or even for linking my keyring to a beltloop. I'd become frustrated though in the last few years because although there are tons of super strong and light aluminum carabiners available at stores like REI, they tend to clink and make lots of noise against your keys, and are generally just a tad too big for my liking.



I've become partial to the plastic S Biner, the #4 size, of which you can judge its dimensions by looking at the pic where I've got it hooked to a Nalgene 32 oz. bottle. The gates are thin stainless steel and spring loaded, and the 'plastic' material seems to be a high strength polymer which feels very similar to DuPont's Zytel, or many other "glass filled nylon" materials that are used in manufacture of things like car interior parts and tactical knife handles. My blue #4 plastic S Biner has ridden on my belt, belt loop, or pocket daily for many months and I like the speed and convenience of just being able to grab it in one smooth motion and slide either end through a beltloop or a pack strap. You can also fasten things like split-ring key rings to the center plastic bar, and it's completely secure, there's nowhere for that item to slide off, since either end is blocked by the stainless gates. Last year, around Thanksgiving, we had a lengthy power outage where I live. I hung an S Biner from a bungee cord off of a hook in the ceiling, and slid 2 snap chemlight (glowsticks) onto the S Biner and created a makeshift hanging lantern. It actually worked very well, Just one S Biner, one Tactical Tailor plastic ended bungee cable, and 2 Omni Glow green light sticks. Pretty cool.

I especially like the lightweight plastic S Biners for my water bottles, as when the bottle is empty, you can simply clip it onto your pack or even a belt if you're out and about, your bottle is out of the way, but at the ready if you want to refill it, and most of the larger size S Biners do have some minor load bearing capability. The #4 that I like can hold about 25 lbs, which isn't bad for such a light and simple device, so even the tiny S Biners should easily hold the weight of a 32 oz. water bottle. I was thinking about other uses, and you could even use them as zipper pulls, or thread a smaller size through the holes in a double zippered duffel bag to keep the zipper from opening.

Nite Ize is an innovative company in the same vein as say, Camelbak or Guyot Designs. Companies along these lines make simple, high quality products that make certain aspects of life just a little bit easier. Nite Ize makes and distributes a wide range of neat gadgets in a ton of different categories. They can be found at warehouse sporting goods stores and high end outdoor shops like REI. I feel that Nite Ize products are an exceptional value as well, for instance, the #4 plastic S Biners I'm so fond of, only cost about $2.75 USD on average at my local REI store. Oh, I should also mention that for all of us gear-heads, they make a wide array of ballistic nylon pouches and holsters for tools, phones and other gadgets as well. :)

Here's a rundown of the dimensions and weight capacity of each S Biner size:
(this information is only for the METAL S-Biners, not the plastic body ones that I'm using. The max load on the plastic #4 is 25 lbs, which is still pretty good, and definitely plenty to hold a full water bottle or even a heavy keyring. The all-metal S Biners are not much more expensive than the plastic series, it's just a matter of your preference and intended use. I opted for plastic because they're so light, and I like the tactile feel better in my hand.)
* #1: 1.56 x 0.56 in (4 x 1.4 cm) - 5 lb (2.3 kg)*
* #2: 2.00 x 0.88 in (5 x 2.2 cm) - 10 lb (4.5 kg)*
* #3: 2.63 x 1.13 in (6.7 x 2.9 cm) - 25 lb (11 kg)*
* #4: 3.50 x 1.50 in (8.9 x 3.8 cm) - 75 lb (33 kg)*
* #5: 4.38 x 1.94 in (11.1 x 3.3 cm) - 100 lb (45 kg)*

Some new and relatively inexpensive knives for holiday gift giving

Just a quickie here:
I like to buy American when I can. That being said, I also like a good value, quality knives that don't break the bank. In many instances, and like many people, I'd rather have 2 or 3 moderately priced knives than one super expensive one. On the other hand, investing in an Emerson, Benchmade, or any number of high quality American made knives is smart, these are the type of knives that are rugged enough to be used every day, and durable and special enough to pass on to a friend, or your kids someday. Seems like every other week we're seeing new and affordable knife designs made overseas, usually in Taiwan or China. These foreign made pieces are generally very good, as long as they bear the name of an established company with a good warranty and American roots. The cost of everything has gone up, from dogfood, to appliances and specialty items. This post serves to highlight some newer knives that have a sturdy pedigree, but will not thin your wallet.


I've never owned a Meyerco knife I don't think, but you'll see both their foreign patterns and American products getting solid reviews in magazines like Tactical Knives and on online webshops. Custom maker Darrel Ralph has teamed with Meyerco to produce these assisted openers in a variety of blade finishes for under $40 USD. The Maxx-Q features G10 handles and a robust 3.25" recurved tanto blade. I saw them first @ Knifecenter.com.
I'm interested in getting ahold of one to see how they perform.

511 Tactical is known for its tactical nylon gear, and entered the factory knife game a few years back. This little boot/neck knife is the Sidekick, and will sell for about $45 USD at better retailers.

This burly little fixed blade is the 511 Surge and is 8.85” overall in length. It's designed by Mike Vellekamp of Blade-Tech fame and looks to be a competent little tool.


Timberline Knives is back with an inexpensive factory-made version of custom maker Tim Herman's Wallstreet Tactical.

The Wallstreet Tactical comes with a display case, and is said to open incredibly smoothly, it shouldn't cost much more than $55 USD at better web retailers.

I've been happy to report here in the last several months, that Buck Knives has returned most of its manufacturing back to the USA, in a new Idaho facility. These classic stockman style knives have wooden handle slabs, and are all in the $30 USD range, and best of all, they are American made.

Also on the American made front, is RAT Cutlery's awesome Izula neck knives. I have personal experince with the tan colored one which came out about a year ago. it's far and away my favorite neck knife, and comes in tan, black or pink. It's rugged 1095 carbon steel with a powder coat. If you think the pink one is only for your wife or daughter, think again...How are you going to find your black or green knife if your woods camping, or trekking somewhere with thick underbrush. The pink model was designed with this in mind from Jeff Randall/RAT Cutlery's extensive jungle training experience.

So, it's not hard to find a quality blade these days, it's just a matter of preference, education and some smart shopping. Even if you're on a budget, and dead-set against foreign manufacture, there's something out there that would make a great gift for yourself or somebody else.

Cold Steel Inferno Proof dvd shipping with new catalogs

Lynn C. Thompson of Cold Steel Knives fame is a master of hype regarding his own products, that much is clear. One thing I have found over the years, through ownership of several different Cold Steel knives, is that many times, the hype is not totally unfounded, they do make innovative and high quality products for personal defense. I just got the new Cold Steel Special Projects catalog, in which was nestled a lengthy demo of Thompson's new Inferno pepper foam. You can go to the good ol' Cold Steel website, or google Cold Steel Special Projects to order the catalog, or you can watch this segment, right here. Pretty entertaining if you ask me, I may have to buy a small cannister for the car, but there's no way in hell I'm going to take a shot for testing purposes.

Guyot Designs Squishy Pet Bowls

A few months back, during warmer times, I reviewed Guyot's Squishy Bowls and some other cool stuff. In my review, I showed one of my cats eating out of the larger bowl. Selby was foreshadowing the shape of things to come over @ Guyot Designs. They now offer Squishy Bowls for pets, in three sizes. An awesome idea, I just used my cat as an example, it's obvious these will be much more useful for dog owners. So cool, I look forward to possibly buying a few as gifts for the dog owners in my life. If you've got a trail dog who hikes with you,cram some kibble in the bowl, then smash it down into a ziploc in your pack, these would probably be handy for water at the dog park as well. Tactical dogs in rescue and law enforcement are always on the go too, so I'm sure there's a market for K9 officers and rescue dogs. Pretty cool. I'll report further if I stumble across any other new info on these.
Guyot Designs

As promised; Boker Plus Chad Los Banos RnR rundown

As most of you know, Eric and I typically pay for 99.9% of whatever we feature here, with *very* few exceptions. However, last year, I did get to conversing via email with Chad Los Banos, who most of you know as the Hawaiian law enforcement dude who saved Boker with his amazing and versatile high tech designs, like the venerable little SubCom series which has become popular in the last few years. Anyhow, Chad and I emailed back and forth for awhile, he's a really laid back guy with a great attitude toward life and knife design. Eventually, sometime last year, a Boker Plus folder of Chad's design showed up on my doorstep. You can catch our CLB Boker Plus Direkt knife review HERE

Anyhow, I know Chad's a busy guy, and Boker can't just hand out sample product to everybody. So I expected nothing further, time passed, and last month a UPS box showed up on my doorstep! This time it was Chad's RnR knife, and also another Chad Boker Plus design called the G4, which I'll cover later, needless to say, I'm enjoying it.


Please excuse the blurry-ass phone pix, my digital camera, (yeah the after Xmas sale 2007 garbage model) has gone missing, maybe for the better! Anyhow, the RNR is loosely based on a kiridashi design. Evidently (even today) Japanese youths might carry a kiridashi in their pencil pouch to sharpen pencils or for other crafts. A simple traditional kiridashi might look something more like this, forged from a single piece of quality carbon steel:

So, Chad's RNR is a big-bellied take on that concept. Suitable I'd think in the camp-kitchen, or just about anywhere, even formidable in defensive use, because of its short blade length and conceal-ability in its kydex neck sheath. The blade is roughly 2.5 inches, but because of the massive curvature, seems much larger in the hand. The odd cutout pattern in the handle greatly aids grip on this knife, I did my hand-under-running water test in the shower, and the grip was more than secure, even with soapy hands! Very cool.



The RNR is very reasonably priced no matter where it's purchased from, and the kydex sheath is compatible with Blade-Tech's Tek-Lok (not included, but not expensive either). I love my Tek Lok on my Strider WP fixed blade, Time Wegner @ Blade-Tech is a genius in my book.


Anyhow, Chad Los Banos and Boker Plus keep cranking out good stuff at really reasonable prices. I gave Chad's BokerPlus Edit neck knife to Eric as a gift this past summer, maybe someday he'll get his ass off the bench at the range and write a review on something other than guns once his current life chaos settles down! That sounds sarcastic, but that's me wishing my good friend the best in his new-found challenges. We'll be hearing lots more from him soon, including range reports about a couple of really trick rifles, in the near future!


Oh hey! Don't forget to check out Chad's personal site!!HERE

Point Blank Cutlery...WOW!

I stumbled across this apparently new company during my daily perusal of knifecenter.com's new offerings. Both of these pieces stopped me in my tracks. These appear to be custom quality blades for working professionals, at prices similar to other good factory production blades. Sergio Franco, the owner is a military vet, and they make all their stuff inside the USA. Kudos to him, and all the other Vet Owned companies (like Spartan Blades) who are turning their real-world experience into awesome products for other soldiers, hikers, outdoorspeople, and plain 'ol enthusiasts like me! Way to go guys.


Again, I don't have much more to say than DAMN!!!!! Looks like their initial offerings are WELL below $200 USD, and significantly more reasonable on sites like Knifecenter.com



I'm stoked, and you can bet that one of my next knife purchase, will likely be the double neck knife set, or this awesome little multi-use axe. Again, so cool, I'm floored, and too excited to write much else!! Check out Sergio and Dan's site!! NOW!!!!

PBC's site is here

all photo/video posted here is respectfully borrowed from PBC, knifecenter and "Coop"

Quick addendum: Looks like all their stuff so far features full tang 1095 HC steel blade, with G10 handles, a winning combo in my book. Good ol' 1095 carbon steel might take a tad bit more care (wiping down with tuff-cloth etc after use) but I've found the stuff to be Abrams Tank Tough (ok, I've never ridden in an Abrams, and I'm sure there are better tanks out there in 2009/2010, but dammit! you get my point). For hard use tools like these that may be in the kits of fire/rescue/police or professional soldiers, 1095 is a great way to go IMO.

New images for 'coming soon' Boker Plus knives

Boker, originally founded in Germany, has found tremendous success with their less-expensive BokerPlus line. It all started with the fantastic Chad los Banos designed CLB series, which now boasts a ton of models. It seems Chad's creativity and forward thinking knows no bounds, as he keeps on cranking out really cool and functional designs under Boker's overseas-made banner. I don't know how Boker got around a lawsuit for their Batman knife, but that's what it's called. I've been hearing about this chunkily-serrated semi karambit for nearly a year on knife forums like edcforums.com. It's designed by South African knifemaking couple, Kevin and Heather Harvey. The Batman folder looks both utility-functional and self defense capable, I look forward to playing with one and putting it through its paces.

I still can't find any actual product photos for the 2009 Kalashnikov knife. Boker tends to do this for whatever reason, quite frequently. It may be a cheesy CG mockup, but it at least gives us an idea of what the finished product will look like. I've liked some of their Kalashnikov knife variations in the past, but this one ain't doing it for me, at least not yeat. I think that's probably due to the fact that it's not a real pic though.

This second set of pics shows 2 additional knives due out in either December of this year, or January of 2010; the credit card knife, and a handsome fixed blade called the Jermer EDC, with what appears to be polished linen micarta on the handles.


If the general quality-to-price ratio of these new models is similar to the Boker Plus Chad Los Banos stuff, then sign me up for one of each! The Boker Plus "Batman" is definitely on my looking-forward-to list, and I assure you, there'll be a review right here as soon as I can get ahold of one.

Surefire St. Minimus headlamp

New from the folks @ Surefire. The Saint Minimus is a high end entry into the outdoor headlamp category.

Straight from the horse's mouth:
Features

* High-performance LED, in concert with proprietary refractive optic, produces a smooth, powerful beam optimized to your field of vision
* Variable light output dial permits selection of 0 to 100 lumens of output with one hand
* Hard-anodized aerospace-grade aluminum housing is lightweight yet tough
* Custom-made headband built for comfort, durability, and to provide a secure fit with or without a helmet.
* Breathe-O-Prene pad fits comfortably against forehead while wicking away moisture, and is removable for washing
* Includes one high-energy 123A batteries with 10-year shelf life
* Backed by SureFire's No-Hassle Guarantee

Specifications

* Output:
o High: 100 lumens
o Low: 1 lumen
* Runtime:
o High Setting: 1.5 hours
o Low Setting: 50 hours
* Weight: 3.3 ounces with batt.
* Batteries: One 123A lithium
* Made in USA


I love Surefire's G2 and G3 plastic-body flashlight series, in particular for the reasonable pricepoint, and this past summer I purchased a decent Petzl headlight, but the St. Minimus looks pretty freaking badass. MSRP is around $140 USD, probably becasue of the aluminum housing, and the variable light output dial, which allows for 0 to 100 lumens of light output. I'd love to get my hands on one for a bit of testing, but Eric and I typically pay (just like everyone else)for all of the gear we actually get a chance to review here, with very few and far between exceptions.

If anybody has hands-on with this one, and wants to do a review, please let us know, and we'll post it up here, for all of teh interwebz to read.

New Boker Plus reviews on the way!!!!!!!

Sorry for the crummy pic, but Boker USA just sent us some cool stuff for T&E...updates imminent!!!
And hopefully my man E will have some new firepower reviews and info coming soon as well......

USA-Made Buck, under 20 bucks. Paklite Skinner

I'm VERY pleased to see Buck Knives returning to doing much of their manufacturing here in the United States. Evidently they have a spanking new facility in Idaho. Inexpensive, American made designs have been coming forth since the beginning of the year. I'm not a hunter, but I really liked the looks, price and general idea of this knife. It should be here early next week, so I'll throw out some further impressions after I've had a day with it. I found it on a retail knife site for $16.95, brand new. It's from Buck's new Paklite series, and they have this to say;

"Lightweight, sturdy and effective. This skinning knife can be carried alone or used to compliment any hunting knife. The skeletal steel frame is heavy-duty, yet lightweight for easy carry. You won’t even know it’s there. The 420HC stainless steel blade ensures durability and corrosion resistance, while the minimalist design is effective and reliable while in use."

Pretty cool, I'm a fan of carrying small neck-knife style fixed blades in a pants pocket, and that's likely where this one will go. It has a brother, a slightly thinner caping knife, with a unique profile, that looks cool too.
Kudos to Buck for helping to keep jobs here in our country, and hopefully redeeming themselves for some of the less-than-impressive product they've put forth from China and Taiwan in recent years. More to come...

9-17-2009; post-arrival addendum:
So, I really AM impressed with this piece. It's stout, with a high hollow grind, the spine thickness is nice, and consistent throughout the entire length of this knife. The handle is nicely shaped and comfortable, surprisingly, even in larger hands like mine. There are little patches of 'jimping', areas on the handle treaded for traction. I tried it in my hands under running water, and found the grip to be decent. The sheath, while not great, does leave plenty of handle room, and doesn't lock the knife in like kydex, so you could wrap the handle in some cord fairly easily, and it'd still fit the sheath, which secures the knife in a hard plastic insert with a snap-strap.

I'd like to check out the little Paklite caping knife too. Way to go Buck! For bringing back American manufacturing!!

LOL @ Kershaw's Ted Nugent knife

Haha!
I'm guessing Kershaw has resorted to recruiting washed up 80's rockers for "signature" versions of best-selling knives because custom knife guru Ken Onion's contract is reportedly up with them. Yup, The Nuge has his own signature edition of Kershaw's Leek assisted opener (designed originally by Onion).
Goofy rockstar/"activist" aside, it's a pretty cool take on the little folder. I wish so badly it was a fixed blade, so I could've titled this post, "Wang Dang, Sweet Full Tang".

"You one ugly muthf***er..."

Arnold's famous words from 'Predator' ring true with Spyderco's newest beast!!!
Spyderco's "Ethnic" series of knives seemed to start several years back with Ed Schempp's Persian (which I own and love) and continued with a folding kriss design from Schempp and several others. Here's the lowdown from the great Sal Glesser's Spyderco marketing team:
"Chokwe people live in the Zambia/Democratic Republic of Congo region of Central Africa. Primarily agricultural, they are gatherers, fishermen and hunters. Highly positioned in their society are blacksmiths who craft fixed blade knives for daily use in feeding, harvesting and protecting their communities. Our Chokwe folder is patterned off a historic fixed-blade, keeping true to the triangular shaped blade and coffin-shaped handle."

Other than being incredibly ugly, it's made with quality materials:
* Overall Length: 8.5" (216 mm)
* Blade Length: 3.75" (95 mm)
* Cutting Edge: 3.375" (86 mm)
* Handle Length: 4.75" (121 mm)
* Steel: CPM-S30V
* Weight: 3.7oz (104g)
* Clip: Right
* Tip Carry: Up
* Made in Taiwan

I would hope that with an MSRP of $220 USD that the framelock side of the knife would be titanium, but I can't find any info on that yet, it just says "Full length internal liners reinforce the Reeve Integral Linerlock (R.I.L.).", not bothering to state whether it's steel or aluminum or titanium. Based on the fact it's made in Taiwan (WTF?), I'm guessing aluminum, as a full framelock like that made from steel would create a hellishly heavy knife in the pocket. I would have hoped for Japanese manufacture (especially @ this price!), as by and large, everything I've ever owned from Spyderco out of their Japanese factory has been close to flawless.

The following is from an outstanding Spyderco site based out of the Netherlands. These guys have fantastic pix and info, and a really nice site, so be sure to check them out. The address is clearly printed there right on the photo, and I'm too lazy to post a link right now. But really, a great site for the Spyderco enthusiast!


So you guys know I'm a Spyderco fan, in general, I'm not hating on this knife, I think it's bold, but very ugly. I have to give props to Sal and his spyders for branching out and constantly innovating, the man, and his company are owed a HUGE debt by the entire industry for what they have done since the 1970's, the company is nearly as old as I am, and I'll be 32 in a couple weeks.

So, performance wise I'm sure the Chokwe is beyond competent, maybe even outstanding, but for me, I'll pass until I see something that grabs my eye at the right price, but you can find any number of Spyderco knives in my pocket, @ least one day of the week, every week. Lately it's been my trusty ol' Police model with G10 handles, or a combo-edged Ladybug in my shirt pocket.

the coast, near Kalaloch/Forks, WA

We camped off of some isolated logging roads and messed around with fire on the beach a few miles away the following day. A good short trip, good friends, lots of knives...more to come soon.....

Guyot Designs Squishy Bowls

I recently wrote about Guyot Designs' excellent MicroBites utensil set. I'm a big fan also of their revised Splashguard for widemouth water bottles, I've purchased 4 additional Splashguards in the past 2 months. At about $3.00 each, there's no excuse to not have one in every bottle I own, my favorites are the Terra Camo and the Skull & Bones. I recently got the opportunity to play with another innovative outdoor product from the folks at Guyot Desings; Squishy Bowls.

The Squishy Bowl set consists of a 16 oz. bowl and a 6 oz. "cup", though either size has a multitude of uses. They are made from food-grade silicone, like the Splashguards and smash flat for easy packing. This is a convenient way to ensure you have something to eat out of on the trail, and paired with a MicroBites set, a person would be all set to enjoy a meal outdoors, in the car, or on the boat. The color shown here is Tomato, though other colors are available. Light as a feather, the set weighs only 5 oz. together. I was impressed by the resiliency of these bowls. Smash them down, twist them, throw them in your pack under heavy gear, no problem, they pop back into their original shape. Squishy Bowls are temperature resistant, so you can enjoy hot or cold foods with no worries. I could see these being used by military folks, boaters and people who spend a lot of time driving; like me. There's really no limit to the uses for the Squishy Bowl set. They fit beautifully in my 511 Tactical PUSH pack, smashed in with my deodorant spray, $10 in quarters, a 16 oz. energy drink, a Leatherman and a clean spare shirt, along with all my other almost-everyday-carry stuff. I was even able to "fold" the bowl set and jam it into the tiny front pocket of the PUSH pack, which is not much larger than a woman's wallet.

My cat was eager to test out the Squishy Bowls; she had lunch using the 16 oz. bowl and didn't hesitate to dive right in, that's a good sign. I noticed that this product has no odor, many outdoor products made from synthetics carry chemical smells which are enough to make you dizzy. Right out of the box, no odor on the Squishy Bowls. These are even portable enough to put in cargo pants pockets, and some shirt pockets. These will definitely accompany me on my yearly trip to Ross Lake in the North Cascades, here in Washington. For this particular trip, we stay in the floating bunkhouses because of tradition, and the fact that many in our party are guys over 75 years old, who need things like bathroom access, running water and a decent bed. But we spend 8-10 hours daily up there, out in 2 man boats with little 9.3 hp motors. My father and I usually pack the lightest out of anybody, bringing one backpack each, and a single medium size cooler with all of our food needs. My dad was excited about the Squishy Bowls for use on his Bayliner. He could use them as unbreakable wine glasses, or take them along for eating his famous mozzarella, basil and tomato salad, and the Guyot MicroBites would definitely be 'two of a perfect pair', to play on King Crimson's 1984 masterpiece album. My sisters have children, and kids are always snacking in the car, Cheerios, cookies you name it! Squishy Bowls make a fun and colorful way for kids to eat in the car, and would save you money on ziploc bags, not to mention the environmental relief of reusing durable products instead of disposing of everything, only to have it end up in a landfill. Guyot Desings is a very environmentally responsible company with solid ethics. Many of their products are Carbon Negative, a step even in a better direction from Carbon Neutral. The bowls are a snap to hand wash @ home, or in the field, just use soap and water, and they don't seem to retain smells or taste from previous meals. I used them to eat some garlic-heavy pasta out in the backyard one night. I left the 16 oz. bowl next to the sink over night. I really expected some pasta-stink to be left, but after I hand washed the bowl with dish soap in hot water, no trace remained. Squishy bowls ARE microwave, dishwasher and freezer safe as well.

Overall, the Guyot Designs Squishy Bowls are an inexpensive product with an incredible range of applications, limited only by your creativity. They are produced by a morally sound company, with full disclosure, who manufactures ethically in select spots overseas. If you want to find out more about Guyot Designs Squishy Bowls and other useful things, check out their SITE

SOG Fusion Micron II with tanto blade

Here's a cool revised version of a SOG classic. SOG's Fusion line of products, is essentially stuff made in Taiwan or China, instead of Japan or the USA, and is markedly less expensive. From all I have seen, it hasn't changed the general quality that makes SOG knives well known. Probably 90% of factory knife manufacturers have a less pricey line of knives made in Asia somewhere. Though others, like Buck, are starting to return some of their products to USA manufacturing at their new Idaho facility.

I've always liked SOG, probably because they are a local company, from near where I grew up, and they've always been a company to try new things, even if they weren't received well by the knife buying public 100% of the time. The Fusion Micron II tanto is very thin and flat, and hearkens back to classic lockback pocketknives from many makers over the last several decades. It's definitely a new millennium take on an old school style, and that's what attracted me to it initially. Here are the basics:
* Blade Length: 2.25"
* Overall Length: 5"
* Weight: 1.4 oz.
* Edge: Straight
* Steel: 420
* Handle: Stainless steel
* Finish: Black

It's very modern, stealthy and tactical, while still being low profile. The lockback action is solid, with no hint of play or wobble in the blade when locked. My only very minor complaint, is that like so many tanto style blades from many manufacturers who do some overseas products, the blade's grind lines are kind of sloppy, and the edge geometry isn't exactly perfect, but I think that's a symptom of Chinese manufacture, not SOG's reputation. Otherwise this is a very solid little piece, and overall, very high quality for a knife that can be found for under twenty bucks at some online knife shops. If I'm not mistaken, SOG still carry a lifetime warranty on all their products. This little guy fits well into that slightly more PC category of smaller, lighter folders for everyday use, that aren't likely to freak out non-knife-people too much. You never know though, simple minded anti-knife types who love to create drama would probably describe this cute little knife as "black and menacing, with an armor-piercing tip" LOL.
Overall, SOG's Fusion line is shaping up to consistently yield innovative stuff, at a better pricepoint, and for me, it's always nice to support a local company.
The SOG Fusion Micron 2.0 tanto can be seen here along with the rest of the Fusion line, and SOG's other unique knives and tools

Nalgene Oasis canteen

Under $6.00 @ my local fishing/hunting/camping warehouse store. 32 fl.oz. just like the standard widemouth Nalgene pattern, and made of slightly textured Eastman Tritan (the new BPA free material). I tend to prefer widemouth bottles with a splashguard, but I've used narrow ones too, and this canteen has a bit of curve to it so it's easier to hold, I imagine if you're wearing gloves or something for sporting/biking purposes. It really looks considerably smaller than the traditional 32 oz. bottle, but it's just a trick of the bottle's flattened shape, and the narrow cap. I figured I couldn't go wrong for the price, and I'm drinking up to 250 oz. of H2O daily, so it will get used. They come in other colors too Nalgene Outdoor

Gage Abaddon @ TADgear

Just a quickie here guys...I love to look at stuff I can't afford, especially if it looks like it'd be useful in a zombie/home invasion scenario. I don't know much about John Gage, but I know his bladeware looks badass!
Here's the Abaddon at Tadgear.com
Many of Gage's designs seem to bridge the gap between utilitarian fantasy designs and large knives and swords capable of hard real-world tactical use.
Gage's site is here


I hope Mr. Gage won't be pissed that I snagged this pic of his tactical gladius from his site. It's just too cool not to post, and I suppose it's free press for him.



Anyhow, I've been awake way too long and I'm ready to crash out, but check out John Gage's stuff!

Work-friendly knives that won't offend, or break the bank

You can bet that with increased societal paranoia and the continuance of political correctness, that we as knife/tool/gun owners will continue to at times, be viewed as different, or even 'weird' by some. This is a shame, because we're always the "go to" guys and girls who people bug when they need a knife, Leatherman, flashlight etc! You name it, they talk their shit, but when they need a knife or tool, we can be relied upon! Growing up as a knife user and collector, I was usually of the mindset that bigger is better, I thought, "hey, if this knife can open mail, or even free me from a stuck seatbelt in an auto wreck, why shouldn't it also have the size or capability to defend life and limb?"

While I generally still do prefer folding knives with blades of bare minimum 3.5", all the way to monster 5" blades, I've learned that discretion can pay off bigtime. Not always, but in a work environment, or around people who don't understand the value of a knife as a tool, small knives can be better. Then again, I've had people freak out in the workplace over a tiny Boker LosBanos Subcom folder with a 2 inch blade! My current occupation sees me dealing with the public in a number of different retail or wholesale environments. I frequently may need to open a package, or get help from any number of my on-person sharp implements. On a daily basis, no matter what I'm doing, I'll always be carrying that mid-to-larger size Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw etc folding knife, or any other number of brands. But I DO like to have something I can produce if I get the vibe that someone is going to gasp like an ignorant Nancy if I pull out a bigger knife.

Enter the Buck Bantam I recently procured at a location of a knifeshop where I used to work as a slightly younger man. I paid too much, around MSRP of $18.00, while said knife can be gotten on better online knife sites for around $12.00 USD, which, while I'm poor, 12 or 13 bucks is still nearly as cheap as a handful of gravel.
Let's take a look:
* Blade: 2 3/4" drop point, 420HC Stainless
* Overall length: 3 3/4"
* Weight: 1.5oz
* Handle: Thermoplastic with textured surface (read:zytel, or glass filled nylon)
Buck has made a serious effort to return much of their manufacturing this year, and in the future, to their new facility in Idaho. That's awesome, however this inexpensive little knife is made in China. No big. I buy USA made when I can, but at times, I won't let foreign manufacture dissuade me from making a useful purchase from a company with a great reputation, which is @ least based on US soil.
I can't exactly say I've "used the shit" out of this little Buck yet, but it is getting used, frequently, especially in employment or social situations where clicking out My Benchmade Rukus or 6 inch bladed Cold Steel Ti-Lite might raise some uninformed eyebrows.

Pictured up top there, in Grimace-purple, is the venerable Spyderco Ladybug, a tiny and useful keychain knife. Mine is black and is pictured there with the nail clipper and aforementioned Buck knife. I feel that Spyderco's $20-$30 price for such a tiny knife nearly amounts to highway robbery, but they are quality knives, and Spyderco also makes a far less expensive line of similar knives under their secondary "Byrd Knives" banner. Any of these would be a fine choice for a slightly more politically correct knife in these worried times where people are squeamish about damn near anything which could have potential as a weapon. Though we all know a common ballpoint ink pen or tightly rolled "National Geographic" magazine are both capable of inflicting some serious damage, though nobody gives them a second glance!!! How naive we are as a society!!

Another widely socially acceptable option is any number of Swiss Army style knives. I've always thought Victorinox made/makes the far superior product, though Wenger also comes up with some decent models. It's funny how you can pull out even a larger SAK, with say a 2.5-3inch blade, and nobody really says anything, but the minute a Gerber single-bladed knife is flicked open, people open their stupid mouths about how it's a "weapon", even if the blade is the same size as the comparable Swiss Army, I just don't get it!

Anyhow, that's my rant for now. If anyone needs or wants recommendations on work-friendly, more socially acceptable blades, drop me a line or comment. You really can't go wrong if you stick with established manufacturers who offer some kind of warranty on their stuff; Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw, CRKT, Gerber, Buck and so on. And keep in mind that in a traffic stop or legal "misunderstanding" type scenario, Law Enforcement types will likely be more lenient toward knives with blades under three inches long (in MOST jurisdictions).

The newest addition to my collection that falls into the category I've discussed is this little SOG Micron, which is on its way to me this coming week. They run about $18 on better knife retail sites.

More summer reviews en route

Guyot Designs' Squishy bowls review is on the way, probably this week. This looks like a promising, durable and relatively inexpensive product with a ton of applications.

I'll also have a short piece on an inexpensive folding knife from CRKT, the quality of which far exceeds the meager pricepoint.

A visit to my local REI revealed that they are tremendously low in stock on most items (compared to just 2 weeks ago), signaling that the camping/hiking/outdoor industry will always find ways to thrive, even in extreme economic conditions.

I'm looking forward to mid August, when I'll get the chance on an annual fishing trip to evaluate some gear I've been saving, under different conditions, than say, in the backyard, or in the car.

Stay hydrated...
-A

US Made Spyderco under $100!

Spyderco's Manix 2 should be widely available soon. I don't see it listed on their SITE, but KnifeCenter apparently has two versions in stock at a very reasonable price, compared to most recent offerings from the Golden, CO cutlery firm. It uses what appears to be a revised version of Spyderco's ball-bearing lock and has G10 handle scales and a blade of 154CM, an American made steel. I look forward to the opportunity to handle one of these in person, as I've always dug Spyderco's stuff. I just went through a box of stuff I had packed up from when I moved 2 years ago, and found an early incarnation of a Spyderco Delica Salt, with the H1 rustproof steel that utilizes nitrogen instead of carbon. It's been sitting in a garage a few hundred yeards from a saltwater bay for close to 2 years, and the blade wiped clean, no spots, no pitting or discoloration. Spyderco's knife offerings in recent years tend to have been hit-or-miss with all but the most diehard fans, but this new Manix 2 may prove that Sal Glesser and his crew always have something new up their sleeves.

Guyot Designs hits the spot with on-the-go meal kit and more.

On my first foray into the Tacoma REI location, I picked up some good, inexpensive every-day-carry stuff. When I moved down here, I threw out my old Camelbak and Nalgene bottles that were the old style using the harmful chemical, BPA (Bisphenol-A). So, first off, I got a new Nalgene widemouth 32 oz. bottle. It's Eastman Tritan copolymer, just as durable, and safer than the old stuff. I noticed Guyot Designs, known for their Firefly LED lantern device, has redesigned their widemouth splashguard to have more of a "universal fit" in theoretically, any widemouth bottle from any manufacturer. Instead of the old hard plastic style, they are now food-grade silicone, and flexible. I picked up one in camo, and a badass one with a skull and X-bones.

These new splashguards seem to be way more effective at their intended mission, of preventing water splashback at your nose when you tip your mammoth bottle back down after a sip. They slide right into any widemouth bottle and stay put, and work exactly as promised. Good stuff, oh and even better, they only cost about $3.00 USD each. Couple one of these bad-boys with an $8.00 Nalgene bottle, and you are in your own personal hydration business for the summer season and beyond. Good stuff indeed, I've been guzzling water out of one of either of 2 new bottles and I feel great. I'm trying to cut back on the soda and energy drinks, and these bottles are helping tremendously.

Next was an item I had seen on tadgear.com a while back. The Guyot Desings MicroBites set. It goes beyond your Snowpeak ti spork and offers a bit more, at about 2/3 the price. Microbites apparently come in 3 colors, tomato, slate and tangerine. Tadgear.com sells the more tactical looking slate color, while the REI I went to only carried the more vibrant "ketchup and mustard" colors, as I like to refer to them. Personally, when it comes to gear I will use and maybe lose on trips, or in the car, or wherever, I'm liking color. I've lost "camo" and tactical colored items on forest floors and sandy areas. An infamous camping trip that led to spiritual enlightenment of several individuals found me awakening to our food and cigarettes eaten by raccoons, and my camo zippo lighter and an old Benchmade Monarch folder nowhere to be found. No joke, I'm not a soldier or assassin, so I don't give a shit if my knife, spork, or water bottle stand out.

The MicroBites set is a competent spork which hitches a ride on the back of a square-ish spatula/spreader. The sporks tines are well placed and the middle two are nice and sharp. I tested it out with a container of Fred Meyer Chicken Gorgonzola salad. Everything from the chicken, to noodles and grapes and walnuts either scooped or stabbed easily with the MicroBites spork. The serrated spatula spreader is great too. one entire edge is nicely serrated, and interestingly, the grooves are beveled on BOTH sides of the device. I was able to cleanly slice through thin receipt paper and the plastic container the salad was weighed in, with the serrated edge. It's a hell of a lot sharper than it looks and works well.

To fix the two items together, just place the spork bowl-down over the spreader and press, you'll hear a faint click, then you can attach it to a carabiner, like the ITW/Nexus Grimlock pictured above. From there, the Guyot Designs MicroBites set can ride on your Nalgene bottle's loop, your belt, your pack, or even a fixed blade knife sheath. This little set far exceeds its $5.00-ish pricepoint. Excellent as well, is the ethical disclosure with which Guyot makes this and some other products. They claim that the materials and methods used in the production of MicroBites and a couple of their other products reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There's a whole section on their WebSite devoted to how they do what they do, and how it impacts the environment. Guyot seems like an ethical company, and they sure as hell make some inexpensive and smart items to add to your outdoor gear kit, or food tub on your next trip out. Now that I have both "tomato" and "tangerine" colors of the MicroBites set, I'm sort of wanting to get the "slate" color as well. I didn't think that I could get so into what amounts basically, to a portable plastic table setting...but these things are versatile and extremely intelligently designed. These are available @ REI, and tadgear, and probably other places too, and you should go get one. As a knife guy, I'm particularly impressed by the sawing ability of the serrated spatula, and the whole package is feather-light. These little sets actually carry a limited lifetime warranty also!
At $4.95, there's no excuse not to pick one up to throw in your car or bug out bag.
Guyot Desings MicroBites @ REI
IMO, this is an A+ product for either every day use, or specialized purposes. This is the evolution of the spork.

ipood! is no joke!

It's been a long time since I've been so far off trail or away from a campsite that I've had to dig a hole to drop a deuce. While I would usually turn to a thick stick, a beater fixed blade knife, or even a tent stake, seems there are many gear-heads that want a specific tool for everything. The U-Dig-It Stainless folding shovel has been popular at stores like REI and sites like TADGEAR for years, and seems well made, though I've never actually dropped dung in a hole dug with the U-Dig It.

I was at REI the other day, my first trip into the Tacoma location, and I happened upon the iPood! collapsible trowel/shovel by Sea To Summit. Just the name alone had me laughing uncontrollably, and it seems like another smart product from Sea to Summit who make or import a wide range of useful items for your camp kit or hiking bag.
I think these little devices to "cover your leavings" run about twenty bucks, keeping them off any outdoor-shitting need or want lists I personally might have, Butt for some, they may be just what's needed for what they leave Behind. Pardon the bad puns, this product practically begs for puns and jokes with its own lighthearted name, which is a hi-tech play on words in its own right, (in case you were too slow to get it the first time around).

Should the need arise, I'll stick with a stout do-it-all fixed blade, or a simple stick, as Ma Nature probably intended, but I had to at least drop off a quick little post, about the iPood!

Knife News: Whiplash, bold new Kershaw fixed blade!

I was just perusing Kershaw's site and found this under "What's New". I'm assuming it was shown at the SHOT show this year, but this is the first I personally have seen or heard about this bad boy!

The following is directly from Kershaw's site:
*******
"The new Whiplash has the kind of dramatic looks that are sure to turn a few heads. But, believe us, this is the kind of Whiplash you want. This bold, military-style fixed-blade knife has a built-in parachute cord lanyard. Pull the tab at the butt of the knife to release the elasticized lanyard, wrap it around your wrist, and you’re good to go. For an even more secure grip, the Whiplash features extra-large thumb notches and an oversized index-finger notch. For hardness and strength, the blade is 8CR14 stainless steel with matte-black PVD coating. Includes sheath for easy carry and storage."
*******

VERY cool! And the best part is the MSRP is $59.95! Which means on better knife retail sites, it should be available in the sub-$50 range! Looks like, though the knife is USA made, Kershaw chose an inexpensive 8CR13MOV stainless steel, the type of stuff that many companies have gone to to decrease overall cost lately. Benchmade has been using similar steel on many of their redbox knives for a few years, and I believe Spyderco and their sub-company Byrd use a Chrome/Moly/Vanadium type steel on many models now too. In my experience, it's good stuff, probably won't outperform blades of S30V...but there are whispered rumors of Crucible Steel (makers of CM and CPM knife steels) filing for bankruptcy, so I'm sure a new super steel for cutlery applications is bound to rear its sharp and wicked head next year, and for many years to come. I've actually found that in many name brand knives, the bladesteels perform very similarly. Can I tell in a blind test between ATS-34 and 440C? Probably not. I think people (knife enthusiasts) get too hung up on the "buzzword" hot knife steel of the year. In my opinion, if a company has a well established reputation, and a knife seems to fit your needs, blade steel alone should never be the sole deciding factor! When I buy a knife I look for things like comfort, looks, and manufacturer rep (and warranty). Then I think about how, where or when I'll use it. Not like I need another knife. But hey, I'm in this for life, I'll never stop learning about purpose driven knives that are made to be used.

Anyhow, I'm sure we'll be seeing Kershaw's new Whiplash soon. Some manufacturers save some of their new model offerings until late summer/early fall, so appropriate buzz can be generated by the time the Christmas holiday season rolls around. I'm still waiting on Cold Steel's big Spartan Folder to be released! Rumor had it that it would be this month...so I'm gonna get one as soon as I can find one and report on it, in full, right here.
-A
Kershaw's site is HERE along with a link to their excellent Zero Tolerance knife line as well.

Mini Tac Beaver Tail from Cold Steel

Those who know my knife preferences know I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Lynn C. Thompson's world famous company Cold Steel Knives. On one hand (for better or for worse) the man is a 3-ring hype master who unabashedly promotes and talks-up the violent use of his products toward both game-animals and humans (those who would do you harm). On the other hand, the man and his company have continually blazed trails and released some of the finest and most fairly-priced knives for outdoor use, self defense and any other application one could think of. I've never met the man, and I'm sure he's a good guy, so I'm not saying these things to judge the guy...I just think some of his advertising is a bit "over-the-top". I'm not sure how much good advertising of that style does for the image of we, the American knife-culture, and the entire American (and foreign) knife industry as a whole.

That being said, I own probably well over 25 or 30 Cold Steel knives and other products. They've always made some really badass stuff. One of my favorites which I lost in an unfortunate trade, was the Scimitar folding knife, fully serrated and black and mean as hell, that's a great knife. Cold Steel's Sjambok rubber short-whips are also great fun. They are dirt cheap (about $12.00 USD) on most knife retail sites, fill some gallon milk jugs with water and strike and them with a 42" Cold Steel Sjambok, it's a great way to spend an afternoon. Again, in defense of Cold Steel, they make probably THE widest range of creative and unique products of any cutlery company going today.

Anyhow, new for 2009 are 3 Cold Steel Mini Tac neck knives. There's a pointy Japanese Kiridashi inspired design, an upswept skinner with plenty of belly, and my fave, the Beaver Tail!



I've been waiting for this series since well before they actually became available. I was drawn to the kiridashi pattern at first, but I figured the beaver tail blade looked a bit less weaponized and probably had more utility applications.

Specifications:
* Weight: 2.8 oz.
* Blade Thickness: 2.5 mm
* Blade Length: 3 3/8"
* Steel: Japanese AUS 8A Stainless
* Overall: 6 3/8"
* Handle: 3" Long G-10
* Secure-Ex® Neck Sheath

These things are feather-light. MSRP is in the upper $50-something range, but most good websites, including Cold Steel Special Projects should have them considerably less expensive. I got mine at a warehouse sporting goods store for under $35.00
These three new Mini Tac knives all come with a concealex plastic sheath and a bead-chain, but are light and small enough to wear in the front pocket of a pair of shorts or jeans. They might also be a good choice to tuck in your car's visor too.

Cold Steel's crazy "Proof" DVDs have to be seen to be believed. They hack up stuff with their swords and put their products through some really abusive and entertaining torture tests. I believe you can still request a free dvd and catalog on either of the two websites.
Cold Steel's original site

Cold Steel's discount site

The Mini Tac Beaver Tail, as well as the others in the series have very nicely textured G10 handle slabs over a full tang. The handle also features a pseudo-sub hilt design that effectively prevents your finger from sliding forward. It grips great, and is comfortable, even in large hands like mine. The knife snaps securely into the sheath and I'd have no hesitations about wearing this around my neck, it's not coming out of the sheath unless YOU want it to, which is more than I can say for a couple other neck knives I've owned that have cut my midsection while escaping their sheaths without my permission (Chinese V-Tech brand knives, I'm looking at YOU bastards!)
Any of the 3 new Mini Tac neckers would make great all-around choices, be they for utility, boat knives, camp kitchen, or even walking home at night through a shady urban jungle! I don't think you could go wrong with these guys if you want a small and easily concealable fixed blade that has definite crossover value. Cold Steel offers a 5 year warranty on their fixed blade/non folding knives.

Anyway, for less than the price of a night out at the movies with your sweetheart, you can own one of these really nicely done Cold Steel Mini Tac knives. Mr. Lynn C. Thompson, you are a despicable genius...

If you want to see all 3 knives in the series, here they are at KnifeCenter

Petzl Tikkina vs. Black Diamond Gizmo, coming soon

These two headlamps are probably THE two most affordable name brand headlamps. I got myself the 2 bulb, 3xAAA Petzl Tikkina recently. Today, for my dad's birthday, I picked him up the Black Diamond Gizmo, which I believe has 1 more bulb than the Petzl, yet 1 less battery also. My dad lives on a saltwater bay and sometimes has to bring the boat in in low light, amongst floating debris, steering while keeping an eye on the gps/depth screen. I figured a hands-free light would be useful.

I haven't had enough time with my little Petzl, and Pops hasn't unwrapped his Black Diamond yet, so a true review is on its way. Both lights retail for right around $20.00 (I think the Petzl was $19.95 @ REI and the Black Diamond $20 even).

I look forward to seeing how these budget-conscious headlamps perform, especially out on the water or as get-up-and-piss lights while camping!
more soon.
-A

Knife Rights redux

I didn't want this post and the KnifeRights.org link to get overshadowed by other recent content I've written here. So here's the post AGAIN, please go to the site and take 5 or 10 minutes to read and educate yourself about the potential threat against your freedom to carry an essential daily tool:

KnifeRights.org

Kniferights.org promises to be a strong voice on behalf of we knife users, carriers and owners. The AKTI, or American Knife and Tool Institute was a step in the right direction, but they mainly act in the interest of knife manufacturers, not individual citizens. Whether or not you believe in organizations like the NRA, please just check these guys out and read what they have to say, then pass it on to a friend or family member. I'm joining tomorrow, when I get my paycheck.



The US Government is poised to demonize and eventually outlaw many, if not most common pocketknives, and redefine "switchblade" laws to include almost ALL ONE HAND OPENING KNIVES. It happened in the UK not long ago, those poor citizens can't even carry knives with LOCKING blades (a safety feature for Chrissakes!).

Whether you join or not, is up to you, but please visit this site by clicking on the above banner, and pass the word on to somebody else!!!!!!

Light My Fire Spork vs. forklift and semi-truck

This video is from the Light My Fire website, care of Industrial Revolutions. Industrial Revolutions is a plastics company out of Redmond, WA the former home of both Eric and myself, Aaron. They are just blocks from my former apartment at Shadowbrook, and not far from where Eric grew up. They make those cool plastic balls that enable you to make ice cream on camping trips and I think they locally distribute some products for Light My Fire, through a partnership also. Industrial Revolutions is the sole maker also, of the very popular UCO candle lanterns and other outdoor lighting products.



I own that same green spork in the video, it came in handy when I worked for a corporate housing company and did much of my work out of a delivery van. There's no excuse to use a goddamn flimsy teriyaki joint fork to eat your lunch on the job! These sporks are cool because one end is a true spoon, for coffee and such, and the other end is a true fork, with a serrated knife edge. The best part is, these ingenious little things only cost (on average) about $3.00 US. I love my Snowpeak titanium spork, but these LMF sporks are way more versatile, come in a ton of colors, and what's $3, even in this economy, if you lose it? I think one of the coolest things about Light My Fire gear, is that it's MADE IN SWEDEN! I'm sure any company could crank out a polycarbonate spork in any armpit corner of China, where human rights violations are an everyday thing...but NO! These are Swedish MADE!!!!!!!!!!!! And Industrial Revolutions products are USA made, in my second hometown!

When I first saw the Light My Fire Sporks at REI several years back, they only came in 4 or 5 primary colors (useful for outdoor use, if dropped). Now it appears they come in tactical blacks, greens, there's even a titanium version available for a few more bucks....and don't forget "tactical" pink for wives, girlfriends and moms (or gender "secure" male friends) who dig the outdoors! After all, Jeff Randall's RAT Cutlery Company makes their awesome Izula neck knife in pink, reasoning being they operate exclusively in the jungle, and the South American jungle's floor is pretty much *just* green. Pink might be an un-macho color, but for outdoor use, knives and sporks in pink make a hell of a lot of good sense!



btw: A recent trip to my local Tacoma REI yielded a $20 Petzl Tikkina basic headlamp (which kicks ass) and is made somewhere other than China (yay!)
I also picked up Light My Fire's "Grandpa's FireFork" which is simplicity and ingeniousness combined for about 5 bucks! Reviews on the Petzl lamp and FireFork are coming ASAP for an SB&T summer essential gear roundup (I'll need Eric's help on this one).
Stay safe, cool, and don't forget the sunblock!!!!
-Aaron

$19.95 USD Petzl Tikkina headlamp on the way:

My guess is that this is the best headlamp you can own in the sub-$25 range, I've only had mine a few days and I've already gotten my money's worth out of it! BAD F***ING ASS!

For more info on Sporks or Light My Fire's other cool Swedish Made products LightMyFireUSA

Kniferights.org, please check out this link!

Kniferights.org promises to be a strong voice on behalf of we knife users, carriers and owners. The AKTI, or American Knife and Tool Institute was a step in the right direction, but they mainly act in the interest of knife manufacturers, not individual citizens. Whether or not you believe in organizations like the NRA, please just check these guys out and read what they have to say, then pass it on to a friend or family member. I'm joining tomorrow, when I get my paycheck.



The US Government is poised to demonize and eventually outlaw many, if not most common pocketknives, and redefine "switchblade" laws to include almost ALL ONE HAND OPENING KNIVES. It happened in the UK not long ago, those poor citizens can't even carry knives with LOCKING blades (a safety feature for Chrissakes!).

Whether you join or not, is up to you, but please visit this site by clicking on the above banner, and pass the word on to somebody else!!!!!!

CRKT Hole In One, WTF?***UPDATE 6/12/09

"WTF is that?!", you ask?
That was my first thought too. This is a CRKT project in conjunction with an Oregon knifemaker/engineer named Tom Hitchcock. Good retail knife dealers will have this in the $25-28 price range, before shipping. I'm intrigued, for sure.

I have one of these headed my way, this design was just too far out and atypical, so I had to order one. It's inexpensive enough that if it gets here, and I totally hate it, I'll gift it to someone, or put it up for trade on craigslist for ammo or something. Pretty funky design, evidently somewhere in there, is a springloaded carabiner clip to attach this puppy to a pack or keyring.

this is what I know so far:
# Blade: Length: 2.50" (64 mm)
# Thickness: 0.14" (3.6 mm)
# Steel: 420J2
# Taiwan manufacture

CRKT has always been a leader in trying new stuff and giving designers a chance to have their work known far and wide. The CRKT warranty is pretty awesome (lifetime) and I've exchanged emails with CRKT president Rod Bremer, who seems like a hell of a nice guy.
Anyhoo, my Hole In One (no sex jokes guys!) should be here next week, and as soon as I get it, I'll post impressions right here on SB&T.
stay sharp
-Aaron


********************************************


Friday, June 12, 2009 addendum:
I got my Hole In One today via UPS! This thing is AWESOME, it's totally UNLIKE ANY KNIFE you have ever handled, the two-and-a-half blade length is only from the SHARP tip to the end of the sharpened edge, overall, it's actually a pretty large piece. It feels good in the hand and the blade swings out either way 360 degrees, then locks up. All you need to do is depress the little locking plate to unlock it, oh, did I mention it locks CLOSED also?! This is a knife that must quite literally be seen to be believed. The only thing that doesn't thrill me is the bead-blast gray finish, typical to a large majority of CRKT knives. Sure the bead-blast gray looks good, but if you live near saltwater as I do, or sweat half as much as I do, your knife will soon be spotted in little brown/orange "pre-rust" spots. Even Sentry Solutions' Tuff-Cloth, great stuff that it is, doesn't seen to help this problem. I have had similar pre rust occur on every bead blast finished knife I have ever owned, custom pieces, Benchmades and Emersons among them. So obviously the tendency of bead blast finishes to attract spotting is not at all contingent upon the cost or implied value of a knife, it simply IS what it is.

I realize it's a fairly inexpensive, attractive was to dress up a knife without doing a teflon based black coating, but it's because the blasting treatment opens up the pores in the steel so moisture and sweat can really take hold in there. Granted with regular tuff-cloth treatments and buffing out those little spots with a good metal polish (flitz or metal glow), your gray blade will never truly rust, but hey, it IS a carbon steel blade of which the shine has been blasted off, of course it's going to develop stain faster than a BK1 or black teflon coating. Anyhow, I would heartily suggest visiting a CRKT retailer, or just taking a gamble and buying a Hole In One online, hell son, it'll only set you back about $30 bones after shipping, and it's way fun to play with!
Hole In One FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kershaw-Emerson Auto Commander!

A friend brought this to my attention. Looks like this Emerson/Kershaw collaboration should be available very soon.

Emerson's Commander has a huge following in military, LE and civilian circles. No doubt a push button auto version will be a huge seller. I'm thinking the build quality will be similar to some of Kershaw/Zero Tolerance's pricier auto knives, based on the looks, and the fact that it's coming out of the same US factory in Oregon. Pretty cool.

Badass Budget Blackhawk!

The Blackhawk Blades BHB41, the little brother of the BHB40:

I went into a local tactical supply store near Ft. Lewis to buy a belt, specifically another 5.11 Tactical TDU Belt. It's the easiest, most comfortable belt I've ever worn, they come in large sizes, and I wanted one in OD green. Of course I couldn't JUST buy a belt at a store that sells as much cool shit as these guys. Their knife prices are usually right around suggested retail, but certainly never overpriced. The Blackhawk! BHB40 caught my eye. It's a folder; China-made and tanto of blade. It was priced around $49.99, but for some reason, the guys at this store always give me the military/LE discount, maybe they give it to everyone, who knows, I wasn't about to argue with saving $6+ on my purchase total!

Let's take a look at the overall specs:
* Blade Length: 3.75"
* Overall Length: 8.85"
* Blade Material: 9Cr13CoMoV stainless steel
* Blade Finish: Matte stonewashed
* Edge type: Partially Serrated
* Handle Material: 420J stainless steel liners nested in injection-molded nylon scales
* Pocket Clip: Right or left-side, tip-up or tip-down carry

It's light for a knife of its size and feels good in the hand. The nylon scales are patterned with the MOD/Blackhawk Blades delta symbol which provides a good grip, even while wet. When I got home, I toyed around with switching grips and flipping and turning this knife in my hand under the running shower nozzle, I was surprised at the way this relatively nondescript handle shape stuck in my hand. It's a simple lockback, like a Cold Steel Voyager or Spyderco Endura, but it snaps in place with authority, and feels solid.

I like the fact that holes are tapped to allow for left/right and tip up/tip down carry. The clip on mine came attached for right side tip down, and I may keep it that way, but knowing my preference, I'll probably flip it to tip up carry. The thumb opener is an odd-looking sort of slot, but it works surprisingly well with the thumb, or my trademark double-jointed thumb hold/middle finger flick (too complicated to demonstrate here) which I mastered back in the day on Spyderco Enduras and Delicas.
I also like the fact that these knives have a long thin leading edge, as opposed to the square-looking tanto style where the front of the blade comes up at say, a 45 degree angle, giving such knives kind of a blunted, bulldog sort of look.

My knife was shaving sharp right off the shelf, as it should be, and the serration pattern looks competent enough to slice pretty much anything that might need slicing, and the tip is needle sharp.
This knife has only been in my possession a matter of hours, so I obviously haven't had any real time or energy to use and abuse it (and honestly, that's not really my style anyway) but I'll update as needed with anything this blade excels at.

Some might have their reservations about a Chinese made folder, but many simply can't afford, or or don't want to spend the cash associated with a US made knife like an overpriced (IMO) Strider folder or even a higher end Kershaw/Zero Tolerance, or a blue or black box Benchmade for every day carry. The $50-or-so retail of these makes them affordable for cops, firemen and military people with a family on a budget, and just makes knives like these damn tempting for single dudes like myself with no kids and minimal expenses. Even better, I've seen this same knife up to $10 less online, than what I paid for it in a brick-and-mortar store!

Addendum:
I'm liking this simple blade more and more. I've repeatedly pierced the bottoms of several aluminum energy drink cans and the tip, while very pointy, is holding up well. This knife is a cinch to touch up on a diamond rod. I'm thinking this Blackhawk knife would be a good self defense tool in trained hands as well. Nice...

Benchmade Mini-Barrage 585SBK review coming soon

Wow, my desire for new 2009 Benchmade product is getting me into trouble. I went ahead and pulled the proverbial trigger on this one. My local store had a good price on it, and they had one untouched, new in a box. It's even smaller than the Mini Presidio Ultra! Not by much though, and this knife totally kicks ass. I think I've found my new EDC for the summer. Full review on its way...

See the Mini barrage @ Benchmade.com

Spyderco Kopa and musings on knives as Father's Day gifts

Just a quickie here...seems the older I get, the more I'm prone to liking the looks of knives I would have laughed at when I worked in retail cutlery in my 20's, not that long ago. I keep seeing new versions of the Spyderco Kopa on various knife sites. I think most of them, if not all, have VG10 blades and are made by Spyderco's Japanese partners, maybe Moki. They all seem to be limited runs and all share the trait of exotic, colorful handle materials.

These are kind of cool, in an industry dominated, by and large by stealth black, foliage green, desert tan and the recently trendy camo, or even ACU digital camo.

Don't get me wrong, I love "tactical" looking blades, but these Spyderco Kopas have sort of a carefree, utilitarian look to them, and hey, if one was willing to shell out the cash, they'd probably make an awesome father's day gift for anybody's Old Man. Except my dad. It's funny, out of all of the knives I've given him over the years, the only one he carries consistently is an old early-generation Gerber EZ Out, with the wonky oval opening hole and the "gator grip" handle. I don't even think the steel is ATS-34, it's some rock hard, impossible to sharpen Gerber junk steel, but hey, he's used the hell out of it, and seems to enjoy it. It seems in the past, the more supposedly "high performance" a folding knife is, the less he uses it. I've given him an Emerson he's never carried but once when we were out on our annual trout trip. One year I gave him a $10 Frost's of Sweden carbon steel, rubber handled fixed blade, similar to a Mora knife, and it's his trusty bait knife on his boat, even though the thing rusts like hell on his saltwater bay. Oh well. I think this Father's Day (followed by his birthday the same week), I'll stick with the tried-and-true gift of kitchen knives. He has a ragtag collection of knives he's used for 20+ years and he's an outstanding chef and takes real joy from cooking, and using high quality tools to prepare meals. I bought him a Cold Steel Kitchen Classics bread knife for Christmas, and he loves the damn thing.

With kitchen blades, i never get him anything too expensive, because he throws the shit in the dishwasher, and sometimes leaves cutlery out in his barbecue shack. Kershaw's parent company KAI makes some cool, reasonably priced kitchen knives, as does the aforementioned Cold Steel. Hmmm, if I can't find anything in the kitchen cutlery vein, I'll go to the old standby...bottle of wine. That always does the trick, and it's one of the last vices the man enjoys.

If you have any funny father's day gift stories, or want to share gift ideas, leave a comment, or email me.

And I'm back.....

So it's been forever and a day since I last posted anything up here, and thought I'd go ahead and put something up real quick since it's a slow day at work and I've got nothing better to do or on my mind. Went out to the range yesterday and enjoyed firing off the first box of 9MM that I've been able to find in ages. Nothing more than a 50 count box of Magtech FMC range ammo, but fun nonetheless, discounting a couple of stovepipes throughout the duration. Also wasted a few targets shooting my oldest 10/22, since it hasn't gotten much love in many of my recent range visits, and it has a sick new scope from NCstar that makes it pretty much right on target every time.

Also new in the life of yours truly, a sweet new ride... well, new for me anyway. I went ahead and traded in the 2005 Hyundai Elantra for a 2001 Honda Passport. It's a 3.2 liter V6 4x4, which fulfills my requirement for the vehicle. While an AWD model may have run me less in the fuel efficiency department the whole purpose in switching up vehicles was so that I could get places off the beaten track. Washington state happens to be littered with thousands of miles of forest service roads unsuited for standard rear wheel or even all wheel drive vehicles. Mind you, I'm not think about the Rubicon trail, as the Passport is still my primary means of transport and I really don't wanna wreck it, but I want something that will tackle sketchy terrain putting me that much closer to the outdoors and away from normal car-campers.

As well my birthday is coming up, for which I can generally expect a pretty fair amount of cashola, and I'm now contemplating shotguns. I've got my choices narrowed down to a handful, but haven't really come to an executive decision just yet so to speak:

Benelli Supernova Tactical 12 GA with pistol grip
(MSRP $499)

I love the Benelli, which is a universal name alongside Mossberg as far as their shotguns are concerned, and in my opinion aesthetically better looking than the Mossberg 500 as well. My only real qualm is that it's one of the more expensive entry level shotguns out there, and while it pales price wise in comparison to the Benelli M4, it would still hurt my wallet a bit to procure... but damn it's hot.
Charles Daly Tactical 12 GA
(MSRP $344)

The Charles Daly Tactical is nothing more than a clone of the Benelli for about a bill fifty less. But unlike the Benelli the Charles Daly comes equipped with a picatinny mount for a red dot or other optics. More than likely were I to go with one of these pricier gauges, I'd go with the Charles Daly. They make AR15's that have reviewed exceptionally well, plus the gun just looks badass.
Harrington & Richardson Tamer 20 GA
(MSRP $160)

I have long contemplated this survival shotgun. It's a single shot break barrel shotty styled after the classic marine shotgun with synthetic furniture and a nickel finish. It's a bit more reminiscent of a cowboy gun, yet still maintains a bit of bad-assery for folks like me that are actually concerned about their firearm's appearance. I also like the added utility of the storage for extra shells, and I'm familiar enough with this piece to be able to reload it quick in a panic.
IAC Hawk Model 982 12 GA
(MSRP $230)

Most people list this model as a Remington 870 clone, but with the ghost ring sights it's more reminiscent of the Benelli in my opinion. But apparently 870 accessories will work with this firearm without modification. I've seen some especially awesome looking home defense variations built on this platform. Apparently IAC is actually manufactured by Norinco in China, but I haven't come across any negative feedback here, so this one is high on my list of possibles.
New England Firearms Pardner Pump Protector 12 GA
(MSRP $198)

Another Remington 870 clone, the NEF variation is a bit cheaper than the Norinco, but also lacks quality sights though it is drilled and tapped for additional optics. Again, 870 hardware will work with this piece from my research, and not require any mods made to the firearm, which makes it another high contender for whichever shotty I happen to go with. Tough call indeed.

Anyways, that's about all that's on my mind today... I'll be sure to keep whomever reads this blog these days updated with my decision after the birthday occurs next week. I'm fairly confident that whichever one of these options I actually go with, I will be pleased with the end result. Also, will be certain to give my thoughts on how my forest service road adventures go this season... can't wait to take the new ride in the dirt!

The Art of the Affordable American-made Folder; Benchmade 527 Mini-Presidio Ultra

I'm a little surprised it's taken me this long to purchase anything from Benchmade's 2009 lineup. There are plenty of newer BM offerings that I wouldn't mind owning, but several irresponsible knife-buying sprees late last year, coupled with my recent urges to purchase guitar-effects and music gear, put my Benchmade wishlist on hold...until today. Aside from a routine checkup with my new doc, I didn't have much going on, so after paying a credit card bill, it was off to my favorite warehouse sporting goods store. The store in question isn't real quick to get new model knives from any brand, but they are a big Benchmade dealer, and it's late May after all. I knew they'd have something I wanted. I played with the 10700 Nagara from BM's red box line of overseas-made knives. It has the same Nakamura-designed "Nak-Lock" that last year's Shoki gentleman's folder has. It's got a slick (as in cool, not slippery) titanium handle, and is reasonably priced. The blade is ground from a budget-oriented chrome/molybdenum steel; 8CR13, or somesuch equivalent. It didn't win me over though, and I ended up playing with a few variations of the Barrage series, the first assisted openers from the Oregon City juggernaut. I liked the size, look and overall feel, including the lightning-quick blade deployment of the 585 mini Barrage, and it seems all Barrage-series knives sport a backspacer-mounted safety (which I guessed I overlooked when I originally read the specs for the Barrage knives), in addition to BM's venerable Axis Lock. I didn't care for the Valox (a grippy hard rubber resin) handle scales. They felt nice, but looked sort of cheap IMO. Maybe we'll see the Barrage knives in colored aluminum handles eventually, that would get my attention! I was curious about the red box series Aphid knife also, but it wasn't in stock where I was at.





I settled on the 527 mini Presidio Ultra, plain edge, uncoated blade. The blade is 440C with sort of a tumbled or stonewashed look. The 522 and 527 Presidio Ultra knives are based upon the look of the Mel Pardue designed Presidio series, which have aluminum handle scales. These new-for-2009 Presidio Ultras are still USA-made, but much more affordable, due to the cheaper (but still very high-performance) 440C blades. The handles are Noryl GTX, a high-strength plastic that sounds to me like a high-tech birth control pill. The use of Noryl GTX, instead of machined aluminum also keeps cost down. My new 527 mini was about $65.00 before sales tax, discounted with my store membership card. This price is about comparable with pre-shipping prices on many discount knife sites.
Here's my 527 next to my 745 mini-DejaVoo:

The smaller DejaVoo was always one I considered on the smaller side of things, with its 3.23" blade. The new 527 Presidio Ultra's blade is about 2.97", making the little DejaVoo dwarf this new knife. I used to feel that bigger was always better in a folding knife. I've always been a peaceful and mostly-law-abiding person, so I never worried about legalities, I just was usually more comfortable with a larger folding knife in my right front pocket, and at times, I've been known to pack folders with 4 inch to 5.5 inch blades. Fine and dandy, but lately (last 3 years or so) I've realized the freedom of carrying smaller, lighter knives. I'm working a job now too, where I often may need to produce a knife to cut something in front of NKPs (non-knife-people) and shocked looks and gasps get old very quickly when you're trying to avoid unwanted attention directed at your knife from simple minded folks who startle easily or don't understand that knives are tools and not simply weapons that movie-bad-guys carry. It's also the time of year where I wear shorts even more frequently than usual, and a smaller knife is simply more comfortable than a behemoth with a 4 to 5 inch blade. To me, a smaller dedicated folder, also means more room to carry a small or midsize Swiss Army or multi-tool.

The pocket clips on the presidio Ultra knives are left/right reversible, but only allow for carry with the folded knife's tip in the UP position. I tend to prefer tip-up carry anyhow, for the most part. The Noryl GTX handles feel very similar to Zytel, or any number of other "glass-filled nylon" hybrid plastic materials, and are nicely textured in what Benchmade refers to as an "EDM" pattern. It's almost like a diamond plate shape, and I'd assume that the acronym stands for "external diamond milling" or something like that, which sounds way more high tech than it really is. Either way, the texturing provides a nice grip, and I just tried it with wet hands too. Thumbstuds are pretty standard and allow for quick opening because of the short distance from the pivot pin. The Axis Lock is as solid as I've ever seen on any Benchmade which uses the mechanism. The knife's liners appear to be made of aluminum, though it's possible they're stainless steel, and the blade pivot rides on what appear to be dual phosphor bronze washers. The blade is a simple but modern-looking drop point and is one of the sharpest knives I've ever handled from this company, right out of the box, and that's saying a lot, as Benchmade's knives are always scary sharp from the factory, whether they are US-made or otherwise, regardless of the blade material!

It's a safe guess that this knife will accompany me to Ross Lake, mid-August, for the annual trout fishing trip, and I'll probably pack it in my checked luggage when I go to Disneyland with my sisters and their kids a week after that, as it is a smaller knife, and CA is known to have somewhat picky knife regulations, at least when compared with your average Seattle law enforcement personnel.

I've always liked the look of the original Presidio series from Benchmade, and I'm pretty stoked that these less expensive, yet still Oregon-made versions are available. If I end up with another knife from Benchmade's 2009 offerings by the end of the year, it'll probably be the full size Barrage with the black combo blade, but this 527 mini-Presidio Ultra will hold me over until the next great knife urge rears its head.

Benchmade.com

5/25/2009 Addendum:
So, I've been carrying this little bastard a few days now, and I'm liking it more and more. Everyone who has seen it has liked it, and expressed some measure of surprise at the relatively inexpensive pricepoint. Good Stuff, I'm jonesing now, to play with Cold Steel's forthcoming Spartan folder, it's one of only a few new CS products for 2009, and the only one I'm really interested from them, so as soon as it's available for purchase, look for a review right here.

Leatherman Freestyle now available

If there's one knife/tool category I love as much as "tactical folders", it's multi-tools. I have a shitload of multi-tools, even some I've never used!! Anyhow I just saw this badboy online and had to post pix 'cause it looks awesome. I hate to sound like a knifecenter shill, but I love that goddamn site. I stole these images from them too, which they probably kiped from Leatherman's site, oh well. Leatherman continues to crank out cool designs, this one's in the $30-$40 USD pricerange, and like the Skeletool, a slightly more expensive carbon-fiber handled version is available. I certainly don't need another multi-tool, as I regularly use an old Victorinox Swisstool, and last fall I bought a Leatherman Kick, and I've been carrying the 125th Anniversary Victorinox Climber I wrote about a few weeks back. But I'm certainly tempted by the $39.95 price of the stainless handled Leatherman Freestyle!!!


I'm guessing these guys should be available at most online knife retailers, though knifecenter is the first place I've seen them. I like the fact that many companies are starting to bridge the gap between folding knife and multi-tool with designs like this that just pack the basics, along with a good size blade.

Hi-Vis budget camp knives from Marble's

This time of year I always keep my eye out for newly available, inexpensive knives to test out on light hikes and camping trips. Marble's is a name synonymous with outdoor knives, going back farther than most of us can remember. I was pretty stoked to see three El Salvador-made choppers on Knifecenter.com's new products section today. These all have a super high-visibility orange-finished blade and wooden handles. You're not likely to lose track of these budget-choppers (unless you're truly color blind) and even if you do, $11.95 USD + shipping won't break the bank if you accidentally leave one behind at a camp site. A sheath is not included, but big deal, right?
See the bolo, machete, and camp cleaver @ Knifecenter

Victorinox Swiss Army 125th Anniversary series

I've always preferred Victorinox Swiss Army knives over Wenger. Wenger lays claim to being the "Genuine" Swiss Army knife, and Victorinox is the "Original" Swiss Army knife. Until this year, both companies were authorized to make knives for the Swiss Government and armed forces. These two cutlery giants came to an understanding. They are both "real" Swiss Army knives, but as of this year, Victorinox will be the official provider for the actual Swiss Army.

When Knifecenter.com got these a month or two back, I knew I had to have one. I'd recently bought a Victorinox Hiker model as part of a value pack that came with an awesome Smith's diamond sharpening rod, but I had it attached to a lanyard, and one day at work it flew out of my hand, hit the cement floor of the place I was working and chipped up the plastic scale on the "logo" side of the knife. This was my perfect self-justification to get another knife!

The 125th Anniversary series consists of a special edition Swisscard, a Classic SD, a Cybertool and the model I chose, the Climber, which is similar to the Hiker, but has a scissor, and a corkscrew instead of the right-angle phillips driver. The finish on these badboys is sweet. Little tiny Victorinox shields are patterned on using a special process, and near one end of the knife a larger shield logo is present. My climber came in an impressive gift box with a magnetic flap, and a cool red suede bag, I guess to store the knife in when not in use.
When I first got this limited edition, I wondered whether or not I was going to carry it or not. I've been known to treat some of my more expensive knives like "safe queens", ie: polishing them and locking them up. But at this point in my life, I figure I have too many nice knives to ignore, and what the hell's the point of owning them if you aren't gonna use 'em?!
So, I've been carrying my 125th edition Climber everywhere. I used it to pop beer caps at a friend's bachelor party, I use it at work to cut plastic from petfood cases, hell, I used it today to peel an orange. Owning knives is much more satisfying if they seem to serve a purpose. I generally carry a medium to large size "tactical folder", usually a Benchmade, Spyderco, Cold Steel or something comparable, in my right pocket, and then a small multi-tool or Swiss Army in my left pocket. Granted, this Climber model is no different from the regular Victorinox Climber, aesthetically, it looks a bit cooler, and it was a few bucks more than your off-the-shelf Climber, but I feel like it's more fun to carry, because nobody (okay, nearly nobody) has seen a Victorinox SAK with this pattern before. I attached a Lanyard Zone Glow Cobra lanyard, one of my favorites. Scott is the main man up at the Lanyard Zone in Canada. He hand-ties all of his products from super-tough paracord, and offers an incredible array of color choices and evil-looking skull beads to spice up your lanyards. I'll be ordering from him again, as his Glow Cobras glow bright and make finding your gear in the darkness of a car at night, or a tent in the woods, very easy.
So, if you're looking to replace that tired and rusty Swiss Army Knife your uncle gave you when you were ten, check out the re-decorated 125th Anniversary lineup from Victorinox.

Victorinox at Knifecenter




Oh! And one more thing...The Victorinox brand-new Soldier Knife is finally available at better knife retailers on the web and in physical brick-and-mortar cutlery shops. This knife looks far more functional for EDC, or for active duty military than the time-tested classic Soldier from Victorinox.

Check out the specs at Victorinox's site!

updates inevitable for those who care

Ok, it's only really been a month or two since I had anything to write here. I just got so used to updating and writing so frequently that it feels like I've been neglecting this project for months, not mere weeks.

I've been doing some stuff for the company I work for (online) which has cut into my usual need to blog like mad on here and elsewhere. I've also turned much of the money I would spend on knives and gear toward guitar-stuff purchases again lately. But I do have several new-ish knives to write up. I've been making my usual form of sloppily recorded music-noise, among other things. The sick fire that burns within me when it comes to knives, guns, tools and related things continues to burn, I'm just busier, and more broke than usual. To those that read regularly, have read, or will read....thanks, Eric and I will not let this blog die easily.

We'll be back shortly.
-Aaron

RAT Cutlery, tools for real world survival

RAT Cutlery's new 2009 Model 5:


So, I've written briefly about my fantastic RAT (Randall's Adventure Training) Cutlery Izula knife. It's bulletproof, cool looking and built for real world hard use like all of RAT's knives. Jeff Randall and Mike Perrin have been teaching people 3rd world and wilderness survival skills for a very long time, and this experience extends into the realm of hard use knife design. The guys have their designs manufactured to very high standards by Rowen Manufacturing, here in America. The fit, finish and quality of my RAT Izula is second to none. That being said, I'm looking forward to RAT's Model 5 Pilot Survival Knife. It's a SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) knife. It'd be an all around great general outdoor knife, and features a pointed pommel spike for breaking glass, and a bow-drill divot in the handle to make the old-school fire starting method a bit easier. I love small to medium fixed blade knives, and I've found RAT's stuff to be of high quality and thoughtful design. The best thing about RAT though, is that they offer a very generous warranty on products which are made in the USA at very fair prices. RAT also has an upcoming collaboration with survival journalist and world adventurer Robert Young Pelton, of "World's Most Dangerous Places" fame. The RAT/Pelton H.E.S.T. knife promises to be outstanding as well, and should be available this summer.


This is one of those posts where I can't help but sound like a commercial! Aside from my personal experiences with RAT, Tactical Knives Magazine has given RAT's blades very high marks as well. I feel that TK magazine is back on a good and interesting path that reminds me of some of the writing being done there 10 years ago. Sure these guys are given lots of sample blades to test and keep, but reviewers like John Larsen, Joe Flowers, Terrill Hoffman and editor Steven Dick are all very experienced and generally very honest about their impressions of various knives. I trust their opinions, I've been reading that magazine a long time.

Here's RAT's Model 3 knife which has become a classic in a short time:


Randall and Perrin routinely take groups into the jungles of South America. I think it'd be a great adventure to sign on for one of these trips. You learn all about jungle survival by actually doing it. They eat crocodile and strange exotic fish, participants are taught several ways to make fire in the wet environment and how to find shelter. There's a nice article by a guy named Reuben Bolieu in the new TK magazine, he covers some of the blades that were brought along on a recent trip. RAT also just came out with a Fire Kit that is a Misch Metal Flint attached to a watertight capsule for survival uses.

You can throw a lanyard on it and attach it to a pack or even the butt of your survival knife. No cheesy Taiwan-made Rambo junk here! RAT Cutlery is hardcore, quality American made gear.

The Izula is a good "entry-level" RAT Cutlery knife that I'd be comfortable having as the *only* blade on a light camping trip, or even a trip alone into an unsavory urban area. The Izula (knife and sheath *without* the survival kit) can be found at Knifeworks.com for under $50.



Knifecenter.com and Knifeworks.com are the only 2 online cutlery shops that I feel 100% comfortable recommending to others. I'm sure there are other great knife retail shops online, but I've been ordering from these two for many years, a decade actually, and both are known for their reliability, and they both actually stock the items they advertise, instead of using shady "drop ship" methods of getting orders to customers. I recently got screwed over by an online retailer whose link used to be on our list here. My order was placed 2.5 weeks ago and I've gotten nothing, the original knife was not in stock, I had to find out for myself that the company went out of business 4 years ago. So, this nameless retailer gave me the option of picking another item, to my knowledge, it still hasn't been shipped. If you need to know what site this was, email me. Meantime...take my word that both Knifeworks and Knifecenter are excellent retailers with expert owners and staff who will get your order to you quickly and at a fair price. They would both be good sources for RAT Cutlery knives. For more info though, check out RAT Cutlery's site


Here are a couple photos from RAT's website, showing the larger RC6 in action:



Here's an amusing RAT ad that you'll see in cutlery magazines lately. I'm pretty sure the Pink Izula was created for high visibility if dropped on the floor of the jungle. But I've read some forum posts lately that some young women saw the pink Izula and demanded one from their husband or boyfriend when he ordered his in black, tan or green. I prefer the desert tan myself.


I'll definitely be keeping an eye on future releases from RAT Cutlery.

United Cutlery Undercover Karambit, under $15.00 USD!?

I felt like kind of a D-Bag buying a United Cutlery product. They are an American manufacturer/importer based in the South, everything being made in China or Taiwan. United is the company responsible for the ubiquitous and ridiculous Gil Hibben Fantasy knives, and countless poorly made movie replica swords. They are the responsible party for the original Rambo movie knives. When I worked in retail cutlery, United products sold well to people who don't know a functional knife from their a**hole. That being said, I'm a big fan of the general karambit knife concept, and $11.95 felt like a great deal. I thought if the Undercover Karambit really sucked, I'd give it away, or modify the grind and/or throw some Krylon spraypaint tiger stripes on it.

Much to my surprise, I opened the Knifecenter UPS box to find a very well designed weapon. United, like 99% of manufacturers who utilize Chinese factories, uses 420J stainless steel for nearly everything they make. It's cheap, and while not outstanding, it's not a terrible steel, and it least it has a name, no "Surgical Stainless Steel" here. Over the last 5 to maybe 8 years, we've seen numerous karambit designs pop up here and there, and they were the flavor of the month in the industry for a bit. Emerson makes some great karambit designs, and you'll find karambit-inspired custom knives all over the web. I guess I had karambit fever recently, because in addition to the UC Undercover Karambit, I obtained (and paid too much) for the Smith & Wesson folding Extreme Ops Karambit. You can find the thing online for well under $25.00 USD, but I did a "PJIB" (Poor-Judgement-Impulse-Buy) at a branch of my former employer's shop and paid full retail, around $35.00. But that's a karambit, and a tale for another day....

So the United Cutlery Undercover Karambit can be comfortably held in reverse or standard grips. I have large hands with inflated knuckles and the UC UK still felt nice in my hand. The sheath is Kydex-esque plastic, probably not even FRN or Zytel, but a cheap black plastic with a slightly abrasive texture. There is a belt-clip style attachment which can also have a belt threaded through it. All in all not the worst carry-system for a knife of this type, but not fantastic either. The UK is difficult to remove and reinsert into the sheath with any sort of speed. The unique signature karambit blade shape and the sheath don't allow for any super-smooth action. Not a big deal, though functional, to me this knife is more of a novelty, it's unlikely I'll ever need to "dispatch" an armed "sentry" in Stealth Mall Ninja fashion.

In either grip mode, there is a nice kind of treaded section of jimping where your thumb ends up resting, providing a secure grip. The primary inner curve portion of the blade was almost shaving sharp out of the box, and it should be mentioned that this knife was literally dripping with oil when I removed it from the plastic bag in its box. It's no secret that knives with gray bead blasted finishes are rust magnets. Basically, it's my understanding that bead blasting almost "opens the pores" of even stainless steels and allows pre-rust to form easily. Every knife I've owned with a gray bead blast finish has acquired spots of pre-rust very quickly. I take care to never carry such a blade during summer or vigorous activity, as I sweat profusely.

The Undercover Karambit has the typical finger hole at the butt, but also one up front positioned for the index finger, when held in a standard grip. It's surprisingly comfortable either way, and the outer curve "back" of the blade is also sharpened, but not really sharp, because of the width/thickness of the grind. It could be made sharper, but I'm not going to mess with it. I do think this little K-Bit would look cool with some sort of coating applied, if only for aesthetic purposes. I may tape it up with various stripey designs and trick it out with flat black spraypaint, or apply some glow-in-the-dark powder covered by a clear nail polish, to give it a creepy and tactical night-mode look.

So, after shipping, this knife still ran well under $20.00 and I'm pretty impressed. A company known for its dorky, cheaply made, hype-driven wall hangers has turned out something that approaches a usable and user friendly self-defense design at an unbelievably low price. I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it, but I actually just ordered another United Cutlery piece, the Elite Forces Recon Push Dagger, which was even cheaper than the karambit! I'll give my impressions on that Chinese-made gem when it arrives on my doorstep.



Check out some of United's cooler stuff at KnifeCenter.com

the Glow Cobra lanyard I added to the rear ring is my favorite design from Scott at The Lanyard Zone. It's a high quality Cobra Stitch lanyard with a super bright glow in the dark zipper pull fob woven into the tip. Scott's lanyards are the best I have ever seen or used, and he hand crafts them all up in Canada. He's known for his unique trademark Skull Lanyards with glowing eyes. Very cool stuff, just what this cheap knife needed to make it look like it's in a class above its pedigree.

My Strider WP from Plaza Cutlery

This is my brand spanking new Strider WP, a newer version with what Strider refers to as a "rail edge". It's got a full-thickness tip and an unsharpened swedge grind. I personally don't have a use for this feature, I just thought it looked cool.

Quick Specs:
Blade Length- 3 1/2"
Overall Length- 7 3/4"
Made of- S30V stainless, and heat treated by proprietary Paul Bos heat treating process
Handle- Olive Drab paracord wrap
Sheath- Kydex with Blade-Tech Tek Lock mechanism for easy attachment to belt or gear




The following is taken from Plaza Cutlery's page on the knife I ordered from them:
"Notes: This is a new grind on the back spine. Heavy chisel edge on the back spine for any heavy splitting that maybe needed. Hence the term rail for heavy work with strength like a rail road tie.
Has a great feel and with the thicker blade with a false edge that is ground and beveled so it does look double edged. The stock is 3/16" so is very strong. Also includes a kydex sheath!"

Plaza Cutlery is in Costa Mesa, CA and should be well known to cutlery aficionados or folks who attend West Coast knife shows. Dan Delavan's shop is said to be the largest knife shop on our coast. All it took to order my Strider was a phone call to their retail location. I spoke with a very nice dude named Chris who took my order and verified all of my shipping and card info. I'll definitely be doing business with Plaza in the future. They stock stuff that just isn't available too many other places, particularly semi-custom lines like Chris Reeve and Strider, plus an impressive selection of true custom blades and full handmades. Plaza is also an influential enough dealer that often custom makers or production knife companies do Plaza Cutlery exclusive edition knives that are available nowhere else. Case in point is Jon's new carbon fiber limited Benchmade Rift, which was made as a Plaza exclusive.

I wanted to do an in-depth post on my new knife, but there's not that much to say! It's ground from a single piece of S30V stainless, the handle is wrapped with OD paracord, and I paid close to $200 for it, after shipping. A snug kydex sheath with a Blade-Tech Tek-Lock was included. I'm very happy with my purchase. If I think of any revolutionary info, I'll amend this post.


Do I think Strider knives are overrated? Maybe. Do I think they are badass? Most definitely. They are pricey for a line of knives that aren't "true" customs, but Mick Strider and Duane Dwyer's respective true custom pieces make the general Strider knife line look inexpensive, like bargains for that matter!
I'm satisfied for now, though I would like to own the Strider ED, for its badass skeleton cutout design!



Check out Plaza Cutlery

It should be noted that "WP" is more of a size/general style category designation among Strider's lineup, not a specific model per se. The "WP" is offered in a ton of different blade grinds; tantos, spearpoints, clip points etc, along with "rail edge", like the one I got.

Spartan Blades

Everyone is anticipating some disposable income from their tax return right? The economy sucks. It's been awhile since you had some cash to blow on something cool for yourself right?

Well, I found my gift to myself for making it through 2008 alive.

Spartan Blades is a new knife company founded by two special ops veterans; Curtis Iovito and Mark Carey. If you got ahold of the current issue of Tactical Knives magazine, you'll know what I'm talking about. John Larsen reviewed the three Spartan Blades fixed blade knives and gave them all high marks for performance and stain resistance. I don't own any of these knives yet, as they are pretty pricey, base prices, depending on blade color/coating are $308.00 or $310.00 USD, and that's just for the knife alone. Adding a sheath to your Spartan blades purchase will run about $25 to $53 extra. So, I'll spare you any babble or tech-specs, but I leave you with pretty pictures and a link to the Spartan Blades website.
Nyx:

Ares:

Erebus:


For detailed info on these badass and pricey gems go to the Spartan Blades site Or check out the current issue of Tactical Knives magazine


And Eric, you're going to shit yourself and call me insane when I do my writeup on my brand new Strider fixed blade that I ordered from Plaza Cutlery in Costa Mesa. It was way more than even a knife-buff should pay for a knife, though nowhere near as pricey as one of these Spartan Blades. It will indeed be one of the most expensive knives in my collection, until of course I blow upwards of $350 on one of these fine Spartan Blades!

Look for an in depth review, probably of the Ares, or Nyx here at S, B & T in the coming months. And also stay tuned for pix and info on my Strider WP fixed blade, with the new "rail edge" blade style by the end of the week. I'll also have a post up ASAP about a very cool one-piece, stainless, fixed blade karambit design that can be had for under $15.00.

Taken, starring Liam Neeson

This movie cements Liam Neeson's place in the halls of BadAssery. This movie doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is; an action revenge movie. Lost's Maggie Grace plays a 17 year old, and that's kind of dumb, considering she's in her mid 20's, but she does it well. Neeson proves he's not too old to kick ass when his daughter is kidnapped by a group of sleazy Albanians intent on delivering her to a bigtime jerkoff who's intent on auctioning her sweet virgin ass off to the highest bidder. Liam plays Brian Mills, a man who used to work for the US government as a "preventer", implying he was CIA/Spec Ops type with some very high quality training and a lifetime of experience. Neeson's hand to hand fighting is very raw and looks to be based on some style of Arnis/Eskrima. You can tell the man obviously trained and learned for this film, as the camera work and editing looks pretty gritty and fight scenes realistic. My nephew and I regretted we didn't take the time to do a kill-count for this film, but that's why I'll be going to see it again at some point before it leaves theaters. I didn't even really want to like this movie, but it so honestly tries to be nothing more than the story of a very dangerous man slaughtering sickos who stole his daughter. That's it, no real character development, no needless plot elements. Just one man hunting and killing anybody who gets in his way in his attempt to find and secure his teenage daughter. For that, I give it props. Not to mention there's a badass fight with Neeson vs. a karambit wielding Frenchman. A pretty impressive feat for a PG-13 film.

Ontario Ranger series; Shiv

Ontario Knives is a knife company with 100+ year old roots, in New York state. They have held a number of military contracts and are known primarily for their relatively inexpensive, US made fixed blade knives. It's my understanding that Ranger Knives went under, and Ontario purchased the rights to manufacture most of the knives the defunct company used to offer. Knifecenter began carrying these Ranger knives last month. It's odd though, Ontario's site looks very outdated, the new Ranger knives are nowhere to be found, as of this writing, and there are models listed that I know that they no longer produce. Oh well, maybe having a web presence is not high on the company's list of priorities. Anyhow, although I've heard lots of knife industry buzz about how Ontario screwed over Jeff Randall, and his company Randall's Adventure Training in past business dealings, I could not resist their new Ranger Shiv. I got mine for about $46.00 USD, and it took about a week to get here from Knifecenter.

The Ontario/Ranger Shiv and Shank knives are each available in either cordwrap or micarta handle slabs in various colors. I didn't think that the micarta handles looked that cool, and they were a bit more expensive, so I opted for cordwrap, in desert tan. The larger Shank series sports 6.5" blades, while the Shivs have 4.5" blades. These knives are close to a hefty quarter of an inch thick, made of 1095 carbon steel. I like 1095, it's an excellent choice for impact resistance and ease of sharpening, it's incredibly tough, but not stainless. I have found that carbon steel blades don't really tend to rust any easier than certain stainlesses, discolor, yes, but not rust. Especially true if they are cared for, and worst case scenario, from my experience with 1095 carbon steel, all that's needed to remove oxidation from a cutting edge is a bit of metal polish rubbed on with a soft cloth, I then wipe the blade down with a light coat of Breakfree or something and call it good. Either way, I like 1095, and had this knife been made of a stainless steel, I probably wouldn't have purchased it.

The Shiv is coated with some sort of baked-on black powder coat which should do an adequate job of protecting the blade. The word "ONTARIO" is etched on the back side and there is a lightning-bolt-inside-a-diamond logo etched on the front, underneath it, the word "SHIV" is printed. There is a basic, but functional area of jimping for thumb-purchase on top of the spine, making the grip pretty secure. I also like the cord wrapped handle because if I wanted to, I could rewrap it with any paracord color I wanted; from neon green to multi-cam. The included sheath is a very basic ballistic nylon affair, with a velcro collar which wraps around one of the slight finger grooves in the handle to prevent the knife from sliding out. It's a pretty cheesy sheath, but it works for the intended use of keeping you from getting cut, there's a hard composite insert to keep the thing rigid. It is by no means a "carry system", but I'm sure you could either make your own kydex sheath for it, or have one made fairly easily. I'm not concerned, I recently bought a Bark River/Sharpshooter Sheath Systems black leather pocket sheath which happens to coincidentally fit the Shiv perfectly. Said sheath also is a good fit for my RAT Izula, and several other smallish fixed blades I own.

For a thick knife of carbon tool steel, the Shiv carries very light. It can't be more than a few ounces, and it's comfortable on my 5.11 Tactical TDU belt, or simply carried in its sheath in my front right pocket. This knife is every maximum security prisoner's wet dream, it's basically a sharpened pry bar. The Shiv came packaged in a heat sealed poly bag, inside its sheath, with nothing more than a barcode sticker on the bag, no frills here. I'm not even sure if Ontario offers a warranty on anything they make, but there aren't too many ways to break a sharpened hunk of 1095 carbon steel, so I don't care either way. I bought this thing with some reluctance at first, thinking that it wouldn't have too many real utility uses, the thing is obviously meant to be a simple weapon. But now that I realize how lightly it carries, I can see it having potential as a camp kitchen knife, in spite of its thick blade. The Shiv and Shank series all feature generous lanyard holes, as you can see I've added a Lanyard Zone 4-skull twist lanyard in black and desert camo. I think it's a good look, adding to the blade's already threatening appearance.
Time will tell if this is a knife I will actually use and carry, but as a fan of smaller fixed blade knives, I can tell it'd make a decent light camping knife, and the lightly grooved handle and its paracord clothing should make it plenty comfortable to work with. Don't bother going to Ontario's site, it sucks. If you want to check out the Shanks and Shivs, go to KnifeCenter of the Internet

Here's my Shiv, next to a Sharpie, for size reference:


I would recommend the Ontario Ranger series Shiv to anyone looking for a basic and rugged no-frills small fixed blade. It is essentially a weapon, but I believe it has potential for utility. I actually like mine enough that I'm considering ordering its larger brother, the Shank, also in tan cordwrap, so I have a matching set.

If Shanks and Shivs aren't your thing, Ontario has some other burly fixed blades in the Ranger series, like the RAK, I particularly like the serrations, and the skullsmasher pommel spike on this baby:

New Build (10/22)

Because I am obsessed with Ruger's 10/22 platform, on top of the fact that their rifle in .22LR is generally what I'm interested in writing about, not to mention shoot, as promised I've gathered some photos of the current build of my most recently purchased (you might recall from November) 10/22.
As I stated in my previous post here, the barrel is the newest ad-on, and it arrived from Gunkings yesterday evening. As it's a modified factory barrel and not fully aftermarket, it dropped in with no issues at all. The blueing is a little iffy in a few places, though I'm not going to be picky about that, and my only other real complaint is that it doesn't fully jive with the glossy receivier. Other than that it's hot, 16 inches of which 5.5 are included in the length of the flash hider at the end of the barrel. Tacticool as hell and scary looking to boot.While I haven't yet had an opportunity to take the new barrel out to the range, I was able to get some time with the Blackhawk Knoxx Axiom stock. The 6-position buttstock makes the gun comfortable for just about any shooter, also helping with adjusting eye relief depending on how far out you've got the scope zoom. The pistol grip is amazingly ergonomic and comfortable as well, feeling exceptionally natural in how one grips the weapon. And I love the fact that with this stock the barrel is completely free-floating. My groups were extremely tight using the Butler Creek barrel with the Knoxx stock, and I'm hoping for similar results with the Gunkings barrel as well.
I'm extremely pleased with this gun at this point. It looks mean as hell and about as far from a plinker as you can get, but I'm also looking forward to shooting this for accuracy at the range. I will likely be making a few more modifications to this gun, granted they won't be visible changes. Namely swapping out the hammer and bolt buffer, and maybe adding a match grade trigger in there as well. No doubt any changes I do make I will be sure to post about here once I do. Keep your eyes out for Sunday's range report where I'll be able to detail how the gun performs. Until then, keep bustin caps.

Ka-Bar/LaserLyte Pistol Bayonet

Speaking in today's previous post about American manufacturing...Kabar teamed up with LaserLyte to produce their American made pistol bayonet, which supposedly works on any pistol with an accessory rail.

Good Looking Spyderco Auto and a short rant on "buying American"

So, I've mentioned in the past that I'm not a huge fan of automatic knives. My thinking is that there are thousands of knives now, in 2009, that open just as fast and have less parts to malfunction. That being said, I do like the look of Spyderco's Citadel series. This pic was "borrowed" from Knifecenter.com.

Here's Spyderco's specs:
Features
Right-hand automatic blade-opening deployment
Hard anodized, machined aluminum handle with Bi-Directional Texturing™
Black steel clip positions folder left/right hand tip-up (three screw attachment)
Back-up safety switch positioned adjacent to automatic-open button
Screw together construction
Trademark Spyderco Round Hole
Flat saber-ground CPM S30V
Spine jimping
Swedge grind reduces weight
Lanyard Hole
Specifications
Overall Length: 7-3/4" 197mm
Handle Length: 4-9/16" 116mm
Cutting Edge Length: 3-5/32" 80mm
Blade Length: 3-1/4" 83mm
Weight: 4.8oz 137mm
Blade Material: CPM S30V
Blade Hardness: Rc 59-60
Scale Material: Aluminum
Made in USA

Pretty sweet knife. It seems many production knife companies are well aware of the increasing consumer demand for USA-Made products. It's nice to know that the bulk of Benchmade's line, many of Spyderco's high end knives, along with some Kershaw and all ZeroTolerance knives, are made here by Americans with American jobs and American craftsmanship. There are many other companies manufacturing here in The States. The once great Buck Knives is also producing a large number of their knives in a new Idaho facility. I used to think that the whole "buy American" thing was somehow nationalistic or racist. As an adult, I now know better. It's about keeping jobs here, and employing our American brothers and sisters, no matter what language they speak or what shade their skin is. Not to mention the fact that many knives made in China and Taiwan are garbage. There are exceptions, like CRKT and Mantis, don't get me wrong, and American manufacture doesn't always mean quality. Shit, look at our domestic automotive industry! My point is, American manufacturing, and "buying American" is good for our nose-diving economy. It's also obvious that many times, when we buy products made in countries like China, that we are indirectly supporting gross violations of human rights, and sketchy child labor. I must applaud many knife and tactical gear companies for either continuing to employ Americans, or increase the number of products in their lineup which are made here.

Benchmade Rift 2009 Edition

Here's the original handle scale color pattern for the Rift since its debut:


Just a quickie here...I've talked to a few people who like the Benchmade Osborne Rift in concept, but who thought the combo stripe black and gray G10 was a little too much. I personally like it, as every Rift produced with the combo color G10 is a little different. But some people have complained it almost looks too stylized. Well, Benchmade must have heard this too, as for 2009, all Rift blade/coating variations are available in a more traditional plain black G10 handle.



The combo edge Rift, BK1 coated, has been my primary edc knife since August 2008, I mean, I carry plenty of other knives, but the Rift offers me the perfect combination of light weight and low-profile. I like the Benchmade Rift enough, that I might just have to get a plain edge satin finish version with the new plain black G10 handle scales. These new variations of the Rift should be available nearly everywhere within the month. These knives, like most factory-made knives, have a marked-up MSRP, for instance, the suggested retail of the new black handled Rift with an uncoated plain blade is $180.00 USD, though like all Benchmade knives, and most other production knives, you can find them significantly cheaper. I got my Rift for about $100, and I've seen the new models for about $125.00 at better online retail knife shops.

Busted 10/22 (Did Ruger just do me Like That?)

The 10/22 is pretty much my favorite rifle platform available to consumers. Show me another gun almost as modular as an AR15 at a fraction of the cost that performs even close to the rate with which Ruger's .22LR standard does, and I'll tell you I'm impressed... so imagine my disappointment with my newest Ruger 10/22 (of which I have written a bit about on here some time back) pretty much failing on every level imaginable. Okay, granted I embellish a bit; it's not failing on every level, as the receiver appears to work all right. Primarily the problem is with the barrel, a Butler Creek feather-weight carbon fiber bull barrel. It's hella pretty to look at but won't chamber ammunition for shit, and I have tried everything from cheapo Walmart Xpert 22 bulk, to expensive as hell Wolf, Eley, and SK. The barrel chamber is just too friggin tight, which results in me have to slam the bolt forward with every shot I try to take.

The problem above is actually not a problem with Ruger, since the only part of the gun that's stock at this point is the receiver and it's internals, rather with Butler Creek. Now owned by Bushnell, I can say that I have nothing but disgust for their customer service. Upon calling their 800 number, the representative's first response was that I take it to a gunsmith and foot the bill myself. I restated the fact that the problem was with the barrel and how it had been manufactured, so he began to detail their warranty process. Basically I pay shipping and a flat $10 fee for the to take it into their repair center, then give them 6-8 weeks turnaround time at which point, if they found anything wromng with the barrel they either ship it back, or replace it... AKA a fancy way for them to tell customers to fuck right off.

So, as impatient as I am, and not wanting to have a gun sitting around collecting dust, I decided to take it upon myself to fix the issue and put together a rifle that isn't jacked up. Being somewhat unhappy with the .920 diameter Butler Creek stock that the gun came with, I looked into more tactical interpretations of the 10/22 stock. Tapco makes one that's sweet, but suited only for factory contoured barrels. Christie & Christie makes one for both factory contoured barrels as well as the .920 bull barrels, but they're expensive as hell and a little bit bulky. Choate makes a sick Dragunov styled stock for both barrel dimensions as well as a folding stock for only the factory contoured dimension. However none of those were really up to spec as far as what I was looking for. But after browsing Cabela's website I came across what I wanted by complete mistake...
Not only does it feature a tacticool 6 position adjustable stock, but there is no barrel channel, making the entire setup fully free-floating which means that it is compatible with any size barrel the user chooses to pair with the receiver. It's modeled after the more expensive Knoxx stocks for large bore rifles and shotguns, and is designed to absorb all feedback the weapon experiences upon firing. Not a lot given the weapon in question is firing .22LR, but it's sick as hell looking, will support a bipod, and allow me to utilize whichever barrel I choose.

Given that the barrel was the original source of the problem, I scoured the web for various after-market accessories sellers to find a new barrel. While MidwayUSA has a huge amount of supplies for the 10/22 is my usual go-to source, nothing they were offering jived with what I was looking for, either in appearance or in price. CheaperThanDirt also had nothing too stellar looking, so I branched out to some more obscure sights. Tactical Inc has a nice finned barrel but is a little pricy for what it is, and their shipping times are currently extended due to being bogged down with orders. I ended up coming across Gunkings, who have a fairly great selection, though at least half of what they offer was listed as sold out. However, give that I want this build to look fairly outstanding, I found this:
This is a modified 10/22 barrel tricked out with a 5.5 inch flash suppressor and .720 diameter sleeve, making it a bit fatter than the factory taper, but not as bulky as the .920 diamter bull barrels. It's modeled after an AR15 varmint barrel and because it's a modification of the original factory barrel will fire anything you put in it, from crummy Winchester Xpert ammunition to CCI Stingers. Even fancy-pants rounds like Wolf/SK, Eley, or Fiocchi should be no problem out of the final build, which if shipping all goes well, I should have put together by Friday or Saturday. I'll keep you all posted on the final build with details and photos, and until then happy cappin y'all.

Better pix of Benchmade 2K9 knives

Knifecenter has begun stocking many of the 2009 Benchmade line, or at least accepting pre-orders for when they arrive. After taking a long look, I'm actually kind of glad there's not a whole lot that immediately appeals to me, as I need to save money, and 2009 promises to be a year full of awesome new knives from my favorite production companies.


I am down with the new pen series, like the 1150, and the "gentleman's pen" below.




And I really like this new knife from the late, great Bob Lum, it's a fitting tribute to one of the makers who changed the industry.


I really like the looks of the Marc Lee Glory knife, designed by Eddie Killian, who I'm not familiar with. It's unlikely this will be on my 2009 'to buy' list, as it's expensive, and I have plenty of nice fixed blades.


Benchmade's Elishewitz designed Nimravus, and Nimravus cub was the first Benchmade fixed knife I owned, way back in 1998 or so, when it debuted, and it's still a favorite. Elishewitz is no longer working with Benchmade, but many of his designs live on in benchmade's line, like the Stryker series, and their new incarnation of the Nim Cub, which promises to be a great all-purpose outdoor knife.


And here are a couple of revised Benchmade automatics. I'm not a huge fan of most automatic knives, as I believe there are plenty of tougher knives on the market that open just as quickly, but these are pretty cool.


So, seems Benchmade still has the ability to create some really good stuff. I look forward to being able to play around with these knives in person, particularly the Barrage, with its Axis lock and assist mechanism.


-A

5.11 Tactical gear, 6x6 med pouch

I found myself in Lakewood Friday night with part of a paycheck burning a hole in my pocket. I avoided Tactical Tailor's factory store, as I've spen a bunch of dough there this winter and there's nothing else I need from them. I did hit up their neighbors, Quantico Tactical. I looked at 5.11 shirts, and picked up a 5.11 1.75" TDU belt and some Blackhawk! belt keepers, as my old leather belt is just about done. I also picked up the 5.11 Tactical 6x6 med pouch.

This pouch will be the starting point for my FAK, that's 'first aid kit'. I'll add my daily meds, a white chem light stick [which I also got at QT], self-stick vet wrap aka: 3M Coban, band aids and some other "WTSHTF" essentials. My 5.11 PUSH shoulder bag is awesome, and despite some negative reviews of 5.11 products, I now have the bag, the med pouch and a belt, and I have found their stuff to be of really good quality.

I like the fact that this pouch is molle compatible, making it easy to attach to any other item [like my PUSH bag] or a backpack with the included SlickSticks, which are like 5.11's button-snap version of mAlice clips. The 6.6 Med Pouch has a mesh internal pocket on both sides and the zippers open all the way around so you can fully open and inspect...and get to the contents of the pouch in a true emergency. I have the feeling this pouch will even be good as an edc gear-organizer dropped into a pack or messenger bag. It measures 6in.x6in but holds a lot more gear than you'd think. In a preliminary test, I threw in 2 SureFire G2 lights, a box of 12 CR123 lithium batteries, 2 folding knives, a roll of vetwrap, a sharpening stone and a bottle of pills. I fully intend to actually create an FAK using the 6.6 pouch as the container. I'll keep you posted. So far, i'm really digging my gear from 5.11 Tactical
-A

ERT 1

I feel there is nothing better than being prepared when your life may be at stake. Every day people spend hours in cars, in buildings or homes and at any minute the building can collapse, there can be an earth quake and your house can be in shambles with you and your family stuck inside, you can lose control of your car and end up in a stream upside down or stuck inside your car when it has caught on fire after an accident.
When seconds and minutes count and your life or your loved ones' lives are on the line, all it takes are a few simple tools to help keep you alive or even to help you get out of a situation. In my car I carry a Benchmade ERT 1 Rescue Tool. The Benchmade ERT1 is equipped with a Hook Tool for cutting seat belts, a spring loaded glass breaker and a submersible LED light. I don’t ever see myself getting caught in any situation that I would need to use my Benchmade ERT 1 but if I ever flip my van and land in one of the many creeks, lakes or rivers we have here in Washington, then I can safely release my family from their seat belts, break a window and get them to safety. Seconds count, especially when your automobile is submerged and it could take rescuers thirty, forty minutes...or never to get to you. A Benchmade ERT 1 runs about $40 and that is a small price to pay even if it only gets pulled out of its sheath to practice using the glass breaker on a junk yard car's window.


Editor's note:
Benchmade now markets the ERT1 tool as the "Houdini Pro". Benchmade has even taken the signature Benchmade Butterfly logo and company name off of these tools, and they are advertising "Houdini Inc." as if it's a seperate company...though these tools are still listed on the Benchmade website. I'm still wondering why Benchmade has opted to re-market some of their rescue tools as a whole different product line. The ERT1/Houdini Pro can be found at knifecenter for about $28.00 USD
Click HERE for more info
or check out the Houdini Inc. Site
-A

ZT 0500 Mudd Knife

I've been hearing great things about Zero Tolerance knives for awhile now, but it wasn't until shortly after Xmas that I had the opportunity to play with them at a local gunshop. ZT is a division of KAI, Kershaw Knives' parent company. From my research, I believe that all ZT knives are made in Kershaw's Oregon facility. Most are designed by Ken Onion. The exception is the 0500 Mudd folding knife designed by Oregon's own father/son team Grant and Gavin Hawk. I remember seeing pix of their custom Mudd line on a custom knife site, and I was excited last month to have some spare cash to blow on the ZT version of this awesome folder. MSRP is around $180, but I paid about $150, more than fair for a knife of this quality.

It's a massive aluminum and G10 handle with a blade of 154CM, a great steel for any knife. The blade is coated with black DLC, or DiamondLike Carbon, a hard and hearty coating indeed. Grant and Gavin Hawk have a patent on the unique lock, I believe they call it a RAM lock, which is also used on this Hawk folder design that is produced under Kershaw's banner as well:

I have yet to really take advantage of this knife, as i now have so many favorites, it's hard to pick my EDC knife!
The Zero Tolerance 0500 is unique, I'm not aware of another knife that has such unique features. The pivot and lock are covered by neoprene seals which block dirt, grime, and er...mud from entering the locking mechanism. With the knife open, all one must do to fold it away, is pull back on the lock button, it's not a linerlock, the lock is contained and protected inside the pivot and handle. Steven Dick, editor of Tactical Knives did a short article on the Mudd in the current Feb. 2009 issue. Mr. Dick buried the 0500 in the sandy bank of a creek near his home after soaking the knife in creek water. He proceeded to dig it up and open the knife into a locked position without so much as shaking any grime off the knife.

Pretty impressive. Lockbacks,linerlocks and many other knives would not be able to lock up after being coated in sand or crud. I remember Steven Dick writing about the original Benchmade McHenry and Williams Axis lock, the very first axis lock. In his TK article back then, he gave Benchmade's Axis mechanism high marks for locking up solidly regardless of the amount of dust or debris entered the lock channel. I've found this to be true as well, as my Axis locking knives are among the few folders I own that I rarely clean. However, I don't think the Axis lock can compete with the 0500 Mudd's crazy sealed pivot and lock button. The following is a video I found on YouTube, of somebody performing the same experiment. I'm willing to bet this folder has found a home in the kits of many Spec Ops types, divers and other folks who use their knives in unsavory environments. Now, if only somebody would mate this sealed folding knife system with Spyderco's rust-proof H1 steel....then we might see the perfect knife for waterborne missions and combat divers....



Some additional phone-pix of my ZT 0500 sporting a LanyardZone mini-cobra lanyard with a pewter day of the dead skull:



I'm happy with the ZT 0500 and I like the extremely deep pocket carry clip, the beast, with its nearly 4" blade just seems to disappear once it's on my person.
For further info, check out the Zero Tolerance SITE