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.