Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Just a Couple of Quick Bits Today...

Video reviews are still in the works, I've been short on time & occupied with other pressing stuff, apologies, but keep an eye peeled.  Working on Princeton Tec 'Byte' cheap LED headlamp review, coming soon, along with a feature on self defense instructional/training DVDs & more.

New Knives out this week (just a couple out of MANY):

Benchmade's new manual version of their venerable Bedlam folder promises to kick as much ass as the original auto.  I actually prefer manual knives over autos, and I'll be snatching up one of these ASAP when $$ allows.
 Benchmade's manual opening version of the Bedlam is out, or will be available in the coming days.  The original was an auto.  I love the Persian-inspired upswept blade.  Very cool.  See it at stores like Knifecenter and others.


Survival expert Doug Ritter has teamed up with hard use camp fixed blade forefather & Joy of Cooking author Ethan Becker, click his name here to listen to an audio interview.   The project is made by Rowen Manufacturing, who is Esee Knives' primary manufacturing partner, and has apparently done work with Tops Knives.  I own 3 Esee Izulas, made by Rowen, and the quality is fantastic, we can anticipate a big brutal knife from this collaboration.  See it at Knifeworks, looks like it'll go for about $120 USD.  The description of the knife comes across as sort of defensive of (IMO) the very reasonable price:  
     "As with the original Doug Ritter RSK® Mk1, one of the guiding principles in developing the Doug Ritter RSK® Mk2 Perseverance™ was to provide an exceptional value. Becker knives already had a well-deserved reputation for providing an incredible price to performance ratio, which has been one of the keys to their success. The challenge was to not mess that up.  Doug has succeeded, producing an extraordinary hard use fixed blade knife, a knife you can bet your life on®, at a price that is a good value for a low-rate production blade. That's the rub. You can't do a high quality, low-rate production knife for the same low cost as you can a more mass produced production knife such as Ethan's KA-BAR Becker Knife & Tool knives. We  hope that you find the unique properties of Doug's RSK® Mk2 Perseverance™ are worth the extra cost."


I feel that it's a fair price, but find their double mention of "low rate" both confusing, and potentially conveying some subconscious negativity to the target demographic.  Companies should not have to justify the prices they charge, unless their products are prohibitively expensive for most "average" people.  Anyway, looks like one hell of a camp blade.
The Long awaited Esee Knives Robert Young Pelton HEST (Hostile Environment Survival Tool) Folder made for them by Italy's fantastic Lion Steel brand, with a reputation for big chunky folding knives.

I'm really excited about the Italian made Esee/Pelton HEST knife., mine is on pre-order, unpaid though, so we'll see how much dough I have when Knifeworks gets them in.  Robert Young Pelton is one of my writing heroes, and also a talented mind as far as what is needed in a knife.  You can see what makes Pelton unique at his primary site, Comebackalive.com and see Jeff Randall & Mike Perrin's wares at Esee Knives.  Lion Steel, in Italy is making these, as it's my understanding that Rowen Mfg. is not set up to make folders.  Lion Steel has a great rep, and a growing fanbase.


Princeton Tec Byte, my written & video reviews coming soon.

Like most of you guys, the only thing I love as much as knives, is lights, hence the "BRIGHT" in this project's name.  Princeton Tec recently started impressing me, like, around 2008 for their well made, low priced headlamps.  I used to think of the company as a sort of "wannabe", but they have proven time and again that they are a competitor with companies like Petzl, who are famous for their headlamps.  I like this little Byte light, it's got a single red LED and a dual stage, low-high white LED.  More to come on that as well.

Thanks for your support, take care and happy holidays, I'll be back with more soon.
-Aaron

5 comments:

Unknown said...

The Bedlam is sexy. I love autos, and I prefer a big knife over a little one. I also like that upswept blades like that offer much more edge than normal blades.

Fundage is lacking unfortunately, but I need a replacement for my Recon 1 that I lost in a parking lot.

Aaron said...

oooh, lost in a parking lot, that hurts! I guess all you can do is hope somebody cool finds it and enjoys it, or that a jerky person finds it & cuts themselves! :P
yeah, I'm totally down with that manual Bedlam, but my checking acct is in the negative, I owe a custom maker $140 for a knife he's holding for me, and I when I get paid I should put $$ away for the Esee HEST folder that's supposed to be coming out(i have an unpaid pre order on a retail site), THEN after all that, I can think about the Bedlam manual! Good news is I've gone from working 12-15 hours weekly to 50+ hours across 2 jobs, so the blog may suffer initially, but I'll have more dough for sweet, sweet blades.

Anonymous said...

It's cool to see some of the new knives coming out. I am very excited about that ESEE HEST. Also, here is a good review of that new manual Benchmade Bedlam: http://bladereviews.com/benchmade-860-manual-bedlam-review

Aaron said...

hey dogfaced k! thanks for reading. I'm way stoked on the HEST, and got my 4th variation of Esee's Izula for Xmas, the new Izula 2 with a longer handle and included micarta slabs. Esee is the shit, great company. thanks for the tip on the Bedlam review, I'll likely get ahold of one and do my own take on a review before Feb. take care
-thanks for reading
-A

Anonymous said...

My pleasure Aaron. I have subscribed and I look forward to reading future updates.