The BLADE Blogs

The blogs of theĀ BLADE editors, Steve Shackleford and Erin Healy.

Can Fire-Steel Bushcrafters Take the Heat?

BLADE and Bold Action
Bear & Son Cutlery’s Bold Action V is the cover knife for the new BLADEĀ®, on newsstands now!

See if bushcraft knives with fire steels can take the heat, meet a Marine Corps vet who helps spread the good word of Zac Brown’s knives, learn whether paying knife deposits on custom knives is for you and more in the latest issue of BLADE®—on newsstands now!

BLADE field editor Abe Elias puts four new bushcraft knives, all equipped with fire steels, through a series of tests and critiques. See how they fare and what makes a good bushcraft knife—not what makes good hype—in “Bush The Envelope.”

Losing both legs from above the knee down would understandably destroy most people, but not veteran Marine Staff Sgt. Joey Jones. Fitted with prosthetic devices after the devastating effects of an IED in Afghanistan, he picked up the pieces in civilian life and has become a powerful motivator for individuals, corporations and charities. He also works with Zac Brown’s Southern Ground, which, in addition to the Southern Grind knife company, funds Camp Southern Ground for children, especially those with neuro-developmental disorders or in families with a parent deployed, wounded or lost. Erin Healy examines Jones and Brown’s Southern Ground in “Joined By Knives.”

Ordering a custom knife from a knifemaker and making a down payment—better known as a deposit—on the knife is something collectors have done for many years. But is paying deposits for you? Custom knife purveyor Les Robertson guides you through the do’s and don’ts of the practice in “Knife Deposits: Yea, Nay, Maybe.”

Casstrom bushcraft knife
Can Casstrom’s Woodsman bushcraft knife with fire steel take the heat? Abe Elias shows the way in the latest BLADEĀ®,

Also in this issue of BLADE:

•The latest in factory automatics, including the cover knife, an entry from Bear & Son Cutlery’s first-ever line of autos, the Bold Action V;

•Learn how the super-lightweight Gerber LST folder changed knife history in “Father of the EDC?”;

•MSG Kim Breed, retired 5th Special Forces, puts a couple of heavy-duty camp knives through the ringer in “Is Bigger Better?”;

•James Morgan Ayres tests four of the latest factory tomahawks in “Tomahawk Toughies”;

•BLADE field editor Ed Fowler recounts his lifelong addiction to knives in “Just Say Yes!”;

•In “A Linerlock On Roller Skates,” Leroi Price describes a new approach to the linerlock developed by Jake Hoback;

•BLADE field Dexter Ewing concludes his three-part series on 12 of the newest knife sharpeners in “The Hone Zone”;

•Reload your knife with sharp blades or simply discard them in “The Replaceables” by Pat Covert, and;

•You can almost hear the mosaic damascus “snakes” on Greg Cimms’ chef’s knife blade hiss in “The Dubai Vipers.”

You get all this and much more in the latest BLADE. Click here for the download edition. To subscribe to BLADE, click here for the domestic print edition, here for the international print subscription, here for the Canadian print subscription and here for the digital subscription.

 

42nd Annual Guild Show Highlights The Weekend

Some of the world’s finest custom knives and the people who make, sell, supply the materials for and buy/collect them will be the focus of the granddaddy of all custom knife shows, the 42nd Annual Knifemakers’ Guild Show, Sept. 16-18 in the ballroom (see picture) of the historic Seelbach Hilton Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky.

The festivities will begin with the President’s Gala for honorary Guild members Thursday night, Sept. 15, at 7:30. The show will kick into high gear Friday from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday hours will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Over 100 tables of custom knives, prize drawings, awards and more will be among the highlights.

Located at 500 Fourth St. in the heart of downtown Louisville, the regal Seelbach Hilton features all the amenities and is within easy walking distance of a number of downtown eateries, watering holes, shops, and much more. The Seelbach can be reached at 502-585-3200.

For more information visit www.knifemakersguild.com.

If You Attend or Value the BLADE Show, ACT NOW!

Folks traveling through Georgia to the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) need to help pass SB432 so they can enjoy such knives as the Zero Tolerance 0777, the Blade Magazine 2011 Overall Knife Of The YearĀ®.

 

The Georgia House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee hearing on SB432, a bill that would establish Knife Law Pre-emption in the state, will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, March 20, Knife Rights reported.

 

    Knife Law Preemption would protect all law-abiding citizens who carry knives from the patchwork of inconsistent knife laws from jurisdiction to jurisdiction while traveling through the state, including those who will be traveling to the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) June 8-10 at the Cobb Galleria Centre outside Atlanta.

 

    Once again, we need your help to get this bill passed. Your calls and emails made a big impact passing SB432 in the Georgia Senate. Now, please call or email and ask the members of the Committee to vote YES on SB432 when it is before them for consideration on Tuesday.   

 

    If you are a Georgia resident it is best that you call ALL the committee members below. If you can’t call, at least email.     

  

    If you are a BLADE Show attendee from outside of Georgia, please email ALL of the committee members (listed below) and ask them to vote YES on SB432.  

    IMPORTANT: In your email or when you talk to each Representative’s secretary, tell them that that you are a BLADE Show attendee or exhibitor and that the BLADE Show represents MILLIONS of dollars to the Georgia economy. It also represents many hundreds of JOBS in Georgia. All those hotels and restaurants we stay at and eat in during BLADE Show employ many hundreds of people, and SB432 will help support the BLADE Show! You deserve to not have to worry about local knife restrictions when traveling to and attending the BLADE Show, and even a single unjustified and highly publicized arrest could adversely affect BLADE Show attendance!   

    Use Email SUBJECT: Please Vote Yes on SB432 

Ann Purcell – Chairman Dist 159 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-5139

Willie Talton – Vice Chairman Dist 145 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-5116

Bob Hanner – Dist 148 – [email protected]  Phone: 404-656-7859

Bill Maddox – Dist 127 – [email protected]  Phone: 404-656-3947

Jay Neal – Dist 1 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-5138  

Billy Horne – Dist 71 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-0287

Scott Holcomb – Dist 82 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-6372  

Gloria Frazier  -Dist 123 – [email protected]  Phone: 404-656-0265

Kevin Cooke  -Dist 18 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-0325  

Darlene Taylor – Dist 173 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656- 0177

Yasmin Neal  -Dist 75 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-0265  

Doug Collins  -Dist 27 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-7737

Tim Bearden  -Dist 68 – [email protected] Phone: 404-656-0287

    It is much, much better to email each member individually, but if you cannot, below are all the email addresses which you can copy and paste into your email:

[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] 

    CALL or EMAIL TODAY! 

    For more click on www.KnifeRights.org.

For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. For subscription information click on http://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb031912#BL1SU.

Cutting Critique: Spyderco Persistence

Consider the Spyderco Persistence—a small knife that cuts like a bigger one.
The Spyderco Persistence is a small knife that cuts like a bigger one and gets the once-over in our “Cutting Critique.”

The Spyderco Persistence is one of those compact cutting knives you may or may not like—depending on your tastes in general and how the knife fits your hand.

I have a medium-size hand and if I hold the handle in the standard grip, half of my little finger overlaps the butt. That’s bordering on too small for me.

However, for detail or draw cuts where I place my finger atop the blade spine, the fit is just about perfect. The 2.75-inch blade is 1.25 inches at its widest and tapers quickly to the point. Under 3 inches in blade length is a good thing in terms of many legal length limits. (Be sure to check your local and other pertinent knife laws.)

The G-10 handle material is good and solid and provides a nice abrasive-type feel for sure gripping for most any type of cutting.

The clip is reversible for tip up or tip down right-hand carry.

The plain-edge blade of 8Cr13MoV stainless steel out of the box is razor sharp and is a cutting moose. I like the blade shape, which is along the lines of the Spyderco Caly I carry on a regular basis.

The Michael Walker LinerLock@ is nice and tight and has a good spring to it that makes you work just a bit—though not too much—to push it open. I like that because it reinforces the notion that the lock will not disengage easily—always a good thing.

The Persistence is one of Spyderco’s knives made in China, and as many industry observers are noting, the Chinese are getting better and better at making knives—and the Persistence is an excellent example of this improvement.

At 4 ounces the Persistence may seem a bit heavy to some for a knife of its size (4.125-inch closed length), but not me. I like the overall weight and feel. It’s a small knife that cuts like a bigger one.

For more info on how to get your Persistence, click on www.shopblade.com/persistence-black-g-10-plainedge-w8476?lid=ssfbbl070313

SOG Twitch II Helps Save The Day

    A SOG Twitch II assisted-opening knife helped save the day in a recent car accident. Zachary Taylor was the passenger in a car driven by his fiance when it spun out of control while avoiding a large animal in the road.The passenger side hit two trees and Taylor’s right leg was pinned under the dash.

     As Taylor recounts the incident, “My right arm was pinned because the impact swung it up under me, but I used my left hand to retrieve the Twitch II knife from my pocket, opened it with one finger, and cut the seat belt. I then used it to cut away my pants leg that hung up under the dash. If I would’ve not been able to get out of the car, we would still be sitting there as no one was around us, we were way off down the embankment, the cell phone was busted, the front lights had busted out, it was really cold and we were wet from an exploded cooler.”

     You can read the whole story, including photos of the car, at http://on.fb.me/xWdPOI

    The preceding is courtesy of Knife Rights. For more information click on http://kniferights.org/

For more information on the Twitch II, click on www.sogknives.com.

 

    For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADEĀ® Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. For subscription information click on http://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb020112#BL1SU

Heft & Freestyle Form Define Hossom “Tanto”

Unusual? Yes, it would be no stretch to say that Jerry Hossom’s “Vengeance Tanto” takes an unbeaten path from pointy tip to pointed pommel. But all along the way it’s so groovalicious! Check out the handle half, or third, in this case. Integrated into the design of the black-canvas-MicartaĀ® grip there’s a place for the palm, all the fingers, and a sweet guard that angles just a little back toward the butt. The knife is featured in the “Fiery Fighters” chapter of the Knives 2013Ā book, but it is actually tough to categorize.Ā 

And oh, yeah, the blade. Let’s see, the CPM-3V blade is high-hollow ground, ends in what could be the world’s most modified tanto tip, has a swedge along the spine, and a line stretching horizontally along he length of the blade where the hollow grind ends, the flat starts, and the swedge eventually meets. Don’t forget the finger notches just North of the handle, on the spine of the blade, for extra traction. Mosaic pins round off the piece.

It’s an “Editor’s Favorite from the Knives 2013Ā Book,” by the way. SharpByCoop.com is credited for the photo.

AKTI Member Edward Weeren Wins Ontario Marine Bayonet

As reported Jan. 24, a member of the American Knife & Tool Institute won a USMC Marine bayonet by Ontario in a special AKTI drawing at the Ontario booth during the 2012 SHOT Show. AKTI member Ed Weeren wasn’t in attendance at the show, but was recently notified of his big win.

     Ed is the proud new owner of one of the first 200 OKC3s Marine Corps Bayonets, which is specially displayed and engraved with the AKTI logo and a quote from President Ronald Reagan  Ed also wins a stay in Western New York and private tour of the Ontario Cutlery facility.

     When responding to news of his win, Ed explained what being an AKTI member meant to him:

     ā€œ I joined AKTI because of the respect I have for those who set it up and for the work AKTI is doing to allow citizens like me to continue to enjoy knives and to carry my pocketknives without fear of being arrested. I am an NRA Life Member and understand that each of us has to accept some responsibility and do what we can to help all of us continue the freedoms given to citizens when this country was founded. While I was not a Marine, I hold Marines in the greatest respect. I attended Texas A&M and received a commission in the U.S. Army in 1958. Keep up the good work you and your group are doing.”

    As a nonprofit association, AKTI’s role is to be the reasonable and responsible advocate for the knife-making and knife-using community, providing the focal point for sensible evolution, development, and the consistent enforcement of knife legislation.

For more information about the American Knife & Tool Institute, visit www.akti.org.

For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADEĀ® Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. For subscription information click on http://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb020912#BL1SU

 

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