Cyrus Vance, Jr., Allegedly Turned Blind Eye to Weinstein Accusations
Cyrus Vance, Jr. (Image via manhattanda.org)
The Manhattan district attorney notorious for his “gravity knife” prosecutions, Cyrus Vance, Jr., is now being investigated for apparently turning a blind eye to a 2015 sexual assault allegation against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo directed the state attorney general on Monday to review how the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., handled a 2015 sexual assault allegation against the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Mr. Vance decided not to prosecute Mr. Weinstein even though his accuser, an Italian model, had provided police officers with a recording of Mr. Weinstein apologizing when she asked him why he had groped her breasts the day before.
Mr. Vance said at the time that there was insufficient evidence, a defense he repeated last year after an outpouring of accusations against Mr. Weinstein reopened scrutiny of the decision, and also cast light on Mr. Vance’s acceptance of campaign donations from Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers.
Noel decided he didn’t want to go to college just yet. He also knew he couldn’t move down to San Francisco and pay rent on both an apartment and a steel-working shop. “I decided I could make my shop inside a trailer,” he says. “Then I wouldn’t have to pay rent, and I could go anywhere and make knives.”
These days he drives up and down the state: to Malibu and Santa Barbara for craft shows, staying afterward to surf, or up to the Sierra, where he can ski in his off hours. Sometimes he sets up his outdoor workshop by the side of the road, opening up the trailer to turn on the propane forge and set up his belt grinder, which runs on generator power.
One wonders, though, what retirement will look like when the getting is this good at 19. Read the full article here.
Video: Make a Knife From an Artillery Shell
The videos explaining how to make knives out of [crazy thing] sure are entertaining, and they reveal where a mastery of knifemaking basics can take you. Here’s one featuring an 88mm artillery shell.
Medford Knife listed a rendition of its flagship model for $100,000 last week and moved it out the door!
Truth be known, knives fetching six figures isn’t out of the ordinary. Typically, they’re the work of some semi-mad forging genius, who’s slaved away on his creation for months, if not years, and adorned it with the finest gold, a unique design and blood, sweat and tears. Yeah, these are the blades that get every mouth-watering and collectors scrambling for their wallets. Less common, a production knifemaker’ blade fetching such princely sums. However, this is exactly what Medford Knife did with a rather spectacular rendition of its famous Praetorian.
An intriguing rendition of Medford’s flagship model, only one made. Photo: Medford Knife
Dubbed the #1 Praetorian TITAN OAK, the vibrant and exclusive version of the company’s flagship model. And on Black Friday, the folder was purchased for an impressive $100,000, an amount Geoff Oprandy, head of Medford business operations, confirm.
“Yes, $100k USD,” he said via email.
Apparently, it didn’t take long for the Praetorian to find its new owner. Oprandy said the timeline for the company’s virtual show Nov. 26 was a bit foggy, but it moved soon after it was listed.
The knife is certainly eye-catching with its colorful hand-sculpted Timascus handle and dark Damascus blade. And yes, it’s made of and includes top-end components—titanium pivot barrel, Timascus M signature clip and Lucite Safe and ZERO Halliburton presentation case. But those perhaps weren’t the driving factors in the Praetorian drawing top dollar. The knife’s description sheds some light:
The entire knife required new tooling and unique hardware as well as extensive engineering and prototype-free development. There is ONE of these knives in existence. We only had material for a single try and if it went South it would have delayed the knife for another year.
Weighing in a more than 1 pound, Medford’s top-end offering is beefy. Photo: Medford Knife
One thing can be said, if you purchased the #1 Praetorian TITAN OAK you wouldn’t have to worry about running into someone else with the same one. That’s certainly enough to motivate many buyers. What say you, would you have dropped that sort of coin to add the TITAN OAK to your collection?
The knife’s Timascus handle and Damascus tanto blade are eye-catching. Photo: Medford KnifeThe #1 Praetorian TITAN OAK in all its glory. Photo: Medford Knife
See who took top honors in Long Beach for the 2021 Blade Show West Awards.
BLADE Show West took place Oct. 8-9, 2021, at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calf. It was the show’s inaugural year in California and drew custom makers, manufacturers and collectors from around the county.
It also drew an impressive cadre of entrants for the BLADE Show West Factory and Custom Knife Awards. For Factory Knives, awards were given in five categories, while the Custom Knives awarded six categories.
The Factory section was evaluated by a panel of undisclosed industry experts who judged the blades on a number of factors, including utility, design, creativity, materials and other traits. The Custom section was judged by a number of expert knifemakers along similar lines.
Factory Knife Award Winners
Best Tactical and Best In Show
Civivi Tamashii designed by Bob Terzuola, SharpByCoop Image
Monterey Bay Knives wharncliffe flipper folder, SharpByCoop Image
Custom Knife Award Winners
Best Folder and Best In Show
Mike Tyre mosaic damascus folder, SharpByCoop Image
Best Damascus
Mike Shindel Merovingian Sword in a 4-bar Turkish twist, and a random-pattern wrap-around edge of 1084 and 15N20 carbon and nickel-alloy steels, SharpByCoop Image
Best Slip Joint
Luke Swenson split-backspring whittler, SharpByCoop Image
Best EDC
Tobin Hill one-blade trapper, SharpByCoop Image
Best Chef’s Knife
Nicholas Berkofsky/Fell Knives 7.5-inch Protein Petty, SharpByCoop Image
Best Hunter
Mike Shindel integral bolster hunter, SharpByCoop Image
Little knives are convenient to carry but, if you have a lot of work to do, big knives are it. I’ve lived and worked with indigenous peoples in Latin America and Southeast Asia and found that wherever folks live close to the earth, they use big knives—machetes, parangs, goloks, bolos and the like. They use them for everything from rough work such as cutting poles and opening coconuts, to dressing out pigs and game, to delicate work such as slicing mangoes.
The advantage of the big blade was illustrated to me one day when I was working alongside a villager who, with his bolo and its 14-inch blade, cut wood for a fire, bamboo poles for a cooking rack, and lopped off a banana leaf on which he filleted two large fish and sliced them thin as a sushi chef—all in the time it took me to bring down a few stalks of bamboo with my hair-shaving-sharp Randall Model 1.
We reviewed the test knives with that standard in mind. We chopped and split wood and sliced meat and tomatoes. We also, just because, cut hanging rubber hose and slashed through water-filled plastic bottles.
A tree branch succumbs to the reflective blade of the Boker Arbolito El Gigante. It cleaved 2-inch pine saplings in one stroke
Boker Arbolito El Gigante
The Boker Arbolito El Gigante is a handsome classic bowie with a stonewashed blade, comfortable handle and nice leather sheath. Balance is excellent, all very much in the bowie tradition. Construction is top quality; so is performance. It cleaved 2-inch pine saplings with one stroke. The quarter-inch-thick spine was brought down to a well-supported edge fine enough to slice tomatoes thin enough to see light through the slices. We slashed rubber hose and the water bottles with ease.
Like all well-designed and crafted bowies, this is a versatile all-around knife.
BOKER ARBOLITO EL GIGANTE BLADE LENGTH: 9.25” BLADE STEEL: Bohler N695 stainless BLADE THICKNESS: .24” BLADE GRIND: Flat BLADE FINISH: Stonewash HANDLE THICKNESS: .94” HANDLE MATERIAL: Green Micarta® WEIGHT: 15.75 ozs. OVERALL LENGTH: 14.75” SHEATH: Leather COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Argentina MSRP: $229
The KA-BAR Gunny chomps into dry pine. Its forward weight and blade design promote effi cient chopping
KA-BAR Gunny
The KA-BAR Gunny is a hybrid design that resembles a bolo. I suspect R. Lee Ermey, the unforgettable Gunny who serves as the knife’s namesake, spent some time in jungles because this combination chopper/slicer’s performance is on par with village-forged bolos I’ve used in Southeast Asia, and that’s a high compliment. Its forward weight and terrific blade design promote efficient chopping. We cut through 3-to-4-inch-thick saplings with two strokes. We took down a tree with a 6-inch-thick truck just because we could. After the chopping, the blade was still sharp enough for camp kitchen work. The belly, good balance and fine edge combined to make slicing meat and vegetables a pleasure. Slashing hanging rubber hose and the water bottle were a piece of cake. The comfortable handle lends itself both to heavy chopping and fine meat cutting, which is unusual.
The Gunny is an excellent all-around bush knife. The sheath has a pocket for a sharpening stone, which was not included with the review model.
KA-BAR GUNNY DESIGNER: R. Lee “Gunny” Ermey BLADE LENGTH: 9.75” BLADE MATERIAL: 1095 Cro-Van carbon steel BLADE WIDTH: 2” BLADE THICKNESS: .2” BLADE GRIND: Flat HANDLE WIDTH: 1.5” HANDLE THICKNESS: .94” HANDLE MATERIAL: Wood WEIGHT: 15.29 ozs. OVERALL LENGTH: 15.5” SHEATH: Leather COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA MSRP: $292
The Medford Knife & Tool Bonfire slashed through water-filled plastic bottles with more consistency than the other review blades
Medford Knife & Tool Bonfire
The Medford Knife & Tool Bonfire came from the maker absolutely razor sharp! The blade design is interesting in that we do not often see a contemporary styled drop point and hollow grind on such a big blade. I don’t know its Rockwell hardness, but the steel is hard and tough.
It was just as razor sharp after we put it through its paces as when we started. The fine edge made for a very good slicer and slasher and lopped off thin branches with one cut. The hollow grind tended to bind when chopping wood, though that’s to be expected—hollow grinds aren’t chopping designs. It’s better to think of this knife as a well-designed and crafted big knife rather than a bush tool such as a panga or kukri. It sliced rubber hose with a snap of the wrist and slashed through water bottles with more consistency than the other review blades, and cut meat just fine. You probably could dress out a bear with it. Use it as a big knife on soft materials and you won’t be disappointed. It comes
The TOPS Knives Bestia’s kukri-styled 13-inch blade and hefty weight made it the blade of choice for serious chopping or, as the author puts it, “zombie cleaving.”
The TOPS Bestia is just a beast. A kukri-styled 13-inch blade and hefty weight make it the blade of choice for serious chopping or zombie cleaving. We hacked through a 3-inch sapling with one stroke, and used it to clear a stand of saplings and brush. The handle remained comfortable during an hour or so of work. Heavy as a small hatchet, it is more versatile and safer in use, especially in thick brush.
During many survival classes, I’ve seen more injuries from hatchets than from big blades with their longer cutting edges. Given its heft, blade design and chopping ability, the Bestia is surprisingly usable in the camp kitchen. We found it could slice meat quite well, allowing for adjustments in maneuverability due to its blade length.
If you haven’t spent much time with a big blade, try one. Work with it for a while. Direct close attention to your work and you’ll find a good big blade to be a terrific, versatile bush tool.
The history of cutlery has many different facets but none any more glorified than the fixed-blade knives that have seen battle for centuries. Fixed blades are still a major part of our fighting forces’ need for strong steel and they’ve become more diverse since the modern tactical age began in the early-to-mid 1990s.
Condor Tool & Knife’s Neck Gladius
One thing hasn’t changed: such knives must perform duties outside of combat. An example is Condor Tool & Knife’s Neck Gladius, a diminutive version of the classic Roman combat sword. Designed by writer/outdoorsman and BLADE University instructor Joe Flowers, its double-edged blade is handsomely ground in Condor’s favorite blade material: 1075 high carbon steel. The black-paracord-wrapped handle has a tail at the base. A black Kydex neck sheath includes a nice length of paracord for neckwear.
The black Kydex sheath of the Neck Gladius includes a suitable length of paracord for neck wear.
One of the best uses I’ve found for small neck knives is preparing tinder as a firestarter. The neck knife makes for an excellent companion to a larger knife for doing detail work, so I put the Neck Gladius to work doing just that.
Hitting my sweet spot, a pine forest north of town, I used the small blade to dig out some nice chunks of pine resin, which burns nice and long as tinder. I complimented the pine resin with some fine pine shavings to complete the kit. The little Condor will handle other small tasks as well, such as cutting paracord to length. “Handy” is its middle name!
Condor Tool & Knife Neck Gladius Designer: Joe Flowers Blade Length: 3.14″ Blade Material: 1075 high-carbon steel Handle Material: Baracord wrap Weight: 2.12 ozs. Overall Length: 6.06″ Sheath: Kydex with paracord lanyard Country Of Origin: El Salvador MSRP: $54.98
DoubleStar Blades Chico Diablo X
Designed by BLADE® field editor Kim Breed, the Chico Diablo X from DoubleStar Blades is, as you might expect, tough as nails. It is a medium-sized sheath knife with a harpoon-pattern blade. A deep index finger groove extending from the bottom/front of the checkered scales into the tang adds grip when getting down to business. The black Boltaron sheath has a real-deal Tek-Lok for carry options. Weight is a manageable
6.24 ounces.
A deep index finger groove extending from the bottom/front of the checkered scales into the tang of the DoubleStar Chico Diablo X adds grip when getting down to business.
The knife’s size is perfect for medium-duty field tasks such as dressing game, prepping meals, cutting rope and working wood. It’s not heavy enough for chopping but is a serious slicer. I tested the blade across the grain on a 4.5×2.25-inch slab of cold corned beef brisket. Despite the blade being shorter than the chunk of beef, the Nitro-V stainless steel glided through the brisket, taking off one clean quarter-inch slice after another. The Chico Diablo X is a well-built multi-tasker worth every penny of its surprisingly affordable price tag.
Doublestar Blades Chico Diablo X Designer: Kim Breed Blade Length: 3.75″ Blade Material: Nitro-V Stainless Handle Material: Black G-10 with green G-10 liners Weight: 6.24 ozs. Overall Length: 8″ Sheath: Black Boltaron with Tek-Lok attachment Country Of Origin: USA MSRP: $149.99
Kizlyar Supreme Senpai
The Kizlyar Supreme Senpai is the longest knife of the test group, including a tanto blade in more of a traditional Japanese curved-tip style. The handle is spare of curves save for a slight finger groove and short guard. The scales are nicely rounded and Kizlyar provides a sandwiched matching green synthetic belt sheath for carry.
The Senpai includes a traditional Japanese tanto blade. The handle has nicely rounded scales spare of curves save for a slight fi nger groove and a short guard. The knife comes with a matching green synthetic belt sheath.
Given its weight and slim blade profile, I liked the Supreme Senpai for slicing and shaving from a utility standpoint. I roughed out a seasoned hardwood tent peg using a small hatchet, and tested the blade at finetuning the pointed tip and shaving the sides. The long blade came in handy as I could pull it through while slicing and shaving rather than simply pushing it downward against the tough hardwood—my reasoning being, if it could handle stout wood, simpler chores like meal prep and cutting rope would be a snap. The Supreme Senpai blade performed well shaping the challenging wood, leaving no doubt it could be handy around camp.
Kizlyar Supreme Senpai Blade Length: 6.75″ Blade Material: AUS-8 stainless Handle Material: OD green Kraton/ABS plastic Weight: 10.3″ Overall Length: 12″ Sheath: Polyamide Nylon Country Of Origin: Russia MSRP: $150
Halfbreed Blades Medium Infantry Knife
How brutish is the Aussie-made Halfbreed Blades Medium Infantry Knife? Consider this—it’s around just one ounce shy of the other three test knives combined in weight! The blade is a whopping .23-inch thick at its thickest, features 1.5 inches of serrations from the tang forward, and has a black, rust-resistant Tefl on coating. The ample handle scales are “chunked” black G-10 and there’s a wicked skull crusher. The sheath has rear attachments for MOLLE (Modular Lightweight Load-carrying
Equipment) or belt carry.
The Halfbreed Medium Infantry Knife incorporates brutish .23-inch blade steel. The author pulled it through five lengths of 3/8-inch rappelling rope in one clean slice using the forward plain edge portion of the blade.
This overbuilt brute is a handful capable of chopping, slicing and shaving. Given its near three-quarter-pound weight it will no doubt chop, but the serrations somewhat limit the chopping ability of the blade’s plain edge portion. (Serrated edges will chop but it’s hard on them, and resharpening the teeth is a royal pain.)
I tested the knife at slicing and started with lengths of ⅜ -inch synthetic rappelling rope. Working my way up, I was able to slice cleanly through five lengths of the rope side-by-side before I ran out of rope. The handle offered superb grip throughout the testing process. The Halfbreed entry has the ability to perform heavy-duty camp chores like
shelter building, chopping branches for firewood and shaving wood.
Halfbreed Blades Medium Infantry Knife Blade Length: 6.69″ Blade Material: Bohler K110 D2 Handle Material: Black G-10 Weight: 17.08 ozs. Overall Length: 11.77″ Sheath: Black Kydex Country Of Origin: Australia MSRP: $335
Legendary knifemaker and teacher Mel Pardue passed away recently, leaving an incredible legacy in his wake.
One of the greats passed away over the weekend. Renowned custom knifemaker Mel Pardue of Repton, Ala., leaves an incredible legacy in his wake. In addition to his custom work and collaborations with top manufacturers, Pardue was a respected and honored member of the knifemaking community.
Pardue was a BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame® member and a voting member of the Knifemakers’ Guild for almost four decades, 14 of those years as a member of the board of directors, the final 10 as vice president. Furthermore, Pardue received the Ron Little Award in 1992 and is a past winner of the Guild’s Red Watson Friendship Award. In 2016, Mel was presented with the BLADE Show’s Aldo and Edda Lorenzi Award for his outstanding work in teaching and mentoring his fellow makers in the art of building knives.
An inventive and consummate professional, Pardue made his first knife in 1952 and regularly created new designs since 1956. While he produced custom knives throughout his career, he is perhaps most widely known for his work in 24 years collaborating with Benchmade, which produced a number of his designs. Among the most popular and recognizable from this partnership was the Griptilian, an EDC folder that became a prolific part of the Oregon company’s catalog. The manual folding knife with the AXIS® lock eventually became available in nearly every conceivable size and color.
Aside from the creative aspects of Pardue’s career, he was also a dedicated teacher of the art and craft of knifemaking. He was the first person without membership in the American Bladesmith Society to teach at the William F. Moran School of Bladesmithing, where he conducted classes on how to make folders. He taught the same subject at the Batson Bladesmithing Symposium and held seminars and classes in his shop for over 40 years. The drive to pass down his wealth of knowledge was also evident in his family legacy, as his son Joe Pardue and grandson Robert Carter are also well-known knifemakers.
Now in its second iterations, the Yojimbo 2 nails exactly what a straightedge folder should be.
It isn’t hard to review a Spyderco knife.
Anyone who has ever used one can tell you the company has an uncanny ability to nail the making of folders as well as fixed blades. What is even more uncanny is how the company can do it so consistently while being so prolific. Hence, if you want to talk about good straight-edge knives and also the features of folding EDCs in comparison to fixed-blade EDCs, you might as well include one of the best folding knifemakers in the business. If you’ve ever talked to BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Sal Glesser, you quickly realize the thing that drives Spyderco’s outstanding record of knife offerings is Sal’s passion for the trade.
The wide blade on the Spyderco Yojimbo 2 gives plenty of real estate for your thumb to clear the scale and fi nd its way into the hole so you can open the knife easily.
Yojimbo 2 Rundown
The Yojimbo design has been out for years, but to be truthful I am just getting around to reviewing it now in the Yojimbo 2 iteration. At 7.55 inches open, it’s in the midsized folder range. I prefer a small-to-midsized folder because once I get into the large folders, I start asking myself why I didn’t just choose a fixed blade. The blade has a sharp-angle execution of a wharncliffe style, resulting in a very articulated tip. With a blade width starting at 1.5 inches, the steep angle still provides a sturdy tip. Spyderco uses a hollow grind that results in a thin geometry.
The handle is subtly textured G-10. The texturing for me has that Goldilocks feel to it—just right. Sometimes because of new machining technology companies do things they can do and don’t think about whether they should. One of the things I most often find is over texturing of handles to the point the knife is uncomfortable to use. This isn’t the case with the Yojimbo 2. The texturing is very slight but undoubtedly present.
Straightedge’s Performance
Opening and closing the folder is smooth. It features Spyderco’s compression lock system, which has a crisp lock up. There’s no doubt your blade is locked thanks to a crisp snap as the lock engages. A handle profile with a number of broad finger grooves provides a secure grip. The broad grooves allow the knife to remain nimble in your grasp.
Out of the box, the Yojimbo 2 was razor sharp. It made eff ortless cuts through this packing crate strapping like the medium wasn’t even there.
If I were to mention only one issue I have with the knife it would be something particular to me and people who suffer the same affliction: fat hands. My hands are beefy. On occasion, the compression lock, because it is located on the spine, catches me ever so slightly between the lock and the liner. Would this version of Spyderco’s would be No.
1 every time. The overall profile makes it easy to capture the rim on tight and loose pockets alike. Not every knife I have reviewed over the years comes back around to be a personal carry. I can tell you, though, the Yojimbo 2 will be making it into my EDC rotation.
Spyderco supplies one of its full-metal pocket clips for the Yojimbo 2. I can’t say this enough: If you had to make a list of the top-five-designed pocket clips, this version of Spyderco’s would be No. 1 every time. The overall profile makes it easy to capture the rim on tight and loose pockets alike. Not every knife I have reviewed over the years comes back around to be a personal carry. I can tell you, though, the Yojimbo 2 will be making it into my EDC rotation.
For more information on the Yojimbo 2, please visit spyderco.com.
