First Night Review: Meyerco/Pinkerton Wharning

Recently, I've been visiting Sharpthings.net's IRC channel and talking knives with the folks there. One of the regulars, Dr. Snubnose, a professional martial arts teacher, NFA qualified firearms instructor, and knife guru, has a lot of interesting things to say about cutting power in knives. Doc is well known on various knife forums for his meat tests for cutting ability. He wraps a large slab of meat in several layers of plastic wrap and then denim to see what knives work the best. Among his top performers included three Wharncliffe style blades. Two of which, the Ronin and Yojimbo, are out of production Spydercos that retailed in the $100 range. However, the third was the Dirk Pinkerton designed Meyerco Wharning. According to the good Doc, this extremely humble $17 knife matched the folding Yojimbo in making 3"- 3 ½” on cuts and slashes with it's 2.75 inch blade. When my wife bade me to order her some paracord to craft with, I also slipped this little guy into the order from BladeHQ for $16.95.


The Wharning is a wharncliffe style blade made from 7CR17 steel. This is not a premium steel in any way. Its roughly equal to 440A. While, this steel will not hold an edge too long, I can safely say that it is simple to resharpen to an effective shaving edge. After cutting open about fifteen thick dense cardboard cases of Tide, it went from a barely shaving factory edge to just sharp. However, less than ten minutes sharpening had it to shaving sharp. Easy!


The blade itself is huge for its stubby length. The stock is pretty thick and stays that way for about half the blade before hitting a slight swedge and sharp straight decline to tip. It is an extremely broad blade with a massive belly. It is a good cutter and the tip control is excellent.

The grips are a cheap micarta canvas. They are semi-smooth. They worked well enough for my dry hands, but I dunno about how well they will hold up against blood or grease. There is a good finger choil that naturally improves grip and retention. While, the grip is rather thin, the belly on the grip is pretty generous. This fills the hand better and makes the short grip work well. On the big negative, there is no jimping past the grips. Control with a thumb well forward on the spine is pretty damn good but it would be perfect with jimping.


The sheath is a pretty basic molded Kydex affair with a metal reversible belt clip. There is enough of a rim where the thumb naturally rests to help push the sheath off when drawing the blade. The choil is exposed and makes drawing much easier. Unfortunately, this taco fold sheath doesn't have any rivet holes that I can use for carbiner carry without using a long tether to the bottom of the sheath.

Overall the Wharning performed well. Cutting boxes, tape, and wrap well. The tip control was great. Ease of resharpening is excellent. Edge retention isn't great, the grips need to be bit rougher, and jimping for the thumb will have to to be added yourself. For $17, the Wharning is a bargain even with its deficiencies. It is replacing my cold steel tanto for now.

On Warriortalk, Dirk Pinkerton himself posted some interesting news for the Wharning. Meyerco has taken the old version off production and is working with Pinkerton to bring an enhanced version with full jimping, textured G10 grips, and even a changed sheath that will be compatible with tec-loks for around the same price as the original. No idea when that will be released, but be assured, I will be picking one up.

UPDATE: The Wharning in the kitchen.

Inital Review of the CRKT S.P.E.W. Small Pocket EDC Wharncliffe

The SPEW got here a little over an hour ago and I've been busy checking this neat little knife out. I'm not huge on the blade steel and I can't decide if the name is crap or a memorable trademark, but I think Alan Folts and CRKT are going to make a tidy sum over this new blade.


The blade steel is 5CR15MoV which is also used in the Folts Minimalists. It takes a decent edge and be resharpened very easily, but it will not hold long. It is not especially strong and being a wharncliff means that the tip is the weakest part of the whole knife. I've had two other wharns, the Kershaw Leek and the Cold Steel Kiridashi, that both have bent tips. There is already a 2 Star review from AZ on Knife Center where someone broke the tip off theirs from a "slight amount of abuse". I personally don't know how to take this. Saying abuse indicates misuse on the part of the user. Stainless steel is very unforgiving of physical abuse but very forgiving of neglect.


The factory edge will not win contests. It cuts paper ok, but is a bit on the ragged side. So it is sharp enough to do good work. It is still miles ahead of the edge on the Timberline previously reviewed. Fortunately, being a straight edge, this wharncliffe should be no problem for even the greenest knife sharpener to take proper care of.


The grip on this blade is very comfortable. It feels good in hammer, saber, and reverse grip. The textured G10 looks great and has a good roughness that will aid in retention. The jimping is rough but shallow and unfortunately flawed. The grips do not share the ridges of the passing jimping. Thus only the tip of the thumb ramp has a good roughness for control. A nice choil helps keep this knife in place. The paracord end helps get a better saber grip, but it is somewhat useless in reverse grip.


The sheath is somewhat above average. The choil is exposed and can be gripped when drawing the blade. Also, it is easy to thumb the sheath off of the knife. This means that it could be carried in the pocket without and mounting parts. However, I've found it works well for my normal karbiner carry technique. It comes with paracord for neck carry. Being so light, it should work nicely for that.


It comes with a belt clip, that just manages to work with the thick velcro parts of my rigger's belt. The clip can be fixed for vertical or horizontal carry. The package is slim. It rides well and conceals well offhand and strong hand in both modes of carry.


However, the design of the sheath means that the clip will be mounted at the bottom so it is something of a high ride in horizontal. In vertical, it is easy to configure to draw from hammer, saber, and even reverse grips. It especially disappears in small of the back vertical carry. The knife is too small and flexy to cause spine damage should you fall.


For defensive use, it's reasonably sharp and fast. I'm sure it'll hurt someone very badly if they go for your gun. Not sure if it will survive a bone hit.

Going to be EDCing this to work for a few weeks in place of my Cold Steel Mini-tac Tanto. As much as I wish for better steel, I think this knife will sell well at the price point. It is a very neat design. I hate to see potential so limited by cheap steel.

Update: Final thoughts on the SPEW.

Surprise Knife Buy, CRKT Dragon

Went shopping with the wife today and got to visit this area's biggest and best knife seller. I got to check out several awesome knives that I've been wanting to handle.


The Benchmade Bedlam Axis felt awesome in the hand and was an awesome blade. However $130 was a bit out of budget. I also got to handle an AUS8 version of Cold Steel's Subhilt OSS fighter. I must have the San Mai version of this blade! The grip is great! Then in the CRKT area, I found one that I've considered for a long time and the price was dead on at $27 even. The CRKT Dragon.


The Dragon is a Kasper Crawford designed Warncliffe blade fighter made of a passable midrange steel. It has G10 scales, a lackluster Kydex sheath complete with subpar belt clip, and a choil deep enough to be considered a subhilt! Yes, folks. SUB. HILT. It feels great in a normal and reverse grip. The jimping is sharp and good. The grip curves to provide even more retention and the pommel is a decent chunk of exposed steel that could break a window or a skull. All for $27!


Some folks say that the Dragon looks like a kitchen knife. Well, I've used plenty of my carry knives in the kitchen. If it can cut raw vegetables and meat well, it'll cut a human from throat to groin with equal aplomb.


It looks like a rather nice companion for my Sig 245. It'll be useful to compare the S.P.E.W. when it comes in this weekend. Hopefully. Warncliffes are everywhere!

Dratted Weakness, New Knife Inbound

Man, two weeks without updating? Am I lazy or what? But really hasn't been much going on or really interesting since Shot Show. Meh.

However, I do have a new knife incoming from Knife Center. It is the horribly named CRKT SPEW or Small Pocket EDC Warncliffe. A very cool design made of a very mediocre steel. Perhaps it will exceed my expectations. I wasn't going to order it until I noticed that shipping it would only cost me $2.99... At a paltry $31.94 combined, I was unable to resist. I should stop checking the new arrival sections of Knife Center and BladeHQ.

I am hoping that this will tide me over until the release of the Becker BK17 in April.

Kabar's 2012 Catalog Released & Pricing Info

Kabar released the PDF to their 2012 Catalog a few days ago. In it are the new Beckers I'm so excited about and also some more exact stats on them.

The BK15, the largest of these new tweeners, is an Asian tanto style with a 5-1/2" blade and 10 3/8" over all.

The BK16 is a drop point and Ethan Becker's own pick of the litter. It is smaller than the tanto with a 4-3/8" blade and 9-1/4" overall.

The handsome BK17 is a clip point with the same blade and overall length as the BK16.

All three are made in the USA from 1095 cro-van high carbon steel blades, come with both black & brown zytel polymer grips, and a cordura sheath. The MSRP is $107.49.

Traditionally, the dealer cost for Kabar knives is one half of the MSRP. Doing up a few averages based on KnifeCenter's asking price for various Kabar made Beckers, I'm estimating the mark up to be around 22% so we should see these going for about $65.95 at Knife Center. I expect for most sites $60-80 will be the normal range.

That's not a horrible cost for what should be one of the best medium fixed blade knives coming out this year. Especially considering that ESEE-4's are going for around $125. Those should be the medium sized carbon steel blades that these knives will be compared to the most.

I doubt the Becker sheaths are going to be much count. However, for the price savings a decent custom sheath shouldn't be too onerous a purchase. Especially if the performance and quality is up to expectations. Kabar might want to invest in making some good sheaths for customers to buy later or go ahead and offer a more expensive package.

I like all these designs and sizes are right for so many uses. If I like the BK17, I will most likely get the other two as well. They're just that cool.

2012 Boker Fixed Blades

Boker is starting off the year right with several new additions to the Boker Plus fixed blade line. Several of these are in the small EDC/Neck knife niche. Boker has really been impressing me with their small EDC knives lately. They're usually in good old 440C and the Boker Plus line is usually a hell of a bargain. They've added three that I found rather appealing.


The 440C, Nippon Necker, is an interesting 3inch bladed true tanto, rather than double pointed American Tanto. The scales are G10 and it looks like a really solid choice for an EDC fixed blade. Good lines!


The MTT, is what I refer to as a 'Scalpel-style' knife. The blade is very short in comparison to the grip. It really looks like a great multi-purpose knife with a highly controllable tip. I could see someone using this one a lot as a fixed box cutter or as a hobby knife. Also, featuring G10 grips and 440C steel.


A little more bizzare is this Karambit inspired, Newton Martin K-Bit. This is a classic claw style. Claws are great for opening boxes, cutting lines, and hurting goblins. The ring on this differs from the popular LaGriff-style claw knives, in that the ring is for the middle or the ring finger depending on normal or reverse grip. 440C here again too.

Boker is making a lot of nice small knives these days. I wish they'd use better steels sometimes, but many of today's neck knives are made of sub-par steels and have poor fit and finish so I don't feel I have a lot of room to complain. I look forward to the reviews on these. The K-Bit might be just the thing to replace my poor lost Emerson LaGriff.

CRKT SPEW: Cool New Design, but Who Named it?

One CRKT's 2012 catalog items is coming out is the S.P.E.W. or Small Pocket Everyday Warncliffe. It is a very handsome warncliffe sporting G10 grips with a blade around 3inches designed by Alan Folts, who designed the Minimalist. Looks like a great choice for an EDC knife except that 'SPEW' is what I think when I looked up the steel it's made of. 5CR15MoV is to be better than my personal whipping boy 420hc. 420hc has a place, but I think that is in liners and other parts of knives that don't involve sharp edges. AUS8 and 440C are really a minimum for a serious knife in my opinion.

Also, SPEW? Really? You want to name a knife with an acronym that involves vomiting? Was P.O.O.P already taken?

I'm really liking the design on this. It looks slick as hell. Handsome little blade. Looks right for EDC or for a little emergency goblin shanking. It is going to retail for around $30. If I found one of these local, I might impulse buy. Heck for $20bucks shipped, I'd preorder one now. Close to $40? I'm going to have to really think about it. There's flashlights and Beckers to buy.

Edit: Alan Folts named this one. I was wanting to think that CRKT for some brainfarty reason. Sorry, Alan. I'd love a custom version of this, but man, the name stinks!

Ethan Becker Video of the Becker Line

Here's a great video I found posted on the Shot Show thread in the Becker Knife & Tool subforum on BladeForum. Here Ethan Becker himself shows off the classic Becker knives and the newest ones from Kabar. There's a few in lines in here I love too. I really wish I could get to meet and talk to Mr. Becker!



The reintroduced BK4 actually looks like an awesome small kukri style. Modern, but classically functional. And this is a 30 year old design!

However, the real drooling happens with the new small drop point, tanto, and clip point. They look like the mid sized multi-role blades I and a lot of other folks have been waiting for. The grips look wonderful and very comfortable. Blades are going to have good deep bellies and good grinds.

I've heard that they're going to be shipping in March if all goes well. I may need to preorder the bowie. Not too keen on the sheath for carry, so I'll have to get the lead out and learn how to make my own.

Cold Steel's 2012 New Product List

Cold Steel has finally produced its list of upcoming products for 2012. I am TOTALLY disappointed. Instead of the drop or spear point Mini-Tac that I have been lusting for, we have the tanto and the skinner types coming in serrated... Woopdy fucking doo.

There are 5 swords(no kindjal meh), an axe, 2 spears, a naval dirk, 2 sword machetes, an expensive Kukri in sk5 carbon steel, a few stainless fixed blades, and a several new lockbacks including a mini and micro size for the Recon I series. At least all three sizes will have a spearpoint version now.

I am feeling depressingly underwhelmed. I was really looking forward to Cold Steel's new product list this year. Well, at least Benchmade looks like they're going to have a great year for new goods.

A Neat Upcoming Benchmade/Harley Davidson Fixed Blade

2012 is already shaping up to be a good year for knives. Several nice looking blades have shown up on BladeForums in a thread for new Benchmade knives. One is part of Benchmade's line of blades made for Harley Davidson. One fixed blade has really caught my eye, the Madcap.


This blade is a modest 4.66 inch long, an excellent defensive blade size. It is on the higher end size for what I like to be made out of 440C stainless, but still within acceptable limits. The shape looks to be a modified drop point recurve. Very similar to a SOG Spec Elite I or II. The grips are g10, which is my favorite grip material. It also has a deep choil which is much like the sub hilts I rant and gibber on about like a Cthulhu cultist with a blasphemous idol. The pommel terminates at an near point that would enable breaking both auto glass and faces with equal aplomb.

This is a sexy blade that is going to be retailing for about $88.95 according to BladeHQ. I am always looking for knives of this size. A little bigger than the normal 3-4 inch range of small defensive knives, but under $100. Since it is 440c, I wish it were about 15 bucks cheaper at least. If the sheath is decent, it might be worth checking out. Oh hell, who am I kidding? I'm going to check it out anyway.

On another note, the package mentioned a week ago is finally out for delivery this morning. About time! Also, I'll be headed to the range this morning to test out my Sig 245 and also to get some much needed trigger time in with my primary carry, the S&W 638 j-frame.

Update: Its not Madcap as BladeHQ's site says, instead it is Mad Cat.

Update2: Benchmade lists it as Madcap. *sigh*

Teenage Self-Defense in Florida

Daniels in the Gunblogger Conspiracy IRC channel, posted this link about the criminal charges brought against a teenager who used a pocket knife lethally in self-defense against another teen in Florida.

The short version is that one fourteen year old boy, who had a pocket knife, attempted to avoid a fight with another older boy by getting off the bus several stops before where the fight was supposed to take place. Unfortunately, the aggressor exited the bus with some friends at his back and assaulted the victim cravenly from behind and continued the attack. This caused the victim to draw a pocket knife and begin to fight back. Out of twelve knife strikes, two managed to be lethal for the still attacking older teen. The local authorities charged the fourteen year old with second degree murder and went to court. However, under Florida's "Stand your ground law", a judge threw out the charges.

The judge made it clear that the boy had attempted to avoid the fight, while armed, and was under assault from the first hit to the fatal blow with his blade in a place he had every single right to be in. He had reason to believe that his life was in danger and he acted in a legal fashion.

Of course plenty of people are calling the victim a murderer. People have some sort of weird idea that it was the boy's duty to accept his 'beat down'. That he was a girl to avoid the attack. Those people are so very wrong.

The boy acted exactly how a CCWer should act. He was armed for his own protection, and took steps to avoid conflict knowing that. That failed. He was chased down and assaulted, sucker punched from the onset.

The attacker also had friends with him. When things go south for the attacker, friends often step in. Then it would have degraded into a gang beating. To me that's a big motivator to fight back with everything. I've been in situations similar. Being at the total mercy of teenagers is nothing anyone wants.

Lastly, in the end the victim fought back with an utterly inadequate weapon. Then he only made two lethal hits out of twelve. His blade will have been in the range of 2.5 to 3.5 inches. Almost impossible to deliver an instant fight stopping hit. When knives come out there are often far more hits than that.

People just don't understand the world of a youth. It is not so much sunshine and smiles. Horrible things happen and never get reported. There is a weird code of honor and a lot of fear to back it up. Children are extorted, tortured, sexually assaulted, and robbed. Crimes that merit violent and lethal self-defense among adults are laughed off as kids being kids. Teenagers are not totally children, but not totally adults. They often have the physical power of adults, but not the brains in their skulls to keep them from misusing it.

One kid is dead, he might have made something of his life, I'd rather he have gotten some good wounds and learned. Yet, he reaped what he sowed. When cornered people fight. That kid that fought back will have to live with his actions. He is one of us. One of the CCWers out there. He's no murderer, but he's a killer. Any one of us could be him one day.

2012 Kershaws at Blade HQ

Was browsing the 'Coming Soon' section of BladeHQ, when I noticed several different new Kershaws. Notable models include:

Funxion, an flipper style assisted opening knife/multitool in DIY, EMT, and Outdoor configurations.
Outdoor 10, a 10inch bladed carbon steel bolo/kukri hybrid.
Vapor III, a third model in the Vapor series.
Taskmaster, a 7inch folding saw.
Cyro, a very handsome 2.75inch bladed assisted-opening flipper.

There are several others, but please roll over to BladeHQ to see pictures and more information. Looks like Kershaw is going to have a good year. A few of these, especially the Outdoor and Cyro, look very attractive to me.

Update & Final Thoughts on the SOG Spec Elite II

One of my most often read posts is one about my experiences in carrying a truly large folder, specifically the SOG Spec Elite II. It is a 'combat' folder with a monstrous 5inch recurve blade in the excellent VG-10 steel. I have carried it on and off for several years and I have decided to retire this knife from carry permanently.

One of the main reasons for carrying a big folder is for possible self defense use and honestly the only other reason is for woods craft like batoning or chopping. Otherwise a small blade is generally going to be less expensive, less legally problematic, easier to carry, and less likely to scare other folks. But the Spec Elite is simply not strong enough to deal with those things.

From day one, I've have problems with the screws holding the pivot point together. They want to work loose during the operation. The weight of the blade only aggravates the situation. Tightening them enough to stop it, would only keep the blade from smoothly opening via thumbstud, lock manipulation, or just a hard flick of the wrist. Loctite I think will only cause more of the same. The blade has a good amount of wobble when untightened enough to open normally. As already said tightening it doesn't work either. As it stands I do believe under heavy duty use, in an emergency, I do not have faith in the screws not to work out and for the blade to come free. The frame is not strong enough to maintain integrity alone.

In fact, I discovered that two of the small screws had indeed worked out and been lost a few weeks ago when I went to carry it IWB. On the upside, I emailed SOG, and they had two replacement screws in my mailbox within two weeks.

The blade sharpness and sturdiness is excellent, the pocketclip is good enough for IWB, the lock system is secure, and the grip is at least passable. I can only rate this one for medium use on the condition that you are very careful on keeping an eye on the screws. Therefore, the 5inch blade is practically decorative. This one is going into the old knife box. It is retired.

"The Right to Knife" From Straight Forward in a Crooked World

Matthew over at Straight Forward in a Crooked World has an exceptional post about the use of knives for defense and defensive offense. It is less on the knives themselves and more on the reality of having to take a sharp blade to someone and the results of that. This post paints the reality of such action in appropriately grim and brutal fashion. It has really got me thinking of testing the abilities of my knives.

Review: Timberline Tactical ECS-4

Originally, I said that I would carry the new Timberline Tactical ECS for a few weeks. It did not work out so. I do not know if I have ever been both so impressed and disappointed in a knife, but that isn't exactly correct. It is a bit of a convoluted situation.

Getting to the negatives first, the knife came unusable as a cutting device. I do know that I've never had a knife come out of the box with a worse edge. After using my Griptilian for nearly two months, did I feel the need to get the edge back into shape. This was done in about ten minutes with a set of Lanskey Croc Sticks. After nearly 20 minutes of work with the same, the improved edge still wouldn't cut the top off a tied plastic Walmart bag. I was warned by the single review on KnifeCenter, but I didn't not take it too seriously. To be perfectly honest, my sharpening skills are poor. That is my fault, but putting edges on metal is not my job. If I wanted to redo an edge into functional status I would be making my own knives and I'd have a RK mk1 subhilt on my hip and be busy selling you guys knives verses reviewing them. I have two fixed blades with not so great edges, however both are styles that are known for this very problem. One is a small double edged spear point, Fallkniven Garm, and the other is a single edged dagger point, Boker Trench. Neither broad enough to have the deep bellies that make for great cutters. The ECS-4 possess a modified spear point making this rather inexcusable when other examples like that on the Kershaw Skyline are excellent. As a result, I did not carry this but a few times just to see how it carried.

The ECS line's featured gimmick is a locking system. By pressing a springy metal bar where your index finger rests, you release the knife from its polymer sheath. I am happy to say that this works very well and I think this is a winning idea. I am very interested to see how this might apply to larger knives. There are two caveats that I cannot bring to call full negatives. The first is that you will not be able to operate this easily in other grip that a pinch between index finger and thumb. I don't see you being able to generate the pressure in a reverse grip or round hold. That may be a deal breaker for many, but I think of this to be like the retention system of a Blackhawk Serpa. Like the Serpa, the ECS is designed to be drawn with a certain grip. Doing so otherwise is impossible. That also makes this acceptable as an open carry knife. The other is that the sheath lock is a two part deal, requiring both the sheath and knife itself to be designed to work in unison. Having to deal with the locking nub, would mean that 3rd party sheaths are going to be difficult and repairs in the field useless.

The ECS does have nice deep jimping on both the spine and the unlocking bar, but the rearward ones were pretty useless, it is too short for a reverse grip. The holes in the grip did help a bit with providing more friction, but I think G10 would have been a better choice than the slicker stock polymer. The cross style guard for this seemed a poor choice for this smaller version due to the style in which the blade must be drawn. To be more in line with that, perhaps a thumb ramp instead of the top guard and then extending the bottom guard would fare better. I found that the grip was simply too short for me. I wish I could handle the larger versions to see if the grip design is only problematic in this shorter neck knife version.

Most sheath systems are the weakest part of a knife. Otherwise we wouldn't have piles of leatherworkers and kydex folders out there making a tidy profit. However, for the ECS the sheath system is a welcome surprise and in my opinion overshadows the locking system.

The polymer sheath itself is well thought out. It is two piece held to together with several screws. A most excellent feature was included by the knife's designer Brian Fellhoelter, was the indent that keeps the knife from rattling in its ABS plastic home. The ECS is mounted either belt or molle via a harness. This harness slips in the four rectangular slots in the sheath and then hook together with alligator hook and loop catches. This ambidextrous design allows for a quick switch to left or right side. The belt loop is simple and effective and very back is a solid MOLLE connection. The MOLLE design has a snap strap that thankfully keeps those hateful MALICE clips out of the equation. The strap also will easily fold back into the harness unobtrusively for belt carry. The larger version of the ECS also include a belt/boot clip. I really wish I had one of those to try out. I really want to know if it measures up to the belt/MOLLE harness.

According to Brain Fellhoelter the ECS stands for Emergency Condiment Spreader. He also comments that it was designed to be a knife for river guides. Sadly, Timberline's production take on his custom is pretty much only good for spreading peanut butter without some initial work. Rereading his site, I wish I could try one of his custom ECS models or the larger production models to compare. Even flawed the Timberline ECS-4 shows that his concept works well. If the larger one have a proper working edge, I think they'll measure up far better.

The knife aside, I find this sheath system to be so excellent that I am tempted to make a kydex sheath with harness slots cut to use it with other knives like my Boker Trench. In fact, I think that once some folks get a hold of these sheaths that folks would buy the harness alone. With wider harnesses, this could take off like the popular Tek Lock.

UPDATE: I emailed the designer, Brain Fellhoelter, and found out that the webbing harness is based on his idea, but resigned and improved by Timberline. I also found one of the custom ECS blades for sale on Arizona Custom Knives. Notice the difference in the cross guard. This one looks more like a thumb ramp. Excellent high-vis G10 scales, too! A bit pricey for my tastes. If it were a subhilt, I'd be tempted to put this bad boy on layaway.

KnifeCenter's Prompt Response

Yesterday, I received a knife that was simply not the color as depicted on it's product page at KnifeCenter. While, I still opened the package, I sent an email complaining about the misleading image and that they should change it.

I checked the product page and found a new image in place of the old. One where there is no doubt that the blade has a dark coating. Waiting in my email was their apology for the inconvenience, an explanation that it was an image from the manufacturer, and a thank you for bringing it to their attention.

The KnifeCenter has always done good by me, and this just cements it. It took them less than 24 hours to fix a mistake. I'm sure if I had not opened the package, and returned the knife, there would have been zero issues. You may pay a few extra bucks at KnifeCenter, but the service here tends to be fast and any problems will be solved quickly. They also will give you a small extra if you review a knife for them. Using my last review code, I got a free Camilus Lubricant and Wipe cloth. The time before that, a decent paring knife. These goodies aren't much, but it feels nice getting a little extra in today's economy.

Just In: Timberline Tactical ECS-4

The brown truck of joy dropped this guy off little more than an hour ago, yet some drama ensued instantly. The problem was that the blade color of it on KnifeCenter was a good bit lighter than as it came.

From the looks of the picture, I expected a bead blasted stainless. Instead, I received an obviously coated blade. I very nearly called them to ask for a return information. I did double check the page and sure enough it say that it was a titanium coated blade in the details. I've decided to keep it, but I am going to contact them to put a darker picture in its' place.

This relatively recent addition to Timberline's knives has a particular gimmick that intrigued me. The knife locks and unlocks itself in it's sheath via the metal bar on the grip. The sheath hook is designed to lock into place by the knife just being normally inserted. To draw, the grip on the knife is simply made tight. While some might decry this motion as impossible in the case of a damaged hand, normal kydex sheaths would be equally hard to draw from in the same situation.

So far, I really like the sheath system. It is MOLLE ready and the mountings can be reversed to a left handed/offhanded use. It is not kydex but rather a hard plastic, but it seems nicely made thus far. I will be putting a keyring on it and using it in carbiner carry this week as well.

The blade itself is a 3inch modified spear point in one of the 440s, probably 440C. After the sheer excellence of my Kershaw's SkyLine's blade, I've gotten quite a lot of love for this style of blade. Sadly, this one was only really sharp on one side, I will be working on it with my sharpener this week.

The grip may be the real weak point here. It's not as grippy as I'd like, and a bit short for the guard style. However, there is jimping under this simple cross guard, allowing solid point control.

The knife set me back about $40 dollars plus shipping. There is a larger version of this spear point coming soon. It will feature a 3.8 inch blade, longer grip, and possibly some orange grips and a grip tool included in its accessories. The grip tool and extra grips are present in the Tanto and Drop Point styles of the 3.8, already out. The drop point is handsome, and might make a solid choice for defensive work.

I'll be replacing my Cold Steel Mini-tac Tanto for now with this. I'll be looking to give an update on it's performance in about 2 weeks.

Incoming Stabby

New fixed blade inbound from KnifeCenter. As much as I like my Cold Steel Tanto, I'm ready to try something different. Sadly, it is not the M1-compact. I'm going to try to hold out for the M1 Mini to get the TOPS treatment. Or maybe just get one directly from Relentless.

The Defensive Fixed Blade

I often speak of defensive fixed blade knives to be carried offhand. Dan at BladeReviews mentioned that he appreciated my input on such things so I'm going to over-clarify. These are my opinions and observations, but of course, I've never actually gone at anyone with a blade. If you think it's crap, please comment away!

First off one must remember that a defensive knife isn't the same thing as a true dedicated fighting knife, nor is it going to be a combat knife. Fighting knives have their own special requirements. The foremost is the ability to deliver an immediate kill. Therefore, the fighting blade must be either deliver catastrophic damage through edge cuts or internal organ hits through point penetration. Combat knives for me, are knives that are primarily field tools that also can do a fair job as a fighting blade when necessary.

For an edge kill, that means a large knife with the weight and design physics to chop or slice through bone and muscle. Not just taking out arteries. Death by blood loss takes time. Time that can be used against you. In addition to the edge cut there is also the blunt force issues of bone and meat being pushed into other organs or places. Shock, the shear level of physical damage, and massive blood loss all together would finish off the victim. Kukris, barongs, large bowies, and such are renown for this sort of thing.

You'll find that penetration kills are more common. It is easier and falls in line of the fighting blade's role in the modern military world. Silent kills on enemy soldiers by special forces operators. These are ambush kills, but kills nonetheless. Here, length is the big issue. Like with the minimum penetration standards the FBI put out for handgun projectiles, there is a literal distance to be traveled to the life sustaining organs of the human body from the point of entry. If the blade is strong enough, it can penetrate the rib cage directly. The cage can be bypassed by going up under it or down through the collar. If one looks at the bayonets of the world you can figure out the minimum size for such weapons. The modern bayonet seems to be in the range of 6.5 to 8 inches in length. That is a reasonable bar then. Also, the blades tend not to be broad and are either double edged or the back is swedged to give better penetration.

But what does all this tell us about the defensive knife? Merely, what we cannot expect from it. Defensive blades are not meant to deliver a killing stroke. They can cause fatal wounds, but very rarely an immediate one. Look at a cat's claws for a great example. Cat's do not kill often with their claws, especially not something close to it's size. In predatory action, the claws hold while the bite kills. In a fight, the cat often curls up and uses its powerful rear legs to shred the soft places of its opponent. As we cat owners know, this crap hurts, even when they're just playing. The cat scratches you to make you let go. That is of course the end game. Getting free.

Your defensive blade is meant to inflict as much hurt as it can at point blank contact distance to make the goon let you go. As a bonus, it might seriously weaken that same person. Every drop of blood the other guy loses is helping the fight go in your favor. Also, like with a cat, he should never have seen that blade until he feels the tip scraping across his bones. Shock is useful! Fear and surprise can help you. If you can change his mind from fight to flight, it is your win.

Defensive blades, naturally have some serious requirements. For the blade, while length isn't as important, it must be kept deadly sharp. Just like you should keep a kitchen knife. After all, you're cutting meat. If the knife is too long it will not be easy to bring into use against a grappling attacker. The steel doesn't have to be uber premium. AUS8 and 440c do well for blades of 4 inch and under. This also has the benefit of not costing as much to replace if the knife must be left embedded in someone. Also, you want to be able to draw the knife and use it.

The grip needs to be excellent for both draw and retention. Ever try to pull a smooth gripped knife out of a kydex sheath? Or keep hold of a slimy grip? I find G10 grips to be wonderfully rough and grippy in the worst situations, but most poly, wood, or metal grips with good texturing will do nicely. Also, sub hilts and ring hilts help a lot in both draw and retention. They lock your finger in, though if the blade is caught, you might get something broken. Also, a good guard is a must too. I think too many knives do not have adequate guards. They're really not for protecting against other knives, but protecting you from a hand-slip and some cut fingers.

Perhaps the most neglected issue from the knife manufactures is carry options for their defensive blades. Most knife manufactures do not provide even decent sheaths with their knives. Many folks are forced to buy 3rd party sheath systems or make their own. IWB, OWB, pocket, neck, and even should carry are possible, but with knives they can be also carried in different positions like vertical and small of the back carry doesn't cause as much danger as it would with a handgun.

The images from top to bottom: TOPS Baghdad Bullet, unknown Kukri, Boker Plus Schanz Integral Dagger, Emerson La Griffe, Dirk Pinkerton Pocket Bowie, Boker Plus Mosier Tactical, CRKT Crawford Kasper Dragon, and KSF Pocket Sheaths.