New Gear Inbound.

Just made an order to BladeHQ today with some Christmas money I was lucky to get. I have a new fixed blade knife and a new flashlight inbound. Looking forward to seeing what sort of service BladeHQ will give me. I'll give you a hint. The brand names begin with F & B.

Improvised Weapons: Millwall Brick

The anti-defense crowd of thugs and rapist wannabes often whine about innocuous knives being weapons. They attempt to ban them for being too big, too small, opening too fast, being too military looking, or just being sharp. However, the world is full of every day objects that can be rendered into something just as potentially dangerous if not far more than your ordinary EDC folding blade. Such an item is the Millwall Brick.


The Brick hails from the disarmed serf-nation of UK. It was used as a soccer hooligan's stealth weapon. It is a mean little improvised weapon, that can be brought anywhere and made on the spot within a few minutes. Such as that, it's not really a bad idea to know how to make one if push comes to shove. The materials to make one are found in your Sunday Edition newspaper. Or rather, the Millwall Brick IS your Sunday paper!

The Millwall Brick is a carefully folded large newspaper. It is folded/rolled long wise, and then folded in half to form a handle and the rounded fold becomes the head of this bludgeon. They are often wettened down to add weight or even feature nails.

To be honest, it would be a more effective weapon than your after Kershaw or Gerber folder. It has more size and reach. It is almost like a sap.

Paper is surprisingly strong in bundles. Folks have made .22lr back stops in their homes using phone books. That paper doesn't have the density of folded either. Each time you fold paper it comes harder to fold until you cannot fold it further with a human's strength.

This simple item could easily put someone into the hospital. Used effectively it could kill someone. But it is just a newspaper. I cannot think of a single place that bans newspapers. Schools, airplanes, courthouses, bars, post offices... It is just one of the countless items that can be used in place of knives or even guns everywhere if your criminal decides to obey the rules...

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.

Tired of Being Civil About Self Defense Rights

That is IT. I'm throwing down the gauntlet. After reading about Amanda Collins, a university student who was disarmed by campus laws and ended up raped at gun point after a night class, I cannot take being civil anymore. The same filth went on to kill and rape others. Thanks to the long standing left's war on self-defense, her firearm was left at home against the threat of expulsion when she needed it. Maybe she would have been killed, maybe she would have killed him. We cannot say, but she was helpless thanks to the work of anti-rights cultists.

I'm tired of being called a murderer-in-waiting. Sick and tired of them trying to prove that I'm sub-human for wanting to see that I and my fellow humans have the tools and rights to protect our lives, families, and properties against the greed and wickedness of others. Guess what? Two can play at that game, motherfuckers!

Anyone actively working and campaigning against our rights to carry weapons and fight back in self-defense is of the worst sort of vermin. They are pro-rape, pro-murder, pro-crime scum. I could care less if they are that was from a sick sexual satisfaction to see others hurt, they're following their programming, or whatever the reason. They are enemies of freedom and liberty. They are less than the worms that fill the diseased feces of a feral dog. I will call you what you are. Accomplices of murder, sexual violence, torture, thievery, and every other crime that innocents have suffered from being they were not permitted to have the necessary tools to defend.

Who are part of this group? Every member of the boards of colleges that vote against self-defense. Every politician everywhere that votes against self-defense. Everyone working for, donating to, or advocating the Brady Campaign, VPC, Million Mom March, and the others. Every cop that gives CCW people a hard time just because. The list goes on. You're not human to me anymore. I wouldn't piss on you to save your lives for 20 bucks.

If I hear someone that wants to tell me to my face, that I'm a coward for carrying, that guns are evil, that carrying guns is awful... I'm going to sneer at them and ask them, "Yeah, watching people get raped and murdered gets you hard/wet right? What do you like about it the most? The fear in their eyes? The blood on the ground? Fucking sick wannabe. Get away from me. I don't associate with vermin."

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.

My First Big Bore, the Sig P245

Well, things finally worked out, and I am now the proud owner of a used but still minty, Sig-Sauer P245. This .45 ACP is has a compact 3.9inch barrel but a nearly subcompact grip. It disappears OWB or IWB. It uses 6 round magazines normally, but this one came with three 8rd magazines with grip extensions. I'll be carrying with the 6rd mags but keep the 8rd mags for reload.

This particular Sig is special, as I know and have been friends with the original owner, Alan, from SnarkyBytes for several years now. It has even spend time on the range with the world's most dangerous librarian. It is a most welcome addition to the household arsenal, and I look forward to hitting the range with it.

I picked up a simple Don Hume 721, thumb break holster for CC and OC. It also works well with my Zurich Sig 225. While not fitting as tightly, the thumb break keeps it nicely secure. However, I am considering some nice leather for this one.

Walmart is Testing the Waters with EBRs

I managed to find out from a manager that the Sigs and Bushmasters are not part of our replenishable inventory. They were apparently bought in bulk and are currently going out to stores to test the waters to see if such rifles will generate enough sales to become regular inventory. As such, the stores cannot order additional rifles. Instead, stores can put in a request for the rifles but with no assurance that they can actually get one. If you see one and the price is right, grab it. There's no telling when and if we will see the rifles become a normal item in the inventory. However, my store has sold every Sig m400 and 522 we've had in, though the Bushmaster has been untouched. I think that we will see EBRs as part of the regular inventory. Just can't say when.

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.

More Intel on Walmart Evil Black Rifles

Talked to the manager over sporting goods. According to him, there is no order catalog for the Sigs and Bushmasters that have been showing up. As they sell, replacements are automatically ordered by the perpetual inventory system and sent to the store. I've asked him about finding out more. However, it being the holiday season, this might take a while.

Ruger Gunsite Scout Available At Walmarts

I finally managed to get into the 2012 Walmart firearm order book and found a lack of ordering information for evil black rifles like Sigs or Bushmasters, but I did find the listing for the cool Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle. It is running for about $760 or so. Not exactly a 'deal'. It would be about that or less at most gunshops.

Sadly, this and the Ruger Mini series were the most evil and black rifles in the book. Yet, the Sig 522s, 556s, and m400s as well as Bushmasters are being sold. Still working on more info.

SIG 522 sighted at Walmart!

A SIG-Sauer 522, the .22lr 556 lookalike, was waiting for someone to buy it in the guncase at work. It had the iron sights included and was priced at $487. I've been wanting one for a long while. If I wasn't getting the Sig 245, I would have most likely bought it today. Nevertheless, this is the second true evil black rifle to be seen on Walmart shelves recently. Hopefuly, we will see lots more and be able to order them.

I'm working on using my employee status to get some concrete details on what all will be listed for special order. So far, I have found out that Walmarts are supplyed by South Sports, which is a major distributor that sells just about everything out there. There are instructions for ordering a catalog, but I'm still hunting for the new one we should either have already or be getting soonish.

UPDATE ON ORDERING

Can Abortion be Considered Justifiable Homicide?

After failing to make a post happen about the Mississippi vote to give fertilized human eggs full human status, I ended up starting a rather heated discussion about the subject in the Gunblogger Conspiracy IRC channel. All sides made some rather good point and some bad, and after having abortion called murder so many times, something stuck with me about it. At work tonight, my thoughts turned back to the conversation and a stray thought hit me hard. Could under certain circumstances an abortion be considered a justifiable homicide?

Killing in self defense is not an uncommon topic in the gunny world. We who carry weapons must deal with the idea that we may be forced to use it. When it comes down to it we allowed by law to commit homicide in protection of ourselves, others, and sometimes our property. Under many state's laws, we do not have to wait for the assault to come, but merely the threat of imminent harm is enough to justify a self defense shooting. Such shootings are different from murder because of the intent. The intent isn't merely to kill someone, but to prevent or stop that person from causing harm. This remains true even if the perpetrator did not mean to harm anyone. Not all criminals are out to harm you, and sometimes people are accidental criminals such in the case of intoxicated persons breaking into homes that are not theirs. The fact that they represent a possible real and present danger is enough to justify their deaths in the eyes of the law. It is tragedy.

In the case of an abortion, the same may hold true. Especially in the event of the rape of a minor. While, opponents point out that while it is terrible that a child was raped, the baby growing inside them is blameless and thus not to be held accountable for the crime committed by the father. To terminate would be murder. But murder is in the intent isn't it? Pregnancy is not always safe. Especially for physically immature mothers. There are real dangers to life and permanent health associated with such pregnancies. Terminating the fetus could be construed as protecting the life and well being from harm rather than murdering it. Is this necessarily so different from an intruder in your house? Will they hurt someone or take something or just go? We do not know until the end. But waiting until the end we could hit the worst possible result or the best. We do not know.

This concept could be expanded to even mature rape victims. Just as in Texas, a thief can be shot down in the back for stealing property, a child is such a massive financial burden for so long... It wouldn't take much to apply it I think. This is really some major food for thought.

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.

Trial of the Canton PD's Victim

Many have seen the unbelievable video of Officer Daniel Harless of the Canton PD Ohio's verbal assault and threats against the CCW permit holder, William Bartlett, on Youtube. He was arrested and charged with failure to inform an officer of his concealed weapon.

It is pretty clear in the video that, Officer 'Roidrage', verbally and physically intimidated this man and simply would not allow him to give that information immediately. Thanks to the video the genie is out and Harless will have to face the music eventually. However, the local law enforcement is not happy to be caught and are working hard to make Bartlett pay for the crime of standing up to their bullying.

The trial against Bartlett is proceeding and Ohioans For Concealed Carry are looking for donations for legal defense. I've tossed a few bucks into the pot and you can too here. Please donate to this worthy cause. Show those bullies that there are far too many of us for them to just 'go home and sleep like a baby' when they beat up on the little guy.

Surprise Bacon Find!

Was trotting through a Wal-mart and look what I found. Can any one resist?

Yes, Bacon Jerky! It's good, too! Tastes right, and is nicely chewy. I can't decide if this was a very good find or very very very very bad find. Nevertheless, seems like the perfect snack for everyone's favorite extra dangerous librarian.

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.

A Tasty Experiment

During my endless toil for the Bovine Overseer and out Dark Corporate Lords, I discovered a brick of queso blanco velveeta cheese-like product. Evil plans formed in my mind.

I actually feel that Velveeta and other processed 'American' cheeses have a place in the kitchen. They melt to gooey so very well. I've often tossed some 2% Velveeta to transform my chili into wonderful chili cheese topping for chips or hot dogs. I still have a pocket of it frozen in the freezer for a lousy cold day.

After work I purchased said brick of cheese, 1lb of ground chicken, 1 packet McCormick chicken taco seasoning, a can of refried beans, and some tortilla chips. Scoops to be precise.

Browned the chicken in a skillet lightly oiled with peanut oil. Then followed the directions for the mix packet. Added the water, but only put in about 2/3rds of the seasoning. Let it simmer a bit. Added and mixed in the can of refried beans. Last came a 4th of the block of white processed cheese-like substance cut into cubes. Stirred until fully melted and mixed up.

It was delicious. The spouse unit agreed vehemently. I, and my arteries, felt very full and satisfied after downing a bowl along with a plate of chips. The beans and the chicken make this feel a lot of lighter than a beef chili-cheese dip would. With about a third of the cheese, it would would make a solid filling for corn or flour tortillas. As it stands this will get used during the holidays as a snacking dip. Tasty is considered a solid success.

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.

Muela's German Style Handle Utility Knife

Even before buying my beloved Boker trench dagger, I've loved these military style guards and handles. While surfing KnifeCenter, I found this Muela with a classic Germanic military/bayonet grip.

The steel is an unnamed stainless, but it's not a long blade. At 4.7 inches it is at my comfort limit with standard stainless. The 1121 & the stainless version, 1123, both have thin bowie-like clip point style blade. The versions cost $25 and $31 respectively.

Muela is not a brand I know much about. There is very little information available about this Spanish manufacturer. Primarily, they make stainless blades and they do make some pretty higher end products. From what little I can gather, these Spanish blades are supposed to be pretty functional. One of Muela's particular claims to fame is that they produce the Magnum 26 which is the giant bowie used by Pierce Brosnan in Seraphim Falls. 14inch 440c blade is not something I would actually care to use. Under hard use, it would most likely break.

I'd like to give this one a try. The grip appeals to me a lot, and at the cost, I find it hard to lose even if it's not worth serving as an EDC or defensive blade. At the worst, it would find it's way into my kitchen drawer. Which is the fate for stainless fixed blades I don't think quite 'hack' it.

TOPS/Relentless M1-Compact Knife

Relentless Knives is custom knife producer that makes some really nice looking blades. Their biggest claim to fame is having made the Punisher knife used in Punisher: War Zone. Their line up has some extremely sweet looking spear points. One of these Relentless blades is the M1 Sub-Compact, a lovely little spear point small fixed blade of about 2.5inch length. The carbon steel version of this custom is a whopping $139.95. A bit high for my tastes despite the great looks. For a custom, I'd rather have the larger brother the M1 Mini for only $20 more.

Fortunately, TOPS, a knife manufacturer specializing in carbon steel knives, has teamed up to make the M1 Sub-Compact a production blade. While its not quite as nice, and lacks the nice swedge, TOPS does add some jimping! I feel that addition much improves things. I know of no online retailers with this yet, but TOPS has it for an introductory price of $72.95 themselves.
This one is pretty tempting for me. Seeing as my ideal CCW knife does not yet exist and the bigger M1 Mini isn't available in such a good configuration/price, this would be a nice carry blade indeed.

Fixed Griptilian Discontinued

When it comes to stainless steel fixed blades knives, Benchmade's excellent fixed Griptilian 151 is one of my favorites. It is the right size, shape, weight, and steel for a knife that can do anything short of stupid. That's why when I suggested one for Alan over at Snarkybytes, he reported to me that the Benchmade had been discontinued and further research shows that it has been for at least a year. I find it very depressing that either Benchmade felt that it wasn't selling and that people have and will be missing out on a great blade that worked so well for food prep, smaller woods work, EDC, and defense. The size, weight, sharpness, construction, blade steel, weight, grip, and price were all excellent. The sheath was really the only really weak point of this design. While, well made and mostly functional, it was secured to the belt only by a malice clip. I HATE malice clips. Also, it could be hard to get a finger under the grip for a good hold while drawing. A decent kydex CCW sheath rig would have worked rather nicely and really shouldn't have costed that much more.

MWUAHA! We Win Again!

Whilst slaving away for my dark corporate masters( and the lesser bovine overseer) last night, I saw something that brought quite the smile and euphoria. A Remington AR-15! This is beyond good news and not just because I get 10% on it! It means a major victory for the pro-gun side. That mighty Walmart, which tries hard to avoid controversy and stay politically correct, finds that the profit of selling Evil Black Rifles trumps any possible negative press or political reactions.

I think they're even selling them with full capacity magazines too. Double score!

I seriously hope that they're going to offer a lot more interesting rifles and shotguns from now on. Getting that 590a1 or Sig 522 will be a lot easier with 10% off the top!

Too bad that damn bovine overseer had to ruin my natural high. Grr.

Gone Fishin'

I'll be on hiatus for a few more days. Hopefully, I'll have a nice review for you then.

Friday Wishlist: Clean out the Ruger p345

I've looked around a lot of .45 acp handguns. One that I have considered often is the inexpensive Ruger p345. It's a solid polymer framed single stack 45 featuring a very conventional DA/SA trigger. The p345 is pretty slim, has a great feel on the grip, and is neither too heavy nor too light. However, the safety systems are the main problem here. It features a magazine safety, a weird external safety lever, piles of warnings, loaded chamber indicator, and a locking system. The magazine safety actually is so poorly designed that dry firing can shatter the firing pin. I've heard a lot of good things about this gun. And even more after the mag safety is removed. I'd like to see a version that might not sell in CA or Mass, but will make us shooters in the more gun-friendly states start buying these boys up fast. Ruger try taking out the mag safety, redesign the safety or remove it entirely, and take some of the other PC garbage off your otherwise solid design!

A Quote for the Day

From FarmDad,

"every law passed be it local , state , or federal comes with an implicit death penalty for non compliance."

Yes. If you look far enough down the road for that every law in the books is backed with the threat of lethal force. Doesn't matter how touchy feeling you want the government to be, this is the end game. US.gov will fucking kill your ass and go home and sleep like a baby. This power should be tempered by a concept that the people are only renting it out to the boys in Washington. It does not belong to them, and if they fuck around with it, it can be applied to them by the real landlords.

Cult Murder in Japan

There are things that happen in this world that make me hate and rage so much I actually get a little afraid of myself. This is one of those things.

In Japan, a 13 year old girl drowned during a cult exorcism performed by her father and a Buddhist monk known as 'waterfall austerity'. The exorcism consisted of tying her down to a chair and then having "her face forcibly doused with a stream of water continuously falling from an outlet 2.5m above her for 5 minutes at a rate of 40 litres a minute." That girl endured this torture over 100 times over at least 3 months before finally succumbing.

I shake when I think about how many times she must have screamed and begged for them to stop and to let her go. I want the worst for them. I don't care whats right or moral. I want them to suffer. Both the father and the monk should not die quickly. I want to see it. I want to laugh. I want to KNOW that they paid for their crimes in this world before going on to suffer for them in the next. There is no crime that is worse than one that is committed by a 'do-gooder' for they will NEVER feel that they did something wrong. In their mind they were saving her. That fallacy means there is no limit to the horrors they will inflict. So, there should be no limit to the horror they should be subjected to in a case such as this. I do not feel like a good person right now. Don't rightly care either. I would gladly take my turn turning the screws on these human vermin. Does that make me no better than them? Maybe. No one says justice has to be nice.

I got this one from Sankaku Complex, lots of NSFW content there so watch out.

Still Not This Bad Here

In UK, the criminal is actually a more protected victim class than the people they victimize. A 39 year old father fights and ends up stabbing two burglars, one of which succumbed to his injuries. His wife and child ended up being there shortly during the fight. I'm looking for some other story references, but I think I recall another article saying that the two intruders assaulted him prior to the stabbing. The father has since been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Here in Kentucky, such an intrusion is nearly considered suicide. The criminals right to exist becomes null and void over the defenders safety. The reactions of his neighbors are pretty spot on to what they SHOULD be. Such violations are paramount to rape. However, the UK government and the criminal underclass and the liberal moralists don't like for those damn citizens to be all uppity and provide their own security. It endangers all three's groups as much as fools that enter the bears den.

JP reminded me of this one.

The War On Knives: Florida

Idiots in Florida's have put forth HB179, which prohibits pretty much everything with a sharp edge in all Florida public, private, colleges, and even career centers. It also gives violators felon status for violating this abuse of power. This includes common pocket knives and box cutters. To me, the concept of this law is so criminal, that anyone daring to sign their name to it should themselves be branded as criminals to the civil rights of Americans everywhere and punished. While, from a liability standpoint I can understand pocket knives being kept out of k-12 schools, denying adults on campuses and career centers is inexcusable. Would this apply to the dorms? No kitchen knives so students HAVE to use the campus food services? Gah.

The one who has put this pile of feces forth is the despicable Ari Porth of the Florida House of Representatives. He can be seen below, thinking about how he best trample on the civil rights of the lady to the right.

Found this over on Robb Allen's Thanks for getting my blood pressure up!

Friday Wishlist: Cold Steel Mini-tac Spear Point

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I love my mini-tac tanto. The subhilt design makes drawing and retaining so easy. The jimping is great and the g10 grips are comfortable yet maintain a firm grip in the worst oily slime. However, I am not a huge fan of the American Tanto shape. I'd rather have a curve instead of the unnecessary 2nd point. However, I'd like even more to see this with my favorite blade style, the Spear Point. Spear points are just a very symetrical style of drop point. They feature some of the best tip control, excellent penetration, yet solid cutting power. C'mon Cold Steel. Give me an excuse to buy a 3rd mini-tac!

BTW: Anyone know anyone that can re-profile an AUS8 blade into a more traditional curved Tanto that doesn't like like a 3 year old did it(which is how it would look if I did)?

Assraped by UPS policy

3.2lbs worth of handgun and accessories to be shipped to its out-of-state destination cost me over $63. According to Federal law, it doesn't matter how you ship a handgun out of state so long as it's headed to an FFL to be transfered. The rules for shipping are all on the carriers. USPS will ship handguns, but they require the shipper to have an FFL and the correct forms. UPS and FedEx will both ship handguns but they both require overnight shipping. This is borne of them not trusting their employees. Justified or not, UPS and FedEx policy have us over the damn barrel. When you can expect a shipping charge of over 50 dollars for each time it becomes very hard to legally ship handguns around the states by yourself. Seriously, harming the ability for regular citizens to dispose of their private property. Once upon a time, 2nd Day Air was good enough. And that was half the price of Next Day Air. I really miss those days. Where's my donut pillow?

What's in Yer Walle- Er Pocket?!

I'm really more of a knife guy these days than a gun guy, so when I noticed my pal Weerd Beard posting about a knife meme, could I ever resist the peer pressure?

I carry these two just about everywhere. The noticably colored tactical folder is my new Benchmade Griptilian. It is to EDC knives what the Glock 19 is to duty handguns and the Smith & Wesson 642 airweight is to CCW revolvers. It is a standard. I work at night, so harder to loose colors in my blades, isn't exactly a bad idea.

The second blade is my neat Cold Steel Mini-tac Tanto. It is in no means perfect, but it is a great offhand defensive carry knife. Excellent hand retention, remarkably sturdy, and sharp enough to make someone very very sorry for getting too close.

After Six Days and No Posts, Sig-madness is upon me!

Been a busy several days! I've been busy wheeling and deal. Several very unused pieces of my firearm and accessory collection have been sold off in this past week. Buying and selling guns is actually a lot of fun. However, I find that it is dangerous to do this in that once you have money in hand, it starts to slowly evaporate. Soon the nickles and dimes add up and there's nothing left! I'm trying to not let that happen! I plan on spending as much on a new gun, as a I made on selling old ones.

Originally, I planned to snag a nice Mossberg 590a1 and some more pocket guns, but the siren call of the .45 acp is beckoning... And handguns are just more fun than shotguns damn it. I stumbled upon a steal for a Sig 220, but alas, I stumbled minutes too late. Sigs are easily one of my favorite pistols. I have an excellent little Swiss Sig 225, an excellent single stack 9mm, and I've long wanted a Sig 228. However, I'm currently fixated upon the 220 series. After a few days spent hitting the refresh in a vain attempt to beat someone to a deal at SigForum, I finally have a line a Sig 245 owned by a friend of mine. A discontinued but interesting variation of the well proven 220 series specialized for carry.

UPDATE: this is the particular 245 that I am working hard to acquire. I was surprised to learn it was a coveted duo tone! Sweet!

Owen/Shirley Camp Defender

I'm increasingly into large knives. They're pretty useful in the woods and as I've found around the yard when you're clearing light brush. My latest find has me a little excited. It's the joint project between jrshirley and steve1911 which has culminated in their Camp Defender knife. I dig this one a lot!

The Camp Defender is tough use bush blade that would take on flesh and bone as quickly as wood. The blade is 9inch bolo/kukri style. Micarta is the default grip material, but other materials are available This full tang knife is made of the excellent 5160 high carbon tool steel.

For now the basic model is going to be offered at $150. If you want it at this price, hurry up, you can reserve one for a $75 deposit. I'm thinking hard on this one. I don't have any custom blades yet. This is the right style and right price for one.

Gay Marriage

A lot of folks have their panties in a wad about homosexuals getting legally married. In my prospective, it is really none of my business. Nor should it be the government's business to say what consenting adults can or cannot be married to. Marrying animals or children is obviously a foul as neither party is going to be able to consent properly. That is science fact, kids. Thus the prohibition makes perfect sense. However, two adults of legal voting age just happen to be both the same sex and want to form a permenant relationship? The prohibition is not there. There is nothing there sexually that is an issue. Most sodomy laws have been overturned. With modern medicine and hygiene coupled with monogamy nor is it a great health risk. Is it that they cannot reproduce naturally? Well, there are plenty of sterile folks in heterosexual marriages. No one disputes their right to marry. So what reason can be left? Religion!

I'm not a big fan of organized religion, myself, but I have no issues with those folks that choose to follow their faith. In fact, I respect good religious people just as much as I do any other good person. Good people are good people. However, our nation does have this entire 'separation of church and state' business. Therefore, prohibition based on purely religious reasons are flatly against the rules.

I see why marriage is protected by legal means. It is absolutely necessary. But it is not true marriage in a religious sense. It is a set of legal protections for the marriage partnership. There is a separation of the body and the spirit in that way. You want spiritual marriage you go to a church, mosque, or synagogue. However, you want real world legal protections, you go to the state.

The government should not favor one religion over another so long as either are active within the law. So its pretty damn wrong, logically, to deny homosexuals legal protections thanks to religious morality. Is freedom an other world for "none of your business." Lots of folk are going to disagree with me on this one. That's fine! You're entitled to disagree. But if you think that's bad, just wait until I talk about abortion. Muwahahaha.

Nauuuuughty Benchmade?

After all the crap they gave Boker over their automatic knives, Benchmade seems to be just a tad hypocritical. This new Ti-Fender has a spear point blade, flipper, linerlock, and its overall appearance at a glance reminds me of a certain very popular Kit Carson design...

Is this a cool move? Or a bit, naaaaaaauuuuuuuughty?

'Scalpel'-Style Knives

Most folding blades have shorter blades with longer grips due to their construction and most fixed blades have a longer blade to grip style. The short blade with full grip style is one I've taken to calling the 'scalpel-style'.

Two that have recently taken my notice are the Blackhawk Kalista II and the Boker Bender. Both feature are made from 440c stainless steel and feature relatively short blades to full size handles.

The 3.3" bladed Kalista looks to have a pretty secure grip with this trigger finger recess deep but not quite subhilted. It is has a generous grip, too. Its sheath can be mounted to Sepra holster paddles and belt loops. The Bender has a more basic neck sheath but features nice micarta scales that are tied in place with paracord. Perhaps this is for mounting to spears? Its blade is a short, 2.75" and it's really only barely in this 'scalpel' category. The Bender averages around $120 and the Kalista, $80. A bit high for 440c knives. The Kalista looks to be the better deal, though the Bender is a very nice looking modern blade with some very classy lines.

They're interesting blades with a lot of control for the point and edge. In work situations too much blade can just get in the way, but I rarely find a knife with too much grip.

Good Vicious Circle this Week

This week's Vicious Circle, a webcast radio show main full of ornery drunk people hating on things like government and idiocy in general, was really great episode. I've been on VC several times myself. Mostly it's made up of folks from the gunblogger conspiracy. Hearing my pals again, I had to return to the irc channel because I missed 'em!

Freaky the Scary Snowman

Yesterday, I discovered this. It is INSPIRED GENIUS. You'll spend hours watching this series of youtube published pranks. I wish I had thought of it. Scaring the bejabbers out of city folks is fun! I sometimes wish I could do something just like this for fun and profit. I do a damn good zombie shuffle myself...

Late-Friday Wishlist: Modern .7.62x25mm Handgun

We got some tiny weirdo micro rifle/pistol hybrids these days like the 5.7 FN and that uber tiny 4.6mm H&K, but the good ol 7.62x25mm Tokarov is still a speedy powerful round that can still defeat some modern soft armor through velocity alone. Plus with modern ammunition this .30 cal gets a boost in effectiveness and still has a lot of weight in comparison to the sub-rifle rounds. So lets see a modern double stack polymer frame handgun in 7.62 Tok. Even if its not necessarily practical, I think that the this old school fire-breather would be just AWESOME to shoot!

Emerson Commemorative Navy SEAL Combat Knife

In honor for the SEALs that recently died after being shot down in Afghanistan, Emerson knives have built a custom blade out of steel from the World Trade Center. It is being auctioned it off to benefit the families of those SEALs. I've bought one Emerson knife before. A LaGriff. Maybe I need more.

Harbin Pharmaceutical Group of China

Harbin Pharmaceutical Group is the second largest pharmaceutical company in China and also state operated and owned. As you can see, the company spared no expense to make their main offices look like a French king's wet dream. As our own government is progressing steadily into directly controlling US businesses we can expect this sort of thing to be common place one day. They just have to get rid of those pesky 'rights'.

I found this gem on Sankaku Complex. NSFW links and articles there.