New Toys Report

Today I recieved a couple of new edged weapons. These are my first impressions.

There is a knife made by the Ontario Knife Company under the name of Old Hickory that I had never seen before and since I think that their knives are about the best for the cost knives of the old school style made I had to order on. It is a 5 1/2" butcher type knife that comes with a rather nice leather sheath that is called a camp knife.

The shape is pleasing and will be even better after I reshape it slightly to make its clip point slightly more pronounced and the backside of that clip thinned to almost sharp. It is about .090" thick. I would have preferred it to be a little thicker but as it is, it is strong enough and light. I use the slightly longer 7.5" butcher knives as my preferred throwing knives and they have never bent, dulled, or been hurt by my abuse.

I am going to resew the sheath with a heavy kevlar thread. I do this with many of the knives that I didn't make. It is already razor sharp and all that I did was work it on my old steel.

I am very impressed with it for camp and just general skinning uses. I have a full set of butchering knives from them and other than the commercial knives made and sold at prices many times these knives there is nothing better for working with meat. You can't use them anymore in a commercial kitchen is the only reason they are not there. EVERYTHING now has to be stainless steel and dishwasher safe. Putting any truly sharp knife in a dishwasher is a mortal sin! Onc it comes out it isn't actually sharp anymore. The acids in the soap eat away the fine edge if you look at it under magnification and then the edge looks like a finely serrated knife. When that dulls you have to actually sharpen the knife again by removing metal until the fine edge is restored. My carbon steel knif=ves stay sharp under heavy use for weeks or months with just a regular touch up with a good steel.

When I am back up and running I am going to baton it a little through seasoned hickory and see how it does and report then.

 

New Toy number 2

I ordered a Cold Steel battle-ax. I have always admired them. I have a lot of tomahawks, throwing axes, hatchets, axes and all sorts of edged almost useless nowadays edged weapons and tools.

For those that are not ax aficionados, a Cold Steel Viking Battle Ax is sort of like a Tomahawk massively overdosed on steroids. The bearded head is fairly heavy and with a 30" handle that the head slides down on and locks it is not for one-handed use. I really like this one because it isn't covered with that nasty black paint that cold steel puts on most of their carbon steel axes and tomahawks. I will either polish and blue it or boil it in vinegar to put a grey stain and oil finish on it.

The Viking battle ax was a great part of the fear that the Vikings generated. When it was wielded by a big man that spend most of his life either chopping down trees and hewing them into various shapes or rowing longboats to places all over Europe and all the way to North America there was nothing that could stand up to it. Your only hope was to get them with arrows before they closed with you because once in close they were totally devastating. Armor was useless they just crushed it and broke bones even if they couldn't penetrate that armor.

My new ax is very clean and well-shaped but is about as sharp as the backside of the average butter knife. that is fine with me. I always put my own edges on almost any ax sword, machete, tomahawk, and knife that I buy, and in this case, I have sort of a blank slate to work with. A battle-ax needs a finer edge than a normal ax but can't be too fine because you will want it to be able to do some rough work without the edge turning also. I will first put a razor edge on it and then with hand stones put a small more abrupt edge on it right on the last bit if the blade. It will be near to shaving but not quite. This is how I do Tomahawks and they can skin and still chop wood for cooking without dulling or damage.

I am also going to take the blade off and while redoing it I am going to sand the lacquer off the wood, stain it a lot darker, it is almost snow-white right now and then maybe do some carving on it and then after replying the sealer finish on it will wrap a paracord handle grip onto it. When done it will be unique and distinctly mine as all hand weapons should be.

 

I like a short axe / big hatchet. Keep one in my SUV. Y'know I've used mine a whole lot when tree limbs come down on my property. I've got a chain saw and I've got a full-sized double-bit axe, it's just that it is so easy to grab the handy short axe. Keep mine sharp to make for less work.

Here where one is perpetually surrounded by forest, fallen trees and limbs are perpetually blocking traffic and not all good'ol'boys keep a chainsaw in their truck (many do, of course), so it's out with the axes and heavy-duty pruning saws. Can't get the big tree-trunks, but you can sometimes open a road or clear limbs off a car where somebody's been trapped therein.

Month ago bought another Kershaw assisted-opening pocket knife. I like a knife that I can flick open. My son bought his mom, my lady, a flick-open knife. These puppies are just handy. End up using the things almost daily at home and at work (serrated edge you can use to strip wiring, even the tiny stranded wires).

God forbid, but if attacked and one of your hands is occupied, you can still flick open your carry knife and stab the attacker in the groin or in the anus so as to introduce the felon to the phenomenon of bleeding out. I want all women to be able to protect themselves. Attacking a woman is the most ignoble thing a male can do (they are not men, actually they are not human). I want to kill all such attackers. I really get psycho-angry when I hear about women being attacked. Back in the day, such women-hating crazies got a visit in the night and they'd somehow "just disappear" (one of my uncles used to participate in such "taking out the trash"; somebody's gotta do it).

In socialist urban areas, women are not allowed their Constitutional right to carry a firearm -- therefore a strong rapist is almost guaranteed that he'll not be shot. At least with a flick-open knife, the woman has the opportunity to tear loose the genetic inferior's genitals. A gusher will give the cops more than enough DNA to sample.

https://kershaw.kaiusa.com/assisted-opening.html

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For many years while the assisted opening knives were illegal in Texas on the belt or in the hip pocket of EVERY young man and a lot of the young women was a buck 110 folding knife. With practice, it was as fast one-handed opening as a switchblade and a MUCH better weapon than a switchblade. I ended a couple of fights without even opening mine. If you hit someone in the forehead with the butt end of that heavy beast it tends to make them sort of stumbly and passive. If someone threatened me, say in a bar, I would pop them in the forehead they would drop and I would leave. I didn't spend a lot of time in bars. I'm not a very nice drunk and know it so I prefer to generally be my sunny sober self instead.

 

I've been going to pick up one of those ontario camp knives.

 

I like the Ontario Butcher Knives for a lot of things. I have 5 of them now. I ordered another one when I ordered the camp knife. one is part of my butcher kit, one is in my camping kit and three are slightly more pointed and are my preferred throwing knives. I regularly pick up one of their paring knives and cut it and reshape the blade to make a special blade for carving something. Even left as they are, they are great wood carving knives for rough out work.

there is at this time no Stainless Steel that is as good as 1095 High Carbon for a working knife. It will take a better edge, hold it longer, and with the use of a steel require fewer resharpenings. yes, they require a little extra care. You can't throw them in a dishwasher and they need a little lubricant I like taking care of my knives. I have hundreds of them and love messing with them and making or buying more. I have some good carving knives in the kitchen but even a 60 dollar stainless steel knife doesn't cut like a razor-sharp carbon steel blade. I was my carbon steel knives with hot water and then use cooking oil one them that I apply and try to wipe it all off. they tarnish but do not rust.

 

is this topic limited to edged 'weapons'? I just received a 13k watt portable generator....now have to get it hooked up for "whole-home' (and well pump) use. Wish i was more capable (and confident) in my electrician skills......guess i need to pay/barter to have it done right.

 

Have at it. Hooking up a generator can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. The simple is as easy as hooking up a few wires into your breaker box to a deluxe system that automatically shuts off your main incoming power, starts the generator, and repowers your home all automatically anytime there is a power failure.

 

I did as a kid. I counted the money out the cigarette machines, gambling machines, and such. At this very moment, I'm 14 again. I'm wrapping quarters & putting the rolls into the Tampa Nugget cigar boxes; I'm careful to arrange them with precision and order. The smell of stale cigarettes and stale beer fills my head. Dead souls with their leather soles shuffling across the floor-boards of the bar.

The cadaver stands at the bar.
"Sir, you are dead."
"It hurts to be dead."
"Then sir, what exactly is it you will be drinking this evening?"
Service with a smile,
We are here but for a while.

Sometimes the thrill is gone before you begin.



Some are baptized in dirty waters.