Author: Tim (page 78 of 113)

Timothy Martinez Jr. is the community director for Knife Depot and the editor of The Cutting Edge. If you have any questions or ideas for The Cutting Edge, you can contact him at Tim@knife-depot.com.

Knife Steel App a Must-Have for Knife Nuts

December 16, 2013 / Tim / 3 Comments

steel app There aren’t many useful smartphone apps out there that pertain to knives—in fact, there aren’t more than a handful.

There’s a great app called Kitchen Knife Skills that shows you how to expertly cut difficult foods like avocados, but other than that there’s not much for the knife fanatics. That is, except for the absolutely amazing Knife Steel Composition Chart.

We recommended this app back when it came out in 2012, but we thought it’d be wise to come back to the app because it’s definitely a must-have for any collector, custom knifemaker or knife knut.

mzl.lqaukcai.320x480-75 The app is a knife steel composition and name cross-reference database for all types of alloys used in knife blades. According to the description, the app features about 5,600 alloy names and more than 930 compositions, which covers pretty much anything you could ever want to look for. Some of the things you won’t find are proprietary steels, which are classified. For those who like to get deep down and dirty, there is a composition comparison that has a bar graph with three different options that show the mass percentage, molar masses and atomic count per 1,000 atoms.

If I lost you there, chances are you probably won’t use that part of the app too much, but the app could be a great resource if you’re trying to learn more about the steel composition of the blades in your collection. One of the most useful things in the app is the “Notes” section of each steel type that gives a brief description of the steel—like where you’ll commonly find the steel and some of the characteristics of it.

Another really useful resource is found not in the app, but on zknives, the website of the creator of the app. The chemical elements effects on steel portion of the site gives a nice breakdown of what effects each element has on the steel. For example, the section says that Molybdenum prevents brittleness and improves machinability and resistance to corrosion. This helps put some of the steel compositions found in the app into perspective. The website in general has a lot of great resources, so we also recommend checking out zknives.

Short Doc Explores Passion and Journey of Bladesmith Murray Carter

December 9, 2013 / Tim / 2 Comments

How does a young man from Halifax, Nova Scotia, end up spending almost half of his life in Japan? The answer to that is threefold: drive, passion and knives.

At 18, Murray Carter of Carter Cutlery ended up in Japan where he basically fell into an apprenticeship with a 16th generation Yoshimoto bladesmith. Carter is now officially a 17th generation Yoshimoto bladesmith, meaning he’s only one of a handful of people who can trace their work and techniques back to one of the traditional bladesmithing families of Japan.

His knives can now cost upwards of several thousand dollars, but his journey onto this path is very unique. The filmmakers over at Cineastas made a compelling film about his journey and the importance of dreams. Check it out.

Watch Swordsmith Tony Swatton Forge Sting From ‘The Hobbit’

December 6, 2013 / Tim / 3 Comments

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A few weeks back, we told you about a man who forges iconic swords and weapons from movies with an emphasis on functionality. That means his creations are made to be used in combat (or chopping pineapples and cans of soda in half, which are what the demonstrations consist of).

Well, master swordsmith and propmaster Tony Swatton is back this week with his latest creation: Sting from The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings.

In case you’re one of the few people who hasn’t seen the four (soon-to-be five) films or read the decades-old books, Sting is a dagger forged by elves in Gondolin. The dagger, which is basically a sword for the miniscule hobbits, has the magical ability to glow blue to indicate when the humanoid beasts called orcs are nearby.

If I’ve lost you with all the nerdiness, let’s get straight to the point: this blacksmith made a functional replica of a badass dagger/sword from a movie. If you’re the collector-type and would like the actual prop used in The Lord of the Rings movies, you can buy the original at an upcoming auction. However, be prepared to shell out anywhere between $100,000 and $200,000.

Machete Pocket Knife: Would you carry one?

November 26, 2013 / Tim / 2 Comments

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Like most people who carry knives, sometimes a pocket knife with a three-inch blade simply won’t cut it. That’s where larger knives like the S&W dagger pocket knife or even the huge Cold Steel Espada XL come in handy. Still, for the times when those just aren’t quite big enough, one man has created a pocket knife with a machete-sized blade.

Joerg Sprave, the man who created the knife chainsaw and machete slingshot, dreamed up the massive pocket knife shortly after Halloween of 2012. We know we’re a little late on this, but it’s a creation worth revisiting. And before you criticize this guy for imagining something so bizarre and not entirely useful, he created it as a kind of joke.

The massive pocket knife features a full-length machete blade and uses rubber to hold the blade open and closed. The best part about it is that since it doesn’t use a true locking mechanism, he can legally carry the pocket knife in Germany.

Donate to Knife Rights to Win Prizes, Including a $500 Giftcard to Knife Depot

November 8, 2013 / Tim / 2 Comments

knife-rights-low-res We here at Knife Depot strongly believe in the right for people to have access to one of man’s oldest tools—the knife. No organization does more to preserve your rights than Knife Rights.

The organization, as we’ve written about numerous times in the past, has done countless things to advance their mission of educating people about knives, giving knife owners a voice, encouraging safety, defending knife owners and accomplishing other knife-related goals.

If you’re looking to give back to the organization that helps keep a knife in your pocket, Knife Rights is giving those who donate the opportunity to win some gift certificates to several stores, including a $500 certificate to Knife Depot.

Your tax deductible donation to Knife Rights will not only offer you the chance to win a gift certificate but it will also be matched dollar for dollar be a benefactor.

Click here to learn more and donate to Knife Rights.

Watch Master Blacksmith Tony Swatton Forge Iconic Swords and Weapons

November 2, 2013 / Tim / 3 Comments

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When I was young, I desperately wanted to be a video game designer and imagine up fantastical worlds with crazy weapons. While my dream never came true, I’m still able to do the next best thing: enjoy the games and worlds other people create.

It’s always easier to think of an idea for a game or weapon than create something in real life, but who hasn’t wanted something from a video game to become reality. Fortunately for all the gamers out there, master swordsmith and propmaster Tony Swatton will make your dreams come true.

For the past few months, Tony Swatton has been the subject of a YouTube series known as “Man at Arms” in which he recreates some of the weapons from popular media like Raphael’s Sais from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and the Batarangs from “The Dark Knight.” While you can already get many replicas of these weapons from around the web—and from your very own Knife Depot—the difference between Swatton’s weapons are that they’re fully functional. These are designed to be used and withstand force.

Knives Save Lives: An Unconventional Use

October 25, 2013 / Tim / 4 Comments

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There’s blood pouring out of your leg, which is trapped under a several ton tractor. Nobody will notice you’re missing for the rest of the day and the only thing in arm’s reach is a knife your father gave you long ago. What do you do?

Barry Lynch, a 54-year-old Australian farmer, was faced with this life-or-death situation earlier this month when the drawbar on his crop sprayer collapsed onto his leg, leaving a gaping wound.

We’ve seen situations like this before. Early on in the series of Knives Save Lives, a logger had his tractor trailer collapse on his leg, leaving him trapped. Another incident involved a farmer whose arm was trapped under a piece of heavy machinery. In both these instances, the men had to use pocket knives to painfully cut off their limbs—a truly harrowing experience.

But instead of using the knife as it was intended for—to cut—Lynch used it to start digging. For six longs hours, as the pressure in his leg was building to a painful crescendo, he continued digging at the hard earth with his knife.

Man With Machete Fends Off Armed Robber

October 17, 2013 / Tim / 1 Comment

Although a knife isn’t useful in every single situation you’ll ever encounter, I can think of hundreds of situations where you would want a knife over any other tool, including a gun.

The situation you’re about to read is one of those.

Late last month, a store clerk at a deli in Long Island was running the store when a masked man who wielded a gun came in and demanded money from the register.

Since the dramatic footage doesn’t have any sound, it’s difficult to really get the full story, but it appears the clerk was taking too long to hand over the money or said no and the robber shot at him. The bullet fortunately missed the clerk and that’s when he reached down below the counter and grabbed a sheathed machete. With machete in hand, the fearless clerk charged at the fleeing robber.

Some outlets are reporting that the gun jammed, which is why the robber didn’t just shoot the clerk. While this story would have turned out completely different had the gun not jammed and the robber shot the guy, this demonstrates that many blades, especially fixed blades, will not fail you when you need them most.

The footage is pretty tense, so check it out below.

Playing Ping Pong with Knives (video)

October 11, 2013 / Tim / 5 Comments

If there was just one thing the label “Do Not Try This At Home” was invented for, it’s this video.

A group of Swedish performers known as the Tumba Ping Pong crew released an amazing video that shows a guy hitting chef knives with a ping pong paddle and an emotionless Miss Ping catching them with similar paddles. The video culminates with a maneuver that would make William Tell swoon.

Now we get to the ultimate question: real or fake?

The internet has turned me into a complete and utter cynic. Every awesome video seems to be fake, from that dancing girl who caught on fire to an eagle snatching a baby.

Still, regardless of whether these videos are real or fake, it’s always awesome to see them for the first time. If this is real, it’s a great showcase of skill and concentration. But even if it’s not, it’s a very creative skit with convincing camera trickery.

Check out the video below. What do you think? Real or fake?

Meet the ‘Mother of All Swiss Army Knives’

October 6, 2013 / Tim / 2 Comments

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The Swiss Army knife is widely considered a pioneer in the world of multi-tools. Well, meet a knife known as the “mother of all Swiss Army knives.”

This beautiful knife, which was made in Germany in 1880, amazingly predates the first official Swiss Army knife by about 11 years and features more than a 100 different tools. Some of the tools include a serrated blade, several types of scissors, a corkscrew, two dagger blades, a cigar cutter, a straight razor and much more.

One of the most surprising tools on the knife is a .22-caliber five-shot pinfire revolver that can open up and shoot like any functional gun.

The knife is the perfect embodiment of craftsmanship and art. With a tortoise-shell handle that conceals a slew of other tools and a design any knife maker would marvel at, this shows just how much care and thought people can put into knives.