Author: Tim (page 84 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.

Weird Knives: The Knife Gun is the Ultimate Weapon

November 26, 2012 / Tim / 3 Comments

An old U.S. made cutlass pistol worth about $15,000.

We’re all familiar with bayonets—knives that are attached to guns—but there’s one class of knives and guns you might not be aware of: the knife gun.

The knife gun (or gun knife depending on how you look at it) combines two of America’s favorite items into one seamless device. The major difference between a bayonet and a knife gun is that bayonets are affixed to the gun while the blade on the knife gun is usually built into the barrel. This offers much more stability and strength.

It’s difficult if not impossible to find any functioning knife guns for sale, most likely because they are novelty display items. That doesn’t mean they weren’t used in the past, however.

Knives Save Lives: Burning Vehicle No Match For 73-Year-Old with Knife

November 20, 2012 / Tim / 6 Comments

What’s in your pocket right now? Probably a wallet, keys and a phone, but there should be one other item in there: a knife.

And not just any knife. Everybody should carry a Swiss Army knife and here’s all the evidence you need.

On November 10, a 38-year-old man was driving along in Germany when he suddenly lost control of his vehicle, according to a press release from Victorinox. If you’ve ever lost control of a car, you know how unpredictable it could be. This man’s car skidded across the lane of oncoming traffic, smashed a roadside marker, hit a tree and rolled over into a ditch on the side of the road. After all was done, the car was upside down on its hood and on fire.

Needless to say, the man was in serious trouble. Enter septuagenarian Rüdiger Leonardy.

Five Pics of Hot Chicks With Knives

November 16, 2012 / Tim / 0 Comments

This is a guest post from knife enthusiast and famous woodsman Eli Law.

Sometimes when I’m walking down the street, people say things to me like, “Wow, you’re a really attractive guy, you should be dating a super model. Usually, I just brush it off. But sometimes comments like that make me think about what my perfect woman would look like. I tell you, it’s kind of strange, but these days every vision of the ultimate female I have involves her posing seductively with a razor-sharp knife. Go figure, right? What about you? Do you feel the same?

Pumpkin Carving Contest Winners

November 2, 2012 / Tim / 0 Comments

Another Halloween has come and gone. It’s time to pack away your Big Bird costume, wash the fake blood out of your clothes and tear down the spiderwebs (fake or real) from the corners of your house.

However, there’s still one matter with Halloween that’s yet to be resolved: our pumpkin carving contest.

The rules to our contest were simple. You had to carve an awesome pumpkin, write “Knife Depot” on a card next to it, take a picture of it and show it to us. We received some great entries, but only three can win. Here they are.

The 3rd place winner of the Skull and Bones Knife with Knuckle Guard is…

10 Funny Pumpkin Ideas for Halloween

October 30, 2012 / Tim / 0 Comments

If you have a pumpkin sitting on your porch but have yet to carve it, here are some of the funniest pumpkin ideas that will have your friends and neighbors screaming with laughter.

Here you have a classic—the vomiting pumpkin. You can use the stuff from inside of the pumpkin as vomit and set up a nice scene, like this image above.

Yet another classic design is the big pumpkin eating a smaller one. All you need to do is carve a normal-sized pumpkin with a large mouth and stick a little one in it.

Keys to Carving the Perfect Pumpkin

October 25, 2012 / Tim / 0 Comments

Halloween is synonymous with costumes and dark festivities. However, no tradition tests your creativity and knife-wielding skills more than carving a jack o’lantern. If you’re looking to carve the perfect jack o’lantern either to scare your neighbors or enter our pumpkin carving contest, here are a few important tips.

Pick the right pumpkin

The first step is actually picking a healthy pumpkin from the patch. In order to pick the right shape, you can go about it two ways. You can go in with a design already planned, so you can get a pumpkin that fits your plan. For example, if you want to carve a screeching cat, you might want a taller one. Or you could simply go in without a plan and pick the most uniform pumpkin with no scratches or bruises. You also want to make sure that the skin is firm.

Select a unique design

This one is entirely up to you, but you should be fully aware of your limitations and avoid something too ambitious for your skill level. You can create your own on a piece of paper or scour the Internet for inspiration.

Continue reading

Enter the Knife Depot Pumpkin Carving Contest, Win A Horrifyingly Badass Blade!

October 22, 2012 / Tim / 1 Comment

Halloween is upon us, which means it’s time to shake the dust off that Richard Nixon mask, Clockwork Orange codpiece, busty police officer costume or whatever spooky regalia you prefer. Why be your puny self, when you can morph into Superman, Jesus Christ, Joe Biden or perhaps even America’s most revered superhero, Duffman?

Seriously, Halloween is the perfect holiday to champion your uniqueness and let loose, which is why Knife Depot has decided to celebrate the year’s most ghoulish evening by giving away a couple of our most haunted blades. Starting today and ending on Halloween we’ll be holding our annual Knife Depot pumpkin carving contest. The most badass jack-o-‘lantern will win a 7.5-inch Fire Skull Stainless Steel Karambit with sheath. Second place will take home a 7-inch skull wing pocket knife and third place will score a skull and bones knife with knuckle guard.

To enter, all you have to do is visit the contest page on Facebook and upload a photo of your pumpkin by October 31. Please make sure to include a piece of paper with “Knife Depot” written on it next to your pumpkin, so we can verify that it was carved recently. Good luck and stay sharp during the Halloween season!

1st prize

2nd Prize

3rd Prize

New Artististic Knives Use Flint and Stone For Blade

October 19, 2012 / Tim / 0 Comments

Looking to connect with your inner caveman? Now you can.

The latest knife design from artists Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow revisits some of the tools early man used long ago. These tools are made from stone and flint, but also use advanced technology to create custom handles made from plastic.

Here’s more from Designboom (beware of heaviness):

The set is a result of an experimental exploration of the realm of tool making. Where stone and flint tools have been the means of our ancestors’ survival for over a million years, they magnify our bodily (teeth, fingernails, fists etc.) capabilities of cutting and chopping,sawing and pounding. Through a method of three-dimensionally scanning and printing, the ancient artifacts are digitally outfitted with custom-designed handles, encapsulating the rugged forms in a perfectly enclosed case. By juxtaposing the polarities of the manufacturing processes in computer generated forms, an intersection of material technologies and functionality coincide on a tangible scale.

As you can tell from the heavy paragraph describing the inspiration and process, this is a fairly artistic project. While it’s novel to think people might use these as functioning tools, these will definitely not have the effectiveness of a razor sharp Cold Steel or strength of an Outdoor Edge ax.

Still, these are cool to look at.

Knife Review: The Spyderco Tenacious

October 16, 2012 / Tim / 6 Comments

I’ve been looking for a new EDC to carry out basic everyday tasks like opening packages, removing tags, pretty simple things. I knew I wanted a mid-sized Spyderco knife that had a reasonable price, so I went for the Spyderco Tenacious.

Here’s what I think of it.

First impressions

With an overall length of 7.76 inches and a weight of 4.1 ounces, I found this knife a bit larger yet lighter than expected. The construction on this knife is nice and tight. There is no blade play whatsoever. I’ve heard some complaints about the Tenacious being difficult to open, but the blade on this knife engages smoothly and effortlessly with a nice snap.

Blade

The blade is 3.39 inches long and .118 inches thick. It’s a good blade thickness for more nuanced jobs, but there is added strength from the thicker spine. There is also some nice jimping—small indentations at the bottom of the spine—which gives better control. The blade has a flat grind leaf shape and a good-sized belly for efficient slicing.

Some other features on the blade include two Spyderco notables. The first is the recognizable Spyderco logo, which is nicely etched into the blade. The other is Spyderco’s trademark round hole that takes the place of the thumb stub. Some people complain about it, but I find the hole comfortable and perfectly placed. It allows for easy one-handed opening without putting pressure on one point of your thumb.

Knife Community Says Goodbye to Two Pioneers

October 13, 2012 / Tim / 0 Comments

edgecraft-corporation-founder-daniel-d-friel-passes-away

Daniel Friel

The past few weeks the knife community has suffered the loss of two influential men in the world of knives: Ted Dowell and Daniel D. Friel. So we’re going to take some time to honor some of their achievements and innovations.

Daniel Friel, who died on Sept. 21 at the age of 92, didn’t become an influencer in the knife community until he was 65. Prior to then, he worked on the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb, and then went to work for the DuPont company.

His most notable knife-related achievements came when he founded the company EdgeCraft. His decision to found the company was actually sparked by his inability to find a knife with a proper edge to cut his Thanksgiving turkey.

Here’s more from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

He attempted to sharpen them with what tools he had, and he found they didn’t work. He basically made a mess of the turkey,” Mr. Friel’s son, Daniel Jr., said.

That experience led Mr. Friel Sr. to his life’s Act II: founding EdgeCraft Corporation in Avondale, Pa., and developing the popular Chef’sChoice® line of culinary tools, including knife sharpeners, food slicers, and waffle makers.

Thanks to the hard work of Friel, Chef’s Choice has become the go-to company for quality knife sharpeners.

Then, Ted Dowell, one of the founding members and past presidents of the Knifemaker’s Guild, passed away on Oct. 5. He set out with the other founding members to establish an ethical community of custom knifemakers and help promote the knives.