Category: Knife Stuff (page 6 of 10)

Similar to the carbon steel versus stainless steel debate (which is actually way more complicated), knife owners are divided over whether a knife should or should not have a lanyard.

The thing about the lanyard debate is that people aren’t usually lukewarm about the topic. It gets people riled up more than the sit versus stand debate during the National Anthem.

But is there ever a time and purpose for lanyards on pocket knives? Yes, there is.

Lanyard vs. Fob

Before the wolves come out to correct me, let me clarify something: Lanyards and fobs are different.

Although used interchangeably, lanyards and fobs look and function differently. A lanyard is a longer piece of twine like paracord that ties to the end of a knife and wraps around the wrist for more security when wielding the knife.

A fob, on the other hand, is typically a shorter piece of twine that’s tied at the end so there is no opening to fit your hand in. A fob is there to keep your knife from falling in your pocket and other things (as you’ll soon learn).

There’s also a thong, which is essentially a leather string, that serves a similar function as the fob.

Now onto the reasons to add one of these to your folder.

1. Extra Security

I won’t go into the history and origins of the lanyard, but I believe the original purpose of a lanyard was to keep an item securely tethered to yourself. For example, some in the French military even carried a pistol tethered to their arm so they wouldn’t lose it. You can see Eli Wallach from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” attached to a pistol with a lanyard below.

Since then, people have adopted the lanyard on knives.

The lanyard is especially useful on larger knives that may fall out of your hands during use — though keeping a knife stuck to your wrist when your grip fails you may not always be the wisest idea.

It’s not as necessary on smaller pocket knives unless you’re using it in or around water, but the sentiment and reasoning still stands if you use your folders for hard-core tasks.

2. Personalization

Knife people don’t care too much about looks… OK, so maybe a few of us do and lanyards/fobs add an extra item to accessorize your knives. This is the manly equivalent of bejeweling your smartphone case or matching your nail polish to your socks. And there’s nothing wrong with it.

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As the old edict goes, the piece of survival gear you need the most is whatever you’re carrying at the time.

That same philosophy can also apply to self-defense tools as well.

Retired bounty hunter Fugi Escobido and David Bloch from Outdoor Edge developed a versatile piece of gear that anyone — whether serious survivalist, martial artist, or average Joe — should and could wear at all times.

It’s called the Para-Claw, and it’s a paracord bracelet with a twist.

The paracord bracelet is nothing new. Ken Onion even created his own paracord bracelet for CRKT. So how do you make something so prevalent even better? Add a quick release hawkbill blade.

Here’s how it works.

The bracelet is hand-tied with 550 paracord (14.4 ft for the medium size), but hidden inside the buckle is a 1.5-inch hawkbill blade made from BlackStone finished 8Cr13MoV stainless steel. According to Outdoor Edge, the blade is integrally molded to the glass/nylon guard that attaches to the bracelet.

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Knives face an uphill battle because they are often demonized by the media for how a small number of people opt to misuse the essential tool.

That’s why I try not to include things that portray knives as weapons for killing. But when Steve Miller of the forthcoming culinary blog F.N. Sharp (not live yet) reached out to me about a project they did that reimagined popular horror movies without knives, I was intrigued.

With Halloween around the corner, I thought it’d be a treat to indulge in the darker side of knives. While we all know the villains of horror movies — like Chucky, Jason, and Freddy Krueger — F.N. Sharp pays tribute to what they call the unsung hero of horror films: the knife.

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Photo by Dennis Hoffman

If you’re a knife collector like me then you know the importance of knife storage. My knives are considered invaluable to me, and for most collectors, they hold a certain sentimental value, so it only makes sense to store them properly and preserve their beauty and longevity for generations to come.

Keeping them sharp, oiled, dry and out of the sun is key to ensuring they stay rust free and last forever, but how you store them can also be crucial. Throwing your knives in a drawer and letting them get beat up is a bad way to go.

Here are some different ways to store your extensive knife collection:

1. Knife Bag

The knife bag is a great option for folders, especially if you like carrying your knives from time to time. Brands like Zero Tolerance, Benchmade, and Case all have great storage bags for knives that come in an array of sizes.

Bags can be made from top grain leather, vinyl, canvas, and heavy-duty polyester with insides that include felt, thick foam padding, and soft cloth material for scratch-free storage. Most come with adjustable shoulder straps for easy carry and zippered or Velcro closures for safe keeping.

My Pick: The Spyderco SpyderPac large bag is a hard-to-beat proven seller. Made of black heavy duty polyester denier with large clear individual viewing pockets. This is a great solution for outdoorsmen who like to not only transport their folders but store and display them as well. Choose between the small or large version.

• Small measures 16″x18″ holds 18 folders with a MSRP $39.95
• Large measures 25″x8″ holds 32 folding knives MSRP of $49.95

2. Protector Cases

Protector cases — like those used for guns — are a surprisingly effective method for storing knives. Well, maybe not that surprising since they’re designed to hold guns and other gear, but the cases that feature egg crate material hold knives in place extremely well. On top of that, many of these cases lock, so you don’t have to worry about little ones with candied fingers getting in.

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Put your knives in a checked bag when going to the airport.

I cannot stress that enough. Not only do you risk losing one of your prized possessions but you also run the risk of getting fines or jailed.

At one point, it seemed like knives would be allowed back on planes in limited capacities before an outcry from flight attendants and the general public led to a cancelation of those plans. That means knives either stay at home or go in your checked luggage.

Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to part with their knife. A few years ago, I presented 10 ways people have tried to sneak knives past the TSA. Now I’m back with 20 more ways people have tried to get knives onto planes.

These come courtesy of the TSA Instagram page. The TSA may be reviled by many but they run a darn entertaining social media account.

1. In a can of deodorant

It looks like this person tried to hollow out a canister of deodorant to get their cheap knife onto the plane. It’s almost like they didn’t realize the TSA has sophisticated tools that allow them to see through objects.

Here’s a bonus deodorant knife hider. This person went through a little less effort by simply trying to hide it underneath the lid. I’m sure the knife will smell wintery fresh for a long time. It’s too bad the person will never see the knife again.

2. Inside a boot

If you check any knife lover’s boot, you’re bound to find a knife. Just don’t forget to take it out before going to the airport like this person. It looks like the knife was velcroed on the inside of a cowboy boot or tucked away in a hidden compartment.

3. Wrapped in foil

As you’ll see, there’s a strong belief that foil can foil the TSA. They look at a wrapped piece of foil and think, “That’s just a delicious burrito tucked away in someone’s bag. Next.” A big piece of metal inside a bag just raises suspicions even more.

4. Inside a belt

There is no shortage of belt knives out there. I like to think this person simply forgot that there was a knife embedded in his belt.

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With Texas still experiencing extreme flooding from the devastating Hurricane Harvey, we continue sending our thoughts and prayers to those affected by the storm. I have personally sent donations to relief organizations and encourage you to do the same.

The ensuing devastation has led Knife Rights to rightfully cancel its BOYB (Bring Your Own Bowie) event at The Alamo on Sept. 2 — an event to celebrate the passage of the new knife laws that will allow Texans to carry blades longer than 5.5 inches almost anywhere.

However, Texans can still celebrate Texas Sword Day, a new holiday deemed by the Texas Law Hawk aka Bryan Wilson, on Sept. 1. Take a look at his PSA for Texans.

Wilson is a lawyer who’s also the proprietor of some very entertaining videos that look like something Tim and Eric would have cooked up had they gone to law school.

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The bayonet has remained relatively unchanged for centuries.

Some form of the bayonet has been used for hundreds of years now, as soldiers across cultures have created hybrid weapons for long- and close-range combat.

The modern bayonet used by the U.S. is the M9 currently made by Ontario Knife Company (the U.S. Marine Corps uses the OKC 3S), which is a long fixed blade knife with a clip point.

But a company known as GripKnife is looking to update the bayonet with a radical new design.

The GripKnife is a spring-loaded knife that doubles as a vertical grip for your firearm and all it requires is a picatinny rail system.

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Too few knife apps exist.

There’s the must-have blade steel reference app from zknives descriptively called Knife Steel Composition Chart App. There’s the always useful but clunky LegalBlade App from Knife Rights. For a brief but wondrous period, there was the curious KA-BAR app that let you generate your knife name.

Now, there’s a new knife game all you blade fanatics might enjoy: Flippy Knife.

Flippy Knife (Apple/Android) is a physics-based knife game that simulates throwing a knife. There are four different modes: an arcade mode, a throwing knife mode, a vertical ascent mode, and a standard flipping mode.

App reviewers have been comparing the game to the new water bottle flipping fad, but all of us knife enthusiasts know that this is more based on mumblety-peg — the very old knife flipping game dating back hundreds of years.

What’s so special about this game is that the maker contacted several knifemakers and brands to bring actual knives to the game, including the G&G Hawk Deadlock, Brian Tighe Fighter, and BucknBear Velociraptor.

I downloaded the app and played for a bit. It is insanely addictive but equally frustrating.

The modes offer enough variation to not get too tired after a few minutes. I found it extremely difficult to get the technique just right and I noticed the knife did not stick when it was supposed to a few times. I’ve probably just lost my video game touch.

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How much do you love knives?

I know most of you collect dozens (if not hundreds) of models and just the mere fact that you’re reading this means you follow a knife blog or click on knife-related things from Facebook or Twitter.

But how many of you would let someone massage you with butcher knives?

According to recent news articles, the knife massage is a new craze around Taiwan that involves cleavers being chopped in rhythmic motions around your face and body.

The reality is that the practice actually dates back to China more than 2,500 years ago. Although it fell out of favor, it slowly came back to life in Taipei with more than 150 of these knife massage centers currently across the city. A slew of recent articles based on the video below have resulted in a bunch of poorly sourced write-ups.

Knife massage is called daoliao and the LA Times did a great write-up back in 2015. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Turns out daoliao is not some New Age wellness fad. People in China have been undertaking knife massages since the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC to 476 BC) in Chinese history, said Wu Wei-chuan, chairwoman of the World Daoliao Assn. in Taipei. Back then, those suffering from mysterious illnesses not easily treated by traditional medicine would ask Buddhist monks to ease their afflictions with knife therapy.

The masseur uses heavy cleavers with blunt edges (despite what all the latest articles have been saying). People believe that the heavy blade can reach places that fingers cannot and that the steel helps remove bad energy from the body.

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If you take a look through some of our comments on our Facebook posts, you’ll see countless people lamenting the lack of innovation and design diversity in the knife world. These people have clearly never heard of the Hawks.

Grant and Gavin Hawk are a father and son knifemaking team that first started making knives in 1995. Whereas most knifemakers work on making knives within the confines of the modern designs, the Hawks have pushed the boundaries for what knives can be and how they can work.

The Hawks are owners of many patents and continue to find ways to completely shatter the traditional knife design. In honor of the innovative duo, we’re taking a look at some of their most innovative designs.

E.T. (External Toggle)

Image from mwmccormick on bladeforums

We’ll kick off the list with one of their best known creations: the E.T. Standing for External Toggle, the E.T. helped put the Hawks on the map as innovative designers. The knife uses a unique toggle system to engage and close the knife at the butt of the handle. As this training video shows, there were actually a number of ways to engage the knife.

The knife was later picked up by Kershaw and took the community by storm. In 2005, the Kershaw/Hawk collaboration won the Most Innovative American Design at the BLADE Show and Best Overall Design at IWA. While the design was not entirely functional and was eventually discontinued, it showed what kinds of genius minds the Hawks had.

D.O.G. (Deadbolt Over Grabstep)

Hawk DOG from JDP1998 on BladeForums

The D.O.G. was an early knife and among their first folding knife designs. It’s also notable for being the first collaboration between the Hawks and CRKT and it was a good one. This beefy folder was named after its locking mechanism. It has an automatic action that uses a deadbolt system to lock into place. I’ve heard people say they put the lock through the ringer without failure. Take a look at what one review had to say:

Unfortunately, it was discontinued and can rarely be found. It’s a shock such a great lock isn’t seen on more knives.

M.U.D.D. (Multi-Utility-Dirt-Defiant)

Image from jritayik on BladeForums

Do you hate when debris or gunk gets stuck in your lock mechanism? The Hawks solved your problems with the M.U.D.D. This was the first knife to use the Hawk Lock because it allows the lock to be completely sealed inside the knife thanks to the use of a rubber boot around the button. This prevents failure due to dirt from hard use. The lock mechanism is a spiritual successor of the Benchmade AXIS lock. It works essentially the same, but the way it functions on the inside is a little different.

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