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Without a knife, a life is lost to a burning vehicle

September 7, 2011 / Tim / 6 Comments

Traffic Accident It’s tragic when there’s an article in which a pocketknife could have led to the story being featured in our Knives Save Lives series. Unfortunately, what happened on a Los Angeles Freeway a week ago did not end as well as the other stories.

According to the Los Angeles Times, which we found via Knife Rights, an 11-month-old girl died in a burning car Aug. 28 after no one on the scene had a knife to cut her out of a car seat.

An SUV crashed into a stopped Nissan Altima on the freeway, which caused the vehicle to burst into flames with a woman and child inside. Nearby neighbors heard the crash and screams, so they immediately headed over to the area that sees quite a number of accidents.

According to the article, Salvador Martinez went to the scene and saw a curly-haired child in the backseat with flames quickly growing. Others tried to help out by tossing buckets of water on the flames and looking for a water hose, but it was to no avail. The fire was not dying.

Martinez broke the window and tried to pull her out, but the seat wouldn’t budge and the fire was searing his arms. He yelled for a knife or scissors, but no one on the scene had anything. By the time someone came back with a knife, it was too late.

Should Boston convenience stores need a license to sell knives?

September 6, 2011 / Tim / 6 Comments

Want to buy a blade in Boston?

Well, doing so may soon be trickier, if two Boston city councilors get their way.

Michael P. Ross and Tito Jackson plan to propose an ordinance Thursday at a Boston City Council meeting that would require all merchants selling knives in the city to be licensed in order to do so.

The councilors say the ordinance is a response to the high number of stabbings in the city and a recent undercover sting operation that caught many convenience store owners selling knives to underage buyers.

“Clearly, these knives are dangerous weapons being sold casually in a convenience store, and they’re being sold to children,’’ said Ross.

In an email, the knife advocacy group Knife Rights urged its members in the Boston area to express their opposition to the measure and adding the following.

There is no indication that there has been any factual connection made between violence committed with knives in the city and these retailers, or that licensing would actually help the situation any more than simply enforcing the existing law on the books.

SOG Knives introduces limited edition "Gunny Series"

September 5, 2011 / Tim / 0 Comments

Gunny Fixed Blade

If you’re not familiar with The Gunny, you really don’t know knives. The Gunny, whose real name is R. Lee Ermy, is a retired Marine drill instructor and noted actor. He’s appeared in such films and shows as Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Leaving Las Vegas, Toy Story, The Simpsons and many more.

So, what does this guy have to do with knives?

Well, not only is he the official spokesman of SOG Specialty Knives, but he’s also worked with knifemakers to design his own knife sets.

Earlier this summer, SOG Knives and Gunny released two amazing limited edition fixed blade and folding knife to create the “Gunny Series.”

The knives are limited to 1,000 pieces each, but that’s not the amazing part. Continue reading

A new crop of balisongs, folders and scrimshaws from Thai knifemaker Suchat Jangtanong

September 2, 2011 / Tim / 10 Comments

While recapping the activity at the Blade Show in June, I mentioned coming across the knife designs of Mr. Suchat Jangtanong. I’ve begun to take more interest in these knives as I’ve learned additional details about them and the team that produces them.

Mr. Jangtanong is a third-generation knife maker living in the Uthai Thani province of Thailand, which is located in the central part of the nation approximately 200 kilometers from Bangkok.

He is part of a five-person knife making team called Thita (meaning strong and stable), which consists of a former tattoo artist turned scrimshaw designer, a monk, his sister and two others. Thita is also the name of one of the members who does the anodizing and manages operations.

All of the knives are made from Damascus steel and the handle materials are presentation grade. Additionally, many contain a unique assisted opening mechanism created by Suchat. There are also a number of meticulously-carved scrimshaws.

The knives are exclusively sold by Keith Newman and many of them can be found on Arizona Custom Knives in addition to Keith’s new website Mr.Damascus Knives, which features about a dozen of Thita’s models at the moment and will be adding more soon.

Keith recently sent me over a few pictures of some of team Thita’s new designs. Check them out and let us know what you think.

Developing Culinary Knife Skills: How to Dice an Onion

September 1, 2011 / Tim / 3 Comments

There are a few basic skills that are necessities in the kitchen. If you’re a home cook in training, you’ll have to master these or always be faced with stumbling blocks when you cook. Don’t get too intimidated, though; many of these culinary steps have to do with cutting, dicing, or chopping staple ingredients. And if you’re a Knife Depot fan, it’s probably safe to assume you know a bit about knives. This means it shouldn’t take too much to make sure you’re comfortable putting away your Bowie knife and sharpening your kitchen knives.

To help you in this learning process, we reached out to Kathy Maister, the woman behind StartCooking.com. Her website is a wonderful guide for learning the basics of cooking and picking up some easy, tasty recipes. We asked Ms. Maister about one of the most basic skills: dicing onions. Diced onions are a regular part of recipes, but many people are unsure how to tackle the root veggie. Here are Ms. Maister’s tips on choosing the right knife for the job, dicing onions, and cleaning up after the job.

Choosing your knife

There are three knives Ms. Maister couldn’t live without: a chef’s knife, a serrated knife, and a paring knife. That said, she also recommends you dice the onion using whatever knife with which you feel the most comfortable. If you’re choosing from her trio of knives, the chef’s knife has the length and strength needed to help you get through a big onion. So as long as you aren’t worried to use the big knife, it’s a great choice!

Cut off the stem end

Take a look at your onion. There are obviously two ends: the root and the stem. To identify which is which, look for the stringy roots hanging out of the skin; that’s the root end. The stem end protrudes and is usually covered in skin. Cut about half an inch off the stem end.

Cut the onion in half

Stand the onion upright on its now-flat end. Cut it vertically in half from the root to the bottom.

Peel the onion

The uncertainty of how to hold an onion while cutting is what makes onion dicing a daunting task for so many people. On her website, Ms. Maister shares a really easy trick for using the onion’s skin as a holder. It changes the way you peel the onion, so read the steps first. However, if you don’t share in the conundrum of how to hold an onion, go ahead and peel it. With the cuts you have made, the skin should peel off easily. Frequently, the top layer of the onion will also come off – this is fine.

Make slices towards the root

Point the knife blade towards the root end and make vertical slices to within ½” of the root. Ms. Maister uses ¼” spaces between cuts for chopped onions as a size guideline. Since diced is the middle ground between chopped and minced, make your cuts only slightly less spaced out than ¼”.

Make horizontal slices

If you used Ms. Maister’s trick for making a holder out of the skin (like we did), this is when you’ll be holding it. Otherwise, hold the onion by the root end and make sure you keep your knuckles in to avoid nicking yourself with the knife. Now, cut parallel to the root, slicing all the way through the onion. Keep your slices spread out the same distance as you did in the last step.

Repeat and voila!

Repeat these steps with the other onion half. Because of the natural rings, you now have easily diced onions!

Washing your knives

Ms. Maister recommends that you wash your knives by hand. Use a soapy sponge and always keep the blade pointed away from you.

Knives Save Lives: John Hutt’s trusty Pocket Knife

September 1, 2011 / Tim / 1 Comment

Mini Pocket Knife When 61-year-old John Hutt left his Colorado home on Aug. 19 for a routine retrieval of fallen trees for firewood, he had no idea of the harrowing experience he was about to face.

The semi-retired logger headed out that Friday morning at about 8 o’clock to a deserted area off a highway to break up the trees with his heavy duty machinery.

As he was detaching the trailer of his tractor-trailer, something he told the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel he’d done thousands of times, the 6 or 7 tons of metal came crashing down and pinned his foot against the rear-axle.

As you can imagine, the pain was unfathomable and worst of all, he couldn’t move. He had a cellphone in the car, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because there was no reception in there area. He called out to a nearby house, but again it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because no one was there.

Surprisingly, his instinct wasn’t to wait there in hopes that someone would come along and find him. After 30 minutes of being pinned, he’d begun to plan his escape by taking actions into his own hands. He reached into his pocket and all he had was Chapstick and his reliable 10-year-old Schrade Old Timer pocketknife.

Fearing he might pass out in shock and land in a way that would cause him to bleed more, he made the decision to free himself by cutting his toes off with the knife. So, he sliced through the boot, cut through the sock and cut through his toes, stopping only to catch his breath.

The pain of cutting through bones, tendons and nerves is unimaginable, but once he was already doing it, he knew the pain couldn’t get any worse. He estimated it took him about 10 or 15 minutes to finish.

The lowdown on the hottest Gerber knives

August 29, 2011 / Tim / 0 Comments

The Cutting Edge recently sat down with Spencer Worley, who manages Southwest Gerber Knives of Carlsbad, New Mexico, to chat about the difference between a combat knife and a tactical knife, wilderness saws, and some of the hottest Gerber products he’s selling at the moment. Check it out.

What are some of the most popular knives you’re offering this year?

I would probably say the LHR Combat knives are our most popular. These knives are made in the U.S. and are basic combat knives with big, serrated blades. For a hundred bucks, it’s a great knife.

Gerber LHR

There’s also the Gerber Contrast, which Gerber did a heck of a job designing. It has a really cool outward appearance, a nice blade, an 8-inch stainless steel handle and a frame lock, which is a bit stronger than your average knife.

For those who aren’t sure, what’s the difference between a combat knife and a tactical knife?

A combat knife, I would say, is a knife that you can use in a hand to hand combat situation, the blade would be a tanto style for thrusting, more of a drop point blade, that’s more of a combat style.

The tactical knife would be more on the stronger side and you have a lot more knife. The LMF II is a good combat knife that comes with a nice sheath and has about ten and a half inch, sturdy blade, It can cut through Plexiglass or aluminum, it can cut through the fuselage of an airplane if you need it. It’s a knife that a soldier would carry

What are some of your favorite multi-tools?

The ones that stand out the most are the suspension multiplier, its lightwieght, only nine ounces, and comes with a bunch of tools, including two flatheads, two screwdrivers, pair of scissors, needle-nosed pliers and more.

Gerber Folding Saw

What should people be looking for when they choose a multi-tool.

Well, you can check out our reviews our knife blog, we review all of our products, and we carry a bunch of multi-tools, but ultimately you want to just do some research, and pick out something that has all the components you think you’re going to use

What about wilderness tools, such as axes, saws, etc, any advice there?

One product that have that is pretty great is our 13-inch folding saw, which has a double joint, so it actually folds twice, once to hold the blade down and once to protects the blade for safety. It’s a total of 16 inches long and only weighs 12 ounces and costs about 30 bucks.

It’s great if you’re going to be trailblazing or going in a remote location, it can even be used in place of a machete.

Teacher punished for demonstrating use of tools, including a pocket knife, to class

August 26, 2011 / Tim / 11 Comments

A Chicago elementary school teacher is being charged with possessing a weapon at school after he was teaching his class about garden-variety tools and displayed a box-cutter and small pocket knife to students, according to The Rutherford Institute.

The story, which was brought to our attention courtesy of Knife Rights, is an example of the “zero tolerance” policy gone too far. The public school teacher was giving a lesson to his second graders on “tool discussion,” which is part of the curriculum, when he showed the class examples of such tools as a 2.25-inch pocket knife, box cutter, screwdriver, pliers and wrench.

There’s no doubt it could have been a potentially dangerous and irresponsible situation if he passed them around to students, but he kept them out of students’ hands and merely displayed them as part of the lesson. Doug Bartlett, a 17-year veteran teacher, now faces strict disciplinary action and even possible termination because of his thorough lesson on widely used tools.

Attorneys of the Rutherford Institute, which is a strong advocate of free speech and constitutional rights, sent a letter insisting that disciplinary action against Bartlett be stopped immediately.

Check out the Texas Roadhouse Meat Cutting Competition

August 22, 2011 / Tim / 1 Comment

Beef. It’s what’s for dinner, or in the case of competitors at the Texas Roadhouse Meat Cutting Competition, it’s their life’s work. Each year, the Texas Roadhouse Meat Cutting Competition hosts meat cutters across the country in a series of competitions to pick the nation’s best meat cutter.

In the video below, which was filmed at a semifinal event in Louisville, KY, earlier in the year, contestants had an hour to carve four muscles up into nine different cuts. Many confessed to having butterflies and being flustered by the high-intensity event, which will feed into a final competition where the winner will walk away with $20,000.

Check out the video below. Do you think your meat carving skills would match up to this crew of carvers?

Weird Knives: The Pointless Knife

August 22, 2011 / Tim / 8 Comments

Despite the pretty obvious playfulness of the name, there is actually a point to this knife: prevent those spontaneous stabbings we are so often urged to do.

These New Point knives are billed as the kitchen knife that can’t be used as a weapon.

They arrived out of the fear that the UK was going to completely ban pointy knives because of all the knife crime. Knife crime is actually a huge problem in the UK, so this might seem like a good idea over there.

There are a number of problems with this design, however. Firstly, although you can’t fatally stab anyone since the knife doesn’t have a point, it still features an extremely sharp blade stretching the length of the knife. While it might prevent accidental stabbings if it falls off the counter, it will definitely not deter someone with malicious intent.

The Cutting Edge

The official blog of Knife Depot