Flow
Newly Enlightened
Went to the suncoast gunshow in ft. myers (http://www.suncoastgunshows.com/) and got some new toys.
Several years now, I've had a Cold Steel Recon Tanto. The finish is all but worn completly off, the handle is nearly smooth (had a sort of checkered grip). Well, it was getting pretty close to time for its retirment. The blade is just fine, despite some pretty rough times. It's now sitting on display on my dresser as a reminder of good times. I won't be giving this away as I did my mini-mag after I had seen the glory of the E2e.
But anyway, on to the new stuff!
I had intended to simply get a new recon tanto. Old one served me well, figured just get another. No one had any.
I wound up finding a booth that had ka-bar knifes. Now, there were plenty of knives about I would have prefered, but they were all well out of my price range for a single knife. I looked, and I looked. Wound up likeing the ka-bar 1254 (http://www.ka-bar.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.cgi?product_id=234&cat=2). A bit shorter than my old friend, but I figured it would do. $45, new in box, I had paid $60 for my recon. Also carbon steel, also a plastic/rubberish handle. Then, I took it outside, and really started checking this baby out. First thing I noticed, I could see the end of the tang. And the beefy pin that hold the end on. I had always worried in the back of my mind of the recons handle slipping off. This sure as hell won't be happening. The handle material itself is a bit stiffer, but the grip is great. The way the little guard is curved makes it a lot easyer than the recon to get some good leverage. And it's nice to know my index finger won't slip leaving me with a nick on my finger. I can wrap my pinky around the end were it starts to widen again, and the knife is going nowhere but where I want it to.
So, I decide I like this lil ka-bar. I go back, find a friend who had come with, and take him to the booth. We both got ka-bars. Yeap, I got *another*. The 1270. Nearly identical to the 1272 (http://www.ka-bar.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.cgi?product_id=76&cat=2) , except tanto style (hey, I use this things as screwdrivers and pry bars, I like tanto) and the measurments are 7" blade, 11 7/8" overall. He got a 1245 (http://www.ka-bar.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.cgi?product_id=69&cat=2).
For Now I'm going to skip what else I got and goto the abuse after we got back to his place. Now, I'm not one to take a $50 knife, let alone $150-ish (though I paid quite less) knife brand new and beat the hell out of it. But James (the friend) will. He cut a 2x4 in 40 or so strokes (he could have just snapped it around 30, but he was testing it, not himself), 1/4 inch copper tubing in about 10 stokes, and ran it several times through 1/8 inch sheet metal. Many times continuing to cut the metal like a can opener.
The damage? One tiny piece of one of the serations was missing. And the black finnish on the blade was fubar. The (now) showing steel was actually quite nicely polished, probably from rubbing the 2x4. Besides the one tiny bit, the destroyed finnish, and needing a (surprisingly) few strokes on a fine stone, it was good as new. Almost every knife he gets a hold of he destroyes almost the same day. This one just laughed at him. It now stands among the few knifes that didn't fall apart, or simply break (he's ripped the handle right off a recon tanto /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif).
Now, back to the show and the other nifty thing I got, a Ti-Card (http://www.nemesis-knives.com/ti.html). The local police *hate* stuff like this though. If anyone ever asks, I'm saying it's a letter opener (which it actually does amaizingly well).
The other intresting thing at the show was a surefire booth. Not official in any way, but it was cool. They had several of every hand light, some gun mounted lights and lasers, and not all but a respectable collection of various accesories. I found a holster that just fits the E2e, red and blue E1/E2 filters, red filter for my 8ax, and a spare X80 lamp. The stuff was marked up a bit (gotta make a profit), but still less than after shipping. Good deal.
And I got to play with a 10X @ 500 lumens. The light, as with my E2e and 8ax, was much smaller than I had imagined. That thing could light up the other end of the (concert) hall. With plenty of ambiant light. Know what else I did? Yeah. Right in my eyes. I was nearly completly blind for several minuts. Never have I experianced such beautyfull pain. Maked down to still well over $300, however, it'll have to wait.
Several years now, I've had a Cold Steel Recon Tanto. The finish is all but worn completly off, the handle is nearly smooth (had a sort of checkered grip). Well, it was getting pretty close to time for its retirment. The blade is just fine, despite some pretty rough times. It's now sitting on display on my dresser as a reminder of good times. I won't be giving this away as I did my mini-mag after I had seen the glory of the E2e.
But anyway, on to the new stuff!
I had intended to simply get a new recon tanto. Old one served me well, figured just get another. No one had any.
I wound up finding a booth that had ka-bar knifes. Now, there were plenty of knives about I would have prefered, but they were all well out of my price range for a single knife. I looked, and I looked. Wound up likeing the ka-bar 1254 (http://www.ka-bar.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.cgi?product_id=234&cat=2). A bit shorter than my old friend, but I figured it would do. $45, new in box, I had paid $60 for my recon. Also carbon steel, also a plastic/rubberish handle. Then, I took it outside, and really started checking this baby out. First thing I noticed, I could see the end of the tang. And the beefy pin that hold the end on. I had always worried in the back of my mind of the recons handle slipping off. This sure as hell won't be happening. The handle material itself is a bit stiffer, but the grip is great. The way the little guard is curved makes it a lot easyer than the recon to get some good leverage. And it's nice to know my index finger won't slip leaving me with a nick on my finger. I can wrap my pinky around the end were it starts to widen again, and the knife is going nowhere but where I want it to.
So, I decide I like this lil ka-bar. I go back, find a friend who had come with, and take him to the booth. We both got ka-bars. Yeap, I got *another*. The 1270. Nearly identical to the 1272 (http://www.ka-bar.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.cgi?product_id=76&cat=2) , except tanto style (hey, I use this things as screwdrivers and pry bars, I like tanto) and the measurments are 7" blade, 11 7/8" overall. He got a 1245 (http://www.ka-bar.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.cgi?product_id=69&cat=2).
For Now I'm going to skip what else I got and goto the abuse after we got back to his place. Now, I'm not one to take a $50 knife, let alone $150-ish (though I paid quite less) knife brand new and beat the hell out of it. But James (the friend) will. He cut a 2x4 in 40 or so strokes (he could have just snapped it around 30, but he was testing it, not himself), 1/4 inch copper tubing in about 10 stokes, and ran it several times through 1/8 inch sheet metal. Many times continuing to cut the metal like a can opener.
The damage? One tiny piece of one of the serations was missing. And the black finnish on the blade was fubar. The (now) showing steel was actually quite nicely polished, probably from rubbing the 2x4. Besides the one tiny bit, the destroyed finnish, and needing a (surprisingly) few strokes on a fine stone, it was good as new. Almost every knife he gets a hold of he destroyes almost the same day. This one just laughed at him. It now stands among the few knifes that didn't fall apart, or simply break (he's ripped the handle right off a recon tanto /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif).
Now, back to the show and the other nifty thing I got, a Ti-Card (http://www.nemesis-knives.com/ti.html). The local police *hate* stuff like this though. If anyone ever asks, I'm saying it's a letter opener (which it actually does amaizingly well).
The other intresting thing at the show was a surefire booth. Not official in any way, but it was cool. They had several of every hand light, some gun mounted lights and lasers, and not all but a respectable collection of various accesories. I found a holster that just fits the E2e, red and blue E1/E2 filters, red filter for my 8ax, and a spare X80 lamp. The stuff was marked up a bit (gotta make a profit), but still less than after shipping. Good deal.
And I got to play with a 10X @ 500 lumens. The light, as with my E2e and 8ax, was much smaller than I had imagined. That thing could light up the other end of the (concert) hall. With plenty of ambiant light. Know what else I did? Yeah. Right in my eyes. I was nearly completly blind for several minuts. Never have I experianced such beautyfull pain. Maked down to still well over $300, however, it'll have to wait.
