With Andrew (and Aaron and Dan) at Blade, I reached out to one of the gurus of cutlery science Cliff Stamp. He does admirably filling in for Andrew and gives us the straight skinny on blades, steels, and locks. All of your CATRA questions are answered, including “What the fuck is the CATRA machine?” And no it does not analyze your aura.
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In the Virtual Pocket Dump we talk about what we carried today: me: Aeon Mk. II and SAK Cadet; Andrew: Spyderco Techno and JetBeam Raptor. In the New and News section we talk about the Todd Begg reality show, Blade Brothers on Discovery, TSA rescinding the pocket knife rule (and I have an answer to why it was 2.36 inches), and finally we talk about the new Smart Lock from Viper. In the main segment Andrew lays out a pretty compelling argument for carrying big blades and we talk about some options and run down the performance of various hard use locks. In mailbag we answer the question of what to get if you missed out on the Aeon Mk. II but still want a nicer than average light. The options I came up with ranged from the esoteric (the Exolion Ti) to the fantastically hard to find (Surefire Titan T1, not the T1A), to the easy to find and nice to use 47s Mini CR2.
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Its official, Andrew, from Edge Observer is the new cohost. We brought the booze–in my case Woodford Reserve bourbon and his Jameson Irish Whiskey. After that we talk about our EDC that day. Andrew carried the glorious TiSpine and I had with me the Black Nishijin CF ZDP-189 Dragonfly and the Aeon Mk. II. Then we start talking a bit about the business side of gear, a conversation prompted by Thomas W’s comments on Everyday Commentary, found here. After that we take a peek at the world of aftermarket product mods, starting with an amazing company Texas Tool Crafters. Andrew references another modder, Custom Scales Division, and we both give high marks to TuffThumbz, especially his full custom knives. Then we switch to the main topic, new flashlight tech. We focus on two things Total Internal Reflectors and Quantum Tunneling Composites. In the process I confess that I am a Surefire fanboy. We finish up with a mailbag question on sharpening and both concur that stropping is key. Andrew recommends a 1 micron diamond stop spray, you can find a strop spray here.
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Andrew from the wonderful Edge Observer website and Youtube channel sits in the cohost chair. We run down his EDC, the Fantoni Hide. We chat about Todd Begg’s new Discovery Channel show, Grim Cleaver. That leads us into a design discussion that touched on many of the points I brought up in my series on custom knives that culminated in the review of the De Coene Hybrid. Then we switched gears and talked about behind the scenes stuff at Edge Observer, his crazy rigging and gear used to get the masterful snap zooms, rotating shots and track-dolly-like pans. We talk about three interesting knives, two of which he reviewed, the Rockstead and the Carter Murray knife, and one I saw, the Hitchmough Regent. It is a long podcast and I enjoyed some good bourbon during the recording, so sit back and relax. Oh and before I end these notes, EO will be making a One Piece Multitool some time in the future. Be excited. VERY excited.
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This one is a solo show, as Aaron is swamped with work and the schedule won’t allow for a weekend recording. In this episode I go through the regular stuff, the virtual pocket dump, and the news/gear purgatory, but then lay out the thinking behind what I carry everyday and why. On any given day here is what I am hauling around with me:
Tom Bihn Cadet (with two accessory pouches, including a power pouch with Monoprice Car USB charger)
Reuseable, fold flat insulated lunch box
Camelbak Tritan Insulated Water Bottle
A knife or multitool
A flashlight
A pen, usually the Tuffwriter Ultimate Clicky (rocking either the Space Pen insert or the Moleskine roller ball insert for sketchnoting)
This is a shorter than usual episode, but hopefully enough to hold you over until Aaron’s baritone returns.
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This week we take a look at custom flashlights, going through some (though not all) of the biggest and best makers in the world. We tour through some of Don McLeish’s best designs, Cool Fall’s kilobuck torches, Mac’s bargains, Jason’s photon cannons and a few other big names. McLeish, aka McGizmo can be found here. Cool Fall here. Mac here. Photon Fanatic here. Prometheus here.
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Aaron is back and ready to roll. We run down what we are carrying, including Aaron’s take on a fine light, the Olight S10 Baton. We also run down the list of upcoming Spyderco releases that Sypercollector posted on his site. Aaron tells us a little about his newest, super newest custom the Blount Surge. You can reach the maker via email at jbblountknives@gmail.com. Then we roll up our sleeves and have a show down on the merits or flaws of the Kershaw Cryo. My review is here. Aaron’s is here. To close out the show we answer an age old question Gear Geeks around the world have: how can I bring myself to use this new, beautiful (insert high priced piece of gear here). Note the slight gasp Aaron makes when I confess to wanton abuse of my new custom knife.
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With Aaron buried at work, Jacob from Blade HQ joins Gear Geeks Live for the show. After the Virtual Pocket Dump, we chat a bit about my new custom blade from Steve Karroll (found here). Then Jacob gives us a preview of some of the new Blade HQ exclusives and talks a bit about Knife Rights. Finally, I take two questions from the mailbag on selector ring and infinite variable brightness flashlights. My suggestion, the Peak Solutions Eiger, Oveready Edition can be found here. Thanks to Jacob for stopping by.
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Here we go in earnest. The first show with both Aaron and I and we use what will be our standard format. We both fawn over the new CPM steel in Aaron’s new custom–REX 121 with a HRc of 71.5. Then we chat a bit about Aaron’s response to Nutnfancy’s Chinese knives post. Its a little rough, but bear with us. And as always, thanks to Blade HQ.
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