I always carry a knife with me. For the past seven years it has been the knife seen above. I bought it at the Shadow House during the 2002 Hawthorne street fair for $20. The design is, in my opinion, beautiful. Unfortunately, the craftsmanship is shoddy, and the steel, shit. Don't get me wrong, I love this knife, I wouldn't have carried it for nearly a third of my life(!) if it didn't serve me well. The last two years or so it has been harder and harder to keep it in good condition; The rivets are popping out and the blade hardly hold an edge. It's time to retire the old guy.
Meet my new knife. It's a Benchmade Shoki. Benchmade is a local knife company that produces some of the finest quality pocket knives available. I'll try not to wax too technical, so I'll say this, the steel and blade design is superior in every way over my old knife, the blade locking mechanism innovative, and the quality of craftsmanship is through the roof. Too, it is wicked sharp.
As you can see, it is smaller than my old knife, which isn't saying much because the old one is pretty large for a pocket knife, coming in just under the legal length for a concealed blade. It's also quite a bit lighter, which is actually a downside; I prefer a more substantial tool in my hand to let me know where it is and what it's doing. It's astonishingly light, about five times lighter than my old knife. I will adjust eventually.
They call it a "gentleman's carry" which is an annoying way of saying it is not particularly rugged, so no screw-drivering or ninja knife throwing for me anytime soon. Which is fine by me.
Song of the Day: Make it Fast, J Dilla feat. Guilty Simpson - This samples heavily from "Make it Fast, Make it Slow" by Di Rob, a Ghanaian funk/rock musician from the 1970's
1 comment:
LOL, I wanted technical details....
That is a pretty swanky knife.
After unnumbered delays, I should finally have that cheap and cheerful Boker Subcomm soon.
I do know what you mean about the substantial feeling. That Buck you gave me feels like a very serious tool in my hand. It was really nice to use on a recent camping trip. But it's crazy to try and carry it around. Way too heavy.
By the by, it is against Oregon state law to carry concealed switchblades, gravity knives (apparently also the factually incorrect but politically correct way to refer to balisongs these days), and "dirks and daggers".
The big problem of course is that "dirks and daggers" line, because different states have different case law on the matter. I believe that in Oregon the case law is generally for "double edged and/or designed and marketed as a weapon".
I'm not sure, but I think that the Oregon state legislature preempts weapon law, which means that counties and municipalities can't make their own laws. I was just reading about how Portland apparently tried to ban carry of pocket knives over like, three inches, but it was appealed three times until the State Supreme Count overturned it.
</pedant>
Post a Comment