- Joined
- Aug 24, 1999
- Messages
- 2,294
As usual, I returned to my hometown of Montreal for the holiday season. Apart from great food and beautiful women, Montreal has some great shopping. Of course, as a self-respecting knife knut, I decided to dedicate my Boxing Day shopping to knives
and what better place to do that than True North Knives 
As you may have seen in my previous reviews, I try to visit my friend Neil Ostroff of TNK every time I return to the homeland
The highlight of my visit to TNK was seeing two of the Rob Simonich auction knives. Upon Rob Simonichs passing, USN graciously initiated an auction, the proceeds of which will go to Robs family. Kit Carson donated a beautiful M21 out of his personal collection (literally pulling it out of his vault) and Tom Mayo donated a new TNT. Neil took off his dealer cap and successfully bid on the two auctions as a collector. While literally thousands of knives pass through Neils hands every year, his personal collection is limited to a few special pieces these two certainly qualify! The M21 was simply stunning in appearance, fit/finish, and function the TNT was up to Mayos usual standards Neil is lucky to have these in his collection.
Apart from these two, I saw TONS of knives that I liked such as the Crawford Warrior I am still not 100% how the Warrior differs from the Wortac but it did seem a bit thicker than my own Wortac (based on memory). The Darrel Ralph Static Maxx (essentially a Mad Maxx with 3 blade) in Bodycote Tungsten DLC was a great little knife and I am seriously considering it for my collection I need a small folder Hmmm
I could even retrofit Darrels robo-assist
.
Here are a couple of pics .
I saw three Obenaufs, a small M2 with Damascus blade, large M1, and the C2O (or COCK among some knife knuts). Out of the three, the M1 fit my hand the best. It is beefy, strong, and SHARP I would NOT like to be on the receiving end of an M1! Here are a couple of pics of the M1 with the JWS Evolution, Crawford Warrior, and Ralph Mad Maxx. I should point out that the JWS makes a terrific CLACK on opening and fit and finish is exceptionally good (but you knew that).
Speaking of sharp, I also looked at the RJ Martin Stingray and Handiman as an RJ Martin fan I was not disappointed!
Other cool pieces that I looked at include the Madd Maxx II with 5.5 Bowie blade and carbon fiber inlays, the Crawford Kasper (my all time favourite folder) with double bolster frame lock and stainless Damascus blade, and the Jeff Hall Phalanx in CPMS30V with extra thick liners. As an owner of knives from all three of these makers, I highly recommend their work. Heres a pic with the Obenauf model 2 described above.
Finally, I liked the Jim Hammond Flesheater, a great big battle blade that melts in your hand. Notice that Jim ships the knife with a cork on the tip
Thanks again to Neil for a great Boxing Day even though I was disappointed to learn that I arrived just minutes after the buy one get one free promotion ended (just my luck).
RL
As you may have seen in my previous reviews, I try to visit my friend Neil Ostroff of TNK every time I return to the homeland
The highlight of my visit to TNK was seeing two of the Rob Simonich auction knives. Upon Rob Simonichs passing, USN graciously initiated an auction, the proceeds of which will go to Robs family. Kit Carson donated a beautiful M21 out of his personal collection (literally pulling it out of his vault) and Tom Mayo donated a new TNT. Neil took off his dealer cap and successfully bid on the two auctions as a collector. While literally thousands of knives pass through Neils hands every year, his personal collection is limited to a few special pieces these two certainly qualify! The M21 was simply stunning in appearance, fit/finish, and function the TNT was up to Mayos usual standards Neil is lucky to have these in his collection.
Apart from these two, I saw TONS of knives that I liked such as the Crawford Warrior I am still not 100% how the Warrior differs from the Wortac but it did seem a bit thicker than my own Wortac (based on memory). The Darrel Ralph Static Maxx (essentially a Mad Maxx with 3 blade) in Bodycote Tungsten DLC was a great little knife and I am seriously considering it for my collection I need a small folder
Hmmm
I could even retrofit Darrels robo-assist
.Here are a couple of pics .
I saw three Obenaufs, a small M2 with Damascus blade, large M1, and the C2O (or COCK among some knife knuts). Out of the three, the M1 fit my hand the best. It is beefy, strong, and SHARP I would NOT like to be on the receiving end of an M1! Here are a couple of pics of the M1 with the JWS Evolution, Crawford Warrior, and Ralph Mad Maxx. I should point out that the JWS makes a terrific CLACK on opening and fit and finish is exceptionally good (but you knew that).
Speaking of sharp, I also looked at the RJ Martin Stingray and Handiman as an RJ Martin fan I was not disappointed!
Other cool pieces that I looked at include the Madd Maxx II with 5.5 Bowie blade and carbon fiber inlays, the Crawford Kasper (my all time favourite folder) with double bolster frame lock and stainless Damascus blade, and the Jeff Hall Phalanx in CPMS30V with extra thick liners. As an owner of knives from all three of these makers, I highly recommend their work. Heres a pic with the Obenauf model 2 described above.
Finally, I liked the Jim Hammond Flesheater, a great big battle blade that melts in your hand. Notice that Jim ships the knife with a cork on the tip
Thanks again to Neil for a great Boxing Day even though I was disappointed to learn that I arrived just minutes after the buy one get one free promotion ended (just my luck).
RL
)
I visit TNK "often" and didn't see that running. :grumpy: I guess that I need to be more observant ! 
