I know it says review, and review I will...BUT!

Gorog

Gorog

Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
515
If any of you came here on the winds to hear of a knife review, forgive me this miniature essay, and know it will be over soon, and I will indeed type my first knife review. Okay, here I go.
I feel I must say something first. I have been stupid and half-habitually, half-unintentionally...stupid. I have been consumed by my Asperger's and my own habits, and have probably frustrated many good people here who just want to hang and not listen to my drivel. So I will get to the point. I have been forcing myself upon virtually all of you, pleading for attention, saying I should not do something, then did it anyway...it is stuff like that that I am not advocating for in others, and I will NOT stand for it in myself. What am I talking about, you might ask? The symptoms of social dysfunctionality and newb-ness, that is what I am talking about. I am sorry. I will do better. I will not stand for pollution in this forum, especially from myself, and that is what should be taken away from this. I am not perfect, in fact, in terms of social aptitude, I am IMperfect, but I will try my best to curb my enthusiasm, take a breath, and do what is necessary to earn your respect. That is all, in terms of that.

Now! The moment you have been waiting for! What on Earth is Gorog talking about, a REVIEW? A review of what? What could he possibly be reviewing, his mommies chipped santoku?:o Or is it the stainless steel chef knife his daddy used to chop bamboo with, that took a great honking chip out of the blade? *double:o* Well, fortunately, it is neither of those. I mean they were both great knives (at one time), but as the only person interested in saving the lives of my families knives by sharpening them is I, and I cannot freehand sharpen/hone to save my life...*cough DMT BLADE ALIGNER cough*...I cannot show them to you without feeling shriveled and disgraced inside. So! I bought my first knife, the beginning of a very sharp and shaved forearms love affair, and boy, is she a beauty, or what?
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So, what do you guys think? Okay, I was kidding about the beauty part. In fact, she is quite...ugly? BUT!! She is very useful. She is called a power/hacking knife, and I got her for about $27 from Lehman's. There is something to be said about the quality of this knife. The finish, the drop forging, the oil hardening half way up towards the spine, all of it is, I hate to say it, a little too rough and machine looking to be a beautiful knife. But that is not why I bought her. I bought because she looked like a good worker, and she exceeded all expectations. I hammered on her spine with the Annihilator I got from Home Depot with all my 'incredible' strength, and she did some serious damage to the silver maple log I'm shaping, with minimal damage to the spine (should have used a hardened rubber mallet or something, but, oh well...). She is not traumatizing sharp (or anywhere close for that matter), and that was kind of a drag, because, remember, I'm not good at sharpening, I can't hold an angle straight to save my life. But, eventually, I will learn how, or get me a tool that will allow precision angle sharpening to be on my horizon. Until that day comes, have another few pictures! This is...:grumpy:ly...me and my bow, as well as my oh so scrumdiddlyumptious collection of weapons and tools. Pretty shabby on my part, eh?
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Whoops. Malfunction. Forgive me everyone, but my armory is apparently too scared to show its face on Bladeforums (it was 2.3 MB, too much apparently for the bandwith...is that what regulates the content, or am I abusing computer terms indiscriminately here? Anyway) Okay, peace and goodwill to everyone.
David
 
Your earnest questions and reviews are a breath of fresh-air, David:)
We would love to see more pics, and feel free ramble on about anything you wish. To be honest, your off-topic tops inject a great deal of liveliness into the Cantina. :D

A friendly suggestion, set up a photobucket account. It's much easier to host pics off-site than through bfc. It's free and very easy.
 
There is a problem. I can't get clearer pics than that. My mom's iphone is my only, and I mean ONLY picture taking resource available, we don't have ANY camera's that work in the house...kinda ridiculous if you ask me, but, mine should work too, so its my problem as well.... Anyway, but I can describe pretty darn well, so away we go: Okay, my baby has a four incher blade length, around an inch and a half wide, and about 5/16 inches thick at the spine, just a shim bigger than a Kabar Campanion or a Tom Brown Tracker. I know it looks like a monster in the shoddy pictures, but its not really. But I still love her, because she is 1. My go to blade, and 2. my first official knife. Yeah, anyway, the finish was hastily machined onto the blade, so it does not look so beautiful, but, for under thirty dollars, can anyone really expect a masterpiece, (except for my beastly awesome origami-master-friend Pete from DeviantArt, he would give away his origami for free, but I keep telling him it is worth quite a bit). Its a sheepsfoot blade design, and I...love it to death. Oh yeah, its black leather scales for the handle, and the sheath is real thick black leather too, I can't tell what kind of leather it is though, and its not like they say it clear as day in the product description, either....
Well, actually, now that I think about it, the best picture I took was the one I did not take, the one of my joyful bow. That was my dearest mother's doing. So maybe if someone with steadier hands took the pictures, they will turn out better. I'll try my best, dude, but, until then, peace everyone.
 
Hey, Jake, it is nice to hear from you. Its been some time. Thanks for the reassuring words, I MASSIVELY appreciate any praise, cause I'm feeling kind of...worthless today. But I'm feeling better now! Thanks dude, you're really cool too, you, Eric, Howard Wallace, Quiggifur, Hepkat, you guys are among the many people I would do quite a lot and give quite a bit to meet in person. Either way, its nice to know I have a lot of wonderful people just waiting for me to doubt myself so they can kill some time (and be nice people at the same time) by killing my negative doubts (a much appreciated service, NO DOUBT). I am actually a member of photobucket, but I am also told by my little experience on this forum that, after some time has passed, photobucket can REMOVE your photos or something dastardly like that (kidding, though it is weird, maybe I was just looking at old photobucket memberships that expired or something). Anyway, forgive me this double post, on my last forum stint (Fighunter.com), the mods would have skinned me alive for this, so I do it with utmost hesitancy, and hope I get off easy because I am talking to a mod, and I'm the OP, but still, FORGIVE ME, MIGHTY MODERATORS, I HAVE SINNED IN THE DOUBLE POST MANNER! (No really, double posts are kind of irritating, feel free to tell me off for it.) But, yeah, I will update this as soon as someone with steady hands arrives at my house, with fresh, photobucket hosted pictures?!?!?!? Okay, I'll see everyone later, peace!
 
David,
You are not worthless. You seem like a fine young man. Although your massive posts sting my eyes sometimes ;) I understand., we will not skin you for double posting.
Photobucket is fine. I've been using it for years and havent lost a picture yet.
Just be yourself, you are among friends. :thumbup:
 
You are a funny, David!:D

But indeed you asked questions we took for granted. For that i thank you.
 
Haha! Karda said a funny! Stings my eyes...I actually like that one quite a bit, and its true too, I look back at how I've matured (sort of, haha!) since I joined this forum, and all I see is WALLS of text, with indignance and self righteousness that befittted a much younger child than I was at the time. Oh, and Karda, I'm sorry, but I had a lot to say in this one, so forgive me the length, please? But enough knocking on myself. Thanks a lot, man. I got a thumbs up from a mod and a pet connisseur! YAY!!! Now that my mom does not cringe whenever I go down for woodworking, and now that I have a proper knife (a whopper actually, considering most guys are in the tweens when they get their first knife, and its usually Victorinox Stubby bladed ones or a Buck, or something traditional like that, which there is nothing wrong with, except I value my tools when I can use them almost fearlessly, and a differentially oil hardened 5/16" blade basically qualifies as one of 'em), I MIGHT be able to scrounge up enough scraps of money for an HI product, (SUPREME EXCITEMENT, EVEN MORE THAN USUAL!!!), which would be awesome. Maybe I should talk to Miss Martino about the design soon, for I have given up on the kunai, and am thinking of several things I saw on a UK site, including something called a langsax, scramasax, a monster bearded axe, and more...I think the site was Nicks Knives or something?

On a different note, is anyone else amazed by the price to quality ratio of the HI product line? I mean, even a simple karambit, usually a small, concealable little knife, so cheaply made it could be considered one use only, is transformed by the kami's into a powerful fighting knife of deadly potential and near endless use. And you could probably get it for a hundred dollars or less, right? That, is truly amazing, that you can just spend your money once on something, and virtually never worry that you are tool-less again. In a fight? HI's got you. In a war? HI's got you. At home, chopping wood? HI's got you. In the kitchen chopping onions (sniffle), in a demonstration of martial arts kicking imaginary tails left and right, on your deathbed looking for something to be buried with thats been with you all your life? HI's got your back. And until the world ends, they will still be there with their unflappable, indestructible warranty, I bet you anything. What kind of company would be this into their customers, what kind of company nurses you back to health with blade therapy, what kind of company stands with you, no matter how much cow pats and bad times you wade through in your life, from start to finish? The good kind, and that is a FACT, no lies here. I'm not HI's spokesperson either, in fact, I have not, believe it or not, laid a finger on one of their products. So how would I know this? How would you know I am not just a zealous fanatic and not someone who is a bona fide expert on knives? Well, let me tell you, integrity and honesty, the kind that slaps you in the face when you lose control in anger, yet bandages your hurts when you are weak, is able to be sensed, and I can sense it every time Miss Martino moderates, I can sense it in the satisfaction behind every purchase, the glowing praise from every single review, everything just clicks, every thing is good with this company, and you can feel it. I would die inside if someone with substandard morals and half baked honesty came and took over the company. That is how much I am invested in HI. I will be a fan for life, and I will always be here to say good things about great people. They make the world go 'round. Bless everyone in HI, from the kami's up to the owner herself, bless you all. And yes, I am zealous, but no, I refuse to admit the fall of honesty and say I said anything false here. Just because I am the over the top when I praise, does not make my praise false, and I say that not because people here doubt me, but because people outside might. Peace, everyone. I love the acceptance I get here, it's a like a home away from home here, all my omnipresent, unkillable doubts are displaced every time I gather the courage to post here. Peace.
David.
EDIT: EVEN MORE TO ADD?!?!? What more could I possibly say in this ridiculously long post?!? Well, I just wanted to thank Jay FOR the thanks, and also say, you are very welcome. I love your avatar, is that really your collection of blades? It looks like the knights of the round table have finally manned up to Gurkha standards in that picture, (that was a reference to a movie called First Knight, in which the knights of the round table placed their blades in a symmetrical circle on the table. It was an awesome pinwheel effect, but that picture looks even better.) Well, peace for good, this time.
 
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David-I will second your superlatives regarding the kind forumites, but especially Ms.Yangdu. She has been nothing but gracious and helpful to me in every instance,as well as providing peerless customer service post sale.And BTW-I still say that your avatar is top notch! That little jumper cracks me up!! Joe.
 
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Just Joking, David!
 
Don't worry, you're not the only one guilty of the "wall of text." Read some of my posts sometimes, and you'll find a compatriot. I'm a big believer in leaving a space between paragraphs though. It helps...some...

As far as the sharpening goes--have you tried a Sharpmaker? Much easier to eyeball the angle when you just have to keep it straight up and down. I love mine. Takes a LONG time to reprofile without the diamond rods.
 
I did not know moderators had a sense of humor before I came here! This is great stuff, Karda! I mean, do you fashion these in photoshop, or just find these images online? I can't imagine anyone going--oh, you do get them online, I just read the URL near Spock's necklace, I was going to say, 'you don't have to go to such lengths to make people smile, Karda, you're making the stand up comedian in me die of shame!' but its great that you don't waste time, being the mod that you are.
Is it different, having the responsibility of moderation on your shoulders, do you have to repress, when you see someone with ten knives strapped to their back in a bandolier, the obvious fact that you are a moderator of BLADEforum's, and that clown doesn't even have high carbon steel to his name? I'm TOTALLY kidding, as well, I love stainless steel, it is great for certain applications, though I do frown upon men who strap knives to their personage and tout themselves invincible *frown*. I used to laugh ALL THE TIME back in the day when I was hanging with my 'home slice' Jon. He was beastly funny, and I was never healthier than when I was laughing, and dude, when I say I could laugh for hours, I mean it. You guys would be sick of laughter if you dared me to laugh as much as I could in one day, like nauseatingly sick. Then, all the laughter slowly left my life when my friend and I were separated by circumstance and chance, only to have a reunion thanks to having the same tutor around seven to nine years later. Yay!

I am taking beastly Eric's advice and putting spaces in between 'paragraphs', but it is difficult when typing something gives you THIS MUCH contentment and even joy, you know? Oh, and I must agree, Arbiter, there is nothing in the world quite like talking to someone like Miss Yangdu Martino, who so obviously cares about you even though she can't even form a sensory connection with you, that it shows in the way she talks to you. I would be honored to call her my real Aunt even, but alas, we are not blood related at all. Hope you get to reading this, Miss Martino, cause you are super cool to take the time to 'adopt' people even though you have a busy schedule. Peace everyone, and MY EYES! THE GOGGLES, THEY DO NOTHING!!! Haha!
David
EDIT: Geez, it takes such a LONG time to type out these replies, everyone always posts before me, darn it! Oh well. Its nice to meet you Crimsonfalcon07, and no, I have not tried the Sharpmaker. Its an innovation of Spyderco's, correct? I think I might have seen it before, but I think...hmm, does it have all the common bevel angles available, or is it just a few select ones? I might get it if it has all the common bevels...yet the DMT Blade Aligner looked even simpler, yet would not take really thick blades...decisions, decisions....Peace
 
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Gorog said:
... I have not tried the Sharpmaker. Its an innovation of Spyderco's, correct? I think I might have seen it before, but I think...hmm, does it have all the common bevel angles available, or is it just a few select ones?...
Click to expand...

The Sharpmaker is Spyderco's but there are numerous of these type of sharpeners on the market. Crock Sticks were the first I remember. Some come with one set of holes, others with two sets of holes so that the rods can be set at different angles. I use both the Sharpmaker and Crock Sticks. Both do a good job.
 
EDIT: Hey Howard, thanks for the tip, but my sharpening is needing more help than those two provide, unfortunately. And thank you, Emerson, I have been trying to write a novel for all my life, and NOW I AM FINALLY RECOGNIZED, MUHAHAHAHA!!!! (No, really, I have, I started in 4th grade, and never stopped trying, on and off, off and on, and on again!)
Okay, so I am probably going to get a charging cable for my model of camera, though it will take a few days for it to come in the mail, assuming I find it, so forgive me for my inactivity in my own 'special' thread, I am still working on trying to get some proper photos of my knife. My hands shake like leaves, though, so unless my camera has anti vibe tech, I don't know if it will make a big bang of a difference.

On a different note, I was stupidly self indulgent today and bought a Ecogardener Floral Shovel by True Temper, (Sister company of Jackson Professional, Razorback, Dynamic Design, Ames, Union Tools, and Hound Dog). I mean, I love to dig, I freely admit it, and my Cold Steel Shovels cannot possibly suffice, I needed a long handled tool with a strong handle, and a compressed lamination of bamboo strips is pretty darn strong (the Ecogardener has a bamboo handle). Okay, so picture me walking out of the house with my sustainably-harvested-bamboo-handled, reclaimed-railroad-steel-head shovel, feeling like I could dig a hole from Delaware to China with ease... and then picture my dismay, when I uprooted, by dint of abusive-to-the-shovel prying, a bamboo root, and nearly permanently bent my shovel blade.(Continued in next paragraph)

It was flexing so much I almost thought it would snap, which could have been disasterous for me, as flying metal shrapnel is not conducive to living...but anyway, the handle is a dream, lighter than fiberglass and composite materials, but stronger than anything I've tried, and I tried Fiskar's hollow steel tubing spade, and it is, while not light, touted to be the best shovel on Earth by Mother Earth News or something like that. So, yeah, the handle of my Ecogardener is a definite keeper, it did not flex one tiny bit before my, steadily and shamefully growing, full weight. But the shovel blade left something to be desired. Sure, the warranty does not cover prying, but when you are gardening, do you take a crowbar or utility bar with you? If you do, let me know how it works for you, because I am about to borrow my dads utility bar or buy my own, seeing as my shovel nearly broke, and I'll be uprooting more bamboo roots as soon as the voracious MOS-QUI-TOES die off in the first frost.

What am I going to do with these bamboo roots? Well, I feel really bad about my plan to quit karate (temporarily, I'll rejoin when I get my behind in gear), and I know it is no substitute for actually being there, but I just...can't stand how 'unfun' it is becoming when my karate instructor is not there to talk to (and be distracted from doing karate), so I plan to be making a bunch of martial arts weapons out of wood and such for the school, simple things like dan bong sticks, kubotans, yawara sticks (I need a dremel tool or similar for knurling and adding grooves and whatnot). My master was actually pretty interested in my idea to get some hard gabon ebony dowels as well, I might be getting them from Cooks woods or whatever that site is called, they are perfect size for kubotans, very high grade jet black heart wood according to their description with only a ten percent chance of sapwood inclusions (select grade wood, basically). Going back to the bamboo roots, the roots of bamboo are (I'm applying experience to the unknown here) probably the hardest, densest, and most wood-y parts of the bamboo, and while it is no work for ordinary shovels to pry apart the thick, tough rhizomes from the solid earth, it is work for a tempered wrecking bar like my Annihilator, (maybe?) or a utility bar.

As you all can probably see, I virtually live to talk to you guys through the tricky medium of internet. I love the expectation of getting responses, and hate (out of my hasty youthfulness) to wait for it when I could just be talking to someone in person, not to mention the ripe chance that I will misinterpret something as insulting or say something insulting (even worse), something I need to get over.... But! Its the only way to communicate with you guys, which is good enough for me.
Now, before I go, I wanted to share a quick fact. I am not certain of the specific amount of times, but did you know...that neutron star crust is the most durable substance in the UNIVERSE? It is more than several BILLION times stronger than steel, and that is because the neutron star is the uber hot core of the star, so dense that a marble made of neutron stars would punch complete holes in Earth, and the crust must contain cataclysmically powerful gamma ray bursts and whatnot... and that is really quite insane, am I right? Okay, no more excuses, I have to stop talking and leave, the more I say, the more room for error. Bye, everyone! Peace.
 
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Gorog said:
...a Ecogardener Floral Shovel by True Temper, (Sister company of Jackson Professional, Razorback, Dynamic Design, Ames, Union Tools, and Hound Dog). I mean, I love to dig, I freely admit it, and my Cold Steel Shovels cannot possibly suffice, I needed a long handled tool with a strong handle, and a compressed lamination of bamboo strips is pretty darn strong (the Ecogardener has a bamboo handle). Okay, so picture me walking out of the house with my sustainably-harvested-bamboo-handled, reclaimed-railroad-steel-head shovel, feeling like I could dig a hole from Delaware to China with ease... and then picture my dismay, when I uprooted, by dint of abusive-to-the-shovel prying, a bamboo root, and nearly permanently bent my shovel blade.(Continued in next paragraph)

It was flexing so much I almost thought it would snap, which could have been disasterous for me, as flying metal shrapnel is not conducive to living...but anyway, the handle is a dream, lighter than fiberglass and composite materials, but stronger than anything I've tried, and I tried Fiskar's hollow steel tubing spade, and it is, while not light, touted to be the best shovel on Earth by Mother Earth News or something like that. So, yeah, the handle of my Ecogardener is a definite keeper, it did not flex one tiny bit before my, steadily and shamefully growing, full weight. But the shovel blade left something to be desired. Sure, the warranty does not cover prying, but when you are gardening, do you take a crowbar or utility bar with you? If you do, let me know how it works for you, because I am about to borrow my dads utility bar or buy my own, seeing as my shovel nearly broke, and I'll be uprooting more bamboo roots as soon as the voracious MOS-QUI-TOES die off in the first frost.
...
Click to expand...

A tool called a pulaski is used for making firebreaks. It works great for cutting roots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulaski_(tool)
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pu...32wBq-_AOlsqcVHkUdaL0e7G9Z3zYepBYLOvjoEKCvoHQ
 
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I've heard of those. And they would be sweet to have around, but, as always, for me at least, no money...well, it was a nice thought, Howard, but yeah, I definitely can't drop thirty or so until next month. Its what happens when you live off gov't table scraps that are so kindly given to you. But, yeah, today is a new day, I'll make do with a crowbar and my shovel, and we'll have a grand old time, me and 'vegetable steel', as bamboo is called (yes, I am quite serious, bamboo is reputed to have strength similar, or greater than, mild steel). So, I will 'see' you all later. Peace.
David
 
Indeed it does hurt the eyes, sorry Bowxpress, I'll do my very best to curtail from now on. But that is not entirely why I made another post...my dearest father has quite a few tool chests, but none have a crowbar in them, and after a while of looking, I was forced to admit that my relatively small house does not have a crowbar in its cramped internal structure whatsoever. So, do you guys remember my Annihilator? It looks like an 18 inch, three pound hammer with a board straightener seperating the hammer head from the claw, a spike at the end of the handle, and a matte black finish on it. I was thinking, since I just got inspired by a TV commercial of all things, that maybe I could use this wrecking/utility hammer for prying apart bamboo! What do you guys think? Is the Annihilator cut out for it, or not? Let me know on your free time, okay guys? Peace.
Oh, and I know you all well enough that you will not even bother answering when I say this (I'm saying it moreso so I can say I did apologize), but forgive me my cheesiness in the above 'article' about HI's integrity and whatnot. You know, when I started into blessing people right and left? Not cool. I love HI, I do not refute that, but I do not want to sound similar to those awful late night, fan fiction loving, romance novel reading, life time soap opera addicted radio hosts and their sickly sweet habits and turns of phrases and whatnot (I don't despise them, I just find them hard to listen to. It sounds to me like poor acting, and I DO despise it when people act out feelings instead of actually feeling them...which is harsh, but the truth, and I am all about truthfulness) :) Peace everyone. Hopefully, I did not offend anyone, if I did, let me know, and we can work it out.
 
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You guys with the sore eyes, I have a tip. Just follow along in David's posts with your finger. Then when you want to look away, you can come right back to where you left off.

David, when doing a job, the job takes first priority, then find a good tool to do it. I've found choppers do a good job of removing roots. If possible, cut two ends and then pry out the segment. I've used axes, mattocks, pulaskis, hatchets, and yes even khukuris for this task. That last may shock some of the khukuri afficianodos here, as whatever chopping tool is used is almost sure to get nicked and dinged by rocks in the earth. If the job has to get done, you use what you have and file out the dings later. When digging fireline, files were used as a touch up and at the end of the day the tools got buzzed with a bench grinder.

Another approach to roots is the Japanese hori hori. This is like a thick metal trowel on steroids, with sawteeth on one side. It's a chunk of steel that will not bend when prying roots, in contrast to a regular trowel or a shovel (as you found out). The saw teeth can be used to saw through roots.

I seem to recall your talking about a cold steel shovel. That may be strong enough to take on your bamboo roots. You can sharpen up one edge for chopping, and it may be sturdy enough to pry with.

One drawback to chopping the roots if you want to carve them later, is that the chopping may dammage and fray the end of the roots.
 
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