- Joined
- Sep 18, 2008
- Messages
- 84
So I've been a member of blade forums for awhile and with the exception of a few posts I really haven't contributed so I figured I'd share a tale of exactly how much trouble I could have gotten into, but for some miraculous reason I've escaped with my life intact.
Last week I had to make a trip to California for work. Now to be fair, California is a beautiful slice of the world, I lived there for 10 years before moving back to the Midwest, my son was born there, I really think it's a beautiful piece of the planet. The problem (by my estimation) is you have to get all of the people out of the way, or to get away from the people to really appreciate it. I still work for an organization in CA, and I'm really loyal to those guys, but needs arose that made me need to be closer to my folks. I still work for those California peeps needs arise and 2-3 times a year even though I'm now back 'home' I still make trips back for a week or so to touch base, have meetings, etc. For whatever reason as much as I appreciate the folks I work for the weeks back to CA always drain me.
In the past I've ordered something for myself to enjoy when I come home. This time for no good reason, I either purposefully or inadvertently decided to really see what I could get away with before the wife choked me.
I over compensated this time. Came back to this:
So from left to right I have...
ZT 0300
Umnumzaan
LG classic Sebenza custom graphic
orange Spyderco Military
LG classic Sebenza curly maple
Bradley Alias I
Now to be fair, I'm honestly not that much of a schmuck. I don't spend that kinda money, ever or if I do splurge...that close together, but here we go. I swear, all this just sort of .... happened.
Bradley Alias I
I wanted a Bradley alias I and the week before I left I saw John (JTR357) had one languishing in the sale forums. Well not wanting to see the poor thing suffer, I stepped up. For anyone that hasn't traded/bought from John I really don't have anything but good things to say. The smudges are oil not scrapes or scratches, John had it in very nice shape.
Umnumzaan
I had also decided I wanted a couple Chris Reeve's knives and went ahead and took a hit and shelled out the cash for an Umnumzaan. To be fair this was my wife's cash and not mine, that she worked her bottom off for giving a lecture about string to some Enfield, CT yarn nazis. Heh I texted her while she was still in CT asking if I could order it, I was a bit excited about the possibility to say the least. This actually arrived the day before I left but I couldn't bring myself to let it pass threw the TSA's hands and threw my Fallkniven U2 in the soupcase to carry in CA.
Spyderco Military in orange
Lesee where was I for all the damage I created. OH the orange military. I didn't want a military, it's a tad too big, and it doesn't give you a choice L/R tip up/tip down... but an orange knife is like an orange motorcycle. Most 'tacticool' knives/motorcycles are black and they shouldn't be. Orange is hott if it's a knife, beige is hott if it's a motorcycle. Yellow? you betcha. Powder blue? oh my. Make a knife that isn't black or SAK red and I'll buy it, just because well it's not black.
OK, 3 left.
First off, my wife is a sweetheart. We all know what sort of amounts of fun-money are involved in knives of this sort, and being the queen of the check book.... so does she. And here I am with 6 knives over the course of a week and I'm not dead. Just the fact that I'm alive to type this is testiment to how awesome she is.
LG classic Sebenza with unique graphic and curly maple
So two sebenzas. These are the result of a trade with seporith (Anthony). Heck of a nice guy, the trade is the result of probably a week of talking on the phone over who had what, and I just can't say enough about this guy. Next time I'm in his neck of the woods I'll call him and hopefully we can catch up for a beverage, and I hope he would do the same. So that ended up resulting in me giving up something that makes up a lot of noise and him giving up a couple things that are wee lightsabers. Both the curly maple and the
custom graphic are the result of this trade.
ZT 0300
The final thing in the list I was really expecting to get chewed out for. So my second day in the office last week.... 14 hour days.... pfegghttits. Anyhoo... ZT 0300. So of all the knives the ZT was the impulse purchase. Maybe the petulant 13yr old decided to drive after having my bottom kicked in the office. Maybe just because well I thought I could get away with it.
So I get home today and was picked up at the airport, and.....
No chainsaw noises.
I didn't hear the side get racked on her 1911.
No glug glug of gas being empited from a can.
Instead I get this, What a long week, we're all glad you're home. You have some boxes waiting for you.
'Huh', I wonder, 'has she been drinking? Maybe she's saving it up until we're not in public, maybe... dare I hope that I won't be smothered in my sleep tonight?'
We get back to the house and I pick up the Umnumzaan off the counter and start opening boxes. She appreciates all of them, of them she likes the custom graphic Sebenza best of the lot, and comments that I really scored some nice knives...
What a sweetheart, I'll probably go stand in the rain and grill her a steak tonight. Well start there anyway. She's the best catch of the lot. To add to everything else, she took the pictures for me so I didn't have to get crabby using photoshop.
So really, I have done nothing other then slobber over these knives to this point but in the spirit of well I don't know here goes.
The Military is orange, and kudos Sal for making a knife that ain't black. It locks up and deploys very well. It's really not my flavor but I really like the knife overall, it just probably wont see much action.
The Umnumzaan, been in my pocket more then any other. Feels like butter on butter as you deploy it, locks up like a bank vault, cuts like a laser.
The Bradley Alias I is beautiful. It locks up like an I-Beam, very aggressive convex grind, it cuts really really well. It deploys faster then any other production knife I own. It's a worker and will be used as such. I could wish that the frame lock was a bit easier to disengage, but I would in no way be willing to let the lockup suffer by making the disengaging lock easier.
Both Sebenzas are lookers, and they cut. I'll carry the custom graphic after I've carried the Umnumzaan for awhile, sadly I'm just smitten with the Umnumzaan so it will have to wait. There are enough people who sing the praises of the Sebenza, you folks don't need my voice added to their song. I will however say that in comparison to the Alias I... the Sebenzas make it feel cheap.
The ZT 0300. This thing is a tank. I'm going to break this knife, it issued the challenge.... I have accepted that challenge. I'm not going to purposefully hammer it into bricks but, it's going to see some rough use this summer in the yard and camping. It's like picking up a piece of lead wrapped iron with how beefy it is, it locks up very tight with only the very very very slightest side/side wiggle, that I'm sure I could fix with a bit of adjustment but I'm not going to touch it. This knife mocks me for what it is and I tend to use it until it's a shadow of what it once was. I'll do my best to keep notes and update everyone with it's life's story if it comes to that.
Anyhoo, there's my first real post. I've really enjoyed everyone else's wisdom and stories and thought I'd share one of my own.
Knives/guns are funny as machines/tools. They're polarizing people tend to either evoke some almost religious appreciation or abject terror. Either way it's entertaining as all out. I've been really enjoying the catchup reading I've been doing for the past while.
Hello, my name is Chad, and my wife hasn't killed me.
Last week I had to make a trip to California for work. Now to be fair, California is a beautiful slice of the world, I lived there for 10 years before moving back to the Midwest, my son was born there, I really think it's a beautiful piece of the planet. The problem (by my estimation) is you have to get all of the people out of the way, or to get away from the people to really appreciate it. I still work for an organization in CA, and I'm really loyal to those guys, but needs arose that made me need to be closer to my folks. I still work for those California peeps needs arise and 2-3 times a year even though I'm now back 'home' I still make trips back for a week or so to touch base, have meetings, etc. For whatever reason as much as I appreciate the folks I work for the weeks back to CA always drain me.
In the past I've ordered something for myself to enjoy when I come home. This time for no good reason, I either purposefully or inadvertently decided to really see what I could get away with before the wife choked me.
I over compensated this time. Came back to this:
So from left to right I have...
ZT 0300
Umnumzaan
LG classic Sebenza custom graphic
orange Spyderco Military
LG classic Sebenza curly maple
Bradley Alias I
Now to be fair, I'm honestly not that much of a schmuck. I don't spend that kinda money, ever or if I do splurge...that close together, but here we go. I swear, all this just sort of .... happened.
Bradley Alias I
I wanted a Bradley alias I and the week before I left I saw John (JTR357) had one languishing in the sale forums. Well not wanting to see the poor thing suffer, I stepped up. For anyone that hasn't traded/bought from John I really don't have anything but good things to say. The smudges are oil not scrapes or scratches, John had it in very nice shape.
Umnumzaan
I had also decided I wanted a couple Chris Reeve's knives and went ahead and took a hit and shelled out the cash for an Umnumzaan. To be fair this was my wife's cash and not mine, that she worked her bottom off for giving a lecture about string to some Enfield, CT yarn nazis. Heh I texted her while she was still in CT asking if I could order it, I was a bit excited about the possibility to say the least. This actually arrived the day before I left but I couldn't bring myself to let it pass threw the TSA's hands and threw my Fallkniven U2 in the soupcase to carry in CA.
Spyderco Military in orange
Lesee where was I for all the damage I created. OH the orange military. I didn't want a military, it's a tad too big, and it doesn't give you a choice L/R tip up/tip down... but an orange knife is like an orange motorcycle. Most 'tacticool' knives/motorcycles are black and they shouldn't be. Orange is hott if it's a knife, beige is hott if it's a motorcycle. Yellow? you betcha. Powder blue? oh my. Make a knife that isn't black or SAK red and I'll buy it, just because well it's not black.
OK, 3 left.
First off, my wife is a sweetheart. We all know what sort of amounts of fun-money are involved in knives of this sort, and being the queen of the check book.... so does she. And here I am with 6 knives over the course of a week and I'm not dead. Just the fact that I'm alive to type this is testiment to how awesome she is.
LG classic Sebenza with unique graphic and curly maple
So two sebenzas. These are the result of a trade with seporith (Anthony). Heck of a nice guy, the trade is the result of probably a week of talking on the phone over who had what, and I just can't say enough about this guy. Next time I'm in his neck of the woods I'll call him and hopefully we can catch up for a beverage, and I hope he would do the same. So that ended up resulting in me giving up something that makes up a lot of noise and him giving up a couple things that are wee lightsabers. Both the curly maple and the
custom graphic are the result of this trade.
ZT 0300
The final thing in the list I was really expecting to get chewed out for. So my second day in the office last week.... 14 hour days.... pfegghttits. Anyhoo... ZT 0300. So of all the knives the ZT was the impulse purchase. Maybe the petulant 13yr old decided to drive after having my bottom kicked in the office. Maybe just because well I thought I could get away with it.
So I get home today and was picked up at the airport, and.....
No chainsaw noises.
I didn't hear the side get racked on her 1911.
No glug glug of gas being empited from a can.
Instead I get this, What a long week, we're all glad you're home. You have some boxes waiting for you.
'Huh', I wonder, 'has she been drinking? Maybe she's saving it up until we're not in public, maybe... dare I hope that I won't be smothered in my sleep tonight?'
We get back to the house and I pick up the Umnumzaan off the counter and start opening boxes. She appreciates all of them, of them she likes the custom graphic Sebenza best of the lot, and comments that I really scored some nice knives...
What a sweetheart, I'll probably go stand in the rain and grill her a steak tonight. Well start there anyway. She's the best catch of the lot. To add to everything else, she took the pictures for me so I didn't have to get crabby using photoshop.
So really, I have done nothing other then slobber over these knives to this point but in the spirit of well I don't know here goes.
The Military is orange, and kudos Sal for making a knife that ain't black. It locks up and deploys very well. It's really not my flavor but I really like the knife overall, it just probably wont see much action.
The Umnumzaan, been in my pocket more then any other. Feels like butter on butter as you deploy it, locks up like a bank vault, cuts like a laser.
The Bradley Alias I is beautiful. It locks up like an I-Beam, very aggressive convex grind, it cuts really really well. It deploys faster then any other production knife I own. It's a worker and will be used as such. I could wish that the frame lock was a bit easier to disengage, but I would in no way be willing to let the lockup suffer by making the disengaging lock easier.
Both Sebenzas are lookers, and they cut. I'll carry the custom graphic after I've carried the Umnumzaan for awhile, sadly I'm just smitten with the Umnumzaan so it will have to wait. There are enough people who sing the praises of the Sebenza, you folks don't need my voice added to their song. I will however say that in comparison to the Alias I... the Sebenzas make it feel cheap.
The ZT 0300. This thing is a tank. I'm going to break this knife, it issued the challenge.... I have accepted that challenge. I'm not going to purposefully hammer it into bricks but, it's going to see some rough use this summer in the yard and camping. It's like picking up a piece of lead wrapped iron with how beefy it is, it locks up very tight with only the very very very slightest side/side wiggle, that I'm sure I could fix with a bit of adjustment but I'm not going to touch it. This knife mocks me for what it is and I tend to use it until it's a shadow of what it once was. I'll do my best to keep notes and update everyone with it's life's story if it comes to that.
Anyhoo, there's my first real post. I've really enjoyed everyone else's wisdom and stories and thought I'd share one of my own.
Knives/guns are funny as machines/tools. They're polarizing people tend to either evoke some almost religious appreciation or abject terror. Either way it's entertaining as all out. I've been really enjoying the catchup reading I've been doing for the past while.
Hello, my name is Chad, and my wife hasn't killed me.
It's all good, you got some great knives! 
