Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike this summer

[tradja]

OTHER CLOTHES (mostly carried in pack and worn in camp):

Marmot DriClime Windshirt A classic. This one is a rare vintage hooded version. It’s a nylon microfiber shell with a lightweight fleece-like lining. It’s versatile and warmer than it should be. I’ve got 6 versions and use them year-round for cycling, hiking, running, climbing, nordic and downhill skiing, hunting, baselayer, midlayer, outerwear, etc. If you’ve got one, you know.

DriDucks rain jacket. After years in the outdoor and ski industries, I’ve been through all sorts of fancy GoreTex and other “waterproof/breathables”. I’m over paying $80-$350+ for heavy, leaky sweatsacks. The new eVent products look promising, but I’m just over it. There are several versions of DriDucks/Frogg Toggs/Rainshield/Drop Stoppers out there. They are popular among thru-hikers for their light weight and breathability. At $15 and 6 oz, I’m going to give it a shot. I’m not worried about the limited durability – there is little bushwhacking on the PCT (with exceptions) and I have duct tape. In 1998, I carried a “water resistant” Gore Activent shell, and in 1999 I just carried a $0.99 disposable poncho and wore it thrice in 5 months. I may never take this jacket out of the pack this summer. I hope I never do – I am no fashionista but this is an ugly sack. There is a second backup jacket with our home-base person.

Backpacking Light Cocoon Vest Got this used on the exchange forum on an ultralight site. I didn’t carry an extra warm layer the last two PCT hikes, but had one on the CDT and it was nice. It’s 30% lighter and 3x thicker than my beat-up Patagonia Puffball Vest. A lot of warmth for 5.9oz.

Nike nylon wind pants from Goodwill. I’m a big fan of windpants for long-distance hiking. At 7.1oz, these are heavier than my last 2 pairs, but I’m not going to spend $70 to get a pair that’s 2oz lighter. Goodwill is luck of the draw and I accept that.

Patagonia Capilene 4 expedition weight fleece pants These are overkill for the PCT, but my reasoning goes like this: you want a pair of long johns, and at 5.5oz, these are unexpectedly lighter than midweight and most lightweight long underwear pants. I used to have a pair of silkweight Capilene pants, but they were 4oz and worthless. And IME, when it is cold enough that you actually need long underwear pants, what you really want is warm ones. These could potentially get ditched for much of the spring until the Sierra, and then from NorCal to Washington.

The ultralight forum guys think expedition weight pants are nuts, but ironically the alternatives they suggest are usually heavier, or are tights. That’s cool I guess, but I don’t wear tights. Sorry.

Detail of the new Polartec PowerDry grid fleece (same as the new military PCU set) :

Lowe Alpine PowerStretch fleece balaclava and Cheap HEAD Stretch Fleece Gloves from Costco. When it’s nasty above treeline, I will occasionally hike in the ‘clava. And I love it for sleeping in the cold. For 1.5 oz, it is a lot of comfort to carry. As far as the gloves, I like a thin pair of gloves. Mrs. Tradja likes mittens for warmth, but I like the dexterity for cooking or setting up the tarp. I used to get “brand name” stretch fleece gloves, but wear through the fingertips pretty fast (usually cooking) so I’m back to cheap gloves or USGI polypro liners. Mrs. Tradja carries some silnylon shell mitts I made for her (0.4oz/pair), but I just stick my hands in my pants pockets when the hiking gets that bad.

Smartwool socks, 1 calf-length and 1 ankle-length Yes, these are listed as pack clothes, not worn. For most long-distance hiking, I prefer to hike without socks for greatly improved ventilation, quicker drying after fording creeks, and eliminating a media for the countless stickers to embed in. The tattoo-like “dirt sock” that Westernhikers develop is like a patina on a carbon-steel blade: looks dirty, but is natural and very functional. I’m sure I’ll hike in the socks sometimes, but mostly these are for camp and sleep wear.

Patagonia fleece hat (not shown). Sorry, I was wearing this all day and forgot to take a picture. It’s black. Nothing too fancy. It will be in 40% of my pics this summer anyway.

Camo headnet Can save your sanity, especially in the Sierra and Oregon. (I’ve been trekking in northern Laos, canoeing in the Boundary Waters, and 500 miles in northern Maine in the spring. The worst bugs I’ve ever experienced are in Oregon.) Mostly I use this as a stuff sack for the hat, ‘clava, socks, and gloves, and as a pillow case.

 

[tradja]

PACK, SHELTER, and MISC

Granite Gear Virga I love this pack. It is frameless, with the tri-fold Torso Pad (see below) inserted inside. I long ago cut off the rudimentary hipbelt and sternum strap. There are lighter packs out there, but not by too much, and I can’t imagine that they carry large loads of food and water very well. The Spandura pockets are awesome. I only wish it had a large flat mesh pocket on the back, instead of the awkward vertical sleeping pad straps. Also shown are my mostly-worn out New Balance runners, that I will wear for the first 500 miles until my first pair in Mojave, CA. I hope this works out, since these are more collapsed then they look.

Gossamer Gear NightLight Torso-length sleeping pad This is to be used in conjunction with the full-length ThinLight pad below. I like torso-length closed-cell foam pads, and this one seems SO MUCH noticeably warmer than the USGI and Z-Lite pads I’ve used before. It even seems warmer than a standard RidgeRest, even though the R-value is rated about the same. Note that this is almost entirely for insulation -- comfort is not really an issue with me (I can sleep comfortably on bare linoleum, much less on pine needles and soft duff.) IME, inflatables are too much work, too delicate, and not warm unless a very heavy model. Shown next to my main sun hat for size reference.

The hat is a Tilley LTM6, the widest brim they make, I think. Now ordinarily, I put Tilley hats in the same lame-white-guy-gaper-gear category as adventure travel shirts and zip-off pants (see dentist going to Costa Rica, above). However, I like boutique, well-made products and I think the raised crown and mesh of this design will be great in the blazing sun. I had REI dividends to spend recently and it was this or overpriced combo-edge Griptilians. There is nothing else I really needed at REI for what I had to spend.

Gossamer Gear ThinLight pad Supposedly an R-value of just 0.4, but it seems warmer than the trash bag and empty backpack that I usually have under my legs. This one may or may not earn a place in my pack over time. But for 1.9oz, it seems like a luxury I can deal with.

Cook set More-or-less clockwise from upper left: Evernew 2L titanium pot with lid, aluminum windscreen, blue stuffsack, alcohol stove and hardware cloth pot stand, black mesh kitchen ditty bag, hollowed-out lip balm containing salt, cayenne pepper, P38 can opener, orange Mini-Bic, 2 camp cups, steel spoon, orange Light My Fire spoon/fork with serrations removed on belt sander, pot grippers, pie-tin “blast shield” stove platform.
The can opener will probably not get used even once, since canned food is not ever really encountered. The Light My Fire is a big step for me, having snapped several polycarbonate spoons on previous hikes, usually in ice cream.

Detail of my homemade Pepsi-G stove:

I’ve got more than 300 backcountry nights on this one so far and love it. There are probably better alcohol stoves out there by now, but I’ve seen a few of the current rockstar designs (Caldera Cone) in real life and have not been impressed. I care less about efficiency when boiling thimblefuls of tap water in your backyard and more about heat output under a 2-person 2L pot. Alcohol stoves are pretty much all the same, IMHO. The practical performance difference between an empty tuna can and the current 8-component, Dremeled-out calibrated masterpiece du jour is pretty minimal, IME.

 

[tradja]

Gossamer Gear Polycryo 2-person groundsheetI found out afterward that this is just the heat-shrink window seal covering that poor rural folk like me used in the wintertime growing up. Supposedly these can go an entire PCT hike without replacing, but I got two more at Lowes and put them in the maildrops every 900 miles or so just in case. We haven’t really found a lightweight groundsheet that I really like so we’ll see how this does. Tyvek is not waterproof and the fuzzy surface transports noxious weed seeds, and the other common choices (4mil poly, coated nylon, fiber-reinforced space blanket, etc) weigh more than my tarp. Spinnaker cloth is an intriguing possibilities, but is essentially unobtanium these days and isn’t waterproof anyway.

Tarp and bug house These pics are from the CDT, but it’s the same rig this time. Both are homemade from the Ray Jardine kits. The tarp is currently set up out back drying out from a new dose of silicone spray. If/when these wear out, I’ll totally build a new one. This is my second, and my first went almost 400 nights. I’ve used this and the first one in everything from Baja sun to multiple 18” Rocky Mountain blizzards to a crazy microburst-style windstorm in Corsica that destroyed every other tent in the campground.
We’ll start with the bug house, but may send it ahead to the Sierra. We’ll probably ditch the bug house at the OR-WA border as fall approaches.

Titanium and two aluminum tent stakes I lost a second set of my favorite 7.5” Ti stakes last fall. Now all I can find is these ubiquitous 6” Ti needles, and my Google-fu is pretty good. The two different “7.5” stake sets I ordered this spring were both 6”, and were returned. I threw in 2 larger aluminum stakes for holding power, but I like that I could drive the 7.5” Ti stakes through rocks and gravel without bending. The hi-viz red stake bag shown here needed some hand stitching, since my sewing machine just mysteriously got off-time last night and I didn't have time to figure it out. However, when sewn up it was too short so it has been subbed.

Ditty bag Generally clockwise from blue silnylon ditty bag in upper left:

• ~40 ft of milspec orange paracord. This is mostly the bearbag line and also the “donor” length for replacement drawstrings or gaiter repair . (Yes, we will be picking up two required bear cannisters at Kennedy Meadows for Kings Canyon NP, Sequoia NP, Yosemite NP, and Inyo NF. We’ll ditch them at Sonora Pass or Tahoe.)
• ~10ft of gutted milspec tan paracord. The “shorty” cord is more convenient for everyday utility than the long hank of orange. Typical uses are lashing random things to the pack or extending the tarp ridgeline.
• Sewing kit – a few needles including very heavy-duty ones, 100% polester thread, wrapped around a piece of blister pack.
• Eyeglass screwdriver and screws
• 4 earplugs. For random opportunities to shoot, rare noisy campsites, loud cheap hotel rooms, random opportunities to see live music, etc.
• Petzl Zipka headlamp. Again, there are lighter ones, but I like the universal AAA battery availability and long useful life. Dims gracefully and seems to have a long “moonlight” level when the batts are almost kaput.
• Lip balm with SPF.
• Silva Type 3 compass. I won this in a Cub Scout Bowl-a-thon in 1983 and have used it on every adventure since. This compass has more than 14K self-propelled miles and 1000 wilderness days on it. I’m not too sentimental, but I would be bummed if it got crushed or lost.
• Gorilla Tape. I am not a duct tape snob, but this stuff is really good.
• Random ditty bag to protect compass

 

[tradja]

Data Pouch for first carry Guidebook maps, Yogi Town Guide pages, data book pages, and permits for first section. Consumable gear, but thought I’d put it in. Some maildrops contain almost a half-pound of paper.

Spyderco BaliyoHey, I gotta carry a pen anyway, so why not a Spyderco. Might be fun to practice with anyway.

Two 2.5L Platypuses. My wife has another one, not pictured. I love these things for carrying water in the desert. After Kennedy Meadows, we’ll probably ditch 2 of these.

Electronics bag I’m not too psyched about this. Somehow, I got by without it in the past. The iPod Touch is a great little WiFi unit in town, and the Skype functions pretty well (we are not cell phone people). Mrs. Tradja has about 60 hours of audiobooks on the iPod. The Solio solar charger charges the iPod and the camera batteries. Throw in a few spare camera batteries, some SD cards, solar charger cables, a 1.6oz tripod, an SD card reader, and a mic headset for the Touch and suddenly it’s a big heavy bag of gadgets. We’ll see how long each of these items last before getting sent home.

Red cotton bandanaSometimes I’m pretty traditional. It’s doesn’t have to be red, but it generally should be.

NOTE: My wife carries additional group gear not shown here. Generally, I carry the weight and she carries the volume: I carry the cookset, fuel, shelter, the water bags, data, and almost all of the food. My wife’s gear (not shown, she is in CA already) includes the AquaMira water treatment, FAK, TP/Purell, and both sleeping bags. We each carry at least some food, water, fire, knife, and rudimentary shelter (she usually carries the 5’x’8’groundsheet or the bug house, which has a silnylon floor that could be flipped and used as a bivy.) We don’t hike separately anyway.

The sleeping bags are a pair of Western Mountaineering DryLoft Apaches with 900 fill down. They are in CA with my wife right now, but here they are on a previous trip:

At 2lbs 10oz each, there are much lighter bags out there. But we really like the Apaches. They zip together, which has its obvious rewards. They’re nice and warm. Mostly, we don’t want to spend the significant money to replace them with lighter, less warm and less weather-resistant bags. We already have a set of Feathered Friends bags that are 1lb 9oz each, but they have lost loft, don’t zip together, and just don’t cut it when it gets below freezing.

 

[tradja]

…and without further ado, enough of the gear and bring on the KNIVES!!!
The response from knifemakers has been overwhelming. I didn’t expect so many makers to be excited about this opportunity. All told, 7 knifemakers have generously provided knives for me to feature on this project, and 1 more is having scheduling challenges but may be able to provide a knife later in the hike.

(PML just arrived and is not shown at the moment the pic was taken)

This is an incredible set of knives from makers who I am very excited about. 5 of the 7 are makers that I have not had experience with before this trip, but have been meaning to check out. What better chance than this hike!

My last-minute distribution of knives among the various trail sections was much more art than science, but there were some justifications: the big Ranger in sketchy SoCal, the light Shadowknives IX for the long and high Sierra, the Carter in his home state of Oregon, and the Koyote LBK Woodsman for the potentially snowy finish.

First to respond was Justin Gingrich from Ranger knives. His satin Ranger Afghan in a nylon MOLLE sheath is a very impressive piece of 1/4"steel. At 18.8oz, this is the beefiest knife in the group. Justin’s background speaks for itself and he knows a thing or two about wilderness, so I am really looking forward to spending 500 miles studying the design he picked out for this application. The balance and choil are great, and check out the glow in the dark inserts in the handle! Very useful for the 0-dark-30 “WTF-was-that?” grab.
I'm a lefty, and this is the only knife in the test with an ambi belt sheath.

I don't think of (or train with) knives as weapons, but if it came to it, this knife is really quite substantial and comforting in hand. IME, the SoCal section of the PCT is a tad sketchy so this blade will cover the first month from the Mexican Border, through the Laguna, San Bernadino, San Gabriel and San Jacinto mountain ranges and the Mojave desert.
STATS
OAL: 9.75”
Blade:5”
Steel: 5160
Scales: Canvas Micarta (with GID plugs!)
Weight (w/ sheath): 18.8 oz.

PML Drop Point
For detail work on the SoCal section, accompanying the Afghan will be Paul’s little drop point around my neck, arriving right at the buzzer. He had been working on a pair of 1095 knives but was encountering hassle after hassle. This one features his standard sleek, modern styling, a nice 3” blade with great texture on the flats, and beautiful silver twill G10 (?) handles. The large jimping divots on the spine are pronounced, but somehow very comfortable. I softened the pointed pommel just a bit for greater comfort in some grips. The kydex is detailed and secure, and Paul obviously took the time to blend out the edges, an often-overlooked step.

STATS
OAL: 6 9/16”
Blade: 3”
Steel: ???
Scales: Silver twill G10
Weight (w/ sheath): 4.7oz.

 

[tradja]

Shadowknives/Eddie White Model IX #272
After the first 500 miles, the Model IX will take over for the southern Sierra Nevada. This section will include the longest food carry (175 miles) so this compact little blade will ride light on the belt.

I’ve been meaning to check out one of Eddie's knives for a while. This is a great little knife. The individual serial numbering is a nice touch; this one is 272. The handle is well proportioned, and I like the fit and dye pattern of the sheath. It's refreshing to see a high, thin hollow grind on a custom knife. It has a nice pointy point for detail work. The thump jimping is distinctively coarse, which Eddie added to this particular blade for enhanced grip in a dicey/cold/wet situation.

STATS
OAL: 8 1/16”
Blade: 3 5/8”
Steel: 440C with Eddie’s own heat treat
Scales: Black/Red G10
Weight (w/ sheath): 7.3oz

 

[tradja]

NWA Stinger
Around Sonora Pass just north of the Yosemite border, Mrs. Tradja’s parents will meet us for resupply. For the next 500 miles as the granite northern Sierra transition into the volcanic landscape of the southern Cascades (Lassen National Park and the Shasta), I’ll switch out to the modified Stinger that Nick sent over. This one lacks the large choil, to provide more cutting edge, and Nick slightly enlarged the handle for better grip. My medium hands don’t require a huge handle, but the result is secure and satisfying in the hand (see pics). I had never handled Nick’s work in person before, but this is some really nice work -- the fit and finish of both the knife and sheath are impressive. Note the dual bands of thumb jimping in the in-hand photo. This detail adds to the versatility of the design by enhancing more grips and is a nice touch. The jimping itself is really neat and fine, like the 30dpi checkering on a custom 1911. The handle is generously contoured and the scales are well-fit. The heavy sheath clicks in like Kydex and sounds like hollow wood if you tap on it.

It might be the fat G10 or the beefy spine, but this knife gives the impression of a LOT of knife for the measured weight of just 8.1oz with sheath.

(sorry, camera died and I lost the other in-hand pics. More coming this summer!)
STATS
OAL: 7 ¾”
Blade: 3”
Steel: D2
Scales: Black/Red G10
Weight (w/ sheath): 8.1oz

Covering the scalpel work on the NorCal section, I’ll also be carrying the Bark River Rising Wolf, a new design provided by Derrick over at KnivesShipFree.com. Derrick and I had a great time with his convex sharpening video contest a while back, and I’m happy to see his hand in bringing this improved Mini-Montana Guide to market. When I first opened the box, I immediately laughed and thought “Jumbo Little Creek”. The knife is not “jumbo” at all, but is reminiscent of the LC, one of my favorite Bark River designs of all time. I redid this sheath in kydex for convenience, since it is light enough to neck carry.
STATS
OAL:7 1/8”
Blade:3 1/8”
Steel: A2
Scales: Black Canvas Micarta
Weight (w/ sheath): 4.9oz

 

[tradja]

Scott Gossman UFK (Utility Field Knife)
Just south of the Oregon line,Scott Gossman’s new UFK design comes to bat for the 500 miles until Washington. I've been getting some pretty burly knives, but the UFK really on target for this hike: slim, compact, and as much as I like pointy knives, I really like the strength and trail utility of wharncliffe/sheepsfoot blades. The handle ergos feature a natural palmswell that feels great in-hand. The blade shape is puts out a lot usable edge – the cutting edge on this knife seems to just keep going and going. (note the proportionally long, slim blade in the in-hand pics) Should be great for food prep, firewood prep, and the long straight edge will be easy to sharpen. I like A2 as well –a great steel for this hike.

This is a beautiful knife that will be handy and easy on the belt.

STATS
OAL: 8 ¼”
Blade: 4”
Steel: A2, 60-61 rockwell.
Scales: turquoise/black micarta
Weight (w/ sheath): didn’t get to weigh this one before it got packed into the resupply, but I’m guessing around 7oz with sheath.

Murray Carter Neck Knife
I carried a now-discoed Murray Carter Muteki neck knife on my 2006 CDT hike, and Murray and I have since become friends and done other adventures together. I have some larger Carters and 2 kitchen knives, but this one returns to the slim, thin, sharp neckers that initially drew me to his blades. Murray’s thin, Japanese-inspired edge geometry and clean Hitachi carbon steel hardened to 63-64 are capable of some really scary degrees of sharpness. This is a one-off and not one of his standard models. IMHO, it is somewhere between his Vex and Modified Persian necker designs. It’s a lot of cutting power in a lightweight package. I also really like the big, well-integrated choil and the handy neck kydex. Nice ironwood doesn't hurt!

This one will complement the Gossman UFK for the length of Oregon to provide some pointiness to the combo.

STATS
OAL: 7”
Blade: 3”
Steel: Hitachi Blue Super Steel with 410 stainless laminates
Scales: Desert Ironwood
Weight (w/ sheath): 3.8oz

 

[tradja]

Coyote Knives LBK (Little Big Knife)
When we cross the Columbia River into Washington for the last 500 miles of the hike through the North Cascades, it will be just before Labor Day. The past two years, I have been snowed on during my Labor Day trips in the central Cascades. In 1999, I finished he last 75 miles of the PCT in 18” of fresh snow. With our very lightweight gear (one guy in my group had a 5lb base pack weight), we built fires every night.

I intentionally placed this unique blade/sheath combo (for indeed, the sheath is an integral part of the presentation. More on this later) in the box for this section. If it snows on us, I will again want to get a fire going, fast. This is not an axe, but I am confident it can be pressed to chop and split as well as handle routine cutting. The wide blade dropping below the fingers and the fat handle generates an unexpectedly in-hand sensation: it gives the impression of being (for lack of a better description) a nimble cleaver. I get the “Little Big Knife” idea now: the knife really isn’t huge or heavy, but the weight forward balance and self-guard really make it feel like a camp knife/chopper, even though the moderate stock thickness, bright scalpel Scandi/convex (Christof calls it a Scandivex) edge and dedicated thumb placement allows me to choke up on it for detail work.

The sheath: it smells like a high-end Western wear store from arm’s length. Koyote Girl’s saddlery-inspired leatherwork looks good in pics, but handle it if you can to fully appreciate it. The knife fits well and the system of straps allowing ambi vertical or horizontal carry is practical without being gimmicky or obtrusive. The design itself integrates well with the knife instead of just being an accessory. Every edge is carefully and generously beveled (see sheath detail pic) which enhances the finished, luxurious feel. The Scandivex edge is SHARP, and I’ll need to be careful not to slice the retaining strap clean off when resheathing.

STATS
OAL: Sorry, did not get to measure this before it was packed. In the group pics, it looks about as big as the Ranger, but is actually a little smaller. It even photographs larger than it is.
Blade:
Steel: 1/8” 1080, differentially tempered
Scales: Natural Canvas Micarta
Weight (w/ sheath): A bit heavier thank the rest of the group, maybe 10-11 oz?

OK, that's it. Sorry for the epic posts but I am really psyched about these blades.

 

[stingray4540]

Wow, that's awesome, thanks for posting your packing list. I'm sure I can learn something from it. I'll have to study it more when I have the time, then I'm sure I'll have questions for you.

Have a great and safe trip, and thanks for sharing with us!!!

 

[mtwarden]

thanks for the detailed posting- the very best of luck to you and your wife!

looking forward to hearing/seeing your progress

that's an impressive (and wide array!) of knives, not sure how I've missed the rising wolf- I'm also a big fan of the little creek and definitely carries over some of those lines

 

[tknife]

Awesome, I love the gear and knife pics. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the new gear and blades, especially since you have done this hike before using other gear. I gotta say, I really can't wait for the trip pics!

 

[j williams]

tradja, thank you for taking the time to post your gear list. I learned quite a bit from this thread thus far, and Im really looking forward to checking out more of your trip. I sincerely wish you 2 a happy, and safe trip.

 

[mtnfolk mike]

great stuff John... looks like you folks are all set.. thanks for the gear pics...

nice selection of knives too man..:thumbup: i am really liking the looks of that BRKT Rising Wolf.. it does look a lot like the good ol' Little Creek.. which you and I love so much..

i hope you folks have a good journey... tell Jess hello for me.. drop me a line again when you guys get into Santa Cuz..

cheers.. Mike

 

[fishshooter]

Yep, that was a Murray Carter Muteki wharncliff necker our CDT hike. I posted that on the camping subform of another knife-related forum. That was a great hike.

I remember that. I really enjoyed reading your posts. I guess I must have, I remember it out of the probably tens of thousands of threads on this forum and that one that I've read since then. I'm looking forward to your trip reports, best of luck!:thumbup:

 

[HikingMano]

Wow, great gear break-down I hope you like the Tilley LTM6, I was a bit hesitant to cough up the dough for a Tilley, but it's proven itself to be a good buy for me. I like it over my boonie for the mesh and the wider/stiffer brim.

This continues to be an excellent thread :thumbup:

[...]nice selection of knives too man..:thumbup: i am really liking the looks of that BRKT Rising Wolf.. it does look a lot like the good ol' Little Creek.. which you and I love so much..
[...]

Ditto, I've been eyeing that Rising Wolf for a bit now...looks like a great knife :thumbup:

 

[LMT66]

Have a safe journey and make a lot of good memories!

Don't Forget The Camera!

 

[PMLKnives]

This thread is shaping up nicely! I have never done the trail, but I have spent some time in Southern CA when I was in the army. Oh it's S30v by the way. Good luck on the trip! I'm sure it'll be a blast.
Paul

 

[shadowknives]

Shadowknives/Eddie White Model IX #272
After the first 500 miles, the Model IX will take over for the southern Sierra Nevada. This section will include the longest food carry (175 miles) so this compact little blade will ride light on the belt.

I’ve been meaning to check out one of Eddie's knives for a while. This is a great little knife. The individual serial numbering is a nice touch; this one is 272. The handle is well proportioned, and I like the fit and dye pattern of the sheath. It's refreshing to see a high, thin hollow grind on a custom knife. It has a nice pointy point for detail work. The thump jimping is distinctively coarse, which Eddie added to this particular blade for enhanced grip in a dicey/cold/wet situation.

STATS
OAL: 8 1/16”
Blade: 3 5/8”
Steel: 440C with Eddie’s own heat treat
Scales: Black/Red G10
Weight (w/ sheath): 7.3oz

Hope it holds it's own and helps you out. Y'all be safe and have fun!

ps. from Miss Lora- You pack more than a girl!

 

[koyote]

I'll be on tenterhooks all summer!!!

This is good, since I have to move anyway

lots of good blades, and a really nice trail. I've done parts, but not the whole thing. I'll try not to run you over while I'm driving back and forth over Donner while moving all summer