Santa Spark and a New Year of Knives

[stabman]

I won the Kizer Lancer in week 47 of the year of giveaways.
It was meant to be...the sports team at my high school was The Lancers. We had Lancer Pride week. In university, once again we were The Lancers.

So yeah, destiny.

Anyway, it showed up just prior to Christmas, so after opening the big box to make sure all contents were there, it was time to wrap the knives (came with Ka-Bar folder) and put them under the tree.

Christmas Day!!!

Pose it with statue my wife bought me:

Carve the turkey...well, the breast area, as the legs fell off when transferring from the pan:

So we headed out to the woods a while later; my brother's girlfriend came along to see the site.

THE SITE HAD BEEN DESTROYED!!!
After 10 years of being used and cherished by all who came by, some total pricks came by and destroyed the shelter, broke the bench we made out there, threw a bunch of the wood pile onto the wet ground, and destroyed the fire pit. And not only casually destroyed...they had thrown some of the stones and bricks 30 feet away.

Well, screw 'em; time to get things back in order.

That's better.

Oh yeah, and here's the Cold Steel Tanto Machete my brother got me for Christmas:

 

[stabman]

Here's the sheath orientation I went with, and the way it draws:

Found that due to how high the sheath rides, it hurts the shoulder trying to draw it with a "normal grip"; reverse works better ergonomically with this sheath.
Also, the sheath has stupid amounts of retention as it arrives, so I loosened it a tad with heat from a hair dryer. Also lightly sanded the edges of the handle scales, as they were a bit sharp...not too bad, but uncomfortable.

Time to use the knife and get the steak stick ready!

After lightly bashing the knife into the end of the stick, I used hand pressure to rock the blade through the length required, rather than bashing the tip area of the knife:

Peeling the bark:

Looking a bit used:

Fire!

The most magickal part of the day was this steak; 16 ounce sirloin for $3.96!!!

Nibbled on it as it cooked, and continued cooking it to perfection while the sausages and potatoes cooked:

Oh yeah, and here's a pic of most of the knives we had with us:

So thank you Spark, and thank you Bladeforums.
Thank you grocery store for the best value on steak I ever got.

And screw you random jerks who tried to ruin our woods fun; you are not going to succeed in your Grinch quest.

 

[Hackenslash]

Awesome Dude! I love your story/picture threads! And good on Spark for being the Knife-Santa!

 

[Bigfattyt]

Nice prize! Fun camping.

 

[dirc]

some people drink and can just have fun, enjoy, laugh... others can just get stupid and destructive
... those ones shouldn't be, it's such an easy litmus test, 'would I like someone to destroy my place?'

people who fail that basic test, really shouldn't be allowed anything, ever (including water?) ... (unless they are forced to harvest it themselves)

 

[Petunia D. Feeble]

Here's the sheath orientation I went with, and the way it draws:

Found that due to how high the sheath rides, it hurts the shoulder trying to draw it with a "normal grip"; reverse works better ergonomically with this sheath.
Also, the sheath has stupid amounts of retention as it arrives, so I loosened it a tad with heat from a hair dryer. Also lightly sanded the edges of the handle scales, as they were a bit sharp...not too bad, but uncomfortable.

Time to use the knife and get the steak stick ready!

After lightly bashing the knife into the end of the stick, I used hand pressure to rock the blade through the length required, rather than bashing the tip area of the knife:

Peeling the bark:

Looking a bit used:

Fire!

The most magickal part of the day was this steak; 16 ounce sirloin for $3.96!!!

Nibbled on it as it cooked, and continued cooking it to perfection while the sausages and potatoes cooked:

Oh yeah, and here's a pic of most of the knives we had with us:

So thank you Spark, and thank you Bladeforums.
Thank you grocery store for the best value on steak I ever got.

And screw you random jerks who tried to ruin our woods fun; you are not going to succeed in your Grinch quest.

I love that there's a Poliwog in that bunch of knives. Quite possibly the least backpackey(?) knife Spyderco ever produced. The Dodo gives it some competition, but at least it's pretty lightweight.

 

[stabman]

Awesome Dude! I love your story/picture threads! And good on Spark for being the Knife-Santa!

Thanks!
Spark did make Christmas more knifey.

Nice prize! Fun camping.

Always good to get out there.

some people drink and can just have fun, enjoy, laugh... others can just get stupid and destructive
... those ones shouldn't be, it's such an easy litmus test, 'would I like someone to destroy my place?'

people who fail that basic test, really shouldn't be allowed anything, ever (including water?) ... (unless they are forced to harvest it themselves)

Agreed.
Especially after so many people over so many years were cool about it...it's like, what the heck was wrong with these people?
Oh well, just keep the good times rolling, and to hell with the jerks.

I love that there's a Poliwog in that bunch of knives. Quite possibly the least backpackey(?) knife Spyderco ever produced. The Dodo gives it some competition, but at least it's pretty lightweight.

My brother's girlfriend saw it, and just grabbed onto it instantly. Been carrying it...shown it to her mom.
That knife seems to have created an instant knife knut.

 

[d762nato]

Congrats nice blades you scored and the rest of those blades looked well loved. It's a shame people have to tear up things the way they do. Your camp looks better now at any rate, probably some kids if I had too guess.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

Congrats and good on Spark for a year of give aways

I always love your pics, but as a 'Merican, the non-'Merican date stamps sometimes make me think you really did crawl out of Vault 13 in the future

 

[22-rimfire]

.... THE SITE HAD BEEN DESTROYED!!!
After 10 years of being used and cherished by all who came by, some total pricks came by and destroyed the shelter, broke the bench we made out there, threw a bunch of the wood pile onto the wet ground, and destroyed the fire pit. And not only casually destroyed...they had thrown some of the stones and bricks 30 feet away.

Well, screw 'em; time to get things back in order.

That's better.

Oh yeah, and here's the Cold Steel Tanto Machete my brother got me for Christmas:

Do you think it was some Green's Peace type who destroyed the site to "restore it" or perhaps the owner of the property?

At first I participated with the giveaways, but I grew tired of the whole thing as I have plenty of knives already. But still, that was certainly a nice Christmas gift from Sparks.

 

[stabman]

Congrats nice blades you scored and the rest of those blades looked well loved. It's a shame people have to tear up things the way they do. Your camp looks better now at any rate, probably some kids if I had too guess.

The camp site has evolved over the years, with new iterations along the way.
Liking how it is at the moment.

Congrats and good on Spark for a year of give aways

I always love your pics, but as a 'Merican, the non-'Merican date stamps sometimes make me think you really did crawl out of Vault 13 in the future

Perhaps I AM from the future...

Do you think it was some Green's Peace type who destroyed the site to "restore it" or perhaps the owner of the property?

At first I participated with the giveaways, but I grew tired of the whole thing as I have plenty of knives already. But still, that was certainly a nice Christmas gift from Sparks.

The land has had interesting ownership history but currently is government owned.
The property owners in the area we've met along the way have been supportive of the site, and used it themselves from time to time.

I think there are two main possibilities:
1) Some destructive jerks decided to ruin it themselves for the "fun" it.
2) Some inconsiderate jerks left a bunch of trash behind sometime between September when we were there last, and when we returned in January. Someone came along who saw the mess, cleaned it up, then destroyed everything in rage at what had been done.

Personally I think option number 1 is most likely.
If it was option 2, then I blame whatever jerks didn't clean up behind themselves.

 

[stabman]

And as to the Lancer itself:
Works pretty darn well.
The handle is on the short side, so with large hands that means you lose some of the leverage for hard pushing cuts.
Overall though the knife feels pretty good in the hands and is useful.

Although it was designed with more defensive uses in mind, it is suitable for utility tasks, and the shorter handle does make for more comfort in carry.

I do plan on getting a leather sheath for carrying it around in the future though.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

I'm checking your V.A.T.S. stats just to make sure.