startin' to play with the ECOs

[vector001]

just got my first chance to start really fooling around with the new ECO design today, and i gotta tell ya, i am delighted with what it does.


where are the zombies when you really need 'em.

i'd settle for Taliban.

oh well.




i'm pretty amazed at how solid this crude wrap has the head on the haft.

all of us here'll do some brainstorming and figure out somethig more elegant in the next bit, i reckon, brethren.

....this way will surely do, meantime.

i was impressed with how fast you could get it on solidly, without a lot of fine motor skills needed.

i didn't anticipate that.


i made another haft out of a piece of bow stave i was curing - just like being out in the woods. - i have some pictures to post later.

i only wiped out one TV set so far, and i haven't seen my guard dogs for over an hour - but these things are fun to fling a handle on and go to town with. :thumbup:

i gotta go pick up my little boy, but i'll post some more pics shortly.


the ECO Hawk is designed for you to mod and make accessories for, yourself.

although we are gonna make some killer composite hafts and accessories for it ASAP (hmmm. maybe "killer" wasn't the best choice of words), ...the strength of the design is that you can be completely ready to go tactical or to the woods with what's in the included bag - your ECO.


and they are pretty dang cheap for what they do.

just like me.




i think Saint Erica is going to try to get a hundred more done in time for Christmas.

dunno - give her a heads-up if you'd like to be included in the Wish List for the next offer at Investors rates for the first day or so.

ericag@equinoxcoronado.com

now where'd that neighbor's cat go....

....har...!


let's all hear it for ECO Terrorism.


thanks for lookin'.

vec

 

[bobcatsniper]

where can I get one...are they availible yet

 

[wannabebum]

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=691812

 

[demoteamone]

Marvellous design:thumbup: Marvellous price:thumbup: I can't wait I want to get my hands all over soon
More pic

 

[CitizenQ]

A haft which has been cut in two like that looks like it would break very easily.

 

[bobcatsniper]

how did I miss this one?...I ususally stay up to date but this one got by.....oh well I just emailed to get on the list if possible

 

[vector001]

A haft which has been cut in two like that looks like it would break very easily.

good observation, bro 'Q.

- short answer is: not if you tie it correctly.

nothing stops you from putting it on just one side of a branch, or using a bunch of reeds bundled up, etc. - those all work well, in my experience with the ATAX during my handle research for that tool.

the cut actually makes it tougher than an eye style haft in equal circumstances. i know, it's counter-intuitive until you look at the physics diagrams of each proposition respectively.

how do i know? - i made one like this when i was five.

it just died a few years ago. - that's about thirty five years longer than i think i will need this one.


the trick is to have the bottom wrap right up against the head, and the way you cam the first few ties over the top - it puts the stress area inside the wrapped area instead of higher on the stick. - and there are better ways to do it, this is just the "Good 'Nuff" method.

and it's fast.

like i mentioned though, there are plenty of other ways to wrap it, we are just not there yet in the conversation.


if folks don't trust their own workmanship, especially after following the suggestions we provide, i reckon they oughtta stay away from sharp things altogether - i hope that's not a Party Foul on my part - they are a danger to themselves and others.

- if they just want something ballsier than field alternatives, we intend to make a nice composite haft for this critter.

HTH.

vec

 

[vector001]

from another conversation that relates to this one -

Hmmm... I need to sell stuff to make room for this one

just don't sell your good stuff...!

i made this to be inexpensive and relatively small for a reason, brother... ....

by the way, i have it on good authority that chicks dig this thingy.

the only problem is, if our ladies get addicted to sharp things, we are gonna have to earn more money ...dang... - good thing a box of ammo is worth a small farm these days... ka-CHING.

What is the length?

here's the stats.

they are zone-tempered 1075 steel.

3/16" stock thickness.

7.1 Ounces.

7 inches long.

2 inches in their widest dimension, 1 inch wide in their narrowest width at the "waist".

I see so many things in that blade. I like that it can be construed to be NOT a knife. It presents itself as a tool but it could be combined with stuff to be all weapon.

exactly.

these are my thoughts and hopes too.

the inconspicuous pouch it is presently coming with helps increase its innocuous characteristics IMHO.

I'd love to hold the thing but I will settle for a pic of it in someone's hand... pretty please

....

it just so happens the pups conked out long enough for me to play around with it some more.

kindly keep in mind, i have gigantic hands with piano-wire fingers, so there is plenty of Grip Real Estate..

- this thing is designed to comfortably trap multiple-sized hands over the Center of Mass, while having enough weight for control in the knife holds, and enough "smack" (- highly technical term) in the tomahawk and harpoon modes.

for those of us who really want to get out on the edges of the world and push their limits, it might be nice to have a good hide scraper and hand axe readily at hand. i am sure one of my mean buddies is gonna use this thing to scrape a hide before i get to, but oh well - as long as the tool is having fun. (- the ECO tool, i meant - not the buddy-tool ...har! )

for those stuck in the City - well ...this is my favorite Combatives hold on the ECO, i reckon, for my style - weapon in the off-hand..

the swept tanto/spike's edge is going to be a magnificent slasher on near misses, with crosses and hooks, like when you are trying to get out of The Hole in a mobbing - and the triangular little poll on the end is going to find subclavian arterial groups, hamstrings, and kidneys just fine.

- meanwhile, if you concentrate on a more-flowing style, just being a more experienced infighter, you will appreciate the right angle turns that this device will allow you, to dominate multiple adversaries in the clutch. (ol' vec wipes drool off of face caused by hope for battle - sorry, yes i know... too much Viking Blood.)
even tough tracheas are going to give when that Edge Nexus on the bit is driven in with your thumb.
winning is not the issue - just try not to get any on ya. this same hold is going to be great for a crouch-feint where you sweep the adversary's scalp with the Edge Nexus on the bit as he leaves his top-knot vulnerable when he reacts to your feint, ...and let the blood flow over his eyes for a few seconds. if you are fighting fair, your tactics suck, the Wise Man has been heard to say....

okay, gotta go chase my fastest neighborhood cat with this hawk and simmer down after all that adrenaline pumping from knifey-hawky glee....


more to come.

thanks for your time, brethren.


vec

 

[Dusty One]

vec....very nice idea...looks like fun !

 

[vector001]

thanks, brother dust'. you are very kind.

fun is what i am all about.

vec

 

[ishiyumisan]

Vic, Huge congratulations for the new design Very NICE

 

[moblues]

That's brilliant! Really, makes it fun to try out, place on a haft, etc.

 

[depusm12]

vec

Couldn't you do a partial cut on the haft and wrap over the top with rawhide or something similar then wrap the paracord over that to make it stronger?

 

[vector001]

vec

Couldn't you do a partial cut on the haft and wrap over the top with rawhide or something similar then wrap the paracord over that to make it stronger?

you bet.

now you got the disease, brother - you are infected with ECO hawk-mania - we were discussing something sounding just like that as an alternative the other day.

there are so many different ways to do it, it makes me laugh with delight.

one guy is making a mace out of them with four on one handle in reverse harpoon mode.

a lot of configurations gonna happen, i reckon.

thanks for the input, brother.

vec

 

[vector001]

from one of our Investors tonite;

A package was on my doorstep this evening.




I opened it with much .............












ANTICIPATION...............





The one I opened was #20....

I have a REGRET regarding my purchase already.....







I SHOULD SHOULD HAVE FOUND SOME WAY TO HAVE BOUGHT THEM ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Ok, that's probably a litle greedy.... but, these things are SWEET! The photos can only give you a small hint of the PLEASURE you WILL EXPERIENCE when you possess one of these... or two...

the thoughts of POTENTIAL solutions to so many problems...


yes, REAL or IMAGINED...



I will not test tonight, but as I imagined from the photos, these look and feel durable, well designed and finely excecuted....

great heft, nice lines, nicely finished and SHARP!

The packaging? The (sturdy weight, synthetic) pouch is divided into two halves, with "shell holders" on each side of the divider and on the cover flap... snap-closed belt loops and "D" rings on the back... TOPS extras are inside and attached to the outside of the pouch... NICE!!

glad they made a decent first impression, brother. - thanks for posting those thoughts.

here's what you have to look forward to;

the victim;

the victimizer;

let's gut this bastard ...oh how i love the ECO Hawk's ability to unzip stuff that iz unzippable....

you will notice that there is an exact level of control when using the ECO to make straight long cuts, due to the right-angle advantage of the hawk configuration over a standard good knife. stick him, gut him. done.

i experimented with a few tie methods, especially quick and dirty ones. this is try number two - they all worked BTW, two separate ties with 6' lengths of paracord (or better) are probably the best - enough line comes with the ECO Hawks to tie it four times so that the head ain't going nowhere never....

i said; STICK IT.

AND i said; GUT IT.

alright - at this point i was highly satisfied that the ECOs would be great for processing elk, etc. but i came across some bumpers on each corner of the boxspring that were stapled down and were very tough plastic - a good survival knife would've cut through them after a while, but the ECO's Edge Nexus, coupled with it's super high PSI and controllability amputated these things like a giant mantis eating a bug shell ...snick, snick, snick, you are done....

....time to see what this thing does on old seasoned wood.

....more to follow, fellow-babies....


vec

 

[Ghost Tracker]

What if, rather than wood, a solid Micarta or G10 handle was "notched" dimentionally to accept the Eco Hawk head?

 

[vector001]

What if, rather than wood, a solid Micarta or G10 handle was "notched" dimentionally to accept the Eco Hawk head?

i think that would be pretty good, brother.

i encourage you to try it, and don't take any of the following statements to be criticism of the idea, so much as thoughts spoken out loud for possible benefit to us all in our modding endeavors of the ECOs.

laminates like you suggest maybe a little heavy, it would depend on how long the haft was (assuming the G10 was just flat laminations, vice formed ones, or had milled-out areas (which gives me shivers of fear, to think about the possible weaknesses introduced with that practice of milling)).

G10 is an electrical conductor too, i think (?).

i'd go with the Micarta for a first try.

i also am wary of flat-lamination scales and such in a hawk configuration, because they can bust when you put some sideways force on them if you don't get tricky with the attachment methods - that's why all the Gen 1 handles have been endo-skeletal structures - their cross section channels a lot of force into the chop, but their interior structures, in combination with the Strike Plate also allow a lot of cross-stressed prying-type force without jeopardizing the handle so much.

- if you overbend something like G-10 (a more likely outcome, the longer the handle is) you might get fragged. - it depends on who makes the scale. - but those are factors i can't control (yet).



there's too many options to list for home-customized handle possibilities, but here are a few that are more style, perhaps more economical;


(1) i've been looking at some thick-walled 36" aluminum square tube that you could just give a wrap with something soft and insulating, like leather or paracord with maybe a roll of suede under the wrap on the backside. i will probably include that idea in the demos.

you don't need anything that is too strong for the ECO. - just as your arm isn't super stiff when using a big knife, the same goes for the ECO. - it's a true hawk, you shape things with it, not hack things with it. - that it is a good knife and a few other things is just an added benefit.

(2) i think a straight-grained hatchet handle would be pretty optimum to modify, if you weren't choosing to just get somethiing in the field.

the new ECOs will be coming with a great little folding TOPS saw, so you can just take a tree limb whenever available, cut a quick notch up near one end, and give it a sharp whack, and you will have a nice and perfect cut-out most of the time ready to mount the ECO, with little exertion involved. it just works. - at least for me.

the ECO is (especially) intended for the guy who doesn't want to show how tough he is; the thinker.

thinkers are the true woodsmen IMHO.

it's fun to ring a tool out - sure, go ahead with your ECO, but i like to relax when i am in the woods for more than a few hours - i want to be chatting by the fire that is made with wood that is smaller than my wrist, with my dog and imaginary friends, ...not out in the cold darkness burning a billion calories, while chopping down Sequoias as i marvel at how tough i am.

(i think i just admitted to being a lazy good-for-nothing. dang it.)


i envisioned the ECO to shine on those oocasions when you have no idea what you are getting into, but you don't want to draw unwanted attention, while still having a hawk on board yourself. - an oustanding lightweight addition to a Travel BOB, amongst other things.

the pack it comes with is just right for that - carry it small-of-back, and no one will even notice it, maybe not even you.

but the Essentials are in there.


where i am, it's smart to be inconspicuous as a habit.

- but Prepared.

vec

 

[Cpl Punishment]

the ECO is (especially) intended for the guy who doesn't want to show how tough he is; the thinker.

Damn it, man! The thinker? I thought you said it's for the stinker, so I bought it!!

the pack it comes with is just right for that - carry it small-of-back, and no one will even notice it, maybe not even you.

but the Essentials are in there.


where i am, it's smart to be inconspicuous as a habit.

- but Prepared.

vec

Care to post what you carry in yours?

 

[vector001]

Damn it, man! The thinker? I thought you said it's for the stinker, so I bought it!!

us stinkers gotta stick together!

Care to post what you carry in yours?

i haven't had it long enough to establish it in a favorite way yet.

- when the new ones come in shortly, i'll do a spread to show what they can offer with their new additional accessories, and have some pics of the extra stuff that i'll be putting in.

you got your ECO already, right? - i think that center divider in the bag the ECO comes with will be where i put some Binder Clips to make my blanket into a more-efficient bivy.

i am a big fan of binder clips for blanket and sheet temporary mods. - clothes pins are nice too - doubling as tinder when i get caught out in the rain unprepared like a jackass....

i've got a little envelope-sized zip bag that i figure i will dummy cord into the bag too, carrying all the stuff that isn't used all the time, like the whistle and saw and a maybe some hard candy and a sewing and fishing kit ...oh yeah and some good 4 Mil waterbags.

good thing i got a huge butt. - more real estate.

vec

 

[Cpl Punishment]

Binder clips rule. I like the big ones. They can turn an AMK Heat Sheet into a tarp, and hold it well enough.

The RAT Cutlery fire kit makes a good addition. A good misch metal rod with a capsule to hold tinder. They are also bringing out some arrowheads, the smallest of which is a good size for frog or fish gigs. I don't have the Tops saw, but the one on my SAK works great.