- Joined
- May 9, 2002
- Messages
- 12,666
As I have mentioned before, with the changing of the seasons I get a little stir crazy. My business is very seasonal, so I miss pretty much every good thing about spring and summer. Sure, I have the entire winter to rest and relax, but you know what...I hate winter. I hate the cold, I hate being cooped up, and I hate that most all of the gorgeous sights of nature are dormant brown and gray dead sticks jutting out of the ground like skeletal fingers desperately clutching to life.
When the first snow hits, I get depressed. I feel entombed. I start to worry about business. What if it's a bad winter? What if it's a LONG winter? What if I can't get any work done before the coffers run dry. Blah...you can totally keep the months of December, January, and February (ESPECIALLY February with that ignorant little no-nothing groundhog who always manages to see his dang shadow:grumpy
However, Autumn. Glorious autumn The weather is a little cooler, I have a little more time to take off, and nature is on one last glorious match to its seasonal slumber. I try to take at least every other Sunday off so that I can go on a walk with my daughter through the woods or even just around the backyard. At 4 years of age, she's totally tuned in on anything I think is cool. I think bugs are cool, so we go on a bug hunt. She loves it.
Now, to go on a bug hunt, you really don't NEED any tools, but I know I am typing this for kindred spirits to read...I bring a fairly large knife
I use a knife to either pry up a loose rock to get a look at the ants living under it, or to split open an old dead log to see the termites chewing away. Most importantly, I use my knife as a safe pointer to show Evelyn the different parts of the bugs, to point out their legs and body segments without having to handle anything. I don't want her to be scared of insects and spiders, but I want her to respect them. So I'll show her the big ol' modified legs that a centipede uses to kill its prey or the fangs of a spider so that she understands how these animals scratch out their living. Rule number one of a bug hunt: We don't hurt the bugs. We're just there to look at them and learn about them. We're guests peeking inside their homes. However, it's important not to get bitten either, so a long pokey knife is a lot safer than a finger.
...We did have a black widow try to walk into our house through the back door. I smashed her with the spine of my knife after showing Evey what to look for when it comes to identifying a Black Widow and how that is one spider that we do NOT mess around with. I asked her if she had ever seen daddy smoosh another bug before. She said, "No, so I guess that was a really bad bug?" Smart girl
Recently, my blade of choice has been my 10" AK Bowie. I just found this little gem a couple of weeks ago. It got packed up in the move last year, and quite frankly, it wasn't a high priority to find. That said, I had totally forgotten just how handy this knife is. Of course, you have you big 15" battle axe (a personal favorite) and then the 12" version (still not sure how I feel about that one. Then again, I'm one of those weirdos that doesn't really like Commander sized 1911s either) and at the far end of the spectrum is the incredibly useful IBBB that I carry pretty much every day in my back pocket.
I mean, here is a pic of my EDC set up for the moment:
That IBBB is a gem:thumbup:
However, when I'm out stomping around the yard, I usually pack something a little more like a pocket battle axe. I've had this 10" AKB for over a year now, and it has never failed me. As a matter of fact, I did several home improvement project just using this knife when we were getting ready to sell our house. It chopped boards, the tip drilled pilot holes, I dug out a couple of old plants around the back of the house, etc.
Here's a shot of it next to my beloved Himalayan Imports Survival Knife (HISK)
What I like about my particular specimen is that it's a little more like its biggest brother than it's smaller EDC sibling. It's HEAVY. 10" and weighing in at just a touch over a pound. I think it's around 18 or 19oz based on feel in hand. This is a knife to grab when you need a handy blade that is just a little smaller than a full size knife yet still very robust. I keep it honed with a beefy convex edge instead of the more flat grind I keep on my IBBB. My 10" AKB has enough handle to snap cut through a 3/4" limb with a single blow and will absolutely obliterate a rotten 3" log when you split it with the grain. Perfect for yard work and going on a bug hunt
I think anyone who is a fan of the AKB line of knives should get a traditional 15" model, NEEDS an IBBB, and deserves a handy war-club like the 10" version.
When the first snow hits, I get depressed. I feel entombed. I start to worry about business. What if it's a bad winter? What if it's a LONG winter? What if I can't get any work done before the coffers run dry. Blah...you can totally keep the months of December, January, and February (ESPECIALLY February with that ignorant little no-nothing groundhog who always manages to see his dang shadow:grumpy
However, Autumn. Glorious autumn
The weather is a little cooler, I have a little more time to take off, and nature is on one last glorious match to its seasonal slumber. I try to take at least every other Sunday off so that I can go on a walk with my daughter through the woods or even just around the backyard. At 4 years of age, she's totally tuned in on anything I think is cool. I think bugs are cool, so we go on a bug hunt. She loves it.Now, to go on a bug hunt, you really don't NEED any tools, but I know I am typing this for kindred spirits to read...I bring a fairly large knife
I use a knife to either pry up a loose rock to get a look at the ants living under it, or to split open an old dead log to see the termites chewing away. Most importantly, I use my knife as a safe pointer to show Evelyn the different parts of the bugs, to point out their legs and body segments without having to handle anything. I don't want her to be scared of insects and spiders, but I want her to respect them. So I'll show her the big ol' modified legs that a centipede uses to kill its prey or the fangs of a spider so that she understands how these animals scratch out their living. Rule number one of a bug hunt: We don't hurt the bugs. We're just there to look at them and learn about them. We're guests peeking inside their homes. However, it's important not to get bitten either, so a long pokey knife is a lot safer than a finger....We did have a black widow try to walk into our house through the back door. I smashed her with the spine of my knife after showing Evey what to look for when it comes to identifying a Black Widow and how that is one spider that we do NOT mess around with. I asked her if she had ever seen daddy smoosh another bug before. She said, "No, so I guess that was a really bad bug?" Smart girl
Recently, my blade of choice has been my 10" AK Bowie. I just found this little gem a couple of weeks ago. It got packed up in the move last year, and quite frankly, it wasn't a high priority to find. That said, I had totally forgotten just how handy this knife is. Of course, you have you big 15" battle axe (a personal favorite) and then the 12" version (still not sure how I feel about that one. Then again, I'm one of those weirdos that doesn't really like Commander sized 1911s either) and at the far end of the spectrum is the incredibly useful IBBB that I carry pretty much every day in my back pocket.
I mean, here is a pic of my EDC set up for the moment:
That IBBB is a gem:thumbup:
However, when I'm out stomping around the yard, I usually pack something a little more like a pocket battle axe. I've had this 10" AKB for over a year now, and it has never failed me. As a matter of fact, I did several home improvement project just using this knife when we were getting ready to sell our house. It chopped boards, the tip drilled pilot holes, I dug out a couple of old plants around the back of the house, etc.
Here's a shot of it next to my beloved Himalayan Imports Survival Knife (HISK)
What I like about my particular specimen is that it's a little more like its biggest brother than it's smaller EDC sibling. It's HEAVY. 10" and weighing in at just a touch over a pound. I think it's around 18 or 19oz based on feel in hand. This is a knife to grab when you need a handy blade that is just a little smaller than a full size knife yet still very robust. I keep it honed with a beefy convex edge instead of the more flat grind I keep on my IBBB. My 10" AKB has enough handle to snap cut through a 3/4" limb with a single blow and will absolutely obliterate a rotten 3" log when you split it with the grain. Perfect for yard work and going on a bug hunt
I think anyone who is a fan of the AKB line of knives should get a traditional 15" model, NEEDS an IBBB, and deserves a handy war-club like the 10" version.
