Q4 2024 Carry
Q4 saw the release of a bunch of really great pieces of kit. As a result this last quarter of the year was both expensive and busy. Fortunately, we had cooperative weather AND all the gear was top notch. As I outlined in the GOTY article, 2024 has been the best year for gear since the blog started. Each package that arrived or was picked up in person was a delight. Some of the stuff was not just well-made, well-design kit, but world class, best ever kind of stuff. And those things are listed below. So, sit back and peruse some truly sweet kit.
L to R: Spyderco Caly3 in ZDP-189 and Kosen x Malkoff VME
This is 100% pure enthusiast grade stuff. If you want a cheap price tag, this is not for you. If you want gilded Mokuti pivot collars, look elsewhere. If you think to yourself “Boy, I wish my flashlight could simulate a lightning storm,” keep looking. This pair is about as good as it gets for pure functionality. The ergos of the Caly3 are still, twenty years later (makes you feel old, right?), unsurpassed. When you toss the VME into the mix you get unbridled peak performance everywhere. This is a light sold by Carrot from EDCF on his retail site Kosen. It was designed in conjunction with the great Gene Malkoff. The result is a light that is simply world class. You will not find a better color rendering anywhere. Trust me, I have looked. This is currently state of the art. The rest of the light is sweet, too. There is no stupid, fake turbo mode high. The body tube is perfectly designed for a cigar grip. Even the clip is well-conceived. This pair proves the old adage—good design never goes out of style.
L to R: Axial Shift 3.0 and 47 Mini Turbo Mk. 3
I don’t like autos. But they are really fun to play with, pretty much all of the time. The snap of deployment and retraction is addicting. If you can handle this knife without flicking it open you have more willpower than 99% of knife owners. Its basically the Dad Drill Test for knives. Aside from that, the knife is actually quite capable with a thin, slicey blade made of Magnacut. At $239 it is substantially cheaper than other autos in this class. It will be interesting to see how it holds up over time.
L to R: Ozark Trail 7.5 inch knife and Convoy S2+ with clip and 18350 body tube
If you are keeping track at home this stunning carry straight from Juan Soto’s new uniform comes in at a staggeringly cheap $25. The S2+ is $15.25 but I splurged for the $.75 clip. Both are quite good, though I would give the edge to the S2+ in terms of feeling less budget. For the record, with his new contract, Juan Soto could buy 30,600,000 sets of this cool light and saber pair. Time to get those children or grandchildren to the batting cages, eh? I am working on an article about this set up and how good it is compared to enthusiast grade stuff.
L to R: Frelux Synergy 3LT and Chris Reeve Small Sebenza 31
The Synergy 3LT is a bit of a chunk of a light, but it is bright, runs a good long time, has excellent color rendering and looks beautiful. But, its UI is perfect. No other clicky is quite as good or as easily customizable. To find better you have to change how the light is activated and even then, it is HDS Rotary or bust. This pair does so much, so well, and without a lot of fuss. It reminds me that sometimes we just make stuff unnecessarily complicated. Like why do we have to have a strobe on a light or a Mokuti clip that attracts fingerprints and scratches? We do this to ourselves. Shiny bauble. See shiny bauble. Must have shiny bauble. Love shiny bauble. Messed up shiny bauble just by using it. Hate shiny bauble. “Need” new shiny bauble. Its called consumerism I guess.
L to R: TRM Bulldog, Reylight Mini Pineapple v.3, Tactile Turn Small Side Click
If my collection of gear was reduced to this trio I wouldn’t be all that sad at all. The Bulldog is, in my opinion, the perfect hard use knife. It is spare and modestly sized, but tougher than a firehose. When you compare it to some of the truly ludicrous baloney out there you wonder how that stuff ever sells. Leave it to TRM it make a midsized knife that performs like a sumo sized blade. Just so you know, the Small Side Click is carried every single day and it has saved my bacon dozens of times. It always works, it always writes, and it looks and feels good doing it. This is part of my carry that is just solved.
L to R: Dawson Machine Craft Hoku Clicky, Millit Torrent v.3
How good is the Hoku? A few weeks ago, the evening I carried this pair in fact, I went outside to help my Dad set up Christmas lights and we used this light. When we finished he turned to me and said: “How does that little thing light stuff up so well?” I think he was referring to the color rendering combined with the beam and output. Its a fair question. What sort of voodoo is at work here? This is currently the high watermark in flashlights—it does everything well and does it for a decent price and in a small package. The Torrent is about as blingy as I get and I think it is a wonderful knife. I basically feel like I am wearing a diamond encrusted grill when this knife is in my pocket. Alas, my career as a hip hop artist never took off.
L to R: TRM N2 and Reylight Mini Pineapple v.3
“There is no such thing as the perfect EDC?” Are you sure about that Internet Knife Community? Have you tried this set up? Both of these pieces of kit are best in class, slim, and shockingly capable. In many ways I feel like these two items are meant for each other as I can have a full light and saber pair for about 4 ounces. On lazier days or between carrying stuff for review, this will be my set it and forget it EDC for a week or so without even thinking about it. When it is this good, why bother switching up?
L to R: Prometheus Lights Ti Beta, Canal Street Cutlery Boy’s Knife in AG Russell Exclusive Gold G10, in a Scout Leather Company pocket carry
I love this knife. It and the Indian River Jack basically destroyed by desire to look for other slipjoints. Both are part of the permanent collection. Both are excellent. And, unfortunately, both are expensive and now pretty hard to find. I didn’t realize it when I posted the review of this knife, but it kinda made the Boy’s Knife a quest item in the IKC. Folks that have never even heard of this page post how they have seen pictures of the knife on the Internet (my pictures, BTW) and want it but can’t find it.
L to R: Grand Seiko SBGA 211 “Snowflake”, Leatherman Style PS, and Lumintop Frog
When I first got into EDC, I was on the hunt for the perfect watch. I tried a Sinn, which was interesting, and I was thinking about a Hamilton. But I really wanted a nice watch. The problem was twofold—I didn’t have the money and I didn’t like Rolex, Omega, or TAG’s sense of style. In my research I wanted one watch and only one watch the Grand Seiko Snowflake. Its just a striking piece. And now, years later, I am so happy to have it. More on this in its own article.
This carry kit was what I took when we went to New York City for Comicon in October. It was a crazy experience and the city was, as always, the real star. It did give rise to a fun game: Comicon Attendee or New York Weirdo? It was surprisingly hard. Is that person cosplaying Poison Ivy from Batman or a climate protester headed to the UN? This game was, itself, a sequel to a game we played in Philadelphia when they hosted the American Chemical Society Annual meeting a decade or so ago—Chemistry Professor or Hobo? In the end, it came down to whether the muttering about alcohol had to do with its ameliorative effects on the stress of chronic homelessness or its chemical structure. Alas, there was no easy rule of thumb for the New York version of the game.
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