Q1 2024 Carries
Winter in New England is usually 2/3rds of Hobbes description of life in the state of nature. Starting in October and ending in late April isn’t my idea of “short.” But this year, fortunately, it was only 1/3rd of Hobbes’ description of life in the state of nature, this year being quite tolerable. I’m slowly coming to realize that weather more than anything else dictates my carry. And that makes sense, as carry is usually related to task and task is almost always dictated by weather. A few tasks heavily influenced my carry this quarter—workshop upgrades and hiking/night walks.
My shop is in the basement and, like a lot of shops, is a work in progress. During this winter I added a slop sink (which it desparately needed), upgraded the lighting, and built two new pieces of shop furniture (one a bench/desk for the Gear Gremlin and another for storing finishing products and tools).
In addition to shop upgrades we did a lot of walking and hiking because the weather was nice. My wife and I take a walk every night and I have basically quadrupled my testing time for flashlights. There is a lot of stuff that I have come to learn as I cycle through lights on these walks (which we have done for the past two years, but I have only recently thought of them as good exercises for testing).
Spyderco PM2 with Blades We Love PM2 Ultra Mod and Surefire EDC1-DFT
The first pair is something I like to carry a lot when I am not going to the office. The PM2 Ultra is one of the very best heavy mod knives ever. If you are going to change how a knife works or its size, addressing its one glaring issue is low hanging fruit design-wise and this mod by Blades We Love fixes my only complaint on a great knife. When you add to that the supremely excellent outdoor beam on the Surefire EDC1 DFT, you have a very capable kit. If I were in an emergency or I am going to be outdoors for a few days, this is the stuff I’d take. Even on low, the EDC1 DFT is quite the throw monster. Close to the Mini Cosmos, but when a vastly more useful beam.
Big I Designs Ti Pocket Knife and 47s Mini Turbo Mk. III
Well, not every knife can be a winner. I decided a long time ago that I was going to eschew comprehensive coverage in favor of something I enjoy. This is why you won’t see a ton of obviously bad knives up for review. The Gerber Paraframe is something I have no interest whatsoever in reviewing. As a result the average score for knives (and all gear) is much higher than 10. But occasionally something really crappy sneaks through and scores like a 14. I do some pre-screening and so it is almost impossible for a knife to surprise me and score below a 10, specs alone can get you there, but 14 is pretty bad and the Big I Designs Ti Knife 100% earned it.
Lamy 2000, Kaviso Mini Keen, and Prometheus Lights Ti Beta v.3
Well, sometimes you also get surprised in a postive way and that is what happened with the Mini Keen. It is a practically perfect pocket knife—the right size, the right shape, good build quality, and acceptable steel. The original Gent was one of the best one and done recommendations on the market. Its hard to find now and its successor is not so good. This knife, however, checks all the same boxes and is still readily available. As for the Lamy 2000, a generous reader supplied me with an extra he had and I did a nib swap. Unfortunately I had to destroy the original to get the nib out. Its a long, messy, ink-everywhere-in-the-workshop story.
Pilot Vanishing Point, Victorinox Compact, Prometheus Design Werx Scales, and the 47s Mini Turbo Mk. III
You may remember that I had a Vanishing Point a while ago. It stands as the only pen I have ever lost and the most expensive thing I have ever lost. I was really missing the pen and I was recently at Bob Slate, one of the few remaining brick and mortar stationary stores around me, and I thought I should support them. The matte black VP followed me home. The other item I want to highlight is the Victorinox Compact wearing the PWD scales. Those scales take a good EDC tool and make it an all time great. I love, love this tool.
Strider PT CC with Prometheus Lights Ti Beta v.3
Good design is timeless. I have had a Strider PT CC of one make or model or another for a decade. Every time I think that I should sell it because I don’t carry it enough, I go through a week or two where it is the only thing I carry and fall in love with the knife and its ultra slim profile all over again. As the weather starts to warm up I imagine this pairing will be in my jeans coin pocket a lot. I love clips on knives but every once in a while, I’d prefer to go a light and a slim as possible and the PT CC lets me do that without reverting back to some old fogey steel on a traditional knife. If you haven’t had a PT CC, its worth tracking down. I just wish they weren’t so expensive. Given their price on the secondary, track them down, but handle it before you buy it.
CJRB Mini Pyrite with the 47s Mini Turbo Mk. III
Let’s pretend like you want to make a competitor to the Dragonfly. Let’s also pretend you want to make it as trendy as possible. Finally, let’s suppose it has to cost under $50. That knife you imagined is this knife, the Mini Pyrite. Its so slim, so flickably fun, and so compact that you don’t even really feel like you have something in your pocket. I think this combo gives me a lot of performance for the size and money. In fact, even though I took this picture months ago, this is the exact pair I have with me the day I am writing this article.
47s Mini Turbo Mk. III with the Zero Tolerance ZT0545
The ZT0545 is clearly one of the best knives on the market today. It is leaps and bounds better than any other ZT ever made. This is ZT’s Bugout—the knife that reset their reputation in the IKC. I like so much about this knife. Its a TRM N2 that has been mushed through the ZT Magical Tacticalizer Machine.
Interestingly, the background here is a bowl I made at a turning class I went to with my Dad. It was so green that it sprayed water when I was making it. Now, almost two years later, it is dry and it has curved a lot around the edges, but the inside of the bowl is still wonderful textured. It makes for great knife pics. Its elm and the more I use it the more I like elm. I have been, for most of my hobby woodworking career, been a Big Three guy—cherry, maple, and walnut. Occasionally I’d make a drawer out of poplar and all my shop furniture is SPF, but other than a few knicknack type objects like Crosses and pen holders made of zebrawood, its been all cherry/maple/walnut. And really, why go on an adventure when you know that what you get with these three is so damn good. But the elm on this bowl has made me wonder what elm would be like to work with. And for the record, walnut is the best wood to work with ever. Its beautiful, finishes nicely, and is easy to shape.
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