Mini-Parang

I've been working to get ready for the upcoming Denver Knife Show and the Usual Suspects Gathering, both happening in August, as well as working on commissions.  It's kept me busy.  :)

Here's a mini-parang I'll be taking:

Positioned a little differently in the light:

The steel is my favorite, 5160, that has been triple normalized, triple hardened and triple tempered.  The handle is a curved integral socket wrapped in hemp cord, with three-strand hemp cord Turk's head knots fore and aft.  I tried something new, using West epoxy to impregnate the cord.  I like the results very much and will definitely be using this more. 

The blade is 10 1/4" long, including the choil, and 2 1/2" at its widest.  The spine thickness tapers from approximately 3/16" next to the handle to 1/8" at wide spot..  The overall length is 16 3/8".  It shaves hair nicely.  :)

Here's how it looks in hand...or paw, as the case may be.

Graduation present in G10

This was a commission from a Marine who wanted a high school graduation present for his brother who is slated to attend West Point.  He wanted my Benghazi Warfighter design with handles in the high school's colors, navy blue and white.  Given the limited color palette in Micarta, I turned to G10 for the very first time.  I'd read horror stories about how difficult it is to work with, and of course there is the extra health hazard with the glass fibers while shaping it, but overall it wasn't too bad.  It's not a material I want to work with a whole lot, but I'm sure I'll use it more down the road.
In addition, he wanted "Class of 2013" on the handle.  I looked around, found a laser engraver who specializes in firearms and is only a 15 minute drive away, and got it taken care of.

This was also the first time I used a liner on a slab handle, in this case white G10 to match the school's colors.  Nothing much to it; I epoxied the two different colors of G10 together and clamped them tightly overnight, then worked it as a single piece as I always would.  :)

Other than that, it was relatively typical for me.  5160 steel, triple normalized, triple hardened, triple tempered, shaving sharp.  Flared stainless steel tube rivets.  Kydex sheath, gray in this case, with a TekLok.  Da woiks.  :D

Helm Enterprises, Grinding Division

I am pleased to launch a second endeavor related to Helm Enterprises, Forging Division: Helm Enterprises, Grinding Division.  That's right, a line of stock removal blades made with waterjet cut blanks.  I'm not giving up forging (not at all!), but will be giving a portion of my attention to the stock removal side of things.

So far the tomahawks are the only products in the line, but I hope by early Fall to have several different knife designs as well as a bush sword design or two ready to roll.  These are all so far based on designs that I have forged and have been proven.

Exciting things ahead.  Check it out:  www.helmgrind.com

Spike versus spike

I've had a number of people ask me about the difference between the combat spike and the pry spike on the tactical tomahawks. 

The combat spike is formed by two arcs meeting to make a point.  It's designed to easily penetrate but then easily slip out to allow for a follow up shot if needed.  It's absolutely vicious in that regard, and is a pure weapon.  On the off chance that the opponent survives a wound from the combat spike, it's going to be very difficult to sew up.

The pry spike is formed by two lines meeting to make a point.  It is intended to slip into narrow gaps and then lever out.  In conjunction with the rounded top of the 'hawk's head, it acts like a roller head pry bar with an ax blade on the other side.  The spike is angled in relation to the handle to give good knuckle clearance when prying (one of the alterations made during the prototyping phase).  It's still a vicious weapon and withdraws easily to allow for follow up shots.

 

And a side-by-side look.

 

Neither the bevels on the combat spike nor the pry spike meet to form a cutting edge.  They allow for easier penetration and withdraw from a hole more easily than square edges.  The bevels on the combat spike are more acute, pushing through material more easily.  The bevels on the pry spike are less acute, giving greater strength to a point that will see breaching and demolition work.

 

So you have options.  Straight up weapon, or tool that can also be used for CQC.  And don't forget the hammer poll option.  :)

 



Double-edged Little Roks in Micarta and cocobolo

Here are a couple of double-edged Little Roks that went out earlier this week.

The first is in olive drab Micarta, stainless pins and flared-tube rivet, 5160 steel, with olive drab Kydex sheath.

The second has beautiful cocobolo handle slabs, brass pins and flared-tube rivet, 5160 steel, and black Kydex sheath.

Better pic of the sinuous bush sword

Here's a better picture of the bush sword I donated to Knife Rights for their fundraising efforts (sheath donated by Luke Swenson), taken by someone who actually knows how to run a camera:



 

You can still own this and support the ongoing fight to protect our Second Amendment by going here and buying a ticket: http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=179&Itemid=1

Customer review of soldier rig

The owner of the Mightor/Little Rok/2 prybars rig posted a review of it over on Zombie Squad:

http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=107758

Benghazi Warfighter feedback

I always love feedback from customers.  I've gotten feedback about a couple of different Benghazi Warfighters this week.

The first was from a fellow who actually called me up to tell me what he thought about the knife (all positive, which makes me happy  :) ), the first customer to do so.  I've gotten e-mails before, but never a phone call.  It was especially gratifying since he also makes knives.  He liked how even with the stout spine the knife was able to cut through material well.  He sent me this picture of making some firestarter shavings from a piece of seasoned birch:

He said there was nothing wrong with the edge it had when he got it and it was plenty sharp (shaved hair nicely when I packed it up) but he prefers convex edges and so put one on it after playing around for a while.  If you click on the picture so it pulls up larger, you can see he did that before making the shavings.

The other one comes from my first batch of Benghazi Warfighters.  One of the Marines who received them sent me this picture taken in Now Zad, which a few years ago was a very bloody place.  The Marine tells me it's pretty quiet now.  He's mostly used the knife for things like slicing cucumbers so far.  :)

He told me about the batch of Benghazi Warfighters I sent:  "They are a huge success with all the Marines I handed them out to. Some have mounted them on a belt in the small of their back, others like me are just using the sheath and ziptied that on to the side of our body armor. The knives are also a big hit with the Afghanis. I can't tell you how many people have said, 'Knife...mine!' Of course I always give the response, 'No, mine!' "

I need a secretary!

I've been getting behind in e-mail correspondence lately.  If you haven't heard back from me or you're waiting to hear status on a commission, feel free to send me an e-mail to bump my ribs and check status.

I'll be trying to catch up the next couple of days or so.