JAB

Nice.  Very clean and elegant design.  Good trade, Spots - especially considering that if you get to missing the knife you traded too much you simply have to fire the forge and make another!  Funny thing is that - to non-knife folks - you could probably pass that off as an innocent letter opener.   I had my doubts about the Wharncliffe style as it is generally promoted almost solely as a self-defense knife style (and, unlike Spots, I have no training or knowledge of using a knife for SD beyond 'try to stick the pointy end in the threat until it stops being a threat.)  However, I recently found that the Folts S.P.E.W. from CRKT wouldn't leave me alone - I just liked the look of it so much - so I bought one and, having carried it a little in neck knife mode, have found that the style can work pretty well even for a guy like me who uses a knife more as a tool than a weapon.

Well, i figure that prices go up.  I mean, I remember when gas was 89 cents a gallon.  Well, it ain't that price, anymore and isn't likely to ever be that price, again.  Just look at what a beef roast or a gallon of milk costs today compared to, say, five years ago.  The sad truth is that .22LR ammo was never going to stay at 5 cents per round forever.  I doubt that .22LR prices would have gone up quite so much as they have without the scare and the 'shortage' and I also refuse to pay scalper prices (such as the guy at the HWY 11 flea market this past weekend who was asking $40 for a bulk box of Remington Thunderbolts.)  However, I also don't think that prices would be the same, now, as they were three years ago even without the scare/shortage.  I mean, all ammo (and pretty much everything else) has increased in price in that time and some of it has increased quite a lot.  The increase in the price of basic WWB or Remington UMC.44 Mag ammo from just over $30 to nearly $50 per 50 rounds or the increase in decent, brass cased 9mm range ammo from just under $10 to $15 or more per box in the last, few years hurts me a lot more than paying a dollar or two more for a box of 50 .22 rounds.   Personally, I enjoy shooting my .22s too much to sell them off and go the air gun route.  I mean, I have air guns and I do shoot/target practice with them, sometimes, but the 'pffftt' sound they make simply does not give me the same satisfaction as something that goes 'bang', even the rather modest 'bang' of a .22.  I have cut way back on my shooting - which previously included a lot of .22 shooting - but sometimes the 'jones' is just too much to resist.  So, I'll pay as much as $5 for a box of fifty rounds, occasionally. to be able to enjoy shooting my .22s without dipping into my all too meager stash (well, actually to replace ammo I shoot from my all too meager stash.)  That is still cheaper than any other factory ammo I can think of - and right around the price of a fast food burger, fries and a drink.  I can't say I'd be totally happy if .22 supplies returned to normal and the $5 per box of 50 price was permanent but if I knew I could walk into any store and buy a box right off the shelf at that price at any time then I'd be a lot happier than I am with the current situation in which .22 is still difficult to find at any price with profiteers selling it for $8, $10 or $12 a box (which I won't pay.)

  Date it?  Heck, I'd be tempted to marry it!  :rofl:   Sorry, I find it difficult to resist a bad pun.

Saw him at the World's Fair Park in Knoxville several years back.  Great show and, I believe, a great man.

  I really like the sights on my mom's Hi-Point pistols.  I don't own one of their pistols but do have one of the 9mm carbines to which I would trust my life if necessary.  My mom has an HP pistol in 9mm which I bought her, just to let her try out a 9mm and thinking she might 'trade up' one day only to have her like it so much that I don't think she'd ever part with it.  In fact, she likes it so much that she bought one in .45 for herself.  There is a good chance I will eventually buy a 9mm Hi Point pistol or maybe a .40 (I don't own anything in .40 and go back and forth between not wanting to add another caliber and wanting to at least have the caliber covered with something.)  It would probably be a truck gun at most - not because I wouldn't trust a Hi-Point pistol, specifically but because I don't really like striker fired pistols, in general.  Well, that and the fact that my Ruger P95 pistols are no more heavy and bulky - maybe a little less - and there are mags for them that hold almost double what the Hi-Points hold.

  Yeah, a lot of the bushcrafty types modify Old Hickory knives and other, old carbon steel kitchen knives into bushcraft knives.  Most of those folks do not anneal before modding and, by working carefully so as to not allow the metal to become too hot (frequently dipping into water while grinding/cutting/sanding the blades) they do not seem to need to be re-heat treated afterwards.   Here is one example of a guy who took an Old Hickory cleaver and made three knives out of it - two to use as 'camp knife' and 'camp food prep' type knives and one tiny knife.  He mentions working carefully and keeping the blade from overheating in order to avoid losing the heat treating:   http://www.thetruthaboutknives.com/2014/07/question-of-the-day-have-you-ever-modified-an-old-hickory/   Here is a link to a youtube video where a guy demonstrates making a very nice (IMO) Kephart style bushcraft knife out of an Old Hickory butcher knife:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ziV3R9Jcro   I think it looks even better after he modifies the handle:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-MhQasRzQ8   Here the same guy demonstrates his modded Old Hickory against a Mora Clipper:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E0XnYR9OZc

  We have lots of them around where I live.  They often bore into tree trunks.  Not sure if they eat the sap or what.  I am pretty sure they are some type of hornet (they can be as long as my thumb and nearly as big around, sometimes) but we have always jokingly referred to them as 'Texas Yellow Jackets' because they do look like huge yellow jackets.  They can be very hard to kill.  I hit one with a fly swatter once and it only knocked it down.  I then hit it with a baseball bat while it was on the floor and that did some damage but still didn't completely kill it.  Took splitting it in half with a machete to finally, completely take it out (was in a tool shed.)   I have seen one fly into a bug zapper and that was an eye-opening experience.  The thing just hung on to the zapper part and repeatedly tried to sting it.  The 'zzzzzttttt' sound made by the zapper was continuous and very loud.  Finally, enough electricity coursed through it's body that its wings caught fire - and it was still hanging on, trying to sting the zapper.  I think it took a good, full minute - maybe a little longer - of constant zapping that was strong enough to burn its wings off even though its wings never actually touched the zapper for the thing to finally slow down and die.  I honestly thought it was going to burn out the zapper before the zapper killed it.  During that time, as it repeatedly tried to sting the zapper, I got a good look at it's stinger.  Probably 1/2 an inch long and as big around as some thin sewing needles.  Wasp spray?  Heh, more like take off and nuke them from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure.   In the interest of full disclosure, I did unleash with some bug spray (flying insect spray) on one that was crawling around on the inside of one of my window screens the other day.  I didn't let up until I had hosed it down so completely with direct blasts that its entire body was 'painted' white - and it still took a few minutes to kill it.

  You know, gangbangers, rapists, and other members of the general 'thug' population who would like to be able to carry on with their livelihoods (mugging and violent robberies) or engage in their personal choice of entertainment (raping, killing, assault with a deadly weapon) in a laid back, relaxed manner without worrying about some legally armed citizen giving them a one-way ticket to the morgue.  Yeah, okay, those are probably not the people to whom she meant to refer but that doesn't make it any less true.

  Not me.  I don't want her that close to my privates for any reason.

So, sitting down and being entertained isn't a recreational activity? "Recreation" doesn't always mean kicking a soccer ball, throwing a frisbee, jogging or playing on a swing set. According to the 2006 edition of Webster's New Explorer Encyclopedic Dictionary, : So, yeah, it looks like a bunch of presumably well paid, dumb bass city attorneys can't even manage to do something so simple as looking up a word in a dictionary and then realizing that sitting, observing and being entertained clearly and easily does fall under the definition of 'recreation.' Idiots. I try to be a law-abiding citizen but when folks like this try and tell me that the law doesn't say what the law says or when something that is completely legal one moment suddenly becomes illegal just because a school softball team shows up to play on the field in the park then I start developing the attitude that my firearm is concealed so if I don't see metal detectors at the entrance then screw 'em. I'm am also glad I don't live in Nashville or Memphis. Heck, I am glad I no longer live in Knox County, for that matter, even though I do still work in Knox County. Of course, twisting and bending the law to say whatever they want it to say probably wouldn't be justifiable if not for places like Memphis having such low violent crime rates because of having such rules in place. Oh, wait - they don't have low crime rates, do they? As far as the Memphis in May folks saying they have the 'right' to prohibit the carrying of guns in a public park where it is legal to carry guns just because they are leasing some space and having an event, well, by that logic I pay for my vehicle, I pay for the gas to operate my vehicle, I pay for a driver's license to be legally able to drive my vehicle, I pay for the license plates to be able to legally operate that vehicle on public roads and I pay taxes which help to pay for those roads so I guess, then by their logic I have the legal right to ignore the law and do not legally have to obey the set speed limits along said roads.

Nice, interesting and ergonomic looking knife.  Great work as always.  Looks like you have really developed your kydex sheath making skills, as well!

  I just bought the Taylor version right before I did the write up so I can't really say, yet.  It came suitably sharp out of the box blister pack so I have left the factory edge alone until it needs to be sharpened.  When it does, I will convex the edge like I did on my Schrade USA version.  That should make for a better comparison.  I honestly haven't carried/used the old one all that much as I want to 'hang on to it' since there is no Schrade USA, anymore.  The Taylor one will probably see more use but  I'll have to spend some more time with it before I can say much about edge retention.

Makes me think of a story my mom has told me a couple of times over the years.  I am not sure if this happened when I was a baby or before I was even born but, anyhow, mom was working third shift and trying to sleep during the day.  She said that it never failed that right as she was about to doze off a rat/mouse would start gnawing inside the wall next to her bed, keeping her from going to sleep.  Well, one day she was trying to sleep and, sure enough, the gnawing started.  Having had enough, mom got up and retrieved a hammer and a decent sized nail.  She figured out where the varmint was by the sound of its gnawing, placed the point of the nail over the spot and BAM - one strike from the hammer drove the nail into the wall and the gnawing stopped.  Permanently.  She said it was worth putting up with the smell for a day or two to finally get some sleep.

  IIRC, there was more to it than just 'what kind of idiot doesn't know coffee is hot."  To the best of my recollection (I was in high school at the time) the lady got the coffee to go and had it sitting between her legs in the car.  I think the defense was more like, "What kind of idiot sits a cup of hot coffee between her legs while driving a car and then is surprised when said hot coffee spills and burns her legs?" 

  Ouch!  I have a friend who will pour a cup of freshly brewed coffee from his coffee maker then put the cup in the microwave for a minute because he says the coffee maker doesn't get the coffee hot enough.  I have drank coffee with him, before, and had to wait for coffee from the same batch and the same coffee maker to cool before I could drink it even after putting a little milk and sugar in it.  Yeah, he likes his coffee to be really hot.

     

Great looking gun.

At first, my reaction was, "WHAT?!"  I mean, I don't have kids nor do I want kids but even I had to take notice of this nonsense.    My second reaction was, "Wait, this has to have been an article in 'The Onion' or something."  Then I did a little checking and found out that other outlets - like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution - had printed articles about it.   My third reaction was brought on by the Professor's last name.  His name being Adam Swift I couldn't help but think of Jonathan Swift.  Now, I have no idea if Adam Swift can find Jonathan Swift in his family tree or not but I have a feeling he is a philosophical descendent, anyway.    Jonathan Swift is considered to be one of the greatest if not the greatest satirist in the English language.  In addition to tales like Gulliver's Travels (which, itself, contains socio-political commentary and satire disguised as a simple, fictional story), he also wrote pieces such as A Modest Proposal in which he 'proposed' that a good way to help the poor in Ireland whilst providing an interesting, new culinary diversion to the wealthy in England would be for the poor Irish to start having babies and selling them to the English to be eaten as a delicacy.  Not only could the Irish get money from the sale of their children but this solution would also rid them of the financial burdens of raising said children.  Reading Proposal, one would think that Swift was absolutely serious and he appeared to be seriously and wholeheartedly arguing the benefits of his idea.  If one didn't know better, just from the text, alone, one would believe that Swift was seriously endorsing cannabilism as a means of balancing the socio-economic scales.  In reality, however, he was an Irishman who was satirically expressing his belief that England was already 'cannibalizing' Ireland and gaining from the pain of the then current and future generations of the Irish people.  Of course, many people had talked about Britain taking advantage of Ireland while exploiting and oppressing the Irish people but Swift chose to frame the argument in an over-the-top, outrageous manner that likely brought attention to the issue in a work that is still presented as a top notch, classic example of satire a full 270 years after he died (in 1745.)   Similarly, anyone can simply say that parents who don't read to their children are putting them at a disadvantage.  In fact, it has been said and it is likely that the message has lost much of its impact over the years.  By stating the same argument but in an over-the-top, outrageous manner Swift (Adam, that is) has obviously brought attention to the issue well beyond the confines of academia.  I think that Swift (Jonathan, that is) would be proud.

Great looking knife/small machete.

  I mentioned Benton's in another thread - but if we are talking about the same ammo they had it priced at $7.99 and up for a box of 50 plain ol', run of the mill .22.  Now, since most of the folks who go in there probably know better that is likely going to sit on the shelf.  I didn't buy any as that is certainly more than I will pay.  In the current climate, though, the 'normal' price for .22LR in most places seems to be around $4 to $5 per box of 50.  I still think that when this all shakes out that will be closer to the 'regular' price than the prices we were used to, before.  Maybe not quite $5 per 50 but I would expect $3.99 or so, anyhow.  Once all is said and done, I believe that the days of picking up a $2.50 box of .22LR will be over.  Heck, I remember when .22LR was less than two bucks for a box of 50 and I'm not all that old.

This jackhole is suing Starbucks because he spilled his cup of coffee - his FREE cup of coffee - in his lap and the coffee was hot.  Now, I don't drink a lot of coffee and when I do I generally prefer iced coffee but if you choose to drink a cup of hot coffee then isn't is supposed to be, well, hot?  And if you aren't careful not to spill said coffee wouldn't you expect it to still be hot?  Somehow, I just can't see any restaurant or coffee shop selling coffee that is hot enough to cause serious burns and blisters in our lawsuit-happy society.  Besides, being that the tissues inside the mouth are pretty sensitive wouldn't coffee that is hot enough to blister one's leg also be hot enough to seriously burn/blister one's mouth?   http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/raleigh-police-officer-burned-by-free-coffee-sues-starbucks/ar-BBjc2af?ocid=ansnewsap11

  The Walmart in Rockwood has a higher, everyday price on the cat food my mom buys for her cats than most, other Walmart locations - including the Lenoir City store.  She asked, once, if they would price match the Lenoir City store and the response she got was, "Price matching doesn't apply to other Walmart locations."  I guess it just depends on the manager, etc. as to whether they will do it or not?

  My truck is an '01, has over 200,000 miles on it and only has two speakers so not really 'worth' a new stereo.  However, I did buy a FM modulator that has a place to plug in a usb drive and I am planning to do pretty much the same thing.

  Back in the early 90s that is pretty much how I responded every time a Bob Seeger song came on the radio.  I never thought Seeger's music was all that great (I know, some of the 'classic rock' guys are verging on experiencing cerebral apoplexy right about now) and back then it seemed like every, other song on WIMZ (the only station halfway worth listening to in this area at the time) was Bob friggin' Seeger.  I solved the problem, though - I simply don't listen to broadcast radio all that often, any more.  MP3 players, the ability to 'burn' my own CDs and 'customizable' Internet radio channels have taken care of that.

Sorry to hear of your health problems and glad you are on the road to recovery.  Get home soon and get better!