Cold Steel Micro Recon 1 Knife Review - Keychain Knife

I may get accused of hyperbole at times but I consider the Cold Steel Micro Recon 1 to be the most useful and quite possibly the flat out best knife Cold Steel has ever made.  Obviously Cold Steel makes a lot of knives that fit a lot of needs and it’s difficult to compare a combat knife to a woods/survival knife or a skinning knife to a kitchen knife.  What I am instead doing is a taking a knife within a specific category and comparing it to others on the market.  They have really kicked some a** here  :)

My video review is here:



The category in this case is the keychain knife.  A keychain knife is (obviously) a knife that you carry with your keys.  Normally it has a small lanyard hole that you can slide a key ring through or you attach it with a short cord or chain.  In our society, a keychain knife can be the ultimate EDC (every day carry) knife as people rarely going anywhere without keys – house, car, work, whatever.

Adventures in Biking

I will probably be doing a series of posts on my bicycling experiences.  I almost thought about another blog split off but decided to bore everyone here instead!

I decided on a mountain bike.  I really had no idea what to get, I don't know a darn thing about bikes.  The road bike didn't seem right and the hybrid bike, I dunno, just didn't appeal.  I went with the sturdier looking mountain bike and what I thought (perhaps mistakenly) would be better grippy tires for the wet weather and gravel around here.

Spent about $400?  $500?  Can't quite remember, it was 2 months ago.  More than I wanted to, for sure, but decided to get one put together properly from a bike shop rather than getting one from the local department store.  I tried that years back and it was a mess and I got sooooooo frustrated trying to adjust it....

It was a lot of money but will be paid for with a few tanks of gas I won't buy - assuming I get good use from it.

So far it's been pretty good.  My fitness sucks, fortunately it's not too far a ride.  I'd be a lot better off though if it was flat and 10 times as long....hills suck.

Ridiculous Whining

I want a Fallkniven WM1.

That is all.

Small EDC and Tactical Fixed Blade Knife Comparison & Review

I recently completed a video comparison on 4 small fixed blade knives.  I am still rocking the hideaway straight as my EDC knife but started to look around at some other options as well.  The awesome custom fit of the HAK is also it's only real weakness, if you are wearing gloves you pretty much can't use the knife.

The four knives are the TOPS M1 Sub Compact, Boker Fred Perrin Neck Bowie, Tops FDX Hunter Point, and the Esee Izula.  The main common feature between these, besides small size, is a deep(ish, depending on blade) finger choil.

No More Winter - Famous Last Words

Hello everyone.  I'm not dead and I haven't forgotten you.  Very sorry I haven't posted in so long, I've been crazy busy since I moved.  My work training was interesting to say the least but it progressed at a rapid pace, I finished sooner than expected.  This gave me the bright idea to do a late entry in the school semester and take 3 classes....needless to say, I have been busy.

All is going well though I had to laugh after reading my last post.  We ended up getting socked with some serious winter here over a 2 week period (plus periodic dumps of snow for weeks after), temperatures in the area dipped to -25 C (much colder with windchill) which is absolutely unheard of for this area.  Pipes froze and then burst all over town, it was pretty crazy.  The weather was no big deal but it did create some interesting events.

A few notes:

1. I was lucky.  My house is up quite high on a hill, set on bedrock.  I have a concrete perimeter foundation and a fully insulated basement.  Even though my basement isn't heated, my pipes came through OK.  I also added some pipe insulation but couldn't get any heat tape for love or money - more prep for next year.

2. I've never lived somewhere with such steep grades, I have always lived in lands of flat!  We had a lot of ice and snow and I couldn't make it up the street in our rental car.  The day we had to move out of the hotel and into our house, my bike got left behind and we left our bags into the car.  I packed up a few personal items and we walked to our house.  I went back for the car the next day and grabbed the bike a few days later.

3. 4WD can be your friend.  We went wild and crazy and bought a jeep.  I have severe buyer's remorse but there have been many days where cars were littered at the bottom of the street and I drove by them on the way home.

4. I quite like riding the bus.  There was too much snow for me to even consider biking to work, I don't think I would have lived.  I ended up taking the bus one way and then walking home or taking a cab the other, the bus generally only matches up with one direction.

5. Biking uphill is HARD!!!

6. Not a news flash but a good reminder, water-resistant just means a delayed soaking.

All this walking to and from work has been a good reminder of the importance of weight in a BOB.  I've been carrying my Eberlestock Gunslinger II pack  to work and I've really tuckered myself out.  Some minimal survival gear, textbooks, lunch, sometimes a laptop, etc, it adds up fast and I am wiped out.  All the more reason to carry it of course, it's good training for my fat a**.

Get in shape people and test your gear.  You don't want to carry it for the first time when it's a real emergency, you want it to feel natural and normal.

BTW, love that backpack.

Anyway, I'm going to start posting some material, I have a lot of stuff to add, I hope I can get to it all soon.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone that reads and comments, I really appreciate it.  I'm shocked to have over 10,000 views of the site, I didn't even have to tell my mom to get them, lol.

Take care all.