State of the Union Torches are way harder to track than knives. If knives are suffering from a deluge of choice, flashlights are a tidal wave. But the enthusiast market is a bit more “trackable.” There is still a lot of good stuff out there and most of it is under $100. A $100 light is almost always better compared to the competition than a $100 knife. I generally carry the Mini Turbo Mk 3 with the TRM N2. The light is $80, the knife is $100 more. So value is still king in the flashlight world. This year saw the release of the CWF Peanut, a light that really has my wallet locked in a tractor ..read more

State of the Union The knife market is a bit strange. Good stuff is coming from everywhere and bad stuff is coming from everywhere. While I love the genius in the wilderness designer trope as much as the next person, the reality is there aren’t that many geniuses. This is when an editor really makes a difference. A lot of the self-published blades out there are a few tweaks away from being a good knife, but if you are a solo or part of a “design house” firm that does not make knives, it might be impossible for you to spot the problems. Iteration is not a bad word. Collaboration is not a bad w ..read more

Well, as we get into the fourth year of Hall of Fame additions, the flow has decidedly slowed down. I am really struggling to think of stuff that is both universally good and proven over time. The options are enormous, but the criteria are punishingly tough. I think the TRM N2 belongs in the Hall of Fame, but it hasn’t been around long enough (I have official implemented a 5 year waiting period between release and admission). But the BOSS 35 has. And of course there are upgrades and alternatives, but the original aluminum bodied version still kills it for me. And so it is in. If this were the ..read more

I usually don’t get knocked out sick. Normally, it is a few days of feeling crappy, two days of sitting still and drinking fluids, two days of feeling less crappy and then back to normal. It happens about twice a year, between the months of February and April. This year though I got obliterated. I got so sick I couldn’t move. I stayed in one room for two days and I didn’t leave, other than to go to the bathroom (which was ALSO part of this particularly good multitasking version of influenza). But as I was in a haze of sickness, I noticed something about a quilt we own—it is impeccably well-de ..read more

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 th ..read more

In honor of the NCAA tournament going on this weekend, I thought I would post my EDC Folder Sweet 16. There were a one that I posted on the site’s IG feed that had a Roosevelt, but I am not convinced that is a knife that fits. Not only is it pretty expensive, its not better than the stuff on this list, generally. I am a big Roosie skeptic. Before we get to my reasoning, let’s lay the reviews. TRM N2 Indiana Knives EDZ CRK Small Sebenza 31 Spyderco PM2 Hogue Deka in Magnacut Benchmade Bugout Tactile Knife Co Rockwall Bridgeport Knife Company 395 Spyderco Dragonfly II CRKT Squid II Sharp By Des ..read more

There are few knives more “on trend” than this one—an overseas made knife with a button lock and Magnacut blade steel. That, right there, is a good start. Throw in a tall slicey blade and some brilliant flipping action and you have the start of a very, very good knife. I believe this is Indiana Knives’ first design, too. But there are some things that made me wander away from it a bit when deciding what to carry everyday. Its one of those “big little knives” with a 3 inch blade and a carry profile of a Cold Steel. It just seems way bigger in the pocket than it actually is. I am also not thril ..read more

Over the years I have been a big proponent of avoiding “out of the box” evaluations of knives. While, of course, I prefer my knives sharp and tight out of the box, I came at this knife thing from woodworking where chisels and planes are shipped “pretty sharp” with an expectation that the end user would finish the job. So if knife needs a bit of stropping once it gets to its home, I am not bothered. I am also not super concerned if a knife needs a screw or two tightened. But this past year, things got really bad on this front. Dozens of knives I have handled for reviews and otherwise have had ..read more

I have cultivated (read: earned) a reputation as a reviewer of Hipster Knives. I was the first review of a knife from The James Brand. I took Quiet Carry seriously. And now, here I am, reviewing the current Flavor of the Week Hipster Knife. Unfortunately, unlike those two previous Hipster Knives, the Ti Pocket Knife is not just flawed, but pretty darn bad. There are a few highlights here, but for the most part this a tour of design mistakes. Perhaps that is what you get when you prioritize having the same handle as your other tools as opposed to fully designing a purpose-built object. Hey, th ..read more

After lights switched from incandescent bulbs to LEDs we had a brief period where the design of lights didn’t really adapt to the new technology. Instead it was basically just a parts swap. Then flashlight makers started to really harness the LED and things changed. Beautiful beams unleashed by precision designed reflectors were replaced by TIR optics. In some lights, there were no optics at all, just naked emitters in triple or quadruple arrays that used sheer power to overcome some of the throw issues associated with mule designs (mules are the flashlight term for lights without optics). As ..read more