Reblogging: Improvised Tanks for Tank Week

Here's a piece I wrote for Breach Bang & Clear

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” ― H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: First Series

... and at times you want more than just a mean look and the occasional sandbag to be between you and harms way. Sometimes you want to call on the thunder of armour. However, you might not have the power of the military-industrial complex behind you. You might only have the local scrapyard, oxy-torches, sheet metal, and an innovative spirit.

Currently the world's undersupplied warfighters are inventing all kinds of home-brew armour options, and we've been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them over the last few years. And I must say, we're lucky to have only been catching glimpses and not rolling into battle in them. Let's check a few out.

 

This is the SHAM II, a proudly "100 percent made in Syria" improvised armored vehicle. Put together by Syrian rebels of the Al-Ansar brigade, in Bishqatin, four kms west of Aleppo, it came to the world's attention on December 8, 2012.

Built on an old car chassis and covered in 25mm thick steel walls, it was reportedly able to resist up to 23mm cannon fire. At only 2m wide and 4m long, this is no Abrams. It is, however, fitted with a remote-operated (by a hotwired Playstation remote of all things) 7.62mm machine gun on top. It also has five cameras that give the humans inside a view from all angles.

In one of the original interviews, its primary operator said ‘This is my brother, a trained engineer, who got the idea, we got a car, left its diesel motor on the chassis and built the engine. Not including from the gun, the vehicle costs about £6,200($10,000)." This gives you an understanding of what these folks are doing with their spare time.

Read the rest here at Breach Bang & Clear:

Review: knock off Gravity Hook

One of my friends lent me this piece to compare. I have covered the Fishbones Gravity Hook a number of times, and have been involved with beta testing, so my appreciation and bias is pretty well known.

It appears that the Kickstarted design that Eldrick Garcia and his team developed, over many iterations, and put into production has been copied and is now for sale and being plugged online. Now, I am all for free market, and it's inevitable that great ideas will be copied, I wanted to try at least to compare and contrast the two designs.

Here are the two hooks side by side, with the Fishbones version on the left, and the Molibao version on the right. You can see they are essentially identical, remarkably so. The "arms" of the hooks are essentially carbon-copy of each other. The arcs, bolt-holes, the middle-notch hole and even the curves of the hooks are identical.

The mounting hardware is different, but bolts and self-locking nuts are ubiquitous, as are the shackle loop at the bottom. No big issues with that, obviously.




The batarang cross-hook pieces indicate pretty well the differences between the two pieces however.


The Fishbone cross-hook is obviously thicker, which is true for the entire construction which is made out of 1/8" thick 304 stainless steel and all of the Gravity Hooks and weighs 360g all told.

You can also see the finish of the Fishbone hook is much neater, with the Molibao finish having a notch still present inside the cross-hook. Thicker steel means stronger steel in my books, assuming it was the same grade, which I have no way of knowing.



The differences between the thicknesses of the steel used between the two Gravity Hooks have been taken into account in the Molibao version, which was good to see.

The notch-holes were differently spaced, and adjusted to still ensure a good fit, so the hook actually works identically to the original.

Essentially, if you didn't know that it wasn't from the original manufactures and had one to had to compare with, you wouldn't know it wasn't an original.


One thing I wanted to cover, then, was the price point. I went back and checked the Fishbone website and the steel Gravity Hook is $39.99, the titanium version is $79.99

On the Nifty Thrifty Store site, where I -think- you can get the real deal (maybe, given the use of the official promo-shots) they are $65.37.

The Molibao versions are on AliExpress and other cheep-gear sites, but really, you get what you pay for. I know you're not supposed to be putting your life on the line (literally) with the Gravity Hooks, but, why not spend a little more, for a better quality, original product, and give back to the people who are doing the innovation in the first place.

Review: Credit Card lock picks

These appeared in my mailbox a long while ago, and have sat unobtrusively in my gear mound for a long while to boot, both in my EDC and in the Bunker, and I probably would have forgotten to report on them if I hadn't recently thought about other mystery arrivals I have had. It is a "concealed" set of lockpicks, cunningly disguised as a NQR credit card.

Labelled as belonging to a Mr Bond, James Bond, raises no eyebrows I'm sure, along with its not-quite right "VISA" and American Express looking skin. At least the numbers suggest it's expired, hey?

However, this cheesy exterior contains a clever design. Upon getting it out again, I fooled around with it for a little.

There are 5 tools secreted within the card exterior, 4 stainless steel picks, and a double-ended tension tool all cut from 0.035" spring stainless steel, which all fit into three cavities in the 1/8" thick card, which slide-slots into itself to seal your tools in (mostly).

This is a new kit, apparently available from the James Bond Lifestyle website (no, really) credit card pick set!There is an S rake, a hook, a ball and a full rake.

 

As far as as a set of lockpicks goes, I wasn't all that impressed. The press-cut tools were a little too thin and short to be ergonomic, far less so than my much shorter, but not flat titanium Bogota entry set from Oscar Delta  or the heftier handled but really long professional set from HPC. However, I realise that these tools are designed for obfuscation, rather than strictly for utility.


However, they are functional enough that they pick locks, with a little more effort and less finesse than the HPC's, and with less comfort than the really well made Oscar Delta's.

I managed to pick some padlocks I found at work, and opened a desk drawer with them. Hardly 00 series tasks but then again, these didn't come from Q either.

As a last ditch back up set, or as a novelty to really task yourself by using less than ideal tools.

Still, there is a certain delight for having another set, squirreled away, and secretly waiting for next time I need them.

Wish-Lust: ZU Bladeworx Nomad

This is a follow up from a piece I covered last year, the ZU Bladeworx Mechanik straight edged blade, and their Raymond Floro Karambit which I covered at the beginning of the year.

ZU do small batch runs of their knives, usually on pre-order. They are an Australian owned and operated edged tool manufacturing business, who specialize in CNC manufactured, industrial strength, edged tools. All their products are 100% Australian made, with the entire fabrication process being local, from the initial machining right down to the final edge sharpening. They use high impact tool Cryodur 2379 (D2) steel for all their knives.

This is the Nomad, their new piece, the blade is 10.2cm (4") long and 0.6cm (1/4") thick. The handle is just over 4" long and just over 1cm (3/8") thick. A deep fuller down the blade and a skeltonised handle of this single CNC milled-piece cut the weight down to just 147g (5.1oz) without sheath, even with the large ring at the pommel.



The Nomad, like all the ZU Bladeworx blades are double tempered and cryo heat-treated with a black oxide finish (although there is an optional battleworn finish which is rubbed down black oxide available).

Double edged, this is a serious fighting knife, and comes with a kydex sheath with a friction lock. Being double edged makes it a dagger in Australian law, so be advised if you are intending to get one, and be aware of your local laws, but there''s no denying it's a rugged looking piece.

All our ZU Bladeworx'  tools are warrantied against manufacturer defects and damage during normal use. They expect their tools to be able to handle abuse, but you need to be sure to remember the warranty only covers against reasonable use, not deliberate abuse! They are hard tools, for hard use. My Mechanik doesn't get nearly enough use, but when it does, I know I can depend on it.

Review: Fishbones - Carry-all hook

Here is an interesting piece of kit that came from the same minds as the Gravity Hook, and Fishbones, Piranhas gear ties. It's the kind of thing that I would probably make for myself if I had a metalwork workshop myself, where Brent & Eldrick Garcia of Out-Tek, LLC saw a need, and made something to fit the need.  This is the Carry-All.

Basically, Brent didn’t want to see his guitar constantly getting knocked over. So he made this thing. It’s basically a stainless steel hanger that can be fitted with either a length of nylon webbing or paracord.

Massively over-engineered, it is way stronger than it needs be, and that opens it up to my favourite kind of gear. Rugged, multifunctional and simple.

The body of the Carry-All is cut from a single piece of 3/16" stainless steel, the main hook opening is based around a 4cm (1.6") radius opening, much like a regular coat-hanger hook, and certainly wide enough to loop over all manner of pipes, racks, ledges and branches.

There is a finger grip section much like on a trench knife, with has a 2.5cm (1.0") radius opening, which is plenty of room for even a gloved finger, and there is enough room for two fingers, and along with the back side thumb-riser "guard" allows for a very secure grip which in turns allows for a quite comfortable hold-point for using the Carry-All as a carry-handle.

It isn't climbing rated, and Brent only mentions holding up to 45kg (100lbs) but I suspect you could carry more than would be comfortable before it breaks.


Designed to primarily take 1" webbing, the Carry-All has two sets of twin webbing slots, one narrower, one wider. These enable you to friction lick the webbing easily, as well as doubling the feed over to ensure a really secure lock. Looping both ends of the webbing through the eyes forms a webbing loop that can then be used for the Carry-All's primary purpose, to grab and hang awkward, unusually shaped and odd pieces of kit, be they the neck's of guitars, a pole to form hangers, or any other sort of webbing strapable item, which could do wit ha hook to attach it to a suspension point.

So hang your awkward stuff up to 100 pounds. I would like you to have one too.

With an overall length 12.5cm (5") and 7cm (2.8") wide, the 3/16" stainless steel is hefty and as sturdy as you could want, whilst still being essentially pocket-sized. The 18" 1" webbing supplied could be swapped out with any other 1" webbing, but as well as this, there are three paracod sized holes drilled into the base of the hook to facilitate stringing it with paracord instead.

It seems a odd piece of gear, it served a particular role, but also with a whole bunch of new options available for hanging, strapping and suspending, especially if traveling and you want to keep a bag of wet ground, for example. The balance points are well placed, and the stonewashed finish is easy on webbing and paracord alike.

I also envisage using these for picking up cast-iron pots from firepits, carrying twine-bundled loads of kindling, and stringing guy-lines for tarps.

Re-bloging: on double sided daggers, axes and the art of utility.

DJ Urbanovsky, the knife and axe-maker extraordinaire behind American Kami has had some great successes recently, two more of his knives have been put into production by Boker (check them out here) . I have had  the pleasure of fooling around with a couple of the American Kami blades, in my tactical kitchen knife, the Super Colubris, and the Boker Mid-Tech Colubris which was part of a pass-around review.  He is a maker of fine, dangerous and finely crafted blades, and recently, he's been making daggers. Pondering these as he grinds, fits and finishes these, he had some thoughts, which he was good enough to share:


Since I am in the middle of assembling a ton of them as I type this, one of my thoughts on daggers: So, obviously most people tend to look at a dagger and think "That right there is some man-killing-as-shit," or that it is a single purpose design and good for nothing other than making holes in bad guys.


Read the rest of his thoughts here on Breach-Bang-Clear

Because there is always some window-licker that tells me I'm going to go to jail or some such:

Where I live, double bladed knives are listed as Prohibited Weapons.

In order to possess a dagger, a person would need to obtain either a:

• a Chief Commissioner’s Approval (CCP), or
  
• be covered by a Governor in Council exemption (GIC).
  To be eligible for a GIC a person must be able to demonstrate at the time of purchase, that they are a member of a club, group, organisations, or a class of person which has been granted a Governor in Council Exemption Order.

So, know your local laws, and collect, train with and use the tools that best meet your needs and applications. Thanks again to Mr Urbanovsky,and be sure to check out his work!

Review: SAR GlobalTools - kiridashi

The traditional kiridashi knife is small and very portable blade from Japan, with a chisel grind and a sharp point, used as a general-purpose utility knife. These knives are carving/utility knives have their roots in woodworking. The name, kiridashi literally translates to “carve out” which would seem to support this origin. Regardless, they are found in many facets of traditional and contemporary Japanese culture being used in a variety of activities from everyday tasks like sharpening pencils to gardening.


They are often made with a handle wrap and sometimes scales and a scabbard, but are just as likely to be a single piece of steel.

This take on the classic is from my mate Spencer Alan Reiter of SAR Global Tools who works his metalworking magic from a shed in Louisiana and has brought forth such wonderful items as the Moonglow necklace signaling tool I wear 24/7, the SESS signalling dogtag I keep lashed to all my packs, and my favourite neck-knife, the OddJob.

The SAR kiridashi's are all one-offs, that Spencer builds from reclaimed stock left over from his other projects. Waste not, want not, and perfect philosophy for the creation of a kiridashi. The riddle of steel  rings in his ears.

Crafted from an offcut of CPM3V and is heat treated to a hardness of "dead nuts" 60HRC according to Spencer.

It's also sharpened to a razor blade edge along both its main cutting edge and to a very sturdy and substantial point. The geometry of the SAR kiridashi is is very similar to a scalpel and being one piece CPM3V its 165mm length it weighs only 30g, very dense and very good in the hand. With two holes drilled in the head of the blade for a mass reducing effect and three grip-enhancing drilled notched behind the head, and another in the tail end as a lanyard hole.


Worked over in the SAR workshop, you can easily use it knowing that you are using a high quality product.  You'd never know it was a one off recovered from workshop scrap. In keeping with the kiridashi's main purpose originally to be used as a craft knife, I wanted to show off it's practical application and the single, flat ground chisel edge which just works a treat as a wood whittling tool.

The blade can put it to many different uses. Here are some practical examples: general cutting, gardening, cutting zip ties, deburring and drilling holes, self defense, survival tool, the uses are almost innumerable. Anything you could want from a heavily over-engineered craft-knife. 

The SAR kiridashi's are set with a cord-wrap on the handle for enhanced grip on the thin metal spine, and come with a kydex scabbard along with a bead-chain necklace for neck-knife wear. 

Bear in mind that these are all hand-crafted, heat treated and sharpened in what is essentially a one-man shop, along with Spencer's philanthropic work in conjunction with the Run Rangers Run charity, in creating his Inglorious Bastards knives, re-purposed from antique files, so his time is hard to come by and the runs are small. Keep an eye out and be on the lookout for new knives such as the Kingfisher's that are coming out...

Review: Para TPS Pulley systems

I love paracord. I love titanium, I love pulleys, I love Kickstarter so when a titanium paracord pulley came up on Kickstarter, I knew I had to get on board. I've covered a titanium paracord pulley system before, in the Ti2 PB-9 Parabener systems which live on my daypack, just in case. However, they are pretty chunky, being loaded with other features, and might be overkill when all you need is some lifting and shifting.

That's where there the TPS system comes in. A bare bones pulley system, it's a Universal Pulley System made from grade 5 titanium and ready to be used for making work easier and putting no matter what you're doing. Designed for paracord, or any other 4mm line of your choosing.

The TPS pulley systems are available in four formats, the TPS-2, TPS-3, TPS-4 and TPS-5. the number value corresponds to the number of "sheaves" which are the wheels inside the pulleys, designed and produced by Andrew of Root Designs R&D .

Root Designs spent a lot of time determining the design and materials they wanted to use in these pulleys. The side plates and pins are made of Grade 5 titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) because of its strength and corrosion resistance. The sheaves are made of a homopolymer acetal (which is a very strong plastic that is used for bearings because of its low friction coefficient, perfect as sheaves). The clip-in retaining rings are made of stainless (304SS made by Smalley).

Some serious design and research went into the development of these. Based on using paracord with a minimum breaking strength between 250-340 kg (650-750lbs) for Type III to IV paracords, a FOS of 3 puts the maximum breaking strength (MBS) of the pulleys around 2250lbs. These values were tested on a computer using failure-and-finite-element-analysis software. Bearing in mind that most civilian paracord is type II to III, with minimum breaking strengths of 180-250kg, (550-650lbs). Doing these studies are part of why Root Designs needed support from crowdfunding.

Having gone through rounds of testing and prototyping, they have pulley systems now rated for a Working Load Limit (WLL) of 68kg (150lbs) and a Tested Breaking Strength of over 900kg (2,000lbs). What does that mean? it means the TPS is recommended for loads of around 68kg, and is known to catastrophically fail at 900kg. Given type III paracord will take at least 250kg, my money is on the TPS working long after the paracord snaps, if you're looking at points of failure.

What's the big deal with pulley's in the first place? Mechanical advantage! Anything you need to move or lift, these pulleys can offer up to a 5:1 mechanical advantage with paired TPS-5's. By setting them up in sequence, and threading paracord through the sheaves correctly, the power of simple machines can reduce the effort needed by up to 1/5th of the force needed by a single loop alone. A single pair of pulleys halves the effort, three, a third and so on.

I backed for and received a twin set of TPS-5's and also got a TPS-2 as well. They can be used in a variety of combinations, or singly depending on your situation and need. One thing to remember that with all pulley systems, your ability to lift is only as good as your weakest component. Any attachment accessories (I've used two steel S-hooks from Ikea, so useful) as well as Type 3 paracord. However you also need to take into account the features of the load, and it's ability to haul itself, as well as whatever you are mounting your load too.

The other aspect to be aware of is the length of cord used. For every sheave used, the length of "fall" between the sheaves increases. This needs to be taken into account when reeving (lacing) the pulleys.

Pulley systems mean that someone with little hands and arms, like Tactical baby, can lift this 2.5L kettle full of water, and hold it, in her non-dominant hand, and nonchalantly pose for photos before bedtime.

Here's a tidbit of information from the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets Seamanship manual,
Parts of the Tackle:
a. Standing Block: The block that is anchored and is not moving. This block changes the direction of the running part.
b. Moving Block: The moving block is attached to the moving end of the rope (the end the cargo is on).
c. Fall: The fall is the rope that is rove through the block.
d. Standing Part: The standing part does not move. It needs to be secured to either the standing block or some other fixed position.
e. Hauling Part: The hauling part is the part that is pulled.

But acting as mechanical advantage gaining simple machines aren't all the TPS can be used for, you can combine these little workhorses to get other tasks done too. If you need to send some gear across a ravine, creek or river, or between abandoned buildings in a desolate wasteland, each pulley was designed so it could be used as a zip line shuttle. Setting up a static line and fitting one of the TPS's on it, with either one, two or three sheaves to spread the load over the line means you have a very stable and secure system for shuttling loads back and forth.


You could even use the spare sheaves to run pilot lines to haul back and forth, as well as for suspending your load. In other applications, you could even make a dog run, or other off-ground tethering system for pets or small people whilst out and about.

I even found that by setting the TPS-5 up in a cross-woven pattern, I could make a friction belaying zip-line, in the style of the mechanical decent RACK devices offered by Petzl


Being made from titanium, acetal polymer and stainless steel, they work great in harsh environments such as the ocean, or gritty, hot environments. They could just as easily be used on a fishing boat as in the bush. The limits to their application is really up to your imagination, and material strengths you have to work around.


One of the really nice design features is their small profiles. By using clipping retaining rings, the side profile of the pulleys stay small. The TPS-2 is5/8" x 1-1/2" x 9/16". The TPS-5 is 2-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 9/16".

Basically pocket sized, no matter how you put it. The pins do not stick out from the side plate as much as a nut or the head of a bolt would, which means they are far less likely to snag or catch, as well as reducing weight The TPS-5 weighs 45g (1.6oz) and the TPS-2 a mere 18g (0.6oz). Each pulley can be user-serviced if needed using common tools, and spare parts are available from Root Designs on their website. They also offer a snap-bolt which can be fitted in place of the machined pin, around the existing sheave, to offer a built-in attachment point in the place of any of the existing pins. This is an awesome addition to have designed in, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't put in for some with my pledge. However, there's nothing magic in the bolts, and it is just a matter of finding a bolt which fits, and somewhere to shackle your pulley!

 This is the kind of gadget that you probably wouldn't think to pack in your bug-out-bag on first pass, but to kit out a minimalistic problem solving swag, you could do a lot worse than including a set of TPS's to give you an advantage over your environment!

Review: First Tactical - Diamondback Tanto Knife

I had a package arrive from First Tactical with two items, their very fancy and vicious looking Medium Duty Light, and this very substantial folding blade, the Diamondback Knife in tanto tip.


I have a few folders in my collection, though I must say I prefer fixed blades, I keep a CRKT Folding K.I.S.S. in my EDC, and the very snappy Boker folding scalpel which lives secreted away in my every-day pack. I also have a bunch of the hefty and brutally built Boker Plus AK assisted folders, for the bug-out-jars I've been putting together for Tactical Coyote. So I was quite impressed when I got the Diamondback in hand.

Read the full review on Breach Bang & Clear ....

Review: HHA ASOT-01

I've finally gotten my hands on one of the much desired Hardcore Hardware Australia ASOT-01's for my very own, as part of my Giftmas haul, and I'm finally getting around to telling you about it, now that I have had it in my grabby-hands for a little while. I had covered this blade after it came out in a Wish-Lust piece, as well as getting to pay with one again at the SSAA SHOT show.
 
We have a few of the HHA items in the household, with a TWI-02 Tactical Writing Implement , and two of their smaller knives, the LFK-05 and LFK-02 blades.
Putting my three most similar blades together, you can see how the ASOT-01 compares to with the ZU Bladeworx Mekanik and the very deadly Benchmade SOCP CQB.
 
The distinct bevelled ring design of the ASOT-01 enhances the tool's accessibility and comfort, making it exceptionally fast and easy to draw. The ring is very comfortable, and the inwards scalloping wasn't at all troublesome as I had thought it might have been. The ring, much like that of the SOCP also enables transition to a rifle or hand-gun with no disconnection between the tool and firearm.
 
That scalloped thumb recess at the top of the ring supports a positive grip and for the application of downward force, opening cans of whoop-ass and the like.
 
Unique to the ASOT-01 is its "live edge identifier" knob at three quarters along the length of the handle. This enables the user to quickly identify the position of the single-sided cutting edge by feel. Good for in the dark, or when your blade is obscured. I really liked this feature, it made for a fast steady draw as well as keeping it firmly in the right orientation.
 
 

The personalised mounting provided with the ASOT is based on the ambidextrous kydex sheath it comes with along with Tek-Lok and Molle-Lok mounting options. Customised for vertical, horizontal or angled wear the mounting is further expanded by the provision of eyelet holes along both sides of the sheath to facilitate alternative attachment to the body or gear with paracord, cable ties or the like.
 
With its low profile design which allows the tool to be sandwiched on or behind magazine/accessory pouches, or horizontally along the belt line to maintain optimum concealment and retention. However, the sheath adds considerable width, which limits where you can place it somewhat, but not so much as to be impossible.
 
Made from 6mm (0.236") D2 tool steel stock, it can withstand some substantial impact without loss of sharpness. Halfway down the sharp edge, serrations have been cut into the blade to aid in the performance for more demanding cutting tasks.
 
 
The blade is 100 mm (3.93") long, with an overall length of 198 mm (7.79") and 27 mm (1.06") wide. When its its widest, it's 40 mm (1.57") wide. The blade with it's G10 handles weighs in at 120 g (0.26 lb) which is not bad for the size it is. The D2 steel is thick, and dense, but the very narrow throat and ringed end.
 
In its friction locked sheath, its 205 mm (8.07") long, and 60 mm (2.36") wide and weighs in at 160 g (0.35 lb). Again, the width makes it much more like a belt knife rather than the dagger effect of the SOCP.
 
The ASOT-01 is a non-prohibited design, single edged but ready to grind down on the back side of the blade, something the guys at Platatac have told me that Operational Operators Operating have been known to do. As always with this kind of knife, please check your local State laws in relation to knife ownership and carry.
 
[EDIT - 26/2/2016]
The good folks at Hardcore Hardware Australia dropped me a line with several words of caution, and I'm only too happy to agree with them -
 
"Josh, we do not advocate the re-grinding of our tools; such practices void HHA’s warranty. What you are suggesting in your review in this regard also constitutes a breach of Victoria State Law; I would be inclined to re-think this approach. Thank you in advance for your co-operation. HHA"
 
I'd rather touch-up a paining in a gallery with a crayon than re-grind one of their blades myself, it's nerve-wracking enough to sharpen them right.
 

Review: HHA Razorback CQC knife

Following up from my recent review of the ZU Bladeworx FFSA knife loaned to me by a friend, I wanted to do this second blade he was kind enough to sling my way, the equally interesting HHA Razorback CQC. I'm a big fan of the chunky and no-nonsense badassness of the Hardcore Hardware designs, especially the LFK blades that my partner Omega and I both have an example of  as well as the TWI pen that is in my EDC.

It was really interesting to see what HHA are calling their "first signature blade in the fighting arts genre," but I'll give it the same caveat that I gave the FFSA, this kind of knife is not the kind of tool I've trained and sparred with in the limited knife-fighting training I have done, but I'm happy to tell you that it is certainly an impressive piece of steel.

Featuring the same 6mm (0.236") thick, full tang, D2 tool steel blade, as all the HHA blades this back-swept, double re-curved blade features two hollow ground faces on the sharp edge, and another on the spine of the blade.

HHA report that it is engineered for slashing, thrusting and trapping, and designed for the same type of the reverse grip as might be used in Arnis (but again, it's not my martial field of expertise).

The combination of live and non-live edges however makes the Razorback gives you the opportunity for both both offensive and defensive techniques. For expanding on those blunt force, defensive striking and less-than-lethal applications, the Razorback also has an extended glass breaker, strike/hammer pommel, in keeping with their other designs.

A large finger notch is devised to ensure a secure grip to increase weapon retention substantially, and I found it rested in the edge of the hand really nicely in that reverse grip.

The knife is 235 mm (9.25") overall, with 115 mm (4.52") of that being the blade, and is 368 g (0.81 lb) of hungry steel and G10.

To reduce grip weight and optimize balance, both the tang and handle scales have been skeletonized, with a cavity in the handle which could easily double as a hidden storage space for emergency items. However, those scales are secured with Torx screw all steel fittings, so you might find it difficult to pull of a Jason Bourne style recovery without that particular driver.

I found the backwards sweep of the blade a little difficult to adjust to, mostly because I wasn't sure of the arcs it was offering me, but it certainly felt good in the hand whilst moving it around.  I imagine in a practiced set of hands it would be extremely dangerous.
When held in a forwards grip, the blade was no less dangerous feeling, and I certainly didn't have any trouble cutting with it, though I didn't care for the broad double-recurve  of the edge and handle combination.  No fault of the knife, it's just engineered the way I like a knife to be.

With its ambidextrous Kydex sheath, with a Tek-Lok belt mounting system it can be customised in vertical, horizontal or angled positions to suit your rig, or even lashed via eyelets. It also comes paired with a BlueGun style HIVIZ blue trainer, which matches the blade in weight at 369 g (0.81 lb), but with thoroughly safe edges and points. I'd have no qualms training with it, and letting enthusiastic people pretend to do me harm whilst getting better at using the real thing. 

All in all, the Razorback is a substantial, solid, scary-looking and well thought out blade, that just isn't right for me.

Review : Klecker KLAX Lumberjack axe

I finally received my KLAX Kickstarter axe-head in the mail, after languishing I development hell for a while, getting the engineering tweeked. The KLAX is a multi-tool built into the head of an ax.  It allows you to attach the ax head to a handle quickly in the field.  It uses the nested clamping system shown here.   The clamps rotate out from the handle for use. The multifunction options are what really drew to me to the KLAX, and I was very curious to see how the fold-away stow-away option worked.

The Lumberjack is the Klecker high-end stainless steel model with the most features. The first three models are all made from heat treated SUS420J2 stainless steel which is perfectly balanced for keeping an edge and maintaining strength. Klecker do offer a Gucci, titanium version of the Lumberjack model as well, but I wanted to stick to steel for a hatchet head.

The Lumberjack features, as well as a fairly broad axe head, an Ulu knife blade, a hammer head,
cutting/gut hook, a set of skeletonized hex wrench set (19mm, 15mm, 13mm, 12mm, 10mm, 8mm), as well as a 1/4” hex bit driver socket, an inch ruler along the hammer-head, a lanyard hole and an inset wire-gate carabiner (which can be used to clip the sheathed axe-head to the outside of a pack) and a bottle-opener (mate!), all coupled with their Patent Pending clamping system.

The hardness of the axe is around 48-52 HRc. The purpose of this hardness level is to give it the strength it needs to work as an axe but keep it from being too hard. Too hard, and you risk chipping and shattering. 

The clamps are centered on a 1/4"-28 threaded bolt shaft which requires over 450kg (1000lbs) of load to shear it, so you're talking a fair amount of chopping to risk that.

The "front" clamp is threaded and rides along the threaded section of the bolt shaft. It is activated from its stowed position by rotating the nut at the back. When the head is inserted into the handle, it is screwed down and clamped in place by turning the knob the other way.

The "rear" clamp rotates out of the handle and is spring loaded to drop into a notch specially shaped to hold it in place. Once the clamp is tightened, it cannot be turned, bent, or otherwise moved until you loosen the system with the nut.

The KLAX is cut from a 5/16" thick SUS420J2 piece of steel plate with a water jet and then machined to add the side bevels, the caribiner pocket and the cutting edges on axe blade.

The clamps themselves are also 5/16" thick and are extremely rugged as well. Like the head, the clamps are heat treated in order to increase their strength considerably.

The clamps are working correctly when they are seated in the handle notches and have been fully "seated".

To seat the clamps into the handle,   its just a matter of tightening the nut, hitting the axe a few times (blade or hammer, it doesn't matter,) the first few times you use it, and tighten the clamps as tight as you can by hand.

Repeating the process, until the head is secure and then it is ready to go. Given the transitory nature of the attachment, it makes good sense to  to check the head periodically and re-tighten as needed.

Kleker suggest that typically it will no longer loosen after about five minutes of use, but make sure to check it anyway.

I've had some fun chopping wood and things with it thus far, and it certainly seems like a great back-up axe to stow in the outside pockets of a hiking pack, and even without the custom fitted hardwood handle, taking the Lumberjack into the field allows you to use a locally sourced piece of wood,trimmed and split with the ulu blade, and then slid over the head. The clamps just need the roughest of notches for the clamps to seat into, and the self-compressing nature of the clamps will pinch down a split log to give an extra tight grip.

I haven't had a chance to try this out yet, and Klecker recommend only using filed-expedient handles when needed, as they can't be readily depended on, but it sounds like a fun activity.

So, all in all, the KLAX succeeds in providing a very useful tool to use in a pinch. It will do a good job at a lot of small tasks, but won't replace a full sized dedicated tool but packs a lot into a small package. Just my kind of multi-function tool.Check them out at this years NSSF SHOT show, on right now.

Find one on Amazon here: