The White Shadow Dojo is a Martial Arts school run by Gwynne and David in western New York. This blog features information on our book "The Rhythm of One", our class offerings, a calendar of events, an edged weapons forum, articles on knife design, and a community space for the research and dissemination of Martial Arts. "Sometimes irreverant, often opinionated, always brutally honest."

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Where in God's Mercy or Man's Insanity is this Okay?

Just when I thought life could not get any more hideous or cruel, having seen ISIS burning men alive, cutting throats, drownings and beheadings, cutting little children asunder, raping women and small girls: we have Planned Parenthood. What a nice, wholesome sounding name, not like ISIS. I cannot imagine anything more macabre than aborting living fetuses and cutting off pieces for sale to the highest bidder. I do not want to even think of how this could be topped by the liberal progressives but wait... they will find a way. 

Anyone with a shred of humanity would cry out to stop it. BUT. The leftist newspapers defend it, the DOJ is going to prosecute the people who blew the whistle on it, and the president vows to veto any legislation that might defund Planned Parenthood. It makes me want to vomit. How low the great have fallen. Nero is his greatest debauchery, Caligula in his most outrageous fits of insanity could not out-do Planned Parenthood.
 

What do People Want?

What do most people want? To be left alone, to lead their lives unimpeded by nosey bureaucrats and threatening tyrants.  If you scratch the surface of a "patriot," what do you find underneath? A person who just wants to be left alone. "But we cannot have that says the government. If the people are not ruled and regulated surely they will go astray. Therefore we must tax the shit out of them and use that money to control their lives. If we leave them too much of their hard earned income they might squander it so we will take more for their own good. We have hundreds of thousands of laws on the books and even more regulations but they are still not doing what we want. They are still following their own destinies and that must stop, for the greater good, IT MUST STOP!"

The people on Ruby Ridge, the people in Waco Texas, all they wanted was to be left alone. "BUT how do we know what they are doing," worries the government. They might be fomenting rebellion, they might be cooking up mischief, or maybe just trying to live their own lives. What drives some people to demand total subjugation of the people who elected them? What insanity eats away at the minds of politicians who cannot get enough power, enough control? What moral vacuity within the body politic has scrubbed their useless bodies free of heart and soul.

I have been warned that my posts paint a target on my back. I've been told the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. A very long time ago, back when I was a teenager, I was told that the truth would set you free. Was that a lie? Are we destined as a "FREE" people to hide from our oppressors? Are we supposed to turn our heads when the domestic terrorists are the ones who threaten us daily with new laws, new regulations, burden us with new taxes, lie to us to get elected, send our young men off to die in frivolous wars, send thousands of us to prison (sometimes on trumped up charges), who make bad deals with BAD people and true terrorists, who break the very laws they write and live outside of the cages they build for us? Will the truth really set you free or send you to prison? Here is an iconic image of the patriots at Bundy Ranch doing what was right, protecting another man's rights, and praying to their God for guidance and protection. May God Bless them and their like all across this great nation!


Friday, July 17, 2015

As a Teenager I remember Nuclear ICBMs

A Sponsor of World-Wide Terror. The country that aimed Nuclear Missiles at our shores, whose people hi-jacked our airplanes. Another win for the Communist in Chief.
Cuban flag to hang in State Department lobby as embassies reopen
But no Confederate Flags will fly!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

New Ek

I was excited to hear the new Ek Knife was available from KaBar, Olean, NY. That was good news indeed. I saw a photo of the knife on a forum and immediately put in my order. The website is a little funky but I finally figured out how to place my order and the price was very reasonable. Since I only live a few hours drive from Olean it did not take long for my new knife to arrive. Unfortunately they did not use (or maybe did not have rights to) the old style box and logos like my last Ek Knives came in. Robert Buerlein, owner of the previous Ek Knife co, was a stickler for tradition and did things with a certain grace. But what the heck it’s just a box. I really like the knife. The handle is textured such that it should offer a good grip under any condition. While I have not compared it to my other Eks it feels longer and is nicely sculpted with the hollows Ek knives are famous for. The handle slabs are affixed with typical bolts like have been used for the last 30 plus years. The knife is of course of full tang construction and of a thickness more commensurate with WW-II knives than the Vietnam era and later knives. One of my favorite parts is the return to a more traditional WW-II style and thickness guard. The guard is nicely “S” shaped and very correct looking. I do not like the new logo at all! It is too small and indistinct. I should like to see something bolder. As much as I like the knife I hate the sheath! I own over 400 fighting knives of all styles and it boggles my mind that someone in the cutlery industry could not find a good combat sheath to copy that would be better than the contraption that came with this knife. At the very least they could have riveted and sewn together a traditional leather sheath with retention strap and forgone this lunatic setup. My knife did not ship fitted in the sheath but in a cardboard slip. I wonder if they ever tried fitting the knives in this unfriendly piece of plastic masquerading as a sheath? I already wrote them and suggested they at least offer the buyer a choice of a more traditional (insert “useable” here) sheath. I received a return email from a friendly lady in Customer Service but I doubt it will go any further than that. Another suggestion I offered was for KaBar to offer a reproduction of the original Ek Manual. That is the sort of class thing that Robert Buerlein and the folks back in Richmond, VA did. I highly recommend the knife with the caveat you better prepare to make, or have made, a replacement sheath. Seriously guys, I know KaBar can do better.

 

Monday, July 13, 2015

Kate Steinle

President Barack Obama Mayor Edwin M. Lee

White Lives Count! American Citizens lives count! Do your job. Stop the madness of Sanctuary Cities. Close the Borders, Deport the Criminals! 

Saturday, July 04, 2015

Indian Fairbairn Sykes

Happy July 4th. I received a new reproduction F-S fighting knife July 3rd all the way from India. I have been finding more knives from India lately, it is really odd. Anyway some of them are WW-II and this one is a nice reproduction of that genre. The surprising thing is it is all steel including the finely knurled handle and heavy weight guard. I have always liked the shape of the flared pommel on the Indian knives. The knife is very well made and comes unsharpened. Overall length is a foot with a full seven inch blade. The knife is a little bigger than most British Second Patterns but still well balanced and graceful. The sheath is about the same quality as those made in England today, which is to say a little thin. The only thing I see that needs work is the F-S etching. It is too small and a little crooked on mine. Otherwise the knife is well worth the asking price especially if you cannot find a WW-II Indian F-S for your collection. Check on ebay under the name Antiqueweaponary. Yes that is the spelling. Good luck.


 

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