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."

Friday, October 19, 2012

Pleaase Stop Lying.

The tragedy of stupidity. After weeks of lying and misleading the American public about Libya, treating all of us as if we are total idiots, the President finally explains it all, he says. And what is it but another lie! How magnanimous of him to stoop to our intellectual level. His words of wisdom did not come from the Oval Office, where he is so fond of pontificating, but from the stage of yet another comedy show. Somehow a comedy show doesn’t seem like the appropriate venue, but then maybe he was hoping to make it seem as hilarious as Joe Biden did in the VP debate. Well Mr. President no one I know is laughing. Here is an exact quote from the show.
 
The president: "Here's what I'll say: If four Americans get killed, it's not optimal. We're going to fix it. All of it," Obama said, according to pool reporters David Nakamura of the Washington Post and Mike Memoli of the Los Angeles Times.
 
Yes I suppose it was not “optimal” for your re-election campaign. Mr. President, exactly how are you going to “fix it"? Like you fixed the last month's press releases, like the video someone dredged up to give you a lame excuse? Like Susan Rice’s, Jay Carney’s, and Hillary Clinton’s lies and cover-ups? How are you going to “fix it” Mr. President for the parents, spouses, and loved ones of those murdered in Libya because some bureaucrat denied their requests for more security, and you were too busy campaigning to attend your intelligence meetings? Will some new furniture and a coat of fresh paint in the embassy erase your incompetence, will that  “fix it, all of it?” Perhaps since you cleared the heavens, raised the mountains, and lowered the oceans you really believe you can also raise the dead……..
 
My thoughts and condolences remain with those who lost loved ones in Benghazi and for our nation. This president is no "honest Abe."

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Affordable Fighting Knives?

Illustrated in this posting are some of my favorite, production model fighting knives. Most of them are out of production now but examples can be found on Ebay™and other sites. In their day they were not cheap knives either. Back when I bought them it was an extravagance to spend $175-250 on a production knife. Randalls were a lot cheaper back then but still topped the list of expensive fighting knives. Makers like Pacific Cutlery, Blackjack, REKAT, Cold Steel, Ek Knives, Gerber, just to name a few, were turning out very high quality knives. I liked the Pacific Cutlery Fer de’ lance so much that I own several of them. If I see one at a can’t-resist-price I buy it. Now I see one on Ebay with a used Randall sheath that the seller is asking $450 for. Holy Cow that’s a lot of money for one even taking inflation into account. Then last week a “Rare” inscribed WW-II Fairbairn Sykes sold on auction for well over $500. It pays to know what you’re bidding on. That knife was made in the 1970s or 80s, I cannot remember which. But in my memory of history that is a little post WW-II. How do I know that knife was not WW-II? Because I bought one brand new when they were first advertised in "Soldier of Fortune" magazine, which is also post WW-II. I paid $90 for mine and have since bought two more overruns without the blade etchings. Nope I did not even pay $500 for all three of mine. Maybe those bidders should have looked on my F~S web-site. But anyway, here are some nice knives for those who asked me to post an article on something“Affordable” from the recent past. By the way this is the early "Recon" tanto with bead blasted finish and different pommel. There is another later version called the Recon which is a fine knife too. I forgot to mention the Fer de' Lance is double edged in case you cannot tell from the photo.
  1. Blackjack Mamba
  2. Cold Steel Recon Tanto
  3. Pacific Cutlery Fer de' Lance
  4. Cold Steel R-1 (Randall look-alike)
  5. Gerber MK-II
  6. Ek Knife MK-2


 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

new post saturday

I'll have a new post up saturday about some mid-priced fighters that I have bough over the years and why I picked them. Here is a nice hand forged Larson "Bowie" with a Spanish flair to it.

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