2008 Starts out with a bang!

2008 starts out with a bang!

I was more than elated when Mark Davies nominated the Decker-Sandow Cobra as one of his favorite knives of 2007! http://www.tacticaledge.co.uk/instructional_articles.asp
This is terrific recognition from a man who knows what he is talking about. In addition we had some exciting accolades for the Rhythm of One from Mike Barnett, noted martial artist and designer of the Sabit knife.
What were my favorite Knives of 2007? I think I can narrow it down to maybe five knives. My choices are not in any order of preference. They are pictured in order; a Peter Parkinson damascus Fairbairn Sykes, James Coogler Dragon damascus karambit, Gary Braburn Hira Zukuri tanto, Mark Terrill Hangnail (plural) karambits, and the Mike Barnett designed, Coogler built Sabit. Wow what a load of great knives. This list doesn’t even include some very special Indonesian knives from Zola Octanoviar and three very nice Kukhri from Kukhri-House, Nepal.
The NEW news is that we are in the early stages of setting up a business. It will be established under the name White Shadow LLC. Most of the people mentioned above will be featured on our new website as providers of world class fighting knives. Through this business venture we plan to sell limited quantities of their knives on consignment, as well as our books. We are also set up to sell the products from CAS Hanwei including their complete line of arms and armor. Along with sales of products we will be offering our own knife defense seminars and perhaps hosting other instructors. One of my 2008 projects is to finalize the first MIK Modern Indonesian Knife and have it produced by Noviar and friends. It will be some variation of a Rencong. If you have any design you would like to see produced, contact me with your ideas and we’ll explore the possibilities of having it built by one of these fine knife makers.
We have sold more copies of the Rhythm of One in more countries around the world. People are reading this blog and saying "What you say makes sense." They want to read more and are buying our book. The many positive reviews of the Rhythm of One have convinced us it is worth dusting off and refreshing the book with better photos, a traditional binding, and pursuing a real publisher. We have sold over 60 copies, which is 59 more than I ever expected. I am reformatting it and re-editing it in preparation for the new photos. Gwynne has new software and will help put it all together. This is not going to happen instantly because of the number of photos we need to shoot. Our second book When Two Tigers Fight, is still progressing, slowly but steadily. Once I have finished the photos for this book I am going to have a massive knife sale to recoup some of my financial investment. Many of the knives that I bought to review are great knives but just not my cup of tea. So in the coming months watch for some good knives at good prices.
There will be blogs forthcoming on the testing of the Chisel tip F/S knives and also critiques of tactical folders, karambits, and my favorite choices. I expect to also have some blogs displaying the newly ordered karambits and other knives from Noviar. Noviar is forging ahead with his own enterprise, having built a belt grinder and adapted many of the suggestions that Gary Bradburn offered for improving the quality of the knives from Indonesia. Noviar has also been directly involved in the final polishing and prepping of the knives before they are shipped, making sure they are the best quality possible, always moving forward.
So 2008 promises to be an exciting year and we hope you will continue to follow our blog and support our new business, our favorite knife makers and friends.