Grayman Knife Ready to Go

Here is a quick shot of my new Grayman Knives Kordofan-8 cozily strapped on my Maxpedition 3 day go-bag. I decided to mount it on this bag because it was a perfect size match. I left my larger BKT -9 on my long range Eberlestock bag. I keep both bags ready to go so I can grab either one on very short notice.

Thanks again to Mike and Sue for a superb combat/tactical knife and great service

The Fowler Dismemberer

Dismember:

To tear apart or tear limb from limb, to divide into little pieces, that is the prime directive for a knife such as this one. Bladesmith Stephan Fowler custom built this incredible subhilt vivisector for another man. Due to the hard economic times the original owner decided to sell it to help fund his child’s college fees. Sadly there is a lot of this going on as people make personal sacrifices to hedge against the lingering recession. I was pleased to have the opportunity to purchase it and honored to now own it.

This is truly a monster of a knife. The forged blade has a prominent undulating hamon. The knife’s perfect proportions belie the fact that it has an 11.25 inch x 2 inch recurved blade for a total OAL of 16.5 inches! Yes this is indeed one big knife. A fine piece of gnarly stag (Elk I am guessing based on the size) graces the grip. The handle is slightly big for my hands, but I can learn to adjust to that. A steel buttcap matches the contours of the stag and it is fitted seamlessly. This knife’s point of balance falls precisely at the ricasso. High grind lines create a very sharp primary edge and the long unsharpened false edge improves the overall balance. The weight of this piece is similar to the Kukri and Barong in my collection. A friend of mine who is a knife-maker told me there is no such thing as a slow knife, only a slow knife-fighter. This knife may prove him wrong. To be fair, I have not had a chance to work with this knife yet. But I suspect it will not be as agile as some of my other “smaller” Bowies. I will withhold judgment on its maneuverability until I have had adequate time to work with it. In my opinion, subhilt knives tend to be less flexible in flow drills than a standard grip knife. In exchange you gain improved weapon retention. Giving this Fowler knife (and my right wrist) a workout is something I am looking forward to.

Stephan Fowler also made the high quality, hand tooled, leather sheath. The sheath features an innovative removable belt loop secured in place by snaps. This design feature provides you with the option of using either the belt loop, or a simple stud to retain the knife IWB style. All in all, it is a splendid fighting knife of the highest quality workmanship and materials. to Mr. Fowler’s credit, this is a grand fighting knife! The rifle is a Cooper Super Varmint rifle in .308 winchester with a bushnell 4200 elite 10x mildot Scope.

GRAYMAN KNIVES

OK I am going to try to get back to knives and self defense and away from the toxic wasteland of Washington DC. The politicians will do what ever they want and there’s no getting around it.

I bought a knife a few days ago from “Grayman Knives.” I'd heard about “Mike’s” work from several sources and I was curious to see some of his knives. I had also heard they were coarsely ground and sort of rough and tumble looking. My sources did say his knives were well priced and nearly indestructible. The model I ordered is the Kordofan 8. A bolo style knife, it has a nicely recurved 8 inch blade. It arrived in very short time fitted in a desert tan molle sheath. The sheath will work well on my go-bag (where I expect it will become a permanent fixture) and the knife is certainly the type you’d want along on a trek or combat mission. At the same time I ordered one of Mike’s very cool “Death to Al Qaeda” T- shirts.

To Quote Mike: :I realized that I wanted my knives to be able to function well for prying chores, and to be tough enough for chopping, batoning etc., as well as being able to readily take and hold a keen edge. After experimenting with several types of high end stainless steels, I realized that I prefer high carbon steels for their toughness, shock resistance, and overall performance characteristics."

The knife I received is nicely ground with an apple seed edge and without any obvious grind marks. A smooth black coating covers the ¼ inch thick 1095 carbon steel full tang blade. A non-serrated thumb ramp indexes one’s hand just right. On my knife I ordered the green micarta scales. They are about 3/16 inch thick and attached with six of the small countersunk screws that are commonly found on today’s knives. All of the edges of the scales are properly radiused and the handle design includes a single index finger groove to help lock in your grip. The Kordofan 8 balances nicely, about one finger’s width ahead of the handle scales. Typical of a bolo or a kukri its weight is tip-forward making it an excellent chopper and the finger groove provides blade control and knife retention. I was expecting a nasty looking knife and I got one that is pleasantly well made, nicely finished and superbly designed. All for under $300, that folks is not a bad deal! Grayman offers electric engraving on the tang up to 13 characters for free. Its not US Mint grade engraving but what do you expect for free on a combat knife? I went with his “Death to Al Qaeda” slogan. That will date the knife for generations to come and this knife will still be functional generations from now. That is what Grayman Knives is all about, weapons grade knives at an affordable price. Knives that you can depend on to get you out of tough situations. I am in line right now for one of Mike’s Monkton Church Keys and I’m seriously looking at a Darfur Defender. Check out his website. There is some very interesting reading and lots of neat knives to look over. Thanks Mike and Sue for the knife and T-shirt. http://www.graymanknives.com/

Hope and Change?

Remember these clouds from a previous post?

I awoke this morning with a discomforting thought burning in my head. Vietnam: but why Vietnam, why now?

Forty two years ago I was serving in Vietnam. I had to use my calculator to be sure it was really that long ago. Sometimes it seems like only yesterday. Forty six years ago I had all sorts of dreams and hopes. Sounds vaguely like a campaign slogan doesn’t it! But our government had bigger ideas for me than going off to college to study art. Better ideas for all of my high school chums. There was a nice little war going on in South East Asia and we were all invited. Well not exactly invited, our presence was commanded. I was 19 years old and the only control I had left over MY life was to choose whether to wait for the draft to send me to war or volunteer to go to war and kill people who had never harmed me or anyone else in the USA. Well actually there were two other choices. I could desert to Canada, disgraced and never to return, or I could go to prison. Oh if I had been wealthy or connected I could have bought my way out of the draft like some of our illustrious politicians or patricians.

Flash forward forty two years and I realize with blunt force trauma the irreconcilable wrongness of the Vietnam mandate and the one we are about to face in the coming weeks. We are being threatened with buying government mandated health insurance or imprisonment? Will we bow to this as business as usual? People this is not about health care, it is much more important than health care! What will come next? Buy a GM (Government Motors) car or go to prison? Work in a government mandated job, at a mandated wage? Will you be subjected to obligatory volunteerism, or face prison? After four years of my life were stolen by my government I vowed I would never permit anyone to exercise that much control over my life again. Never! What our nation is facing is a lifetime of mandates, life controlling, life killing, government mandates. I wonder where the other thousands of disassociated Vets stand on this issue? I love this country but people WAKE UP! Wake up now or wake up in chains! This is the ugly truth of the hope and change we were promised. This is the Obama legacy.

There You Are

So there you are, standing 15 feet away from the security of your car, or your front door. Maybe you just turned around and your back is to the night deposit box or your ATM. There is only one problem, the greasy looking punk with a knife who is only five feet away, and he is blocking your path! You’re not too worried, you’ve learned at least a dozen self-defense techniques dealing with similar situations. The one thing you’ve noticed, besides his knife, is that the guy is about 4 inches taller than you are. Still, you worked with taller guys in the dojo and you didn’t have any problems. Then why does this one observation unsettle you?

The most important question you haven’t asked yourself, and it might make a big difference, “Is he just a punk with a knife, or is he a killer?” What was it sensei said to do if he held his knife thus and so? Did this mean the attacker will use this angle, or that angle? This sure looks like a classic self-defense number 26a. Well it did until he shifted his knife to reverse grip. Now what?

You’re thinking odds are that he is not as skilled as you are. But he may have killed! He may have killed in the “hood” or in prison. Savagery and brutality are the only techniques he knows. His knife may be a garden-variety kitchen knife, not a $450 custom folder, but it suits his needs. Now your hands begin sweating as you remember the dozen attempts it took you to wrench the training knife out of Jack’s hands, yeh Jack the tall guy in class. Sensei said it was OK, just keep practicing and eventually you’d get the technique right. Maybe self-defense number 26a is not going to get you home safe tonight. Maybe short guys require a change to the technique. Too many maybes and not enough time to think. Too many set techniques and not enough conceptual understanding. Shit I don’t think this is going to end well.

What difference does a few inches in height make? It can be a critical difference. Our first book The Rhythm of One is available again and our second book is slowly coming to completion. In them we offer some edged weapons concepts not addressed by most modern authors, drawing from the wisdom of our teachers and masters from all ages. You are welcome to email me with any questions posed by our blogs or our book at: ghdave2@hotmail.com