Matt Lamey Bootlegger

Sometimes you don’t know how a knife will feel until you’ve actually handled it. This ten inch bladed fighter by Matt Lamey is another example of his phenomenal knives. I hesitated to buy it at first because of the broad shaped handle. My first thought was it looked like a moose palm (section of antler), sometimes used to make knife handles. The handle resembles those on Ed Fowler’s knives, whose work people tell me is very ergonomic, but which I personally don’t like the looks of. Trusting in Matt to not build a knife which did not work, I bought this knife that he calls his “Bootlegger”. In cross-section the handle is quite thin, made of black Micarta©. It has just enough palm swell to make it fill the hand. Usually a fighting knife is manipulated primarily between the thumb, forefinger, and second finger. This knife works more like a Japanese sword with the grip of the last two fingers being emphasized more. However you look at it, it works.

The blade has a working finish created by polishing on a Scotch-Bright belt. There is a broad, fairly plain, hamon lurking under the coarse surface. Typical of a Lamey Fighter, or Bowie, the primary edge is hair shaving sharp and the long clip is nearly as sharp. A forward-swept double-guard made of 410 stainless provides good protection and a comfortable fit for the thumb. The shape is also very aesthetically pleasing. Matt’s guards are always perfectly fitted and nicely sculpted. The ricasso is also well formed and properly sized. His name, deeply stamped in script, makes a bold statement and adds a distinctive touch of class to his knives.

The sheath is plain Jane, just the way Matt knows I like them. Quality, not flash, is what I want in a sheath. Perfectly fitted to the blade and guard, with heavy leather, burnished edges, and neat stitching, what more do you really need in a sheath? Yes I am glad I bought this Bootlegger model to be a part of my Lamey collection. Keep watching here for my custom ordered “Big” Bowie from Matt with a 12 inch blade. Yes I am still waiting and he has kept me in nervous anticipation since I have not seen any photos since the first rough forging of the blade (top knife in the photo of two blades). The suspense is nearly killing me.

Day Two

All normal, sane, and caring people are praying for Congresswoman Giffords and the others touched by this tragedy. But the Witch Hunt has already started. The media declared her dead and then not dead, two shooters, not two shooters, maybe a person in the crowd returning fire, or not. The story is more important than the truth!

Before the gunsmoke even cleared the shooter was described by main stream media as: rightwing, teabagger, afghanistan war veteran. He was labeled as a "possible" member of the Patriot Movement, The American Rennaisance, and an advocate of Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto. People in line for blame are Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck (of course) Glock and hi-capacity mags. Semi-auto pistols and concealed carry laws. Lets get a rope and lynch them all!

Congress has stopped their work, not out of respect to the dead but out of concerns about their own safety, like this was an epidemic spread by hate mongering conservatives. I must be deficient. I have never read the communist manifesto or mein kampf. I fail to see how these writings are in anyway aligned with patriotism or the tennets of the conservative party. But I am sure some will find a way to further poison the already toxic state of divisive politics and, in the words of Rahm Emanuel, not let a good crisis go to waste. Let us focus back on the pain and suffering of the wounded and the survivors and wait for the truth to reveal itself.

2011

Looks like my New Years wish is not going so well. Please offer prayers for Congresswoman Gifford and all of the others wounded in the senseless shooting in Tuscon, AZ. Pray too for the souls of those killed and the very soul of our ailing nation.