Rorschach’s House O’ Spyders

Yup, only one new knife this year, and it was a gift!
My collecting has obviously slowed. Many reasons: economics, new/different interests, & saturation. I have SO many fine user pieces that its hard to justify new acquisitions.

But. Sometimes they get me.

Perrin PPT. Haven’t carried much but here is the quick review.

Pro:
+ Deeeeeeeep carry clip (excellent)
+ almost wharncliffe edge
+ unique grooved G10
+ nice paracord lanyard
+ S30V
+ interesting oversized choil
+ smooth action (nice work TW!)

Con:
- a bit heavy (this is a pro for many, but not me)
- clip cannot really be flipped for lefty carry despite claims)- there is no groove to seat the clip on the opposite side. This seems like an oversight.

So its a very nice piece from a legendary designer for a great price. Win. I will carry this more in the winter when it wont weigh down summer shorts

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Great 4th of July wishes to you all.
Be safe. Have fun. Love Freedom.

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Being a frequent traveler and a tragically early adopter of gadgets, I looked with interest to the iPad’s launch. The idea of taking a small, light, and fast device on business trips instead of my 3 year old heavy macbook pro was a no brainer.
I just completed my first iPad-only business trip, and I can honestly declare the iPad a success as a laptop replacement for me.

But I had another problem, my ECD briefcase is a large Tom Bihn affair (which I love) but is far to big for the iPad. So I had to look around for options on small bags for a device that did not have many tailor made solutions on the market yet.

Enter LeSportsac. Yes, that weird, “who shops there?”, effete, brand. I have been a closet Lesportsac fan for years for a few reasons that you might not guess looking at their current line:
1. their stuff is so lightweight that its almost invisible to the aggregate burden
2.its durable as hell (I have a shaving kit from them that is going on 20 years old. my only maintenance is to throw it in the washing machine from time to time)
3. most of the bags a guy would use come in basic black. (not all of their stuff is trippy paisley)

So without further ado, here is my chosen ECD iPad bag: the LeSportsac Small Utility Messenger

(first pic from ebags)

Its good, nice price, decent padding, lightweight, some pockets for extraneous stuff. wears well crossbody or off the shoulder. Here are some shots for relative size.

the only cons, I wish it had:
1. a pen loop somewhere
2. a handle at the top for the times when you do not want to use the long shoulder strap

But those are pretty minor.

So for now, this is my new iPad friendly minimalist briefcase.

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Sometimes you get smitten by an idea that almost delivers. I bought this last year and totally forgot about it until going through some photo archives.

Behold the CRKT Hissatsu folder. The original and variant Hissatsu fixed blades were great looking military-use blades. The thought of buying yet another nice looking fighter-fixed blade which I would never carry pushed me to look at the folding version. CRKT is a solid company which makes good stuff a reasonable prices.

This knife is no exception… dare I say its almost too solid! Check the width compared to my almost monogamous EDC the Caly3. I guess that’s the point, this knife is supposed to be all business. No time for fancy details.

I don’t own many assisted openers, and this is my first “large” knife with such technology. The spring bar is very tight and the opening action takes a lot of pressure on the thumb stud to get the blade in motion. In my opinion, too much. I tried some tactical deployments with this monster and its just too difficult to get consistent results for me. The thumb stud is a hair too far back on the spine to afford consistently solid purchase on a rapid opening.

Design wise, what we have here is a mismatch. Long elegant and skinny blade shape matched to a brutish boxy handle. If you go back and look at the fixed blade version, they are evocative of samurai short swords with textured grips, pommel, and even kindof a faux menuki area. The folder has some crude texturing to imply grain on the handle, but the poor clip and shape ruin the effect.

Edge wise, the knife is fine. The blade shape is appealing and it was taiwan-sharp out of the box. The black coating seems done well, but alas it will not get much use as the tight deployment would frustrate the heck out of me on a daily basis.

Recap:
pros:
+ beautiful blade shape
+ good price
+ extremely solid and heavy folder
+ kudos to CRKT for effort

cons:
- way too difficult to open
- thumb stud is back too far
- handle is chunky and uninspired
- LAWKS (can’t stand it)

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Here’s to a 2010 that finds you happy, healthy, and prosperous!

2009 ended with the solar atomic 6900 from my folks, a lovely G1000D from Mrs Rorschach, and a Spyderco Terzuola Slipit from, well, myself!

Haven’t carried the slipit enough yet to review it, but its a beauty.

Cheers!

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MIIW Riseman.
Not sure what happens as you get older. 10 years ago you could not have paid me to wear a white plastic watch. Sure I wore a black G Shock back then, but only as a casual watch.

I think one of the benefits of age-accreted wisdom is the ability to shrug off worrying about what people “think” of you and just be yourself. Or even someone else for a day. Guess how many times someone has commented on the fact that I was wearing a white watch? That would be zero.

(If GW-9200 had a compass in the same footprint it would be perfect)

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