KNIFE COACH SEGMENT 1

                           This guy is one cool cat and seems to know knife fighting. Ol' Bill Bagwell recommends him and his company ComTech for knife training. Watch him, he's quick, smooth and has the moves of a dancer. Pay attention now.

Bill Bagwell: The Deadly Back Cut with a Bowie Knife. Clipped Point Lead...

                                                                                                                                                Bill Bagwell shows what it looks like coming at you.

The King of Bowie Knives

Bill Bagwell has been making Bowie knives for well over 35 years. He knows a thing or two about them and even used to teach classes on fighting with a Bowie. He has written a book about bowies and other big blades which I have ordered. His creations are highly prized by those who can afford them, me, I'll have to settle for Cold Steel products.

Sharp Stuff

I have always liked my knives to be sharp. Very sharp. I started collecting knives when I was a young boy and have most of them today. I usually found the factory edged to be lacking. So, I explored the art of sharpening knives. A common whetstone was my first tool for this. It was my fathers and using it I learned to get my knives shaving sharp. My dad gave me my first quality sharpening device, a Case Moon Stone. It's a slab of white fine grade ceramic that Case marketed back in the 70' and 80's. These are nearly impossible to find anymore.  Even on EBay.

 I kept using Arkansas whetstones for all my sharpening needs and found them quite satisfactory. After I got married, had a decent job and had a family started I invested in a triple stone oil bath stone set that I acquired at a gun show. It is in a plastic case that acts as the oil reservoir and has course, medium and fines stones. I have used it for over 20 years and is just now needing the stones turned over.

Then I discovered the Lansky sharpening system. WOW! I was astonished at the ease in which I could get a polished razor sharp edge in no time. I do need to replace some of the softer stones but the two final stones, ceramics, are as good as the first day I got the set. I gave sets to two of my friends and they love them.

Those items fill my every day sharpening needs. Until I started getting big knives. The Lansky does not work good for big blades and I have grown to depend on that one for most sharpening and lesser on the traditional stones.

 Now with big blades to sharpen I am returning to traditional stones. I am using the 3 stone with success and have ordered some others as well.
 I found this Case hard Arkansas at Smokey Mountain Knife Works. It's a tiny little thing but puts a really fine edge on my standard size pocket knives.

 

 

I also got from them these, a Washita  stone and a hard black Arkansas stone. The black one really did a job on a couple of my pocket knives.

 

 

This brings us to my latest system. In my tiny house I have lost my Chefs electric knife sharpener. Can't find it anywhere. So I looked around and had a system in mind (the EdgePro) and found it to be very expensive. Then I found someone who thought so too. They took that idea little further a created an alternative. The Gizmo sharpening system. It uses stones in a  similar manner to the Lansky but they are Japanese water stones but the whole system and process is different. And this device does get a knife extremely sharp if you follow the directions. (link to come)

 

 

 

I also ordered an India stone based on a Bill Bagwell video I watched that covered sharpening big bowies. I can't find the black India stone that bill and one of my grandfathers favored. This is what I found. And it seems to work pretty good on my Cold Steel Natchez bowie along with a leather strop

If you own a cutting tool of any sort you need to be able to sharpen it. Get a stone and try it. You'll be glad you did as a sharp knife is far superior to a dull one.

'Tis The Season For "Shrooms

This time of year is very special to me and many others. The spring temperatures, sunshine and rain bring forth a bounty of wild goodness in the form of morel mushrooms. Elusive, delicious, valuable, they can be hard to find or incredibly easy to find.
This year with the on again off again entrance of spring and the reluctance of winter to leave has made for a challenging mushroom season in this area. Yesterday though, our efforts paid off. I called a friend of mine and he along with his wife joined me in a mushroom safari. We climbed down a cliff in the woods to find a spread of the yellow variety of morels. Further searching in all the "right" placed yielded naught. Lots of walking, creeping, looking and searching gave nothing more. We scaled the cliff and regrouped back at the trucks to venture forth to the next site. this one is a tiny Conservation Department holding of 24 acres that has given up its goodness in the past for me. Yesterday was no different except for the places the morels were found. We claimed our treasures and sped to the next two sites which gave us nothing but disappointment. In the end we accumulated over 80 of these tiny woodland treasures.
Worn out, aching, no, HURTING, I returned to my distant home and sliced the morels and placed them in a salt water bath in the refrigerator.
   After waiting as long as I could, late this morning  I enjoyed a mycological treat. Morel Mushrooms dipped in an egg and milk wash, rolled in seasoned corn meal and fried in butter. Oh My God! Revered along with an icy glass of sweet tea, my spirits were lifted and all was right in my world. I spent may hours with close friends, found these wild rewards and enjoyed the fruits of our labors. What could be better?
For this batch I use McCormick's Perfect Pinch Cajun seasoning, similar to season salt but with a slight bite to it. Man what a treat!  Here's a before and after.

                                              Soaking

 

 

 

Ready to eat.

Of course, while watching the thunderstorm I overcooked the first ones. But ya know what? They were GREAT!

Tits on a Vine

It's a good thing we didn't raise these when I was a young 'un. They would have kept me humpin' for hours! Vietnamese pumpkins, who'da thunk!

Saturday Fluff

Take this bitches...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, Harry!

Fuck you too asshole.

Belle has arrived

A  few days ago I allude to a shipment I was waiting on. I gave a few clues and got no takers. So, introducing, Belle, a Cold Steel Natchez Bowie. This is the model with the SK-5 steel composition which is a high carbon steel. Over 17 inches in length and very heavy it is balanced and feels light in your hand. In your hand it feel like a monster though, long, huge and dangerous looking. This massive blade not only has a wicked harp edge it has a sharpened clip edge for delivering those back slashes. My only complaint is the sheath. The SK-5 model is shipped with what Cold Steel calls secure-x and I call plastic. It allows the blade to rattle in the sheath and causes rub marks on the blade. If your get the San Mai 3 VG1 blade which is a laminated steel, you get a really nice leather scabbard with a brass knob to secure it in place when thrust through your belt or sash. No belt loop is include. I will be looking for one of those sheaths or designing one of my own. So without any more rambling, I present Belle.

Hustle, the American Way

I just watched the movie, "American Hustle". While the movie was about the Abscam investigation of the 70's, for me though, it was about the new side of Amy Adams. She usually plays a good girl next door kinda character but not in this one. She was letting those tiny titties shine and struttin' her stuff, I wonder how she kept from having many nip slips. Fuck, it's like I opened a package of vanilla cookies with cherry frosting, and now I can't get enough!

Impending Arrival

I'm all excited, my hearts aflutter, I ordered something last night and can barely contain my excitement. Here's a hint...it's steel and it's cold. Hmmmm. You might say it has a sharp wit about it. If you look around  you might be able to Trace it down. That's all until it's arrival.

It's What's For Supper

Beef that is. Roast beef with potatoes and carrots all swimming a thick dark sauce redolent with garlic and onion and the bite of black pepper juxtapose against the creaminess of the taters and the sweetness of the carrots. Damn!

A Little Too Wide

Coming home the other day I got behind this guy. I like trucks and full size SUV's that are lowered and rolling on wide rims. BUT, if you're going to go with wide rims get a set of tire that friggin' fit. Stretching narrow tires out to for the wide rims looks real white trash, dark ghetto and piss poor.

Grandads Knife

Here is my latest project, my Grandpa Carder's Old Timer pocket knife. He carried this little stockman for many years. Unfortunately, he didn't take care of this tool. When I got it from my father it was rusted, corroded, it had no snap and was hard to open. Now, it's quite a bit better. The rust is gone, corrosion is under control and the snap is back. Now comes the tedious work, polishing the pits on the blades away.
   The nickel silver has come out good and the scales are in nice shape too. I have the back springs and brass liners cleaned up and polished. When done it will look like no other Old Timer, with high polished blades and fittings.

The snap took a while to achieve due to the rust and crud in the pivots and between the springs. A lot of oil and elbow grease managed to take care of this issue. It's starting to look pretty good, considering what is was a week a go. So Stephen, I know you have a thing for Old Timers, what do ya think about this little guy?

New Additions

Just repaired and cleaned. A Case and a Kutmaster. New additions to the fleet.

As always click to embiggen, and if you are interested in pocket knives, I suggest checking out this forum. www.allaboutpocketknives.com they have several forums, stores, and general knife discussions. My stepfather likes www.britishblades.com I feel sorry for those Limey bastards though what with all the harsh knife laws our former masters have thrust upon the good folks of Great Britain or what passes for that island nation now.

Justice On the Way

In a previous post I had mentioned that my step-fathers brother was murdered a few nights ago. Thanks to some folks on his street and hard work by the detectives, the cops already have four fuckers in custody, one of them sporting a gunshot wound to the arm and breast. Yes, at least one of his murderers is a woman. All of them are from Wyandotte County Kansas if that tells you anything. Unfortunately his actual shooter is still on the loose, hiding in under a rock somewhere. Well at least the old guy got off a round before they did him in. Go out fighting!

A Little FJ40 If You Please

I went to the lab the other day to let some vampires take my blood and what did I spy in the parking lot? Huh? A way cool Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. It was lifted, winched, detailed, painted and looking good. This would be a most excellent daily driver or a get out of dodge vehicle. What do you think?

My Neighborhood Or the Death of Life

I live in the east Bottoms of Kansas City Missouri. It's a heavily commercialized area with a small residential area tucked in to the fringes. This locale has been here for over 100 years and used to be a thriving immigrant community with stores, beer halls, schools and huge fields of market vegetables that were sold locally. Now however, there is one convenience store, no schools, one beer halls/music venue, one dinner and no farms.

What we have is low income folks trying to survive. In addition we have scumbags that seem to come from Kansas City's East side, homeless vagrants that live along the river and assorted low life individuals that will not pass up a chance to steal. Two night ago I came home to find 2 cop cars, one paddy wagon, an ambulance and a fire truck parked in front of my residence. A man had caused a disturbance in the convenience store two doors up from me and the cops arrested him for stealing. Then last night I passed by one business and there were cops and security guards all over the place. As I turned the corner into my alley I saw 2 more cop cars, an ambulance and a fire truck going down a street 2 blocks away. On the street my step fathers brother lives on. I found out this morning that his brothers house was were all those vehicle were going because, my step fathers brother was murdered last night. He was a nice man with a gruff personality who had dealt with low lifes in his business. It was an all cash business too. Yet, no cash was taken. No apparent reason for this heinous act as of yet. My heart cries for my step dad and my mom. This will be a very trying time for them.

To Low and Too High

I woke up this morning to -7 degrees. Negative Seven! No telling what the windchill might have been. We are up to a balmy -2 now. In the last 3 months I have spent over a grand on the electric bill. Yes, you read that right a fucking grand. On an 1100 hundred dollar a month budget.  Hamburger around here is over 3 dollars a pound but I can get nice pork chops for lest than 2.70 per pound and a bag of chicken tenders for 7 dollars. So, when I eat meat it's chicken or pork. I mean a freaking chuck roast is right around 25 dollars now. So no more Sunday roasts. Any way you can't go wrong with pork and chicken. I just made a badass spicy fried chicken sandwich. Mmm, mmm good. I never thought that hamburger would cost more that pork chops. But hey, I'm forcing myself to eat 'em. Uh Huh, forcing myself. Well I gotta go make some more money for the damn electric bill. I have to do something before next winter to reduce the electric bill. Insulation, or a coal stove or something 'cause this is crazy. Or move to Florida. Or Georgia. Or back to Texas. Some damn thing.

Soup and Muffins

We have been having weather that held the promise of spring for the last week or so and now it seems that winter is leaving like a lion. Today the temps are in the teens for the high and there is a light snow falling. 4 to 8 inches is forecast for Sunday and the windchill is horrible. So with the chill in my bones this morning and a hunger in my belly I made a pot of vegetable stew for my evening meal. Ever so tasty, filling and cheering of the spirit. While it was bubbling away I mixed up some blueberry muffins, nothin' special, just a Martha White mix, they came out very nice. Golden and crusty with a multitude of tiny blueberries. I washed all that down with a glass of cranberry juice.

Entertainment on this frosty evening includes another reading of the book,  "Lights Out". Good food and a good book. Now I just need a good woman to share evenings like this with. And I'm working on that issue too. A nice looking woman from my local grocery store is still a work in progress. I did have a nice conversation with her last night at the store and that headed us in the right direction. I gotta say, she is fine looking and seems to be very nice too.

I know I need to do some house work.