Special Circumstances

Backup Iron Sights - Are They Necessary?

2012-01-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

One of the up-and-coming firearms blogs on the web today is Vuurwapen Blog. A generally quite down-to-earth and very thorough site run by Andrew Tuohy, a former Navy Corpsman.
Tuohy is a very exacting person in general and very detail oriented, which shows up in his product reviews and, while I don't always agree with his conclusions, he generally has some very valid points.
However, never have I disagreed with him as vehemently as I do when it comes to his stance on backup iron sights (BUIS) for a fighting rifle, in this case, the AR-15 platform.
I'm going to qualify this with my stance that any rifle that you own should be a fighting rifle, with the possible exception of classical hunting weapons like, say, a break-action shotgun or a double rifle.

First, here's the video that Mr. Tuohy posted recently to his Youtube channel:

A few points to address here.
While 9 times out of 10, a rifle optic may function just fine, the problems start the second that it doesn't function and you're suddenly having to deal with having no effective sighting method. Whether this happens during a mission in Afghanistan or in your house in the middle of the night is somewhat irrelevant. All that matters at that point is whether you have an effective capability to neutralize the current threat.
Mr. Tuohy's argument is that he has never had a problem with his optics, thus it's just not very likely to ever be a problem. Rather anecdotal in this case, but sure. Everybody has an opinion and I am no exception. Mr. Tuohy also argues that any damage to the optic severe enough to disable it would destroy any iron sights mounted to the weapon. What information he bases this assertion on is entirely beyond my ken.
But rather than opinion, let's look at the facts.
1: The more complex a system, the more points of potential failure are introduced. A rifle optic, even if it does not rely on batteries, is more complex than a set of iron sights.
2: Using iron sights properly, with speed and efficacy, requires training with iron sights. This is a known issue, to the point where most U.S. Army combat arms will not even issue the optic until after recruits have been trained to fire their weapon with the iron sights.
3: An optic can be rendered unusable in numerous ways, only a few of which would necessarily involve the destruction of the iron sights as well.
4: A fighting rifle without an effective means of directing accurate fire is at best a close-quarters weapon and at worst a club.

The first two I really don't feel that I should have to argue for at all. They are things that should be self-evident to anyone with even a little experience around weapons.
The third point, I am however going to go into more detail with as it responds directly to Mr. Tuohy's assertion.
In the first 15 minutes of tooling around the web, I found several images of rifle optics that had been rendered unusable by enemy fire. None of these involved damage extensive enough to also render any iron sights inoperable.
(Note that I am not claiming any rights to any of the following pictures and that all rights belong to the copyrights holders.)

Those examples above are just the few a quick google search could find. Note that in none of those examples is the damage extensive enough to also destroy the iron sights. I would be willing to bet good money that there are a plethora of other incidents that never hit the web. And it's not only enemy fire that can incapacitate an optic. A simple, unfortunate drop could do it, and even something as ubiquitous as mud can make an optic temporarily useless. If you really need it, are you going to have time to stop and try to clean the lenses before getting shot because you weren't able to return effective fire? What if your battery dies? Or the seal goes and the lenses fog up? Or the battery contacts break because of recoil, which is a known issue on certain Eotech models. What will you do then?

Which brings me to the fourth point.

An approach that is being advocated in some circles, is that if your optic goes down in a non-catastrophic manner, say, a battery malfunction, you could then use the optic as a kind of giant ghost ring sight. While I agree that this is possible, it makes for an incredibly coarse sighting method and past only a short distance, it becomes largely useless. These days, it has become common by many Tier 1 guys to have their optics mounted on quick-release mounts, so that in the event of a failure - be it catastrophic or not - the optic can be quickly dumped off the weapon, BUIS flipped up and the fight resumed, with a minimum of down time.

Of course, a possible argument is that all these possible failure modes and the multitude of others that exist, are quite rare. And to some extent, this is true. But, if we were to take that approach to these things, then why take precautions like spare tires, seat belts, fire extinguishers in our homes, smoke detectors, staircase railings, etc etc etc. Accidents that could be averted with those are relatively rare as well, at least on an individual basis. I have, in my 35 years, never had either a house fire or a car accident. Does it then make sense for me to not have a fire extinguisher or to not use a seatbelt?

I don't think so, but that's just my opinion.

Lastly, Mr. Tuohy brings up the point of cost, which in these lean times is probably on everyone's minds. A good set of iron sights do not have to cost a couple of hundred dollars. And I will argue until the day that I die, that if the choice falls between buying a whizbang optic for several hundred dollars or more, or spending about a hundred dollars on a decent set of irons and the remainder on ammo, the latter option will by far be the most productive choice, as even if you spend the same amount of money, the extra ammo you can buy will let you train more and thus become more proficient with your weapon. The best optic in the world isn't going to make you a better shot. More training will. This is not advanced arithmetic. Learn to use the irons on your rifle. When you're a fantastic shot with irons or you just happen to have an extra 600-1500 dollars laying around for an optic and more ammo than grass, sure, buy an optic. But know how to use your irons first! It will serve you far better in the long run.

Review - Belleville Tactical Research Kiowa Boot

2011-12-10T10:59:00.001-07:00

(This product provided by the manufacturer)

Today we're going to depart a little from my usual review fare and actually take a look at a more traditional military/tactical type boot.

Belleville Shoe Manufacturing Company has been in the military boot industry ever since World War I. They are one of the main suppliers to the US military and in my experience makes a very decent boot. I wore their boots in Basic and really couldn't complain too much.
But the issue boots are to some extent the bottom of the barrel. They have a remarkably wide selection of boot types and models, so you're almost guaranteed to be able to find something that fits your needs.
A few years back, Belleville launched their Tactical Research line, as a way of bringing more cutting edge technology into an affordable price range and to explore features that wouldn't necessarily fit in with the more traditional military-type boots. The results were, initially, two models: the Kiowa and the Paladin.
We're going to look at the Kiowa today, as you may have guessed from the title.

The Kiowa is part of a new breed of military boots, boots that are lighter, more flexible and more agile than military boots have traditionally been. The first example of applying these principles would probably be the Adidas GSG-9 boot. Since then there's been many others, but the Kiowa does a few things differently and these differences were what initially prompted my interest in the boot.

Before we get into all that though, we'll stick to form and show you the manufacturer specifications.

Sleek, low profile outsole for improved feel and mobility
Multi-directional lug design for uneven terrain
“Over-lasted” EVA midsole for shock attenuation
Stabilizer strap for heel and ankle
TR-1 High Performance Insole
Height-8" (Standard Military Height)
Army Uniform Policy Compliant
Desert Tan

Clicking the link will take you to a PDF about the insole of the Kiowa. It's worth the look, so give it a click. With my inclinations with footwear, I did not use the insole, but it is one of the highest quality OEM insoles that I've ever seen. It is, in my opinion, fully on par with the quality of other after-market insoles like Spenco, Superfeet and Sole. In my opinion, most people will be very happy with this insole and will find no need to add an after-market insole at a considerable extra cost.

The Kiowa is a very low-profile boot. The sole design puts you deliberately lower to the ground, which vastly improves your stability and balance in rough terrain. It is not a minimalist boot in the same sense as the Fivefingers or Merrell Gloves, but compared to many other military-type boots, it is a significant difference.
Where most boots are 1.75 and 2 inches at the heel, the Kiowas are only 1.5 inches with a 1 inch thick forefoot. According to Belleville, the Kiowa lowers the wearer roughly .5 inch compared to other boots, which really does improve proprioception significantly. It may not sound like much, but until you've tried it, you simply can't know how much of a difference it makes. This low-to-the-ground aspect of the design makes it very difficult to roll an ankle as well. Especially in combination with the excellent ankle-support that is built in to the design.

The look of the Kiowa is reminiscent of a running/hiking shoe with a high-top. The collar and tongue is well-padded and comfortable. The toe box is also quite roomy, and with the snug fit through the arch area, the boot is very comfortable.

The sole is extremely similar to a Vibram sole pattern that I've seen used on several Merrell lightweight hikers. I am not sure if it is indeed a Vibram sole, but it looks and feels like the real deal. It also wears extremely well.

The sole wraps up and around the entire lower portion of the boot.

The Tactical Research logo is embossed into the shaft of the Kiowa. It is high enough to where this logo would be hidden by your pants when worn. Stitching and finishing is very clean and impeccable throughout the boot.

This is a fantastic little detail that I found. The lace eyelets are all reinforced with metal, but the metal is completely covered and is not visible at all from the outside of the boot. This completely negates any concern about reflection or noise from a piece of exposed, un-coated or abraded metal hardware. As it also contributes to the longevity and durability of the lacing system, this is really a win-win as far as I am concerned.

The toecap is ridged to provide extra grip when climbing rocks or walls, or even traversing steep terrain in general.

The ridges are duplicated on the heel cap, which also helps protect this area from wear.

The lining is smooth and very comfortable. Overall, the boot breathes excellently and I've had no issues with excessive moisture or heat. Obviously, this is not a waterproof boot, but it dries quickly and is very comfortable.

Note that for a boot, the Kiowa is exceedingly flexible and does little to impede your natural foot mechanics. This is a huge plus in my opinion!

You can see here how clean the finishing is. It is a very well-constructed boot. While these are made in China, the quality seems impeccable.

The inside of the boot with the insole removed. It has a deep and well-shaped heel cup, even without the insole.

The Kiowa looks quite sharp and is US Army uniform compliant - unlike my pants in this picture - even though it is not Berry-compliant at this time.

The traction, comfort, and agility, that the Kiowa provides is among the best of all the various boots that I've owned.

I'm really quite happy with the Kiowa. While I'd love to see Belleville come out with a boot that didn't have any heel/forefoot differential, this is a pretty good alternative and unlike most other types of conventional boots or shoes, the Kiowas do not make my knee hurt after a day or so, which is a nice change. They come in a variety of different colors, including a black leather and of course, MultiCam. Basically, you should be able to find a color that will work for your individual needs. Despite not being manufactured in the US - the regular Belleville lines are all US made - the Kiowa is an outstanding boot that is very well-made. I have no qualms about wholeheartedly recommending this boot. At a very reasonable price of 129.50, it competes VERY well against any number of more expensive boots that are in the same category, and soundly beats its competitors on price. Highly recommended.

Shellback Tactical Black Friday Sale has gone live!

2011-11-23T13:11:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I know, you don't normally see this kind of stuff here, but Shellback Tactical are a good bunch of guys and they make some really nice looking gear so I figured I'd pimp their Black Friday sale a little. There are some really nice discounts here, folks!

http://shellbacktactical.com/

Review - TRU-SPEC TRU XTREME Tactical Clothing System

2011-11-21T12:10:00.001-07:00

(These products provided by the manufacturer.)

In recent years, the tactical clothing market has practically exploded with a cornucopia of new products, all touting that they are the next revolution in clothing for military and law enforcement.
As is to be expected, a lot of these products are much ado about nothing, but every now and then you do see some real innovation. TRU-SPEC Atlanco has long been a supplier to both the US military and to law enforcement in the US with their varied lines of classically cut BDUs, ACU, and even a line of more discrete tactical clothing. The line that we'll look at today, however, is probably their most over-built and heavy duty apparel line; the TRU XTREME. The TRU stands for "Tactical Response Uniform" and is TRU-SPECs' answer to the needs of police SWAT teams, FBI HRT, and other, mostly civilian tactical teams. That's not to say that they're not built tough enough to handle military use, but the features, cut, and so on, might get you in trouble with the uniform nazis. Anyways, let's move on to the meat of the review and we'll start with the specs from TRU-SPEC. Since this is an entire clothing system, we're going to look at the specs for each part as we move through the review and we'll start with the Combat Shirt.

Combat Shirt:
Description

Constructed from 50/50 nylon cotton rip-stop sleeves with a No Melt, No Drip CORDURA®Baselayer™ 60/40 cotton nylon body
Mandarin collar that can be worn up or down to keep out debris and lined with the jersey fabric in the collar for added comfort
Zipper front closure with zipper hood for comfort
Loop faced shoulder pockets for patches, with hook & loop closure and hidden front zipper pocket
Articulated elbows
SuperFabric® elbows
Tri pocket with document window and 3 exterior pen/pencil slots on the sleeve with tunnel system for alternating tri-pocket from left to right arm
Angled cuff for added wrist/ hand protection with adjustable hook & loop closure
Imported

TRU XTREME Vest:
Description

Constructed of 50/50 nylon cotton rip-stop material
Designed to fit over combat shirt to create a more uniform look without changing out
Mandarin collar can be worn up or down to keep out debris
Zippered with hook & loop closure on front placket with a smooth uniform appearance
Bellowed chest pockets with inverted pleat, hook & loop closure and hidden front zipper pocket and pencil stall
Imported

TRU XTREME Pants:

Description
Constructed from 50/50 nylon cotton rip-stop material
Slider waistband for a comfortable fit
1" wide belt loops with 2-1/4" opening
Customized TRU-SPEC® original PRYM™ snap with YKK® brass zipper closure
Hidden internal handcuff key pocket in waistband
Reinforced front slash pocket openings to cut down on wear
Deep front pockets with hidden internal pocket
2-knife/accessory pockets with stiff fused inner lining on both sides
Diamond shaped gusseted crotch for ease of movement
2-leg cargo pockets with inverted pleat and angled opposing pleats, mitered flaps with hook & loop closure creating a unique pocket bellow that expands into a large space
Internal hidden front zipper pocket on both leg cargo pockets
2-bellowed lower leg cargo pockets with inverted pleat and mitered flaps with hook & loop closure
SuperFabric® covered external knee pockets with external openings for knee pads secured with hook & loop closures
Articulated knees for added mobility and comfort
Expandable zipper lower leg opening with mesh lining
1" clean finished leg hems with elastic and adjustable button closure
Imported

Now, we're actually going to look at one more item, but it appears that it is either not made anymore or it is out of stock on the TRU-SPEC website, and that's the TRU XTREME Jacket. You'll see pictures of that further down, but for now, just think of it as being the vest and the sleeve portion of the Combat Shirt. The features are pretty much identical.
What you can see from the above specifications might at first glance look like a million other tactical uniforms out there, but there are numerous details that really stand out. One is the use of SuperFabric. Now, you might wonder what that is, and the best explanation I can come up with is that it is essentially synthetic stingray skin. Or at least, it works exactly the same way. You have a durable and flexible fabric substrate which is then covered with durably bonded nodules of a fairly hard plastic. The result is an incredibly abrasion-resistant material which retains the ability to move with your body. The overall effect is almost completely identical to stingray leather.

But enough of the background, let's look at some pictures. There's going to be a lot of them... Fair warning.
We'll start with the Combat Shirt.

The Combat Shirt is meant to be used with armor or load-bearing vests. The torso portion, except for the shoulders, uses a Cordura base-layer material which is no-melt/no-drip. It's quite comfortable and seems to do an excellent job at wicking away sweat. The torso portion is quite long and stays tucked in, even when crouched. The shoulders use the same ripstop material as the sleeves to protect the shoulders from abrasion. The collar portion uses the Cordura baselayer on the inside and the ripstop on the outside. Thanks to the cotton content, it is also pretty resistant to developing odors.

The Cordura baselayer material feels largely like a good quality technical t-shirt. It really is very comfortable against your skin.

The zipper has a flap that protects your chin from the zipper teeth. All the zippers on the TRU XTREME tends to use these zipper pulls. They are textured for grip and are pretty glove-friendly.

Here you can see how the baselayer material is brought up into the arm pit to facilitate better wicking and breathability. All seams are unobtrusive.

The bicep pockets are quite well-designed. There is a large bellowed pocket underneath the loop-covered flap, with a flatter, zippered side-entry pocket. You can see the zipper-pull for the rear pocket in this picture.

An interior shot of the rear zippered pocket. This is a pretty nice feature and seems to add no extra bulk when not in use.

Here you can see the bellow pleat used for the main bicep pocket. It faces to the rear, to minimize the risk of it catching on terrain features.

The elbows have a pad pocket, with a hook-&-loop closure. Any nunber of different pads could be used here. The weird-looking material you can see on the elbow is the SuperFabric.

The cuffs are well-designed and angled to provide fuller coverage. I find them to be eminently comfortable with or without gloves and they offer a good range of adjustment. In this picture you can also see the removable pen sleeve/document carrier.

Inside shot of the document portion. Clear vinyl window lets you see the contents. I'm not entirely sold on this idea as it does add some considerable bulk and stiffness to that portion of the sleeve whe n it is installed.

A shot of the attachment method. Three Prym snaps are used. It is somewhat similar to a MOLLE arrangement.

A rear shot of the Combat Shirt. Note that the elbows are articulated. Generally mobility and comfort in the Combat Shirt is impeccable.

Moving on to the vest, this piece is meant to be worn over the Combat Shirt, typically while "in garrison". Or pretty much anytime you're not wearing a ton of armor and gear.

The vest has four pockets total, using a similar pocket design as the bicep pockets that the Combat Shirt uses, with a bellowed, flapped front portion and a zippered, flat, rear pocket.

This gives it a very clean, stream-lined look when the pockets aren't in use. They're almost completely unnoticeable which is exactly how it should be.

Note however, that as standard, these do not come with hook-&-loop mounted for nametapes or rank patches. However TRU-SPEC sells a conversion kit that comes with the hook-&-loop and optional fabric for embroidering.

Inside shot of the rear pocket. It fills the entire portion behind the front pocket. The side access also lets you access it while wearing a vest or armor, if you do choose to wear such gear over the vest.

Inside shot of the bellowed front pocket. These pockets will hold a surprising amount of stuff.

The left pocket has an opening in the top of the flap. This is ostensibly meant to function as a pen "stall". I can't really say that I've used it much for that. My sunglasses fit nicely into that opening though...

The front is closed with a durable, self-cleaning plastic coil- zipper and hook-&-loop patches, This arrangement should look familiar to anyone familiar with the ACU.

The same goes for the mandarin collar. This is an identical layout as you see on the ACU.

The collar here is laid down the way you would wear it in garrison or when not wearing it with armor.

Rear shot of the vest. The vest is a pretty simple garment, but it works well and is quite comfortable.

Note that there are no seams directly on top of the shoulder. This minimizes pressure spots when using it with a pack, armor or an LBE vest.

Now, let's take a look at the pants.

The pants have a veritable profusion of pockets. It really is quite impressive. Two front-slash pockets, each with a hidden internal pocket big enough to hold IDs, credit cards, or other small items. Two Accessory/pocket knife/flashlight pockets above these front slash pockets. Two rear, bellowed pockets with flaps that can be tucked away. Two large bellowed thigh cargo pockets with an internal smaller pocket, with rear zipper compartment that is readily accessible when seated in a vehicle or otherwise seated. And finally, two lower leg pockets.

Note also that the knees have a pad pocket that is accessible from the outside.

Inside shot of the thigh rear zippered pocket. I like carrying a wallet or phone in this. This pocket is also a good fit for a field notebook or other relatively flat items.

Expandable waistband detail. The pant really moves well with you, thanks to this, which also makes carrying a pistol IWB very comfortable.

Outside shot of the thigh cargo pocket. These pockets are very roomy and the bellows work quite well.

Lower leg pocket. Also bellowed, which helps keep contents from shifting around too much.

The lower leg also has a side zipper, with a mesh backing. This allows you to cinch down the lower leg elastic around a boot, but still remove the boots without having to readjust the elastic. It's a very clever system. The mesh fabric could be a little more durable though, as it has started to fray at the bottom edge. Perhaps a reinforcement tape could work here.

And here's the lower cuff adjustment. This is one of the best approaches that I've seen and is far and away a better solution than the vast majority of drawstrings and such that you see in the market. I'm seriously taking my hat off for TRU-SPEC on this one. Brilliant solution.

The rear pocket arrangement can be seen here. Note that the pants have a diamond-gusseted crotch and articulated knees. I find them to be highly mobile, despite the lack of any stretch material and they don't impede my movements at all, even in extreme positions. I can't say the same for pretty much all my 5.11 pants.

Close-up of the diamond gusset crotch. All the seams are quite sturdy and are typically doubled.

A shot of the accessory pocket with a Benchmade 710 pocket knife in it.

And here with an Inforce 6VX flashlight. Both items fit very well into these pockets.

The pants are self-pocketed, meaning that the pocket liner is the same fabric as the rest of the pant. Exceedingly durable and one of my favorite options on hard-use pants.

Now, we'll take a brief look at the jacket. As the jacket has many features in common with both the Combat Shirt and the Vest, we're going to look primarily at the differences.

As you can see, the jacket combines the pockets of the vest and the Combat Shirt and can be used in the same way any typical uniform jacket would be. As I am not military any longer, I've taken to using this as a general light jacket for which it does an admirable job.

The armpit is vented, which is a nice touch. These vents are also completely unobtrusive in use.

The back of the jacket is also vented, and is lined with a wicking, breathable mesh material on the inside.

You can see the vented back here.

And a look inside the vented area. Note that the vent is kept in place with a couple of hook-&-loop patches.

Lastly, let's take a closer look at that SuperFabric, shall we?

In this shot you can really see the individual plastic nodules. It is a remarkably effective system at mitigating abrasion and providing puncture resistance.

And here, the label that denotes this as being the real deal.

So, now you've seen all the features of the TRU XTREME line. It's a remarkably well-designed garment line and I've enjoyed using it for a variety of different tasks. It is comfortable, even for extended wear and seems to be exceedingly durable. I've also noticed that the fabric seems to do an outstanding job of shedding dirt and dust. Even after being practically covered in the fine New Mexico dust, a quick dusting off with your hands and the TRU Xtreme looked clean again. The cut is generous, but not overly baggy, and it moves extremely well with you, never getting in the way. I am for the most part very impressed with this. Oh, and that handcuff key pocket that is mentioned in the specs? Yeah, it's there. It's subtle, it's unobtrusive, and no, I'm not going to show you where it is. No point in making it too easy.
Oh and one last thing; all pockets are symmetrical. Now, what I mean by that is that the layout, position and number of pockets is exactly the same on both left and right sides of the garments. I. LOVE. This. One of my biggest pet peeves is this odd fashion these days of putting pockets only on one side. Very wisely, TRU-SPEC did not fall into this trap!
Color options should be enough for just about everybody as it comes in everything from black to MultiCam. The items you see here are in the Olive Drab color way.
Now, that being all said and done with, let's look at the negatives.

The forearm document holder/pen stall is a little on the bulky side and on one of them, a snap broke the first time I attempted to remove it. I have no problems understanding their reasoning for including this feature, but I've found it to be somewhat redundant.
I found a lot of loose threads. Almost everywhere. And more appear as you wash the clothing. Interestingly, I found no bad seams, but the manufacturing process seems to result in a lot of excess, loose threads and that is somewhat annoying. I'd like to see some more attention paid to cleaning up and finishing the garments, especially given that the price point isn't exactly on the cheap end of the scale. And just general QC. That busted snap shouldn't have happened. It was just poorly set from the factory, something that really should have been caught in QC.
My last minor nitpick is the mesh used in the lower leg expandable portion. The material is certainly comfortable and you really don't notice it, but that lower edge frays incredibly quickly and if there is a weak point in the TRU XTREME as far as materials go, that would be it. Reinforcing that bottom edge with some edge-binding tape would go a long way to completely eliminating this issue.
Other than these relatively minor nits, I really can't complain. I like this stuff a lot and I have every intention of wearing it to pieces.
Recommended.

Thanks to Stephanie at TRU-SPEC for letting me review these products.

Video Review - Maxpedition F.I.G.H.T. Medical pouch

2011-11-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

This is a comprehensive video review of the Maxpedition F.I.G.H.T. medical pouch. This is a large pouch with typical Maxpedition build-quality, although some of the seams are a bit crooked. It is well-appointed and offers a well-designed tear-off feature.

Video review - Tactical Tailor Enhanced Admin Pouch

2011-11-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video review of an outstanding admin pouch from Tactical Tailor. Top-notch product all the way.

Video review - Soto Pocket Torch XT lighter

2011-11-18T22:18:00.001-07:00

Short video review of the Soto Pocket Torch XT lighter.

Addendum: While I generally am quite fond of the design of the Pocket Torch XT, it is not as durable as its predecessor. This particular unit was dropped twice on concrete from a little below waist height and the casing cracked. The unit still functioned, but I think it would be wise for Soto to beef up the plastic used a little. I have little doubt that if this was dropped and hit a rock at an unfortunate angle, there is a large potential of the Pocket Torch XT suffering a catastrophic failure. Caveat Emptor.

Video review - Petzl Cordex Belay Gloves

2011-11-18T22:14:00.001-07:00

Short video-review of the Petzl Cordex belay glove. This is an excellent glove for general use, including both work and tactical applications.

A quick video essay on sheath design

2011-11-18T15:16:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd share some of my thoughts about what makes for a good sheath for a self-defense/concealable blade, so I made up a quick video. Give it a view and tell me what you think or if you have any questions in the comments!

Review - Vibram Fivefingers KSO Trek

2011-11-05T19:38:00.002-06:00

By now, almost everybody should have at least heard about Vibram Fivefingers, one of the first shoes to really bring the minimalist footwear phenom to the fore. I've reviewed and talked about "barefooting" or - more accurately - minimalist footwear on this site before, and today we're going to take a look at another model from Vibram, the KSO Trek.

The Trek, as I'm going to refer to it from here on out, differs from the previously reviewed KSO in a number of ways, despite the commonality in name. However, the KSO still stands for Keeps Stuff Out and the KSO Trek inarguably does a better job of that task than the original KSO does!
We're going to look at those differences in closer detail, but first we'll start with the few specifications that Vibram provides.

Materials:

UPPER - Kangaroo Leather

SOLE - 4mm EVA Midsole & TC-1 Rubberr

FOOTBED - Kangaroo Leather

Machine washable. Air dry away from sun or heat source.

Weight:

Men's size 43 - 6.7oz. each, 13.4oz./pair

So, an immediate difference that should be apparent is the use of kangaroo leather for the upper and footbed. This may seem an odd choice at first, but the leather that Vibram used for this is no ordinary leather; rather, it is a high-tech material that is not only extremely durable and washable but also anti-microbial. These qualities are all very desirable when it comes to footwear like Fivefingers. There is a very good reason that the Fivefinger Funk is somewhat infamous, and the kangaroo leather used in the Treks does an excellent job at keeping stench to a minimum.

Another big difference is the thickness of the mid- and out-sole. On the KSO, you have a 3.5mm out-sole and a 2mm midsole. The out-sole on the Trek is a full 4mm of lugged TC-1 rubber and the EVA mid-sole is also a full 4mm. So, a substantial difference in thickness.

With that extra thickness you do sacrifice some ground-feel, but it does provide you with better protection against rocks on the trail and street; and against heat and cold surface temperatures. Here in New Mexico, during the summer the pavement can get enormously hot and wearing regular KSO's can be quite uncomfortable. The Trek manages to almost completely mitigate this issue for me personally. And while some ground-feel is indeed lost, I find it a worthwhile trade-off.

The leather upper also benefits the Trek when worn during the winter or in otherwise inclement weather. It is also quite comfortable even in very warm conditions. I have not found that my feet sweat more than they do in the mesh fabric of the KSO's. The breathability is really quite excellent.

The KSO Trek is shown here in a side shot that shows the exposed EVA midsole. You can see that as the lighter, greyish-brown material above the black of the TC-1 rubber.

The upper is, as can clearly be seen, almost entirely leather. This upper is vastly more durable than that of almost any other Fivefingers model, short of the newly released all-leather models. The ankle/instep area is gusseted with stretch fabric, which allows for easier on and off.

The sole is relatively heavily lugged, although the lugs on my pair have been worn down significantly. The sole provides excellent grip in most circumstances, especially on soft terrain.

The toe lugs are especially pronounced and work exceedingly well for gaining purchase while going up steep climbs.

Despite the thicker sole, the Trek is still very flexible. This flexibility combined with the sole design still allows for a great deal of ground feel, although it is somewhat muted in comparison with the thinner KSO.

Another demonstration of how flexible the Trek is. There is no arch support at all and of course, no heel lift.

The strap arrangement is almost identical to that on the regular KSO. Note that the pull-loop is leather.

Here you can see the biggest structural difference between the straps on the original KSO and the Trek. The Trek is designed to let you replace the strap. I am unsure though how much a replacement strap might cost from Vibram.

The toes have panels of stretch fabric in between the toes and on the outsides of the big toe and little toe, respectively. I would vastly prefer it if they used leather here as well.

Now we come to an area of contention between the Trek and I. On my old KSO's, the velcro strap was long enough to cover all of the exposed hook material, when being worn. Vibram drastically shortened the straps and not just on the Trek. This is how I normally wear them.

And here the strap is tightened as much as possible. This would not be comfortable for very long for me. The strap really needs to be longer.

I have worn the Trek in almost any conceivable condition. I've gone off-trail with them in the New Mexican mountains, worn them into abandoned mines, run on both asphalt and trail, used them at work; and traversed the urban landscape with them on a daily basis. They are an exceptionally comfortable shoe and I am a huge fan of the leather upper. It is amazingly durable compared to the mesh fabrics typically used, even when the PU reinforcements that have become common are taken into consideration. Despite the leather upper, the Treks are not waterproof. They do keep the elements out a little better and certainly are warmer in windy conditions, but being as low to the ground as they are, the mesh between the toes does let water in almost immediately. Luckily, they dry fast and as I prefer to wear them with Injinji NuWool socks, the wet-feet feeling goes away quickly.

But, all is not roses. There are areas where Vibram could make definite improvements.

One of the biggest challenges for Vibram in the last couple of years has been to just keep up with demand. As word spread, demand for Fivefingers rose so drastically that despite increasing their production capacity over 1800% in the last few years, supply can still be spotty. And this increase in production has come at the price of quality control, which is probably Vibram's biggest weakness at this point. I would strongly suggest buying any Fivefingers at a store that allows for returns if something does turn out to have slipped through quality control. The first pair of Treks that I purchased had a bad seam on the heel pull strap. It came off in my hands only a short time after I bought them.

Also, as mentioned above, the shortened strap is rather annoying. I understand that not everybody has as tall an instep as I do. Fair enough. But the original straps were designed so that you could easily shorten them without it looking like a complete hack-job. And they were just long enough to work fantastically for us high-volume-foot folks. The biggest part of my annoyance is that it's the hook part that is left exposed by this shorter strap. As you can see in the pictures, the strap picks up all sorts of debris and has to be picked clean on a regular basis. It also has the unfortunate tendency of sticking to certain fabrics. Highly annoying! This really should be fixed. If nothing else, fixed so that it's the soft loop part that is exposed as that won't be so prone to sticking to other fabrics or picking up debris.

As I mentioned above, the mesh fabric used between the toes and on the sides could stand to be replaced with the leather. Vibram has implemented this on the all-leather Trek LS, but I'd really like to see it done for the KSO Trek. On a recent trip, where I had to walk through some rather dense brush, I had to stop multiple times and pick sharp seeds out from between my toes. The leather would prevent this almost entirely.

Lastly, I would prefer if the EVA mid-sole material wasn't exposed. As you may be able to see in some of the pictures, it is looking a little frayed. Having that area covered with the much tougher TC-1 rubber would go a long way towards improving the durability of the Trek. If it gets worse, I may purchase some FiveTen Stealth Paint and cover that area with it.

Other than that, however, the KSO Trek is probably one of my all-time favorite shoes. I find them far more comfortable than the TrekSport, which uses the same sole but replaces the leather with a coconut-based stretch fabric; and just as comfortable as the original KSO. The leather even washes in a regular washing machine just as easily as the fabric Fivefingers and dries quite quickly.

I fully intend to wear these shoes until they literally fall apart. And I'm not just saying that because I'm cheap... Highly recommended, if you are interested in minimalist shoes, they are well worth checking out.

Review - Advanced Armament Corporation Non-mount Muzzle Brake

2011-11-02T14:56:00.002-06:00

(This product provided by the manufacturer.)

For some time now I've been contemplating and researching various types of muzzle-brakes for my AR, and during this process I found the line of compensators, brakes and flash hiders from AAC. Now, AAC is probably best known for their outstanding line of suppressors for a variety of fire-arms, but they have an extensive line of muzzle-devices, most of which are designed to integrate closely with their suppressors.

Now, one of my primary goals in finding a muzzle-device was to get something that would add as little length as possible to my rifle. My AR is a Daniel Defense DDM4, an outstanding weapon, but it's not an SBR and as I sometimes have need of having it fit in various bags for discrete transport, I was aiming not only to not increase the length over the standard A2 flash-hider, but if possible reduce it. That seemed almost impossible, until I found the Non-mount Muzzle Brake from AAC. Unlike a lot of their other muzzle-devices, this is not meant to integrate with a suppressor, but rather to provide the greatest possible recoil compensation in the smallest overall package and it certainly does that!

AAC doesn't really provide much in the way of specifications, so we're actually going to skip lightly over that today and go straight for the pictures.

Here you can see the brake mounted on my 16-inch barreled AR.

In this closeup you can see the excellent machining. The fit and finish of this brake is very, very good. As is, frankly, all of the AAC products that I have handled.

I cannot say that I know if these crenelations have any purpose other than aesthetics, but they do look nice.

And here it is compared with the standard A2 flash-hider. Yeah, it's almost half as long.

I measured the Non-mount brake to be roughly 28 millimeters long, and the A2 flash-hider to be right at 43 millimeters. That's a substantial difference in length!

But other than the straight aesthetics, how does it shoot?

My initial reaction after the first couple of rounds was to laugh out loud. It somewhat makes my 5.56mm AR sound like an AA-cannon, this deep-throated roar. Which is hilariously fun, although I'm sure it would absolutely suck to stand next to a guy shooting with this thing indoors in confined quarters. But it very much does control the recoil. It becomes more of a straight push backwards with very little muzzle-rise. Very controllable. It does not, however, control muzzle-flash at all. That's not its function, so I wouldn't really call that a drawback or negative. When using an optic or scope, you won't see the muzzle-flash in your sights at all, which is nice. It also does not deposit any soot on my weaponslight, which is also rather nice. Really, it functions impeccably and while noticeably louder, I did not find it terribly obnoxious. On the contrary, as I've mentioned, I found it to be very entertaining to shoot with. The reduction in size is also something I'm very happy about. I did attempt to get some pictures of the muzzle-flash and rise, but we had some trouble with the timing and since in the pictures it looked like I'd just mounted the rifle to the shoulder, I didn't see much point in including them. I will attempt in the future to capture some video, since the last time I took it out we had some equipment issues.

Now, as for the installation, AAC includes everything you need to install the brake, short of the tools. I did find that I had to do some hand-fitting of the crush washer to get the AAC logo to not be upside down when fully tightened. This will vary between rifle manufacturers. It may not at all be necessary on another brand of weapon. If no hand-fitting is necessary, you could install this brake in ten minutes or less and be good to go.

Overall, I'm really happy with this little beast and given the sheer quality of this and other AAC products, I have no reservations about recommending this muzzle-brake unreservedly.

You can find more information and purchase one directly from AAC at this web page: AAC Non-Mount Muzzle-brake

I should also point out, of course, AAC is an all-American company that manufacturers all of their products in the US. They're also a very friendly crew and will be happy to answer any questions you might have about their products. Personally, when I get the money to buy a suppressor, I plan on making it an AAC unit. You should consider the same if you're in the market!

Review - INFORCE 6VX & 9VX tactical flashlights.

2011-10-30T01:59:00.009-06:00

(These products provided by the manufacturer for review.)

Now that we've looked at the weaponslight from INFORCE, let's go ahead and take a look at a more traditional category of flashlights, the typical handheld tactical flashlight. INFORCE offers several different models, but today we're going to take a look at their entry-level offerings, the 6VX and 9VX respectively.

Having a number of features in common with the WML, these lights are immediately recognizable as being INFORCE lights, due to the distinctive design features of the polymer-bodies and the vented, exposed heatsinks.

As is becoming common in our reviews, we're going to look at both video and detailed pictures, but before we get to that, let's list the specifications for these lights.

INFORCE 6VX specifications:

Light Output:
High Setting: 200 lumens
Low Setting: 40 lumens
Strobe: 200 lumens

Run Time:
High Setting: 2h
Low Setting: 10h

Bezel Diameter: 1"
Length: 4.85"
Weight w/ Batteries: 3.3 oz.
Batteries: 2 x 123A Lithium

INFORCE 9VX specifications:

Light Output:
High Setting: 300 lumens
Low Setting: 60 lumens
Strobe: 300 lumens

Run Time:
High Setting: 3h
Low Setting: 15h

Bezel Diameter: 1.25"
Length: 6.15"
Weight w/ Batteries: 4.75 oz.
Batteries: 3 x 123A Lithium

Right off the bat, we can see here that the primary differences are in the output and runtimes. Let's take a look at the video and explore further from there.

The 6VX. Note that the body and head are all one unit and maintains the same diameter through-out. Both the 6VX and the 9VX use a fiber reinforced polymer material for the body. Incredibly lightweight and durable, it is also impervious to most chemicals.

The crenelated bezel ring, which allows you to see if the light is on, when it's standing on its head. Being that it is hard plastic, you could also use this as an impact-device. It is however not sharp in the slightest, but that also means that it won't raise the ire of the TSA if you have to travel with the light.

The tailcap button. Note that the button cover is ultrasonically sealed to ensure water-resistance.

It is unknown at this time to what depth you could reasonably take this light, but it survived the sink test with no water ingress.

The 6VX in the hand. Note that the light, while under 5 inches long, is still long enough to be used reasonably well as a fist-load.

Here you can see the trademark exposed heatsink.

The business end of the 6VX. The lens does appear to be glass, and is quite clear. I am unsure which LED is actually being used here, but I would speculate that it is one of the recent CREE LEDs. And that has now been confirmed by INFORCE, they are using CREE LEDs, quite likely the CREE XP-G

The pocket clip is made from stainless steel and the mounting point allows for attaching a 550 cord lanyard. Note that the screw mounting points are reinforced with a threaded steel insert.

The threads are polymer, but as was mentioned in the video portion of the review, they are impressively smooth in action.

The inside of the tailcap. I believe most of the control circuitry is located in the tailcap. This tailcap is not designed to be user-serviceable.

Close-up of the threads. Despite their odd appearance, they work very well.

Here you can see the inner metal sleeve of the battery tube and the negative pole at the bottom.

The longitudinal ribs provide some grip but also interface with the INFORC weapons mount.

The INFORCE lights have an almost science fiction vibe to them, with the strict, geometric lines of their design.

The beam profile of the 6VX. This uses a second-generation TIROS optic, which does an admirable job of providing a useful beam. Nice, wide spill with a well-defined central hotspot. There are some minor rings in the beam, but nothing that has proven distracting.

And here we have the 9VX. The difference in size and shape should be immediately apparent.

Note that the exposed heatsink here appears quite a bit beefier with deeper fins and more area exposed.

The 9VX also uses a glass lens and a second-gen TIROS optic, this one being slightly larger. Note that the crenelated bezel ring here is not hard plastic but a dense rubber.

Identical clip mount on the 9VX. Note here that the clip on the 9VX functions far more reliably than on the 6VX, due to the longer length of the 9VX.

Threading and tailcap are also the same on the 9VX as they are on the 6VX. The tailcaps are even interchangeable.

Here you can see the smooth transition from the 1-inch diameter body of the light to the 1.25 inch diameter head. Almost any 1 inch light mount should work with these.

On both of these lights, the quality of the machine work is quite high. I suspect that molds of this quality cost a small fortune.

The crenelated bezel on the 9VX, being made from rubber, would not serve quite as well as an impact weapon as the harder plastic on the 6VX does. It does still allow you to see if you left the light on.

The beam profile is quite similar, with the 9VX having a slight edge in throw.Yes, that is a toe in the picture and yes, I am wearing Fivefingers.

The 6VX on the right and the 9VX on the left. Despite the smaller size of the 6VX, the incredibly light weight of the 9VX and better center of gravity relative to clip placement, means I carry the 9VX a lot more. It almost disappears in the pocket.

6VX on high output.

9VX on high output. Note that these pictures absolutely do not do these lights justice when it comes to output.

Lastly, a few pictures illustrating how the 6VX looks mounted on an AR. The mount used here is a very low-profile GG&G 1 -inch mount.

Clearance above the rail is minimal and the weight does little to alter the balance of the weapon.

This one is mostly because I thought it looked cool...

While I do have a couple minor complaints when it comes to these lights, I'm overall quite pleased. They're lightweight, to the point where you almost forget that you're carrying them, and they provide a very nice feature set backed up by above-average performance. Yes, you can get lights of roughly similar size that will output far more lumens, but lumens really isn't everything. That is almost shocking to hear coming from me, I know.

The VX series of lights are easy to use, provide an easily customizable interface and outstanding build quality, all from an American made product. They are also exceedingly tough and are well-priced, starting right at a 100 dollars for the 6VX and 125 for the 9VX.

That all being said, let's take a look at my complaints.

The tailcap button while serviceable really could do with being a little less stiff. I could potentially see that being a problem for someone with reduced function from an injury or even just poor hand-strength. A slightly softer button would go a long way to alleviate that. Admittedly, use does seem to soften the button a little.

The use of PWM to control the power consumption of the light, while a serviceable enough way to do it, could do with some improvement. Current-controlled lights generally handle power a little better and more efficiently and they do so without the flickering that can be extremely noticeable to some people, particularly when the light is moving. Another option would be to increase the speed of the PWM, to make the flickering less noticeable.

I would like to see the clip on the 6VX redone. As it is, carrying the light clipped inside your pocket could easily result in you losing the light, as it is very prone to flopping over the edge of your pocket. Unless you're wearing quite tight pants, this is potentially an issue. The clip does work quite well on MOLLE webbing.
Also, I would really like to see better integration with rechargeable batteries. As it is, I've found that I can run the 9VX on two 17500 Li-Ion batteries and it works exceedingly well. However, the 6VX isn't quite so flexible. Being able to run it on a single 17670 for instance would be immensely useful, especially for soldiers on the far end of supply chains. One of the more useful gifts I gave a friend when he deployed was a set of rechargeable CR123s and a compact charger. Power is something they can get access to most of the time, if only from the outlet in a Hummer. Supplies of fresh batteries, not so much.
And lastly, having a dimmer low setting would be very useful. Something along the lines of 10-15 lumens would be perfect. That's just about right for not destroying your night vision and still being more than able to both navigate and use for up-close tasks, again without being blinded by backwash.

The 9VX has quickly become my EDC light. Despite its size, it rides easily in the pocket of almost any pair of pants I care to use and is unobtrusive throughout the day. Keeping the above caveats in mind, these lights are otherwise highly recommended.

You can see these lights and others at INFORCE.

Review - INFORCE WML - Weapons-mounted light.

2011-10-29T01:35:00.006-06:00

(This product provided by the manufacturer for review.)

A few years back, Emissive Energy Corporation launched their military line of flashlights, an off-shoot of the original Inova flashlight line. At the time, these lights were incredibly unusual, relying on special polymer bodies with exposed heatsinks. They've had a few years now to refine their lineup and one of these refinements has resulted in the launch of their first dedicated weapons light, the WML.

Using a fiber reinforced polymer for the body and picatinny rail clamp, the WML is astonishingly compact and lightweight. We'll go into more detail later on in the review, but we're going to start in the usual fashion with the specs from the manufacturer.

Product Specifications:

Light Output, White LED
High Setting: 125 lumens
Low Setting: 30 lumens

Run Time:
High Setting: 2h
Low Setting: 10h

Light Output, IR: 850nm
High Setting: 75 mW
Low Setting: 25 mW

Run Time:
High Setting: 3h 30min
Low Setting: 17h

Multifunction Button/Activation Switch Features:

Primary White LED:
• Constant and Momentary High, Low and Strobe
• Reversible High/Low to Low/High Capability

• Strobe Disable
Secondary IR LEDs:
• Constant High and Low
• Momentary High

Measurements: 4.1" L. x 1" Bezel D.
Weight w/ Batteries: 3 oz.
Batteries: 1 x 123A Lithium

I really want to point out the dimensions and weight right away. 3 ounces with batteries is remarkably light! That is markedly lighter than any of the other competitors on the market that integrate both white light and IR.

However, unlike the competitors, the dimensions of the WML means that the height that it extends above the rail surface is low enough to not obscure your sights, which means you can mount this in front of the frontsight post and still have perfect access to your irons. Something that you cannot do with the Surefire RAID, for instance.

Another point that I want to address before we get to the meat and potatoes is that of output. I've seen numerous places where people have complained about the relative low output of the WML, at only 125 lumens. But here's where we need some context. Yes, without a doubt you can get LED lights that produce a far greater amount of light. But 3-400 lumens of output is simply not always appropriate, especially not in a home defense/CQB setting. Too much light and the backwash from white-painted walls will completely ruin your nightvision and temporarily blind you. The idea here is to first identify your target and if you can, blind them long enough for you to service said target, all at ranges usually not exceeding 50-70 meters. That's it. And for that purpose, 125 lumens is just about perfect. You'll note that the Surefire RAID, an 800 dollar light, outputs no more than 150 lumens. Surefire, inarguably, knows what they're doing when it comes to lights.

Below we'll continue with the video portion of the review and go into further details about the WML. Including exploring the mounting options and how the WML can integrate into your method of weapons handling.

Note: I misspoke in the video. You do not have to hold the button for 2 seconds to get momentary. It's 0.5 seconds for momentary.

In this picture you can see the WML mounted in the position that I prefer, directly in front of the front sight post. This integrates exceedingly well with the type of grip that I prefer to use.

A front quarter angle of the WML. Note how it hugs the rail. It is very low-profile.

The WML also takes up almost no space in width. You can see here how it hardly extends past the rails at all.

In this shot you can clearly see the white light/IR selection lever. The white dot of course indicates white light. The different modes can be immediately discerned even in complete darkness by feel.

This is the primary safety lockout for the WML. Again, immediately tactile and very positive. You can still activate the light with this bail raised, but it requires an extremely deliberate motion. Full lockout can be achieved by rotating the bezel roughly a quarter turn.

Here you can see the business end. The LED appears to be a CREE XP-G. It has a very nice and white output with little to no bluish tint. The lens is hardened glass.

The mode selector lever in the IR mode and with the safety bail in position. One improvement that could be done here would be to provide a tactile detent for the mode lever.

Here you can see the IR LEDs turned on. The color here is a product of the camera. In person, what you will see is a very faint red glow from the four emitters.

A closer shot of the IR emitters here.

And here with the emitters off. As you can see, the LED assembly is well-centered in the reflector.

A closeup of the on-off switch. The curve is designed to let you comfortably activate the light with your thumb. Also note that the rubber cover is ultrasonically sealed to provide water resistance.

A shot of the hand position when using the light. Yes, I am resting my thumb against the front sight post here, that is largely the result of me being lazy and trying to hold the rifle with one hand and take the picture with the other hand. Normally, I don't touch it.

A view of what the WML looks like from behind the front sight post. It blocks almost nothing.

And here shown through the optic and the iron sights. It might as well not be mounted there at all for all the disruption it causes.

A closeup of the rocker clamp mechanism. The thumbscrew is very positive and does not allow the light to budge when tightened down. One of the easiest mounting systems I've used.

Here you can see the clamp itself. Very few moving parts involved and most of the clamp is integral to the body of the light. It is an exceedingly rugged setup.

Another shot, mostly to show the thickness of material.

The WML with the bezel removed. Note that the battery is installed with the negative pole facing the LED end of the light. This is opposite what most people are used to when it comes to lights.

The inside of the LED head. Note that the contact shown here is spring-loaded, which protects the battery from recoil impulse. The light does not flicker in any way during fire.

While the threads on the WML are not square-cut as is my usual preference, they are very well-machined. These are some of the smoothest threads that I've had on any of my lights, including the Surefires.

The inside of the battery compartment. The plus-sign indicator is to help you remember which end goes first.

Note the slots in the head. These slots expose the aluminum heatsink to outside air. This is a specific INFORCE feature and is under patent.

With the LED head in the lock-out position.

Here is another shot to demonstrate just how slim the WML is.

This shot is just because I thought it looked nice. The design of the WML is really quite elegant.

Here it is mounted on the side rail, to show how close to the rail surface the WML sits. There is very little wasted space.

And finally, a shot of the beam profile. The camera under-exposes the effect of the light quite severely. In person, the effect is a lot more impressive. I would have no qualms using this light to engage targets out to 50-60 meters.

All in all, I must say that I am very pleased with the WML. It is a truly well-designed product and it provides something that really hasn't been on the market before. Also very important, it does so at a pricepoint significantly lower than any of its competition.
So, the immediate advantages of the WML are: light weight, significantly less than any of the other models on the market. Compact size in a dedicated, integrated white light and IR weapons light, to the point where it is almost unnoticeable installed on your weapon. No need for tape switches, which have a reputation for being unreliable and wearing out quickly. More than adequate output to handle the vast majority of CQB-ranges. Night-vision compatible, due to the IR output capability. And guaranteed waterproof to 66 feet/20 meters.
As far as I know, the WML is the ONLY weaponslight on the market that can boast of that particular feature.
Coming in at a pricepoint well under 200 dollars and being entirely made in the US, the INFORCE WML is a fantastic bargain and a remarkably well-designed light to boot. While some may not like the mode switching, in my testing I've found it to be reliable and quickly learned. It is an intuitive user-interface and one feature that many will find attractive is the ability to lock-out the strobe function entirely. For those users that have no need of the IR functionality, there is a simple white light-only model available as well for a significantly lower price.
At this point in time, I simply can't recommend this light enough.

You can see more about the light at INFORCE.

Addendum: Since the manufacture of the pre-production sample that I received from INFORCE, they have modified the white light/IR selector lever somewhat. The finalized version is slightly humped, similar in fashion to the typical fire-selector lever on an M4. This was done to improve the ease of activation, particularly when the user is wearing gloves. As of yet, this change is not reflected in the material on the INFORCE website, but expect it to be present on any production lights that will be available in the future.

Why and how I make knives the way I do.

2011-10-04T20:54:00.001-06:00

Recently, I've received some questions about the properties of the knives I make and how they're built, so instead of answering numerous emails I decided to do a more exhaustive post that should cover all the bases.

First, I would like to start with the inspiration, which is and always has been, the work of Warren Thomas. He is without a doubt the pioneer of this method of construction. I remember seeing his knives, years ago and while not necessarily caring for all of the designs, being wowed by the exotic nature of the materials that he used.
At the time, I was making knives for myself mostly by purchasing steel blades made by various bladesmiths, mostly from Scandinavia. I've never really had the tools or the space needed to work with steel. As time progressed, so did my own experimentation with knives and materials. One day, growing weary of not being able to afford one of the Warren Thomas originals, I decided that I would try to make a laminated knife myself. If Mohammad can't come to the mountain...
I spent several months doing research online before I finally went ahead and did it. The first ones were admittedly quite crude. But they worked and worked well. Thus, I kept at it. I'm still doing the vast majority of the work with very simple tools. I do not own any mills, expensive and desirable belt grinders, or even much in the way of a decent drill press. Instead, I use primarily carbide grit files in varying grits, a dremel, a 50 dollar Harbor Freight drill press, lots of sandpaper with variously shaped sanding blocks, and a Tung-Carb carbidizer.
A few things that I've learned over the years are that materials and surface prep mean almost everything. You simply cannot skimp on the quality of your materials. That goes for both the composite materials that I use and for the bonding agent, a high-grade 2-component resin from 3M that has almost obscene shear and peel strength combined with outstanding environmental resistance. I typically get my carbon fiber from only one supplier and that is largely because I've yet to see anything that comes even close in quality. Most carbon fiber that I see has a horrible amount of voids in it, which are not indicative of a high-strength product. The material I get from my supplier has... Well... No voids. I've heard people claim that no voids in carbon fiber is impossible, but I beg to differ. My supplier can do it. And do it every time.
I tend to do a fairly precise profile of the blade and handle before I laminate the materials.
Surface preparation is next. I am very aggressive with my surface prep. I texture both surfaces being bonded aggressively and clean them rigorously. It simply isn't something that you can take lightly. The effort seems to pay off. I am not aware of any of my knives having ever de-laminated. I also will, on larger knives, use several pins throughout both blade and handle. This increases the lateral strength by preventing the layers from shifting around.
Everything is coated with the resin, then clamped with as much pressure as I can produce. I use a vice and multiple screw clamps, often using thicker pieces of G10 as load spreaders.

Once the resin has set, after at least 24 hours, I start cutting in the bevels. This is typically done using various carbide grit files. It's rather labor-intensive, although not as much as cutting out the blade blank from the titanium sheeting. I use a hacksaw with a carbide grit blade for that. Yes, it's done by hand.

A blade blank being cut from .092 inch thick 6AL4V titanium. The clamps are there to cut down on the noise.

The cut-out blade blank prior to having holes for the pins drilled.

Another blade blank ready for drilling. This is prior to texturing.

The constituent parts ready for bonding. Note the texturing and pins.

Anyways, I cut in the bevels using these carbide grit files, switching to finer grits as the bevels get closer to completion. The final roughing in and finishing is done with sanding blocks and sandpaper. Once the bevels are done, I will usually attach the handle, which is again done with the 3M resin and pins. I let it set up and then shape it with the same tools I've been using so far.

Here you can see a set of handle scales prior to being attached. Again, note the texturing.

A blade getting the bevels cut in.

Here's another one getting close to done.

The benefits of this type of construction are manifold. Light weight, low maintenance, environmental indifference (Any environment you can survive, it can survive and then some.), no magnetic signature, and in the case of the Sub Rosa, no metallic signature at all. Ease of carry and remarkably high strength for the weight. The drawback is that it will not hold an edge as well as steel, nor is it as well-suited to prying tasks. Steel is an incredibly resilient metal and can survive stress that will shatter or deform most other metals. That's why steel has been around for so long and has for certain applications not been surpassed as of yet.
Titanium is very soft in comparison to steel. And only a few of the alloys can be hardened, which still leaves them far short of the hardness that steel can achieve.
One way to somewhat mitigate this is to carbidize the edge. Now, what does that mean, you might ask.
Carbidizing, which is also known as Electro-Spark Deposition (ESD), is the process of embedding particles of a certain electrically conductive substance - in this case Tungsten Carbide - into the surface of another metal, which in this case is titanium. The process has been used for decades in various industries to enhance the properties of tooling. It causes almost no dimensional changes as the process actually embeds the electrode particles in to the surface, down to a depth of a few microns. Only way to get rid of them after this process is to wear them off, whether by usage-related friction or by grinding off the top surface layers.
In the knife context, when applied to the edge of a titanium blade and properly sharpened, it causes an effect very similar to that which is seen in steel. A micro-structure of tungsten carbide particles is revealed as the softer titanium is worn away, which creates a micro-serrated edge. This kind of edge also seems - in my experience - to be more resistant to rolling which is a real problem with titanium blades. There is some minor self-sharpening ability as well and for certain applications, this type of edge cuts amazingly well. But it still doesn't do well in hard materials. The right steel and you could use the knife to carve chunks out of other, softer, steels. Titanium would just deform, even with the tungsten carbide particles embedded in the edge.
But for soft materials, like fabric, meat, cardboard, the carbidized edge will cut like an absolute bastard. I can tell you from experience that getting cut with this kind of edge absolutely sucks.
These properties are what makes these laminated blades so well-suited to personal defense applications. They will cut like demons in flesh and go through fabric and leather without problems. And 9 times out of 10 that's what you need to cut in a self-defense situation. If you want to ram a knife through car doors or chop down trees, get a steel knife.

A close-up of a carbidized edge. You can almost see individual particles here. This is done only on one side of the edge. The knife is sharpened only on the non-carbidized side.

That being said, I do end up using my knives for every day utilities like opening mail and trimming errant fingernails. They work just fine for that kind of thing as well. I just caution people against thinking of these as being the same as any other knife. They're not. They are a specialty tool, for special occasions. Hopefully something you'll never have to use, but very nice to have when you need it!

Well... I think that's about it. I hope that helped answer most questions that were out there. If anybody is reading this and has more questions, I'll do my best to answer them in the comment section below.

Review - Multitasker Ultralight & Tube AR-specific tools.

2011-10-04T15:17:00.003-06:00

(This product provided by the manufacturer.)

We have previously looked at the Series2 AR-specific multitool from Multitasker and here are their two other offerings for the AR. There are some new versions upcoming, but today we are mostly going to look at what is actually available right now, with one or two minor exceptions.

As before, we'll start with the video and follow up with pictures and further explanations.

The Multitasker Ultralight. Small, compact, about the size of a lighter.

The Ultralight with the bits and bit holder that it comes with. Just like it's bigger brother, the Series2, the Ultralight accepts standard 1/4 inch hex bits. No need for proprietary bits. Also, note the pocket clip and lanyard loop. Unlike other tools, this clip is not an afterthought.

Here you can see the two main tools; the castle nut stock wrench which doubles as a big flathead screwdriver, and the bit driver, here mounted with the A2 front sight adjustment bit.

Again, like the Series2, these parts are not cast, but rather EDM-machined out of billet tool steel and melonite-finished. The locking mechanism is very positive and impossibly solid. I used the Ultralight to break the staking on a Daniel Defense AR castle nut, the same castle nut that I broke a dedicated stock wrench on. The Ultralight didn't even break a sweat.

Here you can see the locking mechanism for the dental pick tool. This tool unscrews and allows you to attach an Otis pull-through cleaning rod. The lock is a liner lock, with a large finger tab.Note on the tang that there is an over-travel lip. This ensures the longevity of the tool, so that even after extensive use and wear, the lock will still function.

The aforementioned dental pick shown with the carbon scraper. This scraper is identical in shape and function as the one on the Series2 and as such the curvature fits the bolt tail curves perfectly.

Here you can see the dental pick removed and the 8-32 Otis-compatible thread exposed.

The liner lock for the carbon scraper is shown here. Like the other one, it too has the over-travel lip.

A different angle of the liner lock. Note also here how beefy the tool is in general. The liners and clip are the only stamped out parts here.

Showing the considerable heft of the tool. This heft contributes also to the great feel in your hands when using it. It's very confidence-inspiring.

Here we can see the sheath for the Ultralight. Cordura-covered closed-cell foam semi-hard case, with a MOLLE- and belt-attachment on the back. These sheaths are seeing constant revision so expect changes in the future.

The sheath closed up. It does a quite decent job at holding the tool securely.

The back of the sheath showing the MOLLE-attachment.

Here you can see the Ultralight in comparison with the bolt-carrier group of an AR and about to be used to clean the AR.

Note how well the curvature of the carbon scraper matches the curves of the bolt tail. Very obviously a purpose-designed tool.

Here is where things get a little interesting. In the above picture you can see the Gerber eFect. This is Gerbers' entry into the weapon-specific multitool field, and likely the most direct competition to the Ultralight. Note that while the Ultralight is made from high-grade tool steel and G10 composite machined mostly from billet, the eFect is largely made from plastic, with thin, stamped out or cast components

The selection of tools on the eFect. A nylon-brush, a dental pick, frontsight adjustment tool, flat-head screwdriver, punch and a carbon scraper.

This is the blade of the screwdriver. Note how thin it is.

Side-by-side with the Ultralight. Note the considerable difference in size.

The carbon scrapers from each tool side-by-side. The Ultralight is of course on the bottom. The carbon scraper is probably the strongest of the tools offered on the eFect and seems in my experience to do pretty much as good a job as the scraper on the Ultralight. However, if I wanted just a good carbon scraper, I'd carry a specific tool for it and not bother with the rest of the tools on the eFect.

The two flat-head screwdrivers. The Ultralight is not only made from thicker material but it is also a much larger blade. The Ultralight is a picture-perfect fit for the screws on my Daniel Defense rail system. The eFect, not so much.

And here the difference in thickness and strength becomes painfully apparent. The Ultralight uses almost twice as thick a steel.

And lastly, a bit of a teaser. This is a prototype version of an updated Ultralight. This has a double-ended box-wrench snapped to the side of the tool in a quite clever way. This further broadens the utility of the Ultralight and adds almost nothing to the size.

Moving on, we come to the Tube.

The smallest of the Multitasker tools, the Tube is hardly larger than a big pen. It offers four different tools, in this very compact package. The Tube is made from aircraft-grade aluminum with a Type III anodized finish.

The Tube comes in this rather nice case that lets you carry the Tube and a number of other tools. Similar to the case for the Ultralight, it's a cordura-covered closed cell foam that protects the tool very well.

The inside of the case, showing the included accessories and the Tube itself. You can see here how there is additional space inside for other tools.

One of the tools on the tube is a small pin punch. This works perfectly for popping out a stubborn pin on an AR receiver or other firearm.

Here you can see the Tube with the bit driver exposed, mounted with the front sight adjustment tool. Again, like the others, no proprietary bits are needed,

Closeup of the threading for the bit driver cap. Note the O-ring which helps keep the cap from loosening and provides some protection from the elements. One improvement that I would like to see here is for the threading to square-cut. That would significantly improve the longevity of the threads themselves.

Here you can see the Tube with the carbon scraper installed. The threaded post that it attaches to is the same threading as on the other Multitasker tools and thus lets you attach an Otis pull-through cleaning rod. This same threading also lets you attach the dental pick.

Closeup of the attachment for the carbon-scraper.

And here you can see how I've added a few items to increase the versatility of the Tube. A boresnake and a bit extender to increase the reach of the Tube's bit driver. It comes in very handy for reaching a pistol grip screw on an AR for instance.

As an aside, the pocketclip on the cap doubles as a light-duty screwdriver.

Using the Tube for a bit of cleaning on my Springfield Armory XD. The Multitasker tools are not limited to just the AR-platform!

Conclusions

I really have become a big fan of the way Multitasker approaches the problem of a multitool.
Not only are these tools overbuilt, but they show a general level of forethought and good design sense that is heartening to see.
The Ultralight is probably my favorite of all the tools, as it not only does pretty much everything I need to work on an AR, but it does so with security and confidence. The locking tools are a huge bonus in my book and it just trounces the nearest competitor, the Gerber eFect, in all fields except for weight where the Ultralight is, ironically, quite a bit heavier. But I am more than ok with the extra weight for what that weight buys me in durability and usefulness! If I were to put my finger on any area where the Ultralight could use some improvement, it would be the pocket clip. For the most part, it works fantastically. But if you are carrying the Ultralight in your pocket or clipped to nylon gear that has a reinforced edge or is just a heavy material, the clip is a little too shallow and the result is that the end of it will stick out quite a bit from the tool. This makes it very prone to snagging on various things and I had it come almost entirely out of the rear pocket of a pair of 5.11 pants when the clip snagged on the door. Making the space between the tool and the clip a little bigger would completely alleviate this issue.
Moving on to the Tube.
The Tube is a tool that you can, in it's barebones configuration without the carry case, comfortably carry almost everywhere and not notice it's there until you need it. It fits easily in the MOLLE-webbing on a tactical vest or plate-carrier and can be readily at hand carried that way. Since the carbon-scraper also functions as a bolt-override tool, this or the Ultralight, is something that every shooter that runs an AR should have in his toolbox. Now, that being said, there are a few things I'd like to see improved on the Tube in the future.
The pocket clip, which as mentioned above, also doubles as a light-duty flat-head screwdriver is in dire need for a better attachment method. While the clip is recessed into the surface of the Tube, it is only held in place by one screw. The problem with this is a question of load-distribution. With only one screw holding it in place, every time you clip the Tube to something or use it as a screwdriver, you're putting an awful lot of load on that single screw. Two screws would hold the clip much better and make for better longevity of the tool. Furthermore, the wall thickness of the attachment point should be increased. With mine, I actually ended up stripping out the screw entirely after clipping it only a couple of times to my chest rig and I had to replace the screw with a bigger diameter one. This seems to have alleviated the issue, at least temporarily, as the bigger diameter of the screw allows it to distribute the load better.
The design itself and the idea behind it is overall rather good, despite the issues with the pocketclip.
I'd like to thank Shane from Multitasker for the opportunity to review these tools and I am very much looking forward to seeing what else he comes up with in the future.

4Sevens Quark XM-L Flashlights - Review of two new offerings.

2011-09-07T14:38:00.001-06:00

(Review units provided by the manufacturer on a temporary basis.)
This review will center around the video as provided below and we'll cover some more detail with pictures and text below the video.

I think these lights are kind of stylish. Nice lines!

Again, the quality of the machining is evident. Very crisp and clean lines.

Tailcap of the Quark X 123. Note how the button sticks out above the rim of the tailcap. I would have preferred a guarded button but this does work and the action is nice.

The reflector of the Quark X 123. Note that the LED is very slightly off-center. This does not affect output as far as I could tell and is very slight.

Despite rumors to the contrary, this version of the Quark does indeed have square-cut threads. 4Sevens did not skimp on anything!

Inside of the head. You can see here the contacts that make the mode changes possible.

Inside of the tailcap. Note that it does come apart readily for service and repair. The spring is of course gold-coated.

The tailcap of the Quark X AA model. Note that the button is flush. The action is very positive and smooth.

As you can see, the LED is slightly off-center in the AA model as well. As was noted in the video, this does not seem to affect output at all.

The Quark X AA on moon mode, putting out 0.3 lumens.

The level of finish put on these lights is quite high. No tooling marks left behind that I could see and the anodize appears thick and well-applied.

Note the crispness and depth of the laser etch. This is very well done.

Overall outstanding machining on both lights. Very crisp.

After having carried these lights for a while, I can wholeheartedly recommend them, as long as the caveats I mention in the video are taken into account. These are both very well-made lights and 4Sevens goes above and beyond in their customer service. Apart from some minor issues with the UI and the LEDs being slightly off-center, I really have no complaints. Now, just for completeness, I should mention that especially the Quark X Tactical does get quite warm when run for more than a few minutes on high. It's not something that really worries me, as I know that 4Sevens used a thermal protection circuit on these, but it is worth noting. It is also to be expected, given the sheer power for the size. Thermal management seems good though, as the light does get warm quickly and seems to distribute the heat well throughout the body of the light. And for a price that is coming in at 69 dollars for each light, these lights are a fantastic bargain and a great addition to most anybody's EDC loadout. I'm very much looking forward to seeing more from 4Sevens in the future! Perhaps a weapon light would be next?
Go check them out at 4Sevens

Addendum: It has been suggested to me by 4Sevens that the emitters are not off-center as you can see the centering device surrounding the LED. I have gone back numerous times and looked at it and it still appears to be very slightly off-center. But be that as it may, as I've said before, the offset is so slight it really doesn't seem to have any impact on performance. This isn't something I would personally be concerned about and I fully intend to purchase one of these for my own use sometime in the near future, as these will be sent back to 4Sevens.

Warrior Wound Care Oral I.V.: Tactical Snake Oil - Or why you should not believe everything you read on the internet.

2011-08-22T11:16:00.003-06:00

I'm going to come right out and say it, for the edification of the general public who may not have picked up on this particular character trait of mine. I'm anal-retentive. A lot.
I have a serious issue with pretty much anybody that spreads bad information around, especially when they prey on the relative ignorance of layfolk when it comes to science. Even more so when this is done in order to sell a bogus product to our military personnel, law enforcement and other people who put their lives on the line in the service of the rest of us.
Which brings me to my current grievance, the product "Oral I.V." by RHTR LLC.
Touted as an oral rehydration solution, Oral I.V. as a product is marketed squarely at our military and law enforcement personnel. Their claims sound too good to be true and there are reasons for this.
Mostly, that they ARE too good to be true.
While there is plenty of research that shows that you can attain excellent rehydration of severely dehydrated individuals with nothing but oral fluids, achieving results almost as quickly as administering intravenous fluids, the marketing hype behind Oral I.V. is so full of holes and inaccuracies it makes my brain meats hurt. Let's look at these claims and I'll pick them apart as we go.
Before we do that, I feel that I should mention that the product itself is supposedly based on the research of one Gerald Olarsch, a doctor of Naturopathy; who had a real hard-on for trace minerals. His research has been largely discredited over the years as have his outrageous claims of being able to, amongst other things, cure cancer with trace minerals. Of course, Oral I.V. talks a lot about trace mineral balances as being the alpha and omega of... Well... Everything.

We'll start with one of Oral I.V.'s primary claims. Note, all of these are direct quotes from RHTR, LLC.

The ORAL I.V.™ Story - Rapid Cellular Hydration
Red blood cells are the transport mechanism through which all the cells in the body and brain receive oxygen, minerals and water - the building blocks of human function. Even if there is abundant water in your system, the osmotic pressure of the red blood cell will not permit the absorption of water absent the correct electrolytic balance. Dehydration and the acidic (sugar filled) diet of North Americans cause red blood cells to lose their external negative charge. As a result, they clump together like this:

When your blood cells are clumped together, water, oxygen and essential minerals can no longer get to or through all the little capillaries in your body. As such, systemic hydration is impossible.
Unlike any other beverage available, ORAL I.V.™ changes the conductivity of the cell within 60 seconds of consumption through its unique formulation of Crystalloid Electrolytes and ultra-purified oxygenated water. This results in an immediate change to the electro-static charge as well as the osmotic pressure of the red blood cells. They absorb water quickly (shimmering white centers) causing instantaneous cellular hydration. The restored negative charge of the red blood cells keeps them apart as seen here:

These charged and hydrated blood cells can freely flow to every cell in the body, passing individually if necessary, through the smallest of blood vessels resulting in immediate and profound hydration. This further ensures the delivery to all cells essential micronutrients in microscopic crystalloid form for optimal cellular function.

While parts of this initial claim are accurate enough, the rest is a jumbled mish-mash. Given orally, it is not physically possible for anything to take effect systemically in 60 seconds. It's utter hogwash. Absorption just doesn't occur that fast with anything taken orally, I don't care how great the electrolytes are. Instantaneous cellular rehydration is complete horse puckey, it is simply against the laws of physics.

Secondly, a large part of the mechanism for nutrient and fluid absorption in the gut is powered by sugars, by which I mean to say that absorption rates are vastly increased in the presence of sugars, notably glucose. Oral I.V. has no sugar. You will note that the WHO recommendations for an appropriate oral rehydration solution includes sugar.

Thirdly, crystalloid electrolytes are NOT unique. Every single eletrolyte supplement on the market uses crystalloid electrolytes. The term has been shanghaied from medical terminology where it is used to differentiate between types of intravenous fluid supplements, meant for fluid resuscitation, also referred to as volume replacement.
Crystalloid solutions are typically things like saline, dextrose and lactated ringer's. A colloid solution refers to products that contain larger molecules like starch or gelatin. The latter are also referred to as volume expanders. They are typically not taken orally in a medical capacity.
Note that I am not trying to say that electrolyte balance isn't important. It is, and very much so.
And finally, the mention of an acidic diet is really spurious as well. You'll see lots of pseudo-science relating to the acidity of diet having all sorts of effects but I've yet to see a single, peer-reviewed study that backs up... Well... Any of these claims.

Moving on to more claims.

CRYSTALLOID ELECTROLYTE RAPID REHYDRATION FLUID
BY COBRA INDUSTRIES™
WORLD-WIDE PATENT PENDING FORMULA
Electrolyte and essential mineral replacement is crucial in restoring proper blood sugar levels, and is necessary for enzymatic reactions that promote correct blood volume. Without them the quality of performance during long-term or explosive short-term exercise decreases. ORAL I.V. has been formulated to provide Crystalloid Electrolytes and essential trace minerals to keep the body operating at peak performance.
Promotes faster recovery from injury stress or strenuous exercise
Quickly heightens concentration and alertness
Supports neurotransmitter function in the brain
Increases oxygen uptake at the cellular level
Dramatically boosts energy levels and strengthens the immune system
Raises osmotic pressure level of cells to keep them strong
Increases body enzyme production
Helps keep the body's homeostasis balance
Aids in efficient removal of toxic body acids
Enhances uptake of vitamins, macro minerals, proteins and other essential nutrients from natural food sources or dietary supplements
Helps to reestablish healthy pH levels

Despite the claim of a world-wide patent pending, I've been unable to find any patent applications relating to this. If any of my readership has better patent-fu than I do, I'd love to see it.
Again, there are a lot of claims here that are partially true, but heavily exaggerated.
Restores proper blood sugar levels? How? Where does the sugar come from?
Enzymatic reactions that promote correct blood volume? All the enzymes in the world aren't going to replace actual fluids. Note that Oral I.V. come in containers only a few milliliters in volume.
I could go on, but I don't much see the point. Moving on.

WHAT ARE ELECTROLYTES?
Electrolyte is a "medical/scientific" term for mineral salts, specifically ions. Electrolytes are the spark that keeps our bodies running. They are necessary for life. They are important because our cells (especially nerve, heart, and muscle) use them to maintain voltage across cell membranes and to carry electrical impulses (nerve impulses, muscle contractions) across to other cells.
These electro-chemicals influence the body's pH – a chemical balance that determines how effectively the biological systems run. When there is a deficiency of body electricity, body functions slow down and eventually stop. Micronutrients play an important role in energy production, hemoglobin synthesis and maintenance of bone health, adequate immune function and the protection of body tissues from oxidative damage. They are also required to help build and repair muscle tissue following exercise.
Electrolytes facilitate delivery of oxygen to achieve and maintain peak brain function and proper nervous system response. The constant firing of micro-electric impulses across the synapses of the brain requires a great deal of energy. Only electrolytes can supply this. If, because of an imbalance, there isn't enough oxygen available for the nerve cells to fire when needed, the brain functions less effectively. The body uses oxygen to turn nutrients into energy through the process of primary oxygenation. This simply means that electrolytes help the oxygen create a chemical reaction that ultimately allows the body to "burn" the nutrients as fuel. In a nutshell, bio-oxidation liberates energy – which facilitates life.

Again, truths mixed with complete hogwash. Yes, electrolytes are important. Incredibly so. Hyponatremia, hypokalemia, etc, etc, can all kill you in a hurry if not treated. The most common of those tends to be hyponatremia, as sodium is the primary salt lost through sweating. But, a deficiency of body electricity? Pseudo-science. Electrolytes are also not responsible for delivery of oxygen. That task falls to hemoglobin, a large, complex protein molecule. Nor do electrolytes actually provide cellular energy. What they do provide is what is called an "action potential" or a difference of charge across membranes. This sudden change in charge is accomplished by the movement of sodium and potassium ions through cellular structures referred to as the sodium-potassium gates. However, actual cellular energy is provided by ATP or Adenosine-Triphosphate. ATP is what ultimately powers all biological processes.

ELECTROLYTE/MINERAL SUPPLEMENTATION

When the human body is electrolyte deficient, vital nutrients are not effectively oxidized. This compromises the body's ability to get the fuel it needs to run at peak performance. Dehydration severely limits performance and may contribute to heat stroke, organ damage, and possibly death if the fluids are not replaced. Electrolytes are the life-giving force lost in the dehydration process accounting for the risk factor.

Sport drink and supplement manufacturers claiming their electrolyte-forming trace minerals facilitate proper rehydration may be only partially correct. According to Dr. Gerald Olarsch, N.D., too few trace minerals in a drink are unable to form the proper electrolyte balance to enter the cells and maximize rehydration. Too many trace minerals in combination can actually prevent electrolyte formation. The proper combinations of trace minerals are necessary for maximum hydration and to provide the benefits sought.

Dehydration DOES severely impact performance. But trace minerals have very little importance when it comes to hydration status. Rather, the movement of sodium is the major force at work. As the body loses water, a series of complex processes occur, which largely aim to restrict sodium loss and increases sodium reabsorption by the kidneys, thus conserving water, in an attempt to keep volume levels where they should be. And dehydration is largely a volume problem. You can quite literally go into hypovolemic shock from dehydration.
Too many trace minerals can not in any way impede "electrolyte formation". This is again complete hooey. Electrolytes are simply mineral compounds that disassociate when in an aqueous solution, in this case, blood. To simplify, a sodium chloride molecule (read: salt) becomes one sodium+ ion and one Chloride- ion when introduced into an aqueous solution. They do not need to "form". Which brings me to another claim. This one is actually from a primary vendor of the product.

What is ORAL IV?

ORAL IV is an Oral Rehydration solution that provides the critical electrolytes your body needs and nothing else; ORAL IV does not contain any sugars or stimulants. It can be consumed directly of added to 16 ounces of water or other liquids.

Why is ORAL IV better than other Oral Hydration solutions?

The minerals in ORAL IV are not compounded; they do not have to be digested or broken down and are absorbed directly upon contact with all mucous membranes. The actual particle size of the mineral ions is much smaller than other products, and they have a more powerful electrical charge... this allows them to pass freely through cellular membranes without requiring cellular energy.

Is ORAL IV all I need?

No… ORAL IV does not replenish any more water that the 15mL that is in the bottle; you must also drink fluids (we recommend just water) along with ORAL IV. What ORAL IV does do is immediately provide the electrolytes that your body needs, making your body more efficient at using the water you do take in.

What is in ORAL IV?

ORAL IV is 11 minerals; copper, iodine, manganese, zinc, potassium, cobalt, sodium, selenium, chromium, silica, and boron in purified water. Nothing more.

Is ORAL IV approved by the FDA?

ORAL IV is considered a dietary supplement; there is no approval process from the US Food and Drug Administration for dietary supplements. There are of course requirements that the manufacturer ensure the supplement is safe and that any claims made are factual. ORAL IV strictly adheres to these requirements and is completely safe.

Ok, so primarily the biggest goof here that annoys me is this nonsense about their mineral ions being somehow smaller than other products. That's unbelievably retarded. An atom doesn't change size. Nor do they somehow magically acquire a more powerful electrical charge!
The only good part in this section is that they actually tell you to drink water with it. Yay! Finally, some sense!
Of course, they immediately ruin it with the stuff that comes next. Including the whole "factual claims" garbage.

Lastly, I'm going to include an excerpt from their literature.

Aspartame is a very popular sugar substitute, having substantially negative effects on the human body. Aspartame comes with a list of potential side effects, with the most profound being the possible detrimental effect on the neurotransmitters in the brain.6 Headaches are a common side effect of aspartame (sometimes camouflaged as phenylalanine on the label). Other symptoms may be joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, cramps, vertigo and dizziness. Scientific studies performed on aspartame to establish its safety prior to FDA approval revealed brain tumors and grand mal seizures in rats during the studies. When exposed to heat, aspartame breaks down into toxic methyl alcohol.7 This can occur during hot summer temperatures inside uncooled warehouses where drinks are stored, and drinking them may cause recurrent headaches, mental aberrations, seizures, and many consumers have suicidal tendencies. It has been implicated in Parkinson's disease and as a contributor to Alzheimer's.8 A substantial number of people suffering from aspartame poisoning have been misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Removal of aspartame from the diet often leads to the disappearance of symptoms. Aspartame may not affect all users in the same way although side effects may be difficult to pin point as a result of using this common sweetener.
Another new sweetener is Acesulfame K. This is becoming more prevalent in some sport drinks. Tests show that the additive cause's cancer in animals, which means it may increase cancer in humans.

I admit that I'm not necessarily a big fan of chemical additives like artificial sweeteners, but realistically the weight of evidence suggests that within reason, these chemical additives are safe. This kind of fearmongering is typical of the naturopathy crowd, which as a field, isn't really renowned for it's scientifically sound foundation.
So, to address a few of the claims here. Yes, Aspartame can form methyl alcohol, more commonly known as methanol. However, some fruit juices have higher concentrations than what you see in aspartame-sweetened drinks that have been improperly stored. Interestingly, while the above text contains what looks like references to studies, no actual links or names of studies are provided as reference. Nor does any of the available literature provide any kind of references for their claims. Also, aspartame is NEVER disguised as phenylalanine. That one almost made my head explode. Phenylalanine is an AMINO ACID, one that can be found in such every day things like... Oh, meat. Not only that, it's an essential amino acid, meaning we need to have it and we can't make it ourselves. It's also found in breast milk. Oh noes, the poisons!
The connection with aspartame is simply that as your body metabolizes aspartame, one of the metabolic products is phenylalanine, something that can be of concern if you suffer from the genetic disorder phenylketonuria. Note that the numbers in the above quoted text are present in the original text as well, and present in a manner that suggests references, of which there are none.

To sum up, Oral I.V., while it might work as a simple electrolyte supplement, is not going to perform the many miraculous tasks that RHTR, also known as Warrior Wound Care, claims that it will. You can just as easily maintain good hydration status by adding something like the Nuun or Camelbak Elixir tablets to your hydration bladder or water bottle and just maintaining good hydration discipline in general.
The claims that RHTR makes are almost entirely snake oil and it pisses me off to no end that they market this so aggressively to our military. I've seen several high-profile people in the tactical industry mention this product, and while I intend no offense, their opinions seem to be largely based in marketing hype and sheer ignorance. An ignorance that it seems obvious that Warrior Wound Care is taking advantage of.
I may at some point link to various references, but I'd strongly suggest just doing the research yourselves. Take responsibility for your own life and knowledge.

Addendum: I just stumbled over yet another product blurb from Oral I.V., this time courtesy of the website of one of their vendors. Lots more pseudo-scientific garbage that has no basis in reality.
This time they're stating that within seconds of coming into contact with any mucosal membrane their product changes the conductivity of all tissues throughout the body! That's brilliant! Given that the "conductivity" of cells is a closely regulated process that works only within an extremely narrow range of values, this can't be bad at all... Can it? Read it for yourself, folks. This is about as realistic as the Shopping Network. Next up, you might see these folks trying to sell you a Sham-WOW.
Oral I.V. Flier

Addendum 2: I have attempted a few times now to get a response from RHTR, LLC and a few of their vendors in a vain attempt to get them to provide me with anything in the way of a reference for any of their claims. So far, no response.

Multitasker Series2 AR-specific multitool - A review

2011-07-29T13:54:00.007-06:00

(This product provided by the manufacturer.)

When most people talk about multitools, generally you'll hear only a few names. Leatherman, SOG and Gerber. Occasionally a Swiss Army tool will be mentioned, but 9 times out of 10, it's those first three. It is a rare thing to see a newcomer to this market which is so heavily dominated by massive companies, and especially so when this newcomer is an agile one-man operation. Multitasker is headed up by Shane Keng and has only been around actively for a fairly short time.

In that short amount of time, Multitasker has managed to severely impress me, not just with the quality and innovation of their designs, but also with their responsiveness to customer feedback and input.

So what does Multitasker bring to the table with their tools? We are going to look at that today, starting with their flagship tool, the Series2 AR-specific multitool.

As per the usual routine, we'll start with some specs.

The Series2 is precision EDM-machined, not cast like the competition.

- Needle-Nose pliers with wire cutter jaws, roller bearing pivot, EDM-machined out of billet D2 tool steel. Melonite finish to prevent rust.

- G10 composite grip scales, textured for extra grip.

- Brass-bodied dental pick/scraper, which is threaded to the Series2 with 8-32 male threads to make it compatible with the OTIS cleaning kits.

- 2.5 inch long, 440C American tanto-style knife blade with a liner lock.

- Carbon scraper with a specifically radiused tip to fit AR bolt tails.

- File with a 5/16 flat-head screwdriver tip.

- 3/8” box-end wrench for adjusting LaRue optic mounts.

- Castle-Nut wrench
- Lanyard loop attachment point.

- Standard 1/4 inch hex drive bit attachment with a magnetic holder. 10 bits are included in a polymer carrier, which counts an A2-style 4 prong front sight adjustment tool.

- Overall length, closed: 4 inches
- Weight: 11 Oz.

So, obviously, the Series2 is not a small tool, but when you look at the sheer number of separate tools that it replaces, it is still significantly lighter than it would be to carry all of these separate tools.

What blows me away with the Series2 is the sheer quality of construction. The pliers are simply a work of art. There is, to my knowledge, no other manufacturer that comes even close to making something as well-made as the pliers on the Series2. Without fail, all the other manufacturers use investment casting for their pliers and that's something I'm not a big fan of. Cast steel has an unfortunate tendency to break under flexural stress, largely because of the grain structure. You simply don't have that problem with something that is machined from billet. And when that something is machined from D2 tool steel and not some relatively low-grade stainless steel like 420HC... Well, it steps it up another notch.
You can see more detail in the following video where I also compare it to the most obvious competitor, the Leatherman MUT.

Next up, we'll look at a whole bunch of pictures to really get into the meat-n-potatoes of the tool and further compare it with the Leatherman.

The Series2 uses nicely textured G10 scales for grip and comfort and can be entirely serviced with a torx driver.

The pliers are Melonited, the same finish used on such firearms as the Glock, Springfield Armory XD and S&W M&P. Incredibly tough and rust-resistant, it's arguably one of the best treatments around.

I have a distinct feeling that I'll never snap the pliers on this tool, like I have on Gerbers and Leathermans in the past...

As is evident, the Series2 is a serious bit of tool. Very beefy and hand-filling.

Note the wire-cutters. While not replaceable, they're still made from a far better steel than the ones you typically see. D2 is a steel that is made for, amongst other things, cutting other steels.

Note the ultra-clean machining of the pliers and how well the serrations fit together.

The tanto blade. Typical Americanized tanto style with a slightly dropped tip. Very handy and since it's made out of 440C, the steel is decent, albeit not ground-breaking. Far and above better than the typical 420HC steel you see on most tools.

You can see the liner lock for the knife blade here. Note that due to the layout, this is set up as if this was a lefty liner lock. A bit surprising at first, but something you get used to quickly. There is also a tab on the tang of the blade that prevents the liner lock from over-travel. This will keep the lock functional even with extensive wear.

The aluminum-bronze washers can be seen here. These are found throughout the tool and are both durable and smooth. Again, not a common feature.

The coarse side of the file. A single-cut, smoother file is found on the other side.

Here you can see the bearing cover which protects the roller bearings, which accounts for the extreme smoothness and precision of the pliers. There is zero slop in this pivot.

The carbon scraper. The radiused edge is a near-perfect fit for the curvature on the tail of an AR bolt.

All the tools deployed. The castle nut wrench works remarkably well, despite being meant only to function as an emergency tool. Very beefy. Also, the flat-head tip on the file fits the screws on my Daniel Defense rail as if it was made for it. I should also point out that none of these tools are stamped or cast. They are wire-EDM'ed out of sheet stock.

The sheath that the Series2 comes with. In this iteration it's a 1000 denier Cordura with an EVA foam hardshell. MOLLE-compatible, this does an admirable job of holding the tool. This case is likely to change in the future though.

You can see the polymer bit carrier here. Fits neatly inside the sheath. You can mix and match your own bits to fit your specific needs. I think this is a huge advantage over the proprietary bits that the Leatherman uses.

Comparison between the MUT and Series2. Note that the MUT is significantly longer. Mostly because of the rather silly hammer/shroud cutter. Mind you, it's a question of time before somebody cuts themselves badly on that shroud cutter. Very poor design.

Note here the difference in machining quality between the Leatherman MUT and the Series2 pliers.

Take a wild guess which of these has the beefier, stronger pliers.

Rather obvious in this shot that the tolerances and machining is far better on the Series2.

Here you can also see the other two Multitasker tool offerings, the Tube and the Ultralight. Expect reviews of those coming up shortly!

The Series2 multi-tool is a fantastic option for anybody that regularly uses an AR, whether it's for work or for fun. It's a perfect range-bag tool and I think it has a definite place even in the kit of someone on a deployment or in LE. The compatability with the OTIS cleaning kits, which is one of the most commonly used kits out there, alone makes it a great bit of kit.

And when you compare it to the biggest competitor, the Leatherman MUT, in a lot of ways it frankly blows the MUT out of the water. The quality of construction and material choices, the standard bits, the tool selection (no frontsight adjuster on the MUT), all come together to provide an almost unbeatable package.

Now, that being said, there are a couple of things I wouldn't mind seeing changed on future versions.

Primarily, having a locking mechanism for the stock wrench would really improve the overall quality. Frankly, having a locking option for most of the tools would be very nice. I would also prefer to have the tool necessary to service the pivot included. I'm big on being able to service and care for my own tools so that would be a very nice accessory.

And lastly, replaceable wire cutter jaws. That is the one feature that I think the MUT has on the Series2. The good news is, Shane is already working on putting that on the next version of his tool.

Now, what might be a non-starter for some people is that the tools are manufactured in China. And while I also prefer US-made gear, in most cases that just isn't possible. Even Leatherman who proudly proclaims that their products are made in the US, gets the vast majority of their parts manufactured overseas. For instance, the hammer portion, that also holds the strap cutter, is a metal-injection-molding piece from a vendor in India and that's just one part out of several that are not made in the US. You don't see that in the fine print however. So, I wouldn't let that stop you from getting one of these. The quality is just so much better than any other tool on the market.

And Shane Keng is fantastically responsive to his customers and backs the product 100 percent, barring seriously retarded abuse by the end-user.

To conclude this first installment of the Multitasker reviews, I can only say that I recommend this multi-tool without reservation. They retail for about 105, and can be found at places like Brownell's online.

Special Circumstances Aggressor Variant-1 for sale

2011-07-27T10:00:00.004-06:00

Here is the latest pushdagger done as an Aggressor variant. Asymmetrical in both handle and blade, this has an overall length of right under 5 inches and a blade that is roughly 2.75 inches long. Double-edged compound grind blade made from 6AL-4V Titanium, laminated to woven carbon fiber composite, with a tungsten carbide embedded edge. The handle is made from non-woven carbon fiber, dimpled with my signature texturing, which wraps around 360 degrees on the handle. The sheath is kydex, using my shock-cord attachment system, designed for wear OWB either horizontally or vertically.It can also be fitted with a Tek-Lok or attached to MOLLE webbing. When carried vertically, the knife can be drawn with either hand and despite the asymmetrical handle, it is surprisingly comfortable in either hand.

Asking price for this one is ~~250~~ Sold!dollars shipped Priority Mail inside the US and to APO/FPO addresses. Buyer is responsible for determining legality in their area.

A couple interesting new products

2011-07-18T22:16:00.001-06:00

The guys over at Predator Armament just added a couple of very interesting-looking products that, if it got me a chance to review them, I'd bludgeon a midget to death with a decomposing cat for.

The first one is from Ares Armor, one of the up-and-comers in the tactical gear market. The guys at Ares are heavy on the innovation and if they keep this up, the big boys are going to have to watch out.
The EFFIN-A (nice acronym, eh?) AR compensator is a unique little beastie. It is highly customizable, by virtue of 28 ports that can be either left open or closed individually. This is an unprecedented level of customization for a muzzle-brake. But wait, there's more! You can also stack more than one of these brakes, attaching them in series for additional compensation. It's right under a hundred bucks and comes in Black Oxide or Stainless.
EFFIN-A Compensator by Ares Armor

I'd love to test this thing against the AAC Non-Mount Muzzle-Brake that I'll be testing here shortly.

Second one up is a new product from Australian gearmaker, SORD. SORD has been known for producing some rather excellent "tactical" softshell jackets in the past but have more and more branched out into the tactical nylon market. The ARAC or Advanced Releasable Armor Carrier, is the result of this diversification.
Designed in collaboration with Jason Falla of Redback One, this carrier is designed to be compact and allow for the wearer to maintain his mobility.
The release system is apparently also in a class by itself and is reputed to be very reliable.
And on top that, it comes not just in MultiCam, which a lot of people are kind of sick of, but in the new A-TACS camouflage, a VERY effective pattern!
You can check that out here: Advanced Releasable Armor Carrier By SORD.

If any of my readers (Yes, you. No, not you. You in the shirt. Yeah, I'm watching you. ) have experience with either of these products, I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

Situational Awareness article

2011-07-15T12:18:00.000-06:00

My good friend Morgan Atwood over at BFE Labs has written an article about situational awareness. It's a bit long as he's a wordy bastich, but it is well worth the read. Go check it out and if you post a comment, tell him I sent you!

Cultivating Awareness

Current state of the art in emergency care education and why it is flawed.

2011-07-11T12:50:00.000-06:00

The title may seem a little dramatic to some and to some extent that is intentional.
We'll start with the beginning.
I am currently doing pre-requisite classes to enter into a Paramedic program with the ultimate goal of an Associate's Degree in Emergency Medicine. During this program, I have noticed several rather annoying and to some extent disturbing flaws with the curriculum. The textbooks that we are required to use are filled with glaring flaws. Downright inaccurate information, some of which appears to have been pulled out of thin air. Fabricated from whole cloth.
These are flaws that not only the authors should have known better than to put on paper, but that somehow also escaped the oversight of a rather large group of editors, all of whom should also know better. And in some cases, these mistakes are some that if not nipped in the bud by the instructors could ultimately cause a patient to lose their life.
To wit, in the 7th edition of the Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support textbook, one of the most glaring errors was in the way they demonstrated, in a pictorial, how to administer a tourniquet using an Israeli Trauma Dressing, colloquially known as an "Izzy-D". The pictorial was an excellent demonstration of how to apply a pressure dressing. However, if applied in the manner shown you would not only not be able to achieve occlusion of the vessels, in attempting to get enough constriction, you would likely also damage the dressing and thus prevent it from working even as a pressure dressing.
That one may be the most grievous of errors and could quite likely result in a patient losing their life.
The others that I have found are more innocuous but to some extent demonstrate a lack of understanding of even basic concepts when it comes to biology and pathophysiology.
For instance, in my EMT-Basic textbook, in a section about metabolic emergencies, it was stated quite clearly that without insulin the brain cannot make use of glucose and will quickly starve. This is a patent falsehood, as the brain is one of the only organs that CAN utilize glucose without insulin being present.
Another error that demonstrates a lack of understanding of the biological processes involved is in the 7th edition PHTLS textbook. In the section about the pathophysiology of shock, the book goes over cellular metabolism, notably aerobic and anaerobic metabolism and the differences between the two.
It is when it comes to anaerobic metabolism that their explanation turns into fantasy, as they state that anaerobic metabolism utilizes stored bodyfat as the energy source.
Again, patently untrue. Anybody with even an introductory class in biology could tell you that this is entirely wrong. Anaerobic metabolism in humans uses a process referred to as homolactic fermentation, where the cells ferment pyruvate into lactic acid in a redox reaction. It is significantly less efficient than oxidative phosphorylation, producing only 2 molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose, instead of the roughly 34-36 molecules produced by the oxidative process. The lactic acid would, in ideal conditions, be removed from the blood by the liver, however, the process of removal in the liver requires oxygen which is absent when the body is in shock and thus it builds up in the blood, leading to metabolic acidosis, which eventually leads to a cascade of system failures throughout the body as shock becomes irreversible.
Nowhere in this process is stored body fat used as an energy source! The idea is preposterous!

These are just a few examples of glaring errors that are present throughout these textbooks and frankly, I could go on at even greater length. These errors are then also sometimes exacerbated by instructors who seem to have forgotten a great many things. It worries me, as both a medic and as a possible "customer" of the Emergency Care system, that so many completely wrong things are being taught. It is my firm conviction that the standards should be raised drastically, both for textbooks, but also for EMTs in general, both instructors and students.

Maxpedition Gleneagle messenger bag review

2011-06-27T09:51:00.008-06:00

This will be the second review of a Maxpedition bag here at SCI, and it is a very different product than the Kodiak single-shoulder bag that I reviewed previously.
In my continuing quest to find the ideal EDC bag, and realizing that the Kodiak simply wasn't big enough, I started looking at the various messenger bags on the market, with a specific eye towards being able to not only carry my textbooks but also being able to relatively discreetly carry my usual EDC complement of pistol, magazines, trauma kit, etc etc.
There is a plethora of messenger-type bags available at this time. And I'm sure the number is steadily growing. Lots of uber-tactical looking ones as well, with MOLLE and velcro all over them. I decided I wanted something a little more discreet, although admittedly, the Maxpedition Gleneagle isn't exactly subtle either.
Those who know, immediately see it for what it is, but there are still a lot of people out there that have no idea and just see a messenger bag. But I'll talk about that in more detail a little further on. First, let's look at the specifications as provided by Maxpedition.

Product Features

Design collaboration with EGL
Main: 19"(L) x 4.5"(W) x 12"(H), fully lined with loop
Frontal pockets (2):9"(L) x 2" (W) x 9" (H)
Sheath pockets (2):1.5"(L) x 1"(W) x 7.5"(H)
Lid sleeve pocket:18"(L) x 10.5"(W)
Max. shoulder strap length:62"
Max. waist belt circumference:62"
Combat ready tactical messenger bag
Enhanced for concealed carry and internal modularization
Zipper on lid allows access to main comp. without lifting flap
Adjustable 2" quick release shoulder strap
Adjustable and removable 1" waist belt
External 6"(L) x 4"(W) loop field for attaching ID patches

Product Materials

1000-Denier water and abrasion resistant light-weight ballistic nylon fabric

Teflon® fabric protector for grime resistance and easy maintenance

high strength zippers and zipper tracks

UTX-Duraflex nylon buckles for low sound closures

Triple polyurethane coated for water resistance

High tensile strength nylon webbing

High tensile strength composite nylon thread (stronger than ordinary industry standard nylon thread)

Internal seams taped and finished

Paracord zipper pulls

Stress points double stitched, Bartacked or "Box-and-X" stitched for added strength

It should be immediately apparent that the Gleneagle is not a small bag. To say the least. One of the bigger messenger bags on the market right now as far as I've seen.

It is a nice looking bag however and with the exception of the loop field on the lid flap, it doesn't look too tacti-cool. My pardons in advance for the quality of the pictures.

The front of the Gleneagle. You can see the loop field where I mounted a Milspec-Monkey morale patch. The lid flap locks in place with the two side-release buckles you see on the front. No velcro underneath the flap.

The back of the Gleneagle. You can see the carry handle and the very sturdy attachment points. Also note the removable waist belt. There is no real way to stow this waist belt. I have merely cinched it almost as short as it will go. The middle panel is open both top and bottom. I imagine this is meant to facilitate carrying it on a luggage cart or by slipping the handle of a wheeled trunk through.

Sideview of the Gleneagle. Note that the shoulder strap goes all the way around the bag. Note also that the bottom isn't really flat. Somewhat of an oversight, that, as the bag really can't stand up unassisted. Also visible is the side pocket. This is ostensibly meant to be a suppressor pocket, which I find to be a slightly ludicrous idea. Realistically, the vast majority of Maxpedition customers will never use this feature. A bottle pocket would be a far more useful feature.

Top view. The zipper visible in the picture allows almost instant access to the main compartment. This is the only concession towards making this bag concealed-carry friendly. Having a separate weapons compartment would be much better. Preferably with a bit of padding.

The inside of the Gleneagle. Note that all the pouches you see are purchased separately and the interior of the bag is completely devoid of any organizational features other than the interior being mostly covered in loop. You can also see on the front of the bag, the slit pockets behind the two main front pockets. I usually carry my netbook in the manner that you see in the picture. It works quite well in that location and as the netbook is sandwiched in between the front pocket and the main compartment, it is quite well-protected.

The inside of one of the aforementioned slit pockets. Note the strip of loop. I have not been able to figure out a good use for that strip of loop fabric. This pocket should have been lined entirely with loop fabric instead.

The inside of one of the two front pockets. Very roomy. You can fit any number of things into these, quite easily. This pocket has trauma gear in it. Note the strip of loop fabric. Again, this is difficult to find a use for. Lining the pocket entirely with loop fabric would be a far better solution and improve the organizational capabilities of the bag immensely.

The inside of the lid pocket. I have sometimes carried papers in here, but generally, I don't find much use for it.

I ended up getting it in a foliage green, which is a pretty decent color. Not too glaring, not too obviously Desert Tan. It is, as is evident from the pictures, a rather sturdy bag. I doubt that I will ever wear it out.

The Gleneagle isn't a terrible bag, but it does have several areas that could stand improvement.

First, the distribution and location of the loop fabric seems odd. The manufacturers specifications state that the main compartment is fully lined with loop fabric. This is a bit of a fib, as only the front and back walls are fully covered in loop. The side walls have each a 4 inch wide strip mounted directly below where the zipper ends but that is it. And the bottom has no loop fabric at all. That doesn't quite qualify as "fully lined" in my book.

Also, the slit pockets behind the two front pockets, those only have, as seen in the pictures above, a 2 inch strip of loop mounted on the outer side of the pocket. I just cannot think of any use for this as you can't mount pouches to it and it's located right below the lip of the pocket. Bloody useless if you ask me.

I also think they could have used considerably less velcro for the flaps of the front pockets. The strip is so wide that you can literally pick up a fully loaded bag by the flap alone and the velcro will hold it. This actually makes it difficult sometimes to open the pocket. A strip half as wide would do nicely. Additionally, the inside of the two front pockets have a strip of velcro at the top of the pockets. Just a narrow strip, which I have been unable to find a use for.

And then there are the "suppressor pockets". Also known as: the most useless pockets ever.

These pockets are long and thin, with a velcro fastened lid. This lid is non-adjustable and the pocket itself has almost no give. It is too deep to stick a regular 2-cell tactical flashlight in, as it would fall out of reach and it is too narrow to use with the larger, multi-cell flashlights. Hell, a regular Maglite won't fit. The only thing I've found to use in that pocket is a set of trauma shears. It works and you can see it in the pictures, but it is frankly kind of retarded. I didn't realize quite how useless these pockets would be, until I actually had the bag in hand.

Another annoyance is that the flaps that cover the two front pockets do not provide full protection against weather. There is, almost no matter what you might do, a sizable gap where dirt or water can enter the pockets. This is exacerbated if you carry the bag slung across your back. There are also no drainage holes in the bottoms of these pockets, so if you do get caught in a long downpour, expect those pockets to potentially fill with water. Again, this seems a huge oversight on their behalf. You can pretty much forget storing anything sensitive to environmental hazards in those pockets. I live in New Mexico, so we don't get much rain. Using this bag in a place like Washington or Oregon? Fuhgeddaboutit.

After using the Gleneagle for a little while, I realized that it suffered from some of the same issues as the Kodiak and was in dire need of a framesheet to stiffen it up some. The Gleneagle is completely un-padded and it was supremely uncomfortable to use with anything of substance in the main compartment. Like, for instance, a firearm. So, as can be spotted in the pictures up above, I made and installed a kydex framesheet which vastly improved the comfort and usefulness of the bag. This also had the effect of making accessing the contents of the bag easier, as it had less of a tendency to collapse on itself. A strip of kydex in the bottom also helped that some.

Frankly, calling this bag "combat ready" is marketing hype of the highest order. As is saying that it is "enhanced for concealed carry".

Now, all this sounds pretty negative, but the Gleneagle does have good points. It is exceedingly roomy. It collapses down in size well when it is not being filled to the brim. It is, like all of Maxpeditions' gear, incredibly sturdy and it looks pretty nice. But it could use any number of improvements in design, which is somewhat surprising as the designer, who owns Extreme Gear Labs, has a reputation for designing very well thought out products. I wouldn't say this is really one of them. To some extent, I think this may well be the last Maxpedition bag that I buy, as I can't really recommend this bag. Just too many areas that need improvement. I will probably keep using it, but that's largely because my wife would kill me if I bought another bag...

Novacularis Vulcanus - A new direction in design for Special Circumstances Inc.

2011-06-13T12:15:00.000-06:00

While I have always been fascinated by straight razors, largely due to their depictions in movies and literature, as I've grown older, I've begun to appreciate some of the more old-fashioned ways of life and my appreciation for the idea of shaving with a straight razor has grown proportionately. Of course, if you want a high-quality straight razor these days, you generally have two options. Luck on eBay/ local fleamarkets or purchase a new/restored one for around a hundred dollars or more. So, being the curmudgeonly sort and quite cheap, I decided to make one for myself. This was also somewhat of an experiment just to see if it was possible for me to even build a functional razor with my typical materials selection. And the first time I've ever built something that folded. And in a particularly perverse spark of design inspiration, this would also be the first time that I would attempt a hollow grind. By hand. With a file.

Enough with the pre-amble, on to the meat of the matter!

Introducing the Novacularis Vulcanus, Novacula for short. Named in my usual fashion, in Latin, the words stand for "Vulcan's Razor".
This razor has an aggressive clip point, with a cutting edge length of right at 3.5 inches. Overall length while open is 9.25 inches with a closed length of 7 inches. The seemingly long closed length is due to the blade tail that does extend past the handle scales some. The blade itself is roughly 3/16ths of an inch thick, with a grind inspired by a traditional Japanese straight razor grind, that leaves one side flat ground almost all the way to the spine and the other side with a deep hollow grind. The blade is, of course, made from my usual combination of carbon fiber composite laminated with 6AL-4V titanium with a tungsten-carbide embedded edge.
The handle is made from translucent G10 composite, with a Tagua Nut backspacer. The Tagua Nut is another departure from my usual preference for synthetic materials, but I used it as a nod to the traditional ivory handles of the vintage straight razors, as Tagua Nut is a close analogue to natural ivory in appearance.

On to the pictures!

The blade before attaching it to the handle.

This grind was done entirely by hand, using a convex carbide-grit file and then finished to a lustre with escalating grit sizes of sand paper.

In this picture you can see the "right" side of the blade with the flat grind.

And the hollow grind on the other side.

Oddly, while the line where the carbon fiber meets the titanium seems to wobble a bit in the middle, the line on the spine is laser-straight.

Note that despite my drill press being monstrously out of true, the blade still centers in the handle.

Overall, I am quite pleased with how this turned out. There are things I would do differently the next time but this was without a doubt a learning experience. Now I get to teach myself how to sharpen a straight razor, which by all accounts is an arcane art in its own right. As it is right now, with my inexpert attempts at sharpening, this is still one of the sharpest knives that I've ever made. Not, sadly, sharp enough to truly shave with, although it will take hairs off your arm with little effort. On the plus side, it IS sharp, the point is evil personified and is thin and pointy enough to split an atom, the knife is exceedingly light and fast in the hand, and comfortable to boot. I am finding myself incapable of putting it down.

The magnesium firestarter - A how-to

2011-05-27T13:59:00.001-06:00

For years now, I've watched discussions unfold about the relative merits of the magnesium firestarter. Some people decry it as useless, others swear by it. One thing though that seems universal is in the methods used to employ one of these firestarters. The two most common are the knife method, basically following the instructions on the packaging, which uses a knife to scrape down the flat edge of the block to get magnesium shavings and the use of a file to accomplish the same.
The file is probably the easier of the two, assuming you have a sufficiently coarse file. If not, you'll be there for a long time. Either method will take a while and the shavings are typically almost powdery and quite light, which can make it difficult to keep them all in a neat little pile if it is windy. I think I have a better method. If you follow the video link below, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Addendum: It has come to my attention, courtesy of the crew at Wilderness Innovation that the Coghlan brand firestarters like what I have and that you see in the video, have an issue with the striker bar coming loose. It appears that the glue holding them in place just isn't very good and if you drop the firestarter, the striker rod may very well pop out. I tested this myself and sure enough; after only two drops on to a hard surface from roughly 3 feet, the striker bar popped out. I secured it in place with some flexible cyanoacrylate glue. Furthermore, the WI crew have also discovered that some of the generic magnesium firestarters work incredibly poorly or not at all. Your best bet will be to stick to a recognized brand like Doan. Caveat Emptor, folks.

New knife design - The Hobbes

2011-05-24T23:03:00.001-06:00

I have always enjoyed the line from Thomas Hobbes' political treatise, Leviathan, that said; "... the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ... "
It's a catchy little line and it inspired me to come up with a knife design that is indeed nasty, brutish and short.

Thus, without further ado, allow me to introduce The Hobbes.

The materials are, as most often, carbon fiber laminated with Titanium, with a tungsten carbide embedded edge and a garolite composite handle.

This is how the design started out, rough-sketched in marker on a piece of 6AL4V Titanium.

Laminated with carbon fiber and ready for scales. I have refined my process and now tend to do the gluing process in stages, which makes for a much more controllable outcome.

The other side of the blade. This was before I finalized the bevels and evened out a few asymmetries.

Almost finished, with the scales in place, and only final finishing to come. Carbidizing hasn't yet been done. I typically wait until the knife is entirely finished before I do that.

The scales are made of translucent green G11 composite.

The finished Hobbes. Sheath from .060 thick kydex with 1/4 inch eyelets. The top two holes towards the handle of the knife are spaced to be Tek-Lok compatible.

As you can see, the Hobbes is a seriously beefy blade. The handle, while short, provides surprisingly good control and grip, without being textured so coarsely that it would catch on, or destroy clothing that were to come into contact with the handle. The dimpled texture is also quite skin-friendly.

Overall lenght of the Hobbes is 8 3/4 inches with a blade length right at 5 inches. The blade, at its widest, is right about 2 inches wide.

And there you have it, folks. Nasty, brutish and short. The Hobbes.

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

2011-05-01T23:26:00.000-06:00

I don't normally do much in the way of political posts here, but this one bears writing.
Earlier today, US Special Forces assaulted a compound in Pakistan that harbored Osama Bin Laden. After a firefight, Osama Bin Laden was killed. There were, as of this report, no American casualties.
10 years of searching and thirst for revenge is finally coming to an end. Thank you to the United States Military for all that they've done for us and will continue to do for us, the people of the United States Of America. As for Osama Bin Laden, I hope your death was a slow one. I hope you had time to reflect, I hope you had time to suffer. Burn in hell.

Latest knife design - The Aggressor

2011-03-28T12:12:00.002-06:00

I've been a fan of pushknives for a very long time. I mean, what kid didn't see a picture of an Indian Katar and fantasize about owning one? I know I did! Over the few years that I've been making knives, I've come up with several different variants on the pushknife idea, most of them meant to get around the legalities of owning and carrying one, which are draconian in most areas. For that reason, I've mostly avoided the traditional T-handled designs, despite their benefits. No longer. This is the Aggressor.

At an overall length of right under 5 inches with a blade of right over 3 inches long and over 1.5 inches wide, the Aggressor provides a lot of blade for a VERY short overall package size. The wide blade makes a nice big wound channel and the grip - dimpled for grip - provides for a secure grip without excessive torquing in the hand. Materials used on this one are the same ones I almost always use. Carbon fiber laminated to 6AL4V titanium alloy, held together with two carbon fiber pins in the blade. The grip scales are made from green, translucent G11 composite with two translucent G10 pins in the handle.

The edge is impregnated with tungsten carbide and while it's not a shaving sharp edge, it will cut fibrous materials like clothing, meat and other things, with ease.

It is designed to be worn on the outside of your belt, horizontally, using my shock-cord attachment system.

This is a very secure mode of carry and with the non-slip foamed rubber I attach to the back of the sheath, the attachment system marries the sheath to your belt, ensuring that it won't move around and it will always stay in the same position. I advocate, based on the paradigms about in-fight weapons access established by the group at www.totalprotectioninteractive.com and from my training sessions at RBFC, that a blade like this should be carried towards your centerline, preferably accessible by either hand. I carry this to the left of the belt buckle and I can readily access this with either hand, with very little articulation of the shoulder required.

This is, for once, going to be my own personal piece, although I would be more than willing to make more for others. Expect to see a non-metallic variation, sometime in the future.

In this shot you can see the shock-cord used for the belt attachment. This would also allow you to attach the sheath securely to PALS or MOLLE webbing. Or to pretty much any other kind of webbing gear.

As you can see, the Aggressor is a very compact package.

The Aggressor in the sheath. Note that the sheath provides plenty of clearance to establish a full fighting grip on the knife immediately.

The Aggressor in the hand. You can of course also use this between the middle fingers, but I find that I have a more secure grip if the neck protrudes between my index and middle finger.

Lumapower Signature Tactical flashlight review

2011-03-05T00:20:00.005-07:00

(Reviewers note: This unit provided by the manufacturer for review.)

The market for so-called tactical flashlights gets ever more crowded on an almost daily basis. There is a bewildering array of options, often dominated by a few big names in the market; veritable giants like the much-revered Surefire and one or two others. So when a product comes on the market that can actually challenge these giants of industry and do so at a lower price point, it is hard to not get excited.
As regular readers may know, I've long been a fan of Lumapower Flashlights, a chinese manufacturer that came on the scene a few years back. Their quality has, in my experience, been consistently high, especially given their price point which is always reasonable.

The last light that I reviewed from Lumapower that fit the billing of a typical tactical/duty light was the M-1T, one of Lumapower's very first entries into the market. Things have come a long way since then!

Let's take a look at the current offering from Lumapower, the Signature Tactical.

Pretty, is it not? In a manly way, of course!

We'll start with the specifications as per the usual approach.

Overall Length: 139mm (Standard Version)
Body Diameter: 22.5 (Max) 20mm (Flat Surface)
Standard Package: Orange Peel Reflector (Optional Smooth)
Tactical Forward Clicky
4 levels of output via Lumapower SideKick III Digital Switch
Maximum, High, Medium, Low, and High Speed Strobe
Maximum output: 280 lumens
Construction: Type III HA Black over Aircraft Grade Aluminum, Square cut threads, double sided anti-reflective lense, spring steel pocket clip,
Cigar / Rogers Grip ring (removable)
GITD O-Ring (Lens) and Rubber Switch Cover, Lanyard Hole
Anti-roll, Tail Stand Ready
High Circuit efficiency without flickering
Wide Range Input Voltage (Fully Regulated At 4v to 10v, 2.4v-3.9v Semi Regulated)

Just a few years back, 280 lumens in a pocket-sized light, was almost unthinkable, but with the advances in LED technology, this is now more and more attainable. Let's talk about the output then.

Output
The LED in the Signature Tactical is a Cree XR-E R2. While that is no longer the state of the art, I have had this light for some time now and 280 lumens is still a hell of a lot of light!
The tint and output on the LED in this light are really quite nice. Pure white and very bright. It may well be one of the brightest EDC-type flashlights that I have.
The reflector is aluminum with a nicely done orange-peel texture, that produces a nice floody beam. There is a large central hotspot with a very even and artifact-free spillbeam and a smooth transition between hotspot and spillbeam. It's a fantastic utility light for both self-defense and every-day use, although it is not all that great for long distance. Being able to light up a large swath of my yard or the landscape around me does come in handy. It also works great mounted on a rifle, as the large spillbeam prevents you from getting too much tunnel-vision.

Here you can see the rather well-made reflector. This provides a very useful beam profile.

The lens is also coated and uses UCL glass.

The maximum output is listed as 280 lumens. The Signature Tactical can maintain this level for almost 3 hours! It also has three lower levels that are very nicely spaced, with the low being an eye-sparing 15-20 lumens that you can maintain for dozens of hours. There is also, as is becoming increasingly common, an eyeball-searing strobe function, which seems, like the other lights with a strobe function from Lumapower, to be set right in the 13-15 hertz range, for maximum visual disruption.

Build Quality & Design
Lumapower frankly outdid themselves on the Signature Tactical. The build quality is better than I've ever seen from them in the past and so is the design.
The narrow waist on the body of the light makes it sit very comfortably in the hand. Combined with the excellent diamond-knurling, your grip is very secure on the Signature. The knurling is especially nice in that it is quite grippy but not so aggressive that it will tear up your pockets or other things in your pockets.

Note in this picture that my pinky finger is resting on top of the SideKick switch. It is very easy to switch modes.

The tailcap has a two-lobed crenelation that guards the very positive forward clicky switch, which is covered with a textured rubber cap. The switch provides both an audible and a tactile feedback when you depress it all the way to put it in constant-on mode. At the same time, it is also smooth and responsive when used in the momentary mode. I really couldn't ask for a nicer switch!

Here you can see the guarded tailswitch. There are also two small lanyard holes. Not large enough to be used with paracord, unfortunately.

The inside of the tailcap. Note that the guts of the switch are easily replaceable.

On the side of the barrel is what Lumapower refers to as their SideKick-III switch.
This is a further evolution of the same switching system you saw on the Lumapower MVP-P7 that I reviewed here: Lumapower MVP-P7
This SideKick switching system is rather ingenious. It allows you to access all the various modes on the light, with a simple press on the side button, completely negating the need for odd sequences of button pushing that you might have to engage in on a different light. Click on the light in the rear, change modes on the side. Brilliant! Now, unlike the switch on the MVP-P7, the switch on the Signature is electronic, not mechanical.
I am frankly not entirely sure that I like this change, but I can understand why they did it, as the innards of the Signature are considerably smaller and making a purely mechanical switch that would also be durable in such a small space, might have been very difficult if not outright impossible.
Why don't I like this, you might ask. Well, the mechanical switch allows you to set the level of the light without actually having to turn on the light first. I found that to be a handy feature several times on the MVP. With the electronic switch on the Signature, the light does have to be turned on first before you can use the SideKick switch to change modes. One major reason, other than space constraints, that I can see for making this kind of design choice, is that with a light that you carry in your pocket, it is quite possible to accidentally switch the setting on the light. This could be problematic in some circumstances, so it may well be for the best in the long run. That all being said, if you depress the SideKick switch, and lightly press the tailswitch, you can change the modes rather quickly on the Signature with ease. You don't actually have to turn the light on first and then change the modes. And realistically, the mode switching is one of the better ones I've seen on any other light in this format.
Moving on to other parts of the light, the bezel is also crenelated but in a somewhat more aggressive fashion than the tailcap. It is not however, so aggressive that it looks weapon-like, which has been a complaint with other lights in the past. That is not to say that you could not effectively rake the living daylights out of an attackers face if you had to. Theoretically, that is.

The crenelated bezel. Quite subtle but useful. Also note the diagram on the side.

The machining quality is overall excellent and the little touches that Lumapower added really show off their level of forethought. For instance, all the threads on the Signature are of the square-cut variety. This type of thread is significantly more durable than conventional threading, which bodes well for the longevity of the Signature, especially when you add in the extra durability provided by the Type III anodizing that covers the entire light. All the machining is exceptionally crisp, with the subtle logos and other legends that you find on the light being also very crisp and not overly glaring. Towards the head of the Signature, there is a small diagram that shows the two types of batteries that can be used in the Signature and the proper orientation of these batteries. A very nice little touch.
Another nice touch is the anti-roll ring that is mounted under the tailcap. This ring also helps to facilitate the use of the light in the so-called cigar-grip, which is commonly used in conjunction with a firearm.
This ring is easily removable, although that does leave a gap and would make the pocket clip rather loose.
Said pocket clip, by the way, is fantastic! I've raved about the clip on the First Light Tomahawk before, and the Tomahawk clip is in its own class, but for a more typical light, similar in shape to many Surefire lights and others, this is possibly one of the best pocket clips I've ever seen. It holds the light just right in the pocket, making it easy to access and it does so without ripping your pants to shreds as Lumapower was prescient enough to machine two flat areas into the barrel, that are devoid of knurling. This is such a great design touch, it really made my day when I discovered it. It is also very secure and I've never had an issue with the light coming out of the pocket without me wanting it to.

Note here the square cut and anodized threads. The Signature Tactical has a single O-ring as the seal. It does its job quite well.

The pocket clip. I know it looks unassuming, but it works so bloody well. Note also the "cigar ring" at the top of the clip.

Plenty of clearance for even heavy fabrics. The clip is made of spring steel and is very strong!

The gap left behind if you remove the clip and the "cigar ring". I would like to see the light come with a spacer to replace this for those customers that prefer to use a holster and thus have no use for the clip.

The LED engine. As you can see, it is also easily replaceable. This is one of the great selling points of the Lumapower light compared to many other big name makers.

Even the reflector can be readily replaced. It is machined from solid aluminum.

The inside of the battery compartment is also anodized, a good way to get around using other types of non-conductive coatings that aren't as durable.

And, as always, the Signature is designed to be easily upgradeable and modular.
There are several different accessories available for it, everything from smooth reflectors to Turbo Heads for more throw, to dedicated low-profile Tele-Force heads.
Overall, I have nothing to complain about when it comes to either the design or the build quality of the Signature Tactical.

Accessories
The accessories included with the Signature Tactical are pretty standard. A basic set of extra O-rings, an extra tail switch cover and that's about it. I don't really mind that it doesn't come with a holster, as I dislike using a holster for a light that size and the clip does such a great job.

Conclusion
I have been using the Signature Tactical for something close to a year now. It has worked absolutely flawlessly during that time. I have run it with both primary CR123 batteries and with rechargeables, but my daily carry is conducted with an 18650 Lithium-Ion battery in it. I use an Ultrafire 3000 mAH battery and it is admittedly a very snug fit, but any regular capacity 18650 should fit with no trouble.
The form-factor really works well for me, and the implementation by Lumapower is just phenomenal. Given that these lights routinely sell for quite a bit less than 100 dollars, they're an amazing bargain, given their features and quality. I can't recommend these lights enough, especially considering that there is a new version out, identical in size and shape, that pushes 580 lumens worth of output! I am not aware of any other light on the market in the same price range that gets even close to that.
If I were to complain about anything, it would be that there just aren't enough accessories available. I would dearly love to see an accessory tailcap with a tapeswitch for mounting on a rifle. I have used the Signature Tactical on an M4 and it works great for that. No problem handling the recoil at all. But having a tapeswitch available would make it work even better, especially for me with the way I tend to run an AR.
But other than that, I have zero complaints. Go get one!

Snakebite management - A BFE Labs article.

2011-01-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

Morgan Atwood over at BFE Labs has just put up an outstanding article that very comprehensively covers the most current thinking on the emergency treatment of venomous snakebite management and care.
This is truly a good read and something you should take the time to study if you ever find yourself in areas that have venomous snake populations.

Venomous Snakebite Management

Tacti-stupidity

2011-01-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

As you might guess from the title of this post, I'm not exactly going for a subtle approach here, but frankly, that's rather the point.
More and more these days I see stuff marketed as "tactical" or "military" or what have you, that is basically just poorly designed garbage.
As an example, I see more and more so-called demolition tools or axes that are made from titanium.
Titanium is, short of aluminum, quite possibly one of the worst things to use for a striking implement that is meant to impact hard surfaces like cinderblocks, brick, concrete, etc etc.
One, it is rather soft. The vast majority of the tools out there use 6AL4V titanium which you'll be hard-pressed to get any harder than the high 30s Rockwell C. Not really ideal for an axe. Or even a hammer.
Two, it is light. Titanium weighs roughly half that of steel. Which is great for a number of purposes, but for a striking implement, where inertia is quite important, it is somewhat counter-productive.
Since it is also quite flexible, it has the potential to rebound in odd, unpredictable ways, something that could be hazardous to the user.
Now, that being said, if all you ever plan on hitting with said striking implement are relatively soft things, like... Well... People; then titanium is fine.
But for hard surfaces? Just... No. For hard surfaces like steel, concrete, brick, etc, etc; steels like S-7 are a far better choice. If you absolutely wanted to use titanium for a tool like this, you should use a beta alloy of titanium, one that you can actually heat treat to a Rockwell C rating in the mid-to-high 40s. That would make for a far more durable tool, although you would still have to contend with the lighter mass. It is also considerably more expensive than the far more common alloy, 6AL4V. Using titanium for handles, on the other hand, is not a bad idea. The light weight and resilience can really shine in that application.

Then there's the overwhelming use of carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is admittedly a cool material. Light, strong, rigid or flexible depending on how it is made, it has a multitude of uses. But more and more you see it being used in applications where it really doesn't belong.
For instance, it handles impact quite poorly. Some of the early adopters of carbon fiber bike frames and wheels found that out the hard way when their wheels and frames almost literally exploded out from under them with even small impacts. You want a composite that will handle lots of impact, you'd be better served looking at some of the various Garolite grades. Of course, they're not as sexy as carbon fiber.
Kevlar then. Kevlar is a kinda sexy material. Unfortunately, for the companies doing the manufacturing, kevlar composites are quite a lot more difficult to machine than carbon fiber is and requires some very unique approaches to prevent it from fraying. It is also quite expensive.

These are just a couple of examples of the many things I've seen recently, and while I am not going to name names or get into specifics, my point with all this is really just to attempt to educate the consumer.
Don't fall for the marketing hype. Apply some critical thinking to your prospective purchases and try to really consider what you'd be using the tool for, before you drop several hundred dollars on something that will not work satisfactorily when it counts.

Birthdayshoes.com review of the women's KSO Trek

2011-01-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

Birthdayshoes.com has just posted up a review of the women's KSO Trek written by contributor Justine Lam.
Pretty good review with some nice comparisons to both the regular KSO and the Bikila.
Check it out here: Women's KSO Trek review

I will eventually do a comprehensive review of my own pair of KSO Treks, hopefully in the near future.

Sharpening knives made from exotic materials. Part 2.

2010-12-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

At long last, here is the video that I promised to make, that details how to sharpen the kinds of knives that I and other knifemakers make. Specifically titanium/composite laminates and ceramic blades.

Further evolution in non-metallic tools - Sub Rosa

2010-12-07T09:28:00.002-07:00

You've seen here before some of the non-metallic tools that I've made, and while such items, made entirely from composites or plastics, are surprisingly effective, the one thing that they really do not do well is cut.
Oh, you can try any manner of things, using carbon fiber, instead of G10, different resins, etc. But the reality of it is that plastics are just too soft to really cut anything well.
So, if you want a non-metallic tool for covert operations, non-permissive environments or any such need that you might have, what can you realistically do?
Well, there are ceramic knives that could potentially do the job. The trouble with most ceramic knives is that they tend to the fragile. As hard as ceramic is, it is also rather brittle. And it is expensive, especially coming from the few people in the knifemaking field that actually makes knives suitable for covert, self-defense use.
So, given my penchant for laminates, I decided to see if I couldn't come up with a laminate that both satisfied the need for cutting ability and durability, but was also a little more attainable than the other solutions.
And I did. I call it the Sub Rosa line and you can expect to see several more varieties come up as I further develop the process, but in essence what you'll see are ceramic-cored laminates, completely non-metallic, that not only cut, but also are significantly more durable when it comes to lateral strength - a traditional weakness of all-ceramic knives - which translates into significantly less risk of a blade snapping if you have to go hands-on with an attacker.
This first prototype that you are about to see pictures of, is made with a carbon fiber laminate. This will likely be superceded with the use of other materials in future varieties, as there is a concern that carbon fiber might be conductive enough to get picked up by security systems.
The carbon fiber is largely an aesthetic choice at any rate and offers no real advantages over other composites.
Unlike most of the other solutions I've seen out there, the Sub Rosa line will offer a variety of designs, all of which will have substantial, secure grips, and will still focus heavily on being easily concealable. Carry systems will be available with any number of different attachment options, all of them fully non-metallic.
So, there you have it. Strong, capable, non-metallic tools, designed to to be reliable and there when you need them. The Sub Rosa.

Compact, sharp and pointy with a secure grip, the first of the Sub Rosa line offers a reliable and lethal package.

The stippling on the grip offers a secure, non-slip grip even when your hands are covered in fluids of questionable origins, but is easy on your skin and clothes without snagging.

The Sub Rosa is perfectly balanced exactly at the forefinger, making for a quick and responsive blade in the hand.

The sheath is standard kydex, but unlike the typical riveted construction, this is held together with kevlar cord, for a strong and durable carry system. As you see it in the picture, it is setup for IWB carry, on the center-line. Easy to access, even in a scrum.

I feel compelled to add that due to the incredibly vague legislation when it comes to export of such items, and the potential for running afoul of the import regulations of other countries, I cannot sell any non-metallic tools to customers outside the US. It is simply not worth the risk.

New Xerxes variant

2010-12-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

A little while back I received a commission from a friend, to make a gift for his brother, an officer with the Albuquerque Police Department. After my friend had seen the Xerxes that I was carrying at the time, he decided that something like that would be a perfect gift for his brother, as he has apparently been wanting a knife to carry as a backup. Sort of a "getoffamecrackhead" tool.

I came up with this variant based on the requirements for easy concealment and portability. The actual carry method has yet to be determined as I am leaving that up to the Officer in question.

I used a more aggressive bevel than I normally do, resulting in this particular variant likely being the most vicious cutter that I've made so far.

My pardons, some of the pictures are a little blurry.

This is the carbidized side of the blade. Note the curvature of the handle line. Makes for a compact overall package and lines the point up extremely well for RGEI work.

I'm exceedingly happy with the balance point on this as well. Exactly where it should be.

As you can see, quite the compact little package. All without compromising grip integrity.

Size comparison to Benchmade 710. Note that the blade is pretty much the same length as the 710, while the overall size is significantly smaller.

And lastly, the sheath. The sheath is setup to work with a Tek-Lok, or almost any other kind of attachment you might desire. As is shown, it is rigged for IWB-carry with a static cord deployment.

The building of a knife.

2010-11-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

Very few people make knives like I do. There are a few that use a similar method of construction, one of which is of course the grandfather, when it comes to using this kind of laminate, Warren Thomas. But I'm pretty sure Mr. Thomas has a great deal more tools at his disposal and that is likely only one of many areas where our methods differ.

To be specific, I largely use hand tools to make my knives. The exception to this "rule" and the only powered tools that I currently own, are a Dremel tool, a carbidizer and a drill press. The rest are all muscle-powered. So, this means hacksaws, files, sandpaper, etc.

Yet, I am stubborn enough to work not in steel and wood, but in titanium, carbonfiber, G10 and ceramic. Some would argue that this perhaps is not particularly smart... I'm not sure I disagree. I do however, commonly joke about this and refer to my work as "Space age materials and iron age tools."

This is not entirely hyperbole either.

Now, to give you an idea of how a knife like this goes together, I've compiled a few pictures of a recent build of one of my designs. This is a variation on the Interdictum that I've shown here in the past, and this particular variation is known as the "Interdictum Variant-W".

It's a custom design job for a particular customer, thus the variant "name".

This is how the knife starts after I cut out the blank from a sheet of titanium with a hacksaw and refine the profile with files and the Dremel. The stippling you see is part of the aggressive texturing I use to ensure a good bond between the various parts that go into making the laminate. You'll see more of this approach with the other parts.

This is after laminating the titanium with carbon fiber and cutting in the rough bevels with files. I sometimes also use G10 or G11 instead of carbon fiber.

The parts for the final knife all assembled. You can see here the extensive surface preparation that I use to ensure a good bond between the parts. In this case, the handle scales are G10 and the pins are carbon fiber.

And the almost completely finished knife. This is to the point where it just needs minor clean-up and removal of deeper scratches and carbidizing. For all intents and purposes, this is the final form of the knife.

And here is the knife in the sheath. I generally try to make my sheaths as slim and unobtrusive as possible. This particular sheath will likely be carried inside the waistband.

And there you have it, folks. A bit of insight into what goes into a knife that I make. I hope you enjoyed this look into the "secrets" of knifemaking.

Courage

2010-11-14T09:57:00.001-07:00

I don't normally do this kind of thing here, but this is something that I think is important. A friend of mine, Anja, who lives in Sweden, has been struggling with the effects of horrible abuse almost her entire life. Recently, Anja, in a move that showed just how courageous she is, stood up in front of the world and talked about what had happened to her. The sheer enormity of will and courage that this would take is just astonishing. The really sad part of this is that not only did this happen to Anja, but it happens to thousands of other kids, both male and female, every year and disturbingly little ever comes of it. The system in Sweden has completely failed Anja and she has had to make her own moves towards healing, moves which many survivors never get the courage to make. Watch this video, and know that there are monsters out there that you would never suspect.