My name is Richard Blaine a.k.a Mister Sharpstuff as my friends like to call me. They call me that because I love knives and swords of all shapes and types and I love kitchen knives to. Anything with a sharp edge. Since about the age of thirteen I have always been fascinated by knives and edged weapons. It is the artistry and sexy lines of these tools that has always attracted me. I guess that is why I have been in the cutlery industry for thirty years now both as sales and as management.
I do not go anywhere on Gods green Earth without a knife in my pocket, I would feel naked if I did. How many of you feel the same? I bet alot of you do! I have so many knives that it makes my head spin. It gets to the point that I don’t know which knife I want to put in my pocket most days. You know what I mean. How many times have you looked at your own collection and said to yourself, “OK!, which knife will I carry today and which knife defines me today! I know it has happened to many of us.
At one point in my life I even had a small business training individuals in the use of the blade for different situations if you know what I mean. I have also been an avid fencer for over twenty years in both foil and saber and this only enhanced my addiction to knives and swords to say the least.In thirty years of cutlery experience I have met people and makers from all over the world and we have exchanged ideas and ideologies and political standpoints as well and in the exchange of ideas and politics we all came out more informed and enlightened in the long run. I love to talk about knives both practical and tactical and share ideas and opinions. I love to talk the politics of knives.
It is for this reason that I have started this blog to share my knowledge of knives with other’s. This is the only way I know of to keep things alive is to share them with generation after generation so that the knowledge does not get lost or die in vain. I know that many of you out there love to collect and use knives in your daily lives and do so avidly. I also know that many people of you out there do not have some of the more esoteric, granular, intrinsic knowledge knives and that is why this blog has been created.
In the coming months I will be covering topics such as basic knife education and folding knives as well as fixed blade knives and swords. I will also cover topics related to kitchen knives both European kitchen knives and Japanese kitchen knives. I will also along the way conduct video tutorials on knife sharpening for various types of knife edge types. and I might even do a quick recipe video so you can see sharp kitchen knives in action. I will also offer up information in the areas of blades type/styles, sharpening and sharpening techniques as well as different types of sharpening apparatus. Knowledge of steel and respective components of steel, etc.
Soon, I will be opening a section of this blog for you my readers to participate on my blog with a section called “What’s In Your Pocket?” In this section of my blog I will allow you my readers to submit a small picture of yourself and a short detail as to what kind of knife or knives you carry with you on a daily basis and why? This is where you can tell us about yourself and the knives you enjoy. I will post the guidelines ASAP! I am always interested in what kinds of knives other people carry and I like to know why. Eventually, I might even start a whole new knife forum online that will have no restrictions on peoples opinions as so many of the other forums online curtail peoples freedom of speech in one way or another, but this is still down the road a ways.
It is my hope that with this blog I can pass on the knowledge that I have accrued over the past thirty years to the next generation and give all of you all that you wish to know. I will also do my best to dispel any knife related misnomers and myths that many people fall for all the time. I am a purist at heart and truly believe to keep things as simple as possible no matter what kind of knife you carry, no matter what type of knife you use in your kitchen and no matter what you use to sharpen your knives the simplest for you is the best for you! this is a new blog and I hope that you come along for the ride because it will only get better with time. I look forward to writing for you and to hearing from you.
Best Regards,
Richard Blaine a.k.a Mister Sharpstuff
Filed under Intro by on Jun 14th, 2010. Comment. 
Tactical Knives
Hi guys,
You know today in the world of knives the big “Buzz” word these days and for many years is “tactical.” Tactical this and tactical that. The tactical knife
A tactical knife is used by many people as their EDC or everyday carry knife and conversely the tactical knife can also be used as a survival tool, both urban and outdoors survival. The best tactical knife
Today there is no hard fast rule or definition as to what is and isn’t a tactical knife and that is for the reason that what a civilian would call a fixed blade tactical knife could be a far cry from what a soldier or swat operator calls tactical fighting knife. The fundamental qualification in form and function of tactical knives is that the person who is carrying it be able to get to it, deploy it, and execute the intended purpose for it being deployed in the first place with the use of just one hand and this hold true for a tactical boot knife, tactical folding knife, or a tactical neck knife.
So because there is such a wide array of tactical knives on the market today and a staggering array of options in tactical knives there are some things that you might want or need to consider before you go out and buy the best tactical knife
1. What kind of blade do you need? Serrated or plain? The way in which you will be using the knife will determine this. Now, a plain edge is usually my choice as I don’t have need of serrations. Some people will say that a plain edge is better for “push cutting.” (A push cut is when you actually push the blade through the material that you are cutting. A slicing cut is when you are cutting by pulling the blade toward you and a push cut is when you are pushing the blade away from you.) I do agree with this. Of the two types of edges I will say that a plain edge is also the better choice when needing to make clean cuts and when accuracy is the desired result. A plain edge will also give you the requisite extreme control to perform your cutting task. A serrated edged knife is the better cutter when employing slicing cuts by where you create the cut by dragging or pulling the blade edge from the closest portion of the cutting edge closest to your hand and slicing toward the point of the knife. The middle ground of course is to get a tactical knife whether a folding tactical knife for fixed blade tactical knife that is half serrated and in that way you get the best of both worlds.
2. What kind of blade shape will you need? There are many forms of blade shapes in both folding tactical and fixed blade tactical knives. Some examples of blade shapes are the clip point, the drop point, the modified clip point and the modified drop point blade shapes. There is also the tanto and the modified tanto. The two most popular types of blade shapes for tactical survival knives these days from what I see in day to day business is the drop point or modified drop point and the tanto or modified tanto blade shapes. The drop point and the modified drop point styles are great for all around outdoor survival chores as well as the urban survival chores as well. The tanto and modified tanto is designed for the thrusting aspect and hence not the best choice for outdoor/woodsman type chores. The tanto blade styles that I sell in my shop everyday are the combat tactical/elite forces tactical knife styles. The people buying these types are not looking to go camping. Now some people will add the clip point and modified clip point style blade shapes into our mix here and in my opinion I do not find clip point blade shapes to work in fixed blade tacticals as you find them more in bowie style knives. I will say however there was a time some 40yrs back when the first folding tactical used by many an army ranger and other soldier types was the good old Buck 110 folding hunter. True story! Way before clipits were around. All in all the drop point is my choice in a tactical folder or tactical fixed blade as it has a really thick, stout point that makes it great for heavy work, but might not penetrate like a tactical tanto blade style.
3. Manual opener or automatic opening knife. When it comes to the tactical folding pocket knife which do you need? Many people today call switchblades automatic knives I guess to be more politically correct. I am not one to be politically correct and the fact of the matter is that no matter how much you spend, an automatic knife is just a switchblade. Which kind of knife do you need for your tactical folder? Automatics do open at the push of a button which is a good choice if you can’t manipulate a manual opener fast enough. Of course if you are a civilian and want to stay legal in the 49 or so states that make automatics illegal, you might want to check out assisted opening tactical folders and make sure that this is a legal alternative in your municipality.
4. Now depending on the type of work you do you may need to chose between a rescue style tactical folder or a survival style tactical folder. The survival type of blade will use a sharp point for whatever level of penetrating that it can do and will come in both single and double edged versions depending on the level of “survival” we are talking about here if you get my drift! The rescue style blade utilizes a blunted end or tip of the blade which makes it safer for certain first responders and rescuers to cut things like car safety belts or possibly even articles of clothing on a person without cutting the person. Some of the rescue style tactical folders are also accompanied with things like seat belt cutters and glass breakers that you will not find on the survival tactical knife.
5. Another thing to consider when looking for the best tactical knife
You will notice that there is a great amount of crossover when you are looking for the best tactical knife for you. These crossovers are in the knife types and the uses for the knife. Your everyday run of the mill bushcraft knife with a convex grind is a fantastic all around knife for the everyday outdoors, but it is not suited for the tactical arena. Tactical knives both fixed tactical knives and folding tactical knives serve many functions and purposes. Before you rush out and buy that next “gotta have it” that you saw online or in a knife magazine, you might want to define what are the needs that you have and what are the uses you want your best tactical knife to do for you!
Filed under Fixed Blade Knives, Folding Knives by on Aug 6th, 2010. 1 Comment.
Hi everyone! Welcome to “What’s In Your Pocket!” This is the part of my blog where I let you the reader tell the rest of us and the world about the knife or knives that you carry in your pocket everyday and why. I love to know what other guys and gals are carrying and why! What made you pick the particular knife/knives that you carry? What do you like about them? Was it that you got a good deal? Where you on a budget and the knife you carry really impresses you and why? Tell us! This is your place on my blog to be the expert on the knives you carry in your pocket everyday and why! I love this sort of thing!
So here is the deal: I want you the reader/visitor to my blog to tell me about “What’s In Your Pocket” Tell me briefly about the knife or knives you carry on a daily basis. Tell us a little history or something interesting as to why you carry the knives you carry in your pocket. Try to send a photo of you with your knife/knives and please try not to make it to large. Lets say 72dpi and I will play with the photo dimensions. Please do not make them super sized! I will review all submissions and publish them most likely on a bi-monthly basis.
I am really looking forward to reading your submissions and checking out What You Carry In Your Pocket I promise I will post what I carry in mine. I will eventually allow you my readers to do this in a video format which will make even more fun of it. Please submit your stories or questions using the Contact form here on the blog, or you can just email me at: admin@mistersharpstuff.com and I will review the stories and publish the one’s I pick. I will also contact each person who’s story I will publish. I am looking forward to hearing from you!
Thanks,
Richard Blaine,
a.k.a. Mister Sharpstuff
Filed under Links by on Jul 31st, 2010. Comment.
