TIMBR - Pining for Friends

Best Inexpensive Folding Knife for EDC

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of inexpensive, and let’s face it, cheap, knives that are for sale online. I’m talking about knives in the under $10 segment which you would not want to rely on for survival, but can make for a decent Every Day Carry (EDC). Since I’ve only recently taken an interest in knives and I’m cheap, I’ve spent a lot of time in this realm. I’ve found 3 knives that while varied in size, shape and weight, are all a good value. This is a review of those knives, particularly of the initial quality. I’ll follow up with a post about longer term quality, and I have a very special destructive (!!!!) test in mind for these inexpensive blades. The three knives I purchased are the Elk Ridge Wood Gentleman, the Tac Force EMT and the MTech Xtreme Ballistic. From Left to Right: Elk Ridge, Tac-Force, and MTech From Left to Right: Elk Ridge, Tac-Force, and MTech Right off the bat, I think the Elk Ridge is a beautiful knife, but I’m definitely partia...

Morakniv 120 Carving Knife Review

I've only recently gotten into woodworking, and even more recently into wood carving, so it took me a while to pick my first wood carving knife. I heard good things about Morakniv in the bushcraft community, mostly that they make good quality, relatively inexpensive knives (though many of them are not full tang). And they're Swedish. Everybody loves Swedish knives and axes. So, I bought this Morakniv 120 wood carving knife, and I have to say, it's a wonderful tool. Even the little things, like the smell of the wood handle though I'm sure it will start to smell like my hands pretty quickly. Anyway, the handle is super comfortable in just about any position and the blade is sharp and quickly makes shavings from holly tree wood. I'm planning to make a kuksa, so I also need a curved blade to clear out the cup - definitely getting another Morakniv.

What are Grinding Stones Made From?

I'm going to go into significant depth about ceramics, and really, the composition of most ionic solid materials, hopefully without dragging on forever. So, let’s start with the basics. Grinding stones are made from ceramics. Ceramics are a class of materials (just like pure elemental metals, metal alloys, non-metals (such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon), and polymers (plastics and rubbers) are all classes of materials) that are composed of metal elements that are combined with non-metal elements. There is a large difference in the electronegativities (the strength at which they hold onto electrons) of the elements, so one element (the metal) give up an electron (or a few electrons in some cases) to the other element (the non-metal). This is called ionic bonding, and ceramics have ionic bonds. The particular ceramic that grinding stones are typically made from is a mineral (minerals are generally ceramics) called corundum, which is chemically known as aluminum oxide...

The Mechanical Lumberjack

Search This Blog