Baladeo Knife: Form and Function

Sometimes you just want simple and to the point. This knife is very simple; basically just a skeleton grip and an edge that runs straight to the point. Available with a 3.5 inch blade (22g) or a 4.5 inch blade (34g).

Manufactured by Baladeo

Available on Amazon

| via Cool Tools

Top Shots - Large Mouth

I watch almost no TV, but I have come to enjoy this one.

All except for this cat, as he is a colossal jackass.

All things considered, though, it's still a good show. Check it out.

Swing Set Done Right

Even though I know at least three kids within a one block radius who could (and would) foil the safety engineering (such as it is) on this thing, it is still a wonderful design.


From Paris architect Didier Faustino. [via Make:]


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Leuku Knife - Redux

I first heard about this project several years ago whilst I was traveling near where Studio Simo Heikkilä was holding a workshop. Missed the workshop and was never in the right place at the right time to see any of the exhibitions.

In case you are not familiar with this knife, here is a brief description from Wikipedia:

The Sami knife (Leuku in Finnish, stuorniibi ("big knife") in Sami), is a large knife traditionally used by the Sami people.

The Sami knife has a long, wide, and strong blade that suited for light chopping and shelter. It is used instead of an axe for firewood, wood clearing, bone-breaking, and other works. Typical Sami knives have a blade length ranging from 200 to 450 mm^[1]. The largest knives can be considered as machetes^[2] or short swords.

The handle is invariably made from birch for better grip when used in snowy conditions. The tang runs through the handle. The handle has no crossguard. Traditional material for the sheath is reindeer leather.

The blade is always in scandinavian (or scandi) grind. The blade should be strong enough to split (reindeer) bones, and it is typically not made of stainless steel since it can break in very cold temperatures. Some Sami knives have fullers. The knives are excellent outdoor tools for bushcrafting.

The Sami people normally use two knives; the smaller one can be called a buiku, puukko or unna niibaš (small knife), while the larger "Sami knife" is called stuorra niibi (big knife).

When I started doing some research the other day into the next Leuku that I will be buying for myself, I ran across several good articles on the project, as well as some great images.

Here's a New York Times Magazine article that gives an overview of the project and recent exhibition.

Here is Studio Simo Heikkilä's page about the project (in english)

This page gives a beautiful photographic reference to some of the knives from the recent exhibition.

The knife pictured above was designed and fabricated by Petteri Laiti. Interestingly, I ran into a guy many years ago up near Saarijärvi that had a Leuku very similar to this one.  Stunning.

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Back to the old bag

Great Sunday afternoon; balmy temps (for here and now), a nice amber-coloured libation, and a few minutes spent switching from the new daily carry bag back to the old daily carry bag.

By old I mean the bag that I've been using since before I was old; namely the standard, generic canvas map case from days long gone by. This is the one I'm talking about. It's sold by just about anyone with anything camo or OD in their inventory for about $12, give or take a buck or two. There have been several updates over the past twenty years (a pocket here, a snap there) but I still prefer the model that I picked up my first day at Benning; 2 big interior sections, a small pocket on the outer wall, and some stitched elastic for pens and pencils. These days I only carry black, but you can get OD, woodland (for nostalgists, I guess), and a couple other colours.

The bag that I switched back from, which I had been giving a protracted test drive, is the Swiss Gear Vertical Travel bag.  A pretty good bag, all in all. I generally have few beefs with Swiss Gear gear, which tends to be pretty solidly constructed for what it is.  But this one had a few minor marks against it:

1. It  is noticeably smaller than the generic map case, and unfortunately it is smaller in all the wrong places. The main cargo area is not quite large enough to hold a normal-sized magazine (although Monocle just barely fits) - I should have taken the hint on day one.
2. Had to cut off the pad on the shoulder strap, which was apparently made of teflon and lard and ensured that the shoulder strap could NOT POSSIBLY stay on your shoulder. Once the pad was off, though, it stayed in place pretty well.
3. There is a conspicuous Swiss flag on the outer wall - an deviation from my usual 'no logo' policy, but I never got around to removing it.

The Swiss Gear bag was also about $25. Not an unreasonable price for what it is, but sort of a smack in light of the fact that the generic map case is at least twice the bag for half the price.

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Tactical Pen Roundup on Boing Boing

Some of you know that I've been a fan of Boing Boing since it was a smeary, hand-stapled physical object on the top shelf of the magazine rack at the local indie bookstore (back when we had those). They are so eclectic that I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by anything at makes its way to their virtual pages.

Even so, I was still a little surprised to see this article by Sean Bonner on a pretty good sampling of today's Tactical Pen market. The writer seems like he would be more comfortable tagging with these stilos than using them for their intended purpose, but overall was still fun to see Boing Boing devote some column inches to a truly useful topic.

"What the crap is a tactical pen? A pen that kicks ass, basically. And I don't just mean it's "a kick-ass pen," I mean: this pen could literally kick your ass. To death, maybe. But it's also a pen, so it's civilized..."

Follow the links for the full article.

Planet Pocket Tool

Sure, the name of the site might raise an inquiring eyebrow or two, but since we're actually talking about extremely useful, precision-crafted, mini tools we can all just get over ourselves.

Designed and created by "Gadget Fiend and Knifemaker" Peter Atwood, the items on offer at Planet Pocket Tool are solid additions to just about anyone's list of 'can't do without' gear (except for the brass whistle, perhaps, although I'm sure there are folks who have a need for such).

Here are a few examples, but be sure to check out the site.

Planet Pocket Tool