Cleaver

I got a cleaver. It was my grandmother's favourite, and after she passed away, it just sat in a cupboard collecting rust. My dad didn't want it, so I took it on as a project knife to clean up, sharpen and learn to use.

Old school Chan Chi Kee 20cm chopper

After 15 minutes of scrubbing off the rust and patina on the opposite side

Every Day I'm Carrying

I've been looking for an Everyday Carry knife for the past few months, as I've been carrying my freebie Stanley 10-253 liner lock. It was serviceable, but had nothing going for it other than its price ($0). The blade was waved and dull out of the box, the steel was like metal butter (soft and bendy) and any edge I could develop with stropping was gone after cutting open some packing tape.

I decided to look for the very popular and highly rated Spyderco Para-Military2. Unfortunately, every online establishment I could find was sold out and I resigned myself to waiting for the email notification for when they come back in stock.

On a whim, I poked around Kijiji last week and stumbled upon someone selling the Para-Military2 black, exactly the model I was eying, and selling for about half of MSRP.

Para-Military2 Black G10

This is easily the most expensive knife I've ever carried in my pocket, but it has remarkably good value. It sports an S30v steel blade for edge retention, G10 handle scales for a very slim, grippy handle, and a clever, easy-to-deploy compression locking system.

Giant Spydie hole for one-handed deployment; compression lock for one-handed closing

This knife was much bigger than I anticipated. It has a blade of just under 3.5 inches, and a fully opened length of 8.23 inches. I saw those numbers, but I was still surprised. It's not a subtle, stealthy size, but it is really light and svelte. Ergonomically, it feels very sturdy in the hand in a variety of grips, be it for tactical purposes, or precision work.

The clip can be positioned in four ways: Left/Right, Tip up/down. I carry it right side, tip-down in my back pocket, so the spine of the blade is pressed against the pocket seam to prevent unwanted opening. Deployment is quick and easy, as the thumb hole is easy to grab, and the handle is already positioned for the Spydie drop deployment method.

Kitchen Knives

Kristen surprised me earlier this year with an excellent gift (for our anniversary, my birthday, Christmas, etc.). She snuck over to KNIFE one day and picked up a starter set of water stones and a gift certificate for a sharpening class with the proprietor of the store, Eugene.

credit: Spotlight Toronto

This past Wednesday, we made the trip downtown to attend the 2-3 hour private lesson to get a rundown of the basics of water stone (or whetstone) sharpening with Japanese knives. I had watched countless hours of sharpening videos leading up to this and it made a big difference to see it in person, feel the blade and stone feedback, and receive expert direction on the spot. We got to put some new life into a couple of Kristen's mom's worn down blades as well.