Weekend Open Thread: Existential Christmas Edition

H. Clay Aalders
Weekend Open Thread
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Hey Everyone, I am late getting this up because we lost power Christmas Eve around 9:30pm, and it stayed off until Christmas Morning, at which time I was doing Christmas and family stuff. Such is the price of a White Christmas. Knoxville got about 5 inches of snow, ans it actually has stuck around for more than a couple of hours.

The kids spend several hours outside sledding and having a wonderful Christmas experience. It was just what we all needed. The current political/pandemic/2020 clusterf@ck/etc. has me pretty cheesed off to say the least. But with the snow and all, Christmas felt like my own childhood, and frankly we would have done nothing differently any other year.  I was able to let go, and just enjoy Christmas. Unlike this poor fella…

Even super heroes get the blues this time of year.

So how was everyone else’s Christmas? Get anything sharp and pointy? If Stuart B. wants the Large Spyderco Shirt, I drew his entry from last week. If not, we will figure something out.

This week I have an AG Russell Ti-FIST. It is an import, but AG Russell Knives has a reputation for importing some of the highest quality Chinese knives available under a private label. Hocky won’t approve, but it is a nice D2 flipper, and the price will be right for the winner. Usual rules apply – 5 comments/replies are eligible as entries, and if you are new here, your comment will be held in moderation until I approve it. After your first approval your posts will go up automatically if you allow cookies and provide an email address.

You can read more about the Ti-FIST here.

Well this escalated quickly..

Not themed, but it made me laugh…

But this one hit too close to home to be really funny…

Not sure what Brazil did, but most of it seems on point.

At least the new year is coming.

Yikes!

Have a good one everybody.

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H. Clay Aalders

H. Clay Aalders is a lifelong edged tool user. He spent the past 20 years as a woodworker and fishing guide in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Tennessee. While guiding in Idaho, Clay worked part-time writing for a local newspaper, and upon moving to Tennessee began writing for the blog The Truth About Knives - spending his last 5 years there as Managing Editor. His background is in fixed-blade hunting and bushcraft knives, but has jumped into the world of vintage slipjoint collecting with both feet since coming to work at Knife Magazine. Clay’s primary role is as Digital Editor, curating and creating new content for our website and blog, as well as maintaining the Knife Magazine social media accounts (FB/IG: @theknifemag, Twitter: @knifemagazine). He is also a contributor and Associate Editor of the print magazine.

9 Responses

  2. Good-bye “2020”; and, Hello “2021” with a big hope for an end to the evil stuff which occurred in “2020”. On a fun note, I went post-holiday shopping at a few of my favorite shops in Hagerstown. The “Washington Street Pawnshop” is a must for me. Back in 2017, this was the place where a thief tried to sell the knives which he and his buddies stole from me. So, I got a Schrade Gunstock Trapper 194OT in great shape.(I am a sucker for a slipjoint and the 194OT with its Persian clip and locking liner just beckoned me to spend $15. I do not usually buy production knives; BUT, a GERBER “Prodigy” plain edge w/sheath, USA-made in Portland, Oregon caught my eye. Paid $20 and did some research later. The “Prodigy” was discontinued in 2018 or thereabouts. 420HC (.45% Carbon, 13% Chromium with some Mn and Ni). GERBER does not do the proprietary heat-treat that Buck does on its 420HC so the edge retention on the “Prodigy” is fair-to-good with the Rc hardness at 58 or thereabouts. 420HC is not difficult to resharpen as there are some “myths” about it “losing its edge”. It has decent toughness, as long as the user doesn’t hack rocks or other objects which any knife isn’t meant to cut!

    Hopefully, I will get my January issue of “Knife” today. Clay told me that he mailed my “Spyderco” shirt last Wednesday. Looking for that, too.

    Once more, “Believe in Hope, Optimism, the Power of Positivity and the Will to Live” Alex Trebek 2020

    Hocky

    Reply

  3. Re the video with A.G. demo-ing the TI-Fist, check out his shirt pocket. It appears to me that he has a pen, a stick magnet (?), a knife (?) and a notepad. Pure elegance, especially if that is a “shirt pocket knife” which is legal carry in Arkansas! Hocky

    Reply

  4. Clay, BUT I DO LIKE A. G. RUSSELL!! Seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed the “2:17 video” with A. G. demonstrating the Ti-Fist. He is an amazing person. So is his wife, Goldie. Someday I want to visit their store in Rogers, Arkansas. Maybe “2021′ will cooperate and we will be able to travel safely and freely in the USA. Re your “dogs”, I remember a German short-hair with a brown muzzle; and, I think a Labrador . . . did those toy dogs just “mugg” for the camera?

    Everybody else, I am just old school on flashlights. I got my late Mom’s RAY-O-VAC “Sportsman” Premium Grade, 2-D cell MADE IN USA, in an aluminum body with genuine tubular cardboard insert. I even got a dozen or so extra bulbs. It may put out 10 lumens but what the hell, it beats sitting in the dark trying to read my latest Clive Cussler novel, “Black Wind”.

    CMEAT: What is the meaning of “tuttle, buttle, tuttle, dystopia”?

    Stuart B: The movie, “Brazil”, which I think was released in the ’80s, struck me as an odd ball flick. Hard to watch. Of course, I was in my mid-30’s back then.

    Lastly, for you “Jeopardy” fans, my son got me the book, “ALEX TREBEK – THE ANSWER IS . . .Reflections on My Life”. On the back of the book jacket is the poignant statement: I believe in the will to live; I believe in the power of positivity: I believe in optimism; I believe in hope.

    Have a happy and safe entry into “2021”!

    Hocky

    Reply

  5. Clay – The “Brazil” reference is for the Terry Gilliam Film of the same name, if you have not seen it I highly recommend it. Yes on the Spydie T-shirt, I think that would be really cool, many thanks. If nothing else 2020 seems to have been the year of the T-shirt (oh, I wore a Polo once on a web meeting)!
    Jason – I have a Nitecore Tiki as a tiny 5th pocket EDC and love it, I also picked up a cheap rechargeable headlamp (Exalamp RHL01) on Amazon which seems to match the Nitecore NU25 headlamp that everyone seems to rave about, but at a third of the cost. Everything else I run on rechargeable AAs. It’s nice to be able to top up the battery and head out with a ‘full’ flashlight, given that we all seem to trail battery chargers for our dam phones recharging them is easy enough, that and it avoids so much toxic waste with single use batteries. Make the switch – ‘come to the light!’

    Reply

  6. I really like that Semi-Skinner blade shape. Got plenty of fresh snow here. Lost my Eagtac light somewhere shoveling snow yesterday. I know rechargeable vs. non was recently discussed here, but I missed the boat, I think I’m gonna replace it with a rechargeable light. Anyone have a favorite? Ho Ho Hone.

    Reply

    1. It hit 71 Christmas Day in north Texas. Then the low Saturday morning was 32. Gotta love Texas weather!.
      Can’t help you with a rechargeable solution.

      Reply

    1. Clay-I’m glad the weather cooperated! A white Christmas can do wonders for one’s outlook!
      A friend gifted me with a Case medium Stockman with chestnut bone scales. Pretty pocket knife. Haven’t played with it yet.
      I agree with Jason-I like the blade shape. Stainless blades came reasonably sharp.
      I’d like to try D2-with the meds I take, my sweat can across a carbon blade fairly quickly-I’d like to see how it holds up.
      Merry Christmas ya’ll

      Reply

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