Weekend Open Thread – What’s Next? Murder Hornets and a CRKT Montosa giveaway

H. Clay Aalders
CRKT Montosa
·13 Comments··3 views

Happy Friday Folks! Just when you thought going outside was a good idea…

I am not particularly worried about “Murder Hornets”. But the beekeepers don’t need another problem to deal with. And the media needed something else to fearmonger over.

As you can see, the Weekend Open Thread has been moved above the fold. I enjoy sharing the memes, and as I write a bit about the weekly prize knife, these begin to get a bot long for the thread.

This week was press week for the June issue, so the memes were actually a nice distraction from finishing Knife News and other print tasks. Things continue to open up in Knoxville. I actually got my hair cut this week. I needed one before the lockdowns began. I really needed one by Thursday. A stylist friend of mine posted this to her bookface feed:

Pretty much sums up how I feel about the situation. I am doing the mask thing indoors in public, not because I am afraid of Karens, but because I think it is the respectful thing to do for the employees of establishments I am patronizing. I believe it is largely theater, but whatever. Like the knifemakers who are reading this, I have worn a full respirator in 95+ degree heat for 8+ hours a day while building fiberglass boats in Idaho. A cloth mask in Kroger for 20 minutes doesn’t bother me.

In other news, we are giving away a CRKT Montosa this weekend. Thanks CRKT!.

For those who want to see a little more about the knife, Smoky has a great short overview:

As for my impressions…It is a nice knife for the $50 street price. Fit and finish are solid, it carries comfortably (I have had it in my pocket all evening), and the blade is large enough to provide inertia for an unassisted lockup. Ergonomics aren’t amazing, but shouldn’t cause hotspots with standard EDC use. If you like the purple accents, blade shape, and G10 scales, you will like the Montosa.

Last week’s winner of the CRKT Piet is David M. He can still comment, but he has to sit out this week’s contest. The rest of you have at it. 5 comments or replies count as entries.

How is everyone doing? Are things opening up where you are? The Smoky Mountains are reopening this weekend, and I imagine the SMKW will probably be busy since a lot of attractions are not yet open. Mark and I are headed there Wednesday to meet with some folks and gather material for an upcoming article on reopening the knife industry in the age of WuFlu. It will be the 3rd in my series in the print magazine. For those who missed part 2:

Knife Industry adapts to Wuhan Coronavirus impact.

Your comments don’t have to be lockdown or covid related. Tell us about your grail knife. What is a good knife of Mother’s Day? It is the Open Thread. So thread away.

I will leave you with this…

Be well everyone. It can’t get worse can it? 🙂

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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.

13 Responses

  1. Clay, saw on IG that you got out to SMKW! I look forward to reading your next article.
    I don’t know if I’d call it a grail knife, but I’ve definitely taken a new interest in different “survival” knives. I’ve always been a fan of the old school style KBar utility USMC knife (John Rambo may or may not have influenced me at an early age) but I recently came across a review for the Papa Bear by SCAR Blades and it seems like a good design that will take a lot of abuse.
    Clay, I really appreciate your comments on the knives being given away and the related link you provide on these Open Threads. Keep up the great work!
    Huge Thank You to CRKT for sponsoring the Open Thread. This looks like a really nice knife and I’m sure it does it’s job well – I hope whoever wins it uses it well.

    Reply

  2. “Knife”, May issue, has not arrived in my mailbox, yet. Weekend was not the same without it. Hocky

    Reply

  3. “Monday, Monday, so good to me” . . .The Mamas & Papas, and so it goes. For all you home gardeners, seeds are getting hard to find. Weather here in Hagerstown is going to warm up this week. My plot is ready and I am ready to plant. I moved some spirea (aka bridal wreath) this weekend. Going to let it go natural in all its glory! Got some Bt to battle the bagworms that got into my spruces and pines. The Almighty made some things on Earth that were experiments, I think. Stink bugs, mosquitoes.

    #2 Crossword, who was the lucky winner of the Leatherman? I did’nt see anything posted. Contest ended on April 27th.

    My friend, Sid Barnhart of Greencastle, PA, is finishing up a custom knife for me. Sid and I attended the ABS “Introduction to Bladesmithing” class at Haywood CC; Clyde NC a couple of years ago. Jim Crowell, MS, was our instructor. Great time! Jim gave me the moniker: Ricky Ricasso. I learned to “forge to shape” and I am still learning.

    Hocky in Hagerstown

    Reply

    1. Hi Ricky… I have to post the winner still. I was planning on making another puzzle and haven’t gotten around to it yet.
      I will post the winner tonight since it doesn’t look like I am close to getting a new puzzle done.

      Thanks for holding my feet to the fire.

      Be Well Sir.

      Reply

  4. So how long until Spyderco makes a yellow handled version of the McBee and calls it the murder hornet? They are about the same size.

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  5. the link to the russel catalog a few weeks back comtained some graily stuff, as does the empire outfitter website. i use my chris berry more than anything so it’s way up there on my short list. and the kukhris i brought back from nepal see much summer use.
    literally saw the murder hornet stuff yesterday first time. we kept a mantis alive on the coffee table last year for months. it would have frozen outside; steady diet of basement crickets and yellow jackets from the hive under the back stoop (what’d you call me?). i’ll dog spray that later.
    i’d like to start a honey bee colony- there’s a few maintained within a couple blocks of me.

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    1. Sister-in-law and her hubby have bees. They started last year and have been learning a lot. They had to deal with a skunk that was eating bees like popcorn! I saw a video of a Praying Mantis dealing with a Murder Hornet. I think we need to quickly release an army of mantises (Manti??) and crisis avoided. !

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  6. i would never call her that. basic necessity perhaps, but not in the spare parts sort of letterkenny way…

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  7. I’ll tell you, I’m no more afraid of the murder hornet than I am of any other bee. (Which means I’m just as afraid of a carpenter bee as a murder hornet.) I just hope they don’t eat all the honey bees since they just really started coming back. My grail knife is a Scott Sawby or a Tony Bose custom. I’ve never seen any knife as nice as those. As a side note, the Get to the Point link is awesome! 😀

    Reply

    1. I don’t have a grail knife. Maybe I need one! As I near retirement I find myself looking for a good whittling pocket knife. I think this Montosa could certainly make a few marshmallow forks for the grandkids! My granddaughter would love the purple highlights!

      Reply

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