EDC ITEMS and a MAJOR UPDATE

Well first off, as of March 2017 I am no longer employed by the Department of Correction.  We parted ways rather unexpectedly and I was out of full time work for almost a year.  I then worked in a call center for abit, before being hired for my current job.  I am now working for a non-profit that tries to help troubled kids.  I am being certified as a family support specialist.  The money isn't as good, but the benefits are nearly identical to the state as we seem to have state/county employee status.  It's odd.  Anyway, I sleep better at night, enjoy going to work again, although to be fair I work out of a home office so the commute is short.  I still carry pretty much everyday, although I do sometimes have to disarm to enter certain places now.  I find myself carrying the glock 26 and 43 way more than the larger firearms.  I have taken to using an Uncle Mike's pocket holster for the 26, and occasionally for the Taurus PT111.  I use a Desantis pocket holster for the 43 a lot.  I picked up a 12 round magpul pmag for the 26.  The only new holsters I have added other than the pocket holsters are a Don Hume glock holster.  It fits all my glocks but the 43.  It will also hold the Taurus.  It's a great leather owb holster.  I also picked up a kydex iwb holster off ebay for the Taurus.  I don't carry it a lot but I do like to be prepared.

The main changes I have made have been with my accessories.  I think I am still allowed to carry a collapsible baton, but retired the mini baton I kept on my weak side for use in firearm retention.  I still carry my asp flashlight on a daily basis.  I carried the Benchmade Auto Stryker daily until I accidentally stretched the pocket clip for the second time.  This time it wouldn't go back, no matter what I did.  This is my third Benchmade and all 3 have had the same issue.  It's my fault, because I am catching them while exiting vehicles, mostly on seatbelts.  It's not happened on anything but Benchmades, but then except for the one Kershaw, I have been exclusively carrying Benchmade.

I did contact Benchmade and give them the model numbers of my knives and they are sending replacement clips at no charge, which is cool.  But I almost lost both my autos, so I decided to try something different.  First up was a SOG Spec Elite II.  It's a pretty nice little auto.  It's light and slim with a deep carry clip.  it really gets down into the pocket.  Not sure how fast I could retrieve it if I needed too.  I'm not a knife snob.  The blade steel isn't as good as a benchmade, but it has a good edge from the factory.  I rather like it.  I carry it a lot.  This is a blade hq pic of it.

When I was shopping there was another blade that caught my eye.  I had gone in to check for a SOG and I bought an SOG, but in the next case was this:

Spyderco Endura 4.  I had never owned an actual Spyderco.  I had a tiny Frost imitation a long time ago.  I remember it was all stainless and had a serrated blade.  As a first this might not have been the best choice.  It doesn't flip as well as some, although with some oil and adjusting the pivot screw, I can make it open fairly smoothly.  Apparently this model is just not the easiest opening one.  On the other hand it is a slicer.  It has a very nice 4" blade, but carries very nicely.  It's light and slender, and doesn't take up a lot of pocket real estate.

After awhile I realized the Spyder bug had bitten and aquired 2 more.

This is my main carry blade currently.  It's a little smaller than the Endura, but opens smooth as silk.  The handles are g-10 and very nice.  It carries great.  It's the Paramilitary 2.

One advantage of the Spydercos are they aren't assisted or autos, but open quickly.  This makes it more likely to be legal if I travel to another state that doesn't allow auto or assisted knives.  The first knife has about a 4 inch blade, which is the limit for my state.  This one is around 3.5 inches.

Somehow I also ended up with this little fellow.

It's a Manix 2.  It has translucent fiberglass reenforced nylon handles and a ball bearing lock.  This is similar to the axis lock on Benchmade.  It flips open pretty nice with a little adjusting.  It closes smoother than either of the other two, although the compression lock on the PM2 is my favorite of the locking systems.  The Manix hasn't been carried much yet.  It will though, it has a slighly shorter blade than the PM2.  The wire pocket clip carries deeper than the other 2 knives.

During the knife binge, ZT knives came across my path.  I ended up with 2.   They are assisted knives.  I find I like them, they are awesome knives.  Tough as you could ask a folding knife to be, but open like magic.  They do look a bit scary though.  Not the sort of thing you would want to whip out at a staff meeting to open the bag of candy.

This is the zt350ts.  It's actually got a shorter blade than most of my spyderco's but it's a heavy blade.  It takes up more space in the pockets than the Spydies too, but man it's cool.  It carries deep and has a flipper.  It's also available with a black or satin finish blade, I just wanted the tigerstripe blade.  This is a smaller version of the 300 series.  For a ZT is's compact.

The ZT 0566CF is a smaller version of the Hinder designed 560/561.  With a 3.25 inch blade it is also a smaller ZT.  I don't think it flips open as easy as the 350.  It is an assisted flipper, but I think the difference in blade weight may make a difference.  It carries well and has a deep carry pocket clip.

Oddly none of these knives have a either a tanto or wharncliffe style blade.

EDC Knives

A long time ago I did a post on my daily carry knives.  A lot has changed since then.  I did carry a Benchmade Stryker assist open for several years.  Then, after changing to a bit more dangerous job, and finding out that we were classified as law enforcement and allowed to carry automatic knives (Tennessee has now changed the law and anyone can carry automatic knives), I bought and started carrying this big boy:

It's a Benchmade Adamas Automatic.  Super heavy duty knife, just in case you need to pry open a tank.  It uses the Axis lock system.  I carried this for several years.   The only problem I had with it, is that occasionally it opens itself.  I carry it hooked to my right front pocket.  Most tac style pants, like we wear for work, have an extra thick seam at the back of the pocket to give a knife clip or similar something extra to hook to.  If I'm working, that pocket is otherwise empty.  I sometimes keep car keys in it if I'm off duty and carrying IWB.  I could solve this if I used the sliding lock button on the back of the knife, but it seemed to defeat the purpose of having an automatic knife if I had to deactivate a safety before deploying the blade.  I still have this beast of a knife, but just recently I added another Benchmade to my list.  

This might look a bit familiar if you read the older post.  It's Benchmade's Auto Stryker.  It uses a push button to open the blade and also to unlock the blade to close it.  It also has a safety on top of the handle.  I've only been carrying it a couple of days,  So far it hasn't opened itself.  We will see.  It is a much lighter, thinner knife, so easier to carry. 

A Tale of 4 Knives

Sometime back in the 1980's I decided it was important to carry a good quality knife.  I messed around with some decent knives.  I carried a Gerber for awhile and it was a pretty good knife.  I still have it.  In the 1990's I was a little more flush and bought several products from Cold Steel.  I liked the knives and other items and still have many of them.  I keep a small shovel in my trunk and for a long time this was my carry knife:

That's the Cold Steel Large Voyager with the tanto blade.  I developed a fondness for that blade style, it's a tough design that offers a lot of penetrating power.  I carried that knife from the early 1990's until January of this year.  The pocket clip on the far side broke.  I could have sent it in and they would have replaced the knife for a fee.  They have really changed the knife design though and I wasn't sure I would like it.  I though about the Recon, it's similar to that knife, but after some research and talking with some knife fanatic friends I went with this:

That's Benchmade's Nitrous Stryker out of their Black category for law enforcement and military.  It's an assisted open knife, meaning it can be opened easily and quickly with a single hand.  I worked with the Voyager until I could flip it open one handed.  It took some oil and a lot of experimenting a practice.  The Stryker is faster and easier.  The Stryker is tip down carry and the blade is a bit smaller, with a modified tanto blade.  It seems to be a bit heavier made though and it is made in the USA while the Cold Steel products, while excellent quality, are made else where.  I don't have the almost 20 years of experience with the Styker yet, but from initial appearances, it should make it barring theft or loss.  I did decide to check out some more knives though, and may still get the Recon just to see what the triple lock is like, however this is my current backup to the Stryker, it stays in my briefcase:

That's Kershaw's Blur with the tanto style blade.  It's blade shape falls somewhere closer to the Stryker's modified tanto but between the Stryker and the traditional shape of the Voyager.  It seems to be high quality, and has an assisted open also.  The Kershaw Speed Safe seems as fast as the Benchmade Nitrous system.  The overall knife length is a bit shorter than the Stryker, but blade length is the same.  The Blur has a bit more belly to the blade.  I prefer the shape of the Styker's handle, and it's titanium liner with G2 scales verses the Kershaw's stainless liner and G2 scales, so the Benchmade is a bit lighter, on the other hand the Benchmade sells for almost double the Kershaw.  Both will shave out of the box.  The Kershaw also offers the ability to change the clip from not only right to left hand carry but from tip down to tip up on either hand.Benchmade makes less expensive knives, but not any assisted opening or using the Axis lock system.  The H and K and Harley Davidson lines tend to be less expensive.  Kershaw runs the gambit from $20 up in price. The less expensive knives like Benchmades Red category and the Kershaws less expensive ones tend to be made outside the US.  Benchmades H and K line I think are US made and seem to be in the $30 to $40 range.

 This is a nice little Kershaw I picked up for $20 or $25.  It lets you change the clip from left to right hand but doesn't to change from tip up carry.  It's called a Burst.  I am also interested in picking up a Kershaw Brawler with the tanto blade.