Gary Mills Woodlore Clone - mini review

Well, I still haven't had time to give it a proper testing and review.  I haven't even had a chance to cook in over a month, it seems.

But I didn't want to not post anything about it, so here goes...

The knife came very sharp when it arrived.  Not shaving sharp but very usefully sharp.  The blade, handle and sheath were beautifully made.  Here are some pictures of the only cutting it has done so far.  And I can't wait for our camping trip next weekend!!

Yesterday, a friend gave me some nice big juicy guavas.  Not a challenge for any knife, but Gary's knife cuts very cleanly.  I didn't know that guava juice was acidic.  In a few minutes, it started to etch a patina into the carbon steel blade.  Very cool and I will experiment more with that later.  Hopefully, the next two pictures will show a little of the etching.

Today, I just cut some bread and some pipikaula.  Both were delicious!

I think I will get to camp one night ahead of my family, so I may go early and muck around and play with my new toys, er, tools.  I can't wait!

Kalimalena Neck Knife

The weekend before last, in the midst of coaching one of two soccer games, I get a call from my buddy Craig, aka Kalimalena.

Since we had a conversation about neck knives during our previous lunch, he took it upon himself to make me one.  It is a small scandi blade mounted on an antler handle.  Sweet!

Note to self, next time we have lunch, talk about mansions and sports cars...maybe about yachts too.  ;D

To hold it, he made a kydex sheath with paracord.

He asked to to tear it apart using it, since if I break it, he can make a new one.  But the point was to use it hard and give him my opinions.

Unfortunately, I have been so busy the past few weeks with work stuff that I haven't been able to play much.  I haven't even had a chance to cook for weeks so KP was out too.

But I did slice some fruit for a snack and it is a great slicer.  I did notice that the black coating caused more friction than a polished blade so I may remove it later, even though I like the way it looks.  The coating also made the back of the blade ineffective for striking a ferro rod.  So if I can't get sparks off a ferro rod, I won't get sparks off a piece of flint either.  I will file the back edge after I take off the coating.  And I really like the antler handle with the wrought iron bolster that he shaped and patina'd.  I think the antler point could be used for pressure flaking too.

I mentioned all of this to him when we spoke and he seemed to like the feedback.  More to come after I get to give it a proper review.

Here's a picture of it with a big guava.

Gary Mills Hand Made Knife Score!

When I got my mail today, this beauty was waiting for me.

Gary Mills, knife maker extraordinaire, had a contest a couple of weeks ago for this knife.  I lucked out and won.  So Gary shipped it over from England.  Mahalo Gary!

Not sure why the images are off centered...

Hopefully, when my foot heals up, I can get out and play with this brilliant tool.  It has been screaming to me go out and get dirty!  I will probably post a review using it for food prep in the kitchen, until I can get out and do it justice in the dirt and woods an grass.

Viking Score!

Today, I had lunch with a buddy and scored!  He bought a couple of Bearded Viking Throwing Axes and gave me one along with some birch bark and paperbark.

Mahalo Kalimalena!

Pretty pissed!

I was very unhappy one of the girls on my soccer team was left behind today after practice. Her aunt dropped her off, left and never came to pick her up. I only let her leave with the aunt because I saw her drop her off but didn't know she split. So I had to scold the mother, which I don't like to do. Thankfully, one of the other moms waited with me after I let the rest of the team go.


When I called the mom to tell her that practice was over and her her daughter needed to be picked up, the mom actually told me that her sister was some place else and kind of expected me to take her there.  So I had to firmly tell the mom that I wasn't taking her daughter anywhere and for her to call her sister to come get her now.  So wherever the sister was, she showed up about 25 minutes later.


My only consolation is I got to see my older daughter scrimmage.  I caught the last play where she stole the ball at around mid-field, was able to dribble past some defenders, take a shot that I thought the keeper was going to stop, have the shot bounce off the keeper and score the winning goal.  Yeah!

Klingons!

One of the ladies in my tai chi class taught me a very cool trick.  Pin a small safety pin anywhere on a garment that usually has static cling and viola...no more static cling issues!

I tried it out and it works great.  I have some silk shirts that I like a lot, but I have been wearing a cotton undershirt since I would always have static cling on them, especially after sliding out from a car.  Well, I found a tiny little safety pin (no more than an inch long) and pinned it to the inside bottom of my shirt, and hesitantly wore it without the undershirt.  YEAH!  No static cling.  When I slide out of the car, I can feel the static cling building for an instant, then no more.

Now I don't have to be hot wearing multiple layers in tropical weather.

Back to gongfu?

My plan was to get back into my gongfu practice after sitting out for over a month after tearing a plantar fascia in my foot playing basketball.

Mrs. Hanzo always seems to want to tag along when I go and hang out with the girls and maybe visit her folks who live near where I practice.  Usually when someone imposes their schedule and plans onto yours, yours don't always go as planned.  Today was no exception.  After waiting for them to get ready and having the guy I was supposed to meet before heading over no show, I was running late.  Then since Mrs. Hanzo brought food for her mom, we had to go there first.  By the time we were about ready to head out, I didn't want to go to practice any more.  By the time I got there, the guys would be all done with their exercises (our warm up exercises and stretches take about 60-90 minutes) and into their drills.  Since Sifu wasn't going to be there today, by the time I got done with my exercises, the guys would be done for the day.

Mrs. Hanzo had planned to run around where we practice while the kids biked.  So since we didn't go and the kids where playing with the animals at Grandma and Grandpa's, I offered to run/walk with her.  I think that was a mistake.  I don't think I got a block before my foot started to hurt, even though I stretched.  She ran and walked and walked after that.  We went for 2 miles.

I was going to do my exercises and forms at home, but my foot was really sore so I decided to slack off and take it easy.  I wanted to make sure I could run soccer practice tomorrow.

So I told Mrs. Hanzo not to come with me to practice ever again.  Nah, I just told her not to come.  Once in a while is ok, but it is difficult for me because she and the kids are somewhere around and show up from time to time.  And I want to focus and not have to worry about them.  Practice runs 3-4 + hours and I usually leave by the end of the third hour when they come.  Plus I am late more often when they come too.  So oh well.  Rant off.