Tiny Sheath Knife for Sneaky People

It’s official. I am finally free of a house I was trying to sell. Today I can relax and think about trivial things. More than usual.

Selling the house wasn’t the only exciting thing that happened yesterday. I also received a new knife: a Lionsteel M1. This is a small sheath knife made from M390 steel. I’ve already written about it. I am trying to transition to sheath knives because they’re just, well, better. I have a couple of sheath knives in the 9″ range (overall length), and they’re a little bigger than I need them to be for general use. The M1 is under 7″ long, so I thought it would be a good choice.

It’s a very nice knife. Apart from the M390 steel, it has G10 scales. G10 is more or less the same thing as micarta. It’s fabric inside plastic. G10 uses glass fabric (fiberglass), and micarta uses other materials. G10 is stronger, but since micarta is way stronger than it needs to be, it doesn’t really matter.

I may send the knife back. It’s smaller than I thought it would be. The blade is somewhat thin, too. I would say it’s about 0.10″ thick. Actually, I can check. Okay, it’s 0.13″, so I’m off by 30 thousandths. To give context, I’ll add that my Entrek knife is about 0.1875″ thick. It’s a monster, and it’s not unusual these days.

That’s a $150 knife, believe it or not. A lot of money for not much knife.

I’m going to get a Lionsteel M4, which is 8″ long. It’s shorter than the Entrek, so it should be handier. The blade is 0.15″ thick, which is somewhat better than 0.13″. I want a knife I can use every day without fear of snapping it.

Micarta and G10 are probably the best handle materials there are, but I decided to get an M4 with olive wood scales. It won’t be as tough, but olive wood appeals to me because olive oil is important in the Bible. It symbolizes the Holy Spirit, more or less. I believe it should be possible to put G10 scales on it if I don’t like the wood. Lionsteel knife handles aren’t ground flush with the tangs, so new scales should fit as well as the old ones.

Lionsteel also makes a knife called the DPX HEST, which is a 7″ survival knife. I don’t think my survival will ever depend on a knife, but survival knives seem very practical. They’re supposed to be tough and versatile. I might try one eventually. They’re pretty ugly, but so are Glocks, and we all know how well Glocks work. Well, most of us do. Colt, Sig, and Springfield fanbois, among others, have their fingers in their ears.

The HEST has a super-thick blade, plus a pointy thing for prying and wire-stripping notches. It has a built-in wrench which only works for 1/4″ fasteners IF you can fit the knife over them.

The DPX line contains models with names containing the word “assault.” I don’t really see myself assaulting in the near future. It’s funny how many products have macho names that have no relationship to the ways in which they will actually be used. TRY NEW KELLOGG’S ASSAULT POP TARTS! ASSAULT YOUR TASTE BUDS WITH EXTRA FILLING!

You can get the HEST in Sleipner and Niolox steels, both of which are supposed to be really good. I don’t know if I want Sleipner. It’s named after a mythical 8-legged horse that belonged to the false god Odin. Creepy thing for a Christian to own. Also, Sleipner steel rusts badly enough to generate complaints.

It would be nice to have a real knife collection, meaning maybe 30 or 40 knives. I probably have 10 right now. When I was a kid, I used to trade pocket knives with my grandfather’s older brother, so fooling with knives brings back nice memories, just as shooting brings back memories of my grandfather.

If my life sounds unexciting, good. That’s exactly how I want it.