My Thoughts On Folders vs. Fixed Blades for EDC

I get a lot of questions from people about why I never carry a fixed blade for EDC. I've found that for my needs, I don't need anything more than a folder. If I did more extreme tasks or bushcraft stuff, a fixed blade might be beneficial to me. I also never carry a fixed blade, because of the fact that they aren't very easy to carry. They're not as portable as my tiny folders. I don't have any sort of belt that I wear, so belt carry isn't an option for me. I'm not really a fan of having bulky things around my neck either. Plus there's also the fact that there aren't many affordable and small fixed blades on the market. There are things like the CRKT Folts Minimalist, but that looks slightly too big for my needs. Ideally, I'd eventually like to find some sort of fixed blade that is similar in size to the Ladybug. I don't think that will ever happen, but a girl can dream right?

I do currently own one fixed blade, the Esee Izula, and I absolutely love it. Since the Izula is pretty much a perfect fixed blade, I've never seen the need to get a different one. I don't get much use out of it anyways, so I don't need a massive collection of them sitting around and collecting dust.

Sorry for this sort of weird post. As you can tell by the time I'm posting it, I'm doing it super last minute compared to when I normally get them up. Putting up a post every day has gotten a little hard for me to handle. I'm going to try to finish the rest of the month and take a little break from posting in July. Thanks for looking! I hope you've been enjoying all these new posts throughout June.

How I Feel About Prepping

A lot of people in the EDC community are into prepping. I'm no doomsday prepper, but I do think I'll begin to prep more in the future. If some sort of disaster were to hit, I'd like to at least have extra food and supplies. I'd also like to have some sort of emergency bag that I could take if I were forced to leave my house. That's probably as far as I'd take my prepping though. Some people take prepping way too far in my opinion. They have fallout shelters prepared and everything, which I find completely ridiculous. Sure there's a possibility they could need it, but the chances are very slim to none.

The only situations I would prep for include a natural disaster, a fire in my home, and some sort of terror attack. I live close to Washington D.C., so if some sort of attack happened there, it could reach my area. That's definitely the most extreme situation I'd prep for. Natural disasters or a fire could easily happen at least once in anyone's lifetime.

Like I mentioned earlier, the only prepping I'd do is to have extra food, water, supplies, and an emergency bag. I wouldn't want to hoard tons and tons of food. I'd probably just purchase an extra can of soup or something every time I'd go to the grocery store. I don't know what supplies would be insanely useful in an emergency situation. I think stocking up on first aid supplies, batteries, and tools would be pretty smart. I do have some plans for an emergency bag, but I'd like to save that for another post. I'm going to reuse my backpack I used in high school and start putting this emergency bag together before I leave for school. I'd most likely leave it in my car, so I could have the gear with me whenever I'm out.

Being prepared for any situation is a big part of the EDC community. When most people think about EDC, they only think of a knife, mulitiool, flashlight, pen, etc. They'll build a rotation of very similar gear and call it a day. I think people need to start thinking on a broader level. Prepping can be extremely beneficial. It really shouldn't cost that much if you space out what you want to prep over time. Instead of dropping $200 on yet another knife, maybe buying things to prepare your home would be a better idea. As I begin to get closer and closer to adulthood, these are the things I'll have to start thinking about. I hope you found this somewhat entertaining. I'm no expert on prepping, but I just wanted to bring some more attention to it. I might potentially do more posts of this nature in the future. Stay tuned! Thanks for looking!

Gear Wishlist Update June 2016

I'm kind of struggling to think of something to post about today, so I wanted to talk about some of the gear I am interested in at the moment. I need to make some upgrades before I head off to college. Over the course of the summer, I hope to pick up a majority of what I need. Once I sell off some of my gear, I can start purchasing some of these upgrades.

The first item I'd like to pick up is the Olight S10R Baton II. I've heard nothing but good things about this light. The max output of this light is 500 lumens, which will make it the brightest light I'll own. I hope to use it for EDC tasks and for hiking. I'm also trying to make my flashlight collection completely rechargeable. That's why I'd rather get this light over Olight's other popular light, the S1.

Another thing I need to pick up is some sharpening gear. I don't have any at the moment, but I think I'll just get some of the Spyderco Sharpmaker stones. I used to use them to freehand sharpen, and they worked out really well. I'm not looking to drop a ton of money on sharpening stuff, so I think those stones will fit the bill perfectly.

One of the last major upgrades I'd like to make is to pick up a full-sized multi-tool. I've owned a couple, but I've always sold them in the end. I'm leaning towards something like the Leatherman Wingman or Sidekick. Both are affordable which is exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm also really digging the the Spyderco Native 5 in FRN at the moment. I don't think I'd ever pick it up though. It's pretty pricey, and I don't think I'd use it much. I pretty much only carry my small knives these days. It would be nice to have a mid-sized folder, so we'll have to see if I change my mind.

That's about all I'd like to try right now. There's a few other things, but those are just things I'd like to try out for fun, not to keep. Once I eventually pick up these items, I'll be sure to make some sort of video or blog post on them. Thanks for looking!

My Experience With Fountain Pens Thus Far

Fountain pens are a whole new writing experience. I always held off on getting one, because I thought they'd just write the same as any other pen I tried. There's definitely a noticeable difference when using them. I've only tried two so far, but I hope to eventually pick up a couple more in the future. I'm also still somewhat new to the whole fountain pen thing, considering I've only been using them since mid-January.

The thing I like most about writing with fountain pens is how smooth they write. The ink flows so nicely with very little pressure from your hand. With ballpoint pens, I always have to press really hard to make them write decently. I can't really describe the whole fountain pen experience. It's just something that is very pleasurable and fun. I wholeheartedly suggest that everyone purchases at least one fountain pen in their life.

My favorite fountain pen I've tried is also my only one at the moment, the Pilot Metropolitan. The Metropolitan is awesome because of the price, only $15, and the wide variety of colors it comes in. I'm going to try to get a review post up on mine sometime in the next few weeks if you're curious about it. The Kaweco Skyline Sport I also tried was absolute garbage. Definitely do your research if you're interested in picking up a fountain pen.

The world of fountain pens has taught me how important it is to have nice writing supplies. Paper and pens are things you should not skimp on in life. As a student, I'm always writing essays, doing homework, etc. My nice pens make doing these tasks much more bearable. It's a shame everything around us is quickly become digital. I for one will always prefer handwritten things over typed or digital ones. Maybe I'm just old school though. Thanks for looking!

Introducing "The List"

It turns out that this very post is my 100th post on this blog. I was going to try do something incredibly exciting and celebratory, but honestly I just haven't gotten around to it. Since I am posting something every day of June, I didn't want to break the streak because of my own struggles to think of something spectacular to post. Instead, I figured I'd like to make one significant change to the blog as a celebration of sorts. Now I was debating whether I wanted to change the color scheme, template, etc. I messed around with new formats, but none of them really stood out to me. Then I thought about what I could change about the four tabs I have at the top of the page. The simple selection of Home, About Me, Reviews, and YouTube was good when I first started the blog. However, nowadays I'm not really digging it anymore. I will be starting the revamp of the tabs by changing up the Reviews tab. Now as the title of this post suggests, here is the introduction of the new "The List" tab.

"The List" will essentially still remain exactly like the Reviews tab, just with a different name. I started this blog as a way to share my opinions of the gear I've tried and to also keep a log of everything I've tried. It's really fun to look back and read old reviews to see what I used to EDC. In the future, I'd like to do more with "The List," but for now, it might look the exact same as it did before. I guess I didn't really explain why I'd like to call it "The List." It's sort of self explanatory, but it will be a running list of all the gear I've tried with their accompanying reviews. This will give me the chance to log my journey as an EDC gear lover and share how I feel about these pieces of gear. I might hate it, or it could turn out to be the coolest thing I've done with the blog. I have a bunch of ideas on how I could make it really cool. For now, I thought the name change would be a good start. Sorry the 100th post wasn't too exciting. I do think this new tab name will be pretty sweet though once I get it fully up and running. Thanks for looking! Check out the new tab at the top, and let me know if you think it's dumb or kinda neat.

How I Make My Videos

I've gotten questions in the past about what camera I use to film my videos, how I edit them, etc. I wanted to make this post explaining how I make my videos. Then, I can just refer people to read this instead of having to answer the same questions a hundred times.

I guess I'll start with the camera. I've used the Canon Rebel T3i to film pretty much every single one of my videos. I occasionally use my iPad's camera if I want to make a quick video where quality doesn't really matter. The lens that I currently use on my T3i is the Sigma 17-70. It's a pretty good lens, and I don't have any big complaints about it.

I don't exactly recommend you use a T3i to film videos. It's a great camera for photography, but as far as videos go, it's kind of a pain. A DSLR for videos is annoying, because you have to manually focus everything, unless your autofocus is quiet enough where you can't hear it. If I tried to use autofocus, it would take forever to focus, and you'd constantly be able to hear it readjusting the focus. Plus the video files are humongous, so they take forever to upload. It's the nicest camera I've got though, so I put with the hassle to use it.

I don't normally do any sort of editing to my videos. They're all done in one shot out of convenience. Usually if I mess up, I just trash the footage and start all over again. This can take a while sometimes, but I've gotten a lot better about not messing up. If I do need to edit some clips together, I use Windows Live Movie Maker. It's a pretty crappy software honestly, but it can get the job done.

That's about it as far as what goes into my videos. I don't have any sort of fancy studio where I film them. They're all just filmed somewhere in my room. You don't need high end equipment to make videos. As long as they're not shaky and decent enough quality, that's what really matters. Honestly, the content of your videos is more important than how nice they look quality wise. If you've ever considered making videos, just do it. It's a lot of fun, and there's a great community on YouTube. Thanks for looking! If you've got any other questions that I didn't answer, feel free to let me know.

EDC Gear Sale Preview

Hey everybody! I always seem to put up some sort of preview post when I've got a sale coming soon. I don't know when I'll be ready to sell all this stuff exactly. All you need to know is that the sale will be coming before I head off to school in August. I'd like to get it done ASAP, but with work and a bunch of other stuff, I don't think it will be ready any time soon.

Here's a picture of everything that should be up for sale. It's probably going to be one of the bigger sales I've had in a while. I won't be naming prices for now, but I know there won't be anything more than $60. Stay tuned to my YouTube channel, because that is where I'll be posting the video. Thanks for looking everyone! I'll try to get it up as soon as I can.

Overhyped Gear #1

I'd like to start this series, Overhyped Gear, to highlight gear in our community that is often overhyped. This overhyped gear will be extremely popular in the EDC community, but ultimately not worth all this hype. A big reason behind why gear is so overhyped revolves around brand names. Fanboys stick to their favorite brands like leeches. This series will obviously be subjective to my opinions and preferences. I will try to stick to talking about things that I have tried personally. I do not want to tear down any products by any means. However, I've had a large amount of disappointment after trying some products that everyone seems to absolutely love, so it's time I finally share how overhyped certain products are. Without further ado, here is the first Overhyped Gear post.

Three products I think are extremely overhyped are the Hinderer Investigator pen, the Zero Tolerance 0566, and Moleskine notebooks. All these products cost considerably more than they should, while failing to be unique or be worth this extra money.

The Hinderer Investigator pen is one of my least favorite pens I've ever tried. The whole writing experience was extremely disappointing to me. This is easily one of the most talked about pens in the EDC community. I see so many on Instagram, the forums, YouTube, etc. I don't understand why people love them so much. Oh wait, yes I do. They are only loved because of their brand name. If it was any other brand, I don't think these would have done so well. For $60, you are getting a pen that writes like a $10 to $20 Fisher Bullet Space pen. It is an uncomfortable pen to write with, and the clip absolutely sucks. If you want to see more of a review about this pen, look here. Just know that if you buy this pen, you are giving into a huge amount of hype that is honestly not worth it.

The Zero Tolerance 0566 is something that I also consider overhyped. I don't actually believe this ZT in particular is loved as much as others, but I didn't think it was fair for me to say all ZTs are overhyped. I have only tried out maybe three ZTs after all. This ZT though, is not what I'd expect to get from Zero Tolerance, especially for the price. The materials of this 0566 are what make it overhyped. If I'm paying over $100 for a knife, I expect high end materials like titanium and fancy steels. The 0566 uses stainless steel instead of titanium on the lock side. I thought ZT was know for their titanium framelocks. How can they sell a stainless steel framelock when practically all their other knives use titanium? I find it kind of funny that this 0566 is a Hinderer design. Contrary to what it seems like, I don't have some sort of hatred for Hinderer. I honestly just think this knife is overhyped considering the materials, price, and brand name.

And last but not least, I believe Moleskine notebooks as a whole are overhyped. The sub-par paper quality you're getting for the jacked up price is outrageous. The paper can't even handle simple ballpoint pens. Any pen I write with smears and shows through on the back side. After trying different paper, I can see that this poor performance isn't normal. I've tried Rhodia paper that is cheaper, and had no issues whatsoever. As you pay more for something, it should get exponentially better. That is not the case with these Moleskine notebooks. When people think notebooks, Moleskine is probably among one of the biggest brand names. This dedication to big brand names is what contributes to the overhyped product.

So there we go. That was the first Overhyped Gear post. I hope you all found it entertaining. You may not agree with me, but I think all my points are valid. I will continue to write these posts as time goes on. Thanks for looking!

Pocket Dump 6-17-16

This is what I'm carrying with me today. In fact, these three items are what I've carried the past 2 days as well. I've obviously had my phone, wallet, watch, etc with me, but these are what people care about seeing the most. I like this group of items in particular for a number of reasons. 

First off, three is a very nice number. It's not too big and not too small. Sure I could add a couple more things to make my carry a little more well-rounded. These are just honestly all I've needed to reach for recently. Forcing myself to only carry three items on my person makes me really think what I could need during the day. The clothes I've been wearing the past few days have made it extremely easy to carry this small group of items. They just disappear in my pockets until I need them. I've also enjoyed having a little bit of color back in my life. Each items serves it's very own purpose without much overlap. I've been very into a minimal EDC lately, so it's nice that I found this group of items that goes really well together.

I may switch up the group of items in the coming days, but I've found having only a knife, multi-tool, and flashlight works perfectly for me. I might occasionally throw a pen into the mix. I just haven't had the need for one lately. This is definitely my favorite carry that I've tried in a while. I'll have to try a few other combos, but this may be the one that actually sticks. Thanks for looking!

FourSevens Preon P1 First Impressions

My good friend Laura recently gifted me this sweet FourSevens Preon P1. I've been carrying it the past few days and have really been impressed so far. I honestly didn't think I would like the light, because it has a twisty operation. Normally, I prefer clicky lights over twisty ones, but there's something about this one that I don't mind. The threads are insanely smooth. They're probably the smoothest I've ever had on a flashlight before. I don't know the exact output numbers at the moment, but this little Preon is definitely bright enough for my needs. I also absolutely love the color! It's a very nice blue that really pops. I'm going to keep carrying it over the next few weeks. I can totally foresee it overthrowing my Fenix E05 as my EDC light. I'll just have to see how it goes. Thanks for looking! I'll have a review type post up in the coming month or so. Huge thanks to Laura for giving it to me!

Fenix E05 R2 (2014 Edition) Thoughts

The Fenix E05 is ultimately a $20 flashlight that isn’t anything particularly special. It’s a great quality light, but it isn’t really bright enough for my needs.

The quality of this list is great. I haven’t run into any issues with mine. All the machining was done extremely well. The threads are very smooth. It’s all very impressive for $20. I will say that I find Fenix lights hit or miss when it comes to quality. Some are good, while others are just really crappy. This one just happens to be pretty good.

The E05 is pretty compact, which is good for an EDC light. There’s plenty to grip, and the knurling all over the light does help provide some additional grip. Despite how small it is, the light is super easy to operate one-handed. My only big complain is that this is a twisty light. I personally don’t like twisty lights, because I think a button is faster and even easier to turn on. Unfortunately, there aren’t many clicky AAA lights that are bright and affordable, so I just settled for this one instead. The light can also tailstand if you need that in your flashlight.

The amount of light that the E05 puts out is pretty impressive considering it runs on an AAA battery. The max output is 85 lumens, the medium mode puts out 25 lumens, and the low mode is 8 lumens. 85 lumens is plenty bright enough for most EDC tasks and comparable to the high mode of other AAA lights. The max runtime is 15 hours on low, 4 hours and 15 minutes on medium, and 45 minutes on high. I haven’t encountered any issues with runtime as I only use this light every so often. AAA batteries are easy to find, so it’s not too big of a concern that the runtimes aren’t the best, in my opinion. The tint of the beam is pretty neutral, and luckily doesn’t have any blueish or purplish tint to it. With cheaper lights, I’ve found that most of them have purplish tints to the beam. It’s good to know this one doesn’t have that issue. The beam has a hotspot opposed to having a lot of flood. I prefer flood lights, so I’m not the biggest fan of the hotspot. I do like that the modes start at low and then go to medium then high. I personally never need that much light, so low normally is always good for me. I’m also happy that there’s no strobe or any other fancy modes. The modes are basic, but do the job just fine.

Like I said at the beginning, for $20, you’re getting a light that isn’t that special. It’s a great quality light, but not something I’m particularly in love with. It was one of the best, affordable lights on the market when I bought it. However, Olight recently released the i3E that is cheaper/brighter, yet it lacks some of the features that the E05 offers. I haven’t tried that one personally, but maybe I’ll pick one up to do a comparison post. Still, this E05 is a classic, and I’d recommend it. It’s not fancy, but it will always work when you need it to. Thanks for looking!

Spyderco Endura Thoughts

The Spyderco Endura is an absolute beast of a knife. As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into, it’s a great blade for sure. It’s not the most practical blade for my needs, but I can recognize a good blade when I see one.

As with all Spyderco’s blades, this one is great quality wise. I’ve had no issues with mine whatsoever. The fit and finish is perfect, and the blade is extremely smooth when opened and closed.

I’ve also got no complaints when it comes to the blade. Yes it’s pretty big, coming in at 3.75”. I unfortunately don’t need something this big on me every day. If you’re really into big blades though, this is the one for you. The VG-10 is a good steel. Sure it’s not S30V or any other high end steel, but it just works. It’s always been one of my favorite steels considering how sharp it gets and how well it retains its edge. The Spydie hole is quite large compared to what I’ve seen on other Spydercos I’ve owned. This added size makes it extremely easy to find and to open the blade. There’s also some jimping on the thumb ramp that does a decent job of providing more grip. I’ve found the Endura to be a great slicer that performs very well for EDC tasks.

The whole reason I was able to carry this blade in the first place was because of how lightweight and slim the handle is. Despite this blade’s huge size, it manages to stay insanely light thanks to the FRN handles. I absolutely love FRN, because it keeps knives light and provides a lot of grip. Plus you can’t forget that FRN allows for a ton of different color options, which is something I always like to see. The ergonomics are great. I can obviously fit a full four finger grip very comfortably. The large handle size allows me a lot of different options for how I hold it. I can choke up, keep my hand farther back, etc. The lockback does what it needs to do. It’s not the most fun lock, but it is very practical. Mine has pretty solid lockup. As with most of Spyderco’s FRN lockbacks, this one has some side-to-side play. It’s not anything unsafe, just something to mention for those that are blade play snobs. The hourglass clip is pretty good as well.  I’m becoming more and more of a fan of this clip. I still think the wire clip is the best, but this one would be a close second. It has great retention and allows the knife to ride pretty deep in the pocket.

The price is probably the only thing I’m not a fan of. It sells for close to $70, which I think is kind of ridiculous. Sure you’re getting a lot of blade for the money, but the materials are just average in my opinion. Spyderco manages to sell a lot of them though, so I guess the price isn’t unreasonable to most.

While I do love this knife, it’s not something I’m going to be keeping. I honestly just don’t need a knife this big. I really only bought it because it came in purple. If you need a big but lightweight knife, then this is the one for you. It’s pretty pricey, but it will definitely last you forever. Thanks for looking!

Kaweco Skyline Sport Sucks!

A while ago, I decided to pick up my first fountain pens. There were two that I was deciding between, the Pilot Metropolitan and the Kaweco Skyline Sport. They both came in purple, so it was hard for me to pick just one. I ended up purchasing both, considering they weren't that expensive. As of today, I only have the Pilot Metropolitan. From the get go, I always had issues with the Kaweco and promptly got my money back for the terrible pen that it is.

So why exactly was the Kaweco so bad? Well, let me tell you. This pen would not perform its one and only task. That's right. It was incapable of writing. I tried a number of different fixes, but ultimately, none of them fixed all the issues the pen had. I got a replacement one to see if I had a lemon, but nope that one sucked too. Both pens skipped all the time. Whenever I would try to write with them, they wouldn't even write at first. I'd have to keep scribbling on the page until ink would come out. At first, I figured it was something I was doing wrong. My Pilot had none of these issues, and that's when I realized the Kaweco was just garbage.

I did some research on the internet to see if anyone else had issues with the Skyline Sport. It turns out that tons of people had similar issues with theirs. Of course there were people that swear by these pens. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but getting two pens with the exact same issues doesn't seem like a mere coincidence. Kaweco needs to fix this problem. It shouldn't be that hit or miss. If I remember correctly, the issues I had revolved around the way they made the nib. This seems like it'd be a relatively easy thing for them to fix. It doesn't really matter to me anymore though. Kaweco will never be getting my business again. If you want a good beginner fountain pen, get the Metropolitan instead. Thanks for looking!

How I Think College Will Change My EDC

I'll be headed off to college in a little over two months. It will be the first time in my life where I'll be able to carry essentially whatever I want on a daily basis. During high school, there's obviously a no knife policy. I can carry whatever I choose during the summer, but it's not really the same as carrying stuff throughout the year. At college though, there's only restrictions on the size of the blade. I expect my carry to change drastically once I get settled into the college life. Obviously, I have not stepped foot on my campus yet. These will be my predictions of what I expect my EDC to look like in college. I will make sure I do an actual update post about whether my predictions were right or not.

I think my carry will revolve around a lot of small gear. That's currently what I'm carrying, so I expect that to stay the same. With all the new people I'll be surrounded by, small gear just makes the most sense to carry. I don't want to freak anyone out or make people think I'm some kind of weirdo.

I expect my carry to be more focused on defense type options. I've heard a lot of horror stories about what happens to girls on college campuses. To feel safer, I think I'll be carrying pepper spray at the very least. I need to do some more research on what other options I have, but pepper spray is a must.

I predict I'll be carrying all my gear in my backpack and not on my person. The clothing I wear isn't the best suited to carry my gear. The pockets are extremely small or non-existent. I'd still obviously need to carry my gear somehow, so my backpack makes the most sense. The one I bought has a lot of different pockets and levels of organization, It will be interesting to see how I make it work.

The last prediction is that my EDC will be a little more extensive. Since I'll have my backpack with me the majority of the time, I can really load it up with everything I may need. I'll definitely be adding things that I couldn't carry before, like a first aid kit, full-sized multi-tool/flashlight, etc.

So these are all my predictions for how my EDC will change in college. Who knows if they'll be accurate or not. I'm not sure how long it will take me to put up the update post, but at the latest, it will be up once I finish the school year. Thanks for looking!

Nitecore Tube First Impressions

I recently picked up this little Nitecore Tube. I needed to spend like $10 to get free shipping on Amazon and decided I might as well try out this light. So far, I'm very impressed. It's a lot smaller than I expected. When placed next to the Spyderco Ladybug, it's considerably shorter. This light only puts out 45 lumens. That doesn't sound like a whole lot, but it's perfectly fine for a keychain light. The main reasons I bought it were because of the clicky button and the fact it was infinitely variable and rechargeable. I'm trying to get my whole flashlight collection to be rechargeable, so I don't have to deal with buying batteries anymore. The casing is just plastic, but it seems like it'd hold up well. The modes are easy to switch between. I'll have to see how it performs as an EDC light. Once I get to carry it some more, I'll be sure to get a full review type post up. Thanks for looking!

I Love My Tiny Gear!

Being a girl, I don't have big pockets or large hands. This has led me to discover that tiny gear is my favorite gear to use and own. It's much better suited to my needs, but also is really cute looking, which makes for a cool collection. I'm not sure what specific size range I'd consider tiny gear to be. I think anything smaller than a Victorinox Cadet is pretty darn tiny. Then again a Cadet isn't really tiny, but more so small. I definitely think there's a distinct difference between small and tiny. Anyways, I'll figure that out later. Back to why I love tiny gear.

I've found that tiny gear is more likely to come in different colors. As you can tell, most of the gear in the picture is pretty colorful. I think the color thing is helped by the fact that most of this gear is inexpensive. This allows people to buy the whole color range of a certain product line, which means more money for the company. The Victorinox Alox line and Ladybug come to mind. People nowadays have huge collections of the Alox Cadets in all the colors of the rainbow. With materials like plastic being primarily used, it's easy to have different colors offered. With G10, that's a lot harder to do, since most of you dudes just like your black G10 knives. I also think the color thing is so that women will be more likely to carry them. If a husband was to give his wife a small EDC kit, I bet she'd be more likely to carry something colorful over a blacked out kit. I know that'd be the case for me. 

Going forward, I'm going to stick to only buying tiny gear. In the past, I've bought gear that doesn't necessarily fit this size range, and I never end up carrying it. I might as well just stick to what I know and love. Tiny gear has a lot of benefits over larger gear. People don't generally freak out when they see a Victorinox Classic or Spyderco Ladybug. If I pulled out an Endura, that scenario would be a whole lot different. I think it's a lot of fun to try out different gear, but honestly, the tiny gear is where it's at. I've noticed an increase in people carrying tiny gear, which makes me really happy. It used to be really unappreciated in terms of how many people actually carried small stuff. I hope I'm able to bring attention to some awesome tiny gear on this blog and on YouTube. That's the direction I'll be headed, so I hope you all enjoy it! There's a lot more I could say about tiny gear. Maybe I'll put up a video on it sometime soon. Thanks for looking!

Replaced My Broken Victorinox Scissor Spring

A couple of months ago, the spring on my Victorinox Classic scissors snapped. Honestly, I never knew that they didn’t last forever. I guess after being compressed for such a long time, the spring weakened and was bound to eventually snap. I've had this thing for years, so I guess it lasted way longer than you'd expect. You could still use the scissors without the spring if you absolutely had to, but obviously they really do need the spring to cut anything decently. I finally managed to pick up the replacement springs off Amazon.

I wanted to do this post to write my experience of replacing the spring. I had done research on it and heard that some people had a lot of trouble with it. This made me a little nervous, but no need to fear, I thought the process was really simple. Most of you guys probably knew this was easy. It took me all of like 5 minutes. I yanked out the spring piece that was still on the Classic with my handy Leatherman Squirt P4. That was honestly the most complex part for me. I was afraid I was going to break something, so I was being really careful. I then realized it didn't really matter. I gave that spring one solid tug with the pliers, and out it came. Putting in the spring was so easy. You just have to line the circular part up to the hole and squeeze with the pliers. And boom, it's fixed. This probably wasn't a very good explanation, but it seriously wasn't hard. I hope this post was more entertaining than informative. If you need to know how to do it, Google will be your best friend. Thanks for looking!

My Watches

When I first started this blog up again, I did a post on the only watch I had. Now that I have two watches, I wanted to make an update to that post. So here are the two watches I own at the moment.

You all should recognize the Baby G from way back when. That was the watch I wore in my videos a couple years ago. I didn't really like how big that watch was, so I set out to find something with a slimmer profile. Now I'll be using this watch when I go hiking or do any sort of outdoor activity where I don't want to beat up my nice watch.

I picked up the Fossil watch sometime last year. I wanted a watch with a leather band that was pretty small. The Fossil fits those requirements quite nicely. I wear it everyday, and it's held up extremely well. It's not anything particularly special. It just gets the job done and looks good at the same time. So yeah, that's about it for my watches. I'm not too into watches, so there's not much else I can say. Thanks for looking!

Saying Goodbye to the Altoids Tin Setup

I've been using the Altoids tin to carry my EDC for a while now. After doing some thinking, I've realized it was never the perfect solution to my carrying dilemma. As you all know, girls clothing has absolutely worthless pockets. That means I carry everything in the waistband or in the pockets of my jacket. Now that the summer is approaching, I lose my jacket, which kinda ruins my EDC at the moment. I'm not sure what I'll do as far as my carry goes. I can't carry anything in the pockets of my shorts, so I'm sorta out of luck at the moment. All I know is that the Altoids tin isn't the direction I want to go anymore. When I put my gear in it, everything always rattles around, which is just annoying to listen to. I may move toward a pouch setup, because I don't necessarily like how firm the tin was. We'll see what I'm able to come up with. As always, I'll be sure to keep you all updated on what I figure out. Thanks for looking!

Multi-tool Collection Update June 2016

If you saw yesterday's post, I did a knife collection update for June. Since multi-tools aren't really knives, I decided to let the multi-tools have their own update post. I don't use most of these on a regular basis. It's unfortunate, but if I can't find any uses for them this month, some of them will most likely be sold.

Going from left to right, my collection is made up of an EOS Ti Shark, Victorinox Alox Bantam, Wenger EvoGrip 11, Gerber Shard, Leatherman Squirt P4, and Victorinox Classic. Like my knife collection, I don't have all that many multi-tools. I still value having a small collection of quality tools. Even though I don't use many of these frequently, I think I would regret letting go of them. In the future, I believe I'll get a lot more use out of them. This month I'll have to figure out what will be useful going forward and what I need to let go. Thanks for looking!

Knife Collection Update June 2016

Now that it's finally halfway through the year, I figured it was a good time to show what knives I currently have in my collection. I expect this to change over the course of the summer as I need to clear it out a bit. I also will be posting a multi-tool collection update tomorrow as well.

The only fixed blade I have is the Esee Izula. It's easily the best fixed blade you can buy for the money. I love it and don't ever see it leaving my collection. 

As far as folders go, in the top row I've got a Spyderco Endura, ZT 0566, Cold Steel Mini AK-47, and some 5.11 knife. I don't use practically any of those at the moment. I'm just not really a fan of these large or mid-sized blades. I know I'll be using the 5.11 knife in my hiking bag as a backup, but not sure what I'll do to get use out of the others.

The second row of folders consists of what I'd actually carry due to size. From left to right, I've got the Spyderco Dragonfly, Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite, CRKT Jettison, and Spyderco Ladybug. The Dragonfly is broken, so it never gets carried. I like the Mini Tuff Lite but haven't felt like carrying it lately. The Jettison and Ladybug are the two I've been carrying most. I like how tiny and lightweight they are. 

As you can see, it's not a very big collection. I value having a small number of quality knives. I only really use like half of these, so the other half needs to go unfortunately. Who knows when I'll end up doing my sale. It should be up before I head off to college at the end of the summer. Thanks for looking!

What I've Been Carrying

One of the main reasons I wasn't really posting over the past few months was because I wasn't carrying my typical EDC. With school and work all the time, I ditched my gear and just carried the essentials. The stuff in the picture is honestly all I've been carrying during this time. Sure occasionally I'd grab my Ladybug, but that wasn't very often. The only thing not pictured is my car keys. They were downstairs, and I was too lazy to go and get them. They are usually clipped to the purple carabiner though.

(sorry for the somewhat crappy photo. it's been very overcast lately)

You all have seen these items before, so I don't really need to go through them. These items are the core of my EDC. Now that it's the summer, I can begin to add various tools to this core to make my life a little easier. In future posts, I'll be talking about numerous upgrades I'd like to make. I think this is a good base, but there's definitely a lot of utility I need to add to it. Thanks for looking!

The Start of a Compact First Aid Kit

I originally bought this Pelican 1010 case last summer to use for a survival kit. I never ended up getting all the gear for that, so it sat unused for a while. I was debating selling it, but then I realized that was too much of a hassle. I did some thinking and decided to turn it in to a small first aid kit. I'll be doing a lot of hiking over the next few months. I thought something like this kit would be good to throw in my bag in case something were to happen. This post will go through the contents as of now. I definitely think it's got a long way to go, but hey, at least it's better than nothing. 

So the contents are pretty basic so far. I have 2 little 2" x 2" gauze pads, a bunch of various band-aids, some alcohol prep pads, antibiotic ointment, a couple sheets of paper, a razor, and a set of tweezers. Like I said, there's no real trauma type stuff, but it'd be good for minor cuts/scrapes. I need to add some medical tape, medicine for headaches, etc. If you've got any other suggestions, feel free to let me know. I'll continue to post updates as I get this thing better equipped. Thanks for looking!

Gear Rotation June 2016

I'm finally getting back into EDC and carrying all my gear again. Now that today is my last day of high school, I can start carrying whatever I want.  I like to rotate my gear as it allows me to get use out of all my stuff. I don't like gear sitting around, so having this rotation will hopefully prevent me from doing that. Without further ado, here's my rotation for the month of June.

I picked three multi-tools to rotate. I chose the Wenger EvoGrip, Leatherman Squirt P4, and the Victorinox Classic. I haven't gotten to carry the Wenger all that much, so I'd like to give it some pocket time to see how it performs. The P4 will be carried when I think I may need pliers. The Classic will just depend on the day. I like to have scissors on me, but if I don't have it, it's not too big of any issue.

I also picked three knives to rotate. I chose the Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite, Spyderco Ladybug, and the CRKT Jettison. As of lately, I haven't been carrying the Mini Tuff Lite all that much. I'd like that to change throughout June, because it's a really sweet knife. I'll clip the Mini Tuff Lite in the waistband, which may leave me some pocket space if I also want to carry either the Ladybug or Jettison. I definitely don't need 2 knives on me, but I like the Ladybug/Jettison too much to not carry them. I'll have to see how I'll handle rotating between those two blades. Maybe I'll just end up carrying both the Ladybug/Jettison. Again, they're so similar it wouldn't really be necessary. However, it's not like they'd be weighing down my pockets all that much. I just love them too much to have to pick between them. We'll see what ends up happening.

As far as a pen and flashlight go, I'll just be sticking with the Fisher Bullet Space pen and Fenix E05. I don't really have any other small options, so these will have to do for now. These two would be the first to go if I didn't want to carry all that much. Some days I may only carry a multi-tool and knife, but it really will just depend.

These will be all my options for the month. I'll have to see what combinations become my favorites. There's a lot of great gear here, and I think I'll have a lot of trouble picking between them all. I may post some pocket dumps of my favorite combos as the month goes on. Thanks for looking!

My Favorites May 2016

Now that it's June, I wanted to talk about some of my favorite pieces of gear that I used throughout May. May was the first month where I started getting back into carrying my EDC. Since I wanted to ease back into it, I stuck to using what I was most familiar with. These 4 items just happened to be some of my favorites of the month.

So if you're not familiar with what these items are: the pen is the Pilot Metropolitan, the knife on the left is the Spyderco Ladybug, the knife on the right is the CRKT Jettison, and the watch is a Fossil watch. 

The Pilot Metropolitan is the pen I've been reaching to most. I just love the whole writing experience associated with a fountain pen. The two main reasons I love this pen are the color and the fact that it writes insanely well.

Obviously I had to include the Ladybug as one of my favorites. No matter how many small knives I try, nothing ever ends up beating the Ladybug. The Jettison is close, but not quite as perfect. The Ladybug always serves me well when I need it. It's simply one of those knives that I'd always want to have with me if possible. If I keep doing this favorites series, be prepared to pretty much always see it make the list.

The Jettison was a new acquisition, but it's quickly becoming one of my all time favorite knives. This made the list of favorites, because of its small size and awesome flipping action. Major props to CRKT for putting a knife on the market that's affordable and super sweet.

The last thing that made the list was my watch. This watch is something I wear everyday, so based on that alone, it had to make the favorites list. It comes in particularly handy at school. I'll be sitting in class, just watching the seconds creep slowly by. It's a very classy watch and has a slimmer profile than the G-Shock I previously wore.

That's about it for all my favorites during the month of May. It's a pretty small group, but it's all stuff I've genuinely been loving. Not sure if I'll make this series a recurring thing. I'll just have to see how I feel. Thanks for looking!