What I Read: August 2017

The final month of my summer has finally ended. I really prioritized reading this summer and read a lot of cool, different books. I've read a lot this month, since I knew I wouldn't have as much free time once school started. I read a bunch of real books and graphic novels. I like graphic novels because they're always so short and fast paced that I can just blow right through them. I've also checked out a lot of interesting books from the library, so those have been fun to read. This month I've read 28 books and that puts me at 101 for the year. Keep in mind 13 of those were graphic novels, while all the rest were actual books. I've hit 100 books for the year which is awesome! I'm not sure what my next goal should be, so I think I'll just keep reading lots of stuff and see how many I can get to before the end of 2017.

One graphic novel series I've started is The Walking Dead. I've read the first three volumes and liked them. They're not anything crazy to me, but they are fun to read and it's cool to see how they compare to the show. I stopped watching the show a few episodes into season 7. The show has really gone downhill, and it feels like they're dragging it out. Robert Kirkman is the dude who created The Walking Dead, and he really likes to drag things out too. There's like 20+ volumes of the comics, which is kind of ridiculous to me.

Some of the other graphic novels that I've read are volumes 3 through 6 of Ms. Marvel and volumes 2 and 3 of Paper Girls. I really enjoy both those series, as it's nice to see comics written with girls as the main characters. I recommend both series for sure! I also read book one of Preacher, which is somewhat interesting. It's not my favorite in the world, but I do think I'll continue the series.

Going onto actual books now, probably my favorite book I read this month was Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children. I loved the story and all the characters. It was a really fun, adventurous story. I'm excited to read the rest of the ones in the series. Another book I thoroughly enjoyed was To Pixar and Beyond. It's written by a guy who helped bring Pixar to prominence. I grew up watching tons of Pixar stuff, so it was really cool to hear all the struggles of the company and how they overcame them. The author did a really nice job of writing the book in a personal way that really connected with me. I didn't think the ending fit into the rest of the book, but everything else was great.

Let's get into some major letdowns. The first would be The Girl on the Train. I thought the plot was really stupid. I hated the characters and thought the book was really overhyped. It's really not that good. I also really hated The Devil In The White City. I did another review type post with all my thoughts in a separate post, so check that out here if you want to know why I didn't enjoy it either.

Last but not least, let me go through a quick rundown of some stuff I did and didn't enjoy. I loved Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. I enjoyed The Power of Habit, Grunt, and Paddle Your Own Canoe, while some "eh" or average books were Dangerous Minds, The Caped Crusade, and Good Clean Fun. I'm on a Nick Offerman kick at the moment and am trying to read all his books. He's hilarious, and his books really showcase his personality. Both Paddle Your Own Canoe and Good Clean Fun are his books. Good Clean Fun is more of a guide to how to do woodworking stuff, so it wasn't as applicable to me, but there were some nice anecdotes. I highly recommend Paddle Your Own Canoe if you're a fan of Nick Offerman at all. That's a wrap for this month. It'll be interesting to see how much I can read in September with school starting back up. Thanks for looking!

Lots of New Gear!

So this looks like it'll be the final gear haul type post of the summer. I don't anticipate buying new gear for the next few months, as college starts back up and I've got textbooks/food/other crap to buy. I have gotten to try a lot of gear over the course of the summer, so that should at least tide me over for a little while. I got a package in this past weekend from my good friend Laura. She's been watching my channel ever since I first started, and we've been giving gear back and forth to each other over the years. She's always super generous and sent me a heck of a lot of cool gear for my birthday! She's also loaning me a Benchmade to try for a little bit, which will be awesome. Huge thank you to her, because she definitely went above and beyond! I really appreciate it girl!

So from Laura, I got a sick variety of things. The Benchmade I've got on loan from her is the 705, which she was telling me is the older version of the 707 sequel and a smaller version of the 710. Initially, I like this 705 a lot. Benchmade's are always so smooth and the Axis lock is a joy to play with. The smaller size is super nice for EDC too. I'm excited to see how it carries. 

The other black knife is the Sanrenmu 681. I've heard a lot about Sanrenmu over the years, but never tried one for some reason. They make nice budget options, and I believe a lot of them are on the smaller side. This one is great quality and has super smooth action. The ergos are pretty comfortable, and it even has a clip, which is something you don't see a lot on smaller knives. 

She also threw in a SingFire 348 flashlight that reminds me a lot of the design of the Preon. It's a very sleek and simple light that is pretty bright. I like the design of it, so it'll be interesting to see how it carries. 

Laura is super awesome and threw in three different Victorinoxs: the Pioneer, Minichamp, and the Adventurer, which has a locking blade. I love the alox on the Pioneer/Minichamp and really dig the camo on the Adventurer. I had an alox Cadet a few years ago, but sold it because the tool set wasn't that different from what I usually carried. The Pioneer seems like a better option, since it's got an awl, which I could see being very handy. I'd never seen the Adventurer before, but it really intrigues me. The fact that it has a locking blade is really neat, and I could see myself throwing it in my hiking bag. It has different ergos than most Victorinoxs, which is pretty neat. It feels pretty comfortable in the hand. The Minichamp is a tool that I've wanted to try ever since I first got into knives. I love the size of my Classic, so the Minichamp seemed like a natural choice to pick up. I'm really impressed with the toolset they were able to fit in such a small package. It'll be cool to see whether it can knock the Classic off as my favorite multitool. 

And last but not least, on the same key ring as the Minichamp is the CRKT Snailor and a cool paracord lanyard. I've never gotten into paracord much, but I really dig the pattern and size of this one. The Snailor came out this year and is so much tinier than I expected. I think it looks really cute. Not sure how it'll function as a bottle opener, but at least it looks cool. They're pretty affordable too, less than $10 I believe. 

Again, thank you so much to Laura for everything! I can't wait to carry everything and see how it works out in my carry! I've also got one other thing to show you all that I picked up on Amazon. I'm trying to revamp my EDC bag and haven't been happy with how I've got everything organized within it. I've tried so many different pouches and cases, but nothing is exactly what I need. I need a case that is both versatile enough to hold a wide range of things and compact enough to not take up a ton of room in my bag but still hold a lot. You never know what you need to carry in an EDC bag, so I need something with a lot more versatility. I've absolutely loved the little Case Logic camera pouch I use to hold my EDC, so I decided to look at what they offer as a brand. I found two different camera cases that seem like they'd work out for me. I couldn't decide between one over the other and figured why not try out both. Both were around $20, so not like they'd break the bank. I think whichever one I prefer will be used in my EDC bag, and the other will actually be used as a camera bag for my GoPro, since that is what they're meant for. I'm not happy with the camera bag I currently use for my GoPro, so this purchase has the opportunity to be a double whammy. Here's a quick look at the one I'm thinking I'll use in my EDC bag. I really like how the organization is done. Camera bags always seem to be designed well with tons of versatility, so I'm thinking it will work out quite nicely. Stay tuned for a bag loadout video within the coming weeks once I get my bag all organized.

I'm super impressed with this case for the money. I love the bright orange interior! It looks cool and helps you see the contents inside. It's so bright I actually had to change my camera settings so you all could see it clearly. I'm very excited to see this thing full once I get it organized. I think I'm really going to like it. Thanks for looking! There will be tons of new videos on all this stuff sometime soon!

Monetization

Hey everybody! For the sake of full disclosure, I wanted to let you all know that I have started to monetize my YouTube videos. I've always sworn to never monetize my videos since ads are annoying, but as I put more and more time into making videos, I'd like to get a little bit of monetary value for my time. Every dollar I make will be put directly back into the channel for buying gear and what not. I'm not trying to turn this into a job or anything by any means. Being in college takes a lot of my extra spending money away, so this will just help supplement what I've got so I can keeping trying out new gear. Everything will stay the same with my videos, but now you may see some annoying ads. If you're not a fan of ads like me, install an adblocker on your computer so you never have to see them. You never know, I may find they aren't worth it as far as money making goes, so I may take them down. Stay tuned for more videos in the future! Thanks for all the support!

Spyderco Cricket Thoughts

The Spyderco Cricket is one of those knives I've always had my eye on ever since I joined the knife community. I always held off because they were a little too expensive for me, but I finally just went for it and picked one up earlier this year. A lot of stainless steel or titanium framelocks are super popular right now, especially the budget ones like the CRKT Squid and Pilar. The Cricket is an older knife, but it's everything the stainless steel framelock should be. I absolutely love mine and highly recommend it.

As with all Spydercos, the quality of this knife is great. I've had no problems with it at all. The design is very unique, and I love that about this blade. It might not be the most practical for EDC, but it has functioned well for me.

The blade shape is the most noticeable feature about this knife. That reverse S blade is so sick looking. It may not be the most practical, but it looks dang cool. This is a smaller blade with a blade length just under 2". I love the size and find it's nice as a backup knife. The steel is VG-10, which is fine for EDC tasks. It's not the fanciest steel by any means, but it works. The Spyder hole is great as you'd expect. There's no jimping anywhere on this knife. I honestly like that a lot, as the knife feels a lot cleaner and classier.

The stainless steel handles are surprisingly nice. I've always hated any sort of metal handles, but I've become a fan of these. The scales are very slim, which helps keep this knife on the lighter side. The handles are obviously very smooth and slick. I've never had any issues with not being able to hold onto it or have it slip out of my hand. The ergos are great. I can fit a full four finger grip on this knife. I do have smaller hands though, so for you dudes with bigger hands, it might be a three finger knife for you. It's super comfortable in the hand, and it's got the choil so you're more choked up. Lockup is very solid with the framelock, so no complaints there. The clip is tip-down and right side only. I don't mind that at all, but I know some people are more picky with their clips. The clip is the typical hourglass clip, and it carries quite well. This knife is so slim and decently light that I don't really notice it when I'm carrying it.

The only real complaint I have about the Cricket is the price. All of Spyderco's crazier designs always seem to be more expensive. This knife retails for around $70 on Blade HQ. I think that's ridiculous considering you're only getting stainless steel and VG-10. It's a cool knife, but I'm not sure it's worth that much. Luckily, I got mine cheaper. Otherwise, I would have never gotten the chance to try it out.

I love my smaller knives, and the Cricket is a great option for me. My only real complaint has to be the price, but the knife itself is as close to perfect as you can get. I love the design and how slim it is. A lot of stainless steel or titanium framelocks tend to be on the beefier side, so I'm glad this knife is so slim. I think this is one of the better options to get if you want something cool looking and classy. It's infinitely better than something like the CRKT Squid. I've really enjoyed carrying mine, and the form factor is great. I've seen some people use these as money clips, which is a really interesting concept. I definitely recommend you pick one up if you find it for a good deal. It's a super neat knife, and one that I enjoy carrying a lot. Thanks for looking!

Ontario Rat 1 Thoughts

The Ontario Rat line is one of the most well-known knife lines in this community. I've always hesitated to pick up a Rat 1 or 2 before, but I'm glad I've finally gotten the chance to try one. This is a fantastic knife, and one that I highly recommend.

For a $30 knife, the quality of this Rat 1 is great. The fit and finish is good, the action is super smooth, and there are no quality issues. I was shocked at how smooth the action is. Most budget blades have kind of gritty or tight action, but that's not the case with this blade.

The overall design isn't anything fancy. It's a design that just works and will function well with whatever you throw at it. I don't think the Rat 1 is the best for EDC, just because of how big it is. However, I'll be using mine for hiking/camping and for those times when I need a beater knife. It would really excel at those purposes, as this is a beefier and bigger knife.

The blade shape is simple and looks nice to me. It's a bigger blade, over 3.5" overall, but the actual cutting edge is only 3.25". That's a lot bigger than something I'd typically carry for EDC. Again, that's why I think this knife is better suited for camping and beater type usage. I personally wouldn't necessarily want to carry something this big everyday. The steel on this version is AUS-8, which is a perfectly adequate steel. I know there's lots of steel snobs out there, so if you want a slightly better steal, spend the extra $10 and get the D2 version. The one thing I wasn't the most excited about with the blade was the thumbstuds, but I've grown to like them a lot. Since the action is so smooth, using the thumbstuds isn't that big of a problem. I do occasionally miss the thumbstud when I'm trying to open the blade, but that's more my fault. There is also some jimping on the thumb ramp that nicely adds some extra grip.

Handle wise, the Rat 1 has killer ergos. The knife feels like it just melts in my hand. The edges of the handles are rounded off, so there are no sharp corners digging into your hand uncomfortably. The scales are a plasticky type material, which I'm perfectly fine with. I know some people hate plastic scales because they feel cheap. I've grown to love them, since they make the knife lighter, can have added textures, and have a wider range of colors. They've got a a slight texture to them, but they still feel pretty smooth in the hand. The lock on this knife is a liner lock, and I've had no issues with it. Lockup is pretty solid. The clip isn't anything special. It's your typical clip that carries well. This knife is on the heavier side, but surprisingly when I carry it in the waist band, I don't feel it all that much.

Like I mentioned earlier, this is a budget blade coming in around $30. That's a phenomenal deal for this awesome knife. I'd definitely pay that for a knife that will last you forever. There's all sorts of color variations if you're not into the plain black. You can also buy the $40 D2 version if you want a better steel than AUS-8. I like that Ontario has so many options with this blade.

All in all, this is one of the better knives I've tried this year. I don't have any complaints about it at all. I've got this particular one on loan from a fellow knife YouTube guy, Hydra572HQ. I was so impressed with this knife when I first got it from him that I went out and ordered one for myself immediately. I've had the chance to try out a few things on loan from different people in this community, and this is the first time I've ever actually gone out and bought whatever I had on loan. I think that kind of speaks to how great this knife is. I was always on the fence with picking this knife up, because it seemed so overhyped. Luckily, I was wrong, and I found a great blade. This is one of the better mid-sized knives I've tried in a while. I really liked the Native 5 I had, but the Rat 1 beats it for sure. The Rat 1 is cheaper, has better action, and has better ergos than the Native 5. I highly recommend you pick up a Rat 1 and even a Rat 2 as well. I'm even more impressed with the Rat 2 I picked up alongside the Rat 1. You can expect to hear my thoughts on the Rat 2 soon as well as a comparison type post. You can't go wrong with a Rat either way. This is one of those knives that I think every knife lover needs to own. Thanks for looking! Also, huge thanks to Hydra572HQ for loaning me this! Go check out his YouTube channel here!

Book Review: The Devil In The White City

I just finished The Devil In The White City, and I'd have to say I was utterly disappointed with it. If you've never heard of this book before, essentially it's about a serial killer that struck Chicago in the late 1800's. Since this is regarded as one of the better true crime books out there, I expected to love it a lot. Honestly though, it's more so a history of the World Fair that took place in Chicago with the serial killer as a mere afterthought. Sure it talks about the killer, H.H Holmes as he most famously went by, some, but not nearly enough to call this a true crime book. I think the author and publisher wanted to sell this boring book and needed some kind of hook to grab people's attention.

I would have been fine with reading a book about the World Fair in Chicago, since Chicago seems like a cool city. Though since it was advertised as being all about the murder, magic, and madness at the fair, I expected it to be primarily focused on what the serial killer did. The book flips perspectives throughout, but the two main focuses are the main architect of the fair and Holmes. I kept waiting and waiting for it to jump into how the serial killer picked his victims and eventually got caught. This book went on and on for hundreds of pages before you get into the juicy part. My favorite pages where H.H. Holmes is finally caught by a detective take place within the last 50 pages of the book. That's not what I signed up for. Granted, it was probably hard to find many sources and first hand accounts of what happened since this all happened more than a hundred years ago. The author obviously put a lot of time and energy into researching the fair, but I don't think there was enough about Holmes to have him be a part of the story.

The parts about the fair were interesting, but were long and rambly in places. The author dropped a lot of names at once in the beginning, and I never really understood how they were intertwined with the life of Holmes. I think the two events, the planning/building of the fair and the murders by Holmes, were just two events that coincidentally happened at the same time. To me, the title made it out like Holmes actively went to the fair ground to stalk and catch his victims. That wasn't the case at all. Holmes was psychotic dude for sure, but he was kind of underwhelming if that makes sense. I recently finished the epitome of true crime books, Helter Skelter, which talks all about Charles Manson and his cult's killings. Finishing Helter Skelter before this book probably didn't help the matters, because I found Manson's story so intriguing. Hearing Manson's side made it that much darker, and I think The Devil In The White City really lacked that more personal feel. Obviously writing this book in that way would be impossible, since it happened way back when.

All in all, this was an underwhelming book. I was so psyched going into it, but it never have got to be what I had expected. I don't recommend it unless you're big into the history. If I had to give it a rating out of 5 stars, I'd give it a 2/5. Thanks for looking!

I've Found My Perfect EDC Gear...Now What?

After getting into the EDC scene a few years ago, I think I can finally say I've found my perfect gear. I have a handful of items that I absolutely love using/carrying and can't see how anything could come along to replace them. When I first got into the concept of having an EDC, I was still unaware of what I really needed in my gear. I didn't know I loved my small gear or that I loved having colorful stuff. This made me buy tons of different things in all sorts of designs to narrow down what I liked and didn't like. I'd say I'd first find a gem in like every 5 purchases. Years and years later, I've found that I've finally hit a stable point in my EDC where I'm pleased with the specific pieces of gear I'm carrying and my EDC as a whole. What is there left to do after you find your perfect gear? I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and for us gear nuts, I think that's to keep buying new stuff.

I think on one side, you keep trying new gear in hopes that you find something better than what you consider perfect. Maybe the more practical approach is to stop your gear buying, because there's no point since you've already found your perfect stuff. We're all gear nuts though, so it's kind of hard to not buy anymore cool gear. I recently got an Ontario Rat 2 and didn't expect to love it as much as I have. If I had written off buying new knives forever since I love my Ladybug so much, I would've never tried out this sick knife. Interests change over time, so it's completely possible that you love one thing during the month but hate it the next. Plus, you never know you'll like something until you try it. Perfection is a really weird concept overall. In theory, nothing is ever truly perfect so there's always something better out there.

I'll probably scale back my gear buying in the future, but there's way I'll ever be able to stop buying gear completely. It's nice to keep adding solid pieces of gear to my rotation. In order to find those solid things though, I find that I have to try tons of things before I find the few gems. My standards are super high nowadays since I know what my perfect gear looks like. Back in the good old days where I found a gem in every 5 purchases, I'd say currently it takes me about 10 purchases to find something I really love. If a piece of gear has a few minor quirks, odds are I'm not going to keep it since it's less than perfect. I buy a decent amount of gear, so if I were to keep everything, my collection would be full of crap that I wouldn't want to carry regularly. I used to like keeping a huge collection of knives, but now I like to have a smaller collection with more quality things I really love. That's kind of why you all always see me bash knives a lot. If it's not a knife that is as good as my Ladybug, it's not good enough for me to keep around. A lot of the blades I try aren't terrible by any means. They just don't really fit my standards anymore. I used to be very lenient with how I felt about certain knives since I didn't know much back then. I can be more picky now, simply because I've tried so much.

I'm not sure if any of that made sense, but I think the biggest point is that my standards have obviously risen since I joined the EDC community. I've tried hundreds of pieces of gear by now, so it's only natural that I like different stuff now than I first used to. I've gotten to the point where I can really pinpoint exactly what I want in a knife/flashlight/multitool/etc. If you've been keeping up with me since I first started doing all this knife stuff, you've seen a lot of my tastes change and develop. That's a really cool journey to me, and I'm really happy I know what I want in my gear now. I hope you enjoyed reading all this. Thanks for looking!

New Knives From Blade HQ

I wanted to treat myself to a few new blades, so I ordered these three from Blade HQ. I figured I'd do a quick post on my initial impressions of each.

So what kind of sparked this whole order was getting an Ontario Rat 1 on loan from a fellow knife YouTube guy, Hydra572HQ. He is letting me borrow his black Rat 1 that you all saw in the last post on here for a project he's doing. I'll be carrying it for a few weeks, give my thoughts on it, and send it on back to him. I was really surprised at how cool of a knife it was when I got it earlier this week. I liked it so much that I immediately bought one for myself and the smaller brother, the Rat 2, to do a comparison of sorts. Boy am I glad I did. The Rats are probably some of my favorite blades I've tried in a little while. I'm so impressed with the quality that you're getting for a $30 knife. Check out my last post if you want to hear my first impressions of the Rat 1. I picked up a pink Rat 1 for myself, and I'll probably end up throwing it in my hiking bag. I've heard these blades can take a bit of a beating, so I figured that'd be a good use for it. The only thing that's different about this Rat 1 is that it isn't as smooth as the black one I'm trying. It may just need to be broken in/lubed up, so that's something I can easily fix.

Onto the Rat 2, holy crap I think I'll like this knife a lot. I'm not sure if getting it after the Rat 1 made a difference, but for some reason, the Rat 2 feels so small to me. That's honestly a good thing since I love my small blades. I think the slimmer design helps a lot too. Something awesome about both Rats is the rounded off edges on the handles. It's a smaller detail, but one that I really appreciate. The Rat line already has killer ergos, and those rounded edges only make them feel like they melts into your hand that much more. This Rat 2 is even smoother than both Rat 1s and is so much fun to open and close. I love the OD green scales as well. I really don't have many complaints about the Rat 2 initially. I can already tell that I'll love carrying it. I'm kind of mad at myself for not picking one up sooner. I thought it'd be yet another overhyped knife, but nope, I do think this one will live up to hype.

I wanted to get one knife that wasn't a Rat, so I decided on the Kershaw GTC Hops. Someone I follow on Instagram really loves this knife, so I figured I'd give it a try. It's an interesting knife. I wasn't expecting to like it all that much since it's spring assisted. Honestly though, I like the action on this knife a lot. I think what's throwing me off is the design. There's nothing wrong with it by any means. It's just so different than what I typically carry. It has good ergos and for the $25, the quality is great too. I also really like the blue accents it has. There's a few minor things I don't like about it, like the weird cutout on the flipper and a jagged spot in the finger groove. I don't necessarily hate it right off the bat, but I definitely don't like it as much as the Rat 2. I think it'll be fun to try out. We'll have to see if it sticks around.

That's about it for this post. Stay tuned for more posts and videos on these blades soon. I'm very excited to carry all of these. Thanks for looking!

Ontario Rat 1 First Impressions

I got this Ontario Rat 1 on loan from Logan at Hydra572HQ yesterday. If you've never heard of him before, he runs that YouTube channel and reached out to me about helping him out with a project. I'm not sure how much I should say about the project initially, but basically, he wants to help give some other knife YouTubers a chance to review some blades. Buying knives can get kind of expensive as we all know, so he's hoping to ease the pressure for other knife people and give them a chance to try new knives. I don't think I captured his whole idea for the project with just those sentences, so watch out on his channel for a sort of intro video for the project. I'm really excited to help him out with it, as his channel has always been one of my favorites to watch. Check out this link to see his channel! He posts tons of sweet reviews and testing videos of all sorts of different knives and gear. Anyways, let's jump into some of my first impressions of this knife.

This knife is insanely popular in the knife community, and honestly I can see why. Sometimes overhyped products can be a huge let down. I really do expect to like this one though. Upon first putting this knife in my hand, I noticed how crazy good the ergos are. These ergos remind me of the Spyderco Native 5 I had. This knife just feels so good in the hand. The edges of the handles are rounded off, so this knife almost melts into your hand without it ever digging into you uncomfortably (unlike the PM2 I had). I did a ton of cardboard cutting after I first got it, and it performed extremely well. I'm hoping to pick up a Rat 2 soon, so I can do a comparison of sorts between the two. This Rat 1 is just slightly too big for me for EDC. I do see myself picking one of these up for hiking and getting a Rat 2 for EDC. One other thing I'll mention is that I'm surprised at how smooth this knife is. The action is just amazing. It flicks out so flawlessly and smoothly. We'll see how my time carrying it goes, but I fully expect to say a lot of good things about this knife. I can always kinda tell how I'll dig a knife when I first get it, and I feel really positively about this one. I'm really glad Logan gave me a chance to try this out! Huge thank you to him! He's done some sick videos, so go check out his channel! Stay tuned for a post with my thoughts on it in the coming weeks! Thanks for looking!