What I Read: June 2018

Hello everyone! I can't believe the year is already half way over. My reading is still going very well. I read 34 books this month, so my total for the year is 169. 14 of those were graphic novels and all the rest were regular books. I'm surprised to say I still haven't given anything a 5/5 star rating. I've got some books on my shelf that I'm excited to read, so hopefully those are all that I hope them to be.

Graphic novel wise, I finished the Runaways series. I didn't enjoy volumes 4 through 7 as much as I liked the first three. The ending was a disappointment to me. It was cool to see cameos from certain superheros, like Spider-Man. Volumes 4 through 7 were good but not great. I also discovered that there are Bob's Burgers graphic novels. I absolutely love that TV show. I read volumes 1 through 4 of that this month and enjoyed them. I think I gave the majority of them 4 star ratings. They had a very similar vibe to the TV show. They jump between a bunch of different short stories based on each of the Belcher kids. I wish more of the stories focused on Linda and Bob. Still, they were very enjoyable to read. I also read Injustice 2 Vol. 2 which I believe came out recently. I didn't like it as much as the first one. I rated 3/5 stars. It was okay but not anything amazing. A new series I started is Deadly Class. I finished volume 1 and liked it. Again, I wasn't blown away, but I probably will continue on with the series. It follows this group of kids that goes to an assassin school. I finished all those digitally through my library's Hoopla digital catalog. If you haven't heard of that app before, check it out, there's a lot of neat books, movies, TV shows, music, etc. on there. I did read one graphic novel physically and that was Archangel by William Gibson. I thought it was really neat. I rated it 4/5 stars. It's a time travel story where these people are going back to the World War II era to try to make sure Japan gets bombed, otherwise history as the present world knows it will be dramatically different. I loved the art and the plot. I didn't like the ending, but other than that, it was great. I just saw it when I was browsing at my library and am happy I checked it out. I'm not sure if there are any graphic novels I'm desperate to read in July. I saw that there are a lot of survival/bushcraft related books on my library's Hoopla, so I might give those a try instead.

Of the books I read this month, probably my two favorites were Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon and How We Eat With Our Eyes and Think With Our Stomach by Melanie Muhl and Diana Von Kopp. I rated both 4/5 stars. The first one was a self-help/memoir book centered around the idea of creativeness. It does focus more so on the art side and to not be afraid to show your creative processes. I always enjoy reading books from creative people, as I always wished I was more creative myself. There were a lot of little tidbits that could be applied to anyone's life. It was a interesting and cool read with neat illustrations throughout. I'd highly recommend it! The second one is a nonfiction book all about how we eat and make the choices we do when it comes to food. Supposedly eating off red plates doesn't make you as hungry. There were a lot of interesting facts throughout. It doesn't go into much depth, but I did like that it referenced other books if you're looking to read more about how we make these decisions. I had no idea so much brain power went into choosing and consuming food. It was also a relatively short read. I've been onto a short book kick lately, as sometimes I don't feel like devoting 300 plus pages to characters/plots I don't care about. I've started a list of short books I'd like to read eventually, so I'll probably try to make my way through that during the rest of the year. I read a few memoirs this month, like You'll Grow Out Of It by Jesse Klein (3/5), Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (2/5), and The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish (3/5). They were just average overall. They each had some sections that were such a drag to get through. The Last Black Unicorn is written by a comedian, Tiffany Haddish, who I've seen a few movies this year. It wasn't my favorite celebrity memoir, though there were some funny parts. It's admirable to see how hard she had to work to get where she is today. I also read The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (3/5). I've heard a lot about this one recently and figured I'd try it out. It was kind of suspenseful, but I didn't like the unreliable, always drunk, self-pitying female narrator trope. It reminded me a lot of the narrator in The Girl On The Train, which I absolutely hated. The twist did surprise me, and I did like that all the chapters were so short. It wasn't terrible, but again, it wasn't anything spectacular to me. A few disappointments were The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (2/5), The Heist by Janet Evanovich (2/5), and Hardcore Twenty-Four by Janet Evanovich (1/5). That last one is part of the Stephanie Plum series, and after the utter dumpster fire that is the 24th one, I think I'll finally be stopping the series. There was nothing redeeming about it at all. The author needs to move on and stop pumping out such garbage. It's a shame the series went downhill so quickly, since they used to be quite enjoyable. I love mystery novels, but Agatha Christie just isn't for me. This is the second book from her I've tried now, and I hated it. There's never any action, which mean they're always insanely boring to get through.

Now that we're halfway into the year, I wanted to check in on how I'm doing on my goals and what I'd like to focus on moving forward. The big goals I wanted to do this year were to read 100 books, read all the books I own, and complete the Book Riot Read Harder challenge. I've completed exactly one of those so far. I've probably only read like 3 or 4 of the books I own, so I need to make that more of a priority instead of constantly checking out new library books. I've still got at least 40 books on my shelf that I need to read. I've completely fallen off doing the Read Harder challenge. It's a neat way to challenge yourself to read things outside your comfort zone, but some of the challenges are dumb. I'm just going to read what I want to read the rest of the year. If I complete the challenge, great. Honestly though, I'm not too worried about it anymore. I do want to put a greater emphasis on reading diversely though. I was going through the spreadsheet where I track what I read, and a lot of it is by straight, white American men. I believe I was around 70% men to 30% female authors. A lot of that is skewed because of graphic novels, but still, I'm not happy with that split. I've heard that perspective more than enough throughout my lifetime, so it's time to hear from some new/different voices. I'd like to read more female authors and ones that are from all over the world. We'll see if that ends up happening. By the end of the year, I'd like to have read more from more female author than men. Thanks for looking!

Kershaw Dividend + Gerber Dime First Impressions!

Hey everyone! If you saw one of my recent YouTube videos, I did some first impressions on the Kershaw Dividend and Gerber Dime. I saw the Dime going for $10 on Amazon and thought it'd be a great time to finally try one out. I've always mentioned how much I've loved my Leatherman Squirt P4, so people have told me to check out the Dime too. Honestly, it comes nowhere near the P4. The quality is lacking, and some of the tools don't function as well as I'd like. More about that a little later. The Dividend has a neat story behind it too. I had originally ordered a Fraxion, but Amazon sent me the Dividend instead. It turns out they had a Fraxion barcode label on the Dividend's box. I don't feel like going through the exchange process, so I'll be keeping it. I wanted to try the Dividend this year anyways. I guess it all works out in the end. Anyways, let's get into some of my initial impressions.

I'll talk about the Dividend first, since that's the one I'm most impressed with. It's a very solid knife so far. I see why everyone loves them. I can already tell it won't beat out the Ontario Rat 2 as my favorite mid-sized knife option. Still, if you're into the design, I think it's worth checking out. For $35 to $40, it's a great deal. I normally go for colorful knives as you all know, but I'm really liking the gray scales. The handles have more of a matte finish to them, which feels nice in the hand. The ergos are great as well. I like how clean the blade looks with no Kershaw logos or anything. I'd love to see more companies ditch the logos on the blades. In certain lighting, the blade-to-handle ratio seems off to me, but that's probably just me being picky. The design is just so sleek overall. It's got some interesting cutouts on the backspacer too, which I was surprised to see on a budget knife like this. I like that it's made in the USA too. The SpeedSafe action isn't that obnoxious either. With Kershaws I've had in the past, sometimes the action was on the clunkier side. On this Dividend, it flies out quickly and quietly. Stay tuned for my in-depth thoughts after I carry it some more. I expect my review to be very positive.

The Dime's downfall is ultimately going to be its quality. When compared to the Victorinoxs and Leathermans I've tried, the quality just isn't there. The toothpick on mine is defective, as it's clamped shut and doesn't have that springiness that they usually have. The tools will sometimes get stuck on the handles since they don't want to close straight. Not sure if any of that makes sense, but I will eventually get a video up on it. Quality is a big thing for me, so I can already tell this tool is going to go. There's no way the carry I give it in the next few weeks would convince me to consider it as an smaller option. It just sucks that I got a bad one. I've always had hit or miss luck with Gerbers, and this one seems to be a huge miss. I do like that the pliers are spring loaded. Sometimes you don't see that on these cheaper and smaller multitools. I don't necessarily like that the bottle opener sticks out the way it does. There are some torx screws near it which I'm assuming means I could take it off. I don't think I'll bother though since it'll be going soon anyways. The purple is awesome! I'm happy Gerber decided to do these in all sorts of different color options. The inclusion of the clam shell opener tool is really neat. I can't say that I've had one of those on any of the multitools I've tried. The scissors don't do well in detailed cutting since they're so thick. They're no where near as good as Victorinoxs scissors. I don't want to turn this into the whole review, so I think I'll end it here. It's not looking promising for the Dime thus far. Thanks for looking!

What I Watched: June 2018

Hey everyone! This month I've unfortunately been spending more of my free time studying than watching movies/TV shows. That'll probably continue for the rest of the summer due to some career-related exams I'm preparing to take. I've focused more of whatever free time I've got on doing this knife stuff, so I expect the amount of content I watch will continue to drop. I didn't start and/or finish any TV shows this month. I'm the type of person that once I start a show, I have to finish it as soon as possible. I don't want to get sucked into binge watching any shows until I finish taking my exams. With all that out of the way, this'll be a relatively short post, since I've only got movies to talk about. I'll usually watch a few movies a week during the evenings as a way to take a break from studying. My library has been very good at having newer movies available, so I've managed to watch a lot of popular ones in June. I believe I watched about 9 movies this month.

My favorite of the month was probably Flatliners. The trailers I had seen of it didn't look too appealing, but the movie itself was great. I liked the premise of it. It was interesting to see the demise of all the main characters after they start to flirt with death. Basically, these med students found a way to have near death experiences without having to permanently die. It took a lot of weird twists and turns that I didn't expect. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it. If you've kept up with the blog posts I do, you'll know I love true crime. I saw that my local library had My Friend Dahmer in their digital catalog. Last month I enjoyed reading the graphic novel that it's based on. I figured I might as well watch the movie adaptation. I think I liked it more than the graphic novel. I was surprised to recognize a lot of the actors from former Disney and Nickelodeon shows I watched as a kid. It was good but not great. I don't feel that it wasted my time though, so that's all that matters. The movie on here that was the biggest waste of my time was St. Elmo's Fire. I like to go back and watch some of the classic movies out there. This one was one of the worst things I've ever seen. All the main characters are awful people that can't handle life. It was so boring and unenjoyable for me to watch. Comedies are one of my favorite movie genres, and I managed to watch two this month: Fist Fight and A Bad Moms Christmas. Fist Fight wasn't all that funny to me, but I did like the pairing of Ice Cube and Charlie Day. It had its funny moments, ye it was lackluster overall. A Bad Moms Christmas was a huge disappointment considering how much I loved the first one. It was more so depressing than funny. As something marketed as a comedy, that's a huge failure. Half the time it's showing how awful the main characters' relationships with their moms is, and not in a funny way either. I would definitely recommend skipping it. Two more movies that were impressive in their own ways were Dunkirk and Kong Skull Island. Dunkirk was a well-done war movie. I didn't like all of the characters, but overall, it nailed its purpose. I get all the acclaim it got now. Kong Skull Island was really neat. It had a lot of good action, and the fight scenes with King Kong were awesome. The last two are ones that I didn't really care about either way are The Mummy and A Wrinkle In Time. I read A Wrinkle In Time last year for a class and hated it. My biggest gripe with it was the focus on the romantic relationship between two kids. The movie essentially take the same cringey approach. The special effects and scenery were stunning. I liked seeing Oprah, Mindy Kaling, and Reese Witherspoon in it. Other than that, I didn't enjoy much else about it. It was an interesting adaptation of the book. I'm happy I watched it for free instead of going to see it in theaters. The Mummy that I watched is the newer one with Tom Cruise, not the classic one. I wasn't a huge fan of how it ended. Again, it's one of those ones that was just okay. There wasn't much spectacular to it.

That's about it for this month. It was very movie heavy, which I'm more than okay with. I managed to watch lot of newer releases that always interested me. Next month I'm hoping to get through some new movies that Netflix just added, like Thor: Ragnarok and Coco. Thanks for looking!

Victorinox Recruit Thoughts

This Victorinox Recruit is the model Swiss Army knife in my eyes. It manages to fit a solid toolset in a compact size. When I picture a Swiss Army knife in my head, this is exactly the tool that I'd imagine. I've really enjoyed using it and think it's a great option to put in your various kits or to give to people just getting into EDC. For less than $20, you can't beat it.

Typically I start with design in these reviews, but I think everyone knows and has experienced Victorinoxs before. They're such a simple and people-friendly design that works so well for EDC. No one is ever scared when you pull out a Victorinox, since everyone has heard of them before. All the Victorinoxs I've tried have been of the highest quality. The Recruit is no exception to that. This is the first 84mm model I've tried. I love the size! It's so compact while still being very capable. The 58mm size is my favorite, but I've grown to love these larger tools especially after trying the Pioneer. This size range is a nice sweet spot between the 58mm Classic and the 93mm Pioneer. I'd be interested in trying out more Victorinoxs in this size range. I believe this is also the first red plastic scaled Victorinox I've tried. I've always owned other colors or had Alox versions of their tools. I like that this multitool comes in red or black. The plastic scales are no Alox, but they do keep the tool very light and feel nice in the hand.

As far as the toolset goes, there's a great variety of tools in this small package. You've got two knife blades (a 2.5" and 1.5"), a can opener with a smaller screwdriver, a bottle opener with a larger screwdriver and wire strippers, and finally the tweezers and toothpick. That's nine tools in all plus a key ring if you want to attach a lanyard or add it to your keys. All the tools function exactly as they should. I haven't had any problems with any of them. I do like seeing two blades on the Recruit, so you could beat up on one and then still have the other one in razor sharp condition. The steel that Victorinox uses is awesome! It's always super sharp and holds the edge well. It's easy to use the nail nicks to open the tools as always. None of these tools lock, but that's perfectly fine since it takes a good amount of force to get the tools to close. It's comfortable to hold in the hand during use. As a basic mutltitool, this has all of the bare essentials covered. 

For around $18, the Recruit is a steal. I have no major complaints about it. It's a great option to give to someone that's looking to get their first quality knife/multitool. It'd work great for outdoors stuff or just as your everyday multitool. I still think I like my Pioneer a bit more, mostly due to the inclusion of the awl and the blue Alox. Victorinox makes the best multitools in my opinion. You can't go wrong picking this one up. I highly recommend it! If this one doesn't fit all your needs, I guarantee that you can find at least one Victorinox that does. Thanks for looking!

Cold Steel Large Voyager Thoughts

I've usually ended up enjoying all the Cold Steels I've tried, though a lot of them aren't practical for me to carry every day. That's pretty much the case with this Cold Steel Large Voyager. It's a very solid knife, but too large and tactical for me. If you're looking for a bigger option, this is a solid knife, especially since Cold Steel has upgraded their steel. I wouldn't personally recommend it, yet I do realize it's a nice knife.

Design wise, this is a typical Cold Steel in every way. It's an extremely solid and high quality knife. The design isn't anything too crazy. It just works well for EDC. I personally like the look of it.

With this being the large version of the Voyager, the blade comes in at 4". It's definitely on the larger side and is something I wouldn't want to EDC personally. They do have this Voyager line in the whole spectrum of size from medium all the way up to extra large. I could see it being a good self-defense option or just a knife that you beat up on. I wasn't the happiest when Cold Steel started upgrading their steel from AUS-8 to CTS BD1, mostly because I thought it'd increase prices drastically. These are still affordable, while providing you with that much nicer steel. I didn't think I'd be impressed with CTS BD1, but it has blown me away. It's been very sharp and has held its edge well over the time I've used it. I'm interested in trying out more of the recent Cold Steels now. The clip point blade looks nice and works it exactly as it should. There's also a tanto version if that's your cup of tea. My only complaint when it comes the the blade is about the thumb studs. They're on the larger side, so they are easy to get to. However, I occasionally have problems where my thumb slips off the thumb stud and the blade just snaps closed almost immediately. It does take a lot more force to get the blade open opposed to other knives I've had. Maybe it just needs to be broken in or I'm not used to the size. It might be easier to see in the video I do. The main point is that I can't get it cleanly open 100% of the time. That's just a minor gripe though, as I'm sure my technique is off. The knife is on the stiffer side, so maybe that has something to do with it. Overall, I do like the blade, and it's a fantastic cutter.

Since you've got that large blade, you also get a bigger handle. It is more than big enough for my smaller hands. The handle length is about 5.25", so it is quite a bit longer than the blade. I normally don't like blade-to-handle ratios that are so far off, but this knife still looks fine with the longer handle. The handle material is Cold Steel's Grivory, which is essentially just fancier plastic. I do wish they came in a color other than black. The scales have a very grippy texture to them that will absolutely tear up your pockets. I think the handle texture is almost too aggressive for an EDC knife, but for a tactical knife, it obviously makes sense. The ergos are great no matter how you hold it. A forward and backward grip are both very comfortable. The edges of the handles are rounded slightly, so it makes the knife feel as if it melts into your hand. I don't really like that your hand is so far back from the blade. Again though, if this is meant as a tactical knife, that makes sense. From an EDC standpoint alone, this particular version is not the best option in my opinion. Like all Cold Steels, the Voyager has the infamous Tri-ad lock. I love this lock for its durability. I've seen so many tests where people beat up on this lock, and it's still perfectly solid in the end. It's on the stiffer side to disengage, but it might just need more time to wear in. The lockup is perfect with no blade play in any direction. My biggest complaint when it comes to the handle side of the knife is mostly just the aggressive texture on the scales. As long as you know that going into it, then I think it's fine. 

The clip is okay, but unless you sand down the area under it, this knife will destroy your pockets. It is a heftier knife too, so it does have a bit more weight to it. Plus I don't think I mentioned that it has full aluminum liners, which increases the weight as well (4.6 ounces to be exact). They do help add more strength to this already strong knife. The clip is tip-up left or right hand carry, which is nice. It carries decently, but isn't the best for me due to it's bigger width. It's a beefier knife though, so what would you expect.

Based on descriptions I've read on various knife stores online, it seems that Cold Steel is applauding itself for the stiffness of this knife. I don't get why anyone would want a stiff knife. That's Cold Steel for you though. As an EDC knife, this knife would suck. As a tactical/beater option, it'd be great. I would hate to carry this thing everyday, but I do acknowledge that Cold Steel made an extremely solid knife. The ergos are very comfortable, CTS BD1 is such an awesome steel, and they go for about $50! That's a great value for what you're getting. This knife will take a beating and last for a long time. My biggest issues with it would have to be the overall stiffness and the too grippy scales. It's a quality knife for sure. I wouldn't personally recommend it for EDC, but like I've said, I really don't see that as it's purpose. If you've wanted to pick one up, I do say it's worth a look. Other than that, just find a much lighter and more reasonably sized EDC knife. There's countless other options out there around this price point. Thanks for looking!

Some EDC Gems Under $20 #1

People often scoff at the idea of finding decent EDC gear for less than $20, but it can be done. In this post, I'd like to share some of my EDC gems that I've been able to find for less than $20. These are all things that are still in my collection that have surpassed my expectations for their inexpensive prices. Normally in the sub-$20 range, you're going to find a lot more misses than hits. I'd like to do more of these in the future if I'm able to find more awesome gems. Without further ado, let's get into the EDC gems that are less than $20.

So on this list, I've found 3 pens, 1 knife, 3 flashlights, and 3 multitools. I personally haven't found many pleasantly surprising knives for less than $20. That's why there's only one knife. I've found that you've really got to fork over about $25 to $30 for solid knives. If you'd like to hear my more in-depth thoughts of any of these things, check out my Gear Thoughts tab to see if I've done a review. I believe I've got almost all of these things reviewed there in some way or another.

Knife wise, the Kershaw Cinder is one of the most impressive knives you can try that's less than $10. You can buy them new for about $8! For that price, I think they're great. You're not getting the best steel, though what would you expect for the price. The ergos are surprisingly comfortable. It'd be a nice keychain or backup knife. For the money, I was blown away.

Moving onto multitools, some gems are the Victorinox Classic, Leatherman Squirt P4, and the Gerber Shard. There's lots of one-piece multitool (OPMT) options for less than $20, but the Shard has remained my favorite over the years. For $5, you can't beat it. It's great quality and is a nice piece of gear to pry/scrape with if you don't want to mess up your nicer knives. I don't like Gerber as a company all that much, but this is one of their best products for sure. If you want a plier-based multitool, the Leatherman Squirt P4 is another tool that's remained my favorite over the years. I've tried the newer PS4 but dislike the finish/some of the tool choices. The P4 has long since been discontinued, yet you can always find them secondhand on eBay for less than $20. Check out CampingSurvival as well, they always have tons of multitools for cheap, since they get them in those TSA lot sales. The P4 has the perfect toolset for a smaller keychain multitool. It has an awl, which is a tool you don't see on multitools all that often. It's so handy though. The P4 is an awesome tool overall. The Victorinox Classic is easily my most used multitool. I use the scissors on it more than anything. It's that perfect bare bones multitool for your keys. It's great to give to people that aren't into EDC, since the majority of people have usually heard of Victorinox. Victorinox's scissors are a thousand times better than Leatherman's scissors. Sometimes it's nicer to have scissors over a knife blade for more detailed cutting. You can generally find them around $10. They shouldn't run you more than $15 unless you get one of the special patterns. The Classic is pretty much my favorite multitool of all time. That's how much I love it. I don't use pliers that often, so it usually always serves my needs just fine.

My favorite budget pens are the Zebra 301s. Not that it matters, but the two in this photo are the G-301 (the gel version) and F-301 (the regular fine ballpoint version). They look way classier than your cheap Bic pens and write extremely well. I prefer these over the 701 from Zebra, as the clip completely snapped off of mine. They normally don't run more than $5 a piece. Most of the time you can find multi packs for less than $10. I saw a 4 pack on Amazon with a black, red, blue, and green one for about $9. Two G-301s are about $5 on Amazon at the moment. Those are great deals for these great pens. As far as fountain pens go, the best beginner fountain pen in my opinion is the Pilot Metropolitan. They come in all sorts of varieties but won't run you more than $20. Typically they're around $15 I believe. They write smoothly and can show you how a fountain pen writes without dropping a crazy amount of money on a nicer one. I've also tried the more expensive Lamy Safari, another popular beginner fountain pen, and it was terrible compared to this Metropolitan. If you're wanting to try out a fountain pen, the Pilot Metropolitan is the way to go.

Lastly, let's get to the flashlights. All three lights here: the Olight i3E, Thrunite T01, and Nitecore Tube are around $10. Why pay so much for a flashlight when any of these can serve you quite well. The Olight and Thrunite take 1 AAA battery, while the Nitecore is USB rechargable. The Tube is only 45 lumens, so it's not as bright as the Olight (90 lumen max) or the Thrunite (125 lumens). I probably should remove the Thrunite from this list, because they have been discontinued. I don't think you can find them on Amazon anymore. I'm not sure if any other places still have some in stock. They used to go for less than $10, which is a crazy good deal for a 125 lumen light. That's more than bright enough for basic EDC tasks. All three would be great keychain lights too, as they're all on the smaller side. You can't go wrong with any of them. Again, check out my individual posts on them to here more of my thoughts.

So there we go. If you've got $20 to spare, these are some things that I think are worth the price. It's really impressive to see what companies can do in this price range. It's not so much that it breaks the bank, so it's okay if you find something that you're not necessarily in love with. All these things are personal favorites of mine. You can't really go wrong with any of them. I'd say my top favorites would have to be the Victorinox Classic, Olight i3E, and Nitecore Tube. They get the most use out of all these things. That's about it! I hope you enjoyed seeing some inexpensive EDC gems. Thanks for looking!

Gerber STL 2.5 Thoughts

The Gerber STL 2.5 is a nice slim keychain-sized knife. I didn't expect to like it all that much, but it did manage to surpass my low expectations. There's a few minor things I don't like about it that mostly comes down to personal preferences. If you need a smaller knife under $15, this is a decent option. It's not the best by any means, but I do think it's worth a look if you've been on the fence about picking it up.

Design wise, it's pretty simple. It's an appealing design for EDC that just works in my opinion. There's some machining on the handle that adds a cool look cosmetically, though it doesn't add any grip. The all black looks sweet. I will say, the titanium-nitride finish on the entire knife is not my personal favorite. It has that feeling of nails on a chalkboard when your nails scratch it accidentally. It adds corrosion resistance and "exceptional durability" according to Gerber. As you can sort of tell in the photos, the coating has worn a bit. I don't mind as it gives the knife some character. I haven't had any quality issues with this knife. Being a cheaper knife coming from Gerber, I expected way worse. Honestly though, it's perfect when it comes to quality. For the price, less than $15, it's very impressive in that regard.

Like the name implies, the blade comes in at 2.5". That's a perfect size for a backup knife. It's not the biggest blade in the world obviously, but it's perfect for those lighter EDC tasks. The steel is 7Cr17MoV, which isn't the best. What else would you expect for $15 though? It's not the sharpest in the world. I haven't had any major problems with it though. It's performed well enough for what I've needed to do. The "thumb hole" functions more as a nail nick. This knife has to be opened two-handed, which I'm not the biggest fan of. I prefer to have knives that can be opened one-handed, since you might not always have both of your hands free. It's not the end of the world though. Once you use the hole as a nail nick, it opens fine. There's no jimping on this knife at all. I'm okay with that, as it's really not that necessary.

The handle is a surprisingly nice size (around 3.3"). I can fit a full-four finger grip on it. For you guys with bigger hands, it's probably more of a three-finger knife. That's still pretty good. As long as it's not a two-finger knife, I'm a happy camper. The ergos are very comfortable. There aren't any hotspots luckily. The handles are just stainless steel, but I do like them. Metal handles are always hit or miss for me, so I'm happy I like these. They are a little slick, though not as slick as other metal handled knives I've tried. The handles are so slim too, which helps make this knife relatively light. Despite the slimness, I do still feel like I've got a solid grip on the knife. If you've seen my post about the SOG Centi I, this Gerber fixes all the issues I had with the ergos on that piece of junk. It shows you can still have slim, metal handles that feel good in the hand. The lockup is solid as well. The framelock is a little hard for me to disengage. Other than that, I don't have any other issues with the lockup. There's a bit of side-to-side play, though that's to be expected in these cheaper knives. 

This knife lacks any sort of clip unfortunately, but you could always throw it on your keys or loose in the pocket. I personally think it's a little too long to be on the keys. There is a smaller version of this, the STL 2.0, so maybe that could be an option for the keys instead. Thanks to the slimness of the knife, it is easy to carry loose in the pocket. It just disappears in the pocket. I've seen people throw these in Altoids survival tins, so that'd be a neat place for one too. I've been able to carry easily while I've had it.

As long as you know what you're getting for $15, I do like this as a backup knife. The slimness and compactness is awesome. My bigger gripes with it are the nail nick, weird feeling finish, and the hard to disengage framelock. I've been loaned this one, and I don't think I'd want to buy one for myself after using it. As a tiny knife, the Spyderco Ladybug or Kershaw Cinder are much better options in my opinion. If you like Gerber or had your eye on this particular knife, I don't necessarily think it's a waste of time to try. It is appealing that it locks, while a lot of keychain knives are just slipjoints. I didn't love it, but I didn't absolutely hate it either. It's a perfectly average knife to me. If you pick one up, don't expect it to blow you away. I would be willing to try more Gerbers after this one, which I didn't expect to happen. Thanks for looking!

Karas Kustoms Render K Mini Pen First Impressions

Hey everybody! So I picked up a new pen that I probably didn't need. I wish I could say this is the last new thing I've got coming, but I've caved and bought a few more things. I keep telling myself that I'll make most of the money back and that everything will be good for videos. I think I'm going to be doing two batches of sales with one coming soonish. Stay tuned to a video for the first part of the sale. It's mostly things like the Boker Kalashnikov, a few molle pouches, etc. The better sale will come towards the end of the summer. Once school starts back up, I definitely won't be able to keep shopping at this pace, so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can.

Anyways, back to the whole point of this post. I've been interested in trying out a Karas Kustoms pen for a while now, because they seem like high quality EDC pens. I saw on their website that they had a few of their discontinued models on clearance. This pen will probably be sold in a few months, since that's the only way I could justify spending anymore money on new gear. Plus, I'm not in love with the color and would much rather buy one of their purple pens if I'm impressed enough with this. Also, I apologize for the crappy photos. The pen is so shiny that my phone kept overexposing the shots. There will be better photos in the review that I do eventually.

This is the Render K Mini. I've been on the lookout for compact pens, and this one fits the bill. Below will be some photos of it next to the Fisher Bullet space pen for a size comparison. It's going for $30 right now, which seems like a phenomenal deal for what you're getting. It's a solid pen machined from aluminum. I've very impressed with the build quality so far. I love the size, and it's extremely comfortable to write with. It's not too short at all. I will say that, at least in mine, the refill has some springiness to it when you write. It's not the end of the world, but there is a bit of a noticeable give when you're writing if that makes sense. There's no rattling or anything when you shake the pen, so that's good. I like that the clip is screwed on, and the knurling on the top is well done. The clip is a little tight now, so we'll see if it loosens up at all. My biggest gripe is that the cap doesn't post, which is apparently what it's called when the cap can be placed on the body. Who knew. But yeah, you have to keep the cap separate when you're writing. It's not a huge deal, but it is a minor annoyance. I was aware of that going into it. I more so wanted to see what a high quality compact pen like this would be like. It does write nicely and can take all sorts of different refills. It mostly takes any Parker refills, but it can take some Fisher refills too I believe. I like that the cap screws on instead of just snapping on. The threads are very smooth. Overall, I impressed with it so far. It'll be interesting to see how it carries. 

I didn't realize it'd be so close in size to the Fisher Bullet. It's a smidge longer and wider, but it's still more than compact enough for EDC. They do sell a fountain pen version of this body size that is on the discontinued clearance sale as well. I guess there isn't a big enough market for compact pens. That's kind of a shame, because they are a lot easier to carry. It shouldn't be too hard for me to let it go in a month or two. At least it'll be fun to try out. If you want to check out their website, here's a link. I'm impressed with them as a company so far. It's always nice to support products made in the USA too. Stay tuned for a more in-depth post and video about this pen soon. Thanks for looking!

Kershaw Skyline Thoughts

The Kershaw Skyline is one of those classic EDC knives that the majority of us knife nuts have heard of. When I first got into knives, everyone I watched on YouTube had one at some point. They always intrigued me, and I'm happy that I finally got around to trying one. I've really enjoyed carrying it! It doesn't beat out the Ontario Rat 2 as my favorite mid-sized knife, but its a decent option. It has some issues, though I can see why it was so popular for such a long time.

Design wise, it's not anything too flashy. It's a simple design that works well for EDC. I haven't had any quality issues with it at all. I like that the design is on the slimmer side, since it's much easier for me to carry. The Skyline has one of those classic designs that will probably still be appealing in years to come.

Getting onto the most important part, the blade. With this knife, you're getting a blade that's a little over 3 inches. That's a great mid-sized blade for EDC tasks. If you prefer larger blades, they do have the XL version with a 3.75" blade if that's more your size. The steel is 14C28N, which I've really liked. It's been sharp and has held its edge well. It's probably not the highest end steel anymore, but it's good enough for basic EDC tasks. I do believe I've seen special edition versions that have had upgraded steels. I haven't had any issues with corrosion, so that's good. I know that some of Kershaw's cheaper blades always have weird finishes that lead to the blades rusting out. Luckily that hasn't been an issue yet. As I said earlier, the design has functioned well during my usage.

This knife can be deployed with the flipper or the thumb studs. I like that the thumb studs are actually usable instead of just being for show or only functioning as blade stops. They're not the easiest to deploy, mostly due to the fact they're a little too close to the handle so you can't get enough clearance on them. That's not a major issue though. After all, this knife's primary opening method is the flipper. I'm happy that the Skyline is a manual flipper over using Kershaw's SpeedSafe. However, I almost wish it was assisted, as the action on it is not very good. To get it to flip well at all, you pretty much just have to throw a ton of wrist action at it. This is not one of those knives that can cleanly opened by only flipping it with your finger alone. Sometimes you can manage to open it without any wrist action, but that's pretty rare. As a flipper, that's a huge failure in my opinion. You should be able to flip any flipper well, despite using wrist action or not. This is not one of the those flippers that you could sit and flip all day. The action is probably the biggest flaw and something I can't overlook. It's a shame, because it's a pretty good knife other than that. If you're going to market something as a flipper, it needs to flip as well as the competition. CRKTs and even some of the newer budget Kershaws flip better than this knife.

Enough about the action though, let's get onto the handle. Like I said at the beginning, I like that this is a slimmer knife. The Skyline is very comfortable in the hand. I have no complaints about the ergos. There are no hot spots, and it's a full-four finger grip for me. I like that there's only one finger groove for your pointer finger and then you're free to place the rest of your hand wherever you like. I also like that the edges of the handles are rounded. The lock on here is just a simple liner lock. There's a little bit of side-to-side play, but other than that, it's solid overall. I haven't had any major issues with the lockup. The handle material is G-10, which is what you'd expect. I don't like that the scales are black, but that's just a personal preference. There have been various editions over the years with different scale colors and/or materials. I even think there's after-market titanium scales out there.

The clip is something minor I'm not a fan of. It's an ugly looking clip, and this particular one is way too tight. I can't clip to any pants that are of a decent thickness. It's right hand tip up or down only. Since it's not that heavy of a knife, it does carry pretty well. When I've been able to clip it in the waist band, I've had no problems. It carries well enough, yet the design and tightness of the clip are issues to me.

Price wise, these are going for $50 on Blade HQ. I think that's a ridiculously high price for what you're getting. It is cool that they're made in the USA though. If it flipped well, I might be able to get that price. However, since it's an awful flipper, it's nowhere near worth the $50. I've also seen them new as low as $40ish, so you just have to look around. Still, I see this as more of a $30 knife. If you want to try one out, go the used route if you can. I've been loaned this particular one but haven't been impressed enough with it to want to buy after I send it back. I'm sure it was a good knife when it came out years ago. These days there's so much great competition in this size and price range.

All in all, the action is what ruins this knife for me. I like the design and the ergos enough that it would've been a solid option for EDC. If you're looking for a mid-sized flipper, there's so many better ones out there. Kershaw has newer competition for this in the Atmos/Fraxion, which are both around $30. CRKT's IKBS flippers are much better as well. Plus there's an endless amount of options from practically every knife company out there. This knife is a flop to me, but I'm glad I got to try out such a classic knife. I wouldn't recommend it personally. Thanks for looking!

SOG Centi I Thoughts

The SOG Centi I is one of the worst knife purchases I've made in a while. I needed $10 to get free shipping on a recent Blade HQ order and figured I'd just try this blade out. It was one of those impulse purchases for something I've never heard of before. This knife is bad enough that it has turned me away from trying anymore SOGs in the future. All of the knives I've tried from them have sucked, so this isn't just a dud. If you're looking for a tiny keychain knife, get the Spyderco Bug or Honeybee instead. Those are loads better than this piece of junk. I would not want to rely on this as my keychain knife. I'd rather have a knife that's slightly bigger and more expensive, because at least you know you're getting a usable, quality product.

The build quality is pretty bad. It's a flimsy and cheap feeling knife in the hand. For $10, that's what I should have expected. I have seen better knives in this size range at this price though. The design is okay looking. I like the all-black colorway but that's about it. The overall length of this thing is 3.4". It is so light and slim that it would disappear on the keys. The blade and handles are only about a centimeter or two wide thick though, so you don't have a lot of purchase on this already small knife. The steel is 3Cr13MoV, which is pretty bad for a $10 knife. I've seen knives at this price point with slightly better steel. Again for the price though, this is to be expected.

I hate that this is a two-handed knife when the thumb hole was advertised so heavily. The thumb hole really functions more as a nail nick instead. It opens fine enough if you use your nail in the thumb hole. The detent sucks as well. It takes very little effort to close this thing. I'd be worried that the slightest amount of pressure would cause the blade to close on my hand. The Honeybee from Spyderco had great detent and snapped shut with authority. This knife is the exact opposite of that. I wouldn't use this thing for more than opening letters. It's obviously not meant for heavy tasks, but I wouldn't even trust it for the lightest of tasks. I expected it to have a lock, since that's what the listing on the Blade HQ said. It turns out the bigger brother, the Centi II, is the one with the lockback. Blade HQ must have copied and pasted the description without changing it. That was a big letdown for me, as I really wanted to see a knife in this size range with a lock.

The ergos are terrible too. It's a two-finger knife, which is by far my biggest annoyance when it comes to ergos. It doesn't fit my hand comfortably at all. I can't get a firm grip on it, and that causes the knife to wobble in my hand during use. 

For $10, this is by far the worst knife I've tried. It has no redeeming qualities. I regret picking it up and wish I had spent the $10 on something else. Do no pick this knife up at all. I will be avoiding SOG in the future from now on too. Sorry this post was kind of all over the place and unlike my typical reviews. Thanks for looking!

EDC Keychain Knife Roundup #1: The Ones I've Tried

If you've kept up with my YouTube videos or this blog throughout the years, you'll know I love my small gear. I especially love my tinier, keychain-sized things. They always look so cute, are easy for me to carry, and are generally inexpensive. I've tried a wide variety of keychain knives over the years. I thought it was time that I finally compiled a list of the best and worst ones I've tried. I consider a keychain knife to be around 2" in blade length at the most. There's some that are slightly bigger, and some that are slightly smaller. You can normally tell what is better suited for a keychain. Just so this post doesn't get spammed full of Victorinoxs or other small multitools, I'm only going to be talking about single bladed knives. It'll probably mostly be folders, as I've yet to try many tiny fixed blades. If the knife doesn't come with a clip, I'd also use that as a sign to classify that it's a keychain knife. Since this is my second go at blogging, a lot of the earlier reviews of some of these blades have been deleted. If you'd like to hear more about any of them, check out my Gear Thoughts tab to see if I've done a review on them.

So these are currently the only keychain-sized knives I own. Of all the ones I've tried, these are the only ones that have stuck around. They are the Kershaw Cinder, Spyderco Ladybug, and CRKT Jettison.

The single best keychain knife I've ever tried is the Spyderco Ladybug. No other knife can beat its combination of great ergos, ease of use one-handed, a good steel (VG-10), great quality, etc. I've talked enough about how much I love this knife in all my videos. The thumbhole makes it the easiest to open one-handed of all of these by far. The price of the Ladybugs has risen a lot over the years, despite the fact that nothing as changed about them at all. You can now find them for a little under $40 brand new. I don't really think they're worth that much. I'm sure you can find them used for way less. Still, it's the most impressive keychain knife I've used. I think that's why I have a hard time finding keychain knives that compete with it. It has set the standards so high for me that it's practically impossible for any tiny knife to impress me as much.

These are two more that I've recently tried: the Gerber STL 2.5 and the SOG Centi I. The SOG is a piece of garbage. It is probably the worst $10 I've spent on any piece of gear. I don't mind that it's a slipjoint. However, it takes little to no effort to close. I wouldn't feel safe using it. If you're looking for a small, metal-handled keychain knife, get the Spyderco Honeybee instead. That's a much better example of what these tiny slipjoints should be. It's not made of the nicest materials and feels more like a novelty item. I also really hate that it's a two-finger knife. The ergos suck due to that. It's an awful knife.

The Gerber is actually alright. My two biggest complaints are that it can't be opened one-handed and the titanium-nitride finish feels weird. It's more a matte finish, which is fine, but it has that feeling of nails on a chalkboard. Every time my nails scratch it on accident, I just cringe a little. It's not the end of the world, but I can't say I've seen it on any of the other knives I've tried. This is the bigger version, so it's got a 2.5" blade opposed to the STL 2.0 that has a 2" blade. The STL 2.5 goes for no more than $15, which is a fair price. Oh and the framelock on this one at least is hard to disengage. Other than that, I don't have many other complaints. The ergos are nice and fit my entire hand comfortably. I don't love it, though I do think it's a decent keychain option. It's certainly better than most of the knives you'll see farther down in this post.

photo from Blade HQ

The Cold Steel Micro Recon 1 is one of the other big name keychain knives out there. I've enjoyed a few of the Cold Steels I've tried, but this knife was terrible. I believe they went for around $20 to $25, which is a great price for what you got. It's been discontinued, though I'm sure you can still find it on eBay or other secondhand places. My biggest issue with it was the terrible ergos. I hate two finger knives with a passion. If your hands are on the smaller side, your fingers would be spread out way too wide on the handle. If you've got bigger sausage fingers, I can see why you'd like this knife. For me, it was extremely uncomfortable. Why would you opt for a two-finger knife when there are many other keychain knives out there that can fit at least three fingers in the same handle length? The handle is a similar size to the Ladybug, so it would've been possible to have a three-finger knife instead of the two horrible finger grooves. The thumbstud was hard to use/open one-handed since it was way too close the handle. It was a horrible knife in my opinion. It was neat that it had the Tri-ad lock, but it's unnecessary for such a small knife.

The Boker Keycom was very popular when I was first getting into knives. I liked mine initially, but then it started having a lot of quality issues. I was able to get a replacement from Boker luckily, though it still didn't stand up to the Ladybug. Since it comes with a clip, it's a lot bulkier right of the box. Honestly, if I had thrown it on my keychain, I would have removed the clip. It wasn't the easiest to use one-handed, because it had thumbstuds that were too close to the handle like the Micro Recon. The quality issue was a huge thing for me, so I wouldn't personally recommend it. It is neat that it's one of the smaller clipped knives out there. I feel like Boker discontinued them, but I could be wrong. You can still find them on Blade HQ for about $20 and on Amazon as well.

photo from Knife Center

This is the Kershaw Little Lockback. I probably tried this one 5 years ago for about $10. It was okay, but again, I didn't like that you couldn't open it one-handed. I started to have some quality issues with it too, so it didn't last long in my collection. It wasn't anything special or memorable. If you love Kershaw, maybe try to track one down on eBay or something. Otherwise, there's plenty of keychain knives in production currently that blow this out of the water. I wouldn't recommend it.

The Spyderco Bug line is one of the most infamous keychain knives line out there. I tried the Honeybee and did enjoy it. It wasn't my favorite in the world, but it was a solid knife overall. It's a slipjoint, yet I wasn't ever worried about it closing on my fingers unlike the SOG from the beginning. The detent was surprisingly strong. It really snapped shut with authority. This knife was the perfect size without being too big or small. I couldn't imagine wanting to put the bigger brother, the Grasshopper, on my keys. The Honeybee was perfectly usable, so I wonder how much smaller the tinier Bug really is. The Honeybee goes for about $17 on Blade HQ, which I think is a little high for what you're getting. The steel, 3Cr13MoV, isn't the greatest in today's standard anymore. It's an alright option, but I do think you can do better.

The Kershaw Cinder surprised me a lot. I got mine for less than $10, so I didn't really expect much from it. I've always had a hit or miss experiences with Kershaws. This one is definitely a hit though. The blade is a lot smaller than the others I've mentioned, but you still get that similarly sized handle. My only major complaint is that the scales are black. That's obviously a personal preference of mine, since I love to carry colorful knives. Despite the small size, the ergos are very good. It's super comfortable in the hand. It is neat that it's got the bottle opener as well. For the price, it's definitely worth a look.

The only flipper on this list is the CRKT Jettison. As far as I know, this one of the only keychain-sized production flippers on the market. I wish more companies would do some tiny flippers like this, because they're so cool. The Jettison has such an awesome looking design. I love the wharncliffe blade. They're going for about $22 on Blade HQ at the time that this post is going up. That's a phenomenal deal. The action on mine isn't the best anymore, but that could be since it's been sitting in my Pelican case for a while. The flipper itself is easy to use despite how small this knife is. It's one of my favorite options just because of how different it is.

This is the Byrd Finch 2. I hated it. The quality sucks, it's way heavier than you'd think it'd be, and it just didn't impress me. For $15, it's a fair deal, but it's not a knife I enjoyed using. The thumbhole and G10 scales were nice. Other than that, I don't have much else positive to say about it. Again, you can do better.

I'll also throw the Boker DW-1 and DW-2 in here, since they're pretty small. I don't think they're the best suited for keychain carry, mostly due to the wider handles and the clips. You can take the clips off of course, but they're still on the bulkier side. The DW-1 is the smaller one on the bottom, and I see it as more of a novelty knife. It's way too small to be usable, and you can't really open it one-handed. The DW-2 is similar to the Keycom. These two are in that $20 to $25 range. I don't recommend them personally, but they were alright.

I believe those are most of the keychain knives I've personally tried. I may have left out a couple, but these are some of the popular offerings from the bigger knife companies. I've got another post that'll go along with this one about other keychain knives out there that I haven't gotten the chance to try yet. If none of the knives in this post caught your eye, maybe the upcoming one will give you a few more ideas. I hope this was a good resource about all the major keychain knives out there. My favorite tiny/keychain options would have to be the Spyderco Ladybug, Kershaw Cinder, and the CRKT Jettison. I wouldn't throw the Jettison on my keys, but it is a fun knife to play with. Plus the design looks so cool. Thanks for looking!

Self Defense Options In My EDC

Hey everybody! Every so often I get asked what I carry for self-defense or would I use my knives for self-defense. This will be a relatively short post, as I don't carry much when it comes to self-defense. I probably should carry more, but in reality, I don't have any pocket space to expand this aspect of my carry.

None of the knives I have would be carried with self-defense in mind. I used to have a fewer larger folders that I considered my "self-defense blades" but sold them when I realized I'm not comfortable with using a knife for self-defense. I have no training using knives for this purpose and feel that things could escalate very quickly if I pulled one out and wasn't skilled enough to use it. I wouldn't want to engage an attacker that most likely would be bigger and stronger than me. In a worse case scenario, I may use one of my EDC knives for self-defense. Who knows though. If I ever end up in a bad situation, I'd figure out very quickly what my first instinct to do is. I hope I'm never in a situation where I find that out.

The only thing I carry with self-defense in mind is some Sabre Red defense spray. Since I'm not yet old enough to own a handgun, I can only consider nonlethal options for self-defense. I opted for pepper spray, because it's a pretty standard go-to option for people that can't carry handguns. I like that it's affordable, lightweight, compact, and could go on a keychain if need be. I usually keep it in my backpack during the day, and it'll go in my jacket pocket or in my hand when I'm out later at night. I don't necessarily have it all the time, so I don't consider it a true EDC option. Obviously bad things can happen, and often do to college-aged women. Fortunately, I've never felt unsafe or had anything bad happen to me. I've looked into getting a taser, batons, kubatons, or other nonlethal weapons, but opted against picking any of them up. I don't like that any nonlethal option mostly relies on the fact that you're in close combat situations. I have no formal training when it comes to self-defense. My first instinct would probably be to run, since I really don't want to have to fight somebody. There's always the chance that whatever weapon I have could be used against me, so that's why I'm hesitant to add any self-defense tools to my carry. I do see their value, yet I'm hedging my bets and hoping that I'm never put in a situation where I'll need them. My EDC is all about preparing for scenarios that may or may not happen. Luckily, I do turn 21 in about a year, and I will most likely be picking up a handgun and getting a CCW permit then. Maybe in a year I'll revisit this subject and see whether I do find myself wanting more when it comes to self-defense options. For now, I'm happy with what I've got. Thanks for looking!

Pokka Pens First Impressions

Hey everybody! I found about some new compact pens for EDC thanks to someone I just started following on Instagram. A company called Pokka Pens makes these really neat pens that are like a plastic version of the Fisher bullet space pen. I'm very impressed with them so far. The company seems pretty awesome too.

As you can see in the photos, they're very compact. They're slightly shorter than the Fisher bullet while still being the same length when fully expanded. I'll probably do a more in-depth comparison post between them in the future if you all are interested. Since they're made of plastic, they're super lightweight. They don't feel as nice as the Fisher does in the hand, but that's plastic for you. They seem solidly built too. The cap snaps onto the end of the pen and fits it snugly. It'll be interesting to see if the fit changes as time goes on. I'm not sure how durable they'll be either. Plastic is more prone to breaking/cracking in my experience, so I'll have to see how they hold up. They're just like typical disposable ballpoint pens. As long as you treat them well, they should last a while. They write well and feel good in the hand. I don't have any major complaints about them so far. They seem like they'll be a nice, cheaper alternative to the Fisher bullet space pen. I could see myself giving these away to friends or using as beater pens that I wouldn't worry about losing. The Fisher goes for about $20, which is kind of a steep price if you lose your pens frequently. You can buy a lot more of these Pokka pens for that price.

These basic three packs go for $8.45. I think that's more than a fair price for what you're getting. They're made in the US too, so that's cool. I like all the colorways they offer. The orange is so bright! You can get ink refills for them so that you don't have to buy a whole new three pack when you run out of ink. Pokka has this referral link system, and if you spend $20 or more, you can get $10 by using my link here. I'll end up getting $10 off too, so it's a win-win for both of us. Here's just a regular ol' link to their site too if you want to read more about them. If you're looking for some compact pens for your carry, these ones might be a good option for you. I'm very impressed with them so far! Stay tuned for more posts about them in the future! Thanks for looking!