Tag: knives

Marbles Randall Wannabees…

By Joe Berk

My buddy Paul is a serious Randall knife aficionado.  Randalls are way out of my pay grade, but I admire them greatly.  About a year ago, Paul sent a link to me for a YouTube video about a Marbles knife that approaches the look and quality of a Randall.  The YouTube video may be lacking in quality, but it more than makes up for it in content.  It sure grabbed my attention.

The price for (and the wait to get) a Randall knife make them a nonstarter for me, but the thought of a high-quality Bowie knife had my attention (as you probably already know from following the ExNotes blog).  The Marbles MR 723 sure seemed appealing, and for a measly $55, I thought I would take a chance.  It was money well spent.  The knife is beautiful, it is substantial, and it has the look and feel of a high-quality item.

A week or two after I received the Marbles Bowie, I learned that they are also available with a green Micarta (instead of black Micarta) handle.  At first, I was disappointed.  I would have preferred the green Micarta version.  Then I thought about it a minute.   For another few dollars, I could have both, and that’s what I did.

The specifications for these Marbles knives are impressive.  The knife has a blade length of 7 1/2 inches.  The blade is D2 tool steel, which I’ve read is a good knife steel (it’s kind of a moot point for me, as I don’t intend to do anything with the Marbles Bowies other than look at them).   The blade is substantive (it’s almost a quarter of an inch thick where it emerges from the guard), and it has a satin finish.  It’s very sharp.  I can’t tell you how long the edge will last, nor can I tell you how difficult it will be to sharpen it.  The guard and pommel are polished brass.  The handle material is, as mentioned above, Micarta, and it is available in either green or black (and both look good).  The sheath is first class, being nicely finished leather with a sharpening stone included.  Overall, these are very nice knives.  I know some folks who read this will dismiss me as a knife neophyte who won’t really use these knives the way other folks might use a Randall, and hey, they’d be right.  I’m not Davy Crockett, and I’m not going to try to kill a bear with either of these.

These Marbles are great looking knives, and they look good sitting amongst the other knives I’ve accumulated over the last year or two.  I’m pleased with the purchase.

More gun stuff? You bet!

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Coming Your Way…

By Joe Berk

Boy oh boy, do we have cool stuff coming up on the ExNotes blog!  Here are just a few of the things coming your way…

The Rough Rider Knife and Custom Holster

Wow, a super cool Rough Rider large folding knife, so big it actually makes a Buck 110 look small, along with something that makes it even better:  A custom-made holster, stitched together by good buddy Paulie B!  It’s the one you see at the top of this blog, and it sure is sweet!

More Buell

Joe Gresh is going great guns with his new Buell.  I am so jealous.  You can expect more on Joe’s bringing the Buell up to Tinfiny moto standards, and maybe even get a chance to listen to the awesome potato potato potato aural splendor that is the essence of all things Harley.

Good times and good stories coming up on this one, boys and girls, including more on the Iconic Motorbikes auction process.  Gresh greatness inbound, folks!

Good Morning, Vietnam!

We are digging Mike Huber’s Tales of the Open Road from Vietnam, and his stories have spiked a significant uptick in donations to the ExNotes site.  Being the inveterate veteran that he is, there’s more TOTOR (Tales of The Open Road) revelry from Mike in work.

After Vietnam, it’s going to be Japan TOTOR, and then Colombia.  I’ve been to both spots, and like you, I’m looking forward to Mike’s keyboard kraziness.  Bring it on!

An Update on the How To Series

I’m doing a lot of How To articles for my favorite moto mag (one that should be yours, too), and that, of course, is Motorcycle Classics.  I’m back in the saddle as you read this headed toward Indio and Cycle Garden, home to all that is classic Guzzi.

In addition to the Guzzi goodness, good buddy and ace tech Steve roasts his own coffee beans, and I am already jonesing for that first cup of Joe.  The How To articles are running in Motorcycle Classics magazine, and if you don’t have a subscription to Motorcycle Classics…well, you should.  Stay tuned!

Dirty Harry Rides On!

We haven’t forgotten our gun stuff.  Want to read about a great .44 Magnum load in a superior sixgun?  It’s on the way, my friends.

This is good stuff.  So much so that Baja John and yours truly are talking about using the .44 Mag sixguns on our next Arizona pig soiree!  Sooey!  Clint Eastwood, eat your heart out!

Pizza Pizza Pizza!

It’s no secret…I like to cook.  We’ve done a few recipes here on ExNotes before, and we’re going to be adding a lot more.  If you can cook, oh, how can I say this?  I learned from good buddy Texas John that the easiest way to meet beautiful women was to invite them over for a home-cooked meal.  I’m an old married guy now, but prior to that, I put John’s advice to good use!

That’s a story for another blog, and I’ll get to it, but in the meantime, I’ll share my favorite pizza recipe with you in a near term blog.  And yeah, that pizza above was as good as it looks!

Stay tuned, folks, keep clicking on those pop-up ads, and work that Donate button you see here and at the bottom of every blog.  It’s what keeps us going!

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A Stag Film?

By Joe Berk

For a guy who doesn’t collect knives, I sure seem to have a lot of them laying around.  The one you see above came to me as part of what is perhaps the greatest sales gimmick of all time:  The “$100 Ships Free!” offer.

You know, the MidwayUSA.com come on…orders over $100 ship free.  I ordered a Safariland 1¾-inch wide belt in a smaller size because I lost weight, I got down to the last belt buckle hole on my old Safariland belt, and my pants were still loose.  The new belt was $71 (a lot, I know, but it works well when carrying concealed and Safariland makes a very high quality item).  If I could kick the order over $100 the belt would ship free.  Shipping if I didn’t make the $100 hurdle was $15.  So this Uncle Henry knife popped up, and it was like getting the knife for half price, because it ordinarily cost just over $30.

Bam! Add to cart.  A no brainer, if ever there was one.

The knife is a Schrade, part of their Uncle Henry line.  I don’t know if that means it’s good or not so good.  I couldn’t find anywhere on the knife that says it’s made in China, but I guessed that it was.  A quick Google check confirmed it.  That’s not a bad thing, though.  The knife appears to be well made.  A lot of things that are made in China are good.

The Uncle Henry knife came with a sheath and a tiny sharpening stone in another piggy-backed sheath (the idea being that you’ll always have a way to sharpen your knife), not that I’ll ever use the sharpening stone.   The stone is small enough that I could see myself slicing my hand open trying to hold it.

The Stagalon grip material is some sort of plastic that is supposed to look like, you know, stag.  That’s okay by me.  For just over $30, I wasn’t expecting real stag.  I wasn’t expecting the Stagalon to look as good as it does, either.  That was a nice surprise.  Stagalon. I guess I could make a video of the knife and call it a stag film.  Maybe just saying stag film will result in a lot of hits.  Do they still call them stag films these days, or is that no longer politically correct?.  Isn’t that terminology kind of insulting to all the deer out there sweating out this hunting season?  Anyway, to get back to Stagalon, the handle doesn’t quite match the look and feel of real stag, but it is kind of cool and it is nice.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my Uncle Henry Stagalon knife, other than look at it for awhile and write a blog about it.  If I was a camper I suppose I could wear it in the woods, but I don’t camp much these days (in my golden years, I find I like motels a lot better).   No, this knife will go on the shelf, along with a bunch of other “$100 Ships Free!” knives.   It is kind of cool, though.

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