The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Knives & Blades => Topic started by: Dirty Bob on January 14, 2021, 10:45:13 AM
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I'm in the middle of watching season nine of the series, and we're something like 8 years after the fall of civilization to the "zed" hordes. As I watch, one thing grinds my gears over everything else:
What are These People (actually, the writers and show runners) Thinking?
- The most common weapon for zombie elimination, now that ammo is mostly gone and reserved for emergencies, is a small-to-medium-sized fixed blade knife. WTF?
- They're stabbing a dangerous creature in the head, with an inadequate tool, not far from the most dangerous part (the teeth), and their hands are bare?
- A few characters use spears, and a small number of swords are in evidence, and bows are finally appearing with some regularity, but with very few exceptions, that's it.
- There are serious problems with knives:
- A typical hunting knife is barely adequate, at best, for punching a hole in a zombie skull, even though that cranium is probably weaker that that of a living human.
- It's a very short-range weapon, bringing the user into close proximity with the threat.
- A knife offers no means of creating space or blocking attacks: it is a purely offensive weapon, while the people in TWD are frequently outnumbered and fighting defensively.
Some Suggestions:
- Get some better knives! A few characters, like Daryl, use large, sturdy knives that have a guard to keep the hand from sliding onto the blade. Blacksmiths could imitate something like the Roman pugio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pugio) or the Japanese hori hori (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hori_hori). This last is a simple, very sturdy Japanese gardening knife that can have a thick blade that is sometimes shaped like a very shallow trowel, and is meant for digging and plant trimming. It's also very tough. My hori hori is thick-bladed, tough, and well made. It was also inexpensive and came from Japan. It would be my choice for facing Zs with a knife, though I'd add a good guard and make some changes to the handle for its new purpose.
- Add some polearms! A fairly short, two-handed weapon -- like a poleaxe, naginata, hewing spear, flail, or maul -- offers a great deal more power for the task. In the Society for Creative Anachronism, I used an English billhook: a martial version of a gardener's brush hook. I quickly learned that I needed little force to strike a serious blow. Contrary to what we see in movies, I never swung 180 degrees -- heck, I rarely used a 45 degree arc. This makes the weapon quicker than people expect, and it keeps it in front of the fighter, making him or her less vulnerable to counterattack. A poleam -- even a short (4- to 5-foot overall length) polearm -- allows the user to keep some distance from the opponent. Less risk of being bitten. Moreover, the butt and the haft of the polearm can be used to block, strike or shove an opponent. Look how effective Morgan and Henry have been with a staff! Put a small axe blade and spike on one end, and even more things are possible.
- Use shields! Small- or medium-sized shields are easy to make, not hard to carry, and multiply the options for the person using one. Rather than having an empty hand, a shield can be used to block, to trap (prevent a strike, rather than blocking it), to shove, or to strike -- with the flat of the shield, with a shield boss (a raised metal dome, usually at or near the middle, often with a handle behind it), or with the edge. Smaller shields are used actively, rather than hiding behind them passively. Some methods include a large dirk or dagger in the shield hand, or a spike in the middle of a small roundshield, and/or a metal-reinforced edge. A small round, like the highland targe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targe), can probably do more damage to a zombie than most of the knives we see on the show.
- Work together! We see some of this on the show, but the survivors should have figured this out long ago. The Roman Army had several key advantages, but one of the biggest was an organized, systematic approach to combat. If a Roman century, legion or other unit could deploy in formation to meet a foe, they could often defeat more numerous opponents. Now imagine the survivors facing the Zs with a line of fighters with shields and short swords or one-hand clubs or maces, whose job is primarily to tie the zombies down and make them easy targets for spear users behind them. Other fighters with bows and other missile weapons work the flanks and rear of their group, protecting the others and picking off Zs that try to go around the line. Ideally, the line would be deployed in a place where the flanks are protected by rocks, water, buildings, whatever.
On the positive side, we've seen armor being worn from early in the show, and it has improved and now looks much more practical as the show progresses. The concept is simple: protect the places that tend to get bitten most, like the hands, forearms, neck, shoulders and face.
I know this is silly, but I wish TV writers did more research. Instead, we see characters behave in super-risky behavior over and over. Only rarely (Carl Grimes is a recent example), does their usual, dangerous, grab-and-stab method turn out badly.
Sorry for venting! The show's gotten better, but in nine seasons I can't remember a single shield! Really? The folks running the show would probably be shocked to see how a highlander's targe, dirk and sword are used together by a skilled fighter.
</RANT>
Dirty Bob
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I am sure I am not alone when I tell you that my wife will run me out of the living room when I start bitching about inaccuracy in weapons or inconsistency in the plot. I have noticed that shows/movies that are supplied weapons by Independent Studio Services seem to be a LOT more accurate.
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Maybe they should ask the director of "Vikings" for some advice ;D
Ian has a couple good video's on movie guns . Selection, origin and such.
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But really, there should not even be a story more than a couple of weeks after people turn into Z's. With the heat and the bugs there would be no flesh left....just bone.
Not to ruin it for you guys....but down south the maggots would take those Z's out quickly.
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But really, there should not even be a story more than a couple of weeks after people turn in Z's. With the heat and the bugs there would be no flesh left....just bone.
Not to ruin it for you guys....but down south the maggots would take those Z's out quickly.
Yep.
What about buzzards and possums?? ....once they can't walk they're fair game. 8)
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But really, there should not even be a story more than a couple of weeks after people turn in Z's. With the heat and the bugs there would be no flesh left....just bone.
Not to ruin it for you guys....but down south the maggots would take those Z's out quickly.
That's one of the reasons I consider it silly! Plus, how do huge herds maintain the energy to stay on two feet, shambling along? Even when they encounter "food," only a small number can reach it. What keeps them going??
I actually prefer the zombies of John Ringo (Under a Graveyard Sky, To Sail a Darkling Sea, Islands of Rage and Hope, and Strands of Sorrow are the four 'core' books), which are rabid bundles of rage, but not actually dead. It's a bit gross though: the designers of the virus included a symptom that gives the infected the feeling of something crawling on them (there's a medical word I don't remember for that), so they discard their clothes before the rage and urge to feed hit them. This way, clothes don't inhibit waste disposal and cause the infected to die soon from other infections. Anyway, Ringo's Zs frequently die from lack of food or semi-potable water and probably don't exist after one cold winter. The whole rage-filled naked person thing makes them easy to identify, though. The books are OK, but the zombies are better thought out than most, as are those of Mira Grant, who's a heckuva writer.
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Yep.
What about buzzards and possums?? ....once they can't walk they're fair game. 8)
Oh yeah...the possums. They'd be on that like stink on.....well, you know what I'm saying. I remember a dead swollen cow out in a neighbor's field years ago....we threw a stick at it thinking it would burst and 5 or 6 possums ran out of a hole they ate into the ass end of the bloated thing.
That's one of the reasons I consider it silly! Plus, how do huge herds maintain the energy to stay on two feet, shambling along? Even when they encounter "food," only a small number can reach it. What keeps them going??<snip>
That too. But then....people vote for democrats so it's to be expected.
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I have watched the tv show. My wife gets mad when I point out the gun inaccuracies. She got mad when I told her that the Z herd would be done in no time at all. John deere tractors with the retractable bushhog arm. Just put the arm out and let the zs run into the blade of the bush hog. Combines ect.
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Guns?
How about gasoline sitting for years! They have a spin-off now flying choppers 15-18 years after the apocalypse!
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Yep.
What about buzzards and possums?? ....once they can't walk they're fair game. 8)
When they can't walk I think it's called "Unfair Game". ;D
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When they can't walk I think it's called "Unfair Game". ;D
Then a good 5-iron would work..... or a #1 driver..... just don't forget to yell fore!! (or recalling a Bugs Bunny clip, "Three and a half!!!). ;D
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I have it on good authority that a 5 iron actually focuses the force more efficiently than a baseball bat .
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But really, there should not even be a story more than a couple of weeks after people turn into Z's. With the heat and the bugs there would be no flesh left....just bone.
Not to ruin it for you guys....but down south the maggots would take those Z's out quickly.
Seeing that the brain is about 60% fat and decomposes faster than any other part of the body, it wouldn't even have to be in the southern heat for the brains to rot away while the rest of the body is still intact. The zombie apocalypse would last days, not decades. So when I see skeletal remains, or half of a body that the the other half rotted away from, but it's still alive, I always have the same question. WTF? Someone on another forum I believe said that the zombie virus preserves the brain somehow. Riiight. I don't know where they got that information. But even a shallow poke in the head that a living person would survive the majority of the time, will destroy that well-preserved brain somehow. Okaaay. That makes perfect NO sense.
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Guns?
How about gasoline sitting for years! They have a spin-off now flying choppers 15-18 years after the apocalypse!
With Sta-Bil in it I think gas is good for up to a year if you're lucky, and if you treat it right away. I think 6 months is a more realistic expectation, but without something to preserve it gas starts going bad in a few months. I didn't use my weed whacker for a few years and had some gas for it left in a gas can. When I finally opened it last year it didn't smell like gas or 2-stroke oil, it smelled like paint thinner. I mixed it with used oil and took the jug to my friends' cabin to use for starting fires.
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There wasn't anything useful in Wikipedia, but this is from the company.
https://www.sta-bil.com.au/
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I'm in the middle of watching season nine of the series, and we're something like 8 years after the fall of civilization to the "zed" hordes. As I watch, one thing grinds my gears over everything else:
What are These People (actually, the writers and show runners) Thinking?
- The most common weapon for zombie elimination, now that ammo is mostly gone and reserved for emergencies, is a small-to-medium-sized fixed blade knife. WTF?
- They're stabbing a dangerous creature in the head, with an inadequate tool, not far from the most dangerous part (the teeth), and their hands are bare?
- A few characters use spears, and a small number of swords are in evidence, and bows are finally appearing with some regularity, but with very few exceptions, that's it.
- There are serious problems with knives:
- A typical hunting knife is barely adequate, at best, for punching a hole in a zombie skull, even though that cranium is probably weaker that that of a living human.
- It's a very short-range weapon, bringing the user into close proximity with the threat.
- A knife offers no means of creating space or blocking attacks: it is a purely offensive weapon, while the people in TWD are frequently outnumbered and fighting defensively.
Some Suggestions:
- Get some better knives! A few characters, like Daryl, use large, sturdy knives that have a guard to keep the hand from sliding onto the blade. Blacksmiths could imitate something like the Roman pugio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pugio) or the Japanese hori hori (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hori_hori). This last is a simple, very sturdy Japanese gardening knife that can have a thick blade that is sometimes shaped like a very shallow trowel, and is meant for digging and plant trimming. It's also very tough. My hori hori is thick-bladed, tough, and well made. It was also inexpensive and came from Japan. It would be my choice for facing Zs with a knife, though I'd add a good guard and make some changes to the handle for its new purpose.
- Add some polearms! A fairly short, two-handed weapon -- like a poleaxe, naginata, hewing spear, flail, or maul -- offers a great deal more power for the task. In the Society for Creative Anachronism, I used an English billhook: a martial version of a gardener's brush hook. I quickly learned that I needed little force to strike a serious blow. Contrary to what we see in movies, I never swung 180 degrees -- heck, I rarely used a 45 degree arc. This makes the weapon quicker than people expect, and it keeps it in front of the fighter, making him or her less vulnerable to counterattack. A poleam -- even a short (4- to 5-foot overall length) polearm -- allows the user to keep some distance from the opponent. Less risk of being bitten. Moreover, the butt and the haft of the polearm can be used to block, strike or shove an opponent. Look how effective Morgan and Henry have been with a staff! Put a small axe blade and spike on one end, and even more things are possible.
- Use shields! Small- or medium-sized shields are easy to make, not hard to carry, and multiply the options for the person using one. Rather than having an empty hand, a shield can be used to block, to trap (prevent a strike, rather than blocking it), to shove, or to strike -- with the flat of the shield, with a shield boss (a raised metal dome, usually at or near the middle, often with a handle behind it), or with the edge. Smaller shields are used actively, rather than hiding behind them passively. Some methods include a large dirk or dagger in the shield hand, or a spike in the middle of a small roundshield, and/or a metal-reinforced edge. A small round, like the highland targe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targe), can probably do more damage to a zombie than most of the knives we see on the show.
- Work together! We see some of this on the show, but the survivors should have figured this out long ago. The Roman Army had several key advantages, but one of the biggest was an organized, systematic approach to combat. If a Roman century, legion or other unit could deploy in formation to meet a foe, they could often defeat more numerous opponents. Now imagine the survivors facing the Zs with a line of fighters with shields and short swords or one-hand clubs or maces, whose job is primarily to tie the zombies down and make them easy targets for spear users behind them. Other fighters with bows and other missile weapons work the flanks and rear of their group, protecting the others and picking off Zs that try to go around the line. Ideally, the line would be deployed in a place where the flanks are protected by rocks, water, buildings, whatever.
On the positive side, we've seen armor being worn from early in the show, and it has improved and now looks much more practical as the show progresses. The concept is simple: protect the places that tend to get bitten most, like the hands, forearms, neck, shoulders and face.
I know this is silly, but I wish TV writers did more research. Instead, we see characters behave in super-risky behavior over and over. Only rarely (Carl Grimes is a recent example), does their usual, dangerous, grab-and-stab method turn out badly.
Sorry for venting! The show's gotten better, but in nine seasons I can't remember a single shield! Really? The folks running the show would probably be shocked to see how a highlander's targe, dirk and sword are used together by a skilled fighter.
</RANT>
Dirty Bob
Great suggestions Dirty Bob.
For knives I think one of the longer dirks, like many of the traditional naval dirks would be a good choice. The blades are long enough to achieve deep penetration while your hand is still about a foot away.
As for pole arms, I just so happen to have a poleaxe. For no particular reason other than it was on sale, and I like weapons of all kinds. It's 6' 1.25" long to the tip of the blade, and has about a 1.8" square hammer head opposite the edge that would smash a skull as easily as an egg. Since zombies don't ride horses I wouldn't need that much reach and would shorten the handle. A steel spike on the end of the handle would be a nice addition too. I think a war hammer would suit me better than the poleaxe, since it would be easier for me to wield. I also have a spear 5' 9.5" long with a narrow head. The blade is only about 1.8" wide and 9.25" long. The shaft isn't much larger than a broom handle and it only weighs a fraction of the heavy poleaxe.
When you were talking about shields I was thinking about a buckler, but not one of the really small ones. I'm right-handed to such a degree it's like being handicapped. My left hand wouldn't be much good for anything besides holding a shield and moving it around. I figured that out many, many years ago. I have 2 swords and could probably use either of them one-handed if I really had too, but they're both two-handed swords, at least to me. A buckler and a long dirk or light sword would be a good combo against the undead or the living.
I think a mace, war hammer, or other non-edged weapon would be a better choice than a sword for most people, myself included. You don't have to worry about which edge is the sharp edge to attack with, or to avoid contact with it. And the best part about blunt objects by definition is, you never have to sharpen them or worry about ruining the edge. Plus, if you break one you might be the kind of person who could break a hammer with an egg, and a relatively fragile sword would last no time in your hands. I would only recommend a flail to someone willing to take time to learn how to use it properly. It's not a "here's your weapon, we're going on patrol" type of thing. BTW, one of my usernames is war hammer, WarHammer2000, actually. WarHammer was already taken so I added the number 2000 to it. I remember when that number tacked onto something used to sound so futuristic. ;D
Work together. Yeah, that happens sometimes. So does one of the other things you mentioned but I won't say which one.
I'll explain what the funny looking hammer in the picture is. It was a reproduction Vietnam era tomahawk that the wooden handle was really loose on. I threw it at a tree and the head bounced off in one direction and the handle went another. So I flattened the end of a 3/4" pipe into an oval and welded it into the head, then filled it solid with more welding. I also made made the handle longer so I had more leverage to chop with it. I slid on a new motorcycle grip and capped the end with a regular pipe cap. Then I ground the bottom lip off the grip so it would slide into the belt case that I enlarged the hole in. And I still couldn't stick it in a tree. I have 2 axes for chopping wood, plus an entrenching tool blade with pieces of the same 3/4" pipe welded into a long T-handle that chops good sized branches off in a single swipe. So I cut the top and bottom off the tomahawk blade but kept the middle section nearly full-length. I only cut off enough to square it up. And I welded and ground and welded and ground, until I had a hammer head. And I welded a bolt onto the pipe cap and built it up with more welding before I ground it to shape. It had some very small defects here and there around the head that I didn't want to weld over again, so I dabbed on a wee bit of epoxy before I filed, sanded, and painted it. And I keep it in the back of my truck in a plastic tub full of camping gear to pound in tent stakes. The face of the hammer looks really crooked to me in the picture, but it's probably only a degree or two off of parallel and works great. The head is 7 5/8" long and the overall length is about 18 1/4". The point at the end of the handle has dulled a little from jabbing it into the ground, etc. but it was so sharp it hurt to lightly tap my finger on it.
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There wasn't anything useful in Wikipedia, but this is from the company.
https://www.sta-bil.com.au/
They say 24 months but I still wouldn't try to save it more than 12. Not with the cheap oxygenated crap we have for gas nowadays. The weed whacker gas in my can had Sta-Bil in it and went bad because it was longer than 2 years. The gas tank was filled from the can so that turned out the same way. My carb might need to be rebuilt before it ever runs again. I think I'm going to buy a cordless weed whacker instead. My friend can fix this one if it needs to be fixed, and use it until he can't find or jury-rig replacement parts for it anymore. My gas may have been 4 years old but still turned into paint thinner within 2 years after the Sta-Bil quit working and probably sooner than that. If you can get a car to run on one year old untreated gas it would be something worthy of a YouTube video. The Walking Dead people driving around with 10-year old untreated gas is less realistic than some of the other things that bug a lot of people.
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On a couple of very rare occasions, I have seen cars that had been sitting for many years (one was over 20) and they started and ran on old gas that was in the tank after a plug/wire change and adjusting the points.
I don't know if it was a testament to the particular brand of gas that was left in it or to the ignition and fuel system.
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Isn’t ethanol the issue with old gas?
I used 93 octane, ethanol free fuel in my small motors with no stabilizing agent for several seasons with no issues
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Yes, the ethanol attacks the plastic parts in the fuel system (in small engines) and is Hygroscopic, It sucks moisture out of the air and causes corrosion in the fuel system of fuel injected engines which causes more problems.The gas just doesn't last as long. The Military reserves are pure gasoline and is kept in storage with I believe an inert gas to keep it from going bad.
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I buy gas -- from the QT stations -- with no ethanol for my lawn mower. It's more expensive, but worth it, and I don't need a lot.
Plus, if you see Peter Jackson's gross-out zombie movie "Dead Alive," you learn that a lawn mower is useful against zombies! ;D
Do NOT watch this if you're squeamish or easily offended!
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As far as "practical" medieval weapons, I like my yard edger. It's a steel tubular handle with a small, thick, rectangular steel blade welded on, sort of like a flat shovel. If I sharpened the three edges and extended the handle to about 5 feet with a hickory tool handle, it would be a fearsome polearm. I'd probably add a dull spike to the butt of the pole, so I wouldn't have to set it down: I could just jam the spike into the ground. It would also give the little poleax a mean butt stroke.
The easiest medieval polearm to make is a classic flail, with a long handle and short piece of plumbing pipe attached to one end with a few links of chain. The beater hits like a sledge hammer, even after a short swing, and it whips around shield edges and upraised blocking arms. The problem is controlling it. A flail is a good way to be unpopular with your friends, unless you're very good with it.
A homemade "mace," with a heavy, short piece of steel plumbing pipe slipped over a heavy-duty handle and pinned or wedged in place like an ax head, would be more practical for most people than a machete, ax or sword. You could even put a short, thick spike in the business end. Used with a small- or medium-sized round shield, it would make engaging one or two walkers a pretty easy affair.
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8)
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I buy gas -- from the QT stations -- with no ethanol for my lawn mower. It's more expensive, but worth it, and I don't need a lot.
Plus, if you see Peter Jackson's gross-out zombie movie "Dead Alive," you learn that a lawn mower is useful against zombies! ;D
Do NOT watch this if you're squeamish or easily offended!
I didn't even click on that yet and already have a smile on my face. I remember this scene. ;D But I didn't know Peter Jackson had anything to do with it. I don't think I really heard of him until the Lord of the Rings movies.
There's one pump at a gas station near where I go to ride my ATV that's labeled "recreation gas" or something like that. It doesn't have any ethanol in it, but sometimes I do after a ride. 8) That gas is really expensive and I don't know where to buy any like it close to home. I think a gas station on the other side of the city still sells racing fuel but I'm not wasting money on that when 87 octane works just as well.
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As far as "practical" medieval weapons, I like my yard edger. It's a steel tubular handle with a small, thick, rectangular steel blade welded on, sort of like a flat shovel. If I sharpened the three edges and extended the handle to about 5 feet with a hickory tool handle, it would be a fearsome polearm. I'd probably add a dull spike to the butt of the pole, so I wouldn't have to set it down: I could just jam the spike into the ground. It would also give the little poleax a mean butt stroke.
The easiest medieval polearm to make is a classic flail, with a long handle and short piece of plumbing pipe attached to one end with a few links of chain. The beater hits like a sledge hammer, even after a short swing, and it whips around shield edges and upraised blocking arms. The problem is controlling it. A flail is a good way to be unpopular with your friends, unless you're very good with it.
A homemade "mace," with a heavy, short piece of steel plumbing pipe slipped over a heavy-duty handle and pinned or wedged in place like an ax head, would be more practical for most people than a machete, ax or sword. You could even put a short, thick spike in the business end. Used with a small- or medium-sized round shield, it would make engaging one or two walkers a pretty easy affair.
I bought an AMES 4" scraper with a tempered steel blade, to do my edging and scrape grass off the cracks in my driveway. The snowplow on my ATV will float right over the grass sometimes instead of staying on the concrete. At least my old plow did. I only plowed snow once all last winter, and not at all yet this winter, but the new plow seemed to work better the one time I used it. The sticker on the scraper says 4" but the forged steel blade is actually 4.5" wide, much thicker than a typical shovel blade and maybe a bit heavier. The 53" long handle is hefty like a good shovel handle and is riveted into the socket. Mine is kind of a dark brown straight-grained wood. It's North American hardwood but I couldn't say what kind. Possibly some type of walnut, not tan, like ash or whatever is in the pictures. It has a slight bevel on the end of the blade from the forging and trimming process. I think I'll be sharpening that up. It would be very easy to grind a single bevel about 8" up both sides of the 9" blade. It would be a "killer" brush ax. 8) The overall length is 62.75″ which puts it below my chin when I stand it up. That's a great length for a pole weapon IMO. If my poleaxe was cut down to this length it wouldn't be so unwieldy, but it's still heavy.
https://www.ames.com/product/scrapers/2683000-4-5-in-scraperchopper/
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I buy gas -- from the QT stations -- with no ethanol for my lawn mower. It's more expensive, but worth it, and I don't need a lot.
Plus, if you see Peter Jackson's gross-out zombie movie "Dead Alive," you learn that a lawn mower is useful against zombies! ;D
Do NOT watch this if you're squeamish or easily offended!
DUDE ! NEVER, EVER trust a chick with prominent canines . ;D
Especially if she's cute. ;D
As for edged weapons I've REALLY gone "Dark side", I've got a Glock E tool. ;D
And an axe, Hand forged companion since my teen's. ;D
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K9’s don’t bother me as much as the pronounced Adam’s apple!
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I bought an AMES 4" scraper with a tempered steel blade, to do my edging and scrape grass off the cracks in my driveway. The snowplow on my ATV will float right over the grass sometimes instead of staying on the concrete. At least my old plow did. I only plowed snow once all last winter, and not at all yet this winter, but the new plow seemed to work better the one time I used it. The sticker on the scraper says 4" but the forged steel blade is actually 4.5" wide, much thicker than a typical shovel blade and maybe a bit heavier. The 53" long handle is hefty like a good shovel handle and is riveted into the socket. Mine is kind of a dark brown straight-grained wood. It's North American hardwood but I couldn't say what kind. Possibly some type of walnut, not tan, like ash or whatever is in the pictures. It has a slight bevel on the end of the blade from the forging and trimming process. I think I'll be sharpening that up. It would be very easy to grind a single bevel about 8" up both sides of the 9" blade. It would be a "killer" brush ax. 8) The overall length is 62.75″ which puts it below my chin when I stand it up. That's a great length for a pole weapon IMO. If my poleaxe was cut down to this length it wouldn't be so unwieldy, but it's still heavy.
https://www.ames.com/product/scrapers/2683000-4-5-in-scraperchopper/
Excellent choice! If you were going to subject the handle to the stresses of chopping, I'd suggest covering most of the socket and about a foot or so of the handle in epoxy and wrapping the whole area in strong cord, followed by soaking the cord in more epoxy once it's in place, like the black-handled knife with the brass guard in this picture:
(https://www.michaelbane.tv/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=33656.0;attach=16476;image)
The wrapping will help distribute the force when the blade hits something. It's also water- or blood- or goo-proof.
K9’s don’t bother me as much as the pronounced Adam’s apple!
Ah, yes. I was in 3rd Fleet (with some time in 7th Fleet as well). We know We've uh...heard about such things. But that was a long time ago.
The last hours of my last ship:
Dirty Bob
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K9’s don’t bother me as much as the pronounced Adam’s apple!
More concerned with MY pronounced Adams Apple.
I've become attached to it over the years.
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K9’s don’t bother me as much as the pronounced Adam’s apple!
That reminded me of this song!
https://youtu.be/ZgyrWoD9-04?t=9
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About a week ago I put my camping gear back in my truck, including the hammer that was a tomahawk, and my E-tool. It was an army surplus entrenching tool that I tried to dig too much, too deep with, and snapped the handle right off. I threw away the broken handle but kept the blade, and made my T-handle from the same 3/4" pipe I later used for the hammer. The handle is 4.5" wide, and the overall length of the shovel is about 33.25" IIRC. I just made sure it was short enough to fit in the front cargo box on one of my old ATVs. Before I welded the T-bar on the handle, I hammered down the other part to narrow it down some where it goes between my fingers when I hold on to dig with it. I never sharpened the blade but it was still sharp enough to chop some branches about 1.5" diameter off a pine tree in one chop. I don't think I could have done that with my axes or machetes.
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You need a new axe.
Or learn to sharpen the one you've got.
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I actually CAN shave with my forest axe!
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I actually CAN shave with my forest axe!
With out hurting yourself ?
Getting it sharp enough is easy.
It's the , not slitting your throat after it is part, That's the sketchy part. ;D
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With out hurting yourself ?
Getting it sharp enough is easy.
It's the , not slitting your throat after it is part, That's the sketchy part. ;D
I shave with a straight every day. Hell I have even shaved with a floor scraper razor blade. Its not thatbhard once you learn.
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I shave with a straight every day. Hell I have even shaved with a floor scraper razor blade. Its not thatbhard once you learn.
I f#ck myself up with clippers . ;D
I have a beard. It's safer. ;D
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You need a new axe.
Or learn to sharpen the one you've got.
I was chopping in the middle of live branches roughly shoulder height with my shovel, and in that situation I had a much harder time hitting them right with an ax. A lot of times they would bounce away from the ax without cutting all the way through, if I didn't completely miss, that is. And I can sharpen an ax just fine. I can shave the hair off my arms with both of my axes after I sharpen them. But the blades are thicker than my shovel or machetes and I sharpen them at a wider angle, rather than a narrow angle like a knife blade. A wider angle can take a lot more chopping without chipping or dulling than a really narrow angle. That's why chisels aren't sharpened to the same narrow angle as knives. The shovel has a wider blade than the axes so I don't miss, and more weight than the machetes. It works better than all 4 of them for lopping off certain sizes of floppy green branches. It even lops of branches that my loppers won't. But nothing I own compares to my 18" machete for most branches, and the axes work best for big dry branches.
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I got a small pocket knife from the NRA one time that I gave them some money. The blade is maybe 2" or less, I don't know. But it felt really sharp. I wanted to see just how sharp it was so I shaved my beard off with it. I never shaved my beard off with anything before or since. I always cut it off a beard trimmer or something and then shaved, but this time I skipped that step and shaved it off. When I was done it looked like a small furry animal in the bathroom sink, and I was feeling kind of stubbly. But I wasn't bleeding, and I had to shave again with a twin razor to clean up the rough spots. Considering that I never even shaved with a straight razor in my entire life, I thought I did a pretty good job with a little pocket knife.