cetan

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9193980

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you've all seen this.

Do you want one for yourself? I assume you do, because you clicked on this. Well, here's the deal: In order to spread some Ninja Cheer (and to do what I think the cool kiddos are calling "drive engagement") I'm going to give away one each of these three colorways of my Harrier Utili-Song:

Here's all you have to do: Post yer durn knives to this community, and talk about them. That's it.

High effort, low effort, what you post and how much you post does not matter. Any user who makes an actual on-topic contribution to this community between right now at this very minute and December 15th will be put on the list, and I will pick three winners from that list at complete random.

I'll pick one at a time and whoever wins first can pick their choice of design, the second winner can choose from the two that are left, and the last poor bastard gets what's left over. If nobody posts, I'll keep all three of them for myself. See if I care.

Or who knows, maybe someone this will decide this is against the rules and we'll all get banned. But I read the entire ToS and I don't see anything prohibiting this, so let's roll them dice!

The Fine Print

I'm opening this to US residents only because I'm not made out of friggin' money and shipping stuff all overseas and everywhere will probably bankrupt me. Plus, it's likely that anywhere outside of here in Freedom Land, you'll find it's illegal to import a balisong or balisong-like-object anyway. Winners must attest that they are at least 18 years of age, and it is your responsibility to determine whether or not a balisong is a legal object to possess where you live; that's not my problem. Also, I will ship these without blades included. You'll have to provide your own.

Winners must agree that I take responsibility for nothing. Offer has no cash value and you can't sue me for anything. What you get is what you get, and if your Harrier lasts you a thousand years or breaks instantly makes no difference to me because I'm not going to do anything about it either way. Winners further agree to hold me harmless for any event or condition which may transpire in any manner subsequent to receiving the aforementioned item. If you don't agree, you can sod off and I'll pick someone else in your place.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9035683

And you'll never guess what kind of knife it is. Go on.

...

Yes, of course it's a balisong box cutter. Because it just is.

Update: And the .STL files are released! Get them here, along with assembly instructions, and other sundry bumf.

Okay, so it's not exactly an exciting custom collaboration with a big name manufacturer made out of a supersteel with rich exotic handle materials in a fancy matte box. That would require being considerably more involved with the industry than I am. Which is not at all.

Rather, this is a 3D printable utility/fiddle toy that's ~~ripped off from~~ just a smidge inspired by the Gerber EAB we were talking about the other day. Why doesn't anyone make a flipper like that?

So as our resident balisong expert, I just had to ask myself the other day just how hard developing a working balisong knife could be.

The answer is more than you'd think at first blush. I'm not at all ashamed to report that the production and assembly of one of these takes no less than 26 individual components if you include...

...The optional but fully functional pocket clip.

And yes, it even has a fancy kickerless design with "zen" pins like your big dollar brand name balisong model.

"But does it actually work?" I hear you cry.

You're damn skippy it does.

My design goals were: 1) Make a functional balisong knife that 2) is completely 3D printable without reliance on outside hardware -- other than the blade, obviously -- that 3) plays to the strengths and avoids as much as possible the weaknesses of filament deposition printing and 4) does not require using any supports.

(And yes, you could print the blade, too. If you wanted it to be laughably ineffective.)

Even the assembly hardware is 3D printed, and you can install it using nothing but a penny.

I know you all have been holding your breath until I posted this picture. There you go. You can breathe out now.

Oh, and also: Would you like to use this as a fidget toy that won't get you in too much trouble in polite company, or at the office, or in some backwater hellhole where balisong knives are illegal?

You're in luck. Because there's a blunt trainer blade for it, too.

The Burning Questions I Know You're Going To Ask:

Q: What are the sizes and weights?

42.1 grams. 1.48 ounces. This thing is the second lightest balisong knife I currently own. I designed it in metric, but in keeping with tradition around here it is almost exactly 5" long when closed, 7-1/2" long open (with a typical Stanley style blade installed), 1-1/8" of usable blade edge, and 5/8" of an inch thick (not including the pocket clip, which you can leave off).

Q: That's very funny, but the tolerances on this plastic piece of shit are terrible, right? What does the wiggle test look like, smart guy?

Bam. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Q: But, it's made out of plastic. Isn't it going to break or erode into nothing, like, instantly?

I've been messing around with the above pictured example for about a week now and I've probably flipped it somewhere between six thousand and a zillion times by now. I've been using it to cut up boxes at work all week, too. It's as perfect as the day I minted it.

Q: Isn't cold creep in the PLA going to turn it into a banana eventually?

Maybe! Probably! We're sure as hell going to find out.

Q: Are you going to sell these or something?

I'm not ruling it out, but that wasn't my goal here. I might give a couple away at some point, though.

Q: Then can you shut up and give us the fucking STL files already?

Soon. In order to prevent this post from being longer than it already is, I'm going to release the files and assembly instructions separately. After I'm good and satisfied the design is well tuned enough to inflict upon the unwashed masses, anyway.

My previous two Throwback Thursday knives have been related to my time in the BSA as a Scout. Today's is no exception.

The Craftsman medium Stockman pattern, near as I can tell, was made by either Camillus or by Schrade for Sears. This one happens to be model 95223. I've not found any correlation between model numbers and manufacturing dates but that's ok in this case because I know the year this was made.

This knife was a gift from my maternal grandmother on a special day: the day I became an Eagle Scout. She had it engraved with the date, something you can just about see in the main photo.

It was always my grandmother's intent that the knife be used as a knife and not as just a gift. I was (and am) very proud of it and I have a fond memory of receiving it from her.

But unfortunately wear and tear was affecting the visibility of the engraving. I did not want to lose this, nor do I want to try and have the engraving deepened, So it has been sitting in a box for a long while. A few rust spots developed and it needs a bit of a cleaning and sharpening.

I'm kinda tired of it sitting unseen so I think a shadow box is in order this weekend. It gave a lot of service but hiding it away is not honoring the gift nor the giver.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6227971

New Knife Day! (Technically a few days behind but it was a busy weekend!)

My first SOG arrived over the weekend. The Terminus XR in S35VN. Used knife but basically brand new, and the price was good.

Action is great! The flipper deploy is "slow" feeling but very very smooth with a nice lock up. The shape of the crossbar lock thumb/finger ramps (?) (buttons? what do you call those?) are great. A world of difference compared to the Hogue Ritter that's for sure.

The grooves in the scales make for a lot of grip against the pocket so I expect this to shred the pants a bit.

(Ignore the weird color on the blade in the last photo, it was an odd reflection that I couldn't get rid of at the photographed angle.)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/4671914

For FFF (and possibly a late candidate for Weird Knife Wednesday) I give you the Swaggs designed Rosecraft Blades - Pocket Monster - aka the Sulley. Name and colors inspired by Monsters Inc. this knife answers the question: "But what if more choil??"