Jim,
Good to see your using the CRKT knives. They are very affordable. I also like the 12 series tantos. Thery have a good portable size. I followed the link that you provided. I hope you didn’t pay the $48.00 price though, I sell that same knife on eBay for $34.99. Go to ‘Knife Brigade’ if you are interested. I can normally beat the prices of most of the other vendors. I’m just happy to get $10-to$15 dollars over what I pay per knife (guess I wont be getting rich). Best Regards – Jason
P.S. Remember–Monday May 1st is ‘American Buy a Gun Day’
Hi Jim,
I’ve been reading your blog for several months now and really appreciate all the work you put into this.
I just wanted to comment on your recent survivalblog post relating to knives. I’m in no way affiliated with their company but Swamp Rat Knife Works makes knives which are very literally some of the toughest and best performing in the world at only a slightly higher cost than Cold Steel products. They are superior in nearly every way imaginable and, as I just mentioned, are quite reasonably priced. They also have a no-questions-asked warranty and top notch customer service. I have been incredibly well impressed. They’re certainly worth a mention next time the subject comes up. Also, you may want to consider referring people to BladeForums for a reference on knives. That is where the experts go to chat and there is a great wealth of information available there. Again, not affiliated just passing on some info I learned the hard way having many knives fail on me at inopportune times. Take care! -Ian
Greetings James and Family, and Blog Readers,
I am not a knife connoisseur or aficionado. However there are some knives that ‘strike my fancy’ for one reason or another. One such knife is a Mikov knife made in the Czech Republic. I was at a show several months ago and ran across a vendor for these knives. Like a lot of gun show vendors I had ran across his table at several other shows. I stopped and talked to him for awhile and when I left I had one of his Mikov knives in my possession. The knife is very well made in my opinion and the price ranges from around $50.00 up depending on what you want.
They offer features from a basic knife with automatic blade and ABS scales to Damascus blades and Stag scales along with rare woods and other exotic materials. The automatic feature is quite unique as compared to other knives of the same genera. It can be carried in the pocket safely or on the belt in a holder. I think one thing that attracted it to me was the way it felt in my hand. For me it is comfortable and well balanced and the auto activation of the main blade is fast, sure, and solid. The particular model I selected was the Mikov auto – 241 NH2, which has an integrated manual saw blade. The basic model has only the auto blade. And the additional manual saw blade does not add a lot to the thickness of the knife and retains much of the same feel as the single auto blade model. Another aspect that amazed me was the spring system for opening the knife. The spring is owner replaceable if ever broken or lost. The cost of a replacement spring is only five bucks. And if you live in an area where automatic knives aren’t lawful to carry the spring can be easily removed and the knife converts to manual operation. Mikov offers other knife models with additional tools and one model designed with EMTs and Rescue personnel in mind. It has a
special blade for cutting through seatbelt harnesses as well as other tools such as an integral auto glass breaker. The EMT and Rescue models have a bright yellow handle, as requested by the Czech Rescue organizations, for quickly locating the knife. The Mikov Company also makes the Czech Army fixed blade-fighting knife. This knife also incorporates other useful tools with it that the trooper may require like a detachable saw blade that can be stored in the handle. This sheath knife like it’s automatic little brother, in quite ingeniously designed. I think from a value for the money aspect the Mikov knives should be considered by any outdoorsman, camper, or survivalist. They also offer their automatic in a left-handed model for you southpaws. And for you do-it-yourselfers they have kits with the same quality components as their complete knives. In my opinion this is a totally
fascinating knife maker with a good product. Of course I have not dropped my Mikov knife out of a chopper from 400 feet, nor ran over it with a vehicle to see if it breaks. But I have managed to utilize it under normal circumstances with no injury to myself, and so far even my ‘ham handed’self has not broken it!
For the ABS scale knives, see: http://www.mikovknives.com/ABS/abs.html
For their homepage, see: http://www.mikovknives.com/index.html
– The Rabid One