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November 21st, 2008
Dear Friend,
Kathy Jackson sure can pick ‘em.
What I’m referring to, is this week’s feature article. It’s an excellent commentary and observation of society today, and it really made me think about things. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
I’ve also got a great gear review for you once again from Cody Alderson- this time about a high quality knife sharpener.
Okay, what do you say we get right to it?
== USCCA Laugh of the Week ==
See all of Chaim’s Cartoons at his website:
http://www.chaimcartoons.com/
“Social Harmony”
“…the good youths are guided and disciplined by old men…”
by Grim Beorn
I was reading an article the other day, in the local newspaper, about an elderly Korean gentleman who has moved into town and opened a martial arts studio. He chastened the reporter who had come to interview him not to suggest that the martial arts were ‘all about fighting.’ “No!” he said. “The purpose is social harmony.”
That is exactly right. The secret of social harmony is simple: Old men must be dangerous.
Very nearly all the violence that plagues, rather than protects, society is the work of young males between the ages of fourteen and thirty. A substantial amount of the violence that protects rather than plagues society is performed by other members of the same group. The reasons for this predisposition are generally rooted in biology, which is to say that they are not going anywhere, in spite of the current fashion that suggests doping half the young with Ritalin.
The question is how to move these young men from the first group (violent and predatory) into the second (violent, but protective). This is to ask: what is the difference between a street gang and the Marine Corps, or a thug and a policeman? In every case, we see that the good youths are guided and disciplined by old men. This is half the answer to the problem.
But do we not try to discipline and guide the others? If we catch them at their menace, don’t we put them into prisons or programs where they are monitored, disciplined, and exposed to “rehabilitation”? The rates of recidivism are such that we can’t say that these programs are successful at all, unless the person being “rehabilitated” wants and chooses to be. And this is the other half of the answer: the discipline and guidance must be voluntarily accepted. The Marine enlists; the criminal must likewise choose to accept what is offered.
The Eastern martial arts provide an experience very much like that of Boot Camp. The Master, like the Drill Instructor, is a disciplined man of great personal prowess. He is an exemplar. He asks nothing of you he can’t, or won’t, do himself–and there are very many things he can and will do that are beyond you, though you have all the help of youth and strength. It is on this ground that acceptance of discipline is won. It is the ground of admiration, and what wins the admiration of these young men is martial prowess.
Everyone who was once a young man will understand what I mean. Who could look forward, at the age of sixteen or eighteen, to a life of obedience, dressed in suits or uniforms, sitting or standing behind a desk? How were you to respect or care about the laws, or the wishes, of men who had accepted such a life? The difficulty is compounded in poor communities, where the jobs undertaken are often menial. How can you respect your father if your father is a servant? Would you not be accepting a place twice as low as his? Would you not rather take up the sword, and cut yourself a new place? Meekness in the old men of the community unmakes the social order: it encourages rebellion from the young.
The traditional martial arts tend to teach young men to undertake flashy and impressive, but not terribly effective, fighting techniques. Only as you grow older do the masters of the art teach you the real secrets–the subtle, quick, physically simple ways in which the human body can be destroyed. In this way, the old retain their power over the young–although they lack the speed and strength, they have in discipline in training more than enough to maintain the order. Social harmony is maintained in the dojo: the young revere the old, and seek to emulate them. Your father may be a servant, but he is still a warrior–and a more dangerous one than you. The father, being past that age in which biology makes us vicious, guides the son or neighbor to protect society rather than to rend it. It is not particularly different in the military.
If we would have a stable society, we must have dangerous old men. This means that, if you are yourself on your way to becoming an old man, you have a duty to society to begin your preparations. The martial arts are not the only road–my own grandfather did it through a simple combination of physical strength, personal discipline, and an accustomed habit of going armed about his business. There was never a more impressive figure–or, at least, there was never a boy more impressed than was I.
The martial virtues are exactly the ones needed. By a happy coincidence, having a society whose members adhere to and encourage those virtues makes us freer as well–we need fewer police, fewer courts, fewer prisons, fewer laws, and fewer lawyers. This is what Aristotle meant when he said that the virtues of the man are reflected in the society. Politics and ethics are naturally joined.
== Review of the Warthog V-Sharp
written by Cody S. Alderson
USCCA GEAR REVIEW
Okay, so we spend a small fortune on a good knife. Or maybe we spend a few bucks on a cheap knife. It doesn’t matter. Both types need to be sharp to cut what we are trying to cut in a safe, quick, and effortless fashion.
Imagine if you will that the Colonel in the following dialog sounds just like old Foghorn Leghorn from Looney Tunes. Margaret would sound like Rue McClanahan’s character, Blanche Devereaux, on the Golden Girls, and the other character is just this author.
THE COLONEL (TC): “I say boy, what is that contraption you got there? It looks evil”
ME: “It’s not evil, Colonel.”
TC: “Well, it looks evil, son. Tell me then, boy, what is it?”
ME: “It’s a knife sharpener, Colonel.”
TC: “I knew it was a contraption, boy! You can’t fool the old Colonel, son. Why, I just use some spit on my Arkansas Whetstone, and me and my wife Mah-gret make an evening out of sharpening my Barlow.”
ME: “An evening, Colonel?”
TC: “Why yes, son. It takes time to get a keen edge on a blade. Mah-gret pours me and her some sweet tea, we sit ourselves down out there on the back porch, and I get to sharpenin’ while she provides the spit on the whetstone. Mah medications make me a bit dry, you see.”
ME: “I see, Colonel. Say, how sharp is that folder you are carrying anyway?”
TC: “Well boy it ain’t sharp right now. I told you that me and Mah-gret make an evening out of it, and I’ve been busy lately.”
ME: “Okay Colonel, when was the last time you sharpened it?”
TC: “Uh, I reckon ’bout Christmas, son.”
Me: “Last year?!”
TC: “Uh, nineteen eighty-four actually.”
ME: “May I sharpen it for you, Colonel?”
TC: “Well you can try boy, but that thar contraption ain’t a gonna sharpen this old war horse. It’s duller than Mah-gret’s brother. He’s a Democrat. And I ain’t got time to stand here for hours while you try to put an edge on that old blade.”
Me: “No problem, Colonel. You whistle Dixie, and I’ll be done before you know it.”
About two minutes later:
ME: “There you go, Colonel, but be careful because it’s really sharp.”
TC: “Son, I wasn’t finished whistlin’ Dixie! Anyway, there be no way that contraption put a keen edge on that old blade. See here… Ouch”
ME: “Colonel! Are you okay?!”
TC: “Why certainly, boy. Now if you’d do me the kindness of pickin’ up the tip of my thumb there off’n the ground for me, I think I’m gonna have Mah-gret take me to see old Doc Willoughby.”
ME: “I told you it was sharp, Colonel. Don’t worry. Doc Willoughby is good with a needle and thread.”
Now I thought that little story up as I was thinking of the best way to put into words what a V-Sharp does, what it will do to a working blade, and how long it will take to do it. I say working blade because the V-Sharp is made for putting an edge on a knife that is used to get work done. Those collector’s blades with a delicate finish should be in a glass case and left alone. For the blades that get work done, they need a good run through the V-Sharp to realign the blade angle and bring back the SHARP!
The V-Sharp is not for serrated blades. In my humble opinion, serrated blades were created to make a poorly designed knife and knives made out of poor materials, be able to cut a little bit to make them worth their existence. Serrations then became popular with some consumers because they help keep a poorly sharpened or neglected knife cutting. I suppose the half-serrated blades were made for consumers who were only half-lazy and sharpen their knives once in awhile. Come on now and laugh with me, rather than sending an email.
Think about it. Serrations are like what is on a saw, and those “teeth” are good—on a saw. Even a dull saw will still cut wood, but the user needs to work harder. A cutting task is so much more pleasant to complete when a sharp saw is doing the sawing, and a sharp knife is doing the cutting.
And here’s a warning for the readers: If you are used to working with dull knives, then please be careful after sharpening them with a V-Sharp. Unless of course you don’t mind old Doc Willoughby sewing body parts back on.
I have often wondered why someone will spend three hundred bucks on some kind of super duper tactical knife, then want to borrow an old stone, clogged up with metal shavings from knife blades all the way back to great grandpa’s knives, to sharpen their new blade.
My dad could get a razor’s edge on a blade, just using a couple of old stones and a leather strop. He taught me how to get that edge when I was young. My pocket knives from when I was a kid were like dad’s. They were made of steel that was high in carbon content. Some readers will remember those old Barlows that would rust if they weren’t cared for.
High carbon steel is easy to sharpen, and it will hold a decent edge. Many knives today have varying levels of materials such as chromium in the metal of their blades to add a stainless trait. They can be neglected without too much worry of rusting, but they are more difficult to sharpen and won’t hold the edge as long. So even though I could work wonders on an old Barlow, I’m not that good with my newer blades. I need something that will guide me to get the perfect angle. I need something that will reshape years of poor sharpening, or lack of sharpening, of a blade. I need something that won’t take me all evening to put an edge on a blade. And I need it to do the same thing over and over and over again. That is what I get from the V-Sharp.
MARGARET: “Beauregard, I want you to get me a V-Sharp for my kitchen knives.”
TC: “Now Mah-gret, we’re gonna sharpen those knives like we have in my family for the last hundred years.”
MARGARET: “Beauregard, I am not going to spend my evenings spitting on a stone!”
TC: “Now woman, I’ll have you know that I still wear the pants in this family!”
MARGARET: “Yeah? Well I’m the one who keeps sewing up the seat of those pants when your fat behind splits them, so hush up and go buy me a V-Sharp!”
TC: “Well I never . . .”
MARGARET: “And you won’t as long as you keep being hardheaded about stuff!”
Me: “Colonel, a V-Sharp would free up a lot of time spent honing a working edge on your folder and those kitchen knives. And instead of talking about sharpening the knives one day, they will actually get sharpened any time they lose their edge.”
TC: “Will it work on my brother-in-law?”
MARGARET: “Beauregard!”
There have been times when someone has asked to use my knife and I felt compelled to offer a reason why it was so dull before I took it out of its sheath to hand to them. I’ve been downright embarrassed at times being the guy who can do all of this neat stuff like shoot guns and sharpen knives, and then have to hand someone a dull knife. When I used to install satellite television systems, I would tell people that I used the knife to open up the bags of concrete we used for setting a metal pole in the ground. That was my excuse for always having a dull knife. Yes, it was the bags of concrete that dulled it, but I could have taken the time to sharpen it. The truth is that I was tired when I got home. The hours were long and the work was hard. I didn’t have time to fool around trying to put a satisfactory edge on even one knife, not to mention all of the dull knives in the kitchen and around the house.
My V-Sharp sharpens even the neglected blades in less than two minutes. John at Warthog V-Sharp told me about a couple of businesses that use his product. He told me about a taxidermist who used to buy disposable scalpels for his work, but the cost was getting out of hand. The taxidermist asked John if the V-Sharp would work on his scalpels. John told the guy to try out a V-Sharp since he guarantees customer satisfaction. The taxidermist wasn’t sure that it would work until he tried it. Now he uses the V-Sharp to sharpen all his scalpel blades, making the V-Sharp pay for itself.
Crocodile Dundee said, “Now that’s a knife,” in that iconic Australian accent of his, but I bet he would say, “Now that’s a knife sharpener,” if he tried a V-Sharp. It just works.
The V-Sharp uses diamond-coated honing rods in an adjustable spring-loaded tool that keeps the blade at the perfect angle through the sharpening stroke. The diamond rods (see photo below) are adjustable to three different angles—17 degrees, 20 degrees, and 25 degrees. Most working knives are best sharpened to a 25 degree angle. An angle that is narrower will dull faster, but it may work better on such blades as a scalpel or fillet knife. I sharpen all of our knives at a 25 degree angle and they cut what I’m trying to cut like that proverbial hot knife through butter.
Typically a fillet knife would be at 17 degrees, a kitchen knife at 20 degrees, and a hunting knife at 25 degrees. I just sharpen everything at 25 degrees and it works fine for me. If you need to vary the angle of sharpening for your blades, it is easy to change the angle on the V-Sharp. Remove the lower screw on the diamond honing rod, move it to the correct angle on the tool, and put the screw back in.
In the fictional story of the Colonel, he cut the tip of his thumb off because he didn’t think the knife could get that sharp that fast on a “contraption.” I used that example because it really happened, but just a little different than in the Colonel’s story. There wasn’t any Southern Colonel, but there was a childhood friend. We were probably both around fourteen when my buddy asked me to sharpen his knife for him when he saw me on the back porch sharpening mine.
I figured that since he was a Boy Scout, he could handle a sharp knife. I wasn’t a Boy Scout. I just learned stuff from my dear old dad. My friend used to tell me about something I think he called a Tote-And-Chip Card. It was supposed to be a wallet card a Boy Scout received when he was allowed to carry a pocket knife. If the Scout failed to follow safety rules of knife handling, a corner would be cut off of the card. When all four corners were cut off of the card, the Scout would lose the privilege of carrying a knife. That’s how my buddy explained it to me.
Well, I sharpened his knife the same as mine. I told him to be careful with it because the knife had been very dull but now it’s very sharp. He actually told me how it couldn’t be “that sharp.” A few moments later he cut the tip of his thumb almost clean off with one slip of the blade. The doctor sewed it back on and he was just fine, but he actually got mad at me for sharpening his knife so sharp!
I tell all of the readers that story because I don’t want any new V-Sharp customers getting mad at John for the sharpener making their knives too sharp.
A sharp blade is a pleasure to use, and in my opinion, it is a safer blade to use. Dull blades take extra force to get the cutting job done. Extra force can cause an uncontrollable slip of the blade. A sharp blade cuts smooth and clean with minimal force. However, if one has only used dull blades, then a sharp one will take some getting used to.
The adjustment knobs on the V-Sharp are to set the tool to either left or right hand use. I sharpen the blades on the V-Sharp using my right hand, so I have the “V” where the diamond rods meet adjusted to the left guide on the tool. When I put a blade in the groove of the tool to run it along the diamond rods, I will be keeping the blade flat against the guide on the left when using my right hand to sharpen a knife. It would be opposite for those who are sharpening a knife using their left hand.
The apex on this V-Sharp is set for me to use my right hand to sharpen a knife. The adjustment knobs are the black knobs on the top left and right of the tool. They are used to set the apex of the “V” for either right or left hand use of the sharpener.
:
Buy a V-Sharp and sharpen every blade in the house to a working edge. After the blades are all sharpened then install the steels. The steels work like the sharpening steels one might find a chef or butcher using, but these steels reshape a properly sharpened blade back to the correct cutting angle instead of removing material from the blade to resharpen it. Contrary to popular belief, one doesn’t have to keep removing material from the blade’s edge to get it sharp again. Just reshape it back to a perfect cutting angle. Now if the blade gets really beat up, you would pop off the steels, use the diamond rods to get the edge back into pristine shape, then put the steels back on to keep that edge aligned. The steels take about twenty seconds to install.
Here is a photo of an old Gerber and an old Smith & Wesson that I own, next to a new Buck Tactical knife that is being tested for a later review article. The Buck is scary sharp, and the other two are scary dull. The blade edge on the Gerber is actually rounded, and the Smith & Wesson blade was ground on an electric grinder to reshape it because of a broken tip. I actually ran the blade of the Smith & Wesson knife over my hand trying to cut it. It was so dull that it was like a prop or training knife. That was before about a minute in the V-Sharp. Two minutes would have brought back the sharp that I like, but one minute made it sharp enough to cut a piece of cardboard off of a box, and way too sharp to run across my hand like I did before it was sharpened. I would have ended up like my buddy or the fictional Colonel Beauregard, and have to go see a real version of old Doc Willoughby if I tried to run it over my hand again now.
After only a couple minutes of being sharpened on the V-Sharp, the dull blades were sharp again. Then I put the already sharp Buck knife through the tool. It was a test to make sure that the V-Sharp wouldn’t mess up an already sharp blade. I had to remove a diamond rod because the angle on this Buck is only beveled on one side. In other words, the Buck is sharpened like a chisel is.
The V-Sharp put a working edge on both of my useless old knives, and the odd edge of the Buck knife still was razor sharp. Looking at the Gerber that had the severely rounded blade edge on it, I was able to see that the V-Sharp removes exactly the amount of material needed to reshape the cutting part of the blade’s edge. With removing a minimal amount of material to sharpen the blade, and the use of the steels to reshape a blade, the V-Sharp would end up extending the life of a knife.
The V-Sharp can be installed on a marble or granite base so that only one hand is needed to sharpen. The Sportsman’s Packages are meant to be portable. They do come with a C-Clamp to hold the V-Sharp in place on a table if the user would like. I installed my V-Sharp on the heavy marble base that arrived with my package. Mine is meant to be used at a home, work, or in the garage or shed so I want it on a solid base. I’m not concerned about taking it with me in the field. The base comes with epoxy to mount the V-Sharp to the base. Just rough up the bottom of the V-Sharp’s wooden bottom with some sandpaper, spread the epoxy over the wood, and stick it down to the far edge of the base as shown below.
The Sportsman’s Package being portable also comes with a case. Putting the V-Sharp on a base makes it easy to just sharpen and go. This is the type of setup that a fishery has in Alaska. They process tons of fish, and there are a couple of V-Sharps in constant use at the plant. The workers walk up to the V-Sharp, run their blades through it for a few seconds, and then get back to work.
I don’t expect to be replacing the diamond rods on my V-Sharp for many years. For John, the rods last for three years, using the V-Sharp for nine months out of each year on the road at trade shows. Even in a commercial environment, the rods will last an incredibly long time. The V-Sharp comes with 325 Grit Diamond Honing Rods. Both, 600 and 1000 grit are available. The finer grit honing rods would be used for those working in leather or taxidermy. The finishing steels are designed to last for a year under daily industrial type of use of the tool. That means they will last for years for my level of use.
Customer satisfaction is guaranteed by the Warthog V-Sharp Company. The V-Sharp is designed to sharpen most knives. It does not sharpen serrated blades, and it doesn’t sharpen scissors. Serrated blades need a tool that will fit each fancy edge shape of the serrations, and scissors are sharpened at a much steeper angle than 25 degrees which is the maximum angle of the V-Sharp.
Get one for yourself for Christmas, or leave a hint with your personal Santa to get you one. Just don’t get mad at me if you end up cutting the tip of your thumb off because you are finally using a knife that is actually sharp.
Want to learn more about the V-Sharp? Want to see some videos of it in action? Want to get one for yourself right now? Then visit the Warthog V-Sharp website at www.warthogsharp.com.
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I would like to hear from you. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about the Gear Reviews email me at cody@uscca.us. |
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I Changed My Mind About Not Carrying Chambered…
Posted by an anonymous USCCA Member on our Members Only Forum.
Hello to all. First time poster, mostly because I never had anything intelligent to contribute. That changed this past weekend when I stopped at a highway rest stop to use the men’s room. It was saturday afternoon, and when I pulled in I was the only car in the rest area. I was carrying my 3913 IWB unchambered strong side.
I was turning to leave the bathroom, two young men came in and were quickly joined by three others in their group. I made eye contact and exited as fast as I could but remained calm.
After I drove away, without incident, I realized that my assumption that I would have TIME to chamber was faulty. In this real scenario, it wasn’t the lack of time but the lack of OPPORTUNITY that could have cost me dearly. I replayed the incident in my mind hundreds of times, and each time it still ended the same: I had no real opportunity to draw, chamber, and fire.
Needless to say, I now carry chambered.
Josh
************
|
“Finally, Tim Breaks His Silence…” Over the past 24 months, I’ve received hundreds of emails. All asking similar questions…
So… I’ve decided to DO something about this. I’m going to break my silence. I’ve decided to start a daily tip for those of you who have an interest in business, and entrepreneurship. Heck, it will just be me talking about something Here is the link, so you can act now: = > http://www.TimothyJSchmidt.com |
== “Impressive Shooting ” ==
USCCA VIDEO OF THE WEEK
I want to share a video with you this week that contains some very controlled, impressive shooting… BUT- there are a lot of things inside this video that are HUGE safety violations- not only for everyone else around this guy, but also for him!
I just want to make it clear that I don’t condone many of this guy’s actions (or the camera man’s).
== “Tim-spiration” of the Week ==
USCCA PHOTO OF THE WEEK
All Photos of the Week are taken from Mr. Oleg Volk’s
website: http://www.a-human-right.com/. It is a
FANTASTIC site. Please check it out!
USCCA QUOTE OF THE WEEK
- Sometimes a good quote will inspire or motivate you. Sometimes, they’ll just put a smile on your face! Here is the quote for this week…
“The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”
-George Washington
Self Defense Story OF THE WEEK
- Every day, thousands of Armed Americans use their firearms to preserve human life. Let this section of my newsletter serve as a record of this fact!
- “Neighbor Steps In (and gets shot)…”
found at:http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/blogger.html
“A 60-year-old Stockton man remains in critical condition in an area hospital after he was shot several times early Sunday by a neighbor trying to intervene in a domestic violence attack.
Alcide Doucet, 60, shortly after 1:50 a.m. Sunday allegedly went to the Kelley Drive home of a 43-year-old woman and kicked in the door, according to a police report. Doucet allegedly hit the woman in the head with his fists and a handgun.
A 42-year-old neighbor heard screaming and other noise coming from the woman’s house and went to help, according to the report. The neighbor, who police did not identify, apparently knew of the problems between the woman and Doucet, according to the report.
Once inside the woman’s home, the neighbor saw Doucet holding the woman by her hair and raising his hand with the gun in it, according to the report. The neighbor told Doucet several times to stop. Doucet allegedly turned the gun on the neighbor and fired once, hitting the man.
The neighbor returned fire with his own gun, hitting Doucet several times in the upper body.
The woman and neighbor were treated for non-life threatening wounds and Doucet was taken to an area hospital and underwent surgery for his wounds.
Doucet likely will face at least felony domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon once released from the hospital. The neighbor will not face charges since he was defending the woman, according to police. “
Closing Thoughts
Okay… this week, I’m actually going to take a break from ‘Ask Tim’, and let a USCCA member have the floor for a second.
Why? Because this guy has some REALLY.. REALLY good advice! Listen to this:
………………
Hey Tim, I just read Don Myers article Exposure Equals Big Trouble From Concealed Carry Magazine, July 2006 Awesome, awesome article.
One thing I noticed was he said that while he was in a public bathroom “I hang the coat on the hook and put my pistol in the coat pocket”.
Here in New York, we learned long ago not to put our coats on the hook on back of bathroom stall doors. The bad guys are looking for such a moment to swoop in, and relieve you of whatever article’s that are on the hook while you are at your most vulnerable. They do this, knowing you will not be doing much chasing with you pants around your ankles, and your weapon in the pocket of the coat that you just lost!
Thank you, D. B.
…………………..
Pretty good advice!
Do you have a pressing CCW concern that you’d like to get some feedback on? Use the contact form found at this page to let me hear it! Just use the graphic below!
Tim Schmidt
Founder - U.S. Concealed Carry
http://www.usconcealedcarry.com
