Thursday, April 23, 2009

Mike Spangler's EDCzilla!

The finished knife

Work in progress

I contacted Michael Spangler a couple of months ago when he showcased an unusual design of his on the
Custom knifemaker's forum on the USN.His simple utilitarian piece attracted my interest and after revising the dimensions and specifications, Mike went
to work and whipped out a large EDC fixed blade.It took him a month to complete my order and well, since Mike has so many things on his hand, family came first.
His wife had just delivered, so, my EDCzilla fixed blade was delayed.Nevertheless, after a coupla emails - he sent it out via mail and it landed at my office. First off, I found that the
design is very practical. It has a straight handle and I insisted for the knife's blade geometry to be configured as a drop point. This is a
proven field design.Initially, the EDC was a small knife. I had it scaled up to a 4.5" blade and the overall length of the revised design
is 10". So, the final configuration is such, that its now a big knife. Love its sleek appearance and solid handles. I had
green micarta slabs fitted on it to give it an 'organic' feel.To weather the humid conditions here, the 154CM steel is used to fabricate this blade. A tube is added on the
handles for a landyard to be fitted. I like that too.Mike fashioned the knife's sheath with kydex. I think some more work is needed here. So, the attention to detail
is slightly lacking. But I cannot fault the maker because of his hectic schedule. The fact to the matter is that this budding knifemaker
is willing to fill my order and ship it out - I am very satisfied.In the months to come, I will take it out on my jungle walk and have it tested as a survival knife. Maybe the straight
handles is something on this knife most conservative knifenut would frown at, to me, it fits well with my criteria
which is: simple and practical.

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