Ed Schempp is one of my favorite designer. As I have always written, the spirit of a maker oozes from his knives. Ed is a true gentleman, a cever inventor and a gifted bladesmith and all his designs got something pure and radical. His Khukuri is a perfect example.
Look at it closed. It looks so classical. Nothing particular but beware of dormant waters.
Once open you got a tool which makes love with your hand. This knife is made for your palm and finger and to be held and use and… Well the knife is screaming to be used. It is stunning. The handle is thin and does not feel boxy. The generous choil welcomes you index. Then you notice the angle the blade is doing with handle. This natural angle is the signature of Kukri knives used in Nepal by the famous Gurkhas. It is also a signature of Ed Schempp’s knives. Especially short knives and folders. I have seen Ed’s custom Khukuri with beautiful damascus steel using Spyderco logo as pattern…
To quote Sal Glesser: “I can do anything”, Ed Schempp, will push the envelope, often just to see if he can. I did a “hammer” in at Ed’s house. Just a bunch of knife afi’s with great skill working on a globe. But no hammers. Ed designed and built a series of miniature rolling mills so we can produce mosaic damascus pieces, each with an assignment. Ed’s my “go to” guy for Ethnic series knives. Take a design hundreds, or even thousands of year old, capture the purpose and function and re-create that in a modern folder. He studies the design, the history, function and purpose before beginning. Those of you that have studied and used Ed’s designs know what I’m talking about. True original classics, each and every one.”
What can I say more ?
Even in Icepick grip the little folder is pure ergonomy. The full flat ground blade is generous in belly and recurve bringing very powerful cuts. No need for any jimping on the spine or the handle, the knife is simply glued to your grasp.
Can you see the family’s blood, the Schempp’s touch ? The Tuff, the Khukuri, the Bowie and their long choil and angle ? Elegance and “beautility”. Oh, I dream of a Kukhuri Sprint Run because that design needs to be used again. An AEB-L version please ? And a huge thank you to Geoffrey from Normandeep.fr who is the proud owner of my four last reviewed knives.
Thanks to Geoffrey from Normandeep.fr , I have the opportunity to test various knives of his collection. The Leaf Storm is one of them. And it was a thick bird and have bought second hand…
They are a rattle when closed and the culprit was easy to find. The previous owner has pushed to much on the lock slab… First step: I remove the screws on the G10 side. They are long and goes into the titanium liner on the other side.
It is a very simple construction made in Golden Colorado.
The lock bar has been forced outward and has not enough tension anymore. The detent ball is even not working anymore.
By gently pressing inward I was able to give more tension to the lock. Much better !
Some nano oil drops for good measure.
And voilà. I have not put any blue lock tite, leaving Geoffrey free to do it, as it can stain the jade G10 too…
What a beautiful little critter ! It has been design by American Kevin Wilkins started as a graphic designer and art student then an art director. He moved to Berlin in the early 90s where the knife bug really sank in. By 1995 he worked out how to make his hobby a livelihood and one of his favorite designs he called the Leaf Storm, dixit Spyderco card.
It is small lady and gentleman knife that fits and carries in the watch-pocket of a pair of denim jeans. Let’s compare it with one of the best little big knife Spyderco is producing.
My Lil’Native (featuring JD’s edge) got the same size and I carry it in my watch pocket. Main difference could be the hollow grind versus the full flat grind but not for me. What I miss the most is the choil…
Because as both knives got the same blade length, the Native give the opportunity to chock up the knife and have plenty of space for 4 fingers.
The Leaf Storm got no protection with its large ricasso and could be an issue if it is sharp. And it is sharp. My pinkie could be cut easily.
With the hammer grip, this is my index knife which is now the next candidate for a flesh wound… In my own opinion, the Leafstorm is an eye candy and a collector knife, as it is rare now, been discontinuited but the action is not smooth and gritty and the ergos not to my taste, I rather go with my little Walker C22CFPE or my Lil’Native. There is even some lock sticking as there is no steel interface… It is a little on the crude side compare to smooth Lil’Native. Golden factory has made a lot of progress since the release of the LeafStorm. Designing little folders is not an easy task and esthetics are not mandatory. The LeafStorm is a beauty but not palm friendly.
Did you know that John Rambo was inpired by a Season In Hell by Arthur Rimbaud. Also David Morrell, First Blood’s author, was looking for a name for his heroe and his wife brought him some apple: Rambo’s Apples. Anyway, Rimbaud was not born in Bowie, Arizona like John Rambo but in Charleville, a city dear to my heart, in the Ardennes and for fans of Nine Princes in Amber from Zelazny. So let’s see why that knife could be a Rimbaud’s knife.
As you can notice, they are dust… No, I mean you can notice the “Drunken” texture designed for a high performance grip: a wave pattern. There is a poem from Arthur Rimbaud named “Le Bateau Îvre” -“The Drunken Boat”. This poem is famous because, at least in French, its verses are built like waves and you can feel in your guts, the fear of a sailor on a boat going out of control in the middle of a tempest. (“The poem describes the drifting and sinking of a boat lost at sea in a fragmented first-person narrative saturated with vivid imagery and symbolism.” dixit Wikipedia. ” Rimbaud, then aged 16, wrote the poem in the summer of 1871 at his childhood home in Charleville in Northern France. Rimbaud included the poem in a letter he sent to Paul Verlaine in September 1871 to introduce himself to Verlaine. Shortly afterwards, he joined Verlaine in Paris and became his lover. Rimbaud was inspired to write the poem after reading Jules Verne‘s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which had recently been published in book form, and which is known to have been the source of many of the poem’s allusions and images. Another Verne novel, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, was likely an additional source of inspiration.” More there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bateau_ivre). Rambo was a very young poet genius but the second half of his life he was a “blade runner”, also a weapon’s and spices’ retailer in the Red Sea and Abyssinie Africa, a true adventurer. Again you can read is incredible life here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud
But there is more link with John Rambo’s character freedom and survival: “After studying several languages (german, italian, spanish), he went on to travel extensively in Europe, mostly on foot. In May 1876 he enlisted as a soldier in the Dutch Colonial Army to get free passage to Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Four months later he deserted and fled into the jungle. He managed to return incognito to France by ship; as a deserter he would have faced a Dutch firing squad had he been caught.”
So back to the Dmitry Sinkevich’s Drunken, and its poetic pattern, name and … price. As you can notice, this is not huge folder but it deliver a tremendous blade length for its size. The blade is shape is beautifully flat ground and is gently bevelled on the spine. Another oozing qualities knife and of course it is justifying its high price. This is not a flash batch like the Bombshell but a regular Spyderco release. Again I need to thank Geoffrey from Normandeep.fr who has sent me his own Drunken for me to have a taste. Actually I was very surprised in a good way. It is a light (the titanium scale is “webbed” to reduce weight) and solid knife with a tanked RIL mechanism equiped with a steel interface, absolutely well balanced, alive in your hand. It’s a looker, you can gaze for hours: a true gem made in Taichung.
The big issue with that near to perfect knife is the clip. I have noticed it when I found myself not able to insert the clip in my trouser.
As you can see, the lip of the pocket is getting caught between the hole in “step” in the titanium scale and the clip.
Unless I’m helping it with my index finger by lifting the clip… which is also pointy… I can’t clip it. Another issue pointed by our friend Alexandre Constantinoff in the Spyderco Fan Club France on Facebook is…
The one-screw-clip got some serious lateral play. And that’s for a knife that price is a shame especially coming from Spyderco which are the first to promote clips for more than 30 years.
As you can see Geoffrey’s Drunken got its clip already already marked and he told me he will find a solution to suit his need.
Here is the Drunken with two very similar Spyderco releases: the PPT on the left and the Spydiechef. The PPT Sprint Run share a S90V Blade and a Carbon Fiber/Titanium handle and unusual clip and the Spydiechef is really a brother in design.
They are a lot in common with those two, don’t you think ? From the side of the hole to the shape of the blade and the handle…
Actually you can notice the Spydiecheff clip is perfect, it goes far from the cut slab and the deep carry wire clip is perhaps the best clip in the Spyderco line.
So the Drunken in use is also very pleasant. The action is not especially smooth but you feel the solid lock with a loud KLAK once engaged. Then the handle is even more confortable than the one of the Spydiechef, less blocky with its facets and bevels. The large pivot screw is great for shocking up the knife and the angle of the blade is providing a lot of power and control in the cuts. If the clip’s issue was forgotten, we could have here one of the best Spyderco ever release with zero compromise in terms of pleasure to use. Just that pointy shaggy ugly clip which ruins the experience and that’s a real problem for a knife at that price. But, oh, what a beautiful geometrically handle…
The Bombshell is a Spyderco’s flash batch at 400 dollars MRSP. Painful for the wallet, huh ? A flash batch means “it will be produced only once in this exact form. To make them even more collectible, Flash Batches are individually serialized with a laser-engraved number. The Bombshell’s number can be found on the inside of the reverse-side liner.” (When the English is perfect, I have copied and past someone else…) My friend Geoffrey Vernier has given me the opportunity to try and test his own Spyderco Bombshell. We have met some years ago at the Amsterdam Minimeet, the last one where Sal Glesser was there. Since Geoffrey has developped his own business NORMANDEEP, a diver’s shop near Omaha Beach (one of the D- Day !) in Normandie. https://www.normandeep.fr/ A diver shop where is also sale Spyderco Salts. He is my official sponsor for that review on some other to come. Thank you Geoffrey !
So here is the Bombshell aka the Danger Pickle. Two kind of people will be interested: collectors and adventurous users. First thing you notice when you hold the Pickle is quality oozing for her pores. There is feel like it is a custom knife not industrially made in Taichung. Michael Burch, her designer, is also known for his previous Spyderco’s design, the Chubby. The Bombshell is also a fat little fellow. Same breed as the Slisz’s Techno 1. As described in Spyderco’s site, this is a heavy-duty folding knife with a thick CPM® 20CV® stainless steel blade, which features a drop-point profile, a hollow grind. “Its stout handle is crafted with full, skeletonized titanium liners, radiused olive drab G-10 scales and a matching G-10 backspacer. The liners form the backbone of the Bombshell’s high-strength LinerLock mechanism and a pocket clip configured for right-side, tip-up carry ensures quick access.”
There is no steel interface between the blade and the thick liner. I don’t know if the liner’s end has been heat treated harder but titanium liner locks can wear faster than harder stainless steel’s. It was the case with my 20 years old Benchmade. It is also a designer choice to make a hard use workhorse with a liner lock when the previous design, the Chubby got a Reeve Integral Lock which is in my book, easier to clean.
For the record a steel liner lock like my 1998 Starmate is a work horse with the possibility to adjust the wear just by changing the pivot settings. Its nested liners and improved Walker LinerLock mechanism, which features a concave ramp on the blade’s lock face can be also found on the Bombshell.
As you can notice, the 22 year old Starmate stainless steel liner show less wear than the new Bombshell but the Pickle got thicker liners.
Also the Pickle’s stop pin is closer to the axis and thinner. So, the old Starmate shows a sturdier construction and it has been used very very hard through the years with zero issue. These two folders got a lot in common: hollow grinds, same way to put a hole in the blade (frowning hump)… same destination: a workhorse.
The first thing I have noticed with Bombshell is how it was pleasant to touch. The rounded G10 handle. The heft. The Bombshell is no bigger than a Para3 which means you can carry it in the city easily. The belly of its blade makes it a nice wood cutter as its geometry is also thin. Compared to a factory edge Para 3, it is better at pushcutting into wallnut wood. Also the thick spine makes it very confortable for pushcutting as the thumb finds a nice place to rest. There is also a choil where the index goes immediately for precision cuts. So it is pleasant to hold and use. It is well balanced. A very nice tool. The only issue for me would be the clip but it is a designer’s choice and at least it is not creating any hotspot on the handle. Holding the pickle makes you smile and forget the price it has cost you. So far I really enjoy that Danger Pickle. It is pleasant to hold and use and the material are top notch. It is not only a looker but a true user. But as mentioned, it is really expensive and rare and I would have prefered it to be a regular release instead of a flash batch because it will appeal the collectors more than the users and this knife was destined to be used. Anyway if not a safe queen, it will be a pleasant EDC with a real “Big Little Knife” character.
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