ESLife

ESKNIVES Goes to BrickFair

Brickfair came to Birmingham, Alabama and the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, this January and ESKnives was there. I have never seen so many Lego enthusiasts in one place.

ESKNIVES Family

What is Brickfair?

This comes directly from the Brickfair Website

BrickFair brings together adult fans of LEGO from across the USA (and Canada, and a few other countries) to show off their projects, great and small, and to share their passion for LEGO - the most awesome toy - ever.

Brick fair is bringing together adult Lego fans.... I don't know. I was there and I swear there was a 2 to 1 ratio of children to adults. It was obvious that the kids didn't know that that Legos are now the property of the adults. The kids were having a great time.

This was my first BrickFair, my first Lego event ever.

There were the customary Lego Protesters. They always have something to say.

Lego Protestors

We can't go anywhere without the news getting involved. That's just the price of being a celebrity.

One Arm Don and the Mrs.

What these Lego Hobbyist make out of their little toy blocks is amazing. There was no way to describe the Lego convention in words. Presenting a few of my pictures might be the best way to give the reader an idea of what was going on in the world of Legos.

Alabama 5 Star Restaurant

Alabama Space and Rocket Center

Battleship

Ready for Battle

Gas Station

City

More City

Coke Building

Let's go swimming!

Knights in Battle

I had a wonderful time with the Family taking in the sites.

That's all I have for now.

One Arm Don

The importance of survival preparation

When crap goes down, how will you care for yourself or your family?  You'll need stores of food for a while and you'll most certainly need weapons to protect yourselves.  Some basic tools like an axe, wire saw, machete, duct tape, fillet knives, fire starter, multi use tools... etc are going to be things you can't live without.

Don't be caught unprepared. Have some basic knowledge of preparation and have the tools you will need.

Have enough food in your home to get your family through a few weeks. Can goods, noodles, bullion cubes, foil, powdered milk, sugar, instant coffee, fruit drink mix, powdered eggs, dry beans, lentils, rice, baking powder, etc. There are many websites on this- if you know a good one, leave it in the comments below!

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Duct tape has endless numbers of uses.  You should have a good supply of it - just in case. Here are just a few of the areas that it could be used in emergencies:

This emergency stretcher is just this: for use in an emergency. Always use caution in transporting an injured person.

Using Duct tape to care for a wound: After bleeding stops and the cut is cleaned, trim ¼- to ½-inch-wide strips of duct tape long enough so they will extend at least 1 inch beyond each side of the gash.

Starting in the middle of the wound, apply strips of tape in pairs: First, attach the end of each strip to opposite sides of the cut. Then, gently pull the strips to close the wound, and adhere the loose ends to the cut’s far side. (Fig B). Continue placing pairs of tape strips above and below the center closure (allowing 1/8 inch between strips of tape) until the wound is fully closed. Dress the cut to keep dirt out, and check it regularly for signs of infection.

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Hunting is more than just knowing how to take down a few squirrels or deer. You'll need to skin them and know how to cut them up.

While you're out in the woods hunting, we recommend you carry a few things with you: A Machete, the canvas bag and essentials (see below)

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Take some time and study how you can live without electricity.

Knowing how to start a fire is no easy task.  It takes know how - it takes practice.  We highly suggest grabbing one of our fire starters to have close by in your survival prep kit. There are several options for fire starters in our Survival area.

Simple ideas for cooking over a fire are good to know. For example using an orange to cook an egg is a clever idea we have seen.

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Knowing how to stay protected and keep warm on on long hikes - in search of food, firewood, shelter, etc. will be an important thing to learn as you start on survival preparedness. The importance of survival kits can not be stressed enough. You'll want a good canvas bag that you can keep things in: Axe, Wire saw, quart of water, food (jerky, nuts, power bars, MRE's), fire starter, bandana, flash light, multi tool knife, hat, sunscreen, bug spray, water purification tablets, can opener, gloves, etc.

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Axes, map of town, saw, survival books,

Other things to have: Tarps, plastic sheeting, glow sticks, flash lights, batteries, sew kits, First aid, floss, caste Iron cookware.

Extremely-Sharp and Big Chiefs

ESKNIVES and Big Chiefs ESKNIVES has been helping Big Chiefs for several years. We are proud to help them out.

The first step was to get with full-time teachers and find out which students could or would benefit from any kind of program that centered on respect, hard work, and fun.  The most we have had were 30 kids and 20 volunteers, and because of drastic reductions in donations that number fell to 18 kids in 2012.

We take the kids camping, hiking, fishing and do projects like building bird houses and feeders.  Other projects include building holiday baskets and delivering meals.  The largest project is what we call Firewood for the Poor.  There have been landowners locally that have had logging crews come in and make messes of their property.  We go in and cut into firewood the trees that were left behind and down by the loggers.  We do not cut standing timber." Big Chiefs is what we look for when sponsoring organizations. They are small group of guys that just want to help kids. The kids are their main focus. We need more of that. We at ESKNIVES tip our hats to the guys at Big Chiefs.

Crockpot Pot Roast Recipe: Quick and Easy

I like to eat. I like to eat good food. I like to cook. I work a lot. Most days I have little time for cooking, what with filling orders, buying product, adding product to the website and marketing the website. This is where a crockpot comes in handy. With a small amount of prep time you can have a great meal. My crockpot cooks at a low temp and all day cooking makes a great meal at the end of the day. Pot roast is always a good standby. Easy and tasty. This morning I put together the following:

  

Gift Ideas for Duck Dynasty Fans

   

 

 

  

 

   

Mosquito repellents: what's fact or myth? (infographic)

Do Mosquito's long for your sweet blood?

Don't stop being a sweet person, but do try some of our tips to keep them off you on your next camping trip:

When selecting where to pitch your tent, place the tent entrance facing into the wind to discourage mosquitos from congregating.

Avoid mosquitoes havens: don't camp near wet or swampy areas. Wear neutral and light colors while backpacking and hiking. There is some evidence that mosquitoes are attracted to darker colors more than lighter colors as well as contrasts in light and dark. Light colors may also make ticks more visible that might crawl onto you.

If you don't like to use mosquito repellents: try the leaves from elderberry bushes! Just crush & rub them on your body or place them in your clothing.  

Mosquito repellents: what's fact or myth?

Mississippi Bill Harris

Tips for Choosing that Perfect Campsite

There are several things to consider when choosing your campsite:

• Choose a level and shaded site.
• The site should have good drainage in case of wet weather.  A storm can come on very quickly, and you should be prepared even if the weather looks good just in case.

• Make sure that there is a good place to dispose of garbage.  If you cannot dispose of garbage away from your campsite in a closed container, make sure that there is a tree at least 60 yards away that you use to lift the garbage bags into, and always take your trash with you when you leave

• Make sure the restroom and bathing facilities are within a reasonable distance.  You do not want them too close, but if they are to far away, it will be difficult to get to them in the dark.
• If you have not brought your own water/beverages, make sure the water supply is nearby.
• It is also important to consider the layout of the campsite.  Is the site large enough to meet your needs?  Where will you put your tent(s)? What area will you use for meal preparation and cooking & what about your picnic table? How about your campfire and wood piles?  Is there an area for activities? Where do you park your car?

Gifts for Hunters This Year

It seems like that Hunter has everything and will be difficult to buy for this year. ESknives has you covered.

We've put together a list of items the hunter (or huntress) would kill to have.

Start out with an awesome hunting knives.

One good knife we suggest is the Bone Cutter:

Everyone needs a pocket knife and a hunter probably uses theirs daily hourly. It's always nice to have a new pocket knife. Extremely-Sharp has a good selection to choose from.

A good fillet knife would also be good for any fisherman or hunter.  Even if they don't do a lot now, they may want to start. ESknives has plenty to choose from, but you may want to select one that comes with a sharpener or add a sharpener to the gift.

Turkey hunters use fowl language, but you may want to give them a gift this year anyway - many of them like crossbows and would love to try a new one.  Don't worry about them "shooting their eye out" it's part of the fun.  www.extremely-sharp.com/crossbows/  Most bowhunters have long shafts, but don't give them the shaft this Christmas.

Extremely-sharp also has blowguns in case you want to give them something new to try.

Binoculars can be a great item to take on the hunt, to a football game or just to see well on a hike.

If you want to give some basic survival gear such as fire starters, can openers, or a great canvas pack to carry much needed outdoor items in- extremely-sharp has you covered.

"Vegetarian" is an old indian word for "bad hunter." 

Counterfeit Knives: How to Avoid Losing Your Money

Last weekend I was up in the Bowling Green, Kentucky area visiting my Son for Labor day. Sunday we decided to go to one of the local flea markets. I found myself at a Flea Market, right off Interstate 65. They had both outside and inside booths. I like to browse through flea markets every once in a while to see what the local knife dealers are offering their customers.

While walking around the outside dealers I found one knife dealer. I took a glance at his table and breezed past him. He did not seem to have much, mostly low end china knives. I did not spend anytime at his booth. I knew there were three or four larger dealers inside. I was more interested in what they had to offer.

As I was making my way to the inside market and my son came up to me and asked me if I had noticed the Microtechs and Benchmades at the knife dealers booth I had just passed. He informed me they were selling these high quality USA made knives for $8.00 and he believed they were copies.

Benchmade Counterfeit 

I went back to the booth to have a good look at his knives. And sure enough he had Benchmades, Microtechs, Bokers and Cold Steel knives for sale at $8.00 and $10.00. I had heard of Columbia River Counterfeit knives out of China but I have never seen one except for pictures on the internet. The counterfeit Columbia Rivers looked good and by their pictures are hard to differentiate from the originals.

Benchmade Conterfeit

I picked up a few of these so called high end knives and wondered how any one could sell them for the crazy price of $8.00. But once I got them in my hand I could tell why they were $8.00 because these knives were low end china knives and they were very easy to spot as counterfeit. The knives were very light and made of cheap materials. They had logos but they were a little off from the authentic logos. They looked like the original logos at a glance but when you looked closely at them it was easy to tell they were not original designs. The logos were crooked and were just a cheap decal. The metal was some low grade of stainless, definitely not 440 or 420 or the more expensive aus-8 that most USA knife manufactures use.

Benchmade Conterfeit

Looking at the boxes, you could see that they were close to the boxes the authentic knives came in but with a little closer examination the flaws could be seen. Very thin cardboard had the markings again, way off from the original boxes.

Boker Counterfeit

I did not talk with the dealer. But after looking at the counterfeits I decided to take a few pictures with my phone. I wanted my readers and my customers to get a look at what these counterfeit knives look like. The pictures are not very good but you at least get an idea of what to look for.

Coldsteel Conterfeit

At extremely sharp we do not sell counterfeits. Nor will we. We do have a few, what I call wanna be's, but they are clearly described. You know what you are buying. They resemble the knife they were designed from but have no marking of the original manufacturer. The key is that they resemble the knives they are modeled after. We do not present them as the knives. That would be dishonest. Our knives are exactly as they are described. No more and no less.

Microtech Counterfeit

A good example of this would be our K9 spring loaded knives. They resemble an older Smith & Wesson model. Smith and Wesson has not made that model for over 10 years. This is a popular style tactical knife so when I can find them I offer them to my customers. But the difference between us and the counterfeiter is that I let the buyer know what they are. They come in a unmarked box and have no Smith & Wesson markings.

Nobody wants to get ripped off. It can be prevented. There are things to look for when shopping for high end knives. Always pick up the knife and examine the knife thoroughly. Look for blemishes or any defects on the knife. Next, look at the weight of the knife and the blade action. When you are holding the knife it should feel like you are holding something. Opening the blade should be quick and smooth. There should be no drag or resistance. A little flick of the wrist and the blade should open with ease. Look at the metal and the material of the handles. They should be top quality. The knife emblems should never be crooked and never a decal. Logos are professionally etched onto blades. Do a little research and you will be able to tell the difference between an authentic emblem and a fake. When you are familiar with them they are easy to spot.

Microtech Conterfeit

When walking through the Flea Market, or shopping online, remember the buyer needs to beware. There are some good deals out there but first do your research. Know your product and don’t buy on a whim. Find legitimate dealers and legitimate deals. Ask the dealer about the knife you are interested in. See how much they know about the knife and the manufacturer of the knife.

Remember, you will Never find a $200.00 knife for $8.00. That is just not ever going to happen. You need always have to be careful when purchasing knives and if the deal seems too good to be true it probably is.