Guest Post: Pickin' Up The Slack

It seems like it's been so long since I last posted that I could qualify to be a guest on my own blog - so here I am. I appreciate Brian giving me this opportunity to step in and pick up his slack! Let's be honest, y'all don't really like reading his drivel, anyway! 


I do apologize for my absence in the comments section of all your wonderful blogs! Earlier yesterday I actually had a bit of time and was able to catch up on a few blogs. I hope to get around to a few more soon. Since I haven't had much computer time, I feel completely out of touch just after an absence of a couple of weeks.


Late last month, my friend, Kari, announced her retirement from I Don't Wear Pink Camo to the Woods. It was a real shock to me since she has always been a hardcore blogger and I was reading her stuff long before I ever thought about starting my blog. I never dreamed she would give it up, but she has very good reasons for doing so and I would make the same decision in a heartbeat. It's all about priorities. Kari is an excellent writer and I wanted to say publicly that I will miss her blog very much. I hope someday when priorities shift again that we will hear from her once more.


As I mentioned in one of my last posts, whenever the heck that was, I have something going on that is keeping me very, very busy. It's a good thing, but unfortunately, extremely time consuming. I anticipate being scarce until at least the end of this month. Once it's over, though, I should get some free time back and have the opportunity to do some writing. If you want to know the whole truth, the main reason you're seeing this is because my taskmaster....er, good friend, TexWisGirl, at The Run*A*Round Ranch Report, tends to keep leering over my shoulder....er, checking on me to see how things are going. I decided I'd better cough up something to buy myself some time! (I'm kidding, of course, but not really.)


I also mentioned that I was going to be fishing bass tournaments for the first time. Those tourneys officially started last Saturday. Where was I? Well, not in the boat. As it turns out, I had something unexpected arise that prevented me from fishing the first tournament. Fortunately, we have a back-up angler who filled in for me. I was able to pre-fish the lake last Thursday with my partner, Jim, so we could at least try to locate some fish and establish a pattern. While it was a good idea in theory, it turned out to be a miserable day. The air temperature never got above 38 degrees and the water temperature was a consistent 46 degrees. It was overcast, dark, and a very cold day to be on the water. My fingers got so numb at one point that I could barely turn the reel handle and I couldn't tie a knot any longer. 

We spent all day on the lake and Jim managed to catch a single musky - our only bite of the day and it wasn't even our target fish. If they're in the mood, though, muskies will hit darn near anything, including little bass lures. This 8,300 acre lake is known as the Musky Capital of the South so incidental catches are common. We located plenty of fish, but simply could not entice a bite from the bass no matter what we offered them.


One cool thing about the lake is that it's a bald eagle nesting area. If you're there at the right time, you can often see eagles or ospreys. There are several areas around the lake which are off limits due to active nesting and they will close off areas on short notice when new nests are found.

I talked to Jim after last Saturday's tournament and he said the conditions were awful again. He said he had never seen the waves as big as they were that day. Soooo, if I had to miss a tournament, it appears that first one was a good one to miss! Once Ma Nature decides what she's going to do, we hope the conditions will be better for the other tournaments.


That's my huge update. And what you've learned is that I'm still busy - like anyone cares. Please don't think I'm neglecting your individual blogs because I'm not. I'm neglecting them all equally! Kidding. I will be visiting and commenting when I have some free time like I did yesterday. I do have a very nice reader on my iPhone that I use to keep up with all the blogs, but I can only read, it doesn't allow me to comment. It does have a nice feature that lets me post directly to Twitter from within the reader. For you bloggers who are on Twitter, I'll still be tweeting your new blog posts on the fly like I always do. I do more from my phone than I do the actual computer....with the exception of commenting, unfortunately.


I'll post when I can during this busy month. TexWisGirl already has me under the gun for a post I owe her. I haven't forgotten. It's not like I could, anyway.... 

First Custom Blade

Today I received my very first custom handmade knife! I was going to wait and use it for a while and show it to you when I wrote my review, but I couldn't wait that long. I still plan to do a review later, but I wanted to show you the knife now. 


First, let me say that I cannot take any credit for the knife whatsoever. It was designed from scratch by my very good friend, Marc. He actually designed a total of four different knives - all his original ideas. He spent several weeks in the design process. When the four knife designs were finalized, he sent me the sketches and this particular knife really jumped out at me. Marc calls this one the Cab-N-Muk (Cabin Muk). 


After much research, Marc chose custom knife maker John Kiedaisch to build the knives. John owns JK Handmade Knives. I liked the Cab-N-Muk design so much that I told Marc I wanted one of my own and he asked John if he would make a second Muk at the same time he was making the others. Marc's knives are all serial number 1, naturally, and my Muk is serial number 2.

Handmade Cab-N-Muk serial #2 and handmade leather sheath

Marc designed all four knives with different tasks in mind. He wanted the Cab-N-Muk to be a food prep, cabin, camp, light bush crafting knife. He incorporated some really neat features into the design that I will cover in my review. The knife is made from 01 steel of 1/8" thickness, has a 5" blade with a full flat grind and convex edge, and is 9 3/4" long overall. I had John put black micarta canvas handles on mine with black liners and stainless pins.


The knife feels great in my hand! I love the deep belly and you can choke up on the blade easily for precise chopping (I'm talking food, not firewood). It looks like it could be a heavy knife, but in fact, it is very light. Since I just got it today I haven't done any serious work with it, but I did use it to cut steak and slice potatoes for dinner. 

The Muk preparing dinner

John's craftsmanship is excellent! He posted photos of the entire process from start to finish so we could follow along and see the transformation from raw steel to completed knives. It was very interesting! I am very impressed with his work and proud to own my first JK blade! 


I have many knives from top-of-the-line makers, but this is my first custom knife. It's special to me for that reason and more importantly because Marc designed it. It is easily the coolest knife I have! I told Marc I'm going to dog-stomp this thing so I can write a review later! Something tells me it's going to pass with flying colors. 

Cab-N-Muk wearing black micarta canvas handles

If you like custom knives, go take a look at John's work. He is great to deal with and can make a knife for you of his design or your own. I am certainly going to enjoy using this Muk and will post a review after I've put it through the ringer! Kudos to my bud, Marc - he designed four very practical knives that are meant to be used, not displayed on the bookshelf! 


JK Handmade Knives