Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Sharps: EDC mixup

My EDC schemes are pretty well set. Over the last six months or so I haven't tried anything new, which means that I haven't learned much, either. Such stability makes for a functional rut, but it's still a rut.

Time to mix things up a little.

My
Victorinox Farmer has been living in a leather sleeve in my pants pocket for quite a while. Last week I threaded a 29-inch ball chain through the hollow rivets at the open end of the sleeve, and voila -- a humble pocketknife became a necker.

The setup is comfortable to carry (leather beats Kydex every time) and access is surprisingly convenient. It doesn't work with all modes of dress, of course, but I declare this experiment a success.

As small fixed-blades go, the Bark River Custom Micro Drop Point is a wonderful knife and part of my regular rotation. (Mrs. KintlaLake carries one, too.) Ordinarily it rides on my belt in a simple bushcraft sheath, but yesterday I decided to test-drive it in a two-up pocket sheath I had laying around.

The smaller compartment is perfect for a single-AAA light, so I'll probably alternate between an iTP EOS A3 (pictured) and a
Fenix E01. Either way, it's a tight fit -- a good fit, that is -- and a short lanyard is a big help in withdrawing the light from the sheath.

With both knife and light on-board, the pocket sheath rides nice and flat in the front pocket of my jeans. It's not as bulky as one might suspect -- just like the slipjoint sleeve, the pocket sheath makes its chunky cargo less noticeable by distributing the load.

It'll be a couple of weeks of carrying before I can say for sure, but I think I have another winner. Whether I roll with this new setup for a long time or just a little while, I sure am glad that I crawled out of my rut.