Just a couple of months after announcing their retirement, S&R Knives has re-opened at a new location much to the relief of the knife community!

Sean is indeed retired but Rodney will carry on with his son (perhaps they should rebrand to R&S for Rodney and Son? Lol)

The new store is smaller but very clean and neat. The knives are laid out in such a way that they are very easy to see, even withuot taking them out of the case (perhaps the new cabinets help with that as well).

So without further ado, some store pics.

And now for some closeups. I looked at the Microtech Amphbian but found it a bit too front heavy

The Stitch, however, felt amazing in the hand. Probably my favourite knife of the day.

Lots of great “easy to carry” options from Bastinelli

Another favourite of the day, Sig edition of the Hogue K320 Able Lock. Man I should have bought this lol

Spyderco, my favourite of which was the MicroJimbo

A lot of fire from Boker including this Hel Curver karambit with wave-like opener

And two balisong trainers!

Cool Boker Quill Commando pen with built in Cobra cuff cutter

Ok now this one surprised me! I really liked this Kizer Cutlery Cormorant Plunge Lock Black Button G-10! Even though it was a tinge small, I just found the design so appealing.

For FRAG fans, a Kansept Goblin XL

A couple of wicked daggers, Spartan Les George V-14 and Begg Filoso. I found the Spartan a bit heavy while the Begg was super light and fast.

I ended up buying a custom made karambit trainer. Shown in retracted

And extended grip

Happy to see S&R back, here’s to another 30 years!

My day with knives was not done yet though, now on to custom knifemaker Todd Bolce’s shop!

The “hammer”

Nice setup outdoors (I forgot to get a pic of his laser engraver inside)

Todd cutting Micarta with a special guest, Seamus from Buffalo Bones leather!

And the finished product

All done work, time to feast! Another one of Todd’s many talents, smoking meat

Amazing mac&cheese along with honey and maple cornbread!

My first plate lol

I forgot to take a pic of our dessert, Lil Wayne’s Bumbu Rum! Here is a recent pic of a bottle next to my Lil Wayne Dirt Label shorts lol

Finally some show and tell! Expect to see more of these Buffalo Bones at the Great Lakes Custom Knife Show next month

And fine knives like these from Todd

He may even bring some more coins made with his laser etcher (this one has an uncanny resemblance to Seamus)

Thanks again to Todd for the invite and being such a gracious host.

All in all a great day.

RL

Well I couldn’t make it to Blade Show 2025 so Blade Show came to me! Lol

I am a big fan of Revenant Corps and saw their table in some show coverage vids.

I reached out to them to see what was left after the show and coincidentally a few hours later they posted exactly that!

I was so happy to see some of the unique “made for Bladeshow” Grosbeaks available. This is Revenant’s take on the Shivworks Clinch Pick and I have wanted one of those for a long time!

I chose #9 because it is unique in two ways. First, it is single edge. Revenant usually makes the Grosbeak double-edged (note the rest of the ones shown are double-edge) and while Shivworks Clinch Picks are now available this way, the original design was single-edge and I wanted to be true to that configuration. Secondly, it is a 1 of 1 colorway in .25” green/black/brown layered G10 with a green real rayskin underlay and a dyed green Tsukomaki wrap over it.

And here it is!

Closeups of the blade highlight the awesome green/black/brown layered G10

Closeups of the equally beautiful dyed green Tsukomaki wrap over real green rayskin

The blade came with a matching premium green carbon fiber texture Boltaron Static Line sheath. In case you are not familiar, SIMONA Boltaron is “aircraft rated material” that meets Federal Aviation Administration requirements for flammability, smoke, and heat release!

In addition to matching the colour, the sheath also matches the knife’s non-metallic signature as it doesn’t have any metal parts (I tested this with my Garrett Super Scanner V…everyone has one of these at home right?). 

As you may know, Southnarc originally designed the Clinch Pick as a “get off me” tool after a perp tried to disarm him and they had a fight while he was seated in his car! Revenant modified the profile a bit with a tip alignment that is slightly forward for a more aggressive tip angle. Revenant also added a little thumb ramp for safety. If you are used to a thumb forward grip, you will cut yourself if you try that with a standard Clinch Pick as the blade goes right up to the handle.

It is intended to be carried forward of the hips for quick deployment with minimal movement in a close quarter situation. One trick is to grab the handle and rotate your hip to pull the sheath off the knife (for example if you are pinned down and can’t move your arm enough). The original intent was cross-draw carry (shirt tucked in for pic)

But you can also carry strong side for draw into reverse Pikal (Southnarc prefers edge in to edge out).

The Revenant Static Line sheath can easily transition between these carry positions. In fact, the sheath can be carried in the pocket, static line in the waist, neck carried, or lashed horizontally on the belt.

So how does a G10 edge compare? Well, it certainly feels sharp and pointy enough for its intended purpose. Also, apart from posterity, another reason I wanted single edge is that this type of blade has a wider bevel and a thicker spine or at least one that is located at the rear-most edge of the blade (If that makes sense lol). This should make it a better slicer.

As with my other Revenant, a G10 Sharpie Awl, they certainly live up to their reputation for being the best in G10 EDC gear. The Grosbeak is a worthy homage to the Clinch Pick and a great non-metallic option in general if you are looking for something with that benefit.  

Thanks again to Revenant Corps for making Blade Show available to those who couldn’t attend.

RL

Had a great time at my favourite gun show, St. Catherines, held in the Merritton Community Centre.

This time I was accompanied by Alissia and Yousef who are relatively new to the Canadian gun scene although they do have some previous experience with firearms.

I thought a visit to the Freedom Firearms Canada display would be a great way to introduce my guests to the show. Yousef picked the Glock 17 with probably the longest barrel I have ever seen while Alissia is holding a semiauto shotgun with shockwave grip from Tamgha Arms.

Yousef liked the folding Wolverine pump-action shotgun in crazy snakeskin

Both liked the Ruger 10/22 Tactical Talo. This was my first time seeing this chassis in person as well.

Benelli M4 clones are super popular, such as this Revolution Armory Impact R4 Cerakote

Not quite as common but equally impressive, the Standard Manufacturing DP-12 with Door Buster and Stilletto chokes

At the end of the day, all three of us picked the same firearm as our show favourite, the AKDAS UBS AK-12 Under Barrel Shotgun, more affectionately known as the “Masterkey”

Moving on to gear, it was great to see my friends from MAB Impex and their vast selection of Damascus knives

Ok now this is more my speed! I love the Surefire E2D Defender with 1000 Lumens! (I have an older version with about half that)

I was also super excited to finally see some Gatorz eyewear in person! As you may know, I am obsessed with protective eyewear and have wanted to try on a pair of Gatorz for the longest time. I liked them but ultimately I would order ones to my specs as they are available in a huge array of lens/frame options.

Yousef and Alissia liked all the ammo displays

Some cool pewter pins

I liked all the beadwork here

CCFR briefing my guests about our crazy rules and regulations

Yousef field stripping the model AK-47 (he did the same with a Type 81 at TACCOM lol)

Sam the Cannon man!

St. Catherines never disappoints and based on this experience, my new shooters are sure to be back. And that’s what it is all about, getting more people into the sport.

RL

The first knife show in Toronto in ten years was a huge success with over 600 people through the door! To put things in perspective, the one day Toronto Knife Show 2025 drew as much traffic as the past shows got over the whole weekend! And people weren’t just visiting, they were buying knives. In fact, by 2pm we emptied out the bank machine in the hotel lobby!!!

While there wasn’t a formal Friends of the Guild pre-show this year, as is customary, many knifemakers met in the hotel lobby Friday night.

It didn’t take long for the show and tell to start. I really liked Paul Savage’s folder with armadillo scales!

Hmmm 2015 at the last show vs. 2025, can you tell the difference?

Russ liked Paul’s Damascus bowie

Thanks to fellow collector Danny Tadxx for bringing your awesome Fellhoelter pens

And Rod Olson knives

Steve Vanderkolff’s daughter (so sorry, I didn’t catch your name) liked it as well. She isn’t planning to get into knifemaking yet but maybe we can convince her!

This one has a floating backspacer

Danny got to meet Rod Olson for the first time, who was nice enough to autograph his knife cases! That’s the beauty of knife shows.

We also got a preview of Rod’s latest creations.

Ok on to the show! In early morning for the setup

As I mentioned, huge crowds during the day! This was in the first hour or so and I think there were already 250 people by noon.

Prizes for the hourly giveaways. There was also a buyer’s draw (you get one ticket for every knife you buy).

This gentleman won a beautiful chef’s knife by Divide Knives

On to the knives! My first stops were to check in with the show organizers Murray St-Amour and Mike Mossington. In addition to his usual  assortment of outdoor knives…

Murray surprised us by bringing back his awesome camp knife! I don’t remember seeing one of these before although I understand they were hugely popular back in the day. I can see why!

Love the sealskin tie Murray!

Not only is Mike Mossington an accomplished knifemaker

he is also an authorized dealer for knife supplies, such as Admiral Steel

Who generously donated steel to all knifemaker vendors at the show

Mike also represents Klingspor grinder belts

John Wilson was born in Ontario but trained directly under Bob Loveless while living in California. John continues with Bob’s designs adding a modern twist of unique handle scales. These are true works of art!

I met the Grimsmo brothers just as they were starting to get into knifemaking. It is amazing how far they have come! Indeed, I was lucky to be part of a small group to do a shop tour in 2023. We were given a detailed breakdown of each step in how a Grimsmo knife is made. All I can say is that the sophistication of the machinery and technical know-how to make knives with such tight tolerances is astonishing!

Grimsmo’s are in very high demand and usually sell out instantly so it was pretty amazing to see so many at the same time.

The one that put them on the map, the Norseman

Rask

Their latest, the Fjell integral folder

and Saga pen with its unique mechanism

Compared to my Fellhoelter Mud Flap Girl with Dunce Cap

Another high end folder machinist I was looking forward to seeing, SAK Modder. He doesn’t just simply replace the scales on SAKs, he actually reworks them, adding custom tools and his famous “drawer” for holding things like the tweezers and tootpicks you normally see in the handle scales.

This upscale one in TiMascus, the only one with a magnifier, sold immediately

I preferred the one with poutine insert and titanium fork!

Closeup of the drawer I mentioned

Rod Olson is most well known for his button lock folders and their legendary smoothness.

The Mega Burst with Fat Carbon inlays and Zirc Bolster was my favourite

Keeping with high end folders, here is another look at Journeyman Smith Paul Savage’s beautiful folder with armadillo scales

This one with pearl inlays was a beauty too

Though ultimately this fixed blade was my favourite knife on Paul’s table, and actually one of my favourites of the show!

Fellow Journeyman Smith James Emmons also had a table full of beautiful forged knives

Originally from France and now in Quebec, Cyril Doche applies his background in cabinetmaking, artistic woodturning, and gunsmithing to knifemaking. The tolerances on his folders are so tight that the line between the blade and lockback is almost invisible. You could swear the knife was a fixed blade looking at the spine.

This one was my favourite. I love the simple black scales mixed with Damascus blade. Also, this one didn’t have any liners making it even thinner and lighter.

Also hailing from Quebec, Amélien Lorquin Couteaux with a fine selection of kitchen and outdoor knives. Thanks for the “business card!”

Steve Vanderkolff

His latest design (sold immediately)

Butterflies seemed to be a theme

This half-stop slipjoint with Kevlar scales was my favourite

And now for some unique knives! Ward Wright is a former world champion knife thrower and he does indeed make throwers although more recently he has been focusing on more primitive designs using a lot of bone and natural materials and forged salvage steel from 100 year old horse drawn farm equipment & machinery.

I liked the neck knives

the Mountain Man with its unique sheath

For some reason I kept coming back to this one (actually visited the table a few times to look at it)

Although ultimately I went with a deer foot dagger!!!

Thanks Ward, I love it and will definitely be getting a thrower from you.

More unique knives from Steve Stuart

I especially liked his Gentlemen’s Folder with leather “handle”. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Speaking of unique knives and handles, as I have written in past reviews, I really like Farmboy Customs use of unconventional scales and kydex patterns, often as tributes to movies or video games.

Case in point, Sugar Bombs from Fallout

And The Joker

Nice acid etch

The Joker’s sheath was made by none other than Buffalo Bones! Indeed, several knifemakers at the show had sheaths made by Seamus.

The machete with his skull sheath was one of my show favourites.

The custom leather wrapped mace was also pretty awesome

I picked up a sharkskin dogtag with custom printed dogtag to match. Thanks Seamus!

Another great provider to knifemakers, Muskoka Turner! They provide blocks for handle scales using natural materials and resins. I especially like the ones with captured objects like the wasp nest that I got at GLCKS or the pea that I had custom ordered (pics in past reviews).

You can see an example of what I am talking about in action with this bread knife from K.C. Forge. Muskoka Turner provided the resin full of coffee beans for its scales!

The full lineup of forged knives from K.C. Forge

Including this beautiful cleaver

I really liked the scales on this one. I believe they were camel bone

Cool forged flowers!

Sharing a table with K.C. Forge, his protégé Fire Drawn Forge. In addition to forging knives, he also does “pyrography” wood burning artwork

As you may know from my past reviews, I really like Todd Bolce’s work and have a couple of his knives.

My favourites at this show were this one in all black

And at the opposite end of the spectrum, bright green Cerakote

Cam Lymburner is best known for making big blades with a very light feel. His knives really remind me of the legendary Jerry Hossom.

This Kukri was so light and fast

As was this fighter. If I was looking for a martial arts blade, I would say this one was the best at the show.

You cant have a proper knife show without handmade knives from the legendary art knife maker Wolfgang Loerchner!

Jacco Van de Bruinhorst (JVB) couldn’t be at the show but he did have some knives on display

Some great forged kitchen knives from Steve at Bad Llama forge

Huge selection of stock removal knives from Wynn Stitt

Speaking of huge…

The green stag handle was my favourite. Looked great and felt equally great in the hand

Shah Bladeworks

I liked this one with glow in the dark scales

But the most interesting knife on his table was the kitchen knife with “S” shaped grind. Nice of him to bring a cutting board and some carrots so you could try it out.

Cole Thompson

The take down “mini katana” was my favourite. You don’t need any tools to take it down in a few seconds.

I have been into Khukuris lately and liked his interpretation too

Dressed up outdoor/hunting knives from Justin Dale Matethi Knives

At just 16 years of age, this is already Malcom Stewart’s second knife show! Many of us were impressed by his work and felt he was matching the work of more established makers. I was looking forward to seeing what he brought this time.  

Nice selection of daggers

I really liked the Almarada daggers! The frog on the side acts as a guard and keeps the boot knife in place.

More fine work from Malcolm

I didn’t get to chat with Matt Bedlington this time so just a quick pic of his table

Aaron Byard

These were my favourites

It was tough to get a full pic of Adam Smith’s table as it was always busy when I passed by

Bancroft Cutlery

Very interesting scales on this one

I am not too familiar with Bluefish Knife & Tool but I can see he makes some fine outdoor knives. I liked the nesting knife/fork as well

Crane Cutlery with some nice Damascus pieces

The slipoint folder with brass scales was my favourite

Adam Gilbey was inspired by Forged in Fire to teach himself how to make knives back in 2017 and formed Divide Knives.

Craig Henshaw draws on both Japanese and Western Bladesmithing styles with san mai blades made by wrapping Damascus around a core of high carbon steel. He currently has an ABS Apprentice rating.

I liked the one with the Hudson’s Bay handle

In all the way from Nova Scotia, Jeff Maluske Mad Trapper making custom crafted knives for woods, water and kitchen. Jeff, a former competitive shooter, makes both hand forged and  stock removal.

Bunny Blades by Peter Tal who transitioned from chef to a knife maker

And now for the big finish

What a fantastic show! Hard to pick an absolute favourite as I saw at least 30 knives I would buy lol. It was great to see many makers I have known over the years as well as discover new ones like Ward Wright. Similarly, it was great to reconnect with collectors I have known over the years as well as meet new ones. Thank you for your generosity to those who said hi, shared their collections, and even gave me some swag!

As I mentioned in my opening, turnout was fantastic, even better than I expected! This is great for our community and ensures we will have more shows in the future, possibly even going back to 2 day shows! Either way, I will be there!

RL

The 2025 Toronto Sportsmen’s Show seemed bigger than ever! There were many first-time exhibitors who you might normally expect at a more tactical show like TACCOM but with that show cancelled for this year, it is not surprising that they opted to be at TSS.

The crowd seemed bigger as well! The show was packed on Friday and I heard there were even more people on Thursday! I can only imagine the Saturday crowd. You wont really see these crowds in my review, as my regular followers know, I get in before the show opens to take a lot of my pics and I tend to crop people out as I don’t like having them in my pics lol. In any case, take my word for it, the show was PACKED!

As an example of what I mentioned in my intro, I discovered Armorum at TACCOM and it was great to see them at TSS for the first time, especially since they now carry even more brands.

Notch hats with built in slots for your eyepro and Axil earpro

Kore Essentials ratchet belts. My favourite is the Executive Protection inner/outer belt system now available as a “hybrid” where the front portion of the outer belt is in leather while the rear portion is in nylon. Pretty neat!

Oooooo night vision camo, my favourite pattern

NUTSOF helmet and bag scrims in their Northerner maple leaf camo

Maxtacs a top-tier outdoor and tactical apparel & equipment for military, outdoor, & law enforcement.

During my show prep, I watched a lot of videos about their Combat Pants and all of its great features like the 16 pockets, knee pads with adjustable inserts, and of course their famous zippered vents, etc. I ended up getting a pair so watch for a more detailed review in the future!

It was great to get an in-person walk-through by their rep as this gives you a sense of the people behind the brand. I would much rather support a brand backed by great people and Maxtacs fits that description!

Yannick from Armorum with Cynthia and Andrew from Maxtacs. Thanks again!

Funny my Maxtacs pants came in a SHOT Show 2024 edition bag that matched Tom’s British Army Issue camo jacket lol

Great to see my good friend Simon from “The Redacted Group” of companies, which includes S&J Hardware (shotgun/firearm mods), Aratech Research (body armor), and Rugged Textiles. So happy to hear you have expanded with manufacturing in Texas!

Great armour from Aratech

Love this doormat lol

Simon with S&J’s MCS

Closeup of the folding grip on the forened

Simon demonstrating the holster

Compared to the original MCS holster from Bladetech.

More great modified shotguns by S&J

Staffer and CCFR Gunnie Girl Amanda

With her personal shotgun

Simon with scubagreg

And now for one of my favourite regulars at TSS, Puma knives! They had their biggest selection yet of knives and gear with brands such as Puma, Svörd, Otter, Mercator, Uberleben, Joker and much more

First some booth pics

And now for some closeups. The General sold before I arrived so I couldn’t do a full comparison but here is the stag-handled Prince vs. the green handled Master.

I wanted to say that rebranding the General to El General would have made it perfect for Tony Montana lol I guess El Master will do lol.

If the Master is not green enough for you, how about the Puma IP Geartester with glow in the dark scales!

I wanted to have another look at my favourite Puma knife, the Automesser

The Nimrod was originally produced from 1981 to 1989. This re-release is limited to 255 pieces.

The new Puma Para skeleton neck knife designed by Tony Lennartz

Shown with my Strider DB for comparison.

Joker knives from Spain, the Chamois and Bowie

My favourite from Otter was this limited edition box set including their Anchor knife with bone scales, leather sheath, Belgian whetstone, and a small flask of Ballistol oil.

I recently discovered German-made Bison axes at the Outdoor Adventure Show and it was great to see them again at TSS. A fellow forumite asked about their pickaroon/hookraroon so I wanted to get a pic. The full size one sold by the time I arrived but I did manage to snag a pic of the mini.

Continuing with some OAS alumni, Axcadmy was one of my favourite booths of that show. They allow budding Blacksmiths to take courses for railroad spike knives, hatchets, and two-hander axes among others, examples of which are shown here.

I also covered Mastiff Gears booth in detail at OAS, particularly the WJQ-308 Chinese Military Shovel they had on display.

While I didn’t end up buying that shovel, I stopped off at S&R Knives, which is sadly closing down after 30 years in business, and picked up a Cold Steel Spetsnaz Shovel.

And now for one of my favourite parts of TSS, fur! Great to see Fur the North back at TSS

I especially liked their sealskin mitts, a perfect match to my sealskin boots! Sealskin is my favourite fur as it is warm, water/snowproof and everything just shakes off of it. I have worn my boots in the biggest snowstorms.

I also really liked the beaver handwarmers

Some of you may remember the Mountain Man hat and skunk mitts I tried on at Silver Cedar Studio’s booth last year…glad to see those again along with many other colourful pieces!

love the racoon hat

beautiful red fox

my favourite hat of the day…very Jamiroquai or Dagestani UFC Fighter lol

Morgy liked the pink one

The Ontario Fur Managers Federation is all about educating the public about fur.

We spent quite a bit of time discussing traps and how they are used in humane ways

I even got to try one!

Demo of a snare

Taxidermy is usually one of the most popular parts of my TSS reviews. I didn’t take a lot of pics this time though, just some of the ones you don’t see often.

We saw what red fox looks like as a hat, here it is in a more natural form lol

Don’t think I have ever seen a taxidermy swan

O’Dell Engineering offers a ton of options for hunting and sport shooting through their Canuck line of shotguns and Bergara bolt-action rifles.

Their Wrangler lever-action is my favourite.

My pic does not do justice to the beautiful colour of the wood furniture.

Great to see Sterling Arms International at the show even though they have been hit hard by all the OICs. The R9 MK1 9mm PCC they had at TACCOM was a pre-production model, this one is closer to the finished product.

Antler Firearms are entirely made in Quebec from design to manufacturing. They focus on being lightweight and very precise while being highly configurable with multiple options of stock type and colour, barrel (carbon fiber or steel), and action.

The base and recoil lug are integrated into the Action to help increase precision of the mechanism by reducing vibration. They are available in titanium (foreground) or stainless steel.

Williams Arms, well reputed firearms retailer expanding their fishing offerings

There were lots of options for bowhunters too. Excalibur

I love the look and feel of the MAG AIR, the lightest in class recurve crossbow that still packs a punch at 305 FPS.

Nice Badlands camo on the RevX

Bowtech

I was hoping to see the 25th Anniversary Honor. A portion of the proceeds from this bow get donated to Folds of Honor. As expected, it is long sold out but Bowtech did have the Virtue upon which it is based.

While Excalibur makes exclusively recurve crossbows, Tenpoint is renown for its reverse-draw compound design that results in the fastest crossbow on the market.

The TRX 515 Aero with, as the name suggests, an astonishing 515 FPS

Hoyt RX-9 with a cam system that allows 1/4″ draw length adjustments and “in-line system” for mounting accessories

I was hoping to see a crossbow with Garmin XERO rangefinding scope mounted. No such luck but Bear Elite Outfitters had one with a Burris Oracle.

Perhaps they used it to take down this bear.

There are actually a lot of outfitters at TSS and I usually don’t cover them but this time I ran into an exceptional one! In all the way from South Africa, Koranna Mountain Safaris specializes in plains game hunting safaris and has packages for lions, zebra, giraffe, and many types of horned game.

The pictures shown here feature mostly Canadian hunters

Morgy was helping out at NeXgen Young Anglers, another notable outfitter. NeXgen is a fishing derby that encourage kids 4-14, to get outdoors and enjoy a fun day of fishing with the members of Bass masters in the community. The program caters to less fortunate kids from registered organizations.

Great to see Tracey Wilson, scubagreg and team CCFR, fighting for our firearms rights.

Beautiful game calls from Recall Designs

Gotta admit that Decoy Daddy is a great name

Nature Tracks Scented Shoe Covers are designed for effective scent control. They are made from silicone rubber in a patent pending process. They are waterproof and are available in three options: Vanilla and Anise to attract big game such as bear, moose, and deer, or Unscented for a neutral approach. They are engineered to mask human odors and keep you dry in any terrain.

Always great to see Army Issue Surplus! I haven’t been to their store in a while so I think it is time for another visit!

Ok now this is more my speed! Omek International with an awesome display of body armour.

I especially liked the car door display, one of my favourites of the show. Wish I took more pictures of it.

Fundy Tactical for your 5.11 needs.

Patch Panel, your best source for patches (yes, I got one)

Nice to see Dirty Leather again. As I mentioned in my OAS review, they are strong supporters of the CCFR so we should show them some support too!

The Bear Essentials Outdoors Company with their famous hand-made line saws.

Canada Fire Blanket, a rapid deployment fire extinguishing blanket

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Quick Wick, claimed to be the world’s best firestarter

Fenix lights

Afraid Knot the only Canadian manufacturer specializing in vehicle recovery gear

Speaking of vehicles, they had one in every size at the show

Must say I did quite well at the show

In addition to all the booths that I covered in photos, there were many others that I enjoyed like Radioworld, Knotty Beaver Calls, MAB Impex, Blades4You, Wrought Iron Art Unlimited, Safe and Sound Hearing, Vortex, and many others I am forgetting.

Thank you again to TSS for the Media Pass and early access, it really helps with the review.

RL

My journey to a Kailash mini-khukuri began with this vid from Rocky Handsome appearing on my YouTube feed.

I have always wanted a khukuri but never got around to getting one and that video reignited the fire so to speak. After doing extensive research, getting some recommendations, and experiencing Kailash’s legendary customer service first hand (as you will see below), I placed my order for a mini.

It still boggles my mind how Kailash can provide such service with work in progress pics and provide such a great product at their prices!

I have asked Kailash for permission to share their emails and they have graciously granted it so here we go with my journey…

I love the way they signed it “from the top of the world”

Based on this, I went with the performance grind. Here are the full specs.

Here we go with the first in progress update!

Rotated for a better perspective

Second update

A lot closer to completion by the third update

Cropped the pic a bit

I also took the liberty of mocking up how it might look next to my full size Himalayan Import WWII…we will see how close I was in my estimate

Final update on the sheath making process

And it arrived today! Just 2-3 days to get to Canada from India! Great packaging as well! Even that is professional and artistic

Package within a package!

Still some layers to go

And here it is!

Feels great in the hand. I am glad I got the largest handle option

Beautiful horn

Ok let’s see how the size really compares to the WWII

And compared to my Cold Steel Trainer

A recap of the journey

So far I love it!

Thank you Kailash! I plan to get a Salyani next.

RL

I haven’t been to S&R Knives since before COVID so it was definitely about time for another visit! Sure, I made some online orders in the meantime but there is nothing like visiting the store in person and seeing their incredible selection as well as my good friends Sean and Rodney of course!

Ok I will start with some general store pics and then move to closeups by brand.

Karambits are among my favourite types of knives (if not, THE favourite) and I absolutely LOVE the design of this Schrade Shasta Mcnasty (great name too lol)

The ring was a bit big and the handle a bit short for my hand but it was super tempting…

I also love balisongs and trainers so here is another of my top picks, the Boker Plus Papillon (unfortunately my closeup of the knife came out blurry)

Next Cold Steel, which had most of my favourites of the day

Including my absolute favourite, the Gurkha Kukri Plus CPM-3V Steel.

 It is quite light for a Kukri and feels fantastic in the hand.

More fire from Cold Steel, the Espada XL Lynn Thompson Collection. I already have the full micarta version but I need this one too!

Perhaps you can see the grind better in this pic

More from Cold Steel, their lineup of impact tools

Once again, I found another favourite of the day, the Cable Whip Cane.

Next up, Spyderco

They had all sizes of the Yojimbo so I could do a side-by-side comparison

Microjimbo

Yojimbo 2 Black

Yojumbo, definitely the best for my hand

I am not quite as familiar with Reate so I wanted to check them out

Especially the wild Exo-K Karambit (did I mention that I love karambits? Lol). I knew there was a trainer available for this knife but what I didn’t know is that it actually comes as a set with the knife!  That’s right, the price listed INCLUDES the trainer!

Speaking of karambit trainers, these are made by a local knifemaker

I didn’t get a closeup but here is another karambit on my “list”, the DART, designed by Doug Marcaida

Some fine blades from Bastinelli

And Extrema Ratio

Including the new aptly named Fat Boy. This thing is heavy! It actually feels much heavier than the Cold Steel Kukri

Classic Buck knives

Civivi

Ka-Bar

CRKT

Some fantasy/movie knives

Tactical pens, including the Boker Tactical Fountain Pen that I picked up recently

Such a great store! To recap my favourites of the day:

1. Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri Plus CPM-3v Steel
2. Cold Steel Espada XL Lynn Thompson Collection
3. Cold Steel Cable Whip Cane
4. Boker Plus Papillon

Thank you to Rodney’s son (didn’t catch his name) for his time and helping out with the pics.

I definitely wont wait several years till my next visit!!

RL

S&R Knives is pretty much the go-to place for knives in Toronto. Owned by Sean and Rodney for over 25 years, the store moved to a new location just three minutes away from its old home at the Woodbine Mall. The visit below was during their soft opening. I will be back soon to update with their latest stock.  

Blades of all shapes and sizes from spears to neck knives (this is one side of the store..i missed getting a full pic of the other side…oops)

Ok let’s start with Tops knives

And my favourite knife of the day, the Tac Ops karambit…this thing is SICK!

I would be hesitant to spin it but here it is in retracted and extended grips

Next, the Kuma Tac-Ri, designed by a martial artist, holding it makes you just want to destroy things and the only thing that diminished its impressiveness was that I just finished handling the Tac Ops Karambit lol

Smaller Tops fixed blades on display, including the mini Tracker.

I have a Beck Tracker on order and I am a big fan of the design…wow they are not kidding about this being a mini version!

Next Fox knives out of Italy

Including this SUPER RARE kempo Banty, designed by Borut Kincl, Official trainer of Slovenija Army

The knife has a lot of great features like a handle shaped for use as an impact tool (very similar to the Spyderco Yojimbo), integral glass breaker, secondary lock, divots for grip transitions etc.

Next Spyderco..

i was most anxious to see the Introvert, again designed by a martial artist as a sort of folding version of Fred Perrin’s famous LaGriffe. It is the first flipper lockback and I really like the deployment. I was glad it was sitting next to a P’Kal for size comparison as I have one of those so it was a good reference.

Tons of folders from Cold Steel

As well as impact tools. The British Police Truncheon is a lot heavier than you would think

My favourites were the boomerang

And Steven Seagal walking stick

More knives from…Spartan Blades

Esse

Fallkniven

My first time handling a Medford…well deserving of its beefy reputation although the Micro Praetorian was a bit small for my hand

Zero Tolerance

Ka-Bar

Including my favourite, the TDI

CRKT

Including a Kasper Fighting Folder, one of my favourite knives of all time (I have two Crawford customs)

Kitchen knives and other accessories

So that should give you sense of why S&R is reputed to be one of, if not the top knife store in Canada. As I mentioned, I will be back very soon and will be sure to post a review of my visit.

RL