Maybe not as a fashion item, but the SERE Sack from Cole-Tac certainly has some merits – check out this video review and you’ll see what I mean!
Category Archives: Gear and Equipment
Gear – The Gentleman’s Knife
So, as I’ve discussed previously, I’m a pretty big fan of the CRKT CEO knife by Richard Rogers. It’s a great solution for what I’d call “soft NPE” (non permissive environment) carry – places like work when you don’t necessarily want to advertise you have a knife, but still want quick access to one.
The CRKT CEO would also be a great knife choice for a suit pocket or (maybe) even dress pants pockets, depending on your specific use case. Its small profile and light weight prevents pulling and awkward bulging, but its overall length and general usability really shines, even with its relatively small profile as compared to some of the other knives offered by CRKT (like the M16 series, for example). Yes, it lacks a glass breaker and a seatbelt cutter, but if you need those while wearing a suit, I have questions for you…
Back to the knife – there are “standard” and “flipper” versions of the CEO pocket knife – once you know how to use the “standard” they’re quite comparable, but if you’re comfortable with flippers on your other knives, you may want to go for the “flipper” version. Here’s a video I did on both version of the CRKT CEO pocket knife, with a bonus item you may also want to consider as well.
If you need a suit to go with your new CEO pocket knife, check out this post on choosing suit colors! Otherwise, if you want more suggestions for tools and equipment, check out ktstrategic.com, where you’ll find detailed recommendations and reviews from a firefighter/tactical paramedic for all kinds of gear and equipment, for everything from every day carry (EDC) to professional applications.
Keep checking back in this space for more updates as time goes on, we’re just getting started with the blog here at Section 6 Menswear – there will be much more to come soon!
Stay safe out there.
Cool Guy Techniques – The Shove Knife
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of bypass tools, especially in the context of my line of work. They can be very useful and quite effective when used correctly.
The shove knife is of particular note, as it is probably the most common and most effective of the bypass tools available (with some variants I’ll note).
They’re used to bypass latches – first a quick primer on latches.
Many security focused latches have what’s called a dead latch, or an anti-loiding pin. They can take many forms, but as an example I’ll use one you probably have in your home.
See that little guy on the left? That’s the pin in question. When properly installed (right) the strike plate depresses that pin, which in turn activates some internal mechanics that keeps the main latch from being depressed externally… like with a shove knife.
Pins like these are why you see a little wedge in with my shove knife; if you create a big enough gap between the door and the frame, you can often disengage the pin, if you know what you’re doing, allowing you to use your shove knife:
There are a lot of subtleties to using a shove knife, and there are plenty of situations where a “J” tool or a shim would be better suited to the job, but I’ll leave it there for now – check your locks at home, you may be surprised to learn that their dead latches are not in fact properly engaged, and I’d encourage you to fix that. This is where the old “credit card” trick for opening doors comes from, for those familiar.
Another exciting variant I’ve been using lately is the TriBlade from intothesmoke.ca – seen here in my work EDC or “Every Day Carry”: