James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
Cold Steel’s Nightshade Karambit is just one of ten models of both classic knives and strictly Cold Steel inventions now available with absolutely no steel. Instead of high carbon steel blades, the Karambit and its counterparts are constructed of a new fiberglass reinforced plastic called Grivory, with grips of reliable and well-proven Kraton.
The qualities Cold Steel touts as good reasons to own the Nightshade Karambit include total immunity to rust and corrosion as well as resistance to UV damage, a common weakness with synthetic construction. Inexpensive and functional, the Karambit can be stashed here and there around the home as an emergency weapon. Even if you’ve been disarmed, something sharp would be close at hand with a Grivory arsenal secreted in the nooks and crannies of your castle.
Low cost certainly makes this feasible, but those of us accustomed to heavyweight steel tools may be skeptical. Cold Steel did cut back on the testing challenges of these Grivory weapons, but considering that the blades and tangs are plastic, the potential for havoc is still fairly impressive. Stacks of cardboard show that reasonable penetration without serious blade damage is possible, but the blades don’t excel at cutting. Grivory edges are shaped, not sharp.
Clearly there’s self defense potential in the Grivory and Kraton Nightshade Karambit, with a four-inch long claw blade and a 4-1/2-inch Kraton-covered handle with pinky finger retainer ring. As an everyday tool, it’s only a letter opener, but you could count on it in an emergency situation — at least once.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
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Cold Steel’s Nightshade Karambit is just one of ten models of both classic knives and strictly Cold Steel inventions now available with absolutely no steel. Instead of high carbon steel blades, the Karambit and its counterparts are constructed of a new fiberglass reinforced plastic called Grivory, with grips of reliable and well-proven Kraton.
