Just had Bladerigs make a new sheath for my DB.
I'm really liking the steel clips they use so far, after a couple days wear. This one is the 1.75" for an 1.5" belt. The owner said the extra bit of wiggle room was necessary to keep the blade from sticking to you while moving around.
He was right on the money with the advice....very comfortable.
The older style stock sheath was pretty limiting as far as stable carry options, and I'm pleased with how this turned out.
It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun ― Mark Twight
San Mai/Walnut Watson Magni
Short version, if you have a decent hot-shoe-mounted flash: Set camera on Manual. If you are hand-holding, set the shutter fast enough to cancel your own body's voluntary and involuntary movements. (If your subject is more active than you, adjust accordingly.) A steady photographer can hand-hold at 1/60th. Another factor is the focal length of the lens; if the focal length is more than 50mm, you must allow for it, too. In the 35mm film days, and when digital cameras had lower resolution, a formula of one over the focal length worked, for example, 1/60th for a 60mm lens, 1/100th for a 100mm lens, etc. With today's higher-resolution DSLRs, a bit higher shutter speed is better. Try 1/125th, if using a 100mm lens, for example, which is my usual default shutter speed when using a 100mm or 105mm lens. (If using my 50-megapixel-monster 5Ds R, however, I will often shoot at 1/250th, if shooting hand-held.)
Now, choose an aperture that gives you a nice depth-of-field. The photojournalist's "f/8, and be there," is a good place to start.
Next, set your flash on its version of full-auto. Nikon's is I-TTL, and Canon's is E-TTL. (I do not know about Olympus and Sony, but the "TTL" part is a fairly universal term.) You have chosen the camera's settings, at good default values for a wide range of subjects. A good instructor can teach you how to proceed without flash, but a high-end flash unit is actually quite "intelligent," and within the effective range of the flash unit, this technique will generally produce better images than using the camera's full-auto or "green box" setting.
To be clear, this is quick-and-dirty, fake-it-'til-you-make-it shooting, not high-level pro stuff, but it works well enough, much of the time. Photographing a knife at close range may well require dialing-down the Flash Exposure Compensation, and using a TTL cord to get the flash off the camera, and setting-up reflective white surfaces to eliminate undesirable shadows.
On the original topic, I was neck-carrying a Spyderco Ronin at the time I saw Craig Douglas' informal presentation in the loading dock area of the Cobb Galleria, during Blade Show 2004. I soon rigged a Ronin sheath to ride like a Clinch Pick, then ordered a Clinch Pick as they were available, followed by multiple Disciples. I then carried my Clinch Pick vertically to the left of my belt buckle, until the sheath cracked. I carried that Clinch just about everywhere, daily, and "daily" is not an exaggeration. I then bought another Clinch Pick, but while trying to figure-out how to position the sheath in a way to avoid stressing the Kydex as I did with the first one, I got side-tracked, and forgot about it.
Off and on, I carried a Disciple just forward of the right hip bone, and also rigged a Disciple to ride like a Clinch Pick.
I got away from regular daily carry of fixed-blades for a number of years, but am re-visiting the idea. I bought a Crawford Kasper Scorpion last year at Blade, then set it on a shelf until recently, when I decided to try to sort-out how to best carry it. I am also thinking I may start carrying a Disciple again. Part of my process of sorting-out where to carry a fixed-blade knife, is that I have recently acquired a couple of very good AIWB holsters, which interfere with how I had preferred to carry a fixed-blade for an upward draw.
Last edited by Rex G; 05-10-2017 at 03:51 PM.