Month: November 2017

Columbia River Precision • Shrike • Butchering the Market

Posted on by garth

First off I have to say this is one amazing spinner…and who knew that it was so properly named? The Shrike is a small, carnivorous bird, that kills its prey by first impaling it on something sharp. It then often leaves the prey there, sometimes hanging for days, to eat off of as wanted. Wow. That’s gnarly! Here is a little take from Wikipedia on the Shrike:

The family name, and that of the largest genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for “butcher“, and some shrikes are also known as butcherbirds because of their feeding habits.[1] The common English name shrike is from Old English scrīc, alluding to the shrike’s shriek-like call.[2]

So enough with all the name talk, let’s get down to business. I have to say that ever since I met Joel Garrett from Columbia River Precision and got my hands on the Shrike I own I have loved this spinner. It just feels great to spin. The torque, the feel, I am not a scientist but there is some science happening here for sure. The body is steel, and it must be some really hard ass steel because I have dropped the living shit out of this thing and there are very few dings on any kind. It is a beast that way. My son and I like to do spinner tricks and this thing takes a beating because it works so well for tricks. It holds itself great in the air, and it as a very sleek design making it easy to grab w/o the spinner being too much in the way like a lot of other spinner models are. The thing gets some amazing spin speeds. You can flick it, one finger, to a rapid speed. Super good angles..and even though it is named after a BUTCHER….no hot spots. Only way you will get a hotspot is if you drop this thing on concrete, from like 3 stories up I think 😛

The buttons are a great diameter, super comfy and great for tricks too. The ones with the cross hatch marks are my favorite. There is a nice slight concavity to the button. Under the buttons you have a R188 bearing, good quality…spins like a champ! I just timed over 2 min 30 second in hand spin time….original bearing, cleaned out a few times over the past 6 or so months I have owned it.

Another great part about the Shrike is the cool carrying case they come with. Most spinners sold by CRP come with the same, mini Pelican style case. Fully padded and ready for full on warfare with the world. Nothing is going to hurt your spinner in one of these. In fact you can fit more then one in here due to the shape being more rectangular than square….great for a small day carry use.

So…where can you get one? That is a good question. There was originally a pre-sale sign up for them on the CRP website having them at $150. Once they were released the price jumped to $250. Since then CRP has gone a little off the grid…sorting through some personal and other business issues causing there to be very little being offered by CRP at the moment. I do have 2 cherry, mint condition Shrike’s (the ones pictured in this review) that I might decide to sell to pay some bills over on www.cooelstshop.com but I have not committed to that as of yet….but stay tuned because we hope to be featuring more CRP product and expect them to make a come back to the scene in the coming year….maybe 2018 is the year of the Shrike?

Snatch the pebble from my hand Grasshopper 😛

Aroundsquare •  Knucklebone SS • The Godfather of Fidget Devices

Posted on by garth

1st off let me cut to the chase…this was the best $40 I have spent on a fidget device in months! Now that is out of the bag let’s talk about this bad boy. It is a hefty device. The SS Knucklebone weighs in at  79 grams. When I was first reading about these in a FB post I heard people mentioning to start with one of the Delrin models, Delrin being a hard dense plastic material. When I first got the SS in my hand the initial thought was “Oh crap what have I done? I can’t start with this thing…it’s too heavy…it’s a beast!”. Then a day went by where it was in my hand more than any other fidget device ever had been…this thing makes NO noise…well until you drop it that is a different story 😛

So compared to a fidget spinner there are so many ways that you can use this and not cause distraction where a traditional fidget spinner might, unless you only do the one-drop uber silent ninja style bearings and such, even still I feel that this type of device allows it to be used in many more situations.

So the Stainless Steel is a heavyweight animal….for real. It also drops in a way that all it’s force hits just right and it can deliver a mighty blow, and make a might sound as well. Honestly I won’t be surprised if someone breaks a toe with one of these, so that being said take the proper precautions when trying to get busy with it! I say if you are trying to get speedy and attacking tricks with it for sure go Delrin 1st to get the flow of the thing and avoid injury to self or damage to your kuncklebone. In fact I could not wait to order one and have it shipped so I made some of my own out of wood…they are great for an introduction piece to train with.

(please note the wooden ones shown are ones I made for myself, they are not an Aroundsquare product…I was SUPER inspired and could not wait to get a Delrin one…oh yeah already said that)

The nice thing about the Delrin, or wood, is that when dropped the sounds is bearable…the sound that the SS puts put can be intense if falling onto concrete or metal. I was in a restaurant the other night…the base of the center table leg was a huge, steel round…I was fidgeting with it under the table and dropped it…”PING!” the whole restaurant looks over…I instinctively was looking up at the ceiling like “WTF?”, my son said it was great…no one knew what had happened…that being said. It happened again…damn….love this thing can’t put it down to spin a spinner for the past 3 days.

Clearly I love the Knucklebone, what is not to like. It has a honest storyline to it’s discovery. The maker, Matthew Hiebert, made his first model in 1989 out of clay….here is a description of this process from their website:

Note from the designer: I developed the original knucklebone circa 1989 when I was a kid in school. The crude original version was made from some kind of polymer clay (see photo). The new version is better suited to bigger hands, and has been designed for smoother flow and better trick potential.  

This device is the God Father of Fidget Devices in my opinion. It is already being brought into the spinner scene with the recent release by many makers of spinning stick style spinners, along with the Axiom SpinPin which looks very similar to the Knucklebone but has a bearing at the base of each balled end. This next year might just be the year of the KnuckleBone Invasion. I don’t see how the Cloners won’t catch onto these and try to flood the market, when that does happen keep in mind how bad that get’s on a lot of levels and make sure to support the makers like Aroundsquare who will take the time and effort to deliver a top quality product.

All this talk and I forgot to mention how nice the packaging is…the box is solid and it comes with a cool patch of the company logo! According to the description there will be some developments in the offering possibly adding a carry bag to them in the future but for now…I am totally stoked and satisfied. Can’t wait to score me a Titanium Knucklebone…that sounds to me like the perfect winning combo of materials and weight…but a Zirc….oh now that would just be the bomb. That added texture that Zirc gives, holy crap people please sign up for the Knuckle Bone Lover’s Facebook page and let’s get the interest up for a run in Zirc. That would be AWESOME!

Honestly I think this is a great device. I play instruments and I think for those that do things where separation of left and right side is needed these are great tools to keep that part of your brain agile. I was fidgeting with it in a my hand and not really paying attention to it, then suddenly realized I was killing it doing tricks I didn’t “know” how 2 do in my mind…I was like “Did I just use 2 hands?”…nope my thumb was coming in with the assist and I was not consciously aware of it…now that my friends, is a hard thing to make your brain/body do with a fidget spinner….just saying…trust me and try one out. You can see all the Knuclebones and other awesome goods like Beglari beads and more at the Aroundsquare website. Take care and fidget to your minds content.

 

BER Float Reels • Spinner • The REEL DEAL!

Posted on by garth

From the moment I saw this spinner I kinda knew it was gonna be good. You can’t go wrong with a round, cog like shape for a spinner. We already know that. This one is nice and large, measuring 2 ⅞ inches in diameter. It weighs in as 59 grams. It is not heavy at all for it’s size since it is made of Aluminum and it has 8 holes drilled out of the core, removing weight and creating  nice weight differential that provides a good gyro effect for something that is made of aluminum. This is a ⅜” inch thick piece of metal. Not too thick, not too thick….just right.

Let’s take a look at the buttons. They look pretty flat but they do have a slight concavity to them or the smooth finish on them would prove to be a problem. The buttons measure ⅞” in diameter and are pretty thick at just under 3/16’s of an inch. The space between your fingers when holding in a pinch is 9/16’ if an inch. It has a really good feel.

 

Under the buttons you have a unique seating of the bearing, and a nice removable c-ring to make swapping bearings a breeze. Their posting for the spinner claims the bearing is an ABEC 7 … it is shielded and it runs smooth as butter i can tell you that. This spins as smooth as a one drop. Getting 2 min table spins and around 1:40 on a full in hand pull. The seating on this make it so that you would have to really know your stuff to get any other buttons to work on this but the buttons that come with are good, so no worries unless you wanted to customize.

The spinner is very stable and light for doing tricks. It flies very stable in the air. It is large in diameter, so for tricks that can be a blocker for some hands. This is as big around as a Mechforce Deltacore….at a fraction of the weight and cost.

Ok all the tech specs aside…there is a cool story here. This is being made and offered by a company that primarily makes fishing reels…in fact really really nice ones from the looks of it. Head designer and owner of the company, Ben Roubeni, had an idea and brought it to market. When chatting with him on FB messenger and asking him about his involvement in the spinner scene he replied with, “ I’m a amateur at best. I own a machine shop and manufacture primarily for aerospace and military. As well, I have my own proprietary product, a high end fly fishing reel. So when I saw my kids playing with spinners I set out to make one.”

The retail price on them is around $50 at this time and that price is a fair one. You are getting a very unique design and supporting a maker keep his products a float. In his design he claims that the holes in the center were designed to house other add on like weights and some other possible items that are in testing as I type. All in all this is a great spinner to add to your collection, especially if you like the bigger ones. Any fishermen in the family will love this too.

This thing is the REEL DEAL!!!

Nils Kohring • “7” • Prince tribute project • IAF • “ Inspirational Art Form”

Posted on by garth

I have been a huge Prince fan for a long time. I was stunned and dumbfounded when he suddenly passed away April 16 2017. I had recently became aware of the work of Nils Kohring  and had purchased one of his one-of-a-kind spinners…the Titty Twister. It was June 10th…a little over a year later that I first started discussing this project with Nils. I noticed that his logo is a series of 7 dots, and the song “7” is one of my favorite songs so I had this idea of commissioning Nils to make a Prince tribute spinner. In fact here is an excerpt from that 1st conversation:
“I was and still am a HUGE Prince fan and the 7 in your logo…and the last Batman design scream PRINCE 2 ME….Purple Trits…and maybe leave the bottom cap blank so I can send it off to be laser engraved with the prince logo.:”

  

(pictured above is the spinner I was referring to as the ‘Batman’ spinner)

By literally the next day, June 11th, Nils had fired over some pics of the 1st prototype…and a video. Damn it was amazing…how did he get on it so fast? I guess he really liked the idea too.

The concept with the original prototype was that there were 7 rubies on one side, representing his lavish life, and then 7 black stones symbolizing his death. Of course there is the Titty Twister pattern…making 7 even Titties…also symbolizing his lust for the flesh. Man…this piece is just amazing!!!

                    

The body is made of nickel silver with a Titanium button.The original plan was to have the Prince logo engraved into the blank button. It turned out to be a lot harder to find someone to do it then we thought…I have since contacted Matt Costello about possibly getting this completed one day. After going thru the trouble of trying to figure out the Ti engraving….and some other points brought us to refine the design to be the design now available exclusively at www.coolestshop.com, only 7 total will ever be made.  It wasn’t till around August that we got this one finally happening…which was perfect timing for the re-launch of www.coolestshop.com which happened the 2nd week of August. 

This spinner is really nice. It give a around a minute long solid spin….and weighs in at 58   Grams. The 7 Rubies are placed equally around the perimeter and provide a nice angle to pull or flick off of. The body is made of 35 mm diameter Nickel Silver or “German Silver”. Thickness is about 8-9 mm. the rubies are 6.7 mm.
The bearing is a full ceramic 608.

One customer that already purchased one told me it quickly became his EDC and he loves it. The super cool part of this release is the pay-it-forward element of this product. Due to the fact that Prince was very into giving back to the community, often times without wanting any credit for the donations, we felt it was the proper thing to do the same. The spinner retails for $399 and $77 of that $$ goes to a charity that is chosen by the purchaser of the spinner. Breast Cancer and Homeless Shelters have been areas of support thus far…who knows where the next $77 will go to? That could be up 2 U….if U dare to come take a look at the Prince “7” spinner. It is unique and only 7 total will ever be made. Guaranteed to be rare…maybe after these go we work on the Diamonds & Pearls edition?

Medieval • Tri-Nuke • “Blowin’ Up The Industry”

Posted on by garth

 

The Tri-Nuke by Medieval Spinners is a very well built spinner, I got my hands on both the brass and copper…in fact it was back on June 21st when I got the following message in my inbox from Medieval Spinners it read;

“China finally decided to steal my designs. They have begun to produce the Tri-Nuke and the Fatboy Nuke. So I’m fighting back the only way I know how. Giving you guys an awesome deal before they make a penny. If you have already purchased one THANK YOU, if you haven’t picked one up yet they are only $25! You simply can beat this level of awesome for only twenty five bucks. After the Pre-order ends on Sunday 6.25.17 at 6pm Central time. I plan to put them on Amazon for $39 after all pre-orders have been fulfilled. Please don’t miss out on the savings if you are considering purchasing. As always you guys ROCK! And thanks for making the Medieval family freakin Awesome!”

Holy crap! That’s gangster! Love it! At the time I was into the idea of hammering spinners…or customizing them somehow…so I bought 5 of each, and to support the F&#@ China Cloners movement! Some of them will be available at www.coolestshop.com for a limited time.
So that is some history…they did what they said they were going to do too…took awhile to deliver the 10 we ordered but we got them and damn that is a lot of spinner there kids…getting 3:30 mins on a table spin. Lots of gyro on it too, a real joy to spin. The caps are lightweight as they are anodized aluminum…but I think they work really well against the bulk and weight of the spinner. I also really like the shape of the buttons and the texture the finish has. All in all … I am gonna have to keep one for the collection for sure! They both weigh in at about 108 grams….they got some heft. The size is just under the size of a standard large spinner….but this is by no means a mini…it is from 2.0-2.5” in width.

It works well for tricks if you can hang with the size and weight…I personally like to do tricks with larger heavier spinners sometimes…just feels good. Being that they sold them at a lower price than originally intended, as a business move, I thought maybe they would cut corners on the machining…but really…to the naked eye these are pretty great. I can’t see anything to complain about on the ones that we opened to review. The machining looks clean, and the shape is really nice. The ones I tried felt very balances. No wobble.  I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a micro or mini Tri-nuke that would be swell…..maybe even outta damasteel….but I would not be surprised if they got something brewing over there at Medieval Spinners. I love the move they made with this one.

This spinner truly blew up the industry…it is a landmark moment in business and intellectual property rights. A big reason I love the EDC scene  and spinners specifically is the passion that the makers have for the craft and the support that the community gives back…that is what got us here and will get us where we need to go. Spin on….spin wisely my friends….just watch your ass you might get CLONED out there kids.

 

 

Compoform – Hydra – From Russia With Love

Posted on by garth

I gave this review the title ‘From Russia With Love’ because the folks over at Compoform  put a whole lot of love into the spinner that they make. Take a look at the Hydra spinner. The forced patina, the wooden case/stand that it comes in, even the bearing retention system they developed, there are layers and layers of love here.

Compoform are based in Russia and they do most of their work on a pre-order basis. Love that business model. Smart cats over there, I should take some notes I could learn something. So the spinners are essentially made to order. There are different types of patina they offer and finishing I believe. They have since offered a few other models of spinners but the Hydra is their flagship spinner to date. The best way I have found to follow along with them is the Compoform  Facebook page. They do a great job of updating it with new models and also have some killer giveaways there if you pay attention.

The spinner uses a R188 bearing, and since they have a retention system that allows you to easily, with needle nose pliers, to remove the tension ring to get the bearing out since it is not glued in you can try all kinds of bearings in there to find your liking. I think the bearing that it ships with works great.

One of my favorite features of the spinner are the buttons. The are flat and smooth but the patina or something in the finishing gives it a slight texture that even though it is smooth it is not slippery smooth. I like that. Also…notice there is a thickness to the this thing that creates a lot of space between the buttons when holding it with two fingers. It is refreshing to have my fingers not so close together when applying them on both buttons at the same time. I am not saying that they are ‘better’ like this I just like that it is different and I think that is a huge reason that I have had a hard time keeping this around even though it has not become an everyday carry for me…yet. It is a little clunky to be a regular pocket carry, it’s not like slipping a torqbar or a cocoon into your pocket or something.

For spin time I get a just at 2:00 mins for a hard in hand pull, there is not a lot of wobble per say but there is a good amount of feedback from the spinner and from a spinner that sports a R188.

There is a lot of play in the spinner but this does not correspond into a wobble in fact it spins very well and regardless of how you try to flip the gyro in your hand while it is spinning. The weight of the spinner is 100.5 grams. The Hydra starts at $120 and can go up depending on features.

If you are looking to place a pre-order you need to fill out their google from found here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZs7cdGBrHal0JhJLf9AXikWG5H58DgOtKsoS2bKL2nRp7Dg/viewform