Hello guys,

I just talked to my good friend in Livonia MI and he received last week the package from Aeromedix with 2 of Dougs knives and 2 of Dougs Mini Survival Packs.

He will package one of each up this weekend and send them of to the Netherlands so hopefully within 2 weeks time I will be able to see, feel, smell, use my Doug Ritter RSK MK1 number 13 of 100 myself.

Here's what my friend wrote and it even excited me more:

"The First Production 013 / 100 printing on your Doug Ritter knife is done very well...clear, block lettering appearing on the right side of the blade under the Benchmade logo. This tool has one of the nicest, if not the best, stone washed blade finishes I have ever seen. The cutting edge is uniform from start to finish and of course very sharp. There is no (zero) play between the lock and blade either in the free blade position or fully locked position. It is solid. Mr. Ritter has presented a true folding survival knife capable of cutting and withstanding normal abuse every knife sooner or later will experience. The fact the steel is current "state-of-the-art" is just a crowning jewel in my opinion. He and Becnhmade could have agreed on a slightly thicker cutting edge and perhaps no one would have said a word. This knife's edge, in relationship to the thickness of the spine, is quite thin and tapers beautifully from the spine to the point of infinity at the edges end. If in fact CPM-S30V powder metal holds an edge longer than conventional steel, we are going to have a great cutter with this knife. The knife arrived inside a plastic sleeve which was placed into a nice black silk pouch secured at the opening with a cord and toggle clamp. That's a class act by itself. Those 3 items were placed into a "standard" Benchmade knife box. Both of our boxes were slightly damaged ( one of the top corners on each box was pushed in a bit) but the content were in no way damaged at all. It could be the way they were packed along with the pocket survival kits, the sheath and the 2 free medical boxes provided by Aeromedix that caused the slight damage. The outside box was in fine shape.

The free Aeromedix white plastic boxes provided with the Pocket Survival Pak are "OK," but the kit itself will not fit into the free box. I guess it is provided as an optional way to carry the kit if you wanted to unpack from one container (the clear plastic pouch) and fit the content into the white plastic box. It is a usable box for other things is the way I will treat mine. Besides, you cannot argue with a free item, ha.

I think you are going to like the Pocket Survival Pak. Perhaps the higher cost is directly related to several things, among which are : the high quality of the items, the newly designed whistle by Dave (required special moldings to make) the plastic carry case itself ( very tough, quality plastic with a tight press-shut fastener) and the fact that Dave Ritter must get a piece of the profit pie for his research, time and effort. To me it is not a complete pocket survival kit nor one that I would build the same way BUT I am glad I have one, will add to it and am very happy with it. Excellent job, Mr. Ritter "

I think this says it all, I will even have more withdrawl symptoms the next weeks until I get my knife and pouch.

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera

Stokie and I placed an order at Aeromedix and are waiting to receive our package....
Reading your post makes me more eager....

I received my RSK Mk1 #26 of 100 a couple days ago, but have been too busy to check it out fully. Hopefully I will get a chance this weekend to look it over in depth and press it into duty next week. If it stands up to a year of abuse around here, it will be money well spent.

Semper Fi, George