Hats off to the Indiana Residents Group here at iKC. These guys are making history early in our community's short life already.

I've written before how this "virtual" knife club is every bit as real as any knife club in the world. Granted, their clubhouse is housed within iKC and they don't have weekly meetings down at the Western Sizzl'n, but, boy, have they made a name for themselves here among the 50+ other iKC community groups.

This time what they've gone and done is had them a bona fide club knife made up. I am tickled with what they have done and put an order in for one too!

While there is a core group of members who are driving much of the Group's direction, in this case, Brad Hyde tells me the club knife was very much a Group decision.

In fact, I did Q & A with him earlier today about the how and why to the knife they selected and thought I'd share it with you.

Knife Selection: "The Knife that was used for this project is a Kershaw 1660 Leek model. It
is a regular production run knife that is a proven ECD knife. It is made in
the USA and has a life time warranty. The Kershaw 1660 Leek is a 4" closed
framelock assisted opening knife. The handles are high polished 410
stainless. The blade is Sandvik 14c28N Stainless. Other features include a
lanyard hole, stainless pocket clip, and a safety for keeping the blade
locked closed. I took these knives and had the iKC Indiana Residents club
logo etched on the front handle and created a COA (Certificate of
Authenticity) for each knife. "

Price threshold: "There were alot discussions that took place within the
group about doing this project and the number one concern was keeping the
price down....the feedback I received was $50.00 would be the max people
would spend on the knife. I did this project at cost to keep the price down
and the quality of the knife we used up."

How Many: "A limited Edition of 11 (10 Indiana Residents members and you)."

Style & Make: "Alot of ideas as to what knife to use came out of the group.
The majority of the members stated they want a pocket or folding knife...we
did have a few that leaned towards a fixed bladed knife. It was suggested
that if we continue to put out club knives every year or from time to time
that we would alter back and forth between folder & fixed year to year.
Everyone was in agreement with this...so this year it's a folder and if we
do another club knife it will be some kind of fixed bladed knife. I'm not
exactly sure how we came up with using the Kershaw 1660 Leek as the club
knife...but it is made in the USA and has a life time warranty plus this
knife is a well known knife that has a good reputation."

Time: "3 days to get the knives from the time I ordered them and another
week to get the etching done on the handles."

Idea: "The idea of producing a club knife came from me. I'm a member of
several knife clubs and most of them produce a club knife every year.
So...I asked members if there was any interest in having a Indiana
residents club knife...we needed to get at least 10 members to commit to a
knife to keep the price down. The $15 to $20 set up fee for etching would
be waved if I did a minimum of 10 knives. We had exactly 10 members that
committed to purchasing the knife plus you for a total of 11."

Congrats Indiana Residents! I hope this is the first of many annual club knives to come.