RIP Charlie Mike

This has been a rough week. First, one of my former team members committed suicide.. now this.. wtf is going on..

Always enjoyed his conversations, always made me laugh. Rest in Peace Charlie Mike.
 
I read this and became very sad. He obviously touched many people here and I always enjoyed his comments. I needed to do something else other than just saying goodbye. I thought about pouring whiskey on the ground. Maybe shooting off that last Roman candle I have saved. Then I figured out what I'd do.

I went up into the attic and found GI Joe from childhood. Missing a shirt but still had a little K-Bar knife. It even looked like CM the hair and beard.

I next went out to the woodpile and found a punk log and carved it down flat to a rough boat shape. Then I coated it in leftover white paint.

I then crunched through the snow to a nearby old secluded cow pound left over from when this community was built on a dairy farm from ages ago and busted the ice. I stood and listened to the wind blow through old dead apple trees and looked up at the puffy white clouds. I placed the Joe on the boat in the pond and soaked it with half a bottle of charcoal starter fluid. I took a match to the effigy.

Woof.

I watched the thick black smoke rising up from two feet of flames. It then became very cold and windy and I went home. Tomorrow I'll make a CM burrito and drink some beer.

Hope you find peace on the other side.

RIP CM.
 
Sorry, but I got to post one more time. I miss Matt so much. It´s been almost a week and I still can´t believe it. I miss his posts on BF and Instagram, I miss his videos on Youtube, I miss talking shit with him via PN. It`s been way too long since we spoke on the phone, and I regret not calling him more often.
We talked about more than knives, tbh they were secondary to me. He was such a strong person, he had so much good advice and anecdotes he always spoke frankly and honest. He was someone who embraced his life and the choices he made and did the best with it. He gave great advice and was a good listener. He was like the crazy uncle we all loved, he was a cornerstone of this community and you just had to love him.
We were talking folder designs the last time we spoke. First a friction folder, a modified version of his edsmanifesto combat razor that was custom "massproducable" and then framelock designs for his CNC. It pains me to never see them coming to life. We were even joking about spending some time together if I ever would come to the US.

I regret very much not buying a knife of his even tho he offered many times to make me one. His fixed CQC designs were unique and highly functional. I loved watching him progress and develop his style.
If anyone has any knife (just no punch daggers) of his he wants to let go please let me know, I can´t buy it right now since we have our first child on the way but if it was possible to hold it for me I´d greatly apprechiate it.

Matt, wherever you are I hope we will see us again you crazy motherfucker.
 
I talked to Matt a decent amount of IG. He was a good dude and I will seriously miss seeing his work and his antics online.

I wanted a Ti piece from him, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get one. I was hoping he’d post some stuff for sale last month as I was finally in a position to buy one.

Matt, you left this world a better place! Thank you!
 
I haven't logged in in a long time but I had to share my memories of Matt.

I started making knives when I was 12, back in 2011, with no one around me in doing anything similar. My primary "education" came from watching Gavko's YouTube videos.
Soon I discovered Matt here on Bladeforum and his balisongs. This was back in his crystal meth days. I bought his #14 off him, which was a tanto chisel-ground blade with brass handles. It made the most satisfying "ting" sounds when flipped. I called him up and asked him for advice in knife making. He spent a solid 2 hours with a kid he didn't know, telling me about tools, grinding, and so forth.
Fast forward 8 years, Matt became well known for his self-defense folder mods, and his dedication to his sobriety. I would speak to him now and again, and sent him some knives I made for him to give me feedback.
As his career took off, and I departed to University in the UK, thereby extricating from the knife community, we communicated less, but I would still speak to him on Instagram now and again.

We disagreed on many things in life, but at the end of the day he was the first mentor I ever had in this community.
He will be sorely missed.
 
QSGYEJX.jpg

Here is one of Matt's early abominations - a Cold Steel Spartan he used to carry. I call it the Fresno Felon, which described both Matt and the knife.

yEwCCJA.jpg
 
Like many others, I never met Matt but really wish I had...his posts and videos made him one of the more interesting and most real people out there. Life can be painfully fleeting. My condolences to those that were close, those who lost a friend.
 
I keep thinking about him, so decided to come back and comment again. I saw some of his videos, not all. The ones that stood out to me were the ones where he talked about his sobriety. I can only imagine how many other people those helped. He and I only spoke privately a few times, since we hung out in different parts of this forum for the most part. The one common thread of our conversations was our mutual love for our animals, and how they're easier to be around than people so often. I really enjoyed his posts, and his fighting spirit. I miss him.
 
powernoodle said:
QSGYEJX.jpg

Here is one of Matt's early abominations - a Cold Steel Spartan he used to carry. I call it the Fresno Felon, which described both Matt and the knife.

yEwCCJA.jpg
Click to expand...
Cold Steel. My first love living here in So Cal. I imagine Matt loved them too being in Fresno..not far from Ventura..not far from both of us :)
I still love CS knives and I miss CM very much.
 
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