There are a lot of great things that come out of Canada: ice hockey, maple syrup, and poutine for example. Evidently Canada has lots of small companies who are looking to make a change in the world. One such company that's grabbed my attention is Pichi Designs. They've been established for 10 years now, previously focusing on designing and manufacturing for the military and some commercial companies. They make several incredible products which I'm going to be covering, the first being the Kootenay.

With such a variety of items we carry on a daily basis, we still ask ourselves if we're missing anything. We try and meet every situation with the preparedness that we're known for. People come to us because they know we've got a tool or gadget tucked away that will come to the rescue. I'm not one of those that carries a bag or something larger that a pocket organizer, but I've entertained the idea. The part of me that wanted to carry everything I own, versus the part that's rational and I can only carry what I really need. So, what I do is I pair down to the essentials and hope it's enough. One such item I keep for situations is the Civivi Tac-N-tweeze. Strange name, is it for ninjas or fending off a would-be adversary? None of the above, but it is effective as it's intended job.

ViperSharp is one of those companies that's born out of trying to solve a problem. It's a story of ingenuity, determination, and building a better mousetrap.... or sharpener. Owner Mike Wood purchased a sharpener based off of a recommendation. The sharpener did a good job but he noticed some design limitations that caused frustration during sharpening. At first, he sought out to fix those problems on his sharpener, not realizing other systems existed or that some of those limitations were solved. As he went down the rabbit hole, he noted more issues that needed solving, why fix a broken system when you really need to do is go back to the drawing board.

Mike spent over a year working on designs and prototyping, learning more about machining than he expected. His end product is a system that fixes those shortcomings he noticed on that sharpener as well as others in the industry. His goal was to create a tool that offered the precision he wanted and was built to last a lifetime. The end result is a system that's American made and will deliver a perfect angle every time. Today we're checking out the ViperSharp diamond sharpening system, will it make the cut?

TSProf is a Russian brand that got its start back in 2010. Thier goal was to make comprehensive sharpening available to all by using only the best, safest and most sustainable materials. The company produces the sharpening systems in Izhevsk, and it's known for its defense, engineering and metallurgy industries. TSProf wanted to reflect the craftsmanship that Izhevsky was famous for. All the parts of their sharpeners are CNC machined with extremely tight tolerances, while all final assembly and inspection is done the old-fashioned way.

Today we're taking a look at the company's latest model, the Pioneer. It's the most compact and lightweight system TSProf has made, coming in at 1.4kg (3.08 lbs). TSProf's models share similarities but you can see that each model fits a niche, some are better for some things than others. The Pioneer is meant to be extremely compact and have the ability to fold down and be disassembled with ease. That's a cool feature, because the company's other models can dominate a tabletop like the K03.