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We offer extreme-performance custom flashlights, EDC, and accessories. Home of the world's most powerful production LED thrower with 3 kilometers ANSI throw.
Keep up with the latest sales, discounts, news, product releases, and projects here on our blog.
Storm of Ra in Gray and Translucent Orange, Black and Silver, Nocturnal Blue and Silver, and Burgandy and Black.
As of today, 11/6/17, we are fully back up and running. To celebrate we're having a flash sale on our popular Storm of Ra. Enter the coupon code LKRN9SC to get a 15% discount.
EoS in cocobolo/Cu, custom STO lighter, Zero Tolerance 0456
To our valued friends and customers. Sunday night (10/29/17) a major storm slammed into New England. This took out trees and power lines throughout the northeast. We've been without grid power or internet since then, and mobile data is unreliable at best. We're currently running on emergency backup generators. Because of this our ability to respond to inquiries, manufacture products, and ship orders has been severely negatively impacted. If you placed an order and it hasn't shipped, or you sent us a question which hasn't been answered, please know you're not being ignored we've simply been unable to respond.
Service is supposed to be restored by November 4th, and on emergency generators we've been slowly working our way through orders. Orders may still be placed, and will be filled as soon as possible but likely a couple days behind schedule.
Lance of Ra 2.6 million candela, Dogbite 3.1
In the wake of a recent review of the Lance, and the selling out of the first run, we've gotten the question a few times of: when will it be available again? The short answer is that the original Lance was not particularly popular, and subsequently we just haven't seen sufficient interest in the light to justify another production run, particularly as compared to other products. That said, on a custom order basis, they can be acquired. If you're interested in this, you'll want to start with a Custom Project Inquiry.
After the original run of the Lance, we did have a series of upgrades we wanted to do for the next run. When the next run of the lance was canned however, we didn't want to just discard them, so rolled many of them over into the the custom Lances we're producing. These upgrades use the same thermal and optical architecture though, so do not affect performance. Pictured above is an example of the new face of the Lance in black and gold with (not visible) SrAl blue glow elements.
The Storm of Ra illuminating a target 1/4 mile away.
Well this was a long time in coming. Welcome everyone to 615,000 candela at 8000 emitter lumens. (approximately 6000 lumens OTF) And those aren't fleeting turbo numbers. Thanks to active cooling, this light can operate virtually continuously.
How extreme exactly is this light? How about a series of three photographs to demonstrate? The first image is of the SoR illuminating the entire side of a mountain which is, at its peak, about one and a quarter miles away. The second image is the google maps distance calculation. This distance is beyond the capability of our laser rangefinder, so unfortunately google's estimate is as accurate as we can get. The third image is the requisite "cheater shot," taken with the exact same camera settings, but with the light switched off.
Storm of Ra illuminating a mountain side 1.22 miles away at its peak.
Google maps showing the distance from the light to mountain peak.
The Storm's "cheater shot" showing the same scene with identical camera settings and the light switched off.
The Storm itself is a bit of an experiment. We prototype with 3D printing all the time. It just makes sense. It is quicker, easier, and most cost effective than any alternative. Things is, while working on a printed prototype for the original wood and copper storm project one day, we noticed the printed version was perfectly functional and usable. Furthermore, it is significantly less expensive to produce, potentially bringing a fringe performance product down from the several thousand dollar rarefied air of most customs and into the realm of just a few hundred dollars. Why not then add a few comfort features, finishing touches, a few stylistic flairs, and see if anyone wanted to buy one? Welcome then, to the Storm of Ra.
Leveraging the power of the XHP 70.2 and active cooling, this light can not only peak at crazy numbers, it continues to produce them until the batteries run dry. I believe I'm correct in saying it is also the world's first production light to do anything like this. That is to say, not just this many Kcd at this many lumens, but do it continuously via active cooling.
Modes are controlled by a three position toggle switch. Rearward is off. Flicking the switch to its center position turns the light on. The forward position is a momentary off, allowing the same intuitive and familiar mode switching common to tailswitch lights. Firmware is GuppyDRV rev.2.
Being polymer bodied, we're offering a few snazzy color combinations. Unlike our EoS, these lights are NOT made to order, they're inventoried and ready for immediate shipment. Again though, this is an experiment. Do people really want the fringe performance and modest price these lights offer? We don't know. If this run is well received, rest assured we'll be doing more. Not just another run, but more lights like this which leverage clever production technologies to bring small volume extreme performance lights to market at comparatively modest prices. Don't like it? We'll hear you loud and clear and these sorts of lights will remain prototypes only, edged out by their popular wood and copper brethren.
Storm of Ra showing our (at time of publication) four color variants: Black over Silver, Burgundy over Black, Nocturnal Blue over Silver, and Gray over Translucent Orange (our favorite).
SoH w/ GITD blue tailring
Tail Rings, a cool little element to add flair to your light. There comes a problem though: if we have to buy and individually list every single host, it'd be both a prohibitively long list and impossibly expensive. As our line expanded though, it became apparent that many were of similar size or were outright interchangeable. Instead then of listing every single ring by model and cross-referencing them, why not just produce simply labeled sizes and allow customers to quickly measure their light and purchase a size which fits. Easy right? So that is what we did.
There are two common sizes of rubber boot used in switches, they're nominally 14mm and 16mm. From there you simply select the OD (outer diameter) which will fit inside the lip of your light. The rings grip the tail boot, so for the OD you need simply leave enough clearance as to fit.
We've also added two new materials, bronze and aluminum composite. Made with real metal, they add a great flair to your light without any corrosion issues.
Eye of Sekhmet cocobolo over copper w/ Spyderco Butch Vallotton
So this isn't a for sale post, an introduction to a new product, or anything of the sort. This is a little peek behind the curtain about the Eye of Sekhmet, how it is made, and why the lineup of what we offer and how we're offering it has changed.
Lets start with the obvious: what happened to our three tiers? When we initially launched the EoS, we knew the lowest priced tier was going to be a money-losing venture. We wanted to have it though as something called a "loss leader," that is to say a product which you intentionally lose money on in order to get people in the door. We wanted to get people to try what was a radical new flashlight from a new company, and in that regard it was wildly successful. It was so successful in fact we couldn't keep up with production on them. We planned on it having a limited life span, and it did. At the time of launch, the middle tier also wasn't profitable, and we knew it. We anticipated, incorrectly, that through experience and production cycles we'd gain the efficiency necessary to make it profitable. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Wood in particular just doesn't bend to production whims or scale the way we had hoped. Each light still takes hours of labor from multiple skilled craftsmen from block to light, and as incredible as it sounds each light is still a mad dash to get done in the 4 week production deadline for every order.
To remedy all of this, we're doing a number of things. First, we've discontinued the middle tier. The mad dash to get them out in time means we can't hold and bundle orders, they have to move through the process individually, and that just isn't working. The top tier will remain, offering wide enough margins to produce lights individually, but with an extended timetable so that there is less of a crazy rush to get each done. Secondly, we'll be manufacturing batches of lights ready to order. No wait times, these lights will be performance certified and ready to ship out. Batch manufacture, and no production deadlines, will allow these lights to be sold for less, allow us to be more creative with options, and bring down prices somewhat. Instead of listing them on the blog, we'll list them on the product page so they can simply be added to cart.
For the people whose lights have been shipping late, we apologize. Going forward we hope these changes mean everyone can get their lights on time, and that having available options means those who don't want to wait can get lights immediately.
Lets cut the foreplay shall we? Three images, the first is the Lance of Ra illuminating a mountainside 1.61 miles away, the second is the cheater shot (same camera settings, but with the light turned off), and the third is a google maps distance calculation. Enjoy
The Lance of Ra illuminating a mountainside 1.61 miles away.
The cheater shot. (same camera settings, but with the light turned off)
The beam path of the Lance of Ra showing Google's distance calculation.
Our Eye of Sekhmet lights are made to order. Occasionally though we'll have some lights available. Aside from custom engraving, they're available for purchase immediately. We strive to update these lists as lights are sold, however we can't guarantee they will be up to date. Please contact us if you see a light you would like to order. For more information on on specs and performance figures, please visit the EoS Product Page. For more information on how we acquire our performance numbers visit our Test Protocols Page.
Curly Yellow Birch over Cu, Hex 3000K - 440$
Curly yellow birch isn't in and of itself special enough to justify an exotic classification and a one-off. That vibrant iridescence, life, inside the wood though is just begging for painstaking embellishment with a special finish. Our proprietary tung oil, citrus oil, and beeswax finish was applied, a process taking weeks. The result maintains the beautiful natural satin sheen and texture of wood, while enhancing the glowing life within. Fittingly, the copper back was also brought up to a 1000 grit finish, as opposed to our standard brushed finish. To take things just one step further, we installed a beautiful Nichia 319A emitter, projecting a unique hexagonal beam, but unlike our production models this one is very warm 3000K - 68Kcd
Eye of Sekhmet curly yellow birch over 1K grit finish copper back and 3000K Nichia 319A, Microtech Tri-Grip Ultratech
Curly Walnut over Cu w/ copper accents and polished back, CRI (dedomed) - 440$
This stunning light was made from the sweetest piece of several large walnut boards we acquired. Too special for a premium light, we seized the opportunity to turn this into a special one-off. Further adding to the special little touches, we polished out the copper backer, and used copper composite accents for the charging board mount and switch-rod bushing. (they're normally GITD blue) Because we wanted this celebration of light and color to be able to show itself off, we dedomed and binned several 90CRI Nichia 219c LEDs to get about a 30% performance jump over stock and a beautiful warm tint. - 84Kcd
Eye of Sekhmet curly walnut with copper accents and polished copper back, Microtech Tri-Grip Ultratech
Bubinga w/ sycamore keys over Al, Lumen - 400$
Here is a light with some character, turn a flaw into a feature. This piece of bubinga has beautiful color and grain, so we stabilized the crack and installed three DEEP sycamore butterfly keys. You can see it in the photo where we deliberately violated the edge to show off, these keys aren't some aesthetic inlay, they run almost all the way through the light. The sycamore came from a tree we harvested and have been curing for the last 30 years, and are finally using it for projects! A beautiful piece, and truly one of a kind. The lightweight aluminum back beautifully contrasts the red of the bubinga, and cuts the weight to half that of a copper backed light making it easy to carry and use. A durable varnish finish completes the package. - 175Kcd.
Eye of Sekhmet bubinga w/ sycamore keys over alu., Spyderco Matriarch sprint
Bubinga w/ ebony keys and copper inlay over Cu, Lumen - 620$
Another beautiful piece of bubinga begging for functional embellishment. We used ebony butterfly keys, again full depth no shortcuts here, but instead of simply stabilizing the crack we filled it with copper composite. The result is stunning to behold. Fitting a key above the optic was particularly challenging, necessitating quite the unusual asymmetric design. A copper backer with a polished finish, rather than the standard brushed, really makes the engraving pop and completes the theme. - 171Kcd
Eye of Sekhmet bubinga w/ ebony keys and copper inlay over Cu, Custom Spyderco military Ti/g10
Storm of Ra prototype
What happened to the Storm? Why isn't it out yet? What is its status? All good questions. The short answer is that, since this picture was taken and initial photographs released, we've had to go in a rather different direction, one thing lead to another, and ultimately a complete redesign occurred.
The crux of the problem was cooling. While we may some day release an ultra-short-turbo light, for the Storm we wanted the performance to be a bit more sustained. Furthermore, because we take our measurements after 30 seconds as per ANSI spec (unless otherwise noted) we couldn't live with the considerable performance drop from heat buildup. Even the heatsink integrated in the head just wasn't enough in this application.
The solution we moved to was active cooling. Tap a little extra power off the batteries, and use it to shift heat off the emitter. This was so successful we were able to SIGNIFICANTLY increase performance, but not without a total redesign. New/different everything, right down to the cell type, and the prototype (not pictured) is producing 8000 emitter lumens and 1 million candela (1000Kcd). That is good for about 2 kilometers of throw and one hell of an impressive beam. Perhaps more impressive though is the efficacy of the active cooling, which allows the light to operate virtually continuously.
We currently have a working prototype (which produced the above numbers), are finalizing design tweaks, and are still debating a few optical elements and their relative effect on performance. We hope to start production in the next couple weeks.
We're out of the office until August 4th, during which time email inquiries may not be responded to in a timely fashion and some orders may be delayed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Because of this we're offering a 5% site-wide discount. Enter the coupon code GVUWD0D at checkout.
Our Eye of Sekhmet lights are made to order. Occasionally though we'll have some lights available. Aside from custom engraving, they're available for purchase immediately. We strive to update these lists as lights are sold, however we can't guarantee they will be up to date. Please contact us if you see a light you would like to order. For more information on on specs and performance figures, please visit the EoS Product Page. For more information on how we acquire our performance numbers visit our Test Protocols Page.
Knotted red oak w/ blue glow element over Al, Lumen - 215$ - SOLD
We love turning what others would consider a flaw into a feature, it is a staple of our one-offs. In this instance we had a knot, surrounded by beautiful grain, but with a gaping hole in the center. We filled it with SrAl, doped blue, and built the rest of the light around it. The aluminum backer cuts the weight in half compared to a copper light, while a durable varnish finish protects it. The result is a very attractive and functional light, with just a special little element. - 171Kcd
Eye of Sekhmet knotted red oak w/ blue glow element over Al, Kershaw laminated junkyard dog
Figured bubinga over Cu, Lumen - 447$ - SOLD
Sometimes lumber is sold in lots, that is to say several boards bundled together. We bought a lot of multiple large boards JUST for this single piece of figured bubinga to become this light. Whereas our other one-offs listed here celebrate a "flaw," this light is a celebration of the pure beauty of figured wood. While pictures capture the rich color, they miss that "life" in the wood, an almost indescribable internal iridescence which is one of the most beautiful phenomena of woodworking. As a further celebration of the wood, we finished this light in tung oil, citrus oil, and beeswax, a process which takes over a month to complete, but significantly enhances the life in it while maintaining that unique texture. We love the results of this finishing process, but it just isn't practical in a production environment. - 170Kcd
Eye of Sekhmet figured bubinga over copper, Benchmade model 42
Fantastic review of our EoS from Advanced Knife Bro over on youtube. He really is our kind of people, with a passion for lights and cutlery. You should subscribe to his channel if you haven't already.
We are working hard to fill orders, but we should also have some special one-off EoS models available in the next couple weeks. Examples like this are typically made from truly unique pieces of wood, so unlike many "limited editions" being limited only by the manufacturer saying they super special pinkie promise not to make any more, there really will never be another which looks exactly one of these. Think Minority Report, except without Tom Cruise, creepy swimming pools, creepy metal spiders...... really nothing like the film except for utilizing the uniqueness of wood.
EoS showing our engraved logo. Spyderco Farid K2 for scale
Did you know we offer custom engraving? The back of the Eye of Sekhmet is a blank canvas, practically begging for customization. While our engraved logo comes as standard, there is a surplus of space for special messages, or simply artwork. Have some vector artwork you'd like applied to the back? We can work with you to make it happen. Go to our Custom Project page to get started.
The EoS is the perfect blank slate for complex and exotic engraving.
Custom Astrolux SC
Had another Astrolux SC pass through our shop. These little lights are just gorgeous. Not bad performance for such a small package either, Better and with that much thermal mass they'll run flat out pretty much forever..... forever being defined as until the battery runs out.
The Lance of Ra, the most powerful production LED flashlight with >2.5 million candela
Welcome everyone to the Lance of Ra, the most powerful production LED flashight in the world. Compare to the likes of the DeftX, the former title holder with a mere 1 million candela, we have variants available with >2.5 million candela. This allows it to reach out and illuminate targets in excess of three kilometers away, or roughly two miles!
It isn't just about performance though, we also wanted it to look cool. Scattered around the light we've added glow elements, some simply aesthetic, however the internal element behind the lens serves an actual function; charged by the light itself, this element glows brightly and projects its own diffuse beam useful for navigation, map reading, or other tasks requiring low diffuse lighting. This diversifies the light's functionality in a way unusual for lights anywhere close to its performance class.
EoS in cherry with copper heatsink. Spyderco Farid K2 for comparison.
Why does a light have to be a metal tube? Corrosion of conducting surfaces, a series of troublesome thermal interfaces, and a pretty limited repertoire of materials are all disadvantages of the tube light. What if we solved all these and made a light in the package size of the modern smartphone? Charged off common micro USB, with familiar switch placement, and done in exotic woods, copper, aluminum, and brass this is a very unusual high performance reflector light.
EoS beamshot. The was was deliberately not captured in this image.
Speaking of performance, we have four standard options. They optimize for high throw (>1 kilometer), high lumens (>2000lm), and high CRI (90cri), although we can accommodate other emitters as well. In particular we're pleased to offer the Nichia 319A, which offers an excellent performance compromise of tint, CRI, lumens, and throw with a unique hexagonal hot spot and clean wide (~150 degree) wash.
Showing the Nichia 319A (hex) variant's unusual hexagonal hot spot.
For more information on the EoS performance, emitters, and options, or to order one for yourself, check out the PRODUCT PAGE.
EoS in cocobolo with copper heatsink, Peterson lock picks, Tesla lighter, Benchmade model 42
Peterson lockpicks, Custom BLF A6 modded to 2200 lumens, Tofty Tritium, Spyderco Lum Tanto Sprint, Tesla lighter, S&W .45ACP, Liberty Civil Defense
We all love our EDC items here at STO. Fine cutlery, firearms, lighters, of course flashlights, and.... lock picks. Peterson has long been a source for some of our favorites, but picks wear out with time, then there is always the pesky lock you wish you had something special for, and you can never have enough medium hooks. So why not make your own?
*DISCLAIMER*
Lock picks are not legal everywhere. Check your local laws before making or carrying them.
Yeah, okay, it is a Master Lock and will open at a sneeze, but as a quick test the pick works great.
We're all fans of Youtuber Bosnian Bill, and he repeatedly references making your own pick sets from windshield wiper springs. He even has a whole series on making your own picks. Why not? Turns out he actually goes one step further, and has a pick handle design available for free download on Thingiverse.
Wiper springs, handles, Peterson Gem (to copy)
Windshield wiper springs, a few printed handles (makergeeks garbage used for experiments like this), and one of my favorite picks (Peterson Gem in .015) to copy in hand, lets get started.
Layout fluid on the spring steel stock (wiper springs) and a farcical attempt to make the yellow pick handle less hideous.
Step one of anything is planning. Layout fluid (often sold under the brand Dykem Blue) and a carbide pen. You could probably use a sharpie and mechanical pencil to the same effect, but smoke 'em if you got 'em eh? I also threw some marking fluid on the handle. I had an idea with that, but pretty much immediately regretted it.
Marking length to cut
Glue the metal stock into the handle so you have a way to grip it. Pretty much as simple as that. The carbide pen is used, first anyway, to mark where you want to cut. Because we're using an abrasive cutoff wheel here, which is pretty inefficient and makes a lot of heat, I left some extra space to make sure I didn't burn the temper off that critical tip. You could also use a hacksaw if you wanted, and remove any chance of burning the temper.
Tracing an existing pick design to copy
You can never have enough clamps right? With the length cut, and the burned steel ground away, it is time to lay out the actual pick. I used some squeeze clamps to keep things aligned, and then just traced the Peterson Gem onto the spring steel stock.
Grinding the pick's profile
Here you can see the laid out pick shape. You can also see what my bad idea with the marking fluid on the handle was. It did work, making the "Bosnian Bill" logo a lot more visible, but there really is no redeeming this yellow plastic. The critical pat to grinding here is to use a fresh sharp belt. When you're grinding, you'll put a LOT less heat into the work if you're efficiently cutting the metal as opposed to just smearing and rubbing on it. For this reason, you'd do well to avoid bench grinders which function by breaking down as you use them and exposing fresh abrasive. They're slow, inefficient, and generate a LOT of heat. This, by the way, is part of why the professionals pay about four times the price for a dry cut saw rather than just using an abrasive chop saw. When you're grinding, don't forget you're not just grinding the profile, you probably want to grind the thickness as well. This stuff starts north of .025", but finally you have an endless supply of picks as thin as you want. I ground this one down to .020".
Don't have a belt grinder, bench grinder, rotary tool, or any other sort of power grinder, you can always use a set of files. If you don't have any files.... use your teeth or just buy lock picks. This is a build-along, if you can't scrape together the bare minimum of a hacksaw and a half-round file, what were you expecting? ;)
Little trick here: at least on the wiper springs I got, the sides are very nicely rounded and smoothed. So if you can lay the pick out so you only need to grind from the top and front, you'll save yourself time in finishing later as the bottom of the pick will already be pretty smooth and well rounded.
Tedious hand finishing work with sandpaper to get rid of any sharp edges or rough surfaces
Finishing, the most annoying step of every project. We're off the grinder and now need to remove those grind lines. The finer the belt you go to on your grinder, the less hand work you'll have to do here. Sharp belts also won't leave you with big burrs on edges the way dull ones or many bench grinders will. At the end of the day though, there is nothing for it other than elbow grease. Bosnian Bill has a great tip using a book to sand both sides of the pick at the same time. Works great. Detailing the sharp corners and edges though is still tedious, no matter how you slice it, even with a rotary tool. And, of course, you're trying to just round corners and smooth edges without removing the definition of the pick.
Success! First try and the pick works beautifully.
First pick was a success, opened a Master Lock in seconds, but I want to improve the process. Allowing for heat mitigation is slow and fraught, the whole grind-and-dip thing is slow and makes keeping your angles more difficult. I'd rather work faster, and coolant is the obvious solution. So time for a round two.
Improving the process by wet cutting (wet paper towel) to keep things cool.
Same process up to this point, but now we just grind on a wet paper towel. This keeps everything cool, including drawing water up onto the wheel, which is excellent. A much quicker and safer way to cut, and you waste less metal.
And now wet grinding. Add a spritz of water to the belt from time to time as well. Note the little line seen on the paper towel here is from the previous cutoff process.
On the grinder same thing, place a moist paper towel in a block and use a spray bottle to moisten the belt from time to time. The result is faster and safer grinding with less heat. No problem. Having round the first pick so easily, I didn't bother laying out a design on this one and just winged it.
Pick #2 is done, getting better at this. This one I thinned out to a mere .018".
Same finishing process as before.... and then there were two. This one I took down to .018" Thing is, all that detail sanding as part of the finishing process is still irksome to do. What if there were a shortcut?
Pick #3 straight off the belt grinder
Steel tumbling media
Repeat the same process as above, omitting bonding the pick into the handle and most of the finishing work. Instead, post grinding, clean up the pick and toss into steel tumbling media. What you see here is my secret sauce of ballcones, pins, and other assorted bits of polishing media. If your grinder isn't sharp and is "smearing" rather than cutting the steel, you might want to start on a ceramic media before moving to the finer finish steel.
Finished pick post-tumbling
And we're done. Good polish and all the corners have been smoothed out without losing their detail. You still have well defined points and edges, but they're no longer sharp. I feel like I have the pick making process down, but my god this yellow plastic is ugly. Next up, we'll be making prettier handles that you'd actually want to EDC.
Performance certification card for a Lance of Ra
Did you know each of our lights comes with its own individual certification card? Every one is unique, attesting to that specific light's test performance, date of birth, and bears a signature certifying said performance. Obsessive? Maybe. But yeah, we take performance that seriously.
294Kcd custom Convoy C8
The Convoy C8, does it need an introduction? Being an incredibly popular host for thrower modding, we figured it'd be fun to develop an upgrade plan around this host to produce absurd performance. Just for reference, typically modified C8s fail to exceed 180Kcd, and we've never seen someone else pass 200Kcd.
Our goal is to exceed 300Kcd. As of writing, our dev. mule is at 294Kcd. That is good for an ANSI rated throw distance of 1085 meters.
Performance is never without cost. Our optical upgrades have generated some artifacting outside the hotspot, so for people who that annoys this is definitely not your huckleberry, but in this size class, there really is nothing else out there which can compete for throw. You're carrying something almost 50% more powerful than a Dereelight Xsearcher in your pocket.
Storm of Ra displaying its unique hexagonal beam at 100 meters
We love lumens as much as the next flashaholic, but given that we actually use our lights and expect our customers to as well, they just need some throw to back them up.
Enter the Storm of Ra. Backed with the power of the the Cree MT-G2 spitting >4000 lumens (emitter), you're not left wanting in the raw output department. Whereas most lights with this many lumens simply squander all that power, we harnessed it with a 110mm aspheric lens to generate ~500Kcd, good for well over a kilometer of throw. A consequence of this is that the emitter's unique hexagonal profile is displayed in the beam. It is truly a stunning sight to behold. This can be seen clearly in the above image. The distance, BTW, is 100 meters. Just aside of the lower right facet of the hexagon, a 12x21 torso target can be seen, to give you an idea of the distance.
