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The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Call the Listener Line at 724-466-4487; Visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2024, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcript

[0:00]Coming up, a new old one from Cold Steel, I get some survival cards, and then we talk about 10 great double-edged custom fixed blade knives, right here on the Knife Junkie Podcast.
[0:14]Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the Knife Junkie DeMarco.
[0:27]Welcome back to the show. One of my favorite, three favorite comments from this week was from Abby Bremner, 4162, talking about the Agent 001. Abby says, damn, so beautiful. I'd use mine for hunting. Great little belly and ergos so deadly with the right skills, too. He's talking about this knife here, the Agent 001. That comment sort of inspired the topic of conversation today on the show. This is a double-edged knife as you can see it is a little fixed blade i i am the co-designer on this with tim kell not with t tim kell and i am not including this later because it's more of a production knife small batch production knife and so very sweet of course you get yours customized but i'm talking about one-off handmade knives coming up but abby i appreciate it and you know No, this knife does come in a single-edged version. You can get this single-edged, and I imagine for hunting, that might be better. You know, if you're going to have your fingers up there on the blade, or if you need it for any sort of light batoning or anything, you probably want a single-edged version of the Agent 001. Just go to TKL Knives and order yours today.
[1:46]Sorry. All right, next up from GC2696, talking about my fixed blade collection video, I think part one, he says, holy feature length knife horn. And I got to say, yeah, that cracked me up. It really is. I mean, if you're not 53 years old and collecting knives since you were about 10, you probably have no idea what it's like to have a ton of fixed blade knives. Knives and sometimes you lose track of that and you do a video and you show all the stuff off and um yeah i say that like i still have some of those knives from when i was younger i did give a lot of them away to my cousin but yeah a lot of knives there holy future length knife one i appreciate it jc 2696 and lastly dantarios uh talking about my fire starter uh from last week.
[2:40]He says, but Uberleben means survive. I think I said it means over life. I was trying to figure out what it meant by putting together Uber and Leben. Uber meaning over and Leben, the definitive for to live. But thank you, sir. I do appreciate it, Dantarios. And this echoes a comment that I didn't put in here about the barong my brother gave me where someone said, do your research. And it was funny because there were several kind of vagaries in his own comments so do your research yeah it is good advice take it all right all that said let's get us to a pocket check what's in his pocket let's find out here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives today in my front right pocket as has been a lot recently uh is the Bonjara from Artisan Cutlery designed by Dirk Pinkerton. Yeah, you see those blemishes in the micarta too.
[3:41]Bacon grease, what can I say? You cannot get it out and it permeates. But this knife has been great. I've been complaining a lot about my jacked up thumb. I know I nicked a nerve because I'm going through all sorts of weird sensations in my thumb. It's like it's coming online slowly over weeks. I think I'm getting out of my extreme pain phase into a, oh, I can feel in this portion now. And when I was in the extreme phase, extreme pain phase, jimping was bothersome.
[4:14]So a thumb plate was welcome and a flipper also. Anything to take my thumb out of the equation Equation has been great. I have not been liking any, unlocking any of the knives the way I traditionally do because I always use my thumb. So lately I've been using my forefinger. The Banjara by Pinkerton. Dirk's one of my favorite designers. He's a great guy, a wonderful human. But also just look at that. He's an amazing knife designer with a real depth of knowledge in historical. I'm going to put this under the knife cam. That's what it's there for. Uh with a depth of knowledge in historical and ethnographic uh knives and weaponry which is a particular interest to me and you see all sorts of mashups in his design which i love this of course is called the kami k-a-m-i kami is uh an indian knife maker who makes or a nepalese knife maker who makes kukris so you can see the kukri influence in this blade.
[5:20]A little less so in the handle, but the handle is definitely echoing a lot of what we're seeing in EDC fixed blades for self-defense with that sort of real pronounced eagle's beak in the back for slashing, to keep the knife in your hand for slashing, but also a very nice thumb plate for your thumb in reverse grip. So we're seeing that all here in the Artisan Kami designed by Dirk.
[5:51]All right, next up in my front right also, that's where I've been keeping the slip joints lately, right next to the main knife, is the Venom Jack.
[6:02]This has been, I got to say, one of my favorite Jack Wolf knives recently. I keep coming back to it. I mean, I love the Benny's Clip. That's the most recent one, and I do love that purple Kyranite, a.k.a. Rita Hayworth Curtains, what do you call it, covers. But this knife here with this combination, which surprised me. I wanted a different one. I wanted the napped titanium version of this, and this is what Ben sent me, much to my joy and surprise. It is so beautiful with this red carbon fiber, dark red, what is it called? Dark matter, something carbon fiber, I don't know. Red, deep dark matter, carbon fiber, red. But it's got that awesome blade that if you could make a wharncliffe blade with a belly, which obviously you can't, it just doesn't make sense. This would be it because it is a wharncliffe blade with a straight spine aligned with the top of the handle but it's got that sort of radically descending straight edge which sort of has a recurve effect so this is not only a really really good cutter and just an awesome knife with its full height hologram s90v blade but it is such a looker to me i i always say it looks like an artifact.
[7:27]I just love it. It's my favorite Jack Wolf in a long time.
[7:32]In a long time in like two months all right uh next up this one i i started to carry and then it was just with me because i need to rework the sheath i need to make one for myself for my personal carry but this sheath and knife is very cool this is the polite but dangerous tools dagger, polite but dangerous tools he was on the show um look at that sheath okay so this is a kydex sheath with leather. This is the belt loop. So this is a great knife for belt carry. There's the leather covering with the sort of aged look on it over the kydex. I really, really like the aesthetics of this. But for in the waistband carry, I've tried to swap out various discrete carry concepts and ulti clips on here. I think I just need to make a new one for the way I carry uh but as i keep it in in my drawer for viewing and storage it will stay in the in its uh.
[8:33]What do you call it uh natural sheath but here's the knife and it is so beautiful i really like polite but dangerous tools i love these sam's blades are beautiful there's they have that sort of nap look uh this one is very thin and pretty damn sharp i've been working on the edge a little little bit one of the edges was sharper than the other that tends to happen when you get a dagger that's not produced in a factory uh but i this thing is wicked sharp very thin and very nice to carry uh so the reason i don't like to carry it in this sheet is that um the edges are a little sharp for my okay i'll say it for the fat on my spare tire i like it rounded off a little more but I don't want to in any way alter the sheath because I think the sheath itself is beautiful and somewhat ceremonial. I really like what he does with his sheaths. So I'll make an alternate that accounts for my spare tire. Anyway, you got jute underneath a Tsukamaki wrap. It has an incredible grip. I love the aesthetics. I'm very much into that sort of napped look. And this is a great EDC self-defense knife. It was bigger than I expected, which, of course, I like.
[9:55]And I know he makes single-edged versions that are smaller and more like ski and booze a little bit. But this one, with that wrap and just the overall shape, it's so beautiful. I like this knife. I can't wait to carry it, so I will make myself a carry sheath, for when it's not on the belt. Belt carry for me is at home. All right. Last up, for emotional support, and I haven't had... Oh, it matches my shirt. That was unemotional. Haven't carried this one in quite a while. This is the Vero Engineering Synapse. I believe this is the mini or the smaller version with its 3-inch blade. Could be wrong. But what a fantastic and beautiful knife. It is so fun to play with. I know, that's totally a first-world toy right here. Spoiled toy here. But it is very nicely, thinly flat ground. So it's a great cutter. I believe this is N390 blade steel.
[10:58]It's number 234 Which I love Because whenever I see that on the clock Either 1234 or 234 Or 817 Certain times on the clock I'm like oh that's so cool So I'm glad I got 234 I know silly But I did Take these scales and make them my own Turned them maroon maroon. They were sort of that dusty green micarta where you can never quite get it saturated with color. It was kind of more epoxy. So I switched out the... I didn't switch it out. I rit-dyed them maroon. I love the way that looks. Didn't use this to do anything but enjoy today. It is such a beautiful knife. And with this flipper tab and very generous gaping area to to close with. Like I said, this right thumb's still coming online with this kind of dexterity, and it was a great knife to just fidget with. So, you know, knives can be physical therapy tools.
[12:03]If you cut your thumb too deeply with a knife, it's like a snake biting its tail. All right, let me put these away. And as I do, let me remind you to tell me what you are carrying today. I love hearing about that. Sometimes inspiration, sometimes just interesting to keep your finger on the pulse and see what people are into, especially, you know, people here. Cheers. Okay, I'm drinking a lot of coffee this morning because last night, My younger daughter and I, Olympia and I, camped out for a majority of the night, camped out in the backyard. We're solo here. My wife is elsewhere. My other daughter is elsewhere for the week and weekend. And so we had a little adventure in the backyard. It was great. I used my boom tube. It was on the belt the whole time. We pitched a tent. A buddy of mine gave me a tent to check out. And also a little camping cot. And, of course, I brought out a yoga mat. That was for me. My daughter had the cot. We built a fire, cooked a delicious – she made croque monsieur. That's what we had. It's like a really, really delicious French grilled cheese. She made those. We did them over the open fire in cast iron. We had some progressive chicken noodle soup, which in retrospect was not a good choice. I should have just made soup. But it was really, really fun, and we had a great time.
[13:33]But I do know that I need to get a cop myself, a yoga mat. Even on soft grass does not suffice. The Boon 2 is awesome. I also had with me the companion, the Mora companion. I love this thing. Let me just show you before I move on to the next actual agenda item here. I used this and a little bit of the Boon 2, but mostly the Mora knife, which is incredible to carve with. I carved this out of one of our pieces of firewood. It's a little spatula, you know. And it's differently shaped than how I first wanted it, but I did an extra gouge, so I had to make it look a little bit more traditional. I'm not saying it's done, but it was done enough to cook our food last night. And I wanted it to look like a long, tapered triangle. So from here to the tip, I wanted it to be one continuous. And as you can see, it didn't happen because a couple of extra deep gouges with this incredible carver kind of changed the shape of things. So great, great night last night. I want to do more camping next time. I want to go camping at this place close by here where I might be able to catch a fish. And I want to cook a fish, eat a fish. And all you guys are listening, you're like, wow, Bob, that's incredible. What an adventurer. But you know for me I'm a suburban guy I haven't done urban to suburban guy I haven't done this stuff since I was a kid With my grandpa so.
[14:58]Um, I've kind of had a, a little taste and a lot of it has to do with using knives. Oh, what can I use my knife for? Suddenly I'm camping out with my daughter in the backyard, but that will change. It will expand.
[15:11]Soon you'll be hearing my elk hunting stories from, um, you know, all right.
[15:16]I want to show you what I'm going to be giving away, uh, what we're going to be giving away in appreciation to the great gentlemen junkies we have here on the channel. That is the high level of support on patreon we're giving away this brand new beauty from off-grid knives this is the mamba v3 and this is in titanium that beautiful golf ball texturing titanium with magna cuts yeah that's four inches of magna cut on that i don't know sort of space style blade reverse tanto style blade uh such a beautiful knife i am digging this i've been.
[15:54]Carrying the uh the tan and gray version of this which he also sent along i think that's getting adopted into the collection i have a nice collection of off-grid knives and i gotta say so far and there have been a lot of knives and every time i'm like oh my god this is my favorite like when the cayman xl folder came out oh my gosh but this this thing is amazing because it is this knife which was always my runner-up this is the mamba v2 black mamba v2 and the reason it was my runner-up because that's a three and a quarter inch blade and it is an incredible knife uh but you know i have some issues and i need something bigger in my pocket to make me feel secure so this one right here is exactly in my wheelhouse same exact shape same exact almost everything some of the The proportions are slightly different, obviously, to make up for the size difference.
[16:51]But what an awesome knife. I've been carrying mine pretty much constantly. It's also great because I need flippers right now, and I need big, kind of easily manipulated and accessed locks. And that is the case here. The other thing the lucky Gentleman Junkie giveaway winner will get in the month of October 2024, You're behind a month, Bob, is this, the Bullet Bit Driver. It's an awesome bit driver. This is the V2 version. I have the V1. Look at that. Look at the – it's like a fidget toy, too. Look at the bangs there, man.
[17:33]Still going, still going. So this is a part of the giveaway. Still going.
[17:38]Wow. I'm going to stop it. All right, so Gentleman Junkie, this month, gets this package. So just go to thenifejunkie.com slash Patreon to sign up, or you can scan the QR code on the screen. That, Jim, will flash up periodically throughout the show. I know I've seen him do that. It is... Oh, there you go. What do you know? Right there. You can scan that and join. and uh if if the gentleman junkie level it's too much i totally get it there's the tactical and the traditional junkie you can do one of those things you're like i don't want to be a junkie at all that's bad well just come watch the show share the show comment and subscribe.
[18:23]I love you all right still to come knife life news right here on the knife junkie podcast adventure delivered your monthly subscription for hand-picked outdoor survival edc and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals the knife junkie.com battlebox you're listening to the knife junkie podcast and now here's the knife junkie with the knife life news we talk about the james brand here pretty much only um in knife life news uh though i have I have had one on loan. That was a pretty nice night. James Brand has a new Carter. That's the Carter, one of their models. It's actually their most popular model. It's even more popular than their flagship model, the Chapter, which is kind of funny.
[19:11]And I say it's funny because as a creative person, you make things and then you put things out and you're like, I know that this is my masterwork. People are going to resonate with this. And then they're like, no, actually, we like this other thing, this earlier thing. when you are less sophisticated.
[19:27]So in that case, for the James brand, it's the Carter. They're coming out with a carbon fiber version of it. Beautiful sort of contoured handle with that deep, deep sort of sweeping chamfer there for the forefinger. Deep carry pocket clip. But this beauty here is a fidgety crossbar. That's the thing about this. I think that's why people have gone for this. It's just about three inches. at 2.8 inches. This time, it's in VG10 with two slabs of carbon fiber bringing the weight down to 2.8 ounces. 2.8 ounces. It's available now, and I think that's why this one is so popular. It is fidgety, and it's at 3 inches. Those two things really come together to make an awesome knife. Some of you might not like the fact that it's got a thumb plate. How do you feel about the thumb disc slash thumb plate? Let me know.
[20:26]Next up, this one's cool, from CRKT, the new Q and Q Compact. Now, they've announced maybe four knives coming out, but these two have really kind of gotten my attention. They're from Richard Rogers, who's an awesome designer. He's been on the show. They're not only talking about a re-release of a Persian he made with a couple of designs, but a couple of design changes. But this one right here that we have on screen, this is the Q Compact. Now, that one, this one here is the Q Compact. The one in the big beautiful picture up where there are all the other ones, that's the Q. Now, there are two different versions, and there are some subtle differences. This version that we see on screen right now is the compact version. That's in aluminum, or aluminum as we Yanks say, with a G10 inlay and S35VN blade steel. That blade is 2.95 inches so for for all intents and purposes three inches and then the big version or just the q not the compact but the q is 3.31 inches of yes that's right magna cut uh it's limited unlike the other one unlike the compact this is limited uh it does have a titanium handle with carbon fiber inlays. Jim, can you scroll up to the very top so they get their eyes on that one too?
[21:53]This will be available. This is now... Thank you, sir. That's it right there. That's the big one, the Q. And these are going to be made available at Blade Show West coming right up. So check them out. I like what CRKT is doing. I don't know where these are made, but they are using a lot of, you know, I think Lionsteel and some other foreign manufacturers that do some things with some materials that they don't do here. So pretty interesting, pretty cool. All right, next up, this one is from Civivi.
[22:28]I think Civivi is how people who say Scorsese, Scorsese, or Scorsese, that's how they say Civivi. Anyway, this is the Civivi Yonder, and it's dropping in October. This was a collaboration with zach whitmore and it won the blade show 2024 best buy of the year, and i gotta say uh that's got to be a pretty nice award to win because you do know that that means a lot of these are going to sell best buy means uh most people can afford it and look at how appealing this thing is it's beautiful in a way actually uh it looks a little bit.
[23:07]Like this i mean in the same ballpark in that it's sort of a a sweeping this one more of a spade blade than this is more of a warren clip i guess but you get that beautiful spade style blade uh with with that drop down it almost looks like a clip i gotta say i i see a slight curve there but that could be because it's hollow ground and it's being shot on a slight angle um thumb stud stud. You've got the crossbar lock there. And what I really like about this is that the handle to me seems kind of innovative because when you look towards the pommel, you can see it's a coffin handle. It looks like the handle, if you block off the rest of the knife and just look at the pommel, it looks like a Laredo Bowie or any sort of coffin handle Bowie. And I love that tail end of a handle. But as you move forward, what's his name? I'm sorry. Zach Whitmore gives you a finger guard up there, a pretty chunky finger guard, so you're not going to slide on if you have to puncture with that blade. And remember, if you do have to puncture with that blade, if it's something shallow, you'll be fine. But if you really have to stab it into something with that blade profile, you're going to want a guard on there because it's not going to slip in as easily as sort of a spear point would. Really cool knife. It looks like a contoured Handle but it didn't say anything In the write up.
[24:34]14C28N And available in October Also G10 in black Green Micarta with black blade And then a Damascus handle With that Girabuta wood With wood on the handle Alright lastly.
[24:52]Is from Buck Knives. This is the Buck 663 Alpha Guide. Now, this is a relatively new knife. I think it came out a few years ago. I know we covered it here on Knife Life News. And this one is a classic all-purpose outdoors knife, drop point, pretty darn attractive, full tang with slabs. But they're releasing a special model here with MagniCut and carbon fiber scale. So it'll keep it real light, and then being MagnaCut, it'll be virtually indestructible and perfect. I'm just kidding. But being MagnaCut, it's a great all-around steel. It's great for outdoors because of its combination. It's got the weird, you know, usually you can only get two out of three with MagnaCut. You pretty much get three out of the three in terms of toughness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance. So it's kind of the perfect steel for an outdoor knife. As long as you're not banging too hard, I would imagine, because then there are other steels like 3B and other steels that are super, super tough and springy.
[26:01]So that's coming out. When is that available? I don't know when this is available. My apologies. Hang on, let me, hang on, hang on. People are telling me to do my research, so I will say, oh, this one's available now. So go check it out if you're interested. You do have to go to buff.com to get that. All right, coming up, We're going to check out a couple of new things I have here in the collection And in my EDC But before we do I want to remind you to check out some of the merch We have over on theknifejunkie.com You can go to theknifejunkie.com Slash shop and check out A whole modicum Of t-shirts Jim went on a creative.
[26:41]Crazy bent and made a whole Bunch of t-shirts We have mugs, we have hoodies We have, Anyone use mice anymore? We have a mouse pad. Whatever you want, go check it out right there at theknifejunkie.com slash shop. Okay, coming up, the state of the collection right here on the Knife Junkie Podcast. The Shockwave Tactical Torch is your ultimate self-defense companion. Featuring a powerful LED bulb that lasts 100,000 hours, a super sharp, crenulated bezel, and a built-in stun gun delivering 4.5 million volts. Don't settle for ordinary. choose the shockwave tactical torch the knife junkie.com slash shockwave and now that we're caught up with knife life news let's hear more of the knife junkie podcast first one in the state of the collection is the fin wolf from cold steel all right interesting about the fin wolf i've been appreciating um the scandi grinds lately because i've been dabbling and experimenting with actually especially using my knives and cutting stuff with them. And I really like how they carve. So I got my brother a fin wolf years ago and he takes it with him. He has an annual trip to the Sierras every year with his son, my nephew, and they go and he always takes the fin wolf.
[28:00]Says it's awesome with its triad lock. It's really nice ergonomics and that really nice 3.4-inch standing ground blade. So I finally got one. This one's in Aus-8. I think that's what they are in period. And they do come in a bunch of different colors. This thing is great. I really, really like it. I've only had it a couple of days, but I've used it for various, you know, well, I used it to feather stick last night. I used it for making, you can see some wax on there. I was making some sort of improvised wax fire starter things, and I used this. So that's about it so far, but I think this is going to ride in my EDC bag. I think I'm going to switch out for a, just to go a little bit lighter, I'm going to switch out the massive folding Tonto I have in there right now and put this in there. Put this in there but another cool thing i saw the movie sissu this past weekend it is so cool highly recommend it about the ex uh finnish commando who just wants to you know uh who's who's a gold prospector in the lapland as the nazis are fleeing after their defeat and oh my god it's so cool and he has a he has a number of knives on him with that classic puko shape and he does something spectacular with one of them.
[29:27]You might want to check that out. It is so cool.
[29:31]I love this fin wolf. I'm really excited to have it. This would be a great candidate for an orange handle knife. I know that they make this in an orange handle and several other colors. This would be a great one to get for that because this is an awesome outdoor and camp knife and it's the sort of thing you drop this in the leaves. You might It might be harder to locate.
[29:57]Triad Lock, always fantastic and welcome. Okay, next up, I bought a saw not too long ago on YouTube that I talked about that you can do that with, and I thought that was cool and pretty big, and it's an ergonomic sort of axe handle. It's okay, but it's kind of rattly and feels really cheap, and I wasn't sure about how saws are. I know about knives. I don't know about saws. So I saw a couple of videos Got a couple of recommendations from y'all Which I appreciate for Silky Silky folding saws are made in Japan And yeah they are A step above at least compared to that To that Amazon purchase Not that that Amazon knife Is not usable But I don't know This just feels way better It's nice and tight.
[30:50]There's no play at all in that pivot it the other one has tons of play and i'm just looking at these teeth they are wicked i haven't used this yet it just showed up yesterday uh but you have it didn't show up i just bought it yesterday at rei with my um with my points you know you get that those annual points if you remember and really great you have this position and then you also have this position and both Both positions are so solid. I can't wait to use this. I've also heard from, like I said, a number of you and people who have put out reviews that the teeth on these are amazing and that the heat treat on the blade is outstanding, and stays sharp for a long, long time. So I'm very excited. I'm also excited to discover a new brand of anything that is excellent. But I'm excited because they have a bunch of different models. and if i like this and i am more into sawing logs and i don't mean snoring out there uh maybe i'll be able to check those out too uh and when i say be able i mean with some justification all right last up i got these uh this was an amazon six dollar impulse purchase but they're survival cards and um.
[32:10]So here, this is a little felt bag, and you open it up like this.
[32:14]And inside, they were all in the plastic bags. I will return them to the plastic bag, but for our purposes here, I took it out. So here you have a card, a metal card here, steel, and you can punch these things out. And you can see there's a knife. You can see fish hooks. You can see an arrowhead there, sewing needles, little saw here. All sorts of little tools in here. Got like a big frog jig. You've got a bigger tooth saw. I'm not sure what that's for. It looks like one of those things for hanging pictures, but I'm sure it's not for that. Some more hooks and other things. Oh, I think these are like sinkers that you fold and put the line through or something. Here you've got a fork. More hooks. Man, we're going fishing. More hooks and a little arrowhead there. They're needles or toothpicks. I guess they were needles. And then this last card has a bunch of saws on it. Another arrowhead. To me, I think this is very cool. Will I ever use it? No. Does it fit in an Altoids tin conveniently? No. But it all fits in this little thing nicely and conveniently and can tuck away easily in a go bag. Man, if it gets to the point where you're using tools like this, a you'll really be glad you had them and b things are bad so you'll be glad you had them.
[33:44]In any case, $6 on Amazon and Made in America. Just kidding. They're made in China. That's why they're $6. Let's just be honest. All right, let's get to these beauties in front of me. Now, I'm going to talk about double-edged fixed blade knives. These are all customs, and I think that's important to stipulate here. There are knives you won't see in this list, like my favorite.
[34:14]Favorite knife, pretty much, the T-Kell Knives Agent 001. This is the knife I designed that Tim Kell and I collaborated on, and he's been making, and man alive are they absolutely stunningly beautiful and well-made. I love this knife, but these are, I'm considering them custom production. What's that mean, Bob? These are large batch knives, meaning there are more than three of them made at a time, more than 15 of them made at a time. And yes you can customize them with your own handles and steels and blade finishes but i'm not considering them for this list due to the quantities in which they're made happily on my end so a great example of the type just not exactly what we're talking about here what we are talking about is and i will show you my very first of this and that is the attention to detail mercantile, or A2D medium fighter.
[35:15]This is a six-inch blade here with beautiful jimping and a custom handle. I mean, the whole thing is custom. I ordered it from Douglas Esposito, but I had seen on a different knife that he had been using corduroy, and that's one of my favorite materials, period. On glasses, on bass guitar, on just guitars in general, pickguards, in old accoutrement like stuff from the 20s and 30s, you saw that on a lot of stuff. I just think it's beautiful. Of course, nowadays it's not actual tortoiseshell, but, to see it on offer with this absolutely beautiful bayonet style fighting blade. I had to have it. And so this, I remember when I bought it, was definitely out of my price range, but he was cool and worked with me on it. And he was just, this was just before he transitioned into folding knives, and that's pretty much exclusively what he does. So when you find an ATD fixed blade, they are now very expensive. I mean, this was, for me, at the time I bought it, $450, I believe, was pretty expensive and still is. I don't just buy these knives like willy-nilly.
[36:34]But now, when you find a fixed blade knife of any ilk, small, large, tanto, or fighter version, or clip point, I think that's the most valuable.
[36:47]They're going to be pretty darn expensive. So, this to me is an incredible knife. I love it. I'm a big fan of the double-edged fighter. So when it's asymmetrical and you have room to put the thumb way up, and that top edge is not as slicey as the bottom edge, but dang it, it'll still do the trick for a fight. And that's what this is for. And when I say fight, of course, I'm speaking of something that doesn't really happen, I would imagine, very much in the the world um nowadays especially but some sort of knife fight uh not just like getting jumped and shiving someone but a knife fight like you guys squaring off with a knife probably doesn't happen that much in the western world i wonder if it still happens places in the philippines um i want to believe it does because i've trained in there that style you know in cali and there's a mythos behind it that i think is pretty cool a knife culture you know what i mean all right next up this one is from um jed hornbeak this is the necromance and oh man it's got a very tight fit on the sheet not tight like obnoxious but uh it pops right off and uh so this is the necromance he made three of these i believe when he made this one uh two of them were like this with the with the double bevel hollow grind and the Scandi swedge.
[38:12]And then the third one had a really deep hollow grind on one side. I'm sorry, it was a flat grind on one side and a chisel on the other. So, you know, a chisel ground blade. I'm really pleased I got the one that.
[38:28]Struck my fancy the most with this beautiful Coyote G10. This has a a feel to it that is... It's hard for me to explain because it's a re-auth, so to speak. He only made three of these, I guess. But it feels...
[38:48]It feels in the best way like a factory, like, I don't know how to explain it, but the handle is so perfectly made, so perfectly contoured, I can't believe a human made it.
[39:01]So I don't mean that as a backhanded compliment. I mean that as a full-throated, this thing is incredible and defies my knowledge of how one makes a knife. I know that he's using mills and all that to make this, but it's such a fine handmade knife. It's hard to describe. The handle here is really well set up for a saber fighting grip. So you can see how it bulges out. It has that dip, bulges out here to really nestle in the palm, so you get a great thrusting platform or great thrusting structure, I should say. Where this is pushing right into the palm, which pushes straight up the arm. You get a lot of control on a thrust with this. And then if you're using it for slashing and real close-in fighting, this is a fighting knife, your thumb is going to come up here.
[40:00]So again, like the A2D Fighter we were just looking at, it's an asymmetrical double-edged knife that allows the hand, with that bayonet grind, allows the thumb to come up and really dig into the back of the spine to add some pressure to that cutting. This one has that really nice fuller in it. I would love to see this in a 7-inch blade version or 6 1⁄2-inch bladed version. As it stands, this is 4 3⁄4.
[40:33]Four and a quarter inches long so be really cool to see this in a six inch or seven inch blade, next up is from dirk pinkerton and that is the cave bear this is a double-edged definitely a fighting knife this is no doubt a fighting knife and a very very strong to call style and i say strong because it doesn't have to be this is obviously influenced by that that Peck Hall fighting knife style where that point is offset and drifting north like that. So in a backfisting motion, in a backfist motion, I should say, that tip is right where you need it to be as opposed to glancing off to the side with a curved blade. But if you hold this thing in standard grip, there's all that jimping there. It also is very reminiscent of a Middle Eastern, like a conjar, conjar, I believe, double edged curved knife.
[41:37]So again, Dirk Pinkerton with the with the ethnic ethnographic mashups in his blade style, because I think the Pakal thing is more of a Filipino origin and Filipino come Mexico origin, I guess. Uh and then and then this is obviously a middle eastern uh application of that blade shape so i love this thing it's it's really beautiful it caught my eye across a crowded room in the in the baller room i think it was blade show 2022 and uh 21 i can't remember now but pinkerton uh that man dirk makes incredible knives on his grinder look at that i mean his handmade knives are so beautiful i i just i can't get enough all right so there you go uh that is the cave bear and um i love the ronald mcdonald sort of handle by that i mean the red orange and yellow are are bright and cheerful and then that black blade is so final and definitive that i love the cognitive, dissonance of this knife okay next up from ron steel uh this is his prime model and uh.
[42:51]This is one of his earlier models, and I requested it double-edged. He had never made one until this point and knocked it out of the park. There I am using sports references. You know me.
[43:03]I remember Blade Show 2021 going back and forth with him about the handle. Not going back and forth, but he was asking me all these questions like, what liner would you like? I'm like, let's go with black. What sub-liner would you like? I'm like, oh, this guy is in it. I love it. So this has two liners, black and gray, maroon-colored micarta handle with those divots in it. So nice. It's got a sort of squared-off handle that feels very, very nice in hand. It's not in any way sharp squared-off. It's that sort of squared-off that you know it's not going to roll. It feels very secure. here again we've got this sort of bayonet style uh secondary smaller secondary uh top edge with the jimping great place to rest the hand um or rest the thumb so this his prime model that's this model beautiful drop point um has uh the single edge version is also very very nice um and he's got a bowie he's got all sorts of different he's got a couple of wharncliffs Ron Steele, he makes some incredible-looking knives. But when I got this, I thought it was kind of interesting because I really loved his Bowie, but I opted for this because it was one of the most unique and interesting profiles on a drop point I had seen in a long time.
[44:28]And, you know, drop points are the least tempting, and when I see a tempting drop point, I go for it. And that was this. That just sounded interesting. Okay, so right here on the pommel, peaked pommel there. Perfect for thumb wrap. Man, this is a great knife.
[44:46]Awesome sheath, too. So far, all incredible sheaths. I guess I'd say my least favorite is the A2D. I had a leather sheath made for it, but I've moved back to the Kydex just for actual carry. All right, next up, this one is from J.B. Knife and Tool out of Texas. This is the Ditch Pick. When we're talking JB knife and tool And you see the prefix ditch It means a very thin blade steel 16th of an inch blade steel This is very springy 1095 blade steel I say very springy because the way they test these Very thin ditch models They do all sorts of abuse to them And they bend and flex pretty nicely I haven't really bent this one, Alright, I just did. It bends nicely, though not like a fillet knife or anything like that. It's still rigid. It's still great for, you know, the kind of work it's meant for. But in a pinch, it'll bend. And 1095 is also pretty tough. So this is a double-edged version of what started as a picol-only knife. And then you started to see a little bit of the front edge in a bayonet grind come out, which I got to say is the most appealing in terms of pure visuals.
[46:10]But when this drop was happening, I just opted for a full double edge. I thought if I didn't, I would regret it. Who wouldn't regret it? When offered a full double edge to not take it, especially if you know your intention is to use it in this reversal, grip, you don't really need that bayonet grind for the phone. So anyway, I had to go full shiny on both sides. I love their logo there. You can see JB and then that Lone Star out of Texas. This has a nice peel-ply grip on the G10. I've seen in the past that they've done some special releases of scales, but I've slept on them and not gotten them. This is, I have sort of zoned in on my favorite method of carry for this, and it's with the IBW strap, and it's that front scout, so right in the front where my belt buckle should be. I just slide the belt buckle over a little bit. All right, next up is another one. This one is a dagger, which is rare in this category, and this is the...
[47:24]Pocket Rocket from Auxiliary Manufacturing. Michael Jarvis out of Reno, Nevada, making just incredible knives. I have two of his things. Yeah, two of his knives, the Pocket Bowie and this. Oh, no, three. I knew it. I have the push dagger, too, the little push dagger. This thing, I love it. I keep turning it in my hand because the handle is so spectacular.
[47:49]It's octagonal and cross-section, taking into account two sides of that being the width of the full tang and then you've got the other angles on there it really makes the the knife lock in your grip no matter how you grab it and of course in perfect situation i would grab it like this totally uh horizontally that doesn't make sense but totally you know exactly intended in reverse grip in my hand but if you're grabbing a knife in duress who knows how it's going to end up so if it ends up sideways or canted in any angle you have all of these facets with which to grip just flawlessly and then you have on both sides.
[48:37]Towards the pinky and towards the forefinger these scoops these swales these choils cut out So the same thing applies no matter if it's in this sort of shovel grip or in the standard grip. You've got a place for your forefinger and thumb and pinky to nestle into. So I absolutely love this knife. And then, of course, coming north on this, I believe it's 80 CRV2, you've got a perfectly ground, double-edged, 3-inch dagger blade. So it carries so nicely in this awesome sheath. Ships with a nearly discreet carry concept clip that rides in the belt very well so in the waistband like this uh kind of coming up that that sort of area right here in the fold of your leg and kind of girding your belly you know this uh nestles very nicely uh straight handle works great sometimes that curved handle uh sort of cups your belly that also works great but in this case uh it's It's totally out of the way, and with this right up here.
[49:46]Because of those swales and scoops and choils there, just pinch it between the web of your hand here, and it just draws perfectly. I love this knife. It's the Auxiliary Manufacturing Pocket Rocket in the dagger, because I believe he makes that in a Pakal, too, which would also be sweet. All right, next up, this is from Stroop Knives. This is the SD-1. SD-1.
[50:13]Is a thrust, what am I trying to say, punch dagger, push dagger here. But it's got the kind of handle I really like. This was my 2023, this is what I was seeking out at Blade Show 2023, so my big purchase. I wanted a push dagger, and I looked all around, and this was the one I landed on. There wasn't too much, but this definitely had what I wanted. If possible, I wanted a chisel grind just for stoutness, knowing that this is a thrusting blade, but knowing that a chisel grind will also be good for slashing. But I also wanted the asymmetrical handle. I didn't want the T-shaped handle. I wanted that blade to protrude from between my swear word finger and my forefinger, like that, as opposed to between the swear word finger and the ring finger in the middle. That works great too, but I just feel like I have more control here. So that's what I was seeking, and this is what I found. It has that really nice, nice napped texture that I like. Not everyone's a fan, but I love that napping texture.
[51:21]And then a steep grind on both sides, flat grind, leading to a chisel edge, which I have touched up. It works great in a slash with pressure, I got to say. It's not, you're not going to be cutting any salami with this, but it is a you you will split some salami or gash it or or you know tear nastily into it but you won't get fine slices with it a great knife and this one is very comfortable to carry in the waistband i have this double discrete carry concepts clip on there and imagine looking down and seeing it uh to the right of your pocket uh right of your uh belt and your pants like that so So this just kind of comes over your belt, and then everything else pretty much hides away under the waistband. And I like that in the amended scary.
[52:15]Next up, this is only, there's a, I tried two styles of carry, and only one of them is practical. In the waistband at 3 o'clock, though, I used to carry it, when I first got it, scout style on the back. But I never do that anymore. Scout style on the back, I just don't do. I guess that's just scout style.
[52:32]Okay, this is the Black Rock Knives Monkey Thumper in custom, well, it's all custom, but in double edge per my request.
[52:42]This is really cool. this is a fighting period i mean uh look at the angle of the handle to the blade um yet that would be useful for carving and cutting but i mean really it's like a kukri with that uh with that angle there and then the back edge sharp really accommodates a lot of back cutting stuff the handle is super comfortable and in the in the um forward grip i sort of forget that the hole is there. And you don't need even if the hole weren't there, it'd be very comfortable. I don't like it like this. If you're going to choke back, maybe do some light chopping if you're using this for a survival knife or something like that. I guess you could swing it around like this in an offensive way, but I wouldn't want my finger in there. I just prefer this. And then in reverse grip, same thing. Same thing. It does work with the handle, or with the ring and it is good for retracting the blade but i prefer it using it as if it weren't there at all and this is a very comfortable placement for the thumb and it's just a really great grip so if you wanted to use this knife in a you know a reverse grip kind of way look that that blade curve puts the point right where you want it to be in the back fist motion without having to change the angle of your arm or your wrist.
[54:10]This thing is great. I don't carry it as much as I should. I carried it a lot when I first got it and then sort of haven't in a while. So just bringing it out is making me want to carry it again. So that's the Monkey Thumper from BlackRock Knives. You see that irregular nab feature on both the handle and on the blade steel, and I love it. I love the way it looks, and it feels great. That irregularity feels good in hand. I remember Ken Vahikite talking about how people were like, oh, with that nap texture in the blade, that's just a way to hide the fact that you don't know how to grind bevels. And he had to show everyone, yes, I can grind bevels. This is my aesthetic. And so there you go. All right, second to last here is from Dirk Pinkerton. Again, this is the Razorback, another custom handmade knife. By dirk pinkerton uh it is a double-edged bowie this is his uh homage to the hell's bells bowie by bill bagwell that's a uh five and seven eighths inch blade uh recur or not recurve but.
[55:19]Upswept both edges razor sharp and hollow ground uh as i said bill bagwell's hell's bells bowie was a big influence on this knife but also you can see there's some of that middle eastern an influence too uh from the conjar uh to me i i frankly i know that this is what uh, um dirt calls this a bowie uh when you look at it on his website and stuff uh to me it it's not but he's the guy who made it is a bowie or a clip point there you can see that long clip the whole thing is a clip and at that point i say you're being cheeky uh when is it when is a long clip a persian you know and i think this is flirting with that so uh i appreciate that there's a little bit of uh there's a little bit of mystery in the design what do we call this thing we call it awesome because it carries beautifully it's got the perfect length handle it's like uh you know i talk about my hand size about medium um sometimes it tends towards the small with some gloves and sometimes I need medium. Other times I have fit in large gloves like those assassin gloves from that bike riding company. Now I can't remember what it's called. But anyway, my point is perfect size handle. If you have big giant mitts, it'll be just enough. If you have medium size hands like me, it's perfect.
[56:45]Perfect in reverse grip and then I can get everything I need in forward grip. He does make this in a bayonet grind where that double edge starts a little bit further forward.
[56:58]But this has a little bit more edge to it. And this knife accelerates at this kind of fighting. Reverse grip, because you've got this shape in here, you can trap if you can trap. I mean, if it's something that's actually going to happen, it's going to happen with a knife shaped like this, where you really can retain it. And then when you untrap, you're You're also cutting, cutting through, and then, I mean, it's just a brilliant knife. It's a great design, and it's not, I mean, it's scary looking. I wouldn't want to face anyone coming out with this, but it's not audaciously, freakishly scary looking until you realize what it is and what it can do. All right, last up, another one that is...
[57:40]Just incredible from another one of my absolute favorites this is from matt chase and hogtooth knives now this one is a collaboration with in essence me and my parents my parents bought it for me for my 50th birthday i designed it um and matt chase made it and it was the first and i think so far only um sub hilt fighter loveless style sub hilt fighter he's ever made so it was definitely Definitely a, you know how people throw around the word journey. Everyone's on a journey. I'm on a weight loss journey. This knife was truly a journey, I think, for Matt. He had never done a steel quite like this, and the process was very, very cool. He's an expert Damascus maker, but this was a new sort of pattern for him. And then the hilt and the sub-hilt made from wrought iron salvaged from the Longfellow Bridge in Boston. And then some vintage black micarta there. And then that gorgeous stag. The handle itself is including the pins, which are silver.
[58:57]22 pieces or 27? You can comment below and let me know. I love, absolutely, absolutely love this. Knife. I mean, this is my main dueling knife when I have to defend my honor or my family's honor. This is what I bring. Look at these. Look at the hilt. It's so cool.
[59:17]You have to check out Hogtooth Knives. Go to Hogtooth Knives on Instagram. He is an incredible smith. He's a, what do you call it, a journeyman smith. And someday he'll be a master smith. To me, he's already a master. All right, thank you so much for joining me on these 10 great custom double-edged fixed-blade knives.
[59:39]These are my, I gotta say, my favorite type of knife, period. I love them all, really. down to the $3 Walmart bait knife. I'm drawn in by them all, but this is my absolute favorite type. Let me know what your favorite type of knife is. Drop it in the comments below. And if you haven't, let me know what you're carrying in your EDC today. Please let me know. It doesn't have to be poetic to say Benchmade Rift. Cool. Good for me to know. All right, that's it for me. Be sure to join us on Sunday for a great interview and tomorrow night for Thursday Night Knives. For Jim, working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer. Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review at ReviewThePodcast.com. For show notes for today's episode, additional resources, and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, TheKnifeJunkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at TheKnifeJunkie.com. Check out some great knife photos on TheKnifeJunkie.com. Instagram. And join our Facebook group at theknifejunkie.com slash Facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to bob at theknifejunkie.com or call our 24-7 listener line at 724-466-4487. And you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie Podcast.
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