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. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2025, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcribe Your Podcasts and Videos: https://theknifejunkie.com/magic (affiliate link)

Here is the full transcript for "10 Great Outdoor Fixed Blade Knives - The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 655)":

Bob DeMarco: Coming up, the Gentleman Junkie giveaway knife for February 2026, an amazing new Off-Grid knife folder, and 10 great outdoor fixed blade knives. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is The Knife Junkie Podcast.

Intro: 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.

Bob DeMarco: Welcome back to the show. One of my favorite comments from this past week was from my good buddy Byron of Split and Slices. He said, "Thanks for the share of your nostalgia knives. Just one question: was the marinated tofu really worth it? Cold Steel can hold up to everything except marinated tofu."

It is true. No one can stand up to marinated tofu. It's just a matter of time before it catches up to you. Thanks, Byron. Also, Cadillac Forge left this about the Agent 001: "It is incredible. If you have more of that in, you bring it. We can't wait." Well, I can't wait for this. This is a prototype with T. Kell Knives. We first made this prototype about a year ago, and we'll see where this goes. I can't wait, but it's a double-edged fighter based on the Yatagan. So, excited about that. Thanks, Cadillac Forge, for watching the show and commenting. We appreciate it greatly.

All right, that said, let's get to a pocket check.

Intro: What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's The Knife Junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco: In my front right pocket today, I had the Emerson-designed Zero Tolerance 0620. This was one of my favorite collaborations with Zero Tolerance ever, and it was the Emerson lineup. There are three of those knives. I swapped out all of the handles on all of them for nice Micarta. But what a great carry knife! I hadn't thought about this knife for a long time, but someone mentioned it on Thursday Night Knives just this past week, and it really made me want to dig it out and carry it.

So, I've been carrying this knife for the past couple of days. It is awesome. I love the wave on this—nice and generous. Beautiful drop point or clip point Tanto—I don't know, it's kind of a Bowie-Tanto blend to me, to my eye anyway. Very nice ergonomics and super robust old Zero Tolerance construction. I know how that sounds. It's sad.

All right, next up is the Jack Wolf Knives Timber Jack. This is a Tracy LaRock collaboration. Tracy LaRock, a custom slip joint maker, has a very popular model in this Timber Jack and so brought it to Jack Wolf Knives. It's out not on the collaboration lineup but on the light lineup, and it's really, really nice. This one, there's also a white G10 contoured like this, and then they have other offerings in the steel series with the steel bolster and some fancy Kirinite materials.

But I've got to say for this model, which is the biggest slip joint they make and probably definitely the most robust in my mind with its 154CM and big handle, I would say that this knife is best in this G10, contoured G10 version, in my humble opinion.

All right, next up on my waistband right up front, I had the T. Kell Knives Nightstalker. Just a classic. The one that inspired the design of the Agent 001. I designed the Agent 001 to fit within the carry profile of this knife because I'd been carrying this knife—though not this particular one, but this model—for a while and really loved how it carried, loved the size, and, you know, I just love T. Kell Knives period. And this is such a great model.

I love these Battle Grips they've been doing with this FRN. It's FRN made by the same people who make FN pistols and, I think, Sigs. So, it's a really, really nice, dense, high-impact plastic, you know, FRN material here. But super grippy, and the color is really great on these. Every one I've seen has super saturated color, even with the dull colors like desert tan and that kind of thing. Still a really nice knife.

Okay, last up, my ESK today—my Emotional Support Knife—was the Desperado. I love this knife. This was a production knife with Cold Steel for quite some time—I think about 15 years—but they phased it out, I think in the very early 2000s. I don't remember. But it's got that old Vaquero-style blade. Before the Vaquero joined the Voyager lineup, it was its own line, and it had a more sinuous blade than you see now.

But same concept with that S-curve and that midline point. It's just an amazing knife. I always wanted this one with this fixed blade setup with the egg-shaped Kraton handle that nestles so nicely, tucks away really easily, and is just really beautiful and compelling. But I couldn't find one, and then my buddy Strings—a frequent viewer and joiner/interactor on Thursday Night Knives—offered it in a trade, and of course, I jumped on the opportunity.

So, this is what I had on me today: I had the ZT 0620, had the Jack Wolf Knives Tracy LaRock collaboration (the Timber Jack), I had the T. Kell Knives Nightstalker, and the awesome—and they should bring it back, it's so awesome—Desperado.

What did you guys carry? Let me know, drop it in those comments below. Let me know. Always interesting to find out what you classy ladies and gentlemen carry.

Next up, I just want to show you these two cool knives. A third one from this brand is in my lineup tonight—I don't know why I said tonight, it's actually not the night—3 Dog Knife knives here. With the offer that they are offering you, I feel like they're a sponsor of the show. They've also given us plenty of knives to give away to you on Thursday Night Knives and to Gentleman Junkies.

So, they're offering us this affiliate deal where you put in "Knife Junkie" at checkout for 25% off. Yes, that's right—one quarter of the cost of that knife they're taking off. These are handmade outdoors knives made by the in-house brand of Northern Knives called 3 Dog Knife. You know Mike, if you join us on Thursday Night Knives—this is his company and these are knives that he makes.

They are tremendous outdoor knives. He's quite the outdoorsman himself, and he builds these to withstand the adventures he goes on, like elk hunting and such. But they are uniquely designed, too. These are both actually kind of Tantos for the outdoors. So very, very cool, great knives. The MAK is my favorite and that's in my lineup; I'll show that to you in a while. But 25% off off these beautiful knives made in Anchorage, Alaska. Also beautiful leather sheaths.

So go check them out, go to theknifejunkie.com/3dogknife, select your knife, and then in the checkout just put "Knife Junkie."

All right, next up, the Gentleman Junkie giveaway knife. If you're a Patreon member or a member here on YouTube, it was just sent to me by Tom of Knives by Nuge, and check this out. Tom Nugeant is a great knife maker, and he sent us this beauty. This is the Textured Wicket. The Wicket, you know, is this knife that I've talked about so much—this little beautiful little neck knife. This is a Primitive Wicket with the jute wrap and the Scandi grind.

This is the standard or Textured Wicket. It's got textured Micarta, those beautiful brass tubes there or copper tubes, and then you have that gorgeous blade, but this time fully flat ground in Nitro-V. And with a great little ambidextrous pocket sheath. Just really awesome—it's got the soft side of the Velcro on the inside so that when you put it in there, it fits in there snugly and doesn't rattle around, and also doesn't harsh your blade. Really cool with the topographical design and the DCC clip there.

So that's what we're giving away for the month of February 2026. Very nice knives we do give away on the third Thursday of every month on Thursday Night Knives to Gentleman Junkies. But you know, we give away knives pretty much every week on Thursday Night Knives because of good friends here like Dave of OG Blade Reviews. So join us and maybe you'll win one of those, but definitely join us to become a Patreon member and get one of these.

All right, let's see, last up, speaking of Patreon, Maker Monday. Let me show you this real quick. This is a William Harsey Jr. article that Jim wrote for us on the Patreon page. He does this every week. He also does Friday Funnies and some other really awesome features like "This Day in History," that kind of stuff. So, a really great article about one of my absolute favorite knife designers, Bill Harsey Jr. So go check that out on Patreon. It's one of the many things we offer you in return for your patronage.

All right, coming up, let's check out Knife Life News.

Ad: Adventure delivered. Your monthly subscription for hand-picked outdoor, survival, EDC, and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals. Theknifejunkie.com/battlebox.

Bob DeMarco: Defiant 7 is a company made up of Chad Nichols and Les George, two legends of the knife world. They call it a collaboration shop, which I love. Defiant 7, they put out a lot of really interesting, very tactical sort of knives, oftentimes based on historical knives. And we're getting a little bit of that in these two knives here. These are coming out from Defiant 7—they are actually available now.

But the first one we're going to talk about is the Ace. That's the one on the bottom with the orange handle. You will recognize that as a Les George design immediately. And it's a little 2.6-inch drop point of AEB-L, kind of a pocket fixed blade here, do-everything EDC with a G10 handle.

And then the one above it, Chad and Les brought in another legend, Allen Elishewitz, and he designed this very beautiful and modern take of the Dirk or Scottish boot knife. So not the big kind of naval Dirk, but the kind that you would stick in your boot. Not the little Sgian-dubh, either—so a little bit bigger than that. Nice fighting knife here, 4.7 inches—4.75 inches—of S45VN. Beautiful drop point or spear point you might say, with a nice long swedge which will give it a lot of pokiness.

Has a nice thumb ramp extending out onto the back of the blade for that Filipino grip or a nice solid saber grip. Contoured G10 on that one. Both available now. The little one, the Ace, is 150 bucks. The larger one, the BK, is 285. Available now. Check them out.

Next up from Civivi, this one to me, I gotta say—Civivi, looks like a gas station knife. But I'm fine with that. I like how Civivi goes out on the edge with designs sometimes. This one just kind of, well, smacks of gas station. This is the Intelledon—Intel-ledon, that's right. Intelledon, which is a prehistoric man-sized killer pig, basically.

So this thing—cool, you know, I like Karambits. It has a wave on the back, and 2.6 inches of 14C28N hawkbill with that little wave, and it's got a flipper. The wave is removable, that pocket catch, when you remove the thumb studs. G10 handle with aluminum. That's where it looks kind of gas stationy, right? Not so much the combination of materials, but that spine, that see-through spine—ugh, I just don't like it much, gotta say.

What? But you know, I like that they take design chances. Reversible pocket clip, button lock, like I said, both a flipper, a pocket catch, and thumb stud. 3.8 ounces. This will be available soon. MSRP on this one, a little more than we get from most Civivis: 127 bucks. So go check that out if you like gas station knives. High end, I should say well-made.

All right, last up is the LionSteel Skinny. Now, this is a skinnier version of their integral knife, the Skinny, and this is a beauty. This one reminds me a little bit of a Sinkevich design—Dimitry Sinkevich. Reminds me a little bit of the 0450 classic Zero Tolerance model. But this new one is a 2.83—so nice and small—Magnacut drop point blade. You got that fuller, you got a flipper, you got a swedge. Very handsome blade.

Looks kind of militaristic or spy-ish. The handle is a solid piece, so an integral design of aluminum. And it's got an integral frame lock with a steel insert. So we don't see too many aluminum frame locks out there. We certainly don't see too many integral knives, let alone aluminum integrals. This is kind of fascinating to me. It's still featherlight, 1.7 ounces. Available soon from Maniago, Italy, and I don't know how much they're expecting to charge for this, but I bet it'll be a pretty penny. What do you think?

All right, coming up, we're going to take a look at the Kiridashi in The First Tool.

Intro: You're listening to The Knife Junkie Podcast. Here's some cool knife history with The Knife Junkie's The First Tool.

Bob DeMarco: The Kiridashi. At first glance, the Kiridashi doesn't look like much. No scales, no curves, no dramatic profile—just a small chisel-ground blade with a sharp point and a thousand and one uses. But in Japan, the Kiridashi was never meant to impress; it was meant to work.

The word Kiridashi roughly translates to "cutting out," and that simple name tells you everything. That was the everyday utility tool of craftsmen, monks, merchants, and students. Long before disposable blades and box cutters, the Kiridashi lived in pockets and tool rolls across Japan, ready for whatever task the day demanded.

Paper trimming, bamboo shaping, wood joinery, leather work, even sharpening pencils—if precise control was needed, the Kiridashi was the tool. What makes it unique is its grind. Traditionally, Kiridashi are single-bevel—flat on one side, angled on the other—much like a chisel. This allows incredibly accurate cuts, especially when working along a line.

Right-handed and left-handed versions existed, reflecting a culture that valued proper form and intentional design. Historically, Kiridashi knives became especially common during the Edo period, when peace under the Tokugawa shogunate shifted focus from warfare to craftsmanship. As sword carrying declined, blade making adapted. The same smiths who once forged weapons now applied their knowledge of steel, heat treatment, and geometry to humble tools like the Kiridashi.

And here's a fascinating part: many Kiridashi were made from leftover sword steel. Fragments of Tamahagane once destined for a Katana were reforged into tools for daily life. Warrior steel reborn as craftsman steel. Unlike Western knives that emphasize slicing motions, the Kiridashi excels at push cuts, pull cuts, and controlled carving.

Today, modern makers still produce Kiridashi—some traditional, some more minimalist, and some sculptural or just tactical. Collectors admire them for their elegance, woodworkers rely on them for their precision, and enthusiasts love them because they embody a core truth of knife history: not every important blade was carried into battle. Some lived in their pockets, some lived on workbenches, some in tool rolls—shaping the quiet details of the world.

If you like this kind of talk—is that something you like? Do you like to talk about knives, especially particular knives? Join us on Thursday Night Knives. We talk knives, we go deep. You will love it. And the people around you will love it because they won't have to hear it. So join us on Thursday Night Knives, 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time every Thursday right here on YouTube. It's so much fun; I want to talk to you. Now, let's get to the State of the Collection.

Ad: Why pay full price for gas and food? With the Upside app, you don't have to. Just open Upside, find a nearby offer, and earn cash back when you buy gas or eat out. Pay like normal and get real money back in the app. No coupons, no hassle—just easy savings on things you already buy. Download Upside today and start putting money back in your pocket. Learn more at theknifejunkie.com/saveongas.

Bob DeMarco: Off-Grid Knives sent me one of my favorite knives in a long time, and I didn't even know it until I received it. This thing is incredible. This is the new Polaris XL. It's a Vanax blade, and people were going waxing poetic about Vanax steel on Thursday Night Knives this past week. I have not really used this too much yet, but I can't wait because I love using my Off-Grid knives—they're like the best cardboard cutters out there in my book, and they're just great tool knives.

But this one also happens to be just a beauty and a collector to me. This is the Polaris XL. It's a beautiful clip point blade that has, you know, like his—like Cary O'Refice, the guy who designs these knives and his company—he designed the Caiman, that beautiful swooping clip point blade that looks like a caiman crocodile. Well, this also has a very reptilian look to it, to me—that blade somehow looks dinosaurish. I mentioned that before.

I just think it's so cool. Beautiful low point—it's a little bit below center point—so going to be very useful. We were talking about the Kiridashi's point and how accurate you can be because of how low it is and how straight the edges are. Well, this has a relatively straight edge—nice little belly, but a lot of straight and a low point. So very, very useful clip point blade. Also just looks cool and menacing.

And then you have a beautiful titanium bolster lock here, just beautifully executed. Nice gear backspacer there with a hidden lanyard post and this gorgeous Red Dawn carbon fiber—just beautiful. So I'm a huge fan of this knife. Thank you so much, Cary, for sending this to me. That is a big blade—I think it's a scosh over 4 inches—but just an awesome, big, beautiful, somewhat menacing sort of collector's knife from Off-Grid Knives that you can just go to town with. When I say collector, I don't mean it's not a user.

But anyway, really, really like it. Very nice sculpted pocket clip, too. Good to go; I love this knife.

All right, so before we get to our outdoor knives, I want to show you this really cool design that Jim just came up with. This is "I have a knife for that" and then you see the fanned-out knives of all different persuasions, and I love that. Jim designs a lot of really cool different designs that we put on things like tote bags, sweatshirts, hoodies, t-shirts, aprons, looks like a bandana there—I didn't even realize that. I always have a bandana in my back pocket. I need to get one of my own bandanas. So go check it out, theknifejunkie.com/shop. There's 30-some-odd pages of incredible designs, fun designs. Wear them out in public and meet like-minded people.

All right, so I want to talk about 10 great outdoor fixed blade knives. I've been, you know, my lifelong collection, my lifelong fascination is with fighting knives, combat knives, historical weapons, and that kind of thing. But over the past few years, I've really, really gained an appreciation for great outdoor knives, A from meeting the makers of some of the makers of those knives, but also kind of resolving to do more things outdoors—even if it's just on my own property, but making fires, you know, keeping things tidy and that kind of thing, and spending a lot of time using outdoor knives. So I got some favorites, and all of them have received some use, and some of them have been abused.

So let's get into it. First one is one of those heavily used ones. This is the Condor Knife and Tool Hudson Bay trade knife. So this is based on a trapper's knife from the Hudson Bay Company in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Canada and the Northwest carrying these knives, and the Northeast obviously, being Hudson Bay. But using them for everything: trapping, taking care of animals, fighting, just survival, camp, every everything you would need a knife for.

And I got this as a gift years ago when I first moved into this house, and I ended up—I've used this for a lot of different outdoor things. But the crowning achievement of this knife was taking out an entire hedgerow. And I had a whole bunch of different tools at my behest that I could use, and this was the one that I kept using. And basically had to re-profile the edge when I was done with it. But this thing is an amazing knife. They also make a smaller version of it, and I would highly recommend it.

I don't have too many Condor knives—matter of fact, just this and the Parang machete. But this by far is my favorite and very impressive knife. The Condor Bay knife and tool Hudson Bay. It also comes with a pouch sheath like this, leather pouch sheath, which fit okay. I did a little bit of a water pressing and now it's better.

Second one, I sort of racked my brain—which Mora do I want to show? Because I've used the Eldris a lot, and I've used my Companion a bit. But this is the one I've used the most and have had the longest, and that I think is the most charming. This is the Number 2, the Morakniv Classic Number 2. Mora-Knif—I'm not sure exactly how you pronounce it. I should by now.

But this is a high carbon steel, obviously an old-school design with that sort of oval-shaped handle—very neutral, feels great in the hand. Single guard—you can get this in a double guard or no guard. I figured single would be best because I would probably want to put my thumb on there sometimes, but I also don't want to slide onto the blade. Double just seems like extra.

I've used this one quite a bit, not only outside but in here, in this room, you know, doing different projects and stuff—different chore-type things. This is just a great do-everything knife, and with that Scandi grind—similar to a chisel grind like we were talking about before on the Kiridashi—I feel like you can get very, very accurate cuts. You can see exactly where the edge is. I know you can on most knives too if you look closer, but these old eyes—you know what I'm saying? This is like a three-quarter tang, I believe, and nice and robust for a little blade. It's got this very just plastic sheath that works great. This hangs on my wall right in here for utility.

Next knife also has got a lot of action. This was my go-to knife for a long time for all outdoor weekend chores: the Tex Creek from TOPS Knives, one of their most high-selling knives—the Tex Creek in that lineup. There's a large version of this, and then there's also an anniversary edition and several sort of special editions. This is just your average run-of-the-mill Tex Creek—might look like it has a little bit of a recurve, that's from a sharpening job I did.

This one I have chipped before—used this one a lot. That 1095 steel is super tough. But I hit a chain-link fence—the post of a chain-link fence—and chipped it out. So ended up sharpening—I believe I did this on my craftsman sander thing—my grinder, my 2x48. It's not like a knife grinder. But anyway, I took care of it and I did a good job. And I am just looking at it right now under the camera thinking, "Not bad. I should do that more often."

Great jimping on this, nice generous-sized handle. Thin enough that it's not like a block, but broad from north to south—or dorsal to pectoral—on the handle so that it doesn't turn in your hand. Very nice grip even in gloves. I have a lanyard on there set up for this kind of use, wrapping it around the back of the hand. I like this method because if somehow the knife gets dislodged, it swings side to side from your thumb and not back and forward from your wrist.

So that's a good way to lanyard. And a beautiful full-grain leather pouch-style sheath. I love these kind of sheaths for this kind of knife. Like, if you're not running into high adventure where you're swinging from vines, you probably don't have to lock your knife in, especially if you're just doing camp-type chores and so it's nice, or in my case, like pruning the yard, that kind of thing. It's nice to just be able to access the knife, use it, and put it back without having to fuss with a strap or any of that kind of stuff. And no Kydex to tug on, none of that. I just love this setup. Wouldn't mind getting the large.

Next up, another one you will love, and I actually—I showed you—I've been showing off Knives by Nuge recently. I'm really digging his knives and I have a couple of new ones, so I wanted to show them off. And this one has been the recent darling on my belt. This is the Bruin. And this one has a swedge. This design didn't start with a swedge, but he's making some of them—Thomas, Tom Nugeant—is making some of them with a swedge, and I really, really was drawn to it. He did the same with the Cub, which is the smaller version of this that fits in a pocket sheath.

She's Badger Claw Outfitters—you probably know those—they're great leather sheaths, super stout, super sturdy, and look beautiful and function perfectly. I love this setup. This is a very snug sheath, so this knife you could go on those adventures swinging from vines; it's not coming out, at least not for a long time until it's fully broken in. But still, just a really, really great knife, nice and thin, super sharp with that saber grind. This is CPM-154 blade steel. Beautiful those copper tubes are just so cool. They look beautiful. I like it with the purple personally.

I do like a little tug bob, if you will, on there—it's not quite a lanyard; I'm not going to be using it to retain it in my grip, but it's just good for pulling it out of this relatively snug sheath. So a really, really nice knife. I look forward to a long future using this, throwing this on my belt for around the house and outside kind of days.

Next up, from one of the greatest American knife companies out there: Bark River Knives. I love their stuff. Of all of the knives I have by them, which is I'd say five, I guess if I have to count—I think I have four or five—this is the one that has definitely gotten the most carry and use. This is the Boone 2, sort of an early 20th-century kind of hunting knife. This is the kind of proto-KA-BAR knife—this is the kind of knife that a lot of GIs were bringing to World War II early on that led to the inspiration of the KA-BAR, loosely speaking.

So I really like carrying this one. To me, this is like old-school dad—this is like 1950s dad camp knife, or 1930s outdoorsman knife, just a really, really great clip point blade. It's not totally un-martial, you know what I'm saying? It kind of looks like a fighting knife but is definitely an outdoors knife, great hunting knife, great do-everything. Double guard aluminum, butt cap aluminum, aged stacked leather, and that's basically a super dark brown, nice spacers and everything.

3V steel, tough as the day is long. I gotta say the one thing about this, though—I have batoned this plenty, just on smaller maybe half logs or quarter logs, that kind of thing. But by logs, I mean thin ones. But this has dislodged those little spacers up there, so I've had to re-epoxy those in, which is kind of a bummer. But that said, this is also not a batoning tool. So I was definitely taking this beyond what it should be. That's a rat tail or a thin tang down there, and you shouldn't be pounding every knife through wood, but I figured 3V would be fine, and it was, but that little spacer dislodged. I don't do that much anymore with that knife.

Okay, next up is from L.T. Wright Knives. This is my one and only and I hope that that changes in the future, but it's my favorite model and it's the Small Northern Hunter. I love the large size also, which was on loan to me once quite a while ago—beautiful Canadian belt knife style knife with that super ergonomic handle. Feels great in hand, the curve is beautiful, it's sort of leaf-shaped, almost reminds me of a little Barong—I mean, let's be real, look at that. That looks like a Barong sword but just nice and small. Beautiful.

But works really well. It's very, very sharp AEB-L steel, and it's got a nice sharp spine, throws sparks really well. The contoured handle is just—feels awesome in hand. This sheath is great too; they make really nice sheaths. And this when I first got it was very, very hard to put in and take out, and I had a put that fob on there and now it's nice—comes in nice and easy. Just takes a little time and takes a little getting used to being in the sheath. This is a great throw on the belt weekend knife. I love it.

All right, next up, this is—even though it's not my favorite in design or even in concept—this is my favorite Off-Grid knife for outdoors kind of stuff. Batoning, trimming trees, trimming bushes, chopping down little saplings and tearing out vines, that kind of thing. This knife is great: the Tracker. And I'm not sure what version this is to be honest. I know they've made some large ones, some middle ones—I couldn't find this one now in this blade line. They're all a little bit larger now, I believe.

But really, really comfortable handle—nice and broad with wide chamfers, nice texturing, light contouring. Just a really comfortable sort of use-all-day handle. Reminds me a little bit of like the Hungless in terms of its broadness and width, a little different on the layout, but very comfortable—great jimping on this, nice row of jimping that comes out here for a fully extended thumb, and a tall full flat ground blade. Nice and tall—this is such a great and robust knife.

I've used all of the outdoors knives that I have from Off-Grid Knives, and this is my favorite. What I want to be my favorite, if I'm being honest, is the Razorback—his version of the Kephart, which is beautiful, feels great in hand, but this one just edges it out just a little bit, I gotta say.

Great knife, great sheath, and I like that Off-Grid Knives does a lot of taco-style sheaths. They're not so big and broad, hangs nicely, disengages well with that thumb, great retention on it but pops right out. You don't have to struggle through the Kydex draw on this and it snaps in place. You can put it on your belt without having to take your belt off because it's got that Velcro and snap. Just a great knife from an awesome company: the Off-Grid Knives Tracker.

Next up, this is from BPS Knives out of Ukraine. This is a father-son team—love that, you know I like that kind of thing. This is 1066 blade steel, high carbon steel. Really, really nice and beautiful Scandi grind there, nice clip point profile. This one was my haversack/hiking around satchel for a while, starts fires great with the 90-degree spine. It comes with a very plain handle; I just sort of stained it that sort of red color, put that lanyard on there for that standard around the thumb sort of usage, and a great knife. Now this one I've also chipped—so I'm not sure what that means about the heat treat or the steel, but it's easy to maintain; it was easy for me to bring back. So I guess that's the tradeoff there.

Again, you have a full tang and an extended pommel, and I do know from experience that this knife is 100% good to go. And I also have another one from them, the BPS—this little light Puukko Light—this one I've used a lot too. They're very inexpensive, so I have no problem just using them hard and they work great. What I was going to say is the sheath: amazing sheaths. Nice thick, supple black leather. I would love to have a jacket made out of this leather—maybe a little bit thinner actually because it's pretty darn stout. Beautiful white stitching with the brass grommet there. You can wear it on the belt or dangle it from the belt, so you got two ways you can carry it. Really, really great sheath. I like BPS Knives a lot. I also like that they're a family company.

All right, and I'm going to show you some alternatives here in a second. But here is the last one and the ultimate one, and the one that's had the most experience and has been with me through the most experiences, whether it was used or not. And this is my old Cold Steel Trailmaster. I say old because recently I've been showing off the fact that I finally got a second one and in 3V, and that's pretty awesome. And when you hold them up side-by-side, you can see how the profile of this one is a little more slender than a brand-new one because I've used it a lot and I've sharpened it twice—I've had to like re-profile the edge twice over the years. And the last time I took quite a bit off.

But still great, great knife. And so I got this one roughly 27–30 years ago. It's an old one; it was when the Cold Steel catalog was quite small, but before they changed the tang—real old ones have a different sort of ricasso, I think you'll know what I'm talking about probably a lot of you. It's got the old Kraton handle, a brass guard which I like a lot—you don't see that anymore, brass guard, brass tube down here. After all these years, the handle still feels great; it doesn't feel like it's rubber that's disintegrating in your hand. Always had that zero-ground swedge, nice sharp swedge. This thing I've used ever since I saw Nutnfancy baton my first log in 2008—I've been using this for that, and it's chewed up a great number of logs with that zero-ground swedge.

But also is just very valuable to have because it's a great fighting knife. I've often said that if I actually had to get into a knife fight on purpose, this is probably the knife I would take. Even though it's not the absolute coolest and it's not worth the most and all that, it is just the Trailmaster—there's nothing like it. It feels so good in hand, it balances so nicely, it's so sharp, got a full flat grind and a sharp back swedge. You could use it to terrific effect in a knife fight if you had to. In that fantasy world where you get called out in knife fights. Beautiful quarter-inch thick spine, I think this is an SK5 version—no, this is a Carbon V. Right, it's Carbon V, not Carbon 5. Whatever. Got the old leather sheath which I never quite liked how the strap was on that side; it was on the cutting side so I always had to, every couple of years, I got to wrap a different tape around it so it doesn't slice it off. But the ultimate outdoors knife, I love the Trailmaster.

Now before I let you go, I just want to show you a couple of alternatives here. I showed you the BPS—this is another great BPS knife, the Mini Puukko Light, I believe they call that. I was talking about Knives by Nuge—this is a great one here: the Wicket, the Large Wicket. This is a great outdoor knife. You got the 90-degree spine, a really, really well heat-treated 80CrV2 Scandi-ground blade, and very minimal profile, nice and thin, but feels great in hand. It's again the broadness of the handle even though it's nice and thin. You still have great control due to the broadness of the handle and the jute—it just feels great. I know he epoxies it and burns it and gets it to a place where it just feels really great, even feels good next to the skin when it comes to the neck knife version of this.

I was talking about Morakniv and the Classic Number 2—well, this was the runner-up here: the Morakniv Companion. Just a great all-around knife. Everyone loves this knife. Also super inexpensive, super useful, and for a three-quarter tang plastic-handled knife, incredibly robust.

And then lastly, the one I want to show is the alternative to the Tracker from Off-Grid Knives. This is the full flat ground version of the Razorback, just a beautiful Kephart-style blade. I really like this one. I've used its Scandi-ground brother a lot more, which is a heavier knife due to the fact that there's a lot of steel that's not removed on the blade. But this one also works super well due to the thinness behind the blade. So a very, very sharp knife and a very keen edge.

I love these knives, I love all the different versions of them, and I think you will too. Let me know what your favorite outdoor knives are, guys; drop them in the comments below. And as I get older and can spend more time outside, I'm going to do more and more use of knives in these sort of outdoor scenarios and probably take you along.

All right, for Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.