Automated Transcript
10 Totally Unique Folders
The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 343)

Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast.
The place for blade lovers to learn about knives and hear from the makers, manufacturers and reviewers that make the knife world go around.
I'm Bob DeMarco and coming up an attempted assassination with a knife, I reunite with a four inch vaquero and 10 totally unique folders.
ANNOUNCER
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.

00:40
Welcome back to the show. It's good to have you back here. Thanks for watching and listening.
My favorite comment from last week was on the Stroop Knives interview.
I did a little while back with Chris Stroop.
This is from Danzig.
Rules like the name and he says glad I found this guy's knives.
I'm a retired infantry army infantryman and once I saw his knives I just had to have one.

01:03
Now I'm seeing his knives being sold everywhere.
And knowing that it's supporting a fellow veteran and his family is just awesome.
Well, thank you for your service.
Danzig rules.
This is the one that really got me.
This is the one I had to have got this for Christmas from my wife as a special gift.
It also has the knife junkie logo in there engraved on the side which makes it even more special so I love the comment.

01:30
Thank you for watching Danzig rules.
Good to have you here.
OK, so let's do a pocket check, shall we?
OK so today I am carrying the Monterey Bay Knives turbo.
This is just not no ordinary Monterey Bay knives turbo.
This one is has been totally modified and beautified and customized by the knife modders.
I asked for a sort of high voltage green, something that looks a little bit like the Statue of Liberty maybe, and mixed with like Japanese race car and I wanted that sort of.

02:11
Blackwash blade, so they did a fantastically well.
They did a wonderful job on this night.
They also put a screaming sharp edge on it and I swear it was butter smooth when I sent it it came back even smoother.
They asked what did I want done with the pocket clip and backspacer.
I said go to town so they did this sort of.
Through the Hubble telescope sort of view of the universe thing.
That's what I call it.

02:39
It doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but it's in.
It's a sort of anodizing that makes it look cloudy with all sorts of beautiful colors.
And at this point it's so laden down with my hand oil.
I have to Windex it to reveal the beauty of that once again.
But I love this knife.
I don't carry it too much, so today when I was going through through the knife case, it just jumped out at me that beautiful color.
But also I love the design.

03:07
That's a Peter Carey design and to me he's one of the he is.
One of the very cream of the crop in terms of.
High end custom tactical folders and he will call them tactical because that's the tradition he came out of.
Even though they're, they're so, you know, beautifully designed and his custom ones are are just built with incredible materials and craftsmanship that you know tactical to me.
Always seems rough and tumble.
These could certainly take it, but they're things of such beauty.
I can't imagine actually bringing them out into the battlefield all right Next up, Jack Wolf Knives.

03:43
I was carrying the laid back Jack today.
This one hasn't gotten a lot of attention from me recently because, well, because the midnight Jack came along and well, then the canine Jack came along.
We're going to be taking a look at the canine Jack in a little while, but this is the one I was carrying.
And it's funny, every time I put a different Jack wolf knives knife in my pocket, I think, yeah, this this is my favorite.
You know, All in all, this is my favorite historically and then in terms of the Jack Wolf lineup.
And that's how I'm feeling today about this knife because I am a huge sucker for the #47 Viper from GEC.
And that's what this sort of reminds me of.

04:26
But this has a more to me reasonable size, and it's got the perfect sway back.
It doesn't sway back too much.
That's one of the design tweaks that Ben Belkin put on these.
Not put on the on his version of the Swayback.
This is the laid back as I mentioned and then you get that full height hollow grind on the M390 blade that you get from all the Jack Wolf Knives.
Just a a great great knife and one that hasn't seen a lot of pocket time in the last two months.
So it was great to pull it back out and have it on me today.

05:03
The the pocket.
The pocket slip is breaking in nicely.
You know what I feel?
I need a couple of like sweaty hikes with this in my pocket to really get the leather wet, but not too wet that it's going to go all the way through and get the knife and get it to really mold and kind of start the patina.
I do love a leather patina.
I got to say it, but that'll be the the beauty of having these over time and carrying them for years.
Is that eventually that leather gets nice and patinaed OK Next up.

05:36
On me today, the hog tooth knives Tonto been carrying this a lot.
Because of the collaboration I'm doing with Matt Chase of Hoggoth knives, this has been one of my most one of two of my most carried fixed blades of all time.
It's this and the Kramer custom knives voodoo.
They just carry so beautifully.
And then the the knives pack.
So much of a punch for their size so I'm good buddies with Matt Chase and one day it occurred to me.
I would love to have this whole setup that that exact size.

06:11
Is exact handle the exact sheath?
The finger garden?
Everything except different blades.
And so I proposed that to Matt.
He loved the idea.
I sent him some designs.
We homed in on one and he's working on a prototype.

06:28
Right now we're going to make a small batch, number them and sell them.
It will have his logo on one side and my logo on the other, and they'll be special and I'm excited and this first one is a Bowie knife, so I'm very much looking forward to that.
A clip point.
It's going to have a sharpenable swedge or a zero ground swedge.
Not sure exactly how we're going to do that, but it's going to be a useful swedge in a scrape, so that's kind of the point.
This this knife has been proven in combat and.
I think that's a cool story.

07:05
It's also been proven just out in the field, Bustin Open MRI's and other stuff like that too.
Matt Chase is a former Marine scout sniper, as you might as you might know from the Hog Tooth moniker.
That's a that's something they earn once they're done with their sniper school and.
Yeah, it's a it's an honor and a privilege to to know him and work with him.
Alright.
And lastly, today I did have an emotional support knife as I do from pretty much all the time.
It's a it's a way to get deep guilt if I having so many knives.

07:37
It's also a way to get to really know the knives.
So this was on my desk all day.
I was doing a lot of writing for work today and this was the one that was getting me through it.
It's a front flipper.
It's a gents knife, but it's a little bit bigger.
That's a 3 1/2 inch blade designed by Ray la Conoco.
If you if you didn't already recognize those classic, clean La Conoco lines, it is true.

08:04
It is Ray Laconica and it's the only one in my collection.
I I'm kind of sad to say because I think his designs.
They're they're very appealing to my eye and they are neutral enough in in their build or in their profiles.
I guess it's I guess I should say like this knife that it's useful in so many different ways and this one in particular artisan cutlery.
This has the a RPM 9 blade steel their proprietary, a powdered steel.
This one is very nice and light and thin and this one was 55 bucks.
You can go up to S 35 VN in my Carta for like 100 the maroon micarta with the black blade is very appealing to me but I just didn't knowing that this is not going to be a main carry for me.

08:53
I just didn't feel it necessary to to spend too much more money and I like that.
A RPM nine I like.
It makes me feel like a superstar with the sharpening and the stropping because it really responds.
Very, very nicely and takes an edge.
A wicked edge pretty easily.
Alright, that's that was my carry today Monterey Bay knives.
Turbo Jack Wolf knives.

09:17
Laid back Jack the Tonto the EDC tanto from hog tooth knives and for emotional support.
I had the artisan cutlery.
Serious is what it's called serious.
I didn't even mention the name.
OK what were you carrying?
Let me know put it in the comments below.
I love finding out what you're carrying and kind of homing in on what I want to buy.

09:42
New knives.
I want to get that kind of thing.
So please do that if you are interested in helping support the show.
Go check us out on Patreon.
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We do an extra 15 to 20 minutes afterward and I ask questions that maybe aren't appropriate for the main podcast, or maybe are off topic enough that they don't fit into the flow of conversation, whatever it is, and so you get a little bit more.
From each interview, kind of off the record is what I like to call it, even though it's like it's not scandalous, but there could be, so there's that.

10:19
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10:51
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You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast.
And now.
Here's the knife junkie with the knife life news.
I wanna start off knife life news this week with some actual news.

11:17
Again, kind of like we did last week.
Knives in the news in a very bad way.
Salman Rushdie.
The the famous author who in the 80s I believe it was Ayatollah Khomeini put a put a bounty on his head for 3,000,000 bucks for writing the Satanic Verses, which I guess offended him.
So that's how they handle things but.
Salman Rushdie was at the Chautauqua Institute, which is a famed sort of intellectual gathering place in Western New York.
Beautiful location.

11:49
And he was getting ready to speak, and this piece of human refuse we're not gonna name his name came on to stage and stabbed him 10 * 10 times in in a instant.
That that's how quickly this can happen.
He might lose an eye, his kidneys are damaged.
He lost his his nerves in his arm are severed.
That means he was attacked all over his body, in in a in very.
How did that happen?
I I don't know how how I guess this security was LAX.

12:21
I mean, people have known Salman Rushdie is is a target for years and years and years.
And and I don't know.
Maybe they.
Maybe they lifted the fatwa at some point, but I I think that's what that's called when they put a bounty on someone's head, but.
Very sad news.
It it is not looking good for him, but I hope he survives.
My God, I hope he survives not only because it would be a shame to lose a a great cultural figure in such a way, but also just to thumb your nose at the kind of people who think that they can do this.

12:55
Made that guy rot in hell for eternity.
OK, Next up Fox Knives modernizes the mushroom knife now.
This is a knife that I discovered through my through my love of picol style knives.
The curved tip down edge in style self-defense knife I had noticed that some people online had taken.
Mushroom knives made by opinel and sort of tweaked them to become sort of small, light, inexpensive picol style knives.
And I was like, what is this mushroom knife?
A mushroom knife is its signature is a curved folding blade and then a brush on the other side and then on the back of the blade.

13:35
It usually has very sharp jimping for scraping some part of the mushroom.
I'm not a mushroom forager, but I sure am a fan of this knife, especially the way Fox.
Knives has put it together.
They have it in a modern format here with a liner lock.
I think that's 12 C 27. Sandvik Steel but you got that beautifully curved, gently curved hawkbill blade.
It's got that nice thumb Swale in the back and it's got the two ways to open it.
You can either pinch it with that sort of nail nick up front or use the thumb stud.

14:12
Now on that forward curving portion, that's where you get the that sharp jimping for scraping the stems or whatever what have you.
And then that brush on the tail end or on the pommel of the knife folds in.
So it's not always hanging out there if this does have a tip down only pocket clip, but this is I think the first mushroom knife ever with a pocket clip, so it's kind of a cool.
Cool knife, I don't know.
I mean, this is the kind of thing I might find myself getting maybe on the secondary market and then tweaking for personal protection carry just for the fun of it.
It is a very pretty knife and it comes in two beautiful woods, olive wood and eucalyptus.
So really nice and it clears your sinuses while you use it.

14:59
Alright, so that's from Fox knives.
Lastly in Knife Life News I want to just show that Gerber.
Is targeting the EDC fixed blade market OK?
Gerber Knives has gotten a strange new respect from me recently through the zilch and then the.
Sodaro that that is their new.
I don't know Benchmade style knife it's got the axis lock or their XR lock and.
Or whatever they call it, and that's a very, very nice knife.

15:34
So Gerber has been on the upward trending on the upward for me because I've been trash talking him for so long.
But they are coming out with some some nice knives.
So here is something that I like seeing these two little fixed blades.
They're going for that EDC fixed blade market.
That's a market I want to see grow because, well, frankly, I really like EDC fixed blades and I want to see more out there on the market.
I'm not just talking about the kind of knives you know I like like the ones I was just talking about little stabby pokey picol style things, but also knives like this.
This excuse me sub three inch blade.

16:12
In a nice little leather sheath that it comes and dropped in the pocket or or scout style on the belt, you could do some.
All all of your chores with this little thing and it the.
The appeal of the small fixed blade to me is is its strength.
You take out a small sub three inch folder, say a delica and you have a a serious task to do with it.
You know that that pivot point is always gonna be the weakness and the issue if you like knowing that you can pull out your knife and use it for just about anything.
Having a little fixed blade on you is ideal.
That's why.

16:53
I mean for years and years I had a neck knife on me and I just stopped wearing it like once I lost my bastinelli I went back to the minimalist for a little while and now I'm just sort of forlorn missing the bastianelli.
So I just haven't been carrying a neck knife recently but having.
A fixed blade on you all the time is awesome anyway, so I wanna see if if Gerber with their D2 and their sort of.
You know, improving designs and quality control.
I wanna see if these EDC fixed blades can breakthrough, especially the one with the micarta handle.
It looks handsome.
I mean, they're both the same knife.

17:30
Basically, one just has a handle, the other one doesn't and has black coating.
So, OK, we'll see.
We'll see.
But Gerber keep it up.
I like seeing that the saidulu that knife I was mentioning before is also American made and a very good S30V blade so.
That's it for life.
Knife, news, Knife life news.

17:50
We start off with some sad news.
We end with some optimistic news, maybe.
Maybe things will be looking up here still to come on.
The Knife Junkie podcast.
We're gonna take a look at an oldie but a goodie, actually.
2 oldies but goodies ones back in the collection.
And then I want to take a look at 10 very unique folders right here on the Knife Junkie podcast.

18:10
And now that we're caught up with knife life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
I've been mentioning how our bathrooms have been redone and we've been having a lot of stuff going on so.
The painters left and all the work was done and there was some stuff that my wife was not happy with and and then there was also a cabinet or some some doors that we never painted.
So I had to do some painting and that's fine.
I would rather just knock it out of the way right, while things are still in upheaval and then clean up and then be done, done, done.
So I did a bunch of painting over the past couple of days.
So the endura has been in the pocket a lot, I know that.

18:55
Mentioned last time I did some painting that the Protech TR2 was coming around with me.
Then I I like that that's a good work knife actually the guy that I bought it from was a farmer and used it.
You could tell it was gritty with dust when I bought it he used it out in the field.
So I felt no problem using it in my suburban ments using the, you know while I'm painting, but this time I didn't want to get any paint in the curling and I don't mind.
This is always been the painting knife, so busted this out.
This is such a great knife that I just don't give it any attention anymore.
But the Spyderco Endura comes in all these colors.

19:34
This is VG10 full flat ground.
This is the endura 4 and man, what a great knife I want to get one of these one day.
Uh, with the serrations?
That's got a. Saber ground blade but with serrations, that's one I've always wanted my buddy Ian knife knife dude for sure.
Someone you don't want to encounter with a knife and and go against him.
He always carried one of those well.
He carried one for a long time and men the menace.

20:06
It's a charming knife.
You look at the endura, it's kind of weird and charming but you see it with the with the full serrations and it's kind of just scary.
So this has it's an oldie but a goodie.
But it got a lot of use this past week and at one point I was looking to sell it.
I'm glad I never did.
Next up also an oldie but a goodie and also.
One that my buddy Ian had actually sold this to him, uh, years ago.

20:34
He gave it to his brother who just abused it and then left it for dead.
And so he just sold it back to me.
We've done this twice.
We did that with the Spyderco military.
I sold it to him.
He never liked to carry it because it was too expensive, and so he sold it back to me.
I wanted it back.

20:53
And, uh, recently he just said out of the blue you, you ever want that Voyager back, you know, with the curvy blade.
And I was like Oh yeah, yes, I thought you'd never ask.
So he sent he.
Gave it to me, I'm I'm.
I'm going to trade it.
He said he'd rather instead of the money he'd rather trade.
So I'm going to give him this.

21:13
I think he's going to like this.
We'll see how that goes.
I'm I'm going on the price.
This was when it was available.
I do understand that this is no longer available and so to find it it would be more than 60 bucks, but he's cool with.
He's cool with a with this kind of trade so.
That's what we're going to do, and he I think he's gonna like this.

21:36
It's also got serrations.
I know he thinks that that he likes the serrations.
Alright, so this Voyager.
I put a scream and sharp edge back on it, but it was so dull it could not.
It did not go through paper.
They really they really.
I don't know what the hell they did with this, but it also had mud and you can see a little bit.

21:55
I thought I got most of it out with it.
Had some some action, some muddy action there in the in the Iron Cross patterning.
So this knife.
Saw little action with me.
Saw a lot of action with him back in the collection and I'm very psyched.
Alright, that's it for the state of the collection this week.
Didn't get anything new, which is, which is good.

22:19
That's new old, old new, but I was able to get through the week without getting something new.
OK, something, something.
We're going to talk about now are unique blades.
I was looking through my collection and thinking about some of the things that I have that are very.
Unique now at one time.
I was collecting on that premise I was like.
Buying everything that had a different lock or a different blade.

22:46
Steel or different blade shape and I I did end up getting rid of a lot of those knives because I didn't carry them and I thought this is not a museum.
I am not responsible for, you know, holding on to these for posterity and and showing the world.
So I got rid of a lot of them, but I was looking through what I have.
And I do have some unique knives and I want to talk about some of these blade shapes primarily.
First one is the Tucson TS336.
Beautiful titanium frame lock is what I'm calling it with the with inlays.
Sort of a yeah, it's definitely A-frame lock.

23:22
I call it but.
It's got a very nice ergonomic handle and all of that, but look at the blade.
It's a mix of quaking.
Uh, Quakin meets recurve tanto.
It's got a very deep hollow grind in the recurve portion and then a very long upswept forward portion that's and that that's flat ground and that's what reminds me of the quaking.
But but you have you have the secondary tip here and that curve where the where the two different grind types meet, giving this a very unique.
I don't know, it's different from all of the recurve tantos.

24:01
Have I do have some recurring curved tantos, but that upsweep the the upswept shape of that just kind of puts it in a no man's land for me.
Is it a quaking?
Is it a recurve tanto and the answer is yes, great knife.
This is 14 C 28 N and it flips well I don't know.
My left hand is not good on camera but but those giant thumb studs like you see on the 300 TS 300 or three O. I'm sorry.
Are really great.
They sit, they stand very proud and you get really good purchase on them.

24:40
And incidentally, you can also waive this out of the pocket using those big thumb studs if if it's your thing, if you so desire or need to.
Also, it's got this nice.
Canvas my card, not canvas.
What is that burlap micarta and the micro milling on the clip.
So just a great knife.
A beautiful design overall with a very unique blade shape that man.
Oh, there's also clip point to this so this is a clip point quake and recurve tanto and you don't.

25:12
You don't find too many of those in the wild.
Next up is also a knife that reminds me of an ethnographic example.
This is this reminds me of the barong that's the knife over my.
One of the knives over my shoulder there.
This is the vast steed cutlery nightshade, a very I am finding out a very polarizing design.
As you can see, I have the straight part of the spine lined up with that straight line and you can see how the blade dips down into the medium that you're cutting.
That is the unique selling proposition of this knife.

25:51
It is that downward angle that almost who create esque placement and shape to the to the downward edge, really efficient cutter that's full, fully flat ground.
It's thin behind the edge.
That's D2 blade steel because this one is their Lt version.
Their light version meaning basically light on the materials and because the first one that came out was a was a bolster lock with M390.
Or it was a bolstered frame, or bolstered liner lock with M390, but I love the shape of this.
I love the angle presentation of the blade to handle and a lot of people really don't.
I showed this to my daughters.

26:35
They both thought it was ugly, showed it to my wife.
She thought it was ugly.
Some people have mentioned, let's say Nick Martinos good good friend of the show mentioned just not for me.
You know.
So a lot of people are not so fond of that to me.
I it's great.
It's so efficient in terms of cutting, but also in terms of slashing.

26:58
If you had to slash this for any reason, you're you're.
Edge that big bellied curved edge is meeting whatever you're slashing at much earlier than your knuckles, meaning it's very very very efficient.
And then also it puts the point more in line with like a pistol gripped knife so you don't have to torque your or angle your wrist so much in a. In a sort of with Saber style thrust, if you will.
So I I really dig this knife.
Plus it's fidgety as hell.
It's got a crown spine, awesome gimping liner lock, deep carry pocket clip inset and flat screws.
I mean this it it it for me it's firing on all cylinders especially you uniqueness.

27:48
That's three and 1/4 inch blade.
A lot of people mentioned they'd like to see this larger I I joined that chorus I would love to see this larger and not like a four inch or four and 1/4 inch or something audaciously large.
This would be a terrifying knife to.
To wield or I guess to come up against.
So that is the vasty nightshade.
I'm talking about these like, like I'm going out into, you know, into a pit fight.
But really these are all EDC knives.

28:16
Maybe not as we go down the road here.
Maybe they're not all EDC knives, but that Voss did Nightshade most definitely isn't EDC knife, and an awesome one at that.
I just can't help but look at it though and think of some of my favorite weapons.
All right.
Next up is the off grid knives.
Raptor, this one is unique as hell and but let's look at it closed.
It's unique in that it's.

28:40
And I'm just kind of busting chops here, but it's 2 inches wide at the peak here, so this is a pocket hog for sure.
But what a great knife.
Say you got a whole bunch of cardboard.
Say you've gone to IKEA and done something really expensive.
And then you've got a whole bunch of boxes to cut up.
This one will be your best friend this.
And actually I got to say several other off grid knives are my favorite cardboard knives, but.

29:08
Look at that design.
I'm calling this a hawkbill tanto.
Oh, wait, let's call it a pentagonal hawk build tanto.
And I say pentagonal because.
Well, you can see the five facets there, and there's almost an extra angle here going up, so this is like 1. 12345 It kind of looks.
I don't know you look at it.
It looks like a diamond.

29:35
This thing is not just audaciously designed, this isn't just a something that carry orifice of off grid knives designed just to look weird and to look unique.
It does do that, but this is an incredible EDC shape.
This thing is really.
Uh, yes, it's unique, but it's really, oh versatile.
You've got this 2 1/2 inch stretch of very extremely thin behind the edge flat ground D2.
And then, it's, uh, maintains just about the same width through this, uh, recur this hawkbill portion up front?
It's got a nice point of very precise point for you know if you're doing draw cuts, but even if you're.

30:25
Say cutting, cutting something out to shape this would be excellent, so I really like using this knife as well as.
Considering it and looking at it, it is a bizarre one and I must admit when I saw it on paper or on the Internet.
I was like that.
How's that gonna work?
I mean, come on, are you just doing that to be cute?
Are you just designing that knife to be cute?
But no, it really works.

30:52
There's one issue I have with this knife, and that's the flipper tab and how it sort of interacts with the with the forward guard portion of the handle, but we talked about it.
And he was, uh, carry basically indicated that was the only way he could make this design work.
So I was like, fine, I'll take it because I love the rest of it and the jumping, by the way is awesome up here on the back of the blade.
So very unique unique blade style and blade shape and the only one of its type that I know of.
It's kind of like a reverse reverse recurve tanto so.
Very, very useful as well as unique.
OK, Next up, let's see this one.

31:38
This is the one that made me say, well when I said all of them are pretty good EDC knives.
There are a couple here that are just clearly not, and this is one of them.
Though you could use it for all your EDC tasks, this happy little fellow is more about self-defense for sure.
This was inspired by.
The civilian.
The civilian model by Spyderco.
And that model was designed and invented by Sal Glesser as a in response to a request by the government of or or some sort of security police force within South Africa in the early 90s.

32:22
There were lots and lots of rapes happening and lots of civilian upheaval and unrest, and they wanted some sort of knife that people could use without any training to grade.
Effect, and so they developed.
So Sal Glesser developed that S recurve with the point.
That you see on the civilian, uh, really cool knife and you can see it in movies and stuff.
And very menacing but.
Also very delicate.
The area where the forward tip meets the rest of the blade was very thin.

32:55
Not a knife you would want to use robustly in any other way except tearing through flesh.
Sorry, that's very lurid and vivid, but that's what it was meant for this.
The Black Talon is a Lynn Thompson update of that design.
I'm sure he would bristle at that characterization, but that's exactly what it is.
It's an update of the civilian design made way more robust.
It's a thicker blade.
This whole portion up towards the tip is solid, as can be.

33:26
You could use this all day long as a gardening knife.
I mean no doubt this would actually be a very good gardening knife and pruning knife, but you could use it all day long, opening boxes and all that and you wouldn't have to worry about that tip coming off.
Now I hear some spider goal fencing the Tip's not gonna come off of a civilian, and you wouldn't be carrying it for that anyway.
And that's probably true, but you could, if you like the shape and find.
Non tactical utility in this knife, which I'm I'm sure you could especially like.
I'm saying with vegetation and that kind of stuff and using those serrations.
And and then if that's not enough, you know, beefing up the blade, this is XHP steel.

34:08
I think they're now in S35, VN.
But it's got the ultra robust.
Axis lock in there you can see the big giant stop pin that goes between the Tang of the blade and the lock bar, and that's what makes the triad lock the triad lock.
All the force that goes into the blade is redirected into that stop stop pin, which redirects the force into the rest of the handle so.
This thing is robust.
This this takes the idea of the civilian and really really picks it up to where it needs to be.
A knife that is universal are not universal, but useful in in any sort of situation.

34:56
Except for maybe slicing ham, you know?
Alright, Next up is one that comes to us from Russia.
This comes to us from Russia, from love, from Russia, with Levon.
This is one of the knives that Levon brings over.
And this is the crystal Aurora.
And now, Jim, I'm, I'm looking at our lower third there.
I sent you the wrong spelling of crystal.

35:22
It is with a K crystal Aurora.
But I think we'll all survive.
This knife is very unique and based on a Russian style knife with that big giant fuller thank you.
Is the man with that big giant fuller in the blade?
What a unique looking knife this I remember.
This might be too much information, but I remember waking up on a Saturday morning last summer, the summer of 2021, and you know, opening up Instagram to see what was happening in the knife world and Levon was showing this one off and I went right on and and bought it because that fuller just just.
Oh man, it just took me.

36:05
I love the way that looks but it it ends up that this is a very useful thing to have on this blade as well.
So it's it's a full flat ground.
Or I I actually, I think it might be a very gentle full height hollow grind and then that Fuller has pulled out of it, and then there's a texture blasted into.
I'm not sure if it's blasted, but there there's a texture in that fuller, so nothing sticks there.
So this is a very slicey knife, very, very thin behind the edge here, and then zero resistance for that, for that huge fuller and then the shoulder here, just sort of.
Splits the materials off to the side.
This is a very efficient cutter.

36:51
As well as unique looking and just interesting knife.
This is one of my fancy summer weight knives if you will.
This is one that I'll put in shorts if I feel like carrying something somewhat nice or something titanium, for instance.
I'll pop this in my.
I don't want to say it like that.
I will put this in my pocket and cause it is super light.
Just incredible pockets.

37:19
Incredibly thorough.
Pocketing is what I should say in those titanium slabs.
Very very light.
Also thin slabs to start with.
Nice light backspacer.
Great action on this knife.
The thing I like about the action is that it flies out like a knife on bearings as it is, but when it when you bring it in it feels hydraulic more like a sebenza with slightly less resistance.

37:48
It's like very smooth but with a little resistance and I really like it.
I've always commented that that's one of the features of this knife that I'm not sure if it's on purpose, but I really like how they tuned.
The detent and the action before I get off of this knife, something that I also find very unique about it.
Besides the blade and the action.
Is that the the traction plan as nothing fancy would say so you have this sort of ceremonial jumping up here on the spine.
I I would like that to be more aggressive personally because I like the tactile feedback, but the sides are Jim this whole thing.
If you can see that that micro milling is, that's those are just vertical lines and it acts as jimping.

38:36
You really, really when you're pulling it out of the pocket?
You have the same thing on the back of the clip.
Jumping on the back of the IT comes out very easily and it just really.
That strip right down the middle is where your finger pads land.
It's just very well considered and then up here where you might do a pinch grip.
It's got this sort of radial.
Concentric jimping in in that like rose in that direction, so you can hold it in this sort of pinch grip.

39:07
So really useful knife very well considered knife, but also just stylish and futuristic looking.
But based on a traditional Japanese traditional Russian knife, the name of which escapes me at the moment.
So if anyone out there knows, please drop it in the in the comments.
This is something I want to mention right here.
I get some people like there was a comment wrong on many, many counts and that was the only thing they put in the in the comments on my video about a knife wrong on many counts.
I'm like, OK. Fair enough, but tell me how I was wrong.
Like, at least help some people out.

39:47
Help me out.
Help the people reading the comments on instead of just being like, I know this information and you don't.
How about.
Oh well actually.
That was made for this or that.
How about you just let me know instead of being a jerk, a jerk.
Have gotta watch the language instead of being a Mama.

40:04
Luke, how about you?
Just how about you just help me out all right?
Next up is a very unique one.
When I saw this I thought it was broken.
Kind of like when I saw the Emerson Elvia.
This one is the inversion by Kaiser.
And it is similar to the Elvia and that it's a folding picale style knife.

40:25
This one is designed by Dirk Pinkerton.
I love Dirk Pinkerton's designs.
He's also a really nice guy, but just really cool designs.
He does a lot of Warren Cliffy stuff and then he does.
Modern interpretations of classic ethnographic weaponry and then he does his own brand of picol style and little self-defense push dagger.
He kind of stuff a very.
Very varied and diverse catalogue of knives he makes, but all of them are squarely in my wheelhouse.

41:00
This one you look at it.
It is funky looking is it not?
Now when I shut it you feel like the knife should be held this way and that the edge should be here.
But then you see there is a flipper on the wrong side, so to speak and as well as the opening disk slash brass wave this thing will wave open on your pocket.
You open it up, you pull it out of your pocket and this is how it's meant to be used.
Tip down edge in this is a self-defense knife in a classy titanium and S 35 VN package.
But that is how it's intended to be used.

41:39
That is its main purpose, so it rides in the pocket.
Like this.
You draw it out.
This wave opens it up.
It also comes with one that won't wave open and then boom, you've got it in your hand, ready to.
Go, you know but.
It is a weapon.

41:59
You look at it.
It's very weaponry, but it's also very utility.
This makes for a great utility knife.
It's actually quite comfortable in this if if you hold it this way and just a standard grip, and you have still with that Hawk Bill and the downward pointed Warren Cliff blade there, or a tip you have great placement for utility cuts without having to to Curb Your wrist or do anything weird with
your wrist.
Puts the point right where you need it for opening boxes and stuff.
This is a knife that I've carried thinking of it in my carried it in my front right pocket thinking of it as my last ditch self-defense.

42:38
You know knife but I've ended up using it for a lot more or or or for other things.
Obviously thank God, but yeah, this is a very useful knife.
Strange as it looks unique as it is and it is one of not too many pical style folders.
There are more and more.
Come in.
I I know that there are a lot of custom builders making folding piccolos Dale Knives, but not too much there on the open market.
Look at that.

43:09
I'm just looking at the lineup so far.
That is a handsome lineup of unique knives, I gotta say.
All right, Next up, let's take a look at here's the only slip joint here, and I said I was going to show this off.
Later, and this is a dog leg, this is the.
This is the Jack Wolf knives dog leg.
It's the canine Jack and dog leg is a traditional pattern and like what Ben Belkin of Jack Wolf Knives does is he takes his favorite traditional style patterns and then tweaks them and makes them good for him and better for all of us.
He's got a sprawling collection of custom slip joint knives and he has distilled all of their best qualities through all of the models he has.

43:59
Examined and owns, and when he redesigned the various the various models he put tweaks in them that made them even better this.
On this knife I have to say I absolutely love the spear point blade.
I'm not a huge fan of Spear point slip slip joint blades when they're parallel edge to spine, but this one has that.
Deepening belly towards the tip and the swedge.
It is an incredible cutter and very very handsome example of a spear point blade.
But the thing that's so unique to me about this one is the dog leg curve and the handle.
It looks audacious.

44:40
It look it looks.
Gratuitous, like it's just there to look different and look cool, but then when you get it in hand, especially as a single bladed knife, and you don't have the the spine contours of another another blade interrupting the contour of the handle.
Man is this thing comfortable so it it it is a really this is this is.
Function following form wait form following function uh to me.
I gotta be honest.
I never really liked the look of the dog leg knives and and by all accounts Ben has accentuated the dog leg a little bit.
To make it even more ergonomic.

45:25
And so this is a case of having it in hand and using it makes all the difference.
So very unique handle style on the dog leg.
Knives and and I would say on Ben Belkins version, the Jack Wolf Knives version of the dog leg.
Very neat so you can see it if you're looking.
If you're watching this you can see how the handle curves here.
I'll straighten the spine there.
It's just, really, uh, yeah, really dips down and and gives you a great.

46:00
See you there?
Yeah, look at that that so that nestles right in that muscle part of the thumb.
Beautiful knife Next up is.
Something that I don't think too many others have been able to do and that is make a folding cookery a good one.
And this so this is the fox knives elements.
Jason Knight designed cookery this is based on the kind of countries he makes.
That blade looks a lot like the sort of cookies he makes custom in his shop.

46:37
But this knife is unique in that in a similar way to the Volstead Nightshade.
We're very familiar with Kukris in the wild.
The fixed blade cookery we all know what that looks like, and then we're all pretty familiar with some attempts to make folding kukris and.
The best one I would say besides this one is the cold steel Rajah.
The cold steel rajas.
Those are pretty legit in terms of folding cookies, but the smaller you get with that the less it looks like a cookery.
The the Raja 3, the small one.

47:13
Looks more like a just a recurve blade, I don't know, it looks less like a cook.
Create this one.
They nailed all of the.
They nailed it all and or I should say Jason Knight nailed it all in terms of the angle of the blade to the handle, the curvature of the handle and then the overall curvature from the tip of the blade to the pommel.
It's it's.
It's like a one big half Oval, and it does all of the things I was saying the vast did the smaller EDC vosti does, except in a much more combative package.
The on that forward thrust.

47:52
It is a legit pistol grip right there.
You don't have to change the angle of your wrist at all, but you have that deep recurve that shaped recurve that you get from a cookery and then you get the overall curve so that that deep recurve is also deeper because of the angle that it's presented to from the handle.
So really, really great design.
I mean even if you look at the Raja which is a you know.
The Raja too is sort of universally hailed as well.
I won't say the best, but as one of the greatest folding cookies, and if you look at that should have busted it out.
It has a an overall straight form factor and and that is not in any way a criticism.

48:36
I love that knife, but this one has an overall curved or arched form factor and that to me makes the couch riness of this even more cookery.
So it makes it a more efficient, more devastating chopper, slasher and thruster.
Yes kukris.
Are good thrusters, maybe not at every angle, but at many alright.
Next up is so unique I only know of two other versions.
Uh, two other.
I think there are only two others that I can think of right now, but it's a folding a legit folding dagger and this is the arcane designs antimatter arcane design.

49:20
I'm sorry that almost got me.
You got to be careful with these double edged folders.
That's why they're not too common.
They're not terrifically illegal everywhere, and they're not.
They're not so safe if you're not thinking about it.
You can cut yourself if you don't use the quillion to shut it.
But Israel Bacchus of Arcane Design teamed up with Felix of Something Obscene Company to design this knife.

49:46
I think he really helped.
Uh, Israel.
I think Felix really helped Israel figure out, uh, this sort of how to best house a double edged blade safely and and.
Repeatably, safely, I guess I should say in a in an opening handle so as not to cut yourself.
They did a great job I I love the shape of that handle.
It feels so good in hand it looks like it might not because it's angular, but that you'll that's.
That's a common.

50:22
Misconception of mine where I'll see something and I'll go.
Oh, that's angular that's not gonna feel good.
Well that's not the case.
Definitely not in this case.
Also, this is really good in reverse grip because they give you a little peek to cap with your thumb but just unique in its double edged folding Ness without being an out the front is the is the antimatter.
Now I was I said there are two others that I can think of and that is the the MAXIMUS.
I think it was called.

50:53
By hinderer one that I would love to get my hands on and then also another one.
I'd love to get my hands on the arch nemesis.
By sharp by design man and Brian Nado that what a beautiful knife that was I was fortunate enough to have that one in on loan.
Man.
I wanted it all right.
Last up this is one that we don't see much of saw it a lot.
Maybe not a lot actually a rare bird, but a a much loved bird in the switchblade world is the stiletto with the Chris.

51:30
This is the.
Modern version of the stiletto.
With the crisis and it's the tyre light Chris I could have.
There are a couple of crises I could have put out here.
And all cold steel.
So I chose this one because we have seen this before.
You know what they have the Voyager Chris out which is awesome but we have seen this in the old Italian switchblade format so I wanted to show this one.

52:00
Why is this unique?
Well, first of all, it's that WAVY shaped blade.
You don't see it much in, you know everyday carry knives or or knives that you can just buy from production companies.
A lot of people think.
Are a lot of people might think that it is just sort of a gratuitously shaped.
It's like just for mall ninja types.
I see a little pitting on this.

52:25
This is 440. Oh no.
It's Austin AUS 10. A little bit of pitting on this.
I'm going to have to.
Gonna have to sharpen that or flitz that out.
Sorry off track there.
It is a an extremely useful blade, especially in terms of fighting.
You know, it's it's got a very.

52:45
That edge is devastating and those waves, if pushed in.
You know on a thrust those waves are nasty.
It's like a big bread knife and also the downward tip that Chris is always has a downward tip as opposed to a trailing tip just to do some tip slashing and snagging.
Incidentally, if you were to EDC carry this for like daily tasks.
That tip is actually pretty good and pretty useful, but in daily tasks that WAVY blade might present some issues.
Not in terms of cutting cardboard, but it does.
Uh, it does get to that edge in a somewhat oblique angle there so.

53:28
This is kind of more of a weapon.
Anything but unique in that it is a crisis and it is a an extremely well done blade.
That's the thing about the cold steel crises that I don't want to say amaze me because they always do a great job, but that's the reason when I got that, Chris.
And by that, Chris, I mean the first one, the Voyager.
I was amazed at how perfectly the edge is.
And the same thing with this and the overall grind.
So it's unique for a couple of reasons that shape is very unique, but also the ability to manufacture it and the willingness to manufacture it and go through no doubt some trials and tribulations.

54:08
Making that happen is not nothing, all right?
I just want to show just before we dip out of here two also RANS or runners up.
This one is very unique.
This is by.
Nick Rogers of Niche designs this is a prototype that Ingress he never went to production on this but I was lucky enough.
He was kind enough to give me this prototype and this is one of the true prizes of my collection.
I love this knife but I cannot add it to this because this is not readily gotten.

54:42
All of these knives you can you can get.
But this one you cannot but very unique, beautiful looking, shocking and and audacious but also familiar and.
And by the way, a great cutter Nick Rogers niche designs.
He just released the Ahab with artisan and I think he's got another one on the way.
And also in this category of also RANS is a another slip joint.
This is the beer and sausage knife from GEC cutlery.
Uh, it's the number 35 frame, so that's a cigar frame.

55:20
They have one called the Churchill on this frame that I've always wanted, but this is what makes it unique.
It's the tool set.
So this is for the urban hipster, uh, the beer and sausage you go to your favorite, uh?
You go to Radagast.
That was my favorite beer and sausage hall in Brooklyn.
When I lived there.
I don't know if it's still there, but this would have been a cool knife to have and I would have been the talk of the town.

55:45
I could cut, you know, drink my beer and then cut my sausage with that and pick them up with that cool fork.
Open up.
New beers with that and then brush out my hipster beard and all the crumbs that have accumulated with the comb.
Very cool.
I love this knife.
I think it's cool just for its uniqueness and and kind of just differentness.
That was given to me as a gift from Mr Mike Latham of of collectorknives.net.

56:16
He really bristled at that design, thought it was an affront to classic slip joint knives, and I could see where he's coming from, but his his disgust is my joy.
So I'm really happy to have that knife.
All right?
These are the totally.
Unique knives in my collection.
Folder edition.
Went through the fixed blades.

56:36
There's some unique ones, but I don't think there are enough.
So maybe I need to go fluff up that part of the sub collection.
Alright, so that does it for me.
Let me know what your unique folder designs are in the comments below.
Love to check them out and I just implore you have a wonderful week.
Check us out on Sunday for the interview show and and join us on Thursday Night Knives at 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Right here on YouTube, Facebook or Twitch.

57:04
It is a great time.
One of my favorite times of the week and also you can download us here on the podcast apps.
And listen whilst on the go 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 it.
Review thepodcast.com for show notes for today's episode.

57:28
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