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.
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Transcript: The Knife Junkie Podcast, Episode 658.

Bob DeMarco: Coming up: the new Gunslinger Jack, I get a new fighting Bowie, and 15 great everyday defense blades. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is The Knife Junkie Podcast.

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.

Bob DeMarco: Welcome back to the show. One of my favorite comments from this past week was from HCL Salt, who said, "Interesting to hear him talking about Chris Adelhardt of Pariah Knives. Interesting to hear him mention that bringing the hamon out is a separate skill to making it. In Japan, the polishers train for many years, and it's entirely separate from the smithing done by different craftsmen. This guy's work is gorgeous. I wonder what he charges for his commissions? Probably way out of my league, unfortunately."

Yeah, I would say same for me. I don't know what those exact numbers are, but I would assume the same for myself. And then Shawn Clark said, "Great video and gorgeous blades. Definitely gonna get me one." Shawn, I look forward to hearing about that. Both Shawn and HCL Salt are friends of the show on Thursday Night Knives. They're on every week these days and comment, so it's a lot of fun. If you'd like to comment in real-time, join us every Thursday night for Thursday Night Knives at 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Otherwise, keep watching the videos and leaving your comments.

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

Announcer: 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 beautiful and ever stout and sturdy and ready-to-go Microtech SOCOM Elite Automatic. This is a really, really great knife. Super strong automatic, four-inch blade. This is that M390 blade steel. I got this in an awesome trade with my good buddy Dave of OG Blade Reviews. Dave, you gotta go check out his channel, OG Blade Reviews. But anyway, this one is one of three SOCOMs I have, and soon it'll be four. By the time you're watching this, I think my RAM-LOK SOCOM will have arrived. I'm very much looking forward to that. And in anticipation of that, I was carrying this today. And just love this knife.

The one gripe I do have is the tip-down only configuration. They have changed that in the Bravo and in the new RAM-LOK version of the Elite coming out, which I'm happy about. And it's not just a preference thing; it's also because the handle on this famously tapers in the distal manner that way and that way. So to have the extra girth of the clip and a little extra something to hold on to when you're flipping it open or depressing the very stout button would be welcome. But other than that, first-world problems, basically. So, beautiful SOCOM Elite Automatic in the tanto, of course.

This one I've just been carrying so much. This is the Tracy LaRock design collaboration knife with Jack Wolf Knives. This is the Jack Wolf Knives Timber Jack. This is the largest slip joint in the Jack Wolf Knives catalog. You can really get a serious grip on this knife. Now, all of their knives—I should say most of the Jack Wolf Knives knives—are four-finger grip knives, but this one takes the cake with its rounded contoured handle and very, very comfortable sort of trapper profile in that handle that I love. That beautiful drop-point blade—I would love a big fixed blade that looked like that. Great working blade shape. Nice and thin with that 154CM. This is in the lightweight series. Been carrying this one all the time lately.

Next on my belt, the Hogtooth Knives collaboration with yours truly. This is the second one we did. This is the Hogtooth Knives NoVA-2. And this is a 154CM... kiridashi. That's the word I was looking for, sorry. That kiridashi-inspired blade. Nicely hollow-ground, really, really sharp. This, of course, is the prototype we made—the royal we—made about 15 of them and sold them to people who wanted them in the pre-show. Beautiful, beautiful knife. I love this thing. Maybe someday we'll do another run of them. People seem to like them.

All right, and last up, my ESK today—my emotional support knife—was the legendary Espada XL from Cold Steel Knives. Just love this knife. On Thursday Night Knives, we were talking about this, this knife came up quite a bit. So I pulled it out and threw it in my backpack and have had it with me for days. I love this thing. It is truly a sword. I'm going to show you how, because if you just hold it back here in one of its many grips and use that little sub-guard—that little sub-hilt—and grip it like this, you have great purchase on this and incredible reach. I always think that this would be a great backpacking knife because it could do a lot of different duties, including... you could use that as a machete easily. And mine is the hollow-ground, so the blade is a little lighter, the balance is a little different. I have noticed that balance changes a little bit when you've got a heavier blade, obviously. You have a heavier blade when you have a flat-ground blade instead of that hollow-ground blade.

This is what I had on me today: I had the Espada XL from Cold Steel, such an awesome knife. I had the NoVA-2 from Hogtooth Knives and myself. I had the Tracy LaRock design Timber Jack from Jack Wolf Knives. And then I had the beautiful Microtech SOCOM Elite, which will soon have a new stablemate. Can't wait to show that off.

All right, I want to tell you about 3 Dog Knife. This is the in-house custom knife brand of Northern Knives. I mentioned Thursday Night Knives before. If you guys and gals join us on that show, you definitely know Mike of Northern Knives. Well, he has another company called 3 Dog Knife, and they make these awesome, super robust outdoor fixed-blade knives. I mean, they are up in Anchorage, Alaska, and they are all outdoorsmen. And so they make knives that are great for both the deep timber and the back alley, let's say. This one maybe is a little big for everyday carry, but they do make some cool everyday carry outdoor and EDC-style fixed blades. This is their newest one. This is called the Champion Blade. This is made with Trevor Barrett—I said Burger, my bad—Trevor Barrett, and he was a winner of Forged in Fire a couple of years back. Beautiful outdoor-style tanto. They make a couple of these, which I think is really cool because I've always wondered, not being an outdoorsman, I've always wondered why this blade shape hasn't been more widely adopted throughout the outdoor community. And here 3 Dog Knife has recognized its outdoor utility. It seems to give it, like a tracker knife, kind of give it a lot of different options, give the user a lot of different options.

Anyway, this is the Champion Blade. You guys love my Riot, which I show off—the MAK (Multi-Animal Knife)—which I use the most or have carried the most. They're all great knives. Go to theknifejunkie.com/3dogknife and use the coupon code knifejunkie and you get 25% off these beauties. So go pick one up for the next hunting season or camping season coming up as spring is upon us, and get yourself a very, very unique, handmade, gorgeous knife made right here in the United States. 3 Dog Knife. Beautiful leather sheath too, of course.

All right, let's see. Also, I want to talk about Patreon real quick. This is our newest Day in History. These are really, really cool parts of Knife Notes. Knife Notes is kind of a catch-all term for an article that Jim produces weekly. And sometimes Knife Notes is about a knife in particular, or sometimes it's about, in this case, one day in history: the day Camillus Cutlery closed their doors. And it's just value-added. If you become a Patreon member, you get that kind of thing. You get the Friday Funnies, you get Maker Mondays where we dig into a certain maker and talk about them. So just a lot of great stuff happening at Patreon. You can scan the QR code right here on your screen to go there, or go to theknifejunkie.com/patreon and sign up. If you sign up for one year in advance all at once, you get 12% off. Scan the QR code on your screen or go to theknifejunkie.com/patreon.

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First up from Polish designer Ostap Hel—a great guy and an awesome designer—is the Bestech DuoZ. I think it's the DuoZ. You tell me, D-U-O-Z is what it's called. But anyway, this is a beautiful, sleek 3.34-inch compound-ground up-swept blade. I mean, that blade is super unique for a very affordable EDC knife. It's a lot of work done on that blade. And then we have that very, very signature-looking Ostap Hel profiled handle there with the cutout around the flipper and the cutout around the lock bar, and then the long, rectangular, super neutral profile. Beautiful and very signature. 14C28N is the blade. Handle is G10 scales, liner lock, deep carry pocket clip, reversible. This is a mere 2.15 ounces. This will be out soon for MSRP $48. So a song, basically. A song will get you this knife.

All right, next up, the Civivi. This new one is really cool. I love Civivi fixed blades. This one is... it's a knockout. But I gotta say, oof, that MSRP is also a knockout. But we'll get to that in a second. This is the Maciej Torbé designed Scoopth. Yes, that's right, the name is Scoopth. Like the word "scoop" with "th" at the end. Because why not? Haven't been able to figure out what that is, but I'll tell you what, that blade is astounding. It is really beautiful. To me, it's very much trapper-inspired—looks—it reminds me a little bit of the... tracker, not trapper, I'm sorry, tracker-inspired. It reminds me of the Tom Brown Tracker, but it's... you wouldn't call it that. Anyway, beautiful 4.9-inch Nitro-V compound-ground—I'm calling it a modified sheepsfoot. I mean, because why not? What a beautiful swedge, harpoon swedge, a swale for your thumb, and then some jimping and a really nice handle. I'm in love with this knife. It's got a Kydex sheath. And it either has that Guibourtia wood handle or this G10, and the G10 they call... what did I call it? With the knurling in it, that is gorgeous. It looks like an up—like a modern old-school, I don't know. It reminds me of the furniture on an old rifle, the handle on that. Just beautiful. 9.57 ounces with the Kydex sheath. Available soon. Here's the part that makes me swallow hard: this is $235 for a fixed-blade Civivi. It just seems... just seems a little high. I'm not sure why, I guess Maciej Torbé maybe he demands a high commission. I don't know, I can't imagine it's the compound grind—you just looked at a $48 Bestech with a pretty intricate compound grind on a smaller blade. So I don't know. But anyway, it is beautiful. I think it's really cool. I'd love to have it. Who knows, maybe I will. Maybe when I find it at a cut-rate price.

All right, the next one. This is really cool and this is a retread or a send-up of a knife I always wanted, slept on, and then it went away. I even had someone I wanted to give this to as a gift, and then it went away. See, that's what happens when you sleep on a knife. Anyway, this is the new TOPS Knives Made Ontario Hunter XL. Now, the Hunter XL from Ontario was a 5.5-inch 1095 thin kind of butcher knife with a hickory handle—it was part of the Old Hickory lineup—but this was the one from that series that had a sheath. Usually, they were intended for like kitchen use, culinary use, but this one was intended for taking out on the trail. Well, when the doors closed over at Ontario—or you know, that thing happened and things have changed there and I guess they're now owned by Blue Ridge Knives—but anyway, Ontario teamed up with TOPS. Couldn't have been a better team-up because they're known for their super robust builds, they're American-made. Everyone loves TOPS. And the TOPS knives are just proven time and time again. So they took the knife and kept its classic lines. You've got that beautiful clip-point blade with a very gentle taper towards the ricasso. Beautiful swedge on there. 5.5 inches, they kept the length. 1095 blade steel, but they upped the stock to 0.15 of an inch from the very, very slender... what was it? Eighth of an inch, sixteenth of an inch? I can't remember what it was. But it was very slender. They beefed it up in a sort of TOPS fashion. Again, you've got a full tang here. Gorgeous red Micarta canvas handles here; no hickory on this one. Next to that black coating, just beautiful. Comes in a leather sheath, like pouch-style sheath, deep sheath. I want one, I want one, I'm saying it right now. 13.7 ounces. Available now. $215 MSRP. You can see the little divot in the handle there for making a bow lighter—not a bow lighter—bow... tell me what I'm missing, guys. You know, where you make the fire. Like a bow, like a bow on a violin. Anyway, I think that's cool. I always thought that was an interesting touch, but it seems like a very dangerous way to do that activity. It seems like you don't want a sharp knife out there, so maybe make something else.

Okay, lastly, GiantMouse has a cool one. This is the Iona Sailor. And a cool little tidbit—cool tidbit of a story here—this is inspired by maritime knives, sailor knives. And I guess in some cultures, in some maritime cultures, during some periods of history, sailors were forced to break the tips off of their blades to create... or to make it harder to create a mutiny, I guess, because you don't have a stabbing weapon now, now you only have a cutting weapon. I don't know, that sounds kind of like one of those stories that doesn't quite ring true, but I like it. It's like a little bit of lore. Anyway, this one is based on that, so it's a modified sheepsfoot. You've got a centerline or lower-style point. Some people would call this a spay-style blade with a nice belly. Maybe that's what I'll call it right now. Spay-style blade with a nice belly. And I dare say you could thrust with that; wouldn't be too hard to make a stab with that blade. But anyway, I get the idea. S90V blade steel. You've got a thumb stud, FRN handle on this with a wire clip. So this is part of their ACE line. I don't have any GiantMouses. I'm kind of grateful that they stay just outside of my preferred carry size. They're always just a little bit small, but I find them beautiful. I think the lines are gorgeous on all their knives, this one included. Liner lock, Italian-made. Maybe that's what it is. 2.6 ounces and available now for $175 at your favorite GiantMouse dealer.

All right, still to come on The Knife Junkie Podcast, we're going to take a look at the First Tool. Before we get to that, I want to say thank you guys for showing up and being a part of this show and leaving your comments. It's greatly appreciated. All right, let's get... we got a really cool one here on the First Tool, so let's take a look at it.

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

Bob DeMarco: When we picture a Roman soldier, we usually think of the short sword, the gladius, slashing in tight formation. But hanging quietly at his side was something just as important and far more personal: the Pugio. This was the dagger of the Roman legionary. Compact, broad-bladed, usually between 7 and 11 inches long. It wasn't a backup weapon in the modern sense; it was a part of the soldier's identity. The name itself came from the Latin pugnus, meaning "fist," and that tells you everything you need to know about how it was meant to be used: close, intimate, close, intimate, brutally efficient.

Early versions of the Pugio were inspired by blades from the Iberian Peninsula, likely adopted after Rome's long conflicts in Spain. The Romans were practical. If a design worked, they didn't care where it came from; they improved it, standardized it, and made it Roman. The blade was typically a double-edged leaf shape with a pronounced midrib for strength. It was built for thrusting, but recurved and wide enough to slash efficiently. In tight formations when shields were locked and spaces disappeared, and the gladius itself was too large to engage with, a dagger like this could mean survival.

But here's what makes the Pugio fascinating for collectors and historians: many weren't plain military tools. Archaeologists have uncovered pugiones with silver inlays, brass fittings, red enamel decoration, even intricate geometric patterns etched into the blade. Some scabbards were masterpieces of metalwork. Why decorate a weapon meant for war? Because the Pugio wasn't just steel. It was status, it was pride, it was something a soldier carried every day on campaign, in camp, even in civilian life. It blurred the line between weapon and personal tool.

And it had a darker role too. Daggers shaped Roman history: assassinations, political intrigue, power struggles. Rome was a civilization where a concealed blade could change the fate of an empire. It's likely a Pugio, or several, killed Julius Caesar. By the third century, the Pugio gradually faded from standard issue. Military styles changed, warfare evolved. But for nearly 300 years, this compact dagger stood at the heart of Roman military life. The gladius may have won battles, but the Pugio stayed close to the heart.

All right, if you like these kind of verbal meanderings about knives and all things knife, you got to join us for Thursday Night Knives. Every Thursday, 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, right here on YouTube. And join the live chat. It is so much fun. We banter back and forth. A lot of—you'll notice a lot of the same names every week, and you'll get to know them and it's great. Great environment, so come join us.

All right, now let's get to the State of the Collection.

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Bob DeMarco: All right, first up in the State of the Collection, new from Jack Wolf Knives: it is the Gunslinger Jack. A beauty. This is the third production of this knife. This is one of their highest-selling knives, if not—if not the highest. This is based on the Sharpshooter Jack, which was the very first knife that Jack Wolf Knives put out—a slip joint. This, of course, is not a slip joint. This is a sort of bolster lock style knife, or liner lock. It's kind of hard to say. I guess you would call this a bolster lock. But anyway, comes in four different varieties, and like I said, this is the third time they've put this knife out. This one has S90V blade steel. A beautifully—blackened—looks like it's been fingerprinted. A beautifully blackened blade there. It's got this sort of black satin, hard to explain, but in some lights it looks gray, some lights it looks pitch black. But deeply hollow-ground, wickedly sharp. You've got a groove on both sides for flicking out with your fingers—with your middle finger—or you can kind of bury your thumb in that and kind of slow-roll it out. Of course, you also have the front-flipping capability of this. Like I said, it comes in a number of different cover materials. This one has titanium, and as you can see, those are covers. This isn't—these aren't solid slabs on both sides. You can see the titanium cover married perfectly to the titanium liner bolster combination. This one also—in a new—newest touch for Jack Wolf Knives—has an anodized pivot collar, beautifully blackened just like the blade and the backstrap here and the clip. Really awesome. Also comes with a filler tab in case you prefer to drop this in a leather sleeve. Every time I do that, I lose a fingernail, that's funny. Nicely sharpened opening groove there. I shouldn't say sharp, but it's left sharp so it catches your—your flesh when you go to open it. Oh, I had two other examples. These are two from the other—other runs. With the wood, rosewood, and with a carbon fiber.

Next in the State of the Collection, this beauty from Tate Buzzard, The Norman Tactical. Is how he goes on Instagram. This is a Fighting Bowie. Nate—I had Nate on the show probably a little over a year ago—and he—he makes a lot of sort of Bowie knives, EDC-style Bowie knives, so kind of little big knives, big little knives. I guess little big is what I'd call it, because this one has a handle that is great for me, nestles right in the palm. It's a wasp-waisted coffin handle and fits the hand really well but nothing extra, which makes this easier to stash in the waistband and carry around, which I've only done several times. 1095 blade steel, sharpened swedge, nice 9.5-inch blade. Just really beautiful, light, moves nicely in the hand. Has a tapered tang, and really nice... I guess that's G10. I can't tell what these handles are. Oh, it's like a paper Micarta, I guess, and mosaic pins. Really, really nice knife, and I love the sort of antiqued-looking Kydex sheath. That's right, Kydex. It looks, even though it's Kydex, it looks old. It's got a decent retention but not enough that you can't just quickly pull it out. So I dig this. He's made some other cool knives that I—that I like. I'm not sure what his production schedule is these days. Some people, myself included, come in and out of various crafts and hobbies and cycle through them, and I think Tate might be in that—in that category.

All right, so that's the State of the Collection. I have some something new stuff coming in, which I mentioned before. I'm very excited about. And my wife lost her Buck Mini Range Pro, which she loved dearly—it was her favorite knife—and so I got one of those coming too. I won't show that off; I've already shown that knife off.

All right, let's talk about everyday defense blades. We talk about EDC—oh wait, before we do, sorry, let me show you these. I'm not arguing, I'm explaining why this knife is different from my other 47. And you could make this 47, you could make this 147, you could make this 447. We all get it. This is the newest design that Jim has come up with. I love it. You can get this on a tote bag, on a hat, on an apron, on T-shirts, hoodies, whatever—all manner of what-have-you. So go check it out, theknifejunkie.com/shop. We have some 30-plus pages, and check out—they're funny, they're great knife-themed shirts, or whatever. You wear them in public, you meet like-minded individuals. It's a great way to meet other knife junkies, so go check it out.

All right, I'm going to show you 15 great everyday defensive blades. And I want to say that this is not an exhaustive list. And I—I have—when I started this, I thought it was going to be easy. I have a lot I left out. But these—I—I tried to keep to one per brand, and a lot of them are custom, but most of these are within-reach custom knives. If you're the—the type of knife junkie who's willing to pay a couple hundred bucks for a knife, these are within reach. So most of them.

All right, but the everyday defense term, EDD, instead of EDC, I want to—I want to credit Chaz Fisher, Fisher Blades. And his knife is the first knife I'm going to show. But they have—they are very adamant that the knives they sell are for defense first. Yes, of course, they will open boxes, they will do whatever sort of little daily chore you might have for an EDC blade, but that's not what their main—their main purpose is. The main purpose is everyday defense, something you can carry every day to use defensively. And I love that. Obviously, that resonates with me and my taste and my collection. So a little tip of the hat to Chaz Fisher, great knife designer and a good dude. And this is—it has to be this. He's got a number of great knives, but it has to be the Beckwith Covert. This is a pocket-carry fixed blade, everyday defensive fixed carry blade. Maybe you could say the knife that coined the term. This one drops in the pocket and then clips with that—with that discrete carry concepts clip on the side of your pocket. You can see how the blade is canted outward from the pocket so it doesn't menace the hip when you sit or—or are caught in the guard if you're—you're doing jiu-jitsu, you know, defending yourself on the ground or whatever. But really nice sheath drops deep in the pocket and then this is basically what shows: that and the clip. But here is the blade: a beautiful Americanized tanto blade. Chaz Fisher, when designing this knife, did an awful lot of organic medium testing, i.e., stabbing of pigs. Pigs that are dead, people, and that are going to feed homeless people afterward. But to test out knife blades and knife handles and that kind of thing, there's nothing like a pig who's dead hanging from the ceiling to test these kind of things out. I haven't done it myself; I would like to, and I would take it very seriously—it's a solemn thing for sure. But it's good to do if you're going to carry or design a knife for that kind of activity. And so this went through a lot of that kind of testing. Also, it is a Delica-inspired design with that thumb ramp, puts that center—the point right in the centerline, puts that straight—that long straight edge at a downward angle, and then at that secondary point. Really great for deep cutting and thrusting. Really nice handle. You've got a sort of bracket with the guard and that rear thumb—thumb placement there. So really, really nice on that bird's beak. Just a great all-around everyday defensive blade, and you could say the one that coined the term EDD. They've—they do these in batches, smallish batches, and then they do even smaller batches so that they can kind of improve them as they go. They do even smaller batches with different cerakote and sort of changing it up; they call it Unicorn Edition. That's the Beckwith Covert from Fisher Blades.

Next up is the Amtac Blades Northman. This was a gift to me from my father after he read one of the James Reece books where this was mentioned. He's like, "Gotta get one for you and your brother. Sounds like such a cool knife." You know, my dad likes the Jack Carr books and he's always talking about gear, and he talked this one up. And it is a cool knife. Now, this is the first knife I ever saw that had that deep-in-the-pocket fixed-blade setup here. So you've got that DCC-style clip with a deep extension, and then the sheath resides in the pocket. By the way, a very nice ferro rod right here that works. So this is one of those knives that you're supposed to just have on you all the time, whether you're in a city getting in a fight in a back alley or you're finding yourself in a survival situation you need to light a fire. This is kind of a go-everywhere do-everything kind of little knife. And it is little. They do make an XL version of it for people with larger hands, which, you know, I have medium-sized hands. I can't imagine that big bruiser types could hold onto this knife without making it a three-finger. So definitely check out the XL version if you like this and you've got XL hands for sure. But a beautiful sort of sgian-dubh looking knife—style knife we should—we could say. Centerline point, spear-point blade with M390 blade of M390 blade steel with a really nice grind—what do you call that? Saber grind. I opted for the serrations just to multiply the work it could do. G10 handle, really, really nice. That's the Amtac Northman. An everyday defense blade, but hey, if you get lost in the—if you get lost with it and you need to light a fire, you have those capabilities with that nice ferro rod.

All right, you know that Cold Steel is going to be on this list. I'm a huge Cold Steel fanboy, and Cold Steel's the only company I would use that term for actually, maybe Microtech. But they have a lot of great defensive blades. I have a number of them, but this one struck me because it is truly an everyday defense blade. It is small enough and light enough that it can be carried every day. And for a while, I was carrying this every day. I kind of forgot about it; going to start incorporating it again. But a great summer knife too. It's very low profile. I have it set up with this paracord that just slides on the belt. You forget it's there; it's about the width of your belt. But man, in a pinch if you need it, you have a push dagger. This is the Cold Steel Urban Edge. They have a very nice and sort of broad family of push daggers over at Cold Steel with a lot of different sizes and... I mean, it actually they get absurd with one of their push daggers—this big giant kris push dagger—more for like Conan the Barbarian pit fighting. But this you can definitely keep stashed on your belt. I've seen people lace this up in the—in the laces of their boots just under their pant leg. If they happen to find themselves on the ground, it's easily accessed. Just a great little blade. I think this is AUS-8. Yeah, this is AUS-8. So, you know, a great blade. If you want it larger, you can get it larger. If you want it smaller, you can get it smaller. If you want it serrated fully, you can do that; half-serrated you can do that. I really, really love the Cold Steel family of push daggers. And in this case, a little Urban Edge with its little two-inch blade. Great. It's all the push dagger hopefully you ever need.

Okay, next up, this one is near and dear to my heart—probably the nearest and the dearest to my heart by far in this list. This is the TKell Knives Agent 001. This is my collaboration knife with Tim Kell, and it's the knife that launched the Agent series, which all have this handle—a really, really awesome handle. Now, the handle is what went through the big redesign. I sent Tim a design, kept the blade exactly as is, but I had more of a pronounced choil and hook on this and it just didn't ring true with Tim. And he produced this handle and kept the spirit, the idea of it, with that bird's beak back here and the thumb—thumb rest. But man, he really perfected it, made it super comfortable. Fits my medium-sized hands, fits big old meat hooks really well and—and even smaller hands, like my daughter likes this knife too. Maybe she has to say she likes it. A really, really awesome knife. This is from the second production run, and you can see the terracing on the blade here—that's from the milling from NCC, Nick Chuprin's company. They do such beautiful milling work. Look at that. Look at the chamfering all around the—the guard and the—and the jimping. This one has their battle-lock grip. This is an FRN handle that I thought I wouldn't like until I got it in hand and saw it in person. And I love these battle-lock grips. You can get it in some 27,000 different colors—really, really intense colors. Super high-impact FRN. These are made by the same company that make FN grips for the FN firearm company and then another, I can't remember which, Sig maybe. I don't remember. But really, really great knife is the Agent 001. But is our—are all the other Agents—the 2, which is a wharncliffe; the 3; the 4 which is a kukri—I don't—I can't remember all the—all the different numbers and shapes. The 7, Tomas Alarcon's tanto. They are extraordinary. But all the TKell knives are—and they are and almost all of them, almost all of them—there are a couple of larger ones that are great—but almost all of them are great everyday defensive blades. That's how they started out, that's the true soul of TKell Knives: these thin sheaths that hide on the belt and make it easy to carry fixed-blade knives all the time. So go you gotta check out TKell Knives if you don't know them. Oh, and by the way, go to theknifejunkie.com/tkellknives and save 10% off with coupon code knifejunkie at checkout. That's a great—that's a great way to get behind the wheel of your first TKell knife.

Next up from a guy who went to the same art school I went to, just years later, and that was a serious bond. He's a cool guy, Aaron Bieber. This is the AB Knives or Aaron Bieber Knives 302. An absolutely stunning knife that is unique and familiar at the same time. It has that kiridashi meets Bowie-style blade here. I can't remember what blade steel—I think this is MagnaCut. MagnaCut blade steel, most likely, with that ray skin tsukamaki wrap. Beautiful, beautiful job. Everything about this knife is just impeccably done. Super light, it disappears on the belt in this sort of carbon fiber-esque Kydex sheath with the single loop. As a matter of fact, I might put this on and start carrying this for the rest of the day as I record this. I love this knife with a passion. And Aaron has made some other really cool fixed-blade knife designs for everyday carry slash everyday defense. But he now has—he's now making folders, which are really sweet too. So do not sleep on Aaron Bieber Knives, just spelled just like it sounds, Bieber B-I-E-B-E-R on Instagram @abknives. Go check him out. He does such a great wrap. I love wrapped handles, and this is such a great knife. 302 from AB Knives.

Next up, from Al Salvitti. Such a cool old-school Italian badass dude. I love the guy. He's a great guy, but also I love his designs. And this is his Regiment Blades Lo-Viz. Not to be mistaken with the Colonel, which was a knife that quoted strongly from this design, we'll say. This is the Regiment Blades Lo-Viz, and yeah, it is 100% about fighting, about self-defense, about using the punch. Al Salvitti is a power puncher. He teaches all sorts of martial arts and fighting to Tier 1 kind of guys and all sorts—police officers, SWAT and all that kind of stuff. But back in his glory days of bouncing and doing executive protection, he specialized in power punching, so like punching so hard you do a lot of damage. And so his knife design revolved around that punching motion. And this is a really comfortable one to carry appendix-style. This is the only one that I—this is one of two in this list that I pretty much only carry appendix-style. And that is because it curves; it takes that almost—well, it takes that 45-degree turn with the handle. It accommodates the belly better, let me put it that way. It gets out of the way of that growing belly, which is shrinking, I swear. I'm going to make it shrink. But anyway, everyday defensive, of course, you could open up a box with it, but you might scare the sheep around you. Nice plastic sheath with DCC-style clip. This thing is awesome. There's also a fully plastic version of it so you can—not sneak it onto airplanes—but you know what I mean, get non-permissive environments, you still have something sharp on you.

All right, the only other one in this list that I carry exclusively appendix—and kind of for the same reason—is the Gunfighter Customs Gunfighter. Truly an everyday defensive blade. Here it is. You've got that—this is designed by Michael Elliott and made by Jared Franklin of Gunfighter Customs. This is inspired by the clinch pick, but in my opinion, so much better. I love the clinch pick, don't get me wrong, but this one takes it to a—a next dimension of usage and utility. This one is double-edged. The traditional clinch pick is single-edged, but you can now get it in double-edged. And it has that angled down—it has an extension of the blade downward—so you have that sort of Filipino handle-to-blade angle, which I love, accelerates the cutting potential and puts the point kind of in the centerline without having to torque your wrist much on a thrust. And it gives you a place to put your thumb—whether—whether in a more saber grip like this or in a more Filipino grip up here—you have a place to put your thumb. There's Michael's marker—maker's mark. This one is chisel-ground. Beautifully made. There's the misfit skull with the motorcycle helmet on it; sort of like misfits meets Tom of Finland, something like that. Nice linen Micarta handles on that egg-shaped... that egg-shaped handle nestles into the palm so nicely. You've got the beautiful mosaic pins here. This is one of my favorites; I really love this one. You get that pikal reach with the blade angle, everything about this knife screams everyday defense. And then a great sheath. Just an awesome sheath. I have a DCC-style clip on it and a little bit of inner tube to keep it from going off-pitch in the belt. Gunfighter Customs Gunfighter.

All right, second to last. This is one of the—this along with the EDC tanto from Hogtooth Knives—one of the first defensive EDD everyday defense blades that I started carrying. And this is the Kramer Custom Voodoo. And just a beautiful knife made by Eric Kramer, who makes just awesome everyday defense blades. Knives that you can carry on your person. And then some that are a little larger, but most of them are knives that you can carry on your person. He does a beautiful version of the MACV-SOG. He's got a pikal design, he's got a dagger. His stuff is just beautiful. And one of the things I love about this is how slender it is. It's just beautifully svelte. You've got the thin blade stock, thin handle material, but a broad enough handle that it doesn't turn in the hand and it rests comfortably against the love handles. I carry this at the 3:00 position. Had him sharpen that choil, and there you have it. Just beautiful. 154CM, deeply hollow-ground, also very, very sharp. Nice swale there to put your thumb in. Eric also does make some very highly coveted folders. He got out of the folder game for a long time and is back in, and now folks are scrambling to try and get them. Beautiful knife, the Kramer Custom Voodoo double-edged.

All right, last up, this one by Roger Pearson and Savage Creature Defense Tools. This is the Masako Hachi. A beautiful everyday carry defensive blade. Double-edged, kind of Persian-style or pikal-style. I don't know what you want to call this. It's kind of Persian, but it's also got this totally Japanese-inspired theme. An absolutely impeccable tsukamaki wrap here with the bright red ray skin and then a dragon menuki on both sides, which I do like it on the both sides because it fills out the hand a little bit better—fills out the palm a little bit better, especially on such a thin knife. You've got this beautiful treatment—he would not say how he gets that gorgeous surface treatment on this. I think it's 1095 blade steel, incredibly thin and sharp. So when I was displaced from my home around Christmas time for about a week, this was one of two fixed-blade knives I had with me at the time. I really bonded with it, and I fell in love with it. Yes, it's super aggressive, but it's also a thing of beauty. That's one thing about Roger Pearson's knives and all of the Savage Creature Defense Tools that I've seen—follow him on Instagram—is that they are obviously, obviously everyday defense carry fixed blades, but they're beautifully done. They look like little works of art. Somehow that seems to excuse to the mind the fact that you're carrying such a wickedly deadly weapon. And this one you can carry in all grips: you could carry it like a hawkbill, you could carry it like a Persian, wield it like a pikal, or wield it backwards like that, to do devastating damage with it.

All right, that's it: 15 great everyday defensive blades. If you don't—if you think that custom knives are too rich for your blood, here's the thing I want to say: you're probably right, and listen to that instinct. But if you're spending money here and there buying knives that get eh maybe not so much use, save some of that money. Custom fixed-blade knives, especially smaller ones, are just less expensive. We always think about custom folders when we think of how expensive custom knives are. So there are some within reach, and if you're someone who carries a knife for defensive purposes, this is definitely a category you don't want to sleep on. So check it out. All right, join us on Sunday for a great interview show. Join us on Thursday night for Thursday Night Knives. And thanks for watching. I love you guys. 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.

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