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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Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, four new knives from Dirk Pinkerton, three new knives from Apoc Survival, and we go through 15 great USA made folders. I'm Bob DiMarco, this is the Knife Junkie Podcast.

Announcer [00:00:16]:
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 [00:00:29]:
Welcome back to the show. One of my favorite comments from this past week was from my good buddy Carino1 and he said Jim and Bob really enjoyed the look at the off grid knives. And I got to just say as a side note, I love when people mention Jim. He's the guy who makes this all happen. Anyway, might please you to know that a Tato La Verite Vintage 2009 was being enjoyed outside while taking in the show. I read that and I thought oh, a nice wine. I bet my dad would know that and looked it up and it's actually a very fine cigar. And I should know this because Carino is the guy who sent me this outstanding and very rare now Turkish tobacco for my pipe that my dad used to smoke when he was a younger man and I was a little boy.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:17]:
So thanks so much Carino. I hope that cigar, that Tatuaje la verite was absolutely delicious and glad you enjoyed the show. Next was from Leshel. He says, I like the ZT0203 but I think the Kershaw Launch 21 is a better pickup. So basically I'm going to just get both. And I have to say Leshil, if no one has told you this, you are a knife junkie and well I appreciate you and we're all here for you in this, on this journey. That's what a knife junkie is. You know, it's kind of like I do like that 0203 but I like the launch 21 better so I better get both just to just to make sure I have my assessment correct.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:03]:
So thank you one and all for watching and commenting. I greatly appreciate it. Always love seeing you in the comments and maybe you comment and you'll be mentioned next time. Also, don't forget to drop what you're carrying in the comments. All right, that said, let's get to what I'm carrying. Time for a pocket check.

Announcer [00:02:24]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:31]:
A rare bird. I almost never carry this. Today I had my zero tolerance zero 200 and that was in honor of the fact that last week we covered the the new 0203, which is so nice. Might have to buy that at Blade Show. I don't know. I'm gonna have to get a nice folder at Blade show this year. I do every year. I get something swanky and then a bunch of cool little custom pieces.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:55]:
But this is the one I had on me today, and I love it. This is a Ken onion design. I don't carry it often because it. It is chunky. And if you look at it from this aspect, it's got a Coke bottle, palm swell that way. It's got the beautiful ergonomics this way. Just an awesome blade. I love this blade shape so much.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:16]:
And this one with the. Those Kershaw teeth right in the recurve. Very effective cutter. Even though it's got a pretty oblique geometry. This one was a gift from my brother. It was. It was the kind of gift where he showed it to me and I was like, oh, Vic, that's so cool. I love that.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:35]:
It's so cool. And he's like, just, here, take it. You want it? I was like, no, I couldn't possibly. And I ended up walking with it. So my brother is awesome. He's generous. He's given me all of these. Not all of these, but like so many of my great historical pieces.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:50]:
And apparently he's got three more. He's like, I got your birthday present, I got Christmas, and I got your next birthday covered. And so he goes to a lot of cool gun shows and stuff like that and sees a lot of really, really cool stuff. So comparatively, I am a deadbeat. So thank you, Victor. I appreciate that. I love it and it was great. Carrying it today reminded me of how much I love vintage ZT.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:16]:
And it looks like vintage ZT is back with that 203. All right, next up, in my left pocket, dangling on the dangler, I had the old compact from Victorinox. This has become my favorite Victorinox almost by half. I love this thing because it's got so many different tools in it. You got the scissors, you got the main. You got the main blade. You've got this sort of do everything tool that'll open cans, it'll open bottles on the top. And then on the bottom, you've got the hook, you've got a little file here, you've got the corkscrew and a screw driver thing in there.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:56]:
You've got a pen, toothpick, tweezers, a pin. You've got everything here. And it's only two layers thick. So this is definitely, if not My favorite Victorinox. It's my most carried. I love this thing. So I had this on today. I knew that my glasses were coming loose.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:15]:
I don't wear them for the show because I'm so close to my screen, but I wear glasses all the time and nothing bothers me more than the, the loosening temples. So I had this one on me today just to tighten up the temples. Great job. Next up on me is the agent double O1. Yes. One of my favorite knives of all time. My collaboration with Tim Kell of Tkel Knives. This one started the whole agent series.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:46]:
He pretty much did the blade exactly as drawn and sent to him. But he tweaked the handle and perfected it, made it butter in the hands. I absolutely. Well, I, I adore this knife so much more than almost, almost anything in my collection. And it's cool to see how it birthed an entire series and I love that whole series. I can't wait to pick up a double oh seven by Tomas. And this one was on me and I have to, I have to let you know they're coming out with a new run of the 001 which I'm very much looking forward to. Maybe I'll get a new one from this new run.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:23]:
I know who's making it. You know, he farms out different parts of the, of the process, the different makers. And I'm really looking forward to getting the, the new 001 in hand. I'll get one maybe with special scales and I would love for all of you to get this. Now this, you can get this knife. If you're very concerned about the laws in your jurisdiction and you don't want a double edged, you can get this single edged and it's almost as effective. Obviously you can't be doing too much cutting with the back edge, but with the thrusting and all of the other things you would do with this knife, it is right on point because the swedge is so thin you could practically rub it on the sidewalk and get a double edge. So agent 001 on the way, new batch.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:12]:
You can get yours if you don't have one already. And then next up in my bag today, my emotional support knife was the Steadfast from work. Tough gear. Just man, such a great knife. You know, I have never. I'm sure you're not surprised. I've never used this, not for one thing, but except for cutting paper, it is incredibly wicked sharp. I know it's kind of build as a do everything field knife but to me it is way more of a fighting knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:42]:
It's got that long clip point with the swedge. It's a great thruster. Again, caveat in paper. Look at that relief. Look at the cutting edge. It is so tall. This thing is just incredibly sharp and I love it. But I, I, you know, I just kind of keep it around for the apocalypse but haven't really used it for anything yet.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:05]:
But that's half of my knives or more than half. Calvin Richardson custom knives design. I love that beautiful crow maker's mark there. Steadfast or I'm sorry, Work Tough Gear is definitely one of my favorite fixed blade nice companies. They just keep coming out with amazing knives and they're almost all collaborations and they're basically handmade in Taiwan so that they are very low in number. Each edition is low in number. So check them out. I'm going to check them out at Blade show and see what they've got there and I would love to get Victor or one of the fellas who does a lot of designing for them on the show and I will do so in this coming year.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:54]:
That's what I had on me. The ZT0200, the compact by Victorinox, the TKAL knives agent 001 and the steadfast by work tough gear. Let me know what you had. Drop it in the comments below. Also, if you want to help support the show, you can do so by going to Patreon that that gives us monetary support. You can also share the show. That's also a great way share the show. Get it spread out there far and wide with all of our friends or your friends like minded and that helps also.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:23]:
But you can scan the QR code on the screen right here or go to the knifejunkie.com Patreon and see what we have to offer in exchange for your monetary support. Again that's thenif junkie.com Patreon the shockwave tactical Torch is your ultimate self defense companion. Featuring a powerful LED bulb that lasts 100,000 hours, a super sharp crenulated bezel and a built in stun gun delivering 4.5 million volts. Don't settle for ordinary choose the Shockwave tactical torch. The knifejunkie.com shockwave.

Announcer [00:09:58]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. And now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:03]:
First up in Knifelife News I want to talk about the product reveal number 18 from spyderco spider Man. They make a lot of weird looking knives but they're just so compelling. Some of the best with heat treat steel geometry. And that's knife making. So some of the best out there, period. First up in their product reveal, number 18, I want to talk about the lightweight Shaman. Everyone loves the Shaman and everyone tells me I should get the Shaman.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:32]:
Haven't had one. Love them. Maybe this will get me in the door. This is the lightweight version and what they do with the lightweight version is the FRN handles with the multi directional texturing. This one has the compression lock CTS BD1, which is a big one for the lightweight. Big steel for the lightweight models here, Carpenter steel. And this one comes in at 4.8 ounces. So, you know, pretty lightweight, but it is a biggish knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:02]:
Looking forward to that. This one is even cooler in my estimation. This is the new Mannix 2 XL. I love the Manix 2 XL. I love the shape, I love the handle, I love the whole thing. Used to have one, but sold it off. Well, this is the Manix 2 XL in the Salt series. There it is on screen.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:24]:
And with the Salt series, their whole deal, Salt, as the name implies, these are all meant for people living in very humid environments or people who work on the water, perhaps fishermen or you know, people living in Louisiana. Beautiful rendition of this knife in G10. Now this has those radiating ripples coming from the center of the handle. This one has the ball lock as per usual. And Magnacut steel. Magnacut steel and coated. Now Magnacut is super corrosion resistant. That's why they've brought this in.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:01]:
It's sort of eclipsed LC200N in the end H2 in the Manix, I mean in the Salt lineup. But they also coated it so it's fully black. Might be good for someone in the Coast Guard or something like that. Fully black or an abc. But it's also coated. So that's. That blade is good to go. It's never going to rust.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:25]:
Maybe never say never, but it's very unlikely for it to rust. Now this is the most unique one from this drop so far. This is called the Cobalt. It is a really. Look at that thing. That is extremely interesting. This is from Paul Alexander, a guy who's collaborated, a designer who's collaborated a few times with Spyderco knives. But this one is a non locking blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:54]:
It's got the double ball detent system in here. But unlike most knives of that description, it has a long blade, 3.6 inches of M390 hollow ground Americanized Tonto there with a small ceremonial opening hole. We'll call it, it's not an opening hole, but it's the round circular spider Spyderco hole, tie handle and ball joint. So very different. Interesting. Something like this, you would expect to have a lock because it's big. It looks rather tactical to my eye, but it isn't. And I'm guessing you can front flip it just from the geometry of the blade tag there.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:38]:
But very interesting. This is the one that's been on all of the headlines. This is the one they've been showing off. Very cool knife. And by the way, the hole in the handle matches up with the ceremonial round opening hole on the blade. Cool thing. All right, going down to the Star Mate. So this is there they have three new sprint runs coming out.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:00]:
And this one here, this is the first. This is a redo or a redux of the very first ever collaborator collaboration knife with Spyderco. Done with Bob Terzuola, the godfather of the modern tactical folder, the Star Mate. I think this thing is beautiful. This is, this is the one in the whole lineup that, that is the most tempting to me at 337 bucks. I'll probably skip it. But it's the, it's got a 20cv blade this time. So you've got the same G10 liner lock handle with the little Terzuola badge on the handle as well as the maker's mark on the offside on the clip side of the blade, but just a beautiful tactical piercing blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:46]:
Looks very, very Truezuola esque. So they're coming back out with the Starmate. If you're a Spyderco fan or a Bob T fan, definitely get on this because they're not going to make too many of them. All right, that is the Spyderco product reveal number 18. Next up and last up in Knifelife news, a new one from Bestech. This one is the Taipan. Taipan, a deadly snake from Japan, I guess, or somewhere over in East Asia. We all know the Taipan is a Spyderco model.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:20]:
Now it's a best tech model by Australian designer James Lowe. He's the guy who did the. What's that thing called? Oh, he did a cool one. Sorry, I can't remember what it was called, but it was cool. It had a real deep recurved tanto by Kaiser. Anyway. Oh, it was called the Huntsman. That's right, the Kaiser Huntsman.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:43]:
Okay. Anyway, he did this one and I really liking the look of it. It's a rather truncated wharncliffe. So if you look at the blade, it, it, it is a wharncliffe in that it's a, a full arc from the, the thumb ramp down to the flat edge that comes straight off the bottom of the handle. But the very tip looks kind of broken off, like maybe you had a true wharncliffe and you did a little prying with it. 3.68 inches of magnacut. It's hollow ground and just a really cool design overall. Titanium handle, scales, frame, lock handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:23]:
And it's got these sort of radiating, what do you call them, concentric circles coming off of the pivot. So it'll have great grip in all directions no matter what you're doing. And I really love the profile of the handle as well. It looks like it'd be great in reverse grip, but since the, the tip of the knife is sort of chipped off there might not do you any good to have it in reverse grip anyway. These, as we record this, are pre order only, but they will be shipping late this June. So that is the new best tech taipan by Australian designer James Low. All right everybody, before we move on to the state of the collection, just want to let you know I will be a blade show. And if you're listening to this, the day it drops, that's the day after tomorrow.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:13]:
Cannot wait. Really looking forward to it. I will be wandering around looking at everything I can find, meeting as many people as possible. I love to press the flesh. I love meeting people. If, if this show has done nothing, it has gotten me out of any shell I may have been in. And yeah, so I will be meeting knife makers, checking out new knives, buying knives and just generally being a man about town. So please, if you see me, come say hi and introduce yourself.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:44]:
Let me know who you are because you see my face here. But I don't see your face. I see your names in the comments and I see your names during Thursday night knives. But come say hello. I cannot wait. It's my. One of my favorite times of year. Blade show, blade show and Christmas, you know.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:02]:
And luckily they're opposed on the calendar, so very much looking forward to it. Come say hi at blade show. All right, coming up, the state of the collection adventure delivered your monthly subscription for hand picked outdoor survival, EDC and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals, the knife junkie.com battlebox first up, I got a package from Dirk Pinkerton, one of my favorite designers and knife makers out there. And a friend. I can call him a friend. Over the years we've developed a nice little friendship here. And this is a first one the. The first one from the box he sent me.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:43]:
You may recognize this knife because I showed it in prototype form. Handmade by Dirk himself out of S 60 v steel and G Carta Mexican blanket. G Carta. Well, it's been picked up by Tenable knives. The. The. What do you want to call it? A budget brand? Budget isn't the right word. The.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:05]:
The affordable brand from concept knives. And this thing is awesome. Now it's in 14C 28 and it's got a flat grind. Beautiful modified sheep's foot blade here. About two and a half inches long. It fits the hand like a dream. Locks in, it's going to come in a couple of different colorways. It comes with a blackened blade with a dark green handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:31]:
I've seen Dave of OG Blade Reviews has one of those. This one obviously is the natural tan canvas micarta. There's Dirk's maker, maker's mark right there. 14C 28N Siafu is a. An African army ant. So small but. But small but. What's the word I'm looking for? Not deadly.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:58]:
Well, this is deadly but small but potent. And that's what this knife is for. Sure. It's got a great run of jimping from above. That top screw to the all as far as my thumb reaches. This is a great utility and self defense knife. And that's pretty much how Dirk designs all of his knives. They all have some sort of defensive capability, but this one is and utility.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:27]:
This one comes with a great sheath. I've been dropping it in the pocket though. Ulti clips or discreet Perry concept clips or any clip you like will fit on that. But I've been just dropping it in my pocket. So really awesome knife in the Siafu. Next two are of the same family. This is a second run of the dash. Beautiful little kiridashi here.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:53]:
Also in natural tan canvas Micarta though it comes in other G10s and other variations. This is a small folding version of the classic Japanese utility knife Kiridashi. And so you can see it, it has a sort of chisel tip with the edge only on the front. So if you have your hand down, your finger down here on the bottom part of the blade, it won't get cut. This is a great, great knife. I love this little thing. I've been dropping this one in the pocket too and loving it. It's a liner lock.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:26]:
It is really damn small and somewhat difficult to manipulate with my right hand. My left hand has no issues. It's got a thumb, thumb plate There and a nice big lanyard hole. And Dirk listening to his fans and knife lovers here, they wanted something with a pocket clip and maybe something slightly larger. So he designed this. And this is also coming up from concept. It's the flipping version, the large dash and the large dash is still a small knife but man alive does that blade still with no edge on the bottom but just on the front it does dash out of that handle. I do like what I did there.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:12]:
This one has been claimed by my wife. She absolutely loves it. She loves the little one but finds it hard to open. She found this very easy to open and it will fit in her tiny jeans pockets too. She's petite and she's got girl jeans and you know, girl jeans have very shallow pockets. This one will fit. It's small enough. And also when she grips it and actually when I grip it too and put my thumb on the top like this, it can be a nasty little self defense knife in a pinch as are all Pinkerton knives as mentioned earlier.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:49]:
So this is the coming out soon concept. Large dash with the flipper. I love that flipper. So cool. This is taken directly from his inversion model and it works great. It puts the point of contact with the finger in front of the pivot and so when you pull back on it it just rockets out. Such a cool knife. These are in I think 150.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:16]:
Pretty sure it's 154cm on the two dashes. Last up, this one is coming from Dirk's private label. You know Dirk is a custom knife maker, makes incredible fixed blade knives and he also designs folders that he has oem by awesome companies and then releases in limited edition. This is the new one and it's his feral knife. It's a folding version of his feral fixed blade model. And look at this beauty. This of course is a folding cacal. This is a prototype but this is what it's going to look like.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:50]:
I think he's zeroed in on the design. Beautiful feathered milling on that titanium frame lock handle. And then look at that absolutely spectacular velociraptor style blade. Now that's, that's my description but to me that looks like a velociraptor claw. The way it's positioned. The point goes midline so that with a simple back fisting motion you will get that point exactly on target without having to cant your wrist in any sort of way. Just an awesome self defense knife. Now like all of his knives, this one can be used you know in the warehouse to open up boxes and stuff like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:34]:
But really it's unique. Unique selling proposition is as a luxury defense knife. I say luxury because it's titanium and the steel, I can't remember what he said the steel is that he's going with, but it'll be something nice, you know, some sort of a fancy special steel. I'm not sure when the pre order opens for this. He said a bunch of them are going to be available in August I believe. So keep your eyes peeled on pinkerton knives.com for all pre order information. All right, so these are the awesome knives sent to me by Doug Dirk. Sorry.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:15]:
Also always thought it was funny that Dirk Pinkerton, one of the best knife designers out there. First name is Dirk. Okay, next up from Apocalypse Survival. They just sent me these super cool knives designed by Mike Wallace. He designed the smatchet that I've been showing off and he designed the, the cold steel Colossus, a knife that's no longer being made that I hope they bring back out. But these are the Puukkos, this is the small Puukko and that's the large Puukko. Beautiful non tactical because usually we're used to seeing sort of tactical fighting knives from Mike Wallace. These are survival knives and camping knives and backpacking knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:00]:
I'll call this one the Small Puukko. A backpack knife. Puukko of course is a style of outdoors and do everything Bushcraft knife that comes from the Nordic countries, the northern European countries, I think Denmark will be specific. But look at that cool angular handle. It feels so good in hand and looks interesting. Looks cool. You've got a 3 1/2 inch blade here of 9,260 high carbon steel. This one does not have a scandi grind.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:34]:
It has a relief edge. But it's a saber ground. It mimics some of the qualities of a Scandinavian ground blade. Has that Puukko blade profile and like I said, just melts in the hand with that contoured G10 micro mill. Contoured G10. So nice. And the spine will throw sparks off of this ferro rod. So here you've got.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:01]:
It comes with a small sized Tek Lok style lock there or clip I should say. But it has a ferro rod here. You can see I've used it a little bit and I have to be honest, I was like, oh, that doesn't feel like 90 degrees. Will it throw sparks? And yes it will. Don't want to burn my mat. But yeah, it will throw sparks. You just have to get rid of some of that coating. So really, really nice knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:31]:
I'm loving that. I can't wait to use that around the fire pit and hopefully I go camping this spring. We'll see. I do have the stuff now, but things are busy when you have kids. Next up is the large Puukko, also designed by Mike Wallace, also from apoc. You get a lot of the same things. You have a spine that'll throw sparks. You have a beautiful Puukko profile blade with a saber grind and a relief edge.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:05]:
And then look at this handle. It looks angular, but man, is it comfortable. It feels so good in hand. This one has a lanyard hole on the pommel so you can make sure you don't lose this when you're doing whatever activity you're doing out there. Again, same really nice pancake style Kydex sheath. And I forgot to show this off. Got a sharpener on the edge. Both of them have a sharpener on the edge.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:31]:
So if you're in the field and you have any sort of issues and you need to sharpen it, you just. I've seen that before on the Holtzman knives and it's a feature I really like and it works well. Haven't done it on this one, but I, I have on the Holtzman and it works very well. All right, last up in this little lineup from Apoc, they sent me the really unique and cool design from Andrew Demko. Look at this thing. This is called the Hybrid Rhino. Now that is a camping cleaver, if ever I have seen a camping cleaver. It's got a very sharp but stout bevel and edge and it's got a downward angle to the blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:19]:
So whatever you're chopping, it's going to accelerate the cut. With that angle you've got a sweep in case you have to do any sort of food type stuff or skinning type stuff. I know you're not going to use this, but who knows, Maybe it's your only knife. And then it's got that weird looking spike on top. And I asked Patrick Shipley of APOC and Cass Iberia what that's all about. And I was like, oh, is that for braining someone or is that for like. He's like, no, that's not a fighting feature, though it certainly could be used as, as such. But this is when you're splitting wood, splitting logs and that kind of thing.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:59]:
This is for spiking logs and dragging them towards you because oftentimes you're splitting on your knees because you don't want to hit your legs, especially when you're using some sort of a swinging thing like this or a hatchet. So it's to pull stuff towards you or to move logs. I think that's so cool. So imagine you're sitting there and you're splitting kindling and then it's time to split the next log. You turn it over like this, reach out, bang, pull it towards you so you're not getting up and standing up and kneeling down. Standing up, kneeling down. So it's just a sort of utility spike. Though if you're like me, you're also thinking if a bear comes up, a badger, let's say a badger comes up on you and menaces you while you're doing this.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:47]:
And then you got badger for dinner. So really nice camping cleaver. You've got a really nice two almost, you know, hand and a half handle. You can come all the way back here, put a lanyard and get some nice leverage for chopping. That's the Apoc Survival Demko Hybrid Rhino. Very cool knife. I'll be doing a close up of this one and the others. Very nice and useful sheet here.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:17]:
All right, before we get into 15 great USA made folders, just want to show you the next in the in the lineup of cool designs by the one and only Jim, our producer here. Keep it sharp, ladies and gentlemen. Keep it sharp. We're coming up on a whole bunch of holiday weekends and that kind of thing. So make and. Well, every weekend is a holiday weekend in the summer as far as I'm concerned. Have your apron for the grill or the griddle handy, get your tote bag to get those groceries and wear a cool shirt while you're doing that. Keep it sharp.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:49]:
You got three knives here. They're all kitchen. This is like a kitchen themed kitchen theme motif and I really love it. It's over@the knifejunkie.com shop where you will find page after page of really cool knife oriented designs designed by Jim himself. And it's a great way to show off your point of view and maybe meet like minded people out there. So go check it out. The knife junkie.com shop. All right, first off in 15 great USA made folders.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:22]:
Why did I, why did I come up with this? Well, I've been carrying all USA made folders recently and that's how I mostly do it anyway. But had a recent road trip, I had the Microtech and then since then I've been carrying a bunch of Microtechs and I love them. But first we'll start off with the Demko AD20. We were just talking about Anton Demko. This is a beauty. Now this One here has 20cv blade steel and a really great G10 handle. I love the color. This dark red is right up my alley.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:01]:
This is such a great knife. Now this spawned into the 80. 20.5. The foreign made 80, 20.5. And those are great. They're, they're smaller, but this is, this is exactly in my wheelhouse with a 3.7 inch blade and that clip point profile, really, really great with that shark lock handle. This has been their bread and butter for a number of years now. And it's no wonder.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:28]:
It's just a really great super stout knife. And this would definitely be one of the ones I would grab in a, a grab and go situation. Gotta, gotta grab a knife and get out of town. This would definitely be in the top. Now if you look at the pivot on the offside, you can see where it's made. Wampum, Pennsylvania. I've never been to Wampum, but I grew up in Ohio and I drive through Pennsylvania at least a couple of times a year. And I love that state.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:56]:
It is so beautiful. It's beautiful and filled with cool people, including the Demko brothers who make this awesome knife. The AD N. I'm sorry, 80 20. It's twice the 80 10. All right, next up from Massachusetts is the Three Rivers Manufacturing Atom. A beautiful, very slender 3.6 inch blade. This is also 20cv blade steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:27]:
This one has the really nice black PVD coating it. In some light it just looks silver. In other lights you can see that it's black. Wipe that down. I hate it when there's schmutz on the blade. This the unique selling proposition of this and many other of the Three Rivers Manufacturing knives. Most other is that the scales are easily swappable without disassembling the knife. So all you have to do is undo that screw and that screw and the whole thing comes off.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:59]:
The. The pivot is not a part of the, of the scale swapping system. So you don't have to take the pivot out or any of that. So it's really easy to do. I've got a bunch of different scales and I love them all, but this is my favorite. They do this sort of wing textured pattern which might be hard to detect on camera with the burlap micarta here, but really, really nice. Slender, beautiful, classy, slicey, awesome, sharp knife. And great people up there, Marianne et al, making these knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:39]:
I look Forward to seeing her at Blade show this year. She's such a nice person, and, man, does she make cool knives. So this is the Three Rivers Manufacturing Atom from Massachusetts. Next up from North Carolina is the American Blade Works Model two. I've got the Model one, Version five. I think they. I think he settled on the version 6 as the. The final.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:07]:
But that's a great thing about American Blade Works is that they go through various iterations before designs are settled on. And they are always the ultimate version, the ultimate expression of that design. This one, to me, looks like something out of Art deco, American design from the 30s. I just think it's so beautiful, but it's also extremely slicey and sharp as hell. This is Magnacut. This was my first Magnacut blade. And it rockets out on those bearings, titanium liner lock. And this is one of those knives, one of those few knives that looks just as beautiful closed as it does open.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:54]:
Now, if you've seen the American Blade Works slip joint, you'll know that it matches this knife beautifully. So they make a great traveling pair. This is a sheepsfoot blade, and I love it. He also makes a Wharncliffe blade. That's Michael Martin. I keep saying he, but I haven't mentioned his name. Michael Martin. And as you can see on the pivot, it is made in the USA by one man in a garage, basically, or now it's a shop, I believe.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:25]:
Michael Martin in North Carolina. All right, next up in the. From the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, to be specific, is the Benchmade Bugout. Now, you don't see many Benchmades on this show. I don't. I'm not particularly psyched about them. Not that I'm. Not that I dislike them, but their designs just don't really get me going too much.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:48]:
But this one does, for sure. Some of their automatics, some of their other knives do, but this one is the one I've kept. It's the Benchmade Bugout. And I absolutely love the Bugout. Of course, not crazy about the scales that it comes with. And this was from that original run. I got rid of the blue handle scales and got these Micarta scales. I don't remember where I got them.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:13]:
I think Smoky Mountain knife works, and they are just great. They really make this thing way better. Keep it just as light, but they're a little more stout. You can still see they flex a tiny bit. And then I put a Snaggletooth tactical MF on there. That is a pocket opener. This used to run in my winter jacket. Inside pocket.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:37]:
And I liked being able to just pull it out and have it open immediately. Give me your wallet, buddy. Oh, yeah, my wallet. You want my wallet? It's right here. And then I have a knife which I can hand over because I'm not stupid. I'm not going to try and fight a guy with a gun with a knife. But anyway, I just like that the snaggletooth on this, it matches the standoffs, that beautiful blue. And it used to match the blue handle scales.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:04]:
This is S30V, which is just fine by me. And I know that there are other steels that are greater or whatever, but I love s 30v, so I don't mind it at all. I also. The only other benchmade I've kept is my mini Griptilian with the aw, with the applied whatever, with the AWC scales, I think apply. They're called aluminum scales. I like the small benchmades and I've kept them in my collection. All right, next up is from Spartan Blades, also out of North Carolina. This is the Spartan Hary folder.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:46]:
And Speaking of Oregon, Mr. Bill Hary Jr. Who designed this knife, is up in Oregon. The knife itself is made by Spartan Blades in North Carolina. And this is one of my absolute favorites. I'll keep saying that they're all favorites of mine, but this one I love especially means a lot to me. That Curtis Iovito of Spartan Blades had me send this to him after I bought it, and he engraved my logo on it. And on the flip on the.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:20]:
What do you call that filler tab for the clip. A beautiful design. So very signature. Bill Harsey in a profile and just stout as the day is long. This has always reminded me of a combination of Chris Reeve knives and feel when you're opening it, hinderer in the sort of construction of it and a little bit of strider in there too. I guess the classics all come together right here in this knife, which is its own thing and definitely one of my favorites. Now it's got a somewhat oblique grind, though. I've gotten it so incredibly sharp.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:59]:
I've been toying around with the idea for years now of having this reground, but I don't know, what's the point? What am I really cutting that I need it reground anyway, so I'll probably just keep it as it. As it came from the factory, but with that extra little bit of, you know, identification there with my logo. One thing I want to mention about this, it has that beautiful hydraulic feel on the open and close and Sometimes it's so smooth I go to check to see if there's any blade play and of course, no, it's. It's a bank vault type there. Just an awesome knife. I love this knife. If you don't have a spartan Harvey Boulder or the smaller version at 3.25 inches, I highly suggest it's worth saving up for. Next up we see ZT again.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:51]:
Now, I was carrying ZT today, but this was definitely had to be on my list of favorite American folders. This is the ZT0640A the last collaboration Zero Tolerance did with Ernest Emerson. This is based on an a very old tactical design by him and it is a universally loved. It seems like everyone, whether they're into this kind of knife or not, tactical knife or not, loves this knife and for good reason. It's just a beautiful design. Feels great in hand and was wonderfully executed by Zero Tolerance. Now they ship with this split pea. Split pea soup color carbon fiber basket weave carbon fiber which I used to like, but I just don't like the pattern, that basket weave pattern.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:46]:
So the color I liked though. But in any case, I swapped it out for a pair of aftermarket scales that I think really make this great. Also, like most Emerson designs, this is an incidental front flipper, meaning you just use the the forefinger or the thumb on the tang and you can get it to open up. Let's see if I can do it with my left hand. Oh, I can do it with my left hand. Look at that beautiful clip point design with that long clip. So this one is a fighter, but it's also just a super utility. 3.7 inches on that 20cv blade steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:26]:
Love this thing. All right, next up from Chris Reeve knives, this is the Omnimzon. And in this case, gotta open it with my right hand. It is the Tanto. I love this. I adore this knife. I got this from someone who used to show up to Thursday night knives and now his name escapes me. But he was a good dude and he took great care of this knife and put a wicked, wicked screaming edge on it.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:54]:
It is just so sharp. And something I love about this knife is that it's got the, the ceramic ball lock detent and interface. So the detent and the not I said ball lock. I didn't mean that. I meant the detent ball is ceramic and it is both the detent and it is what makes contact with the blade tag. I think they may have adopted that. Sorry, I can't open it with my left I think they may have adopted that on the new 31s, the Sebenza 31s, but I am unsure of that. Titanium scales, really beautiful.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:35]:
Has this lock popping up here. It looks like it should be uncomfortable, but it isn't. Feels so good. In hand you got a thumb swale on the back. The clip point version of this has a harpoon. I'm definitely not as fond of how that looks as I am of this. You have that, what is it? 20 inch grinding wheel, hollow grind on this one. So it's a subtle hollow grind.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:02]:
And this is the one Chris Reeve that I say I have only have two, but I saved the fob and kept the fob on this one. So yeah, love this one. And it came complete with snail trails from the gentleman I bought this from. I love Chris Reeve knives. These are Idaho made and they even let you know right there, Idaho made. All right, next up. I'm not sure where these come from actually. Strider.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:29]:
I think they might be North Carolina as well. But this is a Strider smf and this is the larger of the two. SNG and smf. They have the same sort of profile, but this is the larger one. Now you can tell it's an SMF if you're looking at pictures because it has three body screws across the top, whereas the SNG has two. Sometimes it's just hard to tell in a photograph, but that's a good way to gauge. This one has that, that great sort of Nike swoosh of a sharpening choil hollow ground on this one. And I got this one from, from Terrell Todd.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:10]:
You know, you may have remembered him as Zelrick 23, Zelrick 42. I can't remember what his, what his handle was on YouTube, but he is one of the two Todd brothers who design knives now and do a lot of them through the reputable, awesome Chinese manufacturers. And but for me, I'm a. I love the Strider, but I don't need too many of them. I only have this one. I like the large size. I used to have the protect strider and don't have that one anymore. Nick has that.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:49]:
Thanks, Nick. I'm glad it went to a good home and sometimes I wish I still had it. But they're very interesting, unique knives. Way more comfortable when you're up here in the choil than back here. But I mean, if nothing else, I like having this just because it is considered one of the classic tactical folding knives here. Don't carry it off. And I should carry it More. You've got a really, really nice, buttery, smooth opening.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:17]:
And unlike every other strider, traditional regular tie frame lock strider I've had, this one has no lock stick. So very cool knife and a classic. Speaking of classics and cool knives, this one is made in Colorado. Golden to be specific. This is the Spyderco Yojumbo, designed by Michael Janich. This is the larger brother, send up if you will, of the yojimbo and the yojimbo 2. And it has this awesome compression locks. This is one of the biggest fidgety knives I have.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:57]:
That's a full four inches. It might be even more. It's so. No, no, no. 3.75 inches. I'm sorry, it, it feels like a four incher. It's a big one. But you've got 3.75 inches of blade length and of cutting edge.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:14]:
You can see that cutting edge extends directly below the front of the handle. This one has a middle finger partition that I sanded down. Luckily, the steel liners didn't, didn't extend up into that middle finger partition. They also don't extend up into this sort of bookend here. So if you don't like that, you can sand that off too. I left it there just for surety of grip. But a great, great fighting knife. The, the Yojimbo, the Yojumbo, the Micro Jumbo, the very small version of this, are all designed for self defense.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:54]:
Michael Janich is a big proponent of that straight edge because as you cut through something and your arm arcs and the motion is like this, the tip, the, the medium keeps getting pushed through that edge all the way to the tip. And as you come out of whatever you're cutting or slashing, that tip continues to cut. Almost like a hawkbill, oddly enough, but obviously not. You got a thumb swale up here, you've got a thumb ramp back here, or a thumb placement here. Just a great knife. And in my, in my opinions, it is less attractive than the Yojimbo 2, but a better knife because it's bigger. All right, next up is from Hogue Knives. Hogue, the company that first started making grips for handguns.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:51]:
And they, they were doing that for 50 years before they started making knives. They did start making knives with collaborations first up with Alan Elishewitz, still some of their most popular knives. And they've done other knives, they've done some OEM stuff, including for Doug Ritter. So you remember the old Ritter grip, The Ritter Griptilian, Doug Ritter's RSK knife are standing for Ritter s survival And K knife was made by Benchmade for a long time. And people just called it the Ritter Griptilian, even though technically it wasn't a Griptilian because it was Doug Ritter's blade, which is this blade shape with whatever the state of the art steel was at the time on the, on the less expensive, cheaper to produce, griptilian handle. Well, eventually, after years, those were coveted, very limited and stuff. And then after some years, Benchmade said we're no longer doing OEM work at all. And Doug Ritter, he's the guy who started knife rights, by the way, if you don't know.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:56]:
And every purchase of a Doug Ritter knife helps support knife, right? But he had to go find another oem. He found Hogue. And man alive did they do a great job. Now this is the automatic that came out a few years after the regular Ritter RSK Mark 1 came out with the axis style lock. Once that patent was released, once that patent was up, everyone started making it, including Hogue. And they called theirs the Able Lock. The Ambidextrous Bar lock Enhanced. And in my estimation, I like, I thought it was better than the, a little bit better than the Benchmade and.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:37]:
But that's neither here nor there. And they did a great job on that. And then recently, a couple years ago, they started making this automatic with Magnacut Magnacut steel. So TPM mc love that. And you've got that radiating sunburst pattern coming off the pivot that just makes this contoured G10 all the more grippy. You have an awesome button lock action here. Super stout spring. Not sure where these are made.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:04]:
They're made in the usa, but not sure where you've got an extra lock right there. I think these are also. I think these are in Utah. Correct me if I'm wrong. So that lock stops you from opening it and closing it. So like that lock. Ordinarily I don't go for locks on on folders, but in this case, not a bad addition. And yes, I can one hand and close it.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:31]:
One thing about the Hogue version of the RSK Mark 1 is that they extended the handle ever so slightly. And to me that makes a world of difference. Next up from one of my favorite automatic producers, period Protect. This is the TR3. I've got. I've got three Protech, the TR2, the TR3 and the the Rockeye by Les George. I love them all. This one to me is just so classic though I really love the TR4 design.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:08]:
This one has come out with a number of different Scale options. Now it's even out in a full non automatic version. So a thumb stud with a button lock which I wouldn't mind getting just to have. But what really turned me on to this knife, I always loved the design, but I remember seeing a video by a Navy SEAL who had one with the fish scale handles, which is really cool. And he lost it in the sand. I think it was on his own property. It wasn't like it was on deployment, but he found it years later and it had sand in the works and it was just, you know, it looked pretty rough, but he hit the button once, popped right open and you know, he washed it out with water or something like that and it was always good to go after that. Protech is such a great company.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:59]:
They're, they're really good people. And the knives they make are so robust. I just love it. Slaps open really, really nicely with authority. And that blade is excellent. You've got a swedge, a drop point. This one is 154cm. This is the SWAT version, meaning all black.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:21]:
They have a, they have an operator version of these knives too where the, they have like a little Tritium insert on the, on the button which, I mean, let's face it, it's, that's just to look cool. You're not going to be in the dark like, how do I open my knife? You're going to feel it and open it. You don't need the Tritium, but it's a, it's a cool addition. No? All right, so that is the TR3 by Protech. And by the way, on mine, it doesn't have the grooves on the clip side, but those grooves on the show side really aid in grip. Really love them. Next up, made in Ohio. My home state or the state I came from.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:00]:
Born and raised. No, I wasn't born but raised in Ohio. Okay, I'll get off that. But Ohio. Made in Shreve, Ohio, near Worcester, where my brother went to school. This is the XM24 by Rick Hinderer knives. Of course the XM18 is the most popular one because it's a more civilized size with a 3.5 inch blade. But I love my XM24s with, with a 4 inch blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:29]:
I have two of them. I have a first generation Bowie and I believe this is a second generation Wharncliffe. So this is pre tri way pivot, but it's got such buttery smooth washer action. This one does not need the, the tri way driveway pivot is a cool option. On hinderers. Now for the last, I don't know, eight years or seven years, something like that, you get a hinderer with the tri way pivot. You can switch between nylon Nylotron washers which are what you have on this one or phosphor bronze washers or bearings. And I have one like that and I've never switched out to the bearings, I mean switched out from the bearings.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:18]:
But on this one, just nice and smooth. I love the look of this blade, I gotta say. The 4 inch length really allows that blade shape to express itself beautifully. Has an awesome stout build. Look at how those thick slabs titanium on both sides. One is a liner with the, with the G10 on top and then over here just a thick slab of titanium. Beautiful knife that pioneered the, the insert here. I'm sorry the, the stop bar here so that the, the over over travel device so you don't over flex the lock.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:57]:
You can switch the clip right side only. M390 blade steel. And then an awesome sound when it closes. I'll put it next to my mic, see if you can hear it. Has a great sound when it closes. That is the Hinderer XM24. Also look for the Hinderer XM18. You'll love it.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:19]:
Next up, the first, the first knife out there that was called a Midtech and this was a, a pioneered by Les George. And this is a Les George knives V set. This is from an early run of this knife by Monkey Edge. No, it doesn't have a frag pattern here but doing a little research, this was released by Monkey Edge. This is not the original spoon shaped clip. I took that off and put this one on. When I bought this from a gentleman in Singapore he sent me both clips. I preferred the other but this is an old model vsep.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:55]:
It's got buttery smooth hydraulics. What do you call it? Phosphor bronze washers. Actin beautiful PVD coated blade in XHP steel CTS XHP and a gorgeous stonewash. Just a beautiful stonewash on this titanium handle. Something I love is how it's chamfered all around the lock bar including in the center here. Really great knife. This one I've been carrying recently. I don't know, just.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:26]:
Just been on my mind. So I've been carrying it a bit. It's got a wicked edge on it. Done by a wicked edge. So just incredibly sharp and not an edge I put on it but the guy I bought it from did. I remember when this came out, they were Calling this the Sebenza Killer. And like I'm fond of saying, it didn't kill the Sebenza, but it was an addition to the family of incredible USA made knives folders. All right, penultimate in this list is from Emerson Knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:58]:
I've got a nice collection of Emersons. This one is one of the two I have without an Emerson Wave. You guys all know about the Emerson Wave so I won't wax poetic about that. We know what an amazing innovation it is, but this is my most recent Emerson and one I've wanted for years and was just re released. This is was called the Persian. It is now called the PTAC. A nearly 4 inch 154 cm blade of upswept nastiness chisel edge double, double bevel ground here and just a, just a beautiful tactical knife. This was the preferred knife by famed Ed Calderon before he started using the, before he started designing and making the Elvas and using those fruit knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:54]:
He used this, the Persian, the older version of this knife on all of his sort of missions and deployments and such on the Mexican side of the US Mexican border. This thing has a long legacy of being coveted. People have wanted this knife for years. It was always hard to come by and I'm really grateful they came back out with this and didn't really do any changes to it. It changed the name. Basically you got titanium liners, titanium liner lock. Really nice standoffs on this one and that beautiful upswept blade. I might, I might change my carry today and pop this in my pocket.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:36]:
Love this thing. All right, last up from Microtech, my favorite knife of 2024, this is the Amphibian. So they started making the Amphibian with the Ram lock. That's their ambidextrous bar lock style lock. Different in that it doesn't use omega springs but uses a coil spring. And it had a little bit of growing pains at the beginning but by the time I got this all those were worked out. This is based on the 2006 model that, that was a, a Marfione exclusive from the factory in North Carolina. This is also USA made and made in North Carolina.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:21]:
But those other ones were, were a rather more custom and that very few of them were made. Everyone loved them, had that beautiful recurve blade with a huge swedge and so very, very happy that Anthony Marfione brought this out of mothballs and made them available far and wide. And as far as really high end American knives are concerned, he made these relatively affordable. Now I don't know what's affordable for you? And in general, I don't spend $300 on folders, but when it was this one I had to spend, I went for it. I love this knife so much. I highly recommend it and I really like it with the serrations on that recurve. I talk about this a lot when I talk about Microtech, but their serrations, they do them right. It's like they make the serrations first and then grind in the the plain edge.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:18]:
That leaves the teeth of the serrations proud of that main edge. And I really love it. This one sort of just like the Emerson Commander. This one just captured my imagination with that recurve blade. And you know, so when I got this, I felt like I was going full circle to that first Emerson Commander I bought years and years ago. All right, thank you for joining me on my walk down memory lane with these great USA made folders. I say memory lane because some of these are old for me, but almost all of them are still available. So if you like them, go out there, check them out.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:00]:
Also, a lot of these were gotten on the secondary market, so don't forget you can find great knives on the secondary market and if they're awesome stout USA made knives, they will be in great shape. All right, that's it for me. That's it for Jim working his magic behind the switcher. Thanks and be sure not to take Dull for an answer.

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