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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The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 662)

Bob DeMarco: Coming up, a nostalgic pocket check, the Hira-Zukuri in the First Tool, and then we're going to talk about some nasty little knives. 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. A couple of my Favorite Comments from last week's show. This one from Shane of @EdgyAmericanBlades: "Call of the Wild was the first book I ever read by choice...that's an important book in a man's life I believe. The start of your literary journey." I mentioned Jack London and White Fang, but yeah, Call of the Wild and all of those great books. Now I can't even remember what the context was, but when we're talking about knives, a lot of outdoor knives, we were talking about Alaska because of Northern Knives. Anyway, thanks for the comment. I love Call of the Wild, and it's cool to see someone else who I just so happen to know is my same age feel the same way about that book. I reread it recently, and it's just as good as it was 40 years ago.

My second was from @CadillacForge. He says, "My primary carry is the 001 -- can't imagine ever replacing it!!" Well, Cadillac Forge, thank you so much for the comment. Thank you very much for the sentiment of that comment. It makes me feel great that people love the Agent 001. So keep using it, may it carry you through tough times, and may you use it in good health. 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.

Bob DeMarco: Okay, first up in my front right pocket is the nostalgic part. This is the Strider, my Strider SMF CC, the larger of the two. SNG was the first one, then they came out with the SMF so many years ago. You can visually tell the difference from the four body screws on the SMF. The SNG, which is a three-and-a-half-inch blade, has three body screws. So if you're ever looking at pictures, you want to buy one, or you want to determine what you're looking at, that's a good way to do it. I love this thing. I got this from Zellrick 42, Terrill Todd of the Todd Brothers, and he had it in immaculate shape with a beautiful edge on it. This is the only Strider I've had. I haven't had too many of them, but this one does not have lock stick. It's perfectly tuned, everything about this is great. It's nice and thin, and it's got that contoured concealed carry, or CC, grip. The three general versions of this kind of knife: the Lego version which has a really blocky handle, the double gunner grip which has a thinner and contoured grip with really, really pocked like a golf ball friction, and then this concealed carry which is thin, smooth, and contoured. Alright, there's your Strider lesson. I saw an edged mindset video yesterday, and it got me back into Strider, so I think I want another one. But who doesn't?

Next up was the Jack Wolf Knives Gateway Barlow. This is the second run of the Gateway Barlow. This one in that beautiful Miami camo carbon. Camo Carbon is the company, that is the brand name, and Miami is the model, or the type, the color configuration. Of course, this reminds me a little bit of Miami in the '80s with the teal and the pink and all of those sort of pastelly colors. Anyway, beautiful build, beautifully designed Barlow from Ben Belkin at Jack Wolf Knives. You have a really nice 14C28N clip point blade. Unlike the premium Jack Wolf Knives, this is a full flat grind as opposed to a full hollow grind. Still extremely sharp, very keen, slicey, awesome. Great action on this by the way. Also, steel bolsters here with the triple flutes. It is a Barlow, so that bolster covers one-third of the handle length. This one has a shield. Oftentimes Barlows don't have shields because of the length of the bolster, but this one does and it looks quite handsome, sort of a traditional shield. Great action.

And when we talk about modern traditionals and modern slip joints, really what it comes down to me is what stops the blade when it comes into the handle. This one is a more traditional slip joint because it stops on the length of the ricasso right here against the spring inside. Modern slip joints use the same non-locking spring mechanism on the back, but what stops the blade when you fold it in is not the kick there, it's a stop pin on the inside. So more like a modern style locking folder. So there's your lesson on slip joints. As my daughter says, that's my TED Talk. So that's my TED Talk on slip joints. What a beautiful knife. The Gateway series is awesome. It's a way to get a beautiful Jack Wolf Knife for under a hundred dollars, like 75 bucks for that knife. It has the same fit. I can't say it has the same finish because the premium Jack Wolf Knives are finished with more finishing time that goes into them, but the fit here is perfect. Everything about this is super high standard. So I highly recommend if you're into slip joints and a premium Jack Wolf is a little rich for your blood, go for the Gateway Barlow, you will be happy. And there are a variety of cover materials too.

Next, in my waistband at the three o'clock was the AUX MFG Mini Spike. First of all, just in the sheath, great sheath, very discrete, easy to carry. And what is it? Yes, just like the name would suggest, it is a spike, but it's a really unique and beautiful spike. It's diamond-shaped at the tip, and then as it goes towards the ricasso, it graduates into a hexagon in cross-section. Just stout and nasty. Obviously, this has one job, and that's to penetrate. Every once in a while, I'll carry it. I got this at Blade Show two years ago. I thought I would give it to my wife for jogging. It ended up being a little bit too big. She goes for something much smaller, the Diagnostic, I believe she carries now from Bastinelli. But it didn't really get used for a spike, so I sort of matriculated it into my collection.

And then my emotional support knife today was the beautiful Boker Arbolito Bowie (ESK). Let me show you in the sheath. I love the sheath here. This is just an absolutely beautiful knife. I traded my buddy Strings for this. We had two very successful, excellent trades, and this was one of them. I really, really like this Bowie. It is N695 steel, which according to Peter—built knife guy who I trust with blade steels for sure, he's a great guy, great channel, and does a lot of really hard testing—he also fell in love with this knife. But I think he kind of fell out of love once he really used the steel, but for me, this is not a user. This is a fighter, you know what I'm saying? When I get called out on a duel and some of my other knives aren't around me or maybe I don't want to sully those other knives on such an unworthy opponent, I'll bring this. But really, really nice. I love that thick guard. Gorgeous. This one's built in Argentina. So Boker has an Argentina plant, and they have some pretty cool knives coming out of there, some of their bigger fixed blades, somewhat traditional. Just from my own estimation coming out of that factory.

Alright, this is what I had on me today. You let me know what you had. My ESK was the Boker Arbolito Bowie in the sumptuous leather sheath here. Really awesome sheath. The Mini Spike from AUX MFG and Michael Jarvis. Keep an eye on him, he's a shooting star. Not the kind that burns out, I just mean his rise has been fun to watch, and his designs and products are awesome. As well as you can say that about Ben Belkin. And I had my Strider here. So tell me what you were carrying. You carry multiple blades, I'm sure you do. Where do you carry them, and let me know what you had.

One thing that I wasn't carrying today, which is unusual for me, is a TKell knife. Actually, as I record this, I am carrying a TKell knife. I'm carrying the Nautilus because I had to pull the knives out of my pocket to do the show, so I threw a new knife, go in the pocket and on the belt. All this to say, I am a huge, huge fan of TKell Knives. We made the Agent 001 together. He made it, I designed it, we co-designed it. But they make incredible knives. You know Tim and the whole group there, but if you don't, they're really excellent people. Former Marine, they live in Georgia, it's a family business. They've expanded, they have incredible capacity, and they make knives. A lot of knives for military and self-defense, but a lot of people out in the action or whatever you want to say, carry these kind of knives. Like this, for instance, is the MR1, the Marine Recon 1, and it was a knife made for a very specific purpose. They took the Nightstalker and ground the top instead of the bottom and made it a pikal style knife, and that's the MR1. And it has been used in anger, and it is a successful design, I am told. Other knives, here's the Agent 001 in a whimsical finish. They do all sorts of cool stuff with lasers and whatnot, so this was a special storm edition of the Agent 001. My design with TKell. You got that double edge, and this was inspired by many different knives, but the one I was really thinking about was the Loveless sub-hilt fighter. Or you can get a knife something like this. This is the Frogman tactical collaboration. TKell Knives does a lot of collaborations. This is the FMF, the Frogman Field Knife. And man, it is sweet. This one, of course, is an edition I don't use because it's got that special engraving and this very special proprietary G10. TKell Knives, awesome, awesome. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that if you're watching this show, but if you do, we have an affiliate link with them. Go to theknifejunkie.com/tkell, and it'll take you to the site. And if you buy a knife from them, you get 10% off. Just use "Knife Junkie" in the coupon code, 10% off your own TKell knife. And by the way, you can select from, I mean, I think they have well over 30 handle materials now at this point. Now that they've taken on this really awesome battle lock grip, these FRN handles, they have a lot of different options. Many different Micartas, many different G10s. Some G10s you won't see anywhere like this swirly red, white, and blue G10. So go check out TKell Knives. Go to theknifejunkie.com/tkell and check one out. Use "Knife Junkie" at purchase, I have to say that. I have to reiterate.

All right, next up I want to tell you about what we have in The American Edge 250: The Diplomat and the Breacher this week. The American Edge 250 is a feature on Patreon that Jim has been working on that highlights, as we come to our 250th anniversary here in the United States, talking about different historical weapons and such. And this article is all about tomahawks, and it is super cool. It's longer than usual, goes pretty deep, and then talks about modern tomahawks an RMJ and other modern examples of how this classic weapon is still valuable and relevant today. So really cool article, check that out. If that's what you get if you support us on Patreon, you go to theknifejunkie.com/patreon or you scan the QR code that's going to pop up on your screen. And you can help support us there. Buy a whole year at once, you get 12% off. And then of course, if you're at a Gentleman Junkie level, which is where most people join, every third Thursday of the month, we do a giveaway, a special giveaway. It's a custom or very special knife that we give away to one of our patrons. So go check that out, or you can join us right here on YouTube, same thing.

All right, let us now get to Knife Life News.

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Bob DeMarco: Okay, first up in Knife Life News from Buck. Buck is very prolific. They have a Buck of the Month, and it is a Handsome Deploy Auto, they come out with a special version of one of their designs. This one is the 838 Deploy. That's an automatic out-the-side knife. Pretty cool looking knife, but this is a special Buck of the Month version. That's a three and one-eighth inch Magnacut drop point blade with the Paul Bos heat treat. Buck's got great heat treat, and great geometry. This is Magnacut, so it can be presumed that that's a pretty excellent blade. Spear point shape, kind of a cool and modern grind to it with those sharp delineating edges at the bevel. Outside auto, black Cerakote on the blade. The handle is aluminum and anodized with what they're calling "Shadow Forest Camo." And it is pretty cool looking in all the pictures I've seen of this, I followed the links. This is a pretty cool looking one. This is available now. They only make 500 pieces as per the Buck of the Month arrangement, and this one is MSRP'd at 275 bucks. So go check that out.

Next, this is definitely one I want to check out, and would fit beautifully with today's theme of nasty little knives. And this is the TOPS Upswarm Designed by a Knife Grinder Employee. Very good at making nasty little knives. They made the Up Swarm. This is their new one, the TOPS Up Swarm. Now this one is not a collaboration with a famous designer. It's not designed by Leo Espinoza, their head. But this is from one of their knife sharpeners, one of their blade grinders. A gentleman named Eric Mooney. And of course, when they're grinding blades and sharpening blades, they test them on paper, and he wanted to create a knife that optimized the sort of slicing you get when you have a successful paper slice in a tactical self-defense package. And you really got that here. 1095 blade steel with that black traction coating, three-inch up-swept clip point blade. I mean really up-swept. Really a beautiful shape. Man, I love the shape of this blade. With or without a sharpened swedge, it comes with that black traction coating as I mentioned. Micarta scales in black with a really cool texturing. And this one, as you've seen now at the pommel, has a sort of third of a ring. Or let's just, so were not being nerds, call it half a ring. It's not a karambit, but it has the base of the karambit ring. So you can manipulate the blade in a lot of different ways similar to having a ring without risking degloving your finger, which is such a horrible thought. Pulling all the flesh off the bone because your finger is trapped in a ring and you're in some sort of a tussle. So this gives you some of that manipulation control without the full commitment of putting your finger through a ring. So I'm very excited about this. Looks very cool. Kydex sheath. 6.3 ounces. Available now. MSRP on this is 195, and I saw it's discounted right now, and I think that might be because it just dropped and they're very excited and pumping it.

All right, third is a Strange New We Knife Designed by Robert Saniscalchi. This is a knife that insists upon itself, to quote Peter Griffin. This is the We Knife Inceptus, designed by Robert Saniscalchi. And we've seen a bunch of his designs on the show over the years. Very talented designer. This one reminds me a little bit of a Gus Cecchini design. This is a 3.57 inch modified Wharncliffe or reverse tanto, modified reverse tanto. Who knows what this blade shape is? A very interesting blade shape at that, I would say. I would say maybe too many notes on the blade, but hey, now I'm editorializing. M390 blade steel, and it's got two distinct cutting edges. The downward angled and closer to the fingers is the shorter of the two, and then you have that long forward edge. Front flipper or opening the hole, trapezoid thing. Handle tapers at the butt end, but it has a really cool sort of angular shape. And we know by now that angular shapes can be very comfortable. It doesn't have to have round choils everywhere to be super ergonomic. This one has aluminum foil carbon fiber inlays. It's four ounces, and available soon for an MSRP of 385 dollars. That's the We Knife Inceptus.

All right, last up, one that I'm really happy to hear about because I love this knife. The Perfect Civivi Just Got Perfecter. This is the Yonder from Civivi. This, to me, is what the Elementum is to everyone else from Civivi. I think this is such a great little knife. Well, it's not so little anymore, because they're coming out with the Civivi Overyonder. Great name. And it's a little bit bigger. But this is designed by Zac Whitmore. And I first became aware of Zac, as probably many of you, when he was the media guy for Blade HQ. And then he left Blade HQ and he has his channel, Zac In The Wild, and an interesting guy. Very, very magnanimous kind of guy, and really knows knives and design. Just a super cool knife. So the Overyonder is this knife but blown up a little bit. 3.35 inches of 14C28N. Spay blade, it's a spay blade, let's call it that instead of a bellied reverse tanto or modified Wharncliffe. It's got a thumb stud, very smooth bearing action, I can attest to, and of course, it's got their crossbar lock, which is just flawless and super smooth. You just pull it back and it just drops so quickly that it comes right home. So very, very nice knife. Coffin-shaped handle, really cool and contoured in cross-section. This one comes in G10 or in Micarta as you see on screen here. 2.79 ounces. It'll be available at the end of March 2026 for 74 bucks. I think I might get this. I think I might get this even though I don't need Civivis, I don't even end up really carrying them. I just like them. You know how like you might collect Star Wars action figures, this is like my Star Wars action figures.

Okay, that is it for this week for the State of the Collection. Still to come on The Knife Junkie Podcast, we're going to take a look at some nasty little knives. We're going to take a look at a cool little device I got. It's not a knife, but in the State of the Collection, but first let's learn us some stuff in The First Tool.

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

Bob DeMarco: Some blades announce themselves with drama. The Hira-Zukuri doesn't. It whispers. In Japanese sword terminology, Hira-Zukuri means a blade made without a shinogi ridge. A flatter, cleaner form, most often associated with the tanto, the Japanese dagger. To modern eyes, it can look almost stripped down and severe. But that simplicity is exactly what makes it so memorable and so effective. There are no extras. Just steel flowing in one smooth direction, playing towards the tip and towards the edge. It's pure intention. And that's what makes the Hira-Zukuri so fascinating for knife lovers. It isn't one famous knife, but a whole way of thinking about a knife. Some examples have only the slightest curve, others have that subtle inward curve known as uchi-zori. And even with that plain flat profile, these blades were anything but boring. British Museum descriptions of Hira-Zukuri tanto mention dragon carvings, grooves, and Japanese characters cut into the steel. So the shape may be simple, but the finished knife could still carry religion, status, symbolism, and pure artistic showmanship. It also shows up in some of the most intriguing corners of Japanese blade history. One British Museum catalog entry describes a broad Hira-Zukuri tanto whose shape seems to echo the famous Hocho Masamune, a 14th-century masterpiece so distinctive that later blades were judged against it, kind of like our modern-day Chris Reeve Knives Sebenza. Another museum example identifies a stout Hira-Zukuri dagger as a yoroi-doshi, literally an armor piercer. That tells you everything about the range of this form. Hira-Zukuri could be elegant enough to inspire collectors and legend, yet stout and purposeful enough to earn its reputation. What makes Hira-Zukuri endure is that it gets to the heart of what a knife really is, especially a combative one. Nothing extra, just edge, point, form, and purpose, distilled to its essence. Hira-Zukuri is proof that simplicity in the world of knives can be its own kind of masterpiece.

I have a CRKT Hira-Zukuri designed by James Williams, and I love that. I've had that, and a number of knives like Hisatsu for years. And I know that pronouncing Japanese is supposed to be easy, you just pronounce every letter basically, but I must apologize for my atrocious pronunciation.

Alright, if you like this kind of talk, if you like talking about knives ad nauseam, if you like to steer the knife conversation, join us on Thursday Night Knives. We have a super active audience and a great, great conversation. I mean, Jim is back behind the scenes feeding me comments, I respond to as many comments as I possibly can, and what that ends up being is a conversation. It's great, we all have a lot of fun. Come join us on Thursday Night Knives. That's on Thursday nights at 10 PM Eastern Standard Time right here on YouTube.

Alright, let's get to the State of the Collection.

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Bob DeMarco: So I've been on this little kick, I know we've talked about it a lot on Thursday Night Knives, of making little survival kits, little fire kits, you know, so that someday when I find the time to go camping or if the bottom falls out and we're camping down the street because the apocalypse has happened, I want to have a lot of different ways to start fires and all sorts of different situations. And I saw this one on YouTube and couldn't resist. So I got one, and here it is. It's a little Smith's Tinder Maker. You know Smith's, they do a lot of this kind of camping stuff. But it's a little grater, you know, like this is what I use for parmesan basically, except in a smaller version here. Let me open this up. So this opens up, this box, and here you have grating material here on the steel, very sharp and triangular. And that really, really digs into wood. The whole point of this is you can take wood, even wet wood that's dry in the middle, and grate it and shave it and create a little box full of shavings like this. Here's a piece of fatwood you can... Now I don't think I would use... you could use fatwood. Fatwood kind of does the job for you without getting that... you do that, and then you have your little dust in there. But you would do it a lot more and fill this whole thing up with wood. Say you're out there, it's raining, and you need some tinder to start a fire, and you don't have one of those fire starters that works in the wet. Well, you would take this, find a stick, and grate down to the dry center, and then you use this great ferro rod, actually. This little ferro rod is excellent. I'm going to throw a spark here... Oh, geez! Maybe a little too excellent. I didn't realize, and I shot it at my computer. That was smart. But this thing is pretty awesome, and I'm excited to put it in my fire kit that I'm building right here, my Maxpedition full of fire-making stuff. And then I'll go out into the backyard in suburbia here and start my fire pit. But if I ever need something like this, I like knowing I have it, and I like these kind of gizmos and gadgets. It's not a knife, but it's got a bunch of little knives on it. See?

Alright, that is it for this week for the State of the Collection. I've got a couple of things coming in this coming week that I can't wait to show off. So there you have it. Alright, we're going to get to 15 Nasty Little Knives, but first check this one out. This is the kind of justification I like. I don't hoard, I curate knives. That's right, curate. You just throw a word in there where people are like... you know, if I went to art school and I've been to a million museums, I'm familiar with curate. But if you don't go to museums, that's a fancy word. I don't hoard, I curate knives. Yes, I decide what belongs together. I acquire them, I put them together, and I create a context for them to exist as one. I curate knives. You know, you talk like that about your knife collection, people will zone out and they'll start thinking about something else, and the grotesque amount of knives that you've collected will no longer be in their brain. So check this out, go to theknifejunkie.com/shop, check out the many pages of merch we have. Jim is a machine designing these, super awesome logos and knife mottos and t-shirt designs to attract like-minded individuals out there in public. They might see your tote bag and say, "Hey man, you and me, we got to talk."

Alright, let's get to nasty little knives. These are all fixed blade knives. They're all little, and they're not all of my little knives, but this is pretty much it. Like, they start getting larger and then they're out of the category. These are nasty, nasty little knives that are just made for getting yourself out of sticky situations, and of course, we're talking about self-defense.

First one is a classic of the genre, and that is the Clinch Pick. The Shivworks Clinch Pick. Let me show you first in sheath, super discrete little sheath. This was designed by Craig Douglas, he goes by Southnarc on Instagram, and he is a former undercover agent of law enforcement sorts who did a lot of undercover drug deal stuff when busting guys. And learned that a handy little pikal style knife, though this wasn't intended as a pikal knife necessarily, it was generally intended to be used like this in a forward grip, but he found that when doing drug deals in cars often, there was a struggle across the seats. But of course, you're both faced in the same direction, so it makes for a super awkward fight. And this thing is poised in the waistline right behind your belt. You can grab it and pull it out, and use it like this. If someone's reaching across the car and grabbing you, if you can get to your belt and pull this, then you can just pull this up and you can get his arm and pull, and you're just doing all sorts of mayhem with this. But it's also small enough and that egg-shaped handle melts in the hand, so there's nothing to lever or pry this out. There's no pommel extending from the bottom of your hand that might be used to lever it out of your hand. It's a really hard knife to deal with. And they even make this in double edge, which sounds awesome to me. And you can just get out of your... just don't do drug deals, that's all. But in any case, you might need this knife anyway. This one is wearing a special edge. That bevel and edge were redone for me by Dirk Pinkerton, and I say redone by me... I bought this from Dirk in a package of knives he was getting rid of. And before he sent it, he was feeling the edge and he was like, "This is awfully oblique and not very sharp. Let me just put a sweet edge on this for Bob," and I really, really appreciate it. Don't know the steel, I think it's 8Cr. It's foreign made, but go check out Shivworks, they've got some cool stuff and some other pikal style knives.

Next one here is another one with an egg-shaped handle. This is the Gunfighter Customs Gunfighter. Next one here is one that I've been carrying quite a bit since I bought it, and it just sits quietly, discreetly on the belt. Though that purple, I'll probably swap that out for black, it'll be even more discreet. But yeah, it just sits on my belt next to my buckle. Like I said, quietly goes unnoticed, but it's a nasty little push dagger. This is the Cold Steel Urban Edge, one of their many push daggers with that T-shaped handle. And really what that does is it puts the power of the punch behind your cuts, behind your thrusts, because that T-shaped handle butts up against your palm and then that goes up into your forearm and it really just locks in and is pretty brutal. And it's a great sort of knife for people who don't have experience with knives, but you still want the effectiveness of a blade. These were very, very popular among riverboat gamblers and brigands of the early frontier in the United States. But this type of design goes way, way, way, way, way, way back to like India with the Katar. And I'm sure it goes even further back, but I love the effectiveness of it. I love the discreetness and smallness and size, I guess I should say, of this little two-inch blade. Chisel ground flat on one side, and then steeply ground on this side. Now though the edges are oblique, you can still slash with them and do incredible damage. So really, really awesome, inexpensive knife. I got this one at the Willy Knife Shop in Delaware. A couple two, three serrations on it. I don't think we see enough serrations on hawkbill blades, but really, really nice. Love this thing. I just recently started carrying this one again because I finally came up with the best way to mount it on my belt. I've had every single type of clip that would fit on this and nothing ever worked, and then I just went back to plain old paracord. And now it sits on the belt perfectly. When I say the others didn't work, it's not that they didn't work, but they would hang on the belt like this. This is the perfect way to get this to stand up with the blade parallel to my belt.

Next up, this is a very famous one over the last five years in the genre, and it was designed by Ed Calderon, who's got his fingers on a lot of designs these days, and they're all really nice and really effective. This is the Kopis Designs L-Via. By the way, as I record this in March 2026, they just did a new drop of L-Vias, which are sold exclusively at KnifeCenter, and they have changed a number of variations on the blade with different, the same cutting edge, but different variations on the spine with like thumb swedges and stuff. But anyway, this is the knife, and it's based on the fruit knife that Ed Calderon's mother defended their family with in Mexico when he was a kid. Defended them from a mugging. It was a little knife that she carried around all over the place, all the time to do work and to cut fruit and vegetables, but she used it to defend the family. And it left an impression on Ed Calderon, and when he became a Mexican drug interdiction officer on the Mexican side of the border, he remembered that knife and carried one with him. And then later on started espousing the use of knives with the tip down and the edge in for self-defense, and for those moments when you're flooded with caveman energy and adrenaline and you need to get out of a situation. And so started designing knives like this, which he did collaborations with with other companies to get them made. Emerson Knives, Turner CNC, you name it, he's done a number of collaborations. Well, I shouldn't say you name it, he hasn't done one with Victorinox, but I could see him doing one with Mora if Mora would have him because he's talked about what great self-defense knives those are. This one, of course, you're seeing that beautiful Ito wrap. This was done by Josh Mason of Bright For War Knives, also a maker of incredible small, nasty little knives. I have one I couldn't put in this list, didn't quite make it, not small enough I guess. But this is 154CM, injection molded. And then one last detail about this knife is sort of elemental to this design is that little hook shape on the sheath. Now I have put an UltiClip on it, but without that, you could drop this knife, and also without the wrap which thickens it up, you could drop this knife in its original form in your pocket, it will go pretty much unnoticed, and then when you need it you can grab the handle, tug it out of your pocket, hook the sheath on the inside of your pocket on the seam, and then tug the knife free. The sheath drops theoretically into your pocket, though oftentimes when I tried this it flips and flies across the room. But the sheath drops and stays in your pocket, the knife is in your hand, and it hasn't been seen, you don't see any clips or anything. So I love this style of knife, I made my own using Victorinox fruit knives and bending the handle with a little bit of heat. That's a great way of doing it, a great little self-defense knife.

This next one is nasty. It's a nasty little thing that I got as an impulse buy at a table at Blade Show a few years ago. A company called Fudo Forge. And Fudo Forge makes unbelievably beautiful kitchen knives. But they had a little basket of these little scalpels, no doubt made from spare pieces of steel, scrap pieces of steel. And it's really nice, super sharp, thin, small. The Fudo Forge Scalpel. I made a little Kydex sheath for it with that little hook, using the same concept as the L-Via I was just showing, wrapped it in jute cord. I'm a huge fan of jute cord if you're new to the show. And I love how that sits in the hand. But it's just a wicked little thin knife, you just drop it in your pocket, it's there. It does... it's long enough that it remains oriented north to south in your pocket without getting all squirrely and sideways. It's really sharp and it's a very useful little knife. Now this is not one you can run out and buy, but this type of knife I really like, the scalpel type of knife. We were talking about TOPS before, they make something called the Street Scalpel. And other companies make scalpel-style knives, and I just love them. And this one, this Fudo Forge one is great because it's so thin, so light, and undetectable. But if you needed it in a pinch, it would just be Johnny on the spot. And there's my little sheath for it. Alright, make sure it's going in there properly, I don't want to dull the edge.

Okay, next up is from Jack Billings and Shed Knives. And Shed Knives make a lot of really big robust outdoors knives, but they make this awesome, this one here, little knife, and I think it's a nasty little knife. First of all, it's the Skur, and this is the Shed Knives Skeletal Skur, skeletal Skur we'll call it. Because ordinarily it comes with a handle, you can get it like this though, and I like it like this. And I do intend to wrap that handle with jute, but it will make it a little fatter. And this is one of those knives I like to just drop in the pocket. The kind of broad footprint of the sheath keeps it kind of centered in the pocket and keeps it kind of right where it needs to be, and then if you grab it, you just pull it right out. But let me show you this, the knife itself. So it's got this deep hollow grind. It's a fat knife but it's got a deep hollow grind and a super serious edge, that is totally curved. Now to me this is nasty because it can be concealed easily, and you can just kind of put your finger on that. I mean you could easily hide this knife, and then you have this little sickle of a, I guess that's not a sickle, what would you call that? A pendulum blade, or an ulu blade, at the tip of your forefinger. And in the meantime it makes for a great little utility knife. It's got great jimping on it, seats itself very well in the hand. It's a three-finger knife, but you've got this back area that your pinky can brace against. You can get a nice four-finger grip on this knife in the standard grip, but I really like it with the finger extended. Great little utility knife too, though. That's the Skur, and I think that's how it's intended. It's intended to be a utility knife that hangs around your neck, but next up...

This one is a custom version of this knife. This is the Bastinelli Anomaly. And this is one of four knives from this series of knives that Bastien Coves co-designed with Doug Marcaida. And this one is the pikal one, the Anomaly. And this one has a nasty, nasty little hooked blade. Same concept, same pikal-style concept, you are using the knife like a cat uses its claws. This one of course has a ring, and that ring is nicely placed so that I can make a fist without it hurting my fingers or making my fist weird. It's custom because he did this wrap on that. You can get Bastinelli knives made by Fox Knives, just sold straight from Fox or Bastinelli, or you can reach out to Bastinelli and get customized versions with beautiful wraps and serrations and different sort of features. This would be a cool one with a double edge, I must say, but the hook, it doesn't leave much back there to be sharpened. Also a beautiful sheath, very discreet little sheath.

Next up, from TKell. I know I was talking about TKell earlier, I said they make these kind of knives, and here is a prime example. This is the TKell FLN, the Front Line Knife. Let me take it out of this beautiful sheath here. Look at that, you got the battle lock grip. So cool. Super awesome pattern on there. Let me show you the blade. So you have a very short blade, this is a three-inch blade I believe. You've got the reverse tanto up front, or no, that's not, that's just an angled tanto up front. You got the nickel boron coating on this, making it super low friction and really nice and clean cutting. I got this, this was part of the storm, or no, sorry, this is a part of the topographical laser series that they did, and I got the FLN. I had the full-size Nightstalker, and the FLN is so compact, yet the handle is absolutely hand-filling. So look at that, you got a full hand... handle, and a nice short discreet blade. Why is this nasty? Because it doesn't look like much, right? It looks like a nice little utility knife. Until you start using it, and that angle up top, that thumb ramp, that jimping, the reverse angle here so that your thumb is naturally pushing forward as you're cutting or thrusting. It is just so well locked in. You have this dropped edge, so the edge drops below the knuckles, keeping your knuckles out of the material. And in reverse grip, also super menacing. You can hold it in that pikal. Also just nasty. So the FLN, Front Line Knife, a great EDC knife but also a wicked little self-defense knife.

Next up, a new acquisition from 310 Forge. This is the 310 Forge Scalper. 310 Forge, it's a company down in Texas. This gentleman makes some really, really cool modern tactical-style knives. He makes them in high carbon steels and does these really cool finishes. This one is called the Scalper, and it's sort of based on those trade knives, those old Green River trade knives, but scaled way down and beefed way up. So the thickness here is 3/16. It is super thick. You got some really nice thick contouring on those canvas micarta handles. But let me show you this blade. You got a nice clipped point, a beautiful swedge on top. And this dark, dark finish. Let me show you this side. 310 Forge. I love his logo. Really, really great piece. I put my own little lanyard on the back, but just holding this thing in a reverse grip is just awesome. But in a standard grip, you put your thumb up on that flat right behind the swedge, and you can really get to work. It's just a stout, stout piece. He does his own sheaths. Nice thick Kydex with a discrete carry concept, Mod 4 clip on it. This drops right in the front pocket or right next to your belt buckle. And it is just, I mean it's right there, but it is invisible to everyone else.

Next up is from AUX Manufacturing. Now, AUX Manufacturing is Michael Jarvis. He's based up in Massachusetts. He is a phenomenal knifemaker, making some of my favorite designs right now. And here is one of them. This is the AUX MFG Broadhead. You see it in its pocket sheath, its Kydex sheath with that UltiClip, which is perfect for dropping into your front right pocket or carrying it inside the waistband. Very thin. But look at this knife. The Broadhead. And this is exactly as described. This looks like a knapped arrow broadhead that you would use for hunting large game. You have the double edge, nicely and neatly divided by that pronounced ridge right down the middle, that spine down the center. You got a nice little choil up front if you want to choke up on it. This is a three-finger knife, but man, with that lanyard on the back, and I did a pretty simple little lanyard here, just tied a couple of knots, and it gives my pinky a perfect place to lock in. This thing is super effective. It punches well above its weight in terms of its size, and the fact that it is double-edged just makes it super versatile, especially if you get into a situation where you're just thrashing. Which honestly, God forbid, you are in a self-defense situation and you have no training, you get a knife out, you're going to be thrashing. This is going to make sure that whatever thrashing you do is going to have some effect. Let me put it safely away.

Next is one of the coolest little sneaky pete knives I have. This is from Station IX. This is the Station IX No.4 SOE Lapel Dagger. This is designed by, the overall concept of Station IX is to recreate these old clandestine weapons used in World War II. The Special Operations Executive, that was the British spy network. The American spy network was the OSS. And they created all these really cool little devices to get people out of tough spots. Like say, you get captured behind enemy lines, and you're tied to a chair, and you need to cut yourself out. Or you get patted down, but they miss this because it's so small and so thin. This is the Lapel Dagger. Look at that, beautifully machined from what is, I believe, D2 steel. They do a lot of D2. Very nicely textured in the middle for a super pinch grip. And of course you can punch with this. It comes through the fingers. There are so many cool ways you can hide this, manipulate it, and carry it. It comes with a really excellent sheath too, with multiple mounting options. But here's the No.4 Lapel Dagger. I did an unboxing of this and several other Station IX knives a while back. Absolutely fantastic little nasty knives.

Next is another pikal style knife, the Failed Negotiations Pikal. This is from Ben Ficklin over at Failed Negotiations. And I love this one because it's sort of a hybrid between a pikal and a karambit. You got this really cool sort of hawkbill shaped blade, but the edge is on the inside, so it operates like a pikal. You pull cut, and it digs deeper as you pull. But it's got a ring, like a karambit. So if you drop it or open your hand to grab something, it stays with you. This one is a custom piece. He did a great job on the grinds, super aggressive. I got this one directly from him. Great little Kydex sheath. It carries beautifully.

Next one here is another one with an egg-shaped handle. This is the Regiment Blades Low-Viz. Now this is designed by Al Salvitti, and Al Salvitti is a martial artist who works with a lot of military and law enforcement, and he came up with a system called Regiment Blades. And the whole idea is that you hold the knife in a grip that aligns exactly with your punching mechanics. So the blade is off-set, it's at an angle to the handle. So when you hold it and you throw a straight jab or a cross, the tip is perfectly aligned to penetrate. And this Low-Viz model is their smaller, easily concealable version. Really great sheath, super fast draw. This is the definition of a nasty little knife meant to get you out of a violent encounter as efficiently as possible.

Next up, this is from our friends at DC Blades and TOPS. This is the TOPS Ephyra. And the Ephyra is named after a jellyfish, I believe, or some sort of nasty stinging creature. It's a small ringed knife. You have a completely straight edge, Wharncliffe style blade, super pointy, and then you have this large ring at the back. Now the ring is oversized so you can use it with gloves, or so it can just float around the finger without trapping it. It's designed to be used in reverse grip primarily, but it works forward too. It's got that classic TOPS 1095 steel, traction coating. Just a wicked little backup tool that you can throw on your gear or inside your waistband.

And finally, number 15, this is a Pinkerton Broadhead. Dirk Pinkerton makes these little broadhead neck knives. Actually, I have several Pinkertons that could easily fit on this list. Dirk is the master of nasty little knives. This Broadhead is tiny, maybe two and a half inches overall, with a triangular blade that is sharpened on both sides. And it comes in a little Kydex sheath that you just drop around your neck. The handle is just large enough to pinch between your thumb and forefinger, but the base rests perfectly against the meat of your palm so you can deliver a solid thrust. It's so small you forget you have it, which is the perfect quality for a backup knife. So, Pinkerton Broadhead rounds out the list. Tell me if you like 'em. I sure do. All right, be sure to subscribe so you can get yourself a Pinkerton knife when we give it away on Thursday Night Knives. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer. Thanks for listening to The Knife Junkie Podcast.