Automated Transcript
The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 315)

00:01
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast.
The place for blade lovers to learn about knives and hear from the makers, manufacturers and reviewers that make the knife world go round.
I'm Bob DeMarco.
Coming up, I go off grid again.
A new hard used American folder.
And five late to the party knife reviews.
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast.

00:26
Your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting.
Here's your host Bob the knife junkie, DeMarco.
By now you know the shocking details leading to the tragic death of knife design virtuoso Elijah Isham.
He was 27. His singular talent in one of a kind personality put him at the vanguard of the knife industry, creating knives that brought the exotic and sublime to the average knife lover's pocket.
I only met Elijah once on an early podcast here, but he left an impression not only of a warm affable guy, but of a true artist, with all the imagination, toil, doubt, and struggle that comes with the role.
Jim and I joined the greater knife community in mourning the loss of Elijah's vision, potential and friendship, and extend our deepest condolences to family and friends left behind.
Now, on a lighter note, let me bring to you my favorite comment of the week now.

01:29
This one actually made me laugh out loud and it had.
It gave me a little personal connection.
It's from I be me and he commented.
Automatic knife close up.
That's how I labeled my UDT video.
It's an automatic knife close up.
It's close up video on an automatic knife, but I think perhaps the way I wrote it led to some confusion.

01:49
He said automatic knife close up lol.
I was waiting to see this knife automatically close.
I guess I'm just a little bit slow, he says, and the thing that makes me laugh about this is when my wife and I were first had our eyes on each other.
This was back in the day when you still wrote letters and and the handwritten notes, and she gave me a handwritten note and she signed it.
Think of me of 10. And then she said her name, think of me of 10 and for a long time this vexed me, because we weren't in regular communication.
Think of me of 10 like what the hell does that mean?
And then one day I realized often it means often think of me often.

02:31
And so this LUDTII be me.
Comment brought me.
Right back to my courtship days and how it's just funny man, you you read something and it could be obvious to the person who writes it and the person who's reading it is just somewhere else.
So maybe I'll take a look at how people actually write the word close up.
Is it hyphenated?
Is it all?
One word that always kind of vexes me too.

02:55
So thanks for the comment.
I'd be me and it's it's making me do a little bit of self examination so I appreciate that now.
A pocket check today I'm carrying something that you've.
Seeing me talk about you saw the unboxing you saw me talk about it on Thursday night.
Knives I've been carrying it nonstop.
I love it.
This thing was 100% off my radar, as was the company until NAP Sergeant made a video on this knife and in his video he implied that the Holy Trinity of Strider, Hinderer, and Chris Reeve Knives has, and he also included Spartan, which I would too has a new stable mate in this knife here.

03:36
This is the resco.
Instruments Goose works Goose works is the knife wing of resco instruments.
MDC FMDC F stands for Mekong Delta Combat folder and as far as I know the designer of this.
Is a Vietnam veteran and a frog man.
That's what they called seals back in the day and designed this knife.
Resco instruments is a watch company.
It's kind of a. I'm not sure if you would call it boutique, but it's a small.

04:09
Small watchmaker that makes maybe they're not that small, but they make some really cool dive watches.
If you're into that kind of thing.
Dive watches you know, tactical guy watches.
What can I say?
The kind of thing that a Navy SEAL wants to ***** ** his wrist when he jumps in the water?
I guess.
But they also started making folders.

04:28
This is their second one.
Their first one is a clip point blade with a fuller, and it has five finger grooves that you're, you know I, I've never held that one and.
It's not as sophisticated a design as this.
This Mekong Delta Combat folder is just ah man.
This really is a folder perfection for me.
This is right up there with my sebenza 21 and my ex M eighteens and my Spartan harsey folder.
It actually feels like a combination between the Spartan harsey folder and the sebenza.

05:05
It has that blasted titanium finish of a sebenza, and it's got the glassy smooth washer action, so it's a pleasure to open and close.
I love this knife we talked last week on Thursday night Knives.
The topic was how important really is action and this is this is the knife that made me think of that because this is.
You know it doesn't drop shut.
That's for damn sure it takes.
It takes pressure on your finger to very smoothly guide that blade back home.
And I I've always loved that feel I I am, you know, in in recent years have fallen also for the fall.

05:44
Shut thing I like that too.
That's gratifying.
But this just feels incredibly solid and this will not appear in the state of the collection today because it's appeared in states of the collection elsewhere for over a week.
Now, but since I'm carrying it, I thought I would.
I would show it off on the supplemental and talk about it a little bit.
That's 20 CV steel.
You can see their their diver man logo there.

06:12
It's a it's a guy, a scuba scuba diver got a thumb disc the the one that nap Sergeant showed off had a hollow grind.
This is a flat grind.
Comes to a pretty obtuse behind the edge geometry, but it's so wickedly sharp, so the geometry of this reminds me of of my socompa kind of kind of coming in at a steep angle, but somehow they get the edge.
I mean, they get the edge wickedly sharp and and behind the edge, just thin enough to be slicy.
Though this is not like a cheese cutter or or an Apple slicer, but great looks.
People have commented on how the pivot reminds them of John Gray.
I have commented numerous times on how it reminds me.

06:57
The handle reminds me of the classic Emerson Specwar Viper Five, which was later interpreted by zero tolerance into the Zero 640. Just the just the plan form of the handle reminds me a bit of that, but you know, a knife is a knife and in a lot of ways and.
Man, I love this one so this is a four inch blade and it has been riding riding in my in my front right pocket for over a week now.
You know that's dedication you know that that's true.
Love something else that's been riding in my pocket ever since I got it, though that's been slightly less.
Is the new.
Jack Wolf Knives laid back.
Jack and I got this one.

07:41
Thank you Ben Belkin.
He sent this to me.
I did not purchase this.
This is not.
I see it is not dropped yet, just checking the date, but he sent this to me to check out and and to have and I appreciate that so immensely.
This one is in black micarta.
As you can see it's starting to take on some of my funk and patina there.

08:03
I love that that M390 blade again like the sharpshooter Jack before it is full height, hollow grind, wickedly sharp and you know incredible walk and talk on this.
As as was the other one, and that you know Ben Belkin is a connoisseur of custom slip joint knives, and so so much work went into these things.
I mean he he basically documented the journey on Thursday night Knives for for a long time.
You know he would come on and and talk about the the process of this and he is a stickler and it comes out in the knife.
You know, sometimes when you're doing a job.
You know if I'm doing a job where I'm editing video or something and someone comes in and has changes and stuff it can, it can really feel like this was good enough.
This is a pain in the *** and and then the change they suggest actually is great and oh, they know what they're doing.

09:02
That's right, this is their project.
I'm just the tool putting it together.
I haven't put it that way in my head before, but.
That's the same thing with Ben Ben, you know, keep going back to the companies about the prototypes and saying yeah, it's good, but the walk and talk and this and that.
And we gotta do this and you know, so that a lot of redesigns with this.
A lot of moving from company to company until he landed in the absolute right spot and he's not allowed to disclose who that is.
What company that is contractually?

09:32
But man, they're doing an amazing job.
Who knows it, it almost doesn't matter to me.
It's a Jack wolf knife and.
I love it.
Keep your eyes out for monthly drops of the Jack Wolf knives for the first six months, which started in April and then there will be a period of making new ones and and that kind of thing.
But you can check out all of his designs at jackwolfknives.com.
Also check out my most recent podcast with him because he's been on two shows.

10:02
It's #308 and it's great.
It's right before his first knife dropped to the public and man it was.
It was great to talk to him.
You could you could sense the excitement and pure exhaustion that had built up to that moment.
Not not just designing one knife and having it made, he just started an entire company with everything soup to nuts right from the start.
So an exhausted man and we are all grateful for his efforts because he's churning out some not churning out.
He is creating some outstandingly beautiful modern slip joint folders, this again also in titanium, all right.

10:37
Last up today it was a large fixed blade carry for me, but I somehow made it.
Work well, I know it was the choice of shirt that made this work.
This is my Spyderco St Bowie.
I'm showing it in the sheath as I do with all fixed blade knives because that is a huge part of the of of the recipe here.
Uh, this knife I thought I was going to re sheath when I got it.
I was like why do they have to go so big with these pancake sheaths?
But it and and it rattles a little but actually.

11:08
This mostly doesn't get carried out and about.
This mostly gets carried at home.
This is a great sweatpants or or or workout pants or pajama pant knife.
I gotta say because it's late and it draws easily.
That's why I don't mind the rattle because if I'm if I'm wearing this in gym shorts and just, you know, milling about the house and I need to draw it or or have to draw it.
It doesn't take a lot of pressure.
It's not going to pull my shorts up and give me a wedgie and all that.

11:37
It's just.
It's just enough to hold the knife and to hold it upside down, and you can even shake it upside down, but when you pull it, it's not gonna give you too much resistance.
This street, Bowie's one of my favorites.
I love this knife and and I'm enthralled by its designer.
Fred Perron certified French ****** and and just knife fighter.
And I think he was in the French Foreign Legion and he was a French commando and the whole 9 yards very cool.
Cool dude and designs and also hand makes knives that are very similar to this often.

12:14
They often are in this format and this is kind of a bowed version of a traditional French fighting knife.
French fighting knives and French.
Chefs knives kind of evolved in in parallel in parallel, and oftentimes what's considered a French fighting knife or a French kind of Bowie knife, quote UN quote looks like a chef's knife, which I think is I don't know.
There's some poetry there because they have such a love and mastery of food and cooking that it makes sense that other implements, you know, knives for other uses would also echo that instinct.
This, to me is is a beauty because of the Bowie shaped blade and the fact that you have a full finger guard here without having a finger guard.
It's like.
The art of fighting without fighting.

13:07
You have this big finger groove in here and this.
This sort of guard area echoes that cooking knife sort of thing.
I also think of knife like the Tops, Prather War, Bowie.
It has the blade there to stop you from moving forward if you're thrusting.
This has a 5 inch blade.
This is VG10 coated.
There's a little bit of a rubberized section in this in the middle.

13:29
That's why I said the shirt means a lot.
If you want to carry this under a shirt, nothing too textured.
It will grab onto this and print and just not feel good.
Have this paracord on there for for quick deployment if need be.
That's just for fun and yeah this is what I carry today.
The resco instruments Mekong Delta combat folder the Jack Wolf Knives laid back Jack sway back slip joint and the Fred Paron designed Spyderco St Bowie just such a cool cool knife also this thing.
Comes uncoated in VG 10, but has a shorter blade and.

14:16
Shorter blade oh and and uncoated.
So there are a lot.
That's called the street beat and I had someone beat me up for accidentally calling this the street beat in the comments once.
Alright, so.
I wanted to show you before we move on to life and I've news I wanted to show you what we're gonna be giving away this month for the gentleman Junkie knife giveaway and just so you know well this this is a Dave gift.
A gift from this old sword blade reviews he has sent me another box full of giveaway knives and and I'm just trying to wrap around all of the knives knives he sent me and how and when I'm going to give them away.
Some of them are for gentleman junkie and some of them are not, so this is a gentleman junkie.

14:59
Knife giveaway knife.
This comes in this nice pouch which you might actually not carry.
The knife that comes in it and you might.
You might choose to put a Leatherman or something, but comes in this pouch.
It's the shield in Boa.
Sheldon is one of those relatively new manufacturers creating high value, extremely high quality folders.
This is contour G10.

15:25
It's sort of a jungle G10 with with Gray 10 and dark olive drab and it's contoured this way so it's nice and comfy in the hand.
It's got some jimping flourishes here and then when you open it, it has a nearly four inch.
What is this, yeah?
1st about four inch blade of D2 and that really cool clip point tanto.
Clip point tanto.
That's what I'm going with a great knife for work you've you've.
If you hold it in this sort of forward pull cut, grip it.

16:05
It presents that secondary edge at a great angle.
You can easily use just the tip, or you can use that entire.
I'm going to use this line as an example.
You can use that entire length of blade and it's just at a super comfortable angle.
Great action on this bearings.
This is what we've come to expect, you know.
When you get when you get something, now that's 60 bucks and doesn't have awesome action.

16:30
It's kind of like well, what are you doing?
What have you been doing all day?
Everyone else is coming out with this thing so.
So here it is.
The shield in Boa I've been I've had this one for a little while and I was mentioning on Thursday night Knives how it's been sitting on my shelf.
My temporary ownership shelf, meaning like people who loan me things.
Loan me knives or knives that I'm selling or something like that are over on that shelf and this one gets.

16:59
I don't want to say picked up because I don't want people to think I've used it because I haven't but.
This one has been a hard one not to just somehow it made its way into my collection.
You can't Spidey flick it using that opening hole, and whoever gets this will be a lucky gentleman junkie.
So check in on May 19th.
That's a Thursday night at 10:00 PM Eastern standard right here.
Live on YouTube, Facebook or Sweet or Twitch and and we will give that knife to a lucky patron.
Jim puts up a really cool wheel, we spin it and it randomly selects someone.

17:32
It's a lot of fun, so how do you do that?
How do you get involved in that?
You go to the knife junkie.com/patreon and sign up for one of the tiers of support.
Easy to do quick and you get a. You get a lot of extra stuff and exclusive content so.
Check that out.
Quickway knife junkie.com/patreon or scan the code here again, that's the knife junkie.com/patreon.
Looking for a new knife.

17:56
How about one from Benchmade Spyderco we or Bark River?
Get that new knife and support the knife junkie channel and save money on a new knife all at the same time.
Visit our knives for sale page at www.theknifejunkie.com/knives for this week.
Specials through our affiliate relationships.
We bring you weekly knife specials on great knives.
You save some money on your knife purchase and the knife junkie channel makes a small Commission.
It's a win win.

18:23
Check out the new knife specials.
Each and every week at WWE the knife junkie.com/knives.
That's the knife junkie.com/knives.
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast.
And now.
Here's the knife junkie with the knife life news.
One company that we're all very happy jumped into knife making.

18:49
We were talking about resco instruments, the watchmaker well, another one that we're very happy.
Got into knife making is Hogue Hogue, who for 50 years was making gun grips and other sort of gun accessories.
I think it's about a dozen years ago now started making knives under there under their label.
They enlisted Alan Elishewitz and others and man, they've just been killing it ever since.
And in in my estimation I think that they make the best.
Access style lock out there, but that's just that's just this commentator's opinion.
They have a new line of automatics out which is exciting to me because it's breaking the mold a little bit.

19:29
They look different from the other hogs and I'm excited about them.
They're it's called the ballista line, the ballista line and.
My wife's roller Derby name used to be used to have ballistic in it and and I think she would like this because you cannot say that word without her going off.
So anyway, the ballista line, it's a two piece aluminum handle.
You got a button actuator and a secondary lock, which I I never really go for on a really nicely milled aluminum handle.
It's giving you just enough kind of milling to make it grippy, but not enough to tear up your.
Your seems there comes in a really nice 154 CM, either tanto blade.

20:15
Or there's a drop point blade on in this in this one right there.
Yeah, thanks Jim.
That to me looks so much like what does that look like to you?
Yes, it looks like an SNG to me.
I saw that and I double taked that double took.
I double took and I thought is this the?
Is this the UM?

20:39
Protech SNG, I mean to me that looks just like the protech SNG but in any case a very and I'm only talking about the blade.
If you're listening I'm only talking about the drop point ballista blade.
The handle looks nothing like the SNG but just in this photograph they isolate only the blade and I'm not saying that it's derivative or a rip off.
I'm just saying that's what it made me think of excellent blade shape for sure they they give you that sharpening notch rather far up but I think they want to make that choice.
Is useful and safe as possible, and when you back the edge up to a choil all the way up to the choil cleanly.
Without a little notch there, you know people.
Those who have big sausage fingers and are are are using that choil and and really bearing down could stand to get cut in their finger so I get it.

21:29
But yeah, I love the look of this tanto 154 CM again a great steal.
I love it.
Hogue just just makes awesome knives and I love that they're going aluminum with these.
Who doesn't love aluminum?
I do.
I have an aluminum, sorry a little.
I have an aluminum launch nine on my key chain that has worn in so beautifully.

21:53
You've all been on the journey with me because I show it off every once in a while.
I love the way the keys have worn down.
The anodizing on that aluminum.
Anyway, that's what you have to look forward to.
If you get one of these new ballistic ballista model hogs that knew from from Hogue, oh, by the way, it's a 3 1/2 inch blade.
If I didn't mention that, which now puts it right in my line line of sight because right here in our state on July 1 I can now I will be able to walk around with an automatic so you better believe my automatic ranks will swell at that moment.
Alright, Next up.

22:31
Kershaw's product release.
#2 just just bums me out just like the lower third says man.
It bums me out because I've always loved Kershaw and ZT.
They were when I expanded out from cold steel way back when.
They were one of the first ports in the storm and man I just love to actually the the folder the storm was so amazing.
A great folder that was designed by Ken Onion.
I I had to give it to a cop at La Guardia Airport rather than throw it away.

23:02
He said I can't accept that knife.
You know I was trying to trying to get on the plane.
I forgot I had it and this was before 911. He's like I can't accept the.
He said you can't get on there but.
I'll help you try and get your baggage.
Baggage was already on the plane, he's like, well, you gotta you gotta throw it out and I'm like well.
I don't wanna throw it out.

23:20
Can I just give it to you?
You're a cop you'll you could use this and he's like I can't accept it but I could pick it up off the floor if I saw it.
And so I put it on the floor gently he picked it up he's like oh look at this nice knife and that was it that was a Kershaw storm I love that thing.
It was on me 24/7 back back back in the day and.
Actually bought it in the in the store in the DC area.
Can't do that anymore.
Those were the days of Kershaw that I love and man.

23:49
Recently they've been.
They've been putting these kind of things out.
This is fine, I understand not everyone is a knife junkie.
Some people just need a a lock back folder with a with a plastic handle so they've come up with this one.
You can Scroll down Jim.
They came out with another one that looks like it a little different and then they came out with another one.
That's really annoying.

24:11
This one right here this karambit.
It's a. It's a speed safe assisted open karambit, just like at first blush, it's a good looking knife, but it doesn't make sense.
First of all, it's it's got the speed safe assisted open.
It's set up for tip ohh man for edged up carry.
Which means when you pull it out it's not oriented properly for karambit use.
You have to flip it open first but the assisted open and then reorient it in your hand.
Put your finger through the loop to use it like a karambit.

24:48
So it's just to me this is just a dangerous knife.
It's something that someone will buy thinking.
Oh this is a great self defense knife but in reality to get it to bring it to bear you have to already have it in your hand.
If you want to use it.
In any sort of situation, you have to have it out and open because it doesn't have a wave on it.
I mean, I see that it you can switch the clip to the other side and make it a little more.
Amenable and maybe with those big giant pocket studs.

25:14
Maybe you could actually catch those pocket studs on the seamier pant and actually use it like a wave, but I I say that any folder, any folding karambit, any folding karambit is going to be a self defense tool.
So any folding karambit needs to have some sort of wave on the blade, some sort of hook that auto deploys the blade as you pull it from your pocket.
Otherwise, it's a paperweight.
And a dangerous one that can probably get you thrown in jail.
So so this one ruffles my feathers a little, the one below it.
Fine, you're a hunter.
Get your, get your get your de souches on or whatever that's being called.

25:54
I don't mean to be disrespectful to Kershaw, I just think this stuff is just boring.
But here is something cool the lucha.
I love the lucha that's there.
That's their highest end, or for them, quite high end American made balisong.
I have the original one with the clip point Blade.
This is a new one coming out.
It's got carbon fiber incorporated on it, making it much lighter.

26:19
Which Bally zone guys might like?
It's also got a very good looking spear point blade with an interesting swedge similar to the clip point, which had an interesting clip point shape with an interesting swedge.
Otherwise the QUILLIONS and the handle shapes and dimensions are all pretty much the same.
This to me, is exciting, they don't.
I was about to say they don't need to come out with all those other knives, but you know, obviously they do.
That's their bread and butter.
I guess they don't need to come out with all those knives for me, but I don't think they were doing that in the 1st place.

26:55
This one also is different from the original Lucha in that instead of 14 C 28 N, which I which I do like a lot, this one has 20 CV, which I like even better, so I'm sure it'll cost a pretty penny more.
Due to that and the carbon fiber and the extra process in making it.
But that is one of the kershaws that is the Kershaw in this new product release that is interesting to me that I look forward to checking out all right still to come on.
The Knife Junkie, podcast, state of the collection.
We're going to take a look at a few new off grid knives.
That have come into my hands and then five late to the party knife reviews what?
What does that mean Bob?

27:39
Well, you hear me say a lot that I'm late to the party on knives.
I'll get something that has been out for a while and I talk about how great it is and and I imagine people who have already known that being like, yeah, Bob, yeah, we know, we know we know all about the PM too Bob, so that's what that's what we'll be doing.
I got five knives that have come across my desk.
A few of them that I own.
And I've always been interested in that.
I finally get a chance to check out right here.
On the Knife Junkie podcast.

28:11
Do you carry multiple knives?
Then overthink which one to use when an actual cutting chore pops up, you're a knife junkie of the 1st order.
I've talked a lot about the off grid Knives Enforcer XL, a big brute of a knife.
Some people call it a reverse tanto.
Clearly it's a bellied, worn Cliff.
It's got a large glass breaker, really gnarly handle, and it's a great.
It's it's my car knife.

28:38
It's my car folder.
It's, you know, just seems like for for most situations you're good to go.
That one is indeed two.
Well, I've always been curious about the enforcer from which the Excel sprang and.
Carrie orifice of off Grid Knives was kind enough to send this to me.
This is the enforcer and like it's a Big Brother.
The one that rides in my car.

29:00
It's in D2 steel.
This is a this is a just a shrunk down version or the other one.
The Excel is an enlarged version of this.
Everything about it is the same except for the size and in this design that works great.
I find that just expanding or contracting a design by a percentage doesn't always work.
Didn't work with the endura to the Delica like they needed to change around the design of the handle to make it work.
Not so in this case.

29:32
I would imagine that's a good way to design A knife, because you can.
You can save time and energy on design.
I love this knife.
I almost like it better than the XL only because this is a very easy knife to carry.
This is a A3 in 1/4 inch blade by the way.
Super sharp man.
They do D2 right?

29:53
They also do their coding right.
The coding on all of their blades no matter what the steel always has a nice slippery feel to it.
That's why I love cutting a cardboard with off grid knives.
I have not cut cardboard with this one.
I think I only opened a meat package or something.
I can see a little bit.
Salmonella at the tip of the blade here, but the cool thing about this one also is that the.

30:18
Peaks of the pyramids in that knurled texture in the G10 are knocked down.
They're a little flattened, so they are not as abrasive as the Excel.
The Excel they don't knock down the peaks on these pyramids and they really are aggressive and so on.
The large one.
It works for me.
In in, in theory, and in practice it works to have that that sharp knurling, because that is an emergency knife for me that is not something that I carry.
It's something I keep in the car for emergencies.

30:51
And for fidgeting, I'll be honest, but.
This is something that I could carry on a daily basis and I've carried around the House since I've gotten it quite a bit and so to have that knocked down.
It's coming in and out of the pocket.
It's just not as aggressive.
It's not as destructive on your property.
So and and that heavy sharp peeking on the large ones also make it make good glove knives.
So this this is a really cool knife if it's made by best tech like like all of the off grid knives now they used to have an elite series made by we.

31:25
That elite series is now made made by best tech and to me personally I think that's a good move because best tech is.
I don't know, they might be my favorite OEM.
I'm not saying that they're better than anyone else, but they might be pound for pound my favorite OEM and so you can't go wrong with the build.
So if you like the design, this thing is awesome and a little bit more manageable at three and a quarter inch.
It's in that perfect.
That perfect size for most people's EDC.
Alright, Next up a limited edition of its Big Brother the Enforcer XL.

32:06
This one is called the Red Dawn edition.
The Red Dawn edition, who saw Red Dawn I I did.
I grew up on Red Dawn in the 80s with C. Thomas Howell and Patrick Swayze.
And I think sex in the city was in it.
What's her name?
Great movie, you know teenagers defending their hometown from Russian invaders.
It was so cool and then they did an update with Thor in I don't know.

32:34
2016 or so Thor and I can't remember who else was in it.
It was going to be the Chinese invading and then the Chinese had something to say about it.
So it it turned into the North Koreans.
I think that was in postproduction.
Glad I wasn't the effects editor on that.
Changing all those uniforms must have sucked.
XL Red Dawn.

32:53
We know why we can tell.
Look at this it's it's got this beautiful.
Black G10 with with ribbons and ropes of red shooting through it.
So cool when I looked at it I was like I it looked almost like applique and then when you turned it on the side you can see it running through.
Just beautiful and then on this one instead of D2 steel you got your 154 CM definite upgrade from D2 and one of my favorite steals.
One of my practical favorites for everyday use.
All of my Emersons are 154 CM except for my long lost.

33:36
Iron dragon.
Come on Joe, send back my iron dragon Joe.
You know who you are.
Joe, send it back.
That ones in in in S 35 so yeah I got real used to 154 and I love it.
This is in 154 this has awesome action on bearings.
That heavy blade helps it fall shut.

33:57
This is not as smooth as my as my D2 version but my D2 version has has had quite a bit of break in.
I have found with off grid knives they have an interesting break in period.
Which is like 10 flips, you know, unlike an Emerson where you buy it and and that's the only comparison here, you buy it.
You go through this tumultuous breaking period where you think you made a mistake and then suddenly it blossoms into this amazing young adult.
I mean the knife and works great.
These off grids come smooth and then after 10 flips they're just stupid smooth.
They're insanely smooth, so that's that's where this enforcer.

34:40
Excel Red Dawn Limited Edition is headed.
Go over to off grid knives.
Actually go to the knife junkie.com/off grid and it will take you to the off grid site and if you buy anything there I get a little affiliate bump.
This is 1 knife company that I happily and openly accept an affiliate sales link from because I love the knives.
I have a big collection of them and I think I think carries an awesome guy and I think what he's doing making these luxurious but super rugged knives at at an affordable cost with cool designs.
I think it's a I think it's a he's doing a great thing.
Great service for us knife junkies.

35:22
Last up is something that I've been waiting for and.
I asked him about a long time ago and and I'm I'm sure a lot of people.
He got a lot of feedback like this, but someone you know someone's got to make this Cayman and XL and carries just the guy to do it.
So here it is.
It's the off grid Cayman, XL, the Cayman EDC is a great knife.
I should have pulled it out.
It's just across the room but it's a great knife with these dimensions.

35:52
These EDC dimensions 3 1/4 inches.
In blade like well this one he bumped it up to four inches and it is a beast.
Now this is a knife that, through my own observation, I am saying that he could not, just in the design process, say make this larger by 5% and have it work out because of the shape of the handle of the of the EDC version, it's.
Proportionately speaking, it is shorter and and fatter than this one, not fatter in this direction, but wider in in the top to bottom dimension.
And it fits great in hand, and it and your whole hand kind of encapsulates it, and it feels great.
But if you were to to just take that and enlarge that whole thing by 5%, or whatever percentage, it would be too wide to actually grip onto, so we had to elongate the handle and do do do a couple of changes to the handle to make it work at the four inch blade length.
So he's a smart designer.

36:57
I think he's got.
He's got another design.
Ohh, the rhino.
He went from the rhino to the mini rhino.
I mean the micro rhino and so we went from a three and three and 3/4 inch blade down to a 2 1/2 inch blade and the handle works perfectly and all he had to do was shrink it down by a percentage and somehow that large handle translates into a tiny handle perfectly and that's by not reducing the
actual fatness.
Of the of the handle, it all works out great, so I think Terry is a very smart designer as well as a a designer of very compelling hard use folding knives.

37:35
Produced by Best Tech, I mean look at this thing.
Ohh wait, is that a scratch?
No, it's not OK. I'd be fine with a scratch because.
Because I use my stuff but.
This is so new I didn't want one great action on this.
This is also like following the the trend of.
Took about 10. 10 flips and now it's just glassy, ridiculous smooth.

38:01
I love the big Broad Cayman shaped blade came in as a crocodilian animal from South America.
This looks this blade shape looks like a crocodile.
They have a long, slender snout.
The Cayman does and this thing man.
I highly highly recommend it.
Go check out your off grid knives.
Go to the knife junkie.com/off grid and pick a few up.

38:24
My dad has been.
Kind of without any consultation from me or urging from me collecting a bit of off grid knives here.
And I don't even know if he's been using my affiliate link, so I have to make sure that he does that.
If you're watching slash listening, go to the knife junkie.com/off grid to get your next off grid knife.
Thanks, dad.
Alright, so that is the state of the collection and what could have been included in it is the resco instruments, Mekong Delta Combat folder.
We went over during the pocket check.

38:57
And then a knife that's going to be coming up here in the five late to the party knife reviews.
Let's get to those right now after this sip of black morning wake up liquid.
I brew some good coffee.
I gotta say, it's not like I didn't have training as a barista.
We just didn't call it that back then.
We called it a maker of coffee.
Alright, so of these five knives.

39:20
These are all five knives that when they came out got a lot of fanfare or interest from me.
Two of them got some fanfare, but more interest from me due to their innovative designs.
We'll get to those innovations and see and see what I think about those in a minute.
But first up is one that I know Jim has.
And it's designed by a guest of the show.
Richard Rogers it is the CEO now I came by this CEO through Dave.
This old sword blade reviews.

39:55
I mentioned before he sent me a giant box of giveaway knives.
This is one of them and.
For a guy who calls himself the knife junkie, I'm a little surprised I hadn't actually experienced this in person yet.
CEO is a really cool knife.
This thing was.
Created to be something you could put in your breast pocket of a dress shirt and it would look like a pen.
Now it doesn't exactly it that that looks like a knife clip and not a pen clip and.

40:27
You know the top the top is a little.
It doesn't exactly look like a pen, but to the to an unexamined eye you could easily get away with this and not for nothing.
Probably no one's wearing it in their shirt pocket.
They're wearing it in their suit pants pocket, and we all know that suits have very light.
Fabric, everything, everything is light and flowy.
A pair of suit pants.
Unlike jeans which are more rigid and can carry more weight when you're wearing a. When you're wearing dress slacks or a suit pant, you want something very light and thin, and this definitely definitely fits the bill.

41:05
Where it goes South.
The only place it goes South to me is that it does not offer that tip up.
Carry experience.
It's tip down, only tip down.
Ah, you know, only a couple knives.
I'll accept it on, but it also gets in the way sometimes during deployment.
Here you have no choice but to embrace the clip.

41:27
You kind of have to grab the clip up there and then you can flick it open.
It flicks open really easily.
It's got a great detent tuned very, very nicely.
This is, I believe.
This is the eight CR version I believe.
I'm not sure I'm gonna have to check the box.
HCR and then a an FRN.

41:50
That sort of looks like carbon fiber so in its original state which is always sort of a proof of concept for a knife.
You know they're not going to just come out with a million variations if they don't think if if people aren't buying them.
But in its original state, it's cool.
I like it like this, but it has come out in a number of different materials.
Now with that that I've liked much better, different steels, different handle materials and such.
But the overall design is a cool one in that it is so slender it's so light and slender, and but you can bring a decent length blade to bear.
That's three and a quarter right.

42:30
123 yeah, three and a quarter.
You can bring a decent length blade to bear it's.
Sharp and it's kind of classy looking.
I mean you pull this out.
Most people are not knife people and they might think.
Ooh, that's you know that's very gentlemanly.
The clip though the clip.

42:46
Still I the clip was always kind of the the the fall fall down point for me because it really you have.
You're almost there in terms of having a package that could look like a pen in a breast pocket.
You know that people are looking at all the time.
All you have to do is square off the top.
And change that clip.
Make the the clip more like a pen clip something milled maybe.
I know that they're going for a certain price point, but but something less knife clip like would do this knife good like a doctor's knife.

43:20
It has a flat bottom which is kind of cool.
So you can crush up your pills like that and stir them into a potion.
Not that you're going to use this for that, but so I I like this knife I'm I'm glad it came out I I really like Richard Rogers, a cool guy and great designer and maker, and it's cool to see.
I mean, I've said cool like 100 times in the last minute.
It's great to see one of his knives.
Bring in a mailbox money.
Let's be honest.

43:48
You know.
Every time someone buys a CRKT CEO, Richard Rogers gets a little slice.
And obviously he deserves it because he designed a really cool thing.
And well, I I give it a thumbs up and.
This next one does not.
I cannot say that for I'm gonna.
I'm gonna take this off screen and right here.

44:12
I'm not really talking about the knife here.
This is called the kicker and I believe this was the first knife 4C JRB featuring this lock.
It's called the recoil lock, and that's what I'm talking about here.
The recoil lock.
And in short.
I find it to be a disaster.
It's kind of an unnecessary innovation.

44:33
It's one of those things that.
They're like let's try this and I respect the trying.
This would be a great case for market research like they do with Hollywood movies.
You know, instead of just having faith in the script and in the director and stuff, they they focus group it.
What do you think of this ending?
Should we change the ending?
What do you like?

44:56
Do you like this character or should we fire her and send her into the abyss where actors never return from and they should have done that with this knife?
What do you people think of this lock?
Do we need this lock?
Is it necessary?
Should we dump a bunch of machining?
In time and research and money into this lock, and if they had asked me, I would have said no, Sir, no Sir and ma'am, please don't and just continue to make your other amazing CJR's, one of which I will be getting to later.
So this is not a dump on CJR BI do respect the spirit of innovation that went into this.

45:33
Now what it is is a lock that has a similar action to an access lock or a ball lock like in the Mannix where you're grabbing the sides.
Here pulling back and then letting the knife kind of return to the handle.
It's in flipper format here, and so the D tent is.
As far as I can tell, is how this lock interacts with the Tang is that that is the detent, so when it when it opens, when you engage the flipper it very lackadaisically comes out.
It's kind of like really it's it's my break over.
Yeah, your break is over buddy.
Time to cut some stuff or at least time to fidget.

46:17
And if it's time to fidget.
You can you can reach.
You can get the top, it's jammed and slide this thing back and and whip it back in.
But there's something about it that is very unsatisfying for a couple of reasons.
First of all, this whole thing this.
This slides back and releases the blade.
It's all loose in there here.

46:40
Let's see if we can hear it.
There's there's so much play in that lock, and so, so that's annoying.
And then when you so when you grab the when you grab the lock to disengage it, you already feel it moving around like back and forth, up and down, right to left in in every it's loose in every dimension.
And then when you pull it back it takes very little to to make the blade come in very little pull.
O what I mean by that is distance of pull.
So if you're going to use this knife, you have to use.
If you're going to have your thumb on the knife, you have to be pushing the lock forward and you have to use the back of the lock as a thumb ramp.

47:25
Otherwise you know my my feeling is always to come up onto the blade, but if you if you even just engage, if you pull back with your thumb, even just a little, it disengages the blade.
So it's and it's not dangerous because I mean, unless you're unless it happens at high speeds with a lot of force, it's not dangerous because that Flipper tab is there and it will stop the blade.
But I mean, you know annoying.
And slab dash approaching dangerous.
Is how I feel about this recoil lock.
I don't even know if they're making it anymore, but it seems like they could have avoided the whole thing just by asking some people.
I I, I think I've seen like maybe two or three reviews of this lock, and no one.

48:15
No one was very psyched about it.
So CJR BI know I'm late to the party, but don't do it.
Don't do it.
Send me your next prototype for your next lock idea and let me see if.
Let me see if I can save you some trouble.
Because this this was a disaster in my opinion.
OK, So what if this were a frame lot or not a frame lock but a liner lock?

48:39
Let's just pretend that this silly recoil lock isn't on it.
Well, ergonomically, I like the handle.
The handle feels good.
I really actually rarely like a a multi finger choil, but this is so many fingers that it fills the hand nicely.
It's very good in reverse grip if you happen to need that.
The blade shape is actually really good.
Reminds me a little bit of the CQC 8. Clip Point with a with a sort of abrupt clip.

49:06
Pretty thick and steep flat grind but very sharp and seemingly slicy.
I haven't really used this for anything that's D2 blade steel.
Pretty nice G10 and and you know off the rack clip with giant screws that will mess with deployment.
And with your pocket seams.
So the the whole thing is kind of a misstep.
It's got some good qualities, but kind of a misstep.
But the real problem is this terrible lock look just a tiny bit and it stops just a tiny bit and that lock disengages so hate it recoil lock hate.

49:47
But here I'm going to go a little bit out of order, but here's a CJR B that I adore.
I love it.
I love this cjob.
If you're listening or watching.
You don't know what who they are.
They are the high value slash budget line for artisan cutlery and.
This is the scoria.

50:09
I did a trade with Chris McNair on on Thursday night Knives.
He was talking about the scoria and how I want one and how I kind of was late to that party and I've always wanted one.
Never got when he's like yeah I have one for trade and it's your favorite.
You know black and maroon color combo and well he wanted me to.
He said name your price and I said how about we trade so I traded him a rifle and a great trade and I love this thing.
CJ RB.
Is making their own proprietary steel called a RPM 9?

50:44
And this is my first knife in that blade steel a RPM 9 so far.
It's very nice it it has sort of a toothy edge on it at the moment.
So it's very, very.
It's an aggressive edge.
Very aggressive looking drop point blade to me and I think it's because first of all, the tip is very close to center line and then also it's got that nice long full length swedge.
This is one that I wouldn't mind a little jumping on the back only for.
For tactile feedback, it feels good, but this one does not have jumping great great thumb stud that I find if I use the thumb stud to to flick it open, sometimes I get interference with that flipper bar against the fat of my thumb.

51:31
It's not happening as much now that I've had it for, you know, a week or so and I'm getting a little bit more used to deploying it that way.
But it's also a well tuned flipper.
It's well tuned for.
Flipping and for thumb stud.
Meaning you can slow roll it easily.
You can flick it easily with either finger you know thumb or finger and you can flip it.
But no, that that when you have something set up for flipping and flicking, it's not going to be as good as a flipper.

52:07
It's the the the the detent just cannot be as stout as if it's just a flipper.
But in this case you can I make it fail.
I can, but only if I if it's fighting gravity.
If it's not fighting gravity, I cannot make this knife fail.
It's super smooth and I think it's incredibly good looking.
It's got a a. Sculpted titanium clip here a really nice micarta that is it's canvas.
But it's contoured and kind of polished down.

52:43
Nice standoffs, everything about this knife at I think it was $65.
I think you can get these for $65 in a number of different flavors and this thing is awesome and well deserving.
Of all the hype it got when it when it came out back when it's it got a very usable finger choil which I like a lot and then that plunge grind is and and the termination of the edges in just the right place to to to avoid hitting the thumb studs.
If you're using a. Consistent angle sharpener and such.
And then lastly I love how slender it is over the the package.
Overall is quite slender that the handle is contoured.
And and it's slender, and it makes it feel like a very.

53:31
Well, it's a very slender knife.
What can I say?
And but the contour is the outer profile of the handle really lock it in.
It doesn't feel ever like insufficient in the hand.
You could do a lot of hard work with this knife.
And and still feel comfortable.
So my dishing on the CJR B. Recoil lock.

53:51
I did that first because that's the bad news.
But the good news is that this cjob, the scoria and all the other CJR's I've experienced are outstanding so.
Every company deserves a misstep every well.
Every company should be innovating, so that's a that's a a good thing to see.
CJB scoria thumbs up all right now I'll go to one that I was really interested in for a short burst of time and for a number of reasons and it's the real steel.
I do this every time.
It's the steel will Cilla.

54:32
Silla is a mythical beast from the odyssey.
He's she is the six headed kind of hydro like thing that's hiding up in the caves in the rocks, and you know when people say a rock and a hard place they're talking about or that term originally comes from Odysseus having to make the decision.
Do I go by Carib Disc the giant sucking Whirlpool that will destroy everyone on this ship?
Or do I sail closer to this?
Is the Straits of Sicily by the way, where my people come from.
Or do I sail closer to Silla, who will most definitely kill at least six of my guys and it's a hard decision to make.
He decides Silla because killing six is better than killing the whole ship.

55:16
And yes, indeed, she comes down with her shrieking heads with our giant dagger like fangs and and and grabs 10 or grabs 6 of Odysseus's finest men.
Everyone who dies is always Odysseus is finest men so great.
Part of that story.
I love that.
Story and I love Stella and my girls.
That's like one of the first monsters I introduced them to.
They love sillitto the knife.

55:43
I don't love.
I was very interested in how it looked.
And this is this was coming.
I feel kind of right at the cresting or no, not the cresting sort of the the popularizing of the front, flipper, and but it kind of misses.
It's it's it kind of misses all boats here, just keeping the the Silla metaphor up.
It misses all boats, because as a front flipper you have to make you have to be very careful.
You got to make sure with every way you're opening this, you have to make.

56:19
Or that the fat of your thumb or fat of your finger is avoiding this notch so you can front flip it.
You just have to have your hand cheated back.
OK, you can slow roll it.
You just have to have your hand cheated back.
You can flick it like this.
But still, each time you have to have your hand kind of unnaturally cheated backwards to avoid this notch.
So as you can see the interest, the USP of this design, is this right here?

56:53
The extended Tang with the thumb stud.
Is supposed to do something other than look stylish?
It does look cool I must admit.
And and it it it it.
It feels good to the thumb reasonably good anyway, and the way it's set up once it's open it, it feels great in hand ergonomically, but this whole area here is a problem.
It's just.
You know it's the sort of thing that if you were carrying this every day, this where your EDC.

57:26
You get used to it Lickety split and it would would not be a problem.
But if you are a knife junkie, meaning you maybe do several wardrobe changes per day with your knives or you're at least rotating on a daily basis, this is one of those knives that will catch you off guard and you will pinch your finger in there.
So though it's cool, it's another case of innovation that wasn't necessary.
And that kind of just flops.
But cool name, great blade shape, really great blade shape.
I love that because you got your point pretty much down the center line.
Which means that in any orientation you know where the point is going to be on the thrust and it is a a gradual belly.

58:11
And and that tip is is in such a way that you could use it for a lot of utility kind of tasks.
The handle is comfortable even though it looks a little bit.
Jagged like right here.
It's really comfortable in hand.
I mean everything about this knife is actually pretty darn nice.
That's a D2 steel.
It's even good.

58:32
It's even good in reverse grip.
Everything about this knife, like I said, is pretty nice.
Except this part that looks cool is actually not actually cool, it's just first.
It's second kind of cool to quote.
Nothing fancy first, kind of cool is utilitarian.
Cool second kind of cool, according to Nuttin.
Fancy is looks cool is cool fun kind of good action, that kind of thing.

58:55
So yeah, second kind of cool but but not enough.
First kind of cool to make.
The steel will still a a hit and I think that's why it kind of just floundered and flopped.
OK, last year I'm going to end this on a positive note, I finally got my hands on a Towser K by Kaiser and man I love this thing.
This is an azo design and it came out to a lot of fanfare because.
It's it's got some of the ingredients of like the Kaiser Sheepdog, for instance, but it's a little less extreme and in becoming a little less extreme, I think it's a little more useful.
You they pull the the forward slope of the cleaver style blade.

59:41
They pulled that back a little bit, giving you much more of a tip than you get on the on the sheepdog.
You get a nice curved belly there that is curved just enough for long.
Gradual cuts say you're cutting cardboard or stuff.
That's all.
I've used this for and I've used it quite a bit for long cuts and stuff like that.
You you have a nice enough belly to to really pull the material in and to slice, and you've got a decent cutting edge length there.
So I I really think that the blade shape for me is a an improvement on the sheepdog.

01:00:18
Now this is what isn't out there to compete with the sheepdog cause they're the same company.
It's just it's there as another knife.
But to me I put them in the same camp and I've never owned a sheepdog.
I'd like them, but something about the point I can't.
I have a hard time owning knives without points or or actively seeking them out.
This one on the blade also has this gimped platform there, similar to like a Finch knives Flipper tab, which is a ends up being a gimped platform as opposed to a choil but an area where you can show choke up to to.
To do finer, finer you know work with that blade to get closer up to that blade.

01:01:01
An incredible fall shut action here.
This is the the polar opposite of what I was talking about earlier with the Mekong Delta Combat folder from RESCO, which requires constant pressure to close in a very gratifying way.
This it just requires a little bit of pressure on that Flipper tab and it drops shut in a very gratifying way.
That's 154 CM steel.
It's a got very nice cutting geometry slice.
This is a slicer to beat the band.
It's got a very high.

01:01:31
Flat grind and then I got the one with the rich light handles not contoured.
It's a flat slab of rich light.
I got it because I love that Thunder Thunder head blue color and it's got the it's got nice milling in it and I just don't have any rich light.
Rich light is kind of like a paper micarta.
This also comes in a red contoured canvas micarta.
It was a very hard decision to make very hard first world decision to make very hard knife junkie decision to make.
There we go.

01:02:03
This thing is awesome.
I love it.
It was worth all of the hype.
So that is the Towser Kay from Kaiser Knives and that does it for my late to the party.
Knife reviews.
I have a feeling as I move forward and I've received so many cool knives lately on loan that are that have been around for a while that I never got my hands on.
I might from time to time be doing some late to the party and I for views and maybe grouping them together so you know just so I can get a lot to make up for a lot of lost time.

01:02:35
Alright, working the Switcher, of course is is Jim and we all thank you for your support.
You can check us out here by downloading us to the mobile apps to the podcast apps, just to listen to these golden tones.
If I'm just too blindingly handsome to watch.
And then also be sure to go to Thursday night Knives.
Here on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook live.
10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time every week.
Join the conversation.

01:03:03
Come on the screen and talk with me.
It's been a few weeks since someone's done that.
I always love doing that.
Plus we we can get in a little knife debate.
We call a knife fight that's always fun and then check out every Sunday here for a great interview.
All right for Jim, I'm Bob DeMarco, saying until next time.
Don't take dull for an answer.

01:03:22
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