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. Call the Listener Line at 724-466-4487; Visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
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[0:00] 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 and coming up a very special O knife giveaway, a blast from the past with two knives, and then the knives and designs of Dirk Pinkerton.
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. Welcome back to the show.
My favorite comment comes from Peter, Peter asked meter for 20 great name.
And he says, this was on one of my shorts called five intimidating phobias.
And he says, I bet your daughter's boyfriend is going to make sure he's back by 730.
Yes, he better be back by 730.
Most definitely she better be back by 730 or he might get a taste of one of these intimidating bowies Love the comment and love the truthiness behind it, Please be sure to LIKE and comment when you watch a video It's it's videos like this that really put wind in my sails Especially considering that there were just eight 13 year old girls right outside this room for about 24 hours having a sleepover So it really really put me in tune with that comment.

[1:24] All right, that said, time for a pocket check.
Today in my front right pocket, I had one of the smoother flippers in my collection.
This comes to us from the great Peter Carey and Monterey Bay Knives.
Monterey Bay Knives out of Monterey Bay, California.
And what a great outfit they are. A lot of their knives are designed by Ray Laconico.
He is part of that outfit.
It. But they also do a lot of great collaboration work. And this this one, this turbo is a Peter Carey custom model that I've always loved. I love Peter Carey and his knives and turns out from speaking with him, he's actually a very, very cool dude.
So it was really cool to see Monterey Bay knives bring one of his knives to market like Spyderco did with the Rubicon and one other, I can't remember which one that was. This is the one that really.

[2:27] That they got to me. Now this is a contoured titanium liner lock knife and has great blade seal. What is this?
M390, I think, blade steel here.
Very sharp, and I had this one did up by Lindy Liu and Richie B over at Knife Modders.
Had them put that high voltage green. I love that green.
I've been carrying this one recently. I kind of forgot about it for a while, and it seems to me I've talked about this one recently.
Maybe on Thursday Night Knives, but I am gonna have that pocket clip redone.
I had them go to town on the pocket clip and the back spacer, and I do love it, but for the pocket clip, it's a little bit too attention-getting, so I'm gonna have the pocket clip done like the blade and acid stone wash.
Very sharp, they put a wicked screaming edge on this, and then if I didn't adequately communicate this, it is a free-dropping fidget meister there. Okay, so that was my front right pocket.
I always carry a slip joint, as you know, and today it was a Jack Wolf knife, per par for the course lately, and I got the old Cyborg, I say the old, it's less than a year old, but there are so many different knives from Jack Wolf out there now.

[3:42] This one, you know, it's great to go back through the collection and pull out something I haven't carried in a while and have it feel like it's brand new, and that was what happened with the Cyborg Jack.
Such great ergonomics on this, angled and faceted handle.
It looks like it might be uncomfortable.
That's canvas, my card. It looks like it might be uncomfortable, but it isn't.
It's very comfortable. Sometimes angles in the hand work really, really well.
And this would definitely be that case. Also a beautiful Lanny's clip style clip point blade.
At least that's what it strikes me as, kind of Lanny's-esque, with that long upswept clip.
Slight recurve you can see on that on that clip point blade. You see that a lot in traditional blades And the idea is that over time you sharpen through that recurve and it's not a recurve, but it's just a regular, straight edge with a sweep that's how I designed the the blade of the Nova one I wanted a little bit of a recurve Yes it adds in the cutting capability, but also gives you some belly to sharpen through over the years and not end up with a fillet knife.
So you see that concept at work here in the Cyborg Cat, a favorite, but they're all favorites, of.

[5:04] Of Jack Wolf Knives. Okay, next up, my fixed blade today was from 1558 Knife Company, this is the Revere.

[5:13] And this is Josh Fisher, master bladesmith. This is his 1558, refers to a Bible passage.

[5:21] Which I forget, I'm sorry. But this is his sort of, quote unquote, production company.
He does, he's a master smith, so obviously he does incredibly intricate and beautiful forged knives, but to keep the lights on, like most knife makers, he makes a semi-production line where he has them water jetted out, presumably, and has a quicker sort of production to them.
This is a, this was one of my purchases from Blade Show 2022.
I didn't make too many purchases, and this was a proud fixed blade purchase.
I love that long clip point, just a beautiful hunting blade.
Again, you see a recurve there that could, over time, sort of disappear with sharpening, as that's the part of the knife that you're gonna be using the most, and dulling the most, and sharpening the most, and you'll still maintain a good, usable cutting edge shape.
Really nice handle, sort of Coke-bottled from this aspect, the top down and very nicely contoured. A lot of people when I bought this, I remember showing it off at Blade Show 2022 and a lot of people, knife people, thought it was a Winkler and I thought that was curious and I think maybe it's just the long clip maybe on first blush reminds people of a Winkler but to me it doesn't really, it's not very Winkler-esque. Winklers are kind of.

[6:48] Well, the designs are maybe similar, but they have a beefier feel and appearance.
So, anyway, that is that. For emotional support today, of course, I always have an emotional support knife.
And this one I've been finding very soothing to the soul, as well as just a great cutter.
And that is the Tempest Microburst, designed by KC Spirion of Knives Fast and Tempest Knives.
He's got, what, two models and a third on the way.

[7:19] This and the Pinion I have, and then I think he's got a third one.
And then he started with the Mach 51, which was a really cool prototype.
And then he continued with these slightly more budget or affordable models.
And man, they are really, really good knives. Like this one has just an excellent blade.
You can see how tall the blade is.
It's very thinly ground, and that's a nearly full-height hollow grind.
The scales are contoured.
The whole pack, it's on bearings. The whole package is just very pleasing in very many ways.
Okay, so that's what I had in my pockets today. Oh, look at that, look at that.
It's a black blade, black blade satin, black blade satin.
This kind of looks cool. All right, so today I had the Monterey Bay Knives Turbo, the Cyborg Jack from Jack Wolf Knives, 1558 Revere and the Microburst from Tempest.
Let me know what you were carrying in your pockets today.
Drop it in the comments below. You know I always like to hear, not only for inspiration, but just to know the kind of classy individuals with great knife taste that listen to this here show.
So drop that down below.

[8:31] Just a quick note, on Thursday, July 20th, during Thursday Night Knives, 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time right here on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch, I will be giving away this beautiful off-grid knife, beautiful and extremely useful and tough off-grid knives, Viper II, Tonto with the drop point.

[8:51] I love that so much, putting that point right down center line from the clip and the pivot.
This, of the three that they sent, I kept one, gave one away, and this one has the best action of all three.
Mine has the worst action of all three and is still excellent.
I shouldn't say worst, the least awesome.
So here we go, I just wanna show the up close detail here, if I can get the camera to focus, on the jimping on the back of the blade here.
So this jimping back here is a combination of sort of old school file work, that's not file work of course, milling work with these big slots and that actually without this micro jimping here the smaller jimping gives you good grip anyway but to add the the tighter sharper jimps there really give you amazing grip awesome action recessed pocket clip flat screws great access to the lock bar something I've been paying more attention to thanks to Neve's Knives, really, really great, 154CM blade, and just good to go.
I love this thing. So I'll be giving this away to a Gentleman Junkie, that's a patron member of the highest order on the 20th of July.

[10:10] Come check it out. And even if you're not a Gentleman Junkie, come check it out, because almost every other week, not every other week, one other week a month at least, we do another random giveaway for anyone who joins us can type hashtag.

[10:25] All right, next up, before we get to knife life news, I wanna show you, talk about this O-Knife, O-Lite summer sale that everyone's been talking about.
I've been seeing the hatchet, the tomahawk, a bunch of knives, a bunch of lights, a bunch of just cool stuff that O-Knife, O-Lite, O-Lite, I should say first, I guess, and O-Knife are putting out.
It's like becoming a lifestyle brand and they have a lot of cool stuff.
They sent me some goodies here I wanna show off and you can go check out the sale.
I'm gonna be putting up a video tomorrow of these four specific items with links and everything.
Oh, I'm sorry, tomorrow, this will already be out by the time you're listening to this video.
But of these four items, let me show you what they sent me, some really cool stuff.
And then as you peruse YouTube and watch everyone else's channels, you'll see the things that O'Nice O'Light sent other people.
So they have a lot of really cool products and they're all on sale.
So right now, this very cool O-Light, you know that they're known for their lights, that's how they started.
This is a cool little magnetic rechargeable light that goes on your key chain.
What's this called? This is called the Mini 2.

[11:42] That's a pretty straightforward name right on the nose. The Mini 2 is cool because this whole back end is actually a USB charger. You just plug that into a USB port.
And then when you're done, you just put this little rubber cover over it.
You can put it on your zipper pull, you can put it on your key chain, and you've got a great light good to go.
I've not charged this up, so I'm not gonna show you what it's like, but I have an Olight flashlight on my key chain, slightly larger than this, but it's meant for that purpose.
And it's amazing. I can't believe the kind of light you can get out of that little light.
Speaking of which, this is the Arkfeld, this is the summer model, summer three model. So you've got four.

[12:27] Four levels of bright on the light and then you can switch it over to a laser which is so cool because lasers are cool and it's a green laser which makes it even cooler and yeah I dig this thing you got this really nice blue anodized I think that's titanium I'm not sure if that's titanium or aluminum I got to look into that and a pocket clip and the overall form factor being flat and not It's not round, fits in the pocket excellently.
All right, next up, speaking of excellent, their knives have been amazing.
O-Knife, I mean O-Lite, just decided, hey, let's figure out knives, and they did, probably by hiring the right people.
And this is one of them. We just gave away the Rubato 2 Sheep's Foot with the anodized American flag on it.
Well, this one is, this so far is my favorite O-Knife that I've seen.
Incredible wharncliffe blade.
Just beautifully done. I'm hearing my dog erupt upstairs. It's all about to go down, people.
But okay, so very sharp.
Green anodized aluminum has that chalky feel that I like, not everyone likes, but that goes away with time if you don't like it.
Deep carry pocket clip loop over, not inset, but flat screws, so pretty good.
And an excellent, excellent action on this liner lock.

[13:54] And then lastly, they sent me this, Oh Hank, everything's Oh.
And this is a Hank right here, and we got the rubato.
I just saw this on Everyday City Carry's channel, who does those cool VSMRs or whatever they're called.
So yeah, Hank, for cleaning your glasses, I wouldn't blow my nose in this, but you clean your knife and clean your glasses and that kind of thing.
So that's something that's a little vexing about the modern day Hank game.
To me it doesn't seem at all about your nose. It seems like it's completely about your gear and then just having a cool Hank.
That's why I carry a bandana. You throw that thing in the washer.
Old school, like my grandpa used to do.
All right, so here we go. O-Knife, O-Life has a lot of cool stuff on sale.
Go check it out. I highly recommend this Freeze.
154CM, I forgot to mention, but look at that blade. That's an amazing blade.
And it's got the same tip angle as a Yojimbo or a Hinderer Knives Wharncliffe, so I love that.

[14:56] All right, setting this aside, just want to say that, well, still to come, we're gonna take a look at some new knives in Knife Life News, and then we're gonna get to the state of the collection, and because I have no new knives this week, which just shows incredible amounts of discipline, Herculean amounts of discipline, or just maybe bills coming due from Blade Show.

[15:17] We're gonna take a blast from the past, because I got two new, two cool knives from this old sword to give away, and I love these things, always wanted one, and they're both in the past. So we'll take a look at that.

[15:29] If you're a knife junkie, you're always in the market for a new knife, and we've got you covered.
For the latest weekly knife deals, be sure to visit theknifejunkie.com slash knives.
Through our special affiliate relationships, we bring you weekly knife specials on your favorite knives.
Help support the show and save money on a new knife. Shop at theknifejunkie.com slash knives.
That's theknifejunkie.com slash knives.
For listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. And now, here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.
Okay, so new from Giant Mouse, we talked about this maybe a month ago, two months ago, something like that.
They just came out with the Atelier. The Atelier is their small version, an Ace version, which is a field grade, so to speak, version of the Ace Grand, a beautiful clip point blade.
They call it a drop point with a swedge.
Come on, people, that's what a clip point is. But anyway, well, no, that's not exactly true.
You look at it, it's a clip point blade, beautiful.
The Atelier is their small, just sub three inch version of it.
Well, they just released this in Vanadis 4E, a bowler oodle-home, oodle-home steel.

[16:48] That gets very little play, but it has a lot, it's a semi-stainless steel, very tough, but also very, very high edge retention.
And they put it on this knife for a limited 300-piece batch.
So interesting for you steel junkies, you steel nerds out there, to check this out.
I want to show you an interesting picture in this article. This is from Knife News, and these are not Knife News pictures. Yeah, exactly, Jim. This picture here is funny, because this is a $200-plus knife.
It's a really excellent EDC, and they have it on this oily rag, It's disgusting, what can...
You know, work rag, and I get what they're doing. This is a product picture and they're trying to show you this isn't a safe queen, this is something you want to take to the garage and use hard, and I get it, but in terms of beauty shots for knives, this one just made me chuckle, that's all.
It says, oh, just put it on an oily rag and open it halfway.
We'll sell it that way.
So anyway, check this out if you're interested. I have never had a giant mouse.
I love the two designers responsible, Vox and, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.

[18:05] Jesper Voxnes and, um, the two Danish, oh my God, I'm embarrassed, I'm embarrassed.
All right, someone drop it in the comments below. It's Vox and the other Danish guy, who are amazing.
I'm sorry not to belittle their work.
I'm having a senior moment, but anyway, love their work, I've never had one of their knives, though, because they've always been just slightly south of my wheelhouse in terms of carry size.
And that's been my good excuse for a while, but I don't know how much longer I can hold out, because I love the look of the Atelier.
Of course, I would get the Ace Grand. I just think it's a beautiful clip point blade.
All right, next up on Knife Life News, Leatherman has the Garage Project.
This is a very limited release special project that they do on an annual basis, and this year, well, we have the Leatherman Garage Project number five.
It's already sold out. It was sold out by the time anyone could even write about it.
It sold out like lickety split. This one is a 40-year anniversary model.

[19:10] It looks cool. I mean, you know, I'm not much of a multi-tool guy, but I look at this and I'm like, that's a damn good-looking multi-tool.
It's all sort of Cerakoted white, at least the frame is, and then you have an awesome tool set to include.

[19:25] Wait for it, a MagnaCut blade.
That's right, a MagnaCut sheep's foot blade with Cerakote on it, and it's the one, it's Cerakoted the same color as the pocket clip.
This thing looks very cool, and yes, it flew off the virtual shelves, and I think it was sold out in less than like three minutes or something like that.
So, very nice looking blade shape, very collectible, obviously.
People are probably not gonna use this, but how great would it be if they would release something like this kind of on a permanent level?
As long as they have that MagnaCut at 63, 64 Rockwell hardness, otherwise we might have riots in the street a la 2020.
So, careful with that one, Leatherman. but very cool garage project number five featuring Magna Cut Steel.
All right, next up, from Best Tech Man, that's the budget version, or the budget offshoot company of Best Tech.
Best Tech Man, the Dundee was the very first one that came out, they have now three knives.
It's the Dundee and then that very cool looking one that looks like the Iridium that I can't remember the name of.
And then this, their third, is a Mini Dundee. This is a design by Ostap Hel, and it very much looks like an Ostap Hel design, especially in the handle.

[20:44] They made a just south of three inch version of this. Again, it's a 2.98 D2 blade, and the original one is 3.4 inches, so not huge, but just big enough that they wanted to do a sub three inch, and a great looking design.
Everything about it is about exactly the same. which just scaled down, like I cannot see any difference.
But I like it, I like Best Tech Man, I like the idea of it, though, you know.
I'd like to see more models like SenCut or Civivi. When they came out with Civivi and they were the Wii budget alternative, they came out with three designs initially and then that plumed up.
Same with SenCut. When they came out with SenCut as a budget option to Civivi, they had three models I think they came out with initially too.
I feel like Best Tech Man has a little catch-up to do, but I love Best Tech and I had that Dundee, And that was a great knife.
So I think the Mini Dundee will be right up your alley if you like less than three inch knives.

[21:53] All right, before we wrap Knife Life News, I want to talk about a few victories for knife rights, in three states. One of them is my home state right here.
On July 1st in Virginia, it became legal to conceal carry an automatic knife.
And awesome. What's an automatic knife? Before you start clutching your pearls I'm thinking I'm talking about automatic weapons, which are so dangerous.
We're talking about switchblades. We're talking about blades that come out of the handle.

[22:24] With the use of an actuator and a spring, as opposed to a flipper tab and a spring.
So really, very, very little difference. Actually, more opportunity for a misfire.
But anyway, for some reason, I guess it's been since James Dean and the juvenile delinquent laws of the 1950s, People have thought that automatic knives are just especially dangerous.
And then in my state, where we had a bozo governor for a long time, who was just trying to cover his own blackface scandal, he held up a bunch of knife rights actions in our state senate and just died on the vine.
And then when we got a new mayor, a new governor, Youngkin, this stuff all started going through.
And now we can carry switchblades concealed.
That just means in our pockets where no one can see them and be legal citizens.
So very happy about that. In Florida, they got the permitless carry, including knives, which takes effect, which is even better.
That means you can carry a weapon, no matter kind of what it is, including knives, without having to go and get a special license from the government, from your daddy at the government. So, love that.
Florida, they seem to be way ahead.

[23:48] If you didn't pick up on it, that's a taxi driver line, except in the taxi driver, they say they're way ahead out in California.
Well, that's no longer the case. They are not way ahead of that in California.
But still a beautiful state with a lot of great people in it.
Anyway, okay, so third is in Tennessee, and in Tennessee, pocket knife carry at, this is kind of a funny one to me, but there was, now people can legally carry a pocket knife at a polling place if it's in a school.
So before this, you couldn't carry a knife to a school if you were going to vote, you know, for your local councilman or whatever, and now you can.
And it's crazy to me that it took legal action and the expense and the effort of of knife rights to make that one possible. But, you know, thank, thank Doug Ritter. Thanks, Doug Ritter, for making all this stuff possible again. So three victories from knife rights all enacted on July 1. And very exciting, especially for me. And this automatic knife thing. Not that I wasn't doing that beforehand, but now I'm doing it legally. Also, as Jim is reminding me throwing this up here, check out the ultimate steel 2023 ultimate steel ultimate steel is their annual is knife rights annual fund right raising campaign. And you can get a lot of knives from.

[25:15] Entering into and supporting it. So go over there and check it out. They have tons of prizes. It's pretty cool. All right.
Still to come on the knife junkie podcast, we're going to take a blast to take a look at a blast from the past and then the knives of Dirk Pinkerton one of my favorites and I'm just realizing my collection starting to swell so I need to catalog it. That's coming up right here on the Knife Junkie podcast. Don't take dull for an answer. It's the Knife Junkie's favorite sign-off phrase and now you can get that tagline on a variety of merchandise like a t-shirt, sweatshirt, hoodie, long-sleeve tee and more. Even on coasters, tote bags, a coffee mug, water bottle, and stickers. Let everyone know that you're a Knife Junkie and that you don't take dull for an answer. Get yours at theknifejunkie.com slash dull and shop for all of your Knife Junkies merchandise at theknifejunkie.com slash shop.
And now that we're caught up with Knife Life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
So this blast from the past comes to me courtesy of Dave. Thank you, Dave.
This is the Real Steel H6 Blue Sheep.
Now, I remember this as the H6, maybe the Blue Sheep is this particular model, but this was the first model I remember Real Steel producing.

[26:39] And I remember when it came out that I was just smitten with the blade shape, I love that blade shape.
Now, you know me, I'm not a huge, enthusiastic drop point consumer, even though I've got a ton of them in my collection, but this kind with that long swedge and that humpback reminds me a little bit of a Walter Brand type design.
This thing immediately resonated with me and it's one that I let slip away. I never had it.
I had a chance to buy it, never got it.
And in a box of giveaway knives that Dave sent here recently, this was lurking and I was so thrilled to finally get a chance to experience it and it is ultra smooth on washers.
I know, I know that bearings are the thing and there's nothing smoother than bearings and they drop shut and all that, but I maintain like many that washers are in many ways as, gratifying if not more just to fidget with to open to close to use they also.

[27:43] Can lend a bit of confidence in the cutting I?
I do, you know, I think the difference is minuscule, but I do feel like washers, and note the word feel, this is not coming from real anecdotal experience, but I feel like washers are just a little bit more robust.
And maybe that's because sand and grit and gunk and filth and muck can get in the pivot bearings of a bearing knife, and not really so much, a washer knife as much. But I also just love the thin, I mean the constant resistance, to open and close in that hydraulic feel.
And then this is 14C28N, and I don't know if it came like this, but it is razor sharp.
Razor sharp. I thought just from feeling it, like, oh yeah, that's pretty thin, that's, you know, but I wasn't expecting it to glide through paper making S-curves as easily as it did.

[28:39] Sorry, if you hear a little audio going off upstairs. It's got a nice backspacer here, a geared backspacer, and that camo pattern G10 is so cool.
You know, I haven't seen that for a while. That was big with Spyderco on their paramilitary II for a while.
They were offering the paramilitary II with that camo. I'm not sure if they are anymore.
And it was big, and then, I don't know.
Seems like you just don't see it that much, that digi cam.
So, a blast from the past, not only on the whole model itself, but also on this handle material, the camo G10, very cool.
Now, the next one also in that box that I just think is so cool, and I remember looking at it.

[29:22] And then not getting it, but it's this, it's the Kaiser Sliver, and it's an aluminum anodized fluted, Like it's contoured this way, and it's also fluted in a spiral sort of fashion, and, or radiating like sun pattern.
It's very pleasing to the eye and to the hand. And then also on washes, when you open it, it reminds me of like a Peshkabs, or some sort of, you know, near Asian or far Eastern, I don't know.
I don't know, it just looks like a Peshkabs to me.
And I'm not even sure where those come from. Somewhere in the Middle East, in the East Asia maybe.

[30:11] Or North Africa, but I don't know, something about this blade shape is very appealing to me.
Ever so slight recurve tip, down low, but it's still a drop point and you still have a belly.
So you got used to that tip in a utility way pretty easily. And when I mean utility way, I just mean using that tip for the kind of cuts We do a lot like draw cuts and pull cuts and stuff like that.
Very, very comfortable package. And then when you're gripping it like this, you have an overall downward angle to that blade, which just means accelerated cutting.
Means really efficient cutting.

[30:50] And also just an overall package that's quite handsome. I really like this one too.
So two blasts from the past. I thank Dave for passing these along because these are two that I always eyed up online and then just never got.
So it's a great experience to feel them and then eventually they will get passed along in a giveaway and they could be yours.
All right, so I want to get to Dirk Pinkerton. So, Dirk Pinkerton came onto my radar a few years ago.
He's been around a while, designing knives. I think first, the first time I ever saw a Dirk Pinkerton knife, it was the Be Warned knife, or is that, no, no, that was Michael Janich.
It was the Warning knife. And it was a Wharncliffe self-defense knife that was made for, who was that?
Oh, who was that?
It was one of the, it was like Smith and Wesson who bought up a tactical knife company.
And anyway, oh, Blackhawk, it was Blackhawk. The Blackhawk warning.
And so I noted the Wharncliffe style.

[32:02] Because I do love that Wharncliffe style, but then he started coming on the scene over and over and over. He's got so many great designs, that have been produced by production houses and OEMs.
Some of them OEMed for his shingle, and then others he's licensed to those companies.
He's incredibly prolific, and his work is always going back and forth between tactical, practical, tactical, practical.
And they volley back and forth to the point where, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
So you know I like that. And then it also happens that he's an amazing knife maker by hand, so I have three of his custom knives I'll show off to, but let's start with a real famous one.
It is real famous. This is the Proponent, and this one here is the Mini Proponent.
I bought two of these recently from Dirk himself because he had some prototypes of various knives laying around and he sent out an email to a number of people that, he's a smart man, He knows who's rabid for his work.

[33:09] So he sent a number of people emails, and this is what I got.
I got this and something else that I'll show you later.
But this proponent is a pretty incredible knife. if this is the small one.
And it's pretty big, it's pretty beefy. But he came out with this, with artisan cutlery, and it was a blockbuster.

[33:36] I think this was a knife, the proponent was one that really put Dirk on the map in terms of people, not only gravitating towards his designs, but then knowing who designed it and seeking more.
This was a real breakthrough knife, I think, for him. but that tall wharncliffe blade, and even though it's a pretty thick blade stock and only a saber ground blade, it's so tall from top to bottom that it is very slicey behind the edge.
It's unexpected because of how thick it looks, but it's a super cutter, and then that width there keeps that tip, which has that angle that I love, you know, a working wharncliffe angle, it keeps the tip very strong.
So funny thing was I ordered this, I asked for this one first, and then I noticed also a maroon linen micarta, so I got them both.
It turns out that the, um...
This one, what is that material? That burlap micarta version had wicked, wicked lockstick.

[34:47] I mean, not lockstick, but lock slip. And it would just pop out. And unless you really, really whipped it out with a lot of force, it wouldn't lock up. So I brought it to work and.

[35:01] Just left it in my drawer at work. And somehow doing that fixed it. It was like, I swear, I'll be better. I'll lock up better. Just take me home. Get me out of this damn office." And it really, really did the trick. This is now somehow, without any noodling, has become a very trustable lockup knife. So really, really excellent.
I also love how the two handles here are starting to take on my personal funk signature and you know, really patining up that micarta.
You got, what do you call it, ergonomics all day long. I mean, it's very neutral.
You know, you just have an ever, you just have a tapering handle here with one finger choil.
I think one finger choil is as many choils as we ever need.
But one finger choil there and pretty much any grip, reverse, also in a pical grip, heaven forbid you need that.
It just really works out well with that neutral style handle.
The grooves here are very nice, your hand wraps around and really digs in to those grooves.
Also the fuller on this blade is amazing and it makes it a little bit lighter.
You can use it to open it if you come down low but it's definitely not a reverse flicker.

[36:20] And then lastly that hole there, the hole just south of the pivot is there to put a pin through, a threaded pin, you can screw it in there and then you have a virtual fixed blade knife. I like it because it's campy, not campy, I like it because it's totally unnecessary and.

[36:40] It just makes it seem like, you know, it really does make it a stouter blade but I can't imagine ever really using it. I've actually lost track of where my pins are. I know they're around here somewhere about.

[36:52] But that is the proponent. Now, this is a shape, a blade shape that Dirk Pinkerton is known for.
You'll see several other wharncliffs in this list. Wharncliffs, reverse tantos, angled sheepfoots. I'm not sure what we're going to call them. I'm going to call them wharncliffs.
Okay, next up, this one I got from Dirk. A little pocket lint in there. Not too long ago, and I believe this is out now, this is the Gambit.
Oops, I can't, yeah, there we go.
I'm very bad with the front flipper on this with my left hand.
The Gambit, now this is ordinarily not my cup of tea because it's a cleaver blade and you know I like a point, I like thrust, thrust, to be able to thrust.
But this one, with the swoop from the handle and the sort of overall S shape from the pommel to the tip of the blade, reminds me of a very large, or reminds me of a menacing straight razor.
Sort of Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Flute Street kind of stuff.
And though it is small, this is a really excellent EDC knife.
Look at the downward sweep of that, of that bellied blade from the hand.
So you got the downward angle, which means more efficient cutting, but you still have that sweep.
So you can do a lot of things with this blade that you could, that you would be able to do with a recurve, and that you would be able to do with that sort of.

[38:20] Downward raked handle that you can see on the Filipino blade or on worn, not worn clothes, slip joint blades and that kind of thing.
This one has several opening holes on the, on the, sorry, my bad, on the blade here.
You can find purchase in any one of those five holes to either slow roll it or to flick it.
This one is an unusual knife, this is from Shielden by the way.
Unusual for Dirk, it just doesn't look like a Pinkerton to me. But now it does.
So, there it is. Shielden, they make a good knife, man. And again, look at that.
Shielden, this is an inexpensive knife from a company that makes inexpensive knives, and yet, they find it in their budget to mill out a slot for the pocket clip to find some flat screws. So, good on you Shielden.
Alright, so here's one that to me is very, very much a stereotypical Dirk Pinkerton, if you can call it that. Or I should say an iconic, not an iconic. What's the word I'm looking for.

[39:29] This is Dirk Pinkerton all day long. This is the Main Street.
And again, we have a really useful wharncliffe blade here.

[39:38] You can see this one's been used a lot. But that coating's held up pretty nicely.
154CM blade steel, but what I'm saying is a very, very useful wharncliffe blade shape that flexes very well into self-defense.
We know from the Yojimbo that that very straight blade with the triangular pointed tip, makes an excellent self-defense blade.
But we also know it makes a great utility blade. So this is a perfect blend, perfect combination of those.
And it comes in a variety of flavors.
And now you can get this in a Barlock, which has me wanting one.
Because Kaiser, I mean, Concept, is doing amazing stuff with their Barlocks.
As is pretty much everyone else, now that Benchmade doesn't have exclusive on it.
This is one that rode in my waistband for a long time. This is a good in-the-waistband knife because it's so slender, but robust, and self-defense-y if need be.
I think it looks really good. Let me turn it upside down.
But I had a really awesome patina going on this, my Carta, and last summer I put it in a wet bathing suit, and the chlorine in the pocket totally bleached the handle was from the air.

[41:02] First world problems, Bob. Check out Concept. I love their work.
They do awesome, awesome knives.
Some graduates of Kaiser Knives started Concept and they're just killing it.

[41:15] Next up is from another person who was a graduate of Kaiser Knives.
This comes from Beyond EDC. This is one of their mid-tier asymmetrical line knives.
This is the asymmetrical contact. And I gotta say, of all of the Wharncliffs.

[41:36] By Dirk Pinkerton that I have or don't have, this is my favorite.
This is a jewel of a knife. This thing is a little, as Nick Chabaz would say, it's a gem.
I love everything about this knife. The design, the build, the execution, the fidgetiness, even the size, and it's a little bit smaller than my normal preferred carry.
It flexes from utility to self-defense better than any of his folders, if you ask me, with the possible exception of the next one.
But that is because of that perfect, again, wharncliffe with the excellent tip for thrusting.
And instead of raking downward, that edge rakes upward. We see that sometimes in hinders.
We see that in the hinderer half-track wharncliffe. And at first, it's a little strange to me when you put the spine of the blade flat like that to see that edge creep upward.
But then in use, it works very well, you know, in all your preferred grips.
And then you can reverse grip it in a Pakal style, and it has that reach, that point reach that you want with a Pakal style knife.
So it gives you everything. It angles the blade up, it angles the blade down.
This blade shape in the orientation with this handle shape is a perfect knife.
It.

[43:04] And then you add the excellent build and all of the gription that goes all around the handle.
And then the light weight. You can have a light weight titanium frame with S35EN and an amazing wharncliffe blade in your pocket and it's not going to weigh you down.
So, excellent, excellent knife. I love that asymmetrical contact.
I had a great time, I actually had dinner with David from Beyond EDC and Dirk Pinkerton, and then another gentleman knife designer showed up, and it was a cool dinner, this was at Blade Show, and it was cool to be a fly on the wall and hear, you know, they talked a little bit of business or what's going on with certain designs and stuff, and I was just sitting there like listening, and it was cool.
So Asymmetrical making some really great knives, and they have a new Wharncliffe I gotta check out from Dirk, with the lock, with a button lock that's right in the pivot.
So very, very cool innovation there.
All right, next up, I said there are few, I said that the last one, the Contact, flexes from utility to tactical or self-defense-y.

[44:14] Better than any, and I guess I would have to say that because this next one kind of errs on the side of self-defense by far.
And there are two versions of this.
This is the Kaiser Inversion, and then this is the Pinkerton Inversion.
So this is a prototype of a different model inversion coming out from Dirk Pinkerton himself.
But this one is a prototype still in the works. He's got one right now, a pre-order up on his website, that's more similar to this, and it has this handle shape, but it's a titanium frame lock, And it has a removable ring, a titanium ring, that screw into these two screws here and comes out at a 90 degree angle from the handle.
You can see a video here on this channel of a prototype of that knife that I did a while back.
If you have any misgivings about ringed knives, that knife will probably eliminate them because, here I'm gonna do this up here, this camera, because when you grip the knife like this, there is no, the ring just covers your finger.
In other words, sometimes people get the angle wrong and to accommodate the ring, you're changing your fist a little bit or moving your finger to accommodate that.
With this, if you can grab the knife like this, the ring just goes around your finger.
It's amazing, and it's chamfered, and it's well done.

[45:41] But what is this design for? It looks so bizarre. I'm gonna put this back down in here.
So it looks so bizarre, like it's got a broken stop pin and the blade, maybe it's backwards in the handle.
Shouldn't this be flipped around? Well, yes, except this is set up for Pick Hall-style fighting, and that is with the tip down and the edge in. And I guess I shouldn't exactly say fighting.
It's not like two guys get knives in their hands like this and start fighting.
It's just they're killing each other because as an old martial arts teacher used to say, the guy who wins the knife fight is the one who dies second.
So, I mean, that would definitely be the case.
So this is more of a self-defense knife.
This is more of a get-off-me knife.
It's not a dueling knife or anything like that.
Not that that really happens anymore, this is a strictly pull it out of your pocket and get the person off of you style knife. It is set up with this wave-like feature, both of them are. Here it is a brass disc that shipped extra with the Kaiser inversion and And then they had something that was more...

[46:54] Slender, I have it, oh, more of a thumb disc without this canted up section to grip the pocket, that's what it is.
So, also you get a flipper tab on that, and the discontinued Kaiser here is a reverse tanto, I guess that makes sense for that, or a curved one.
But the one that he's dropping from his own company, he has removed that front angle, because certain people have tested it out, like Ryan Atkinson, Fieldworks, for instance, and has reported that when going into a pig cadaver for testing, this angle hangs up a little bit, or just slows the blade down, whereas you take that angle off and give it just like a crow's beak here, and it slips right in.
And seeing as this is for self-defense, why not?
This one here, this prototype, I'm not sure who made it, is a liner lock.
It's got a pretty thin liner lock at that. But here's the thing, when you're using this as it should be used, you're going against the stop pin.
In this case, it's an internal stop pin. And so you're not going against the lock, you're not exerting force against the lock, you're exerting force against the stop pin, like in most knives.
So in this case, it seems like a liner lock is just fine. Oftentimes, people will not recommend a liner lock for a self-defense knife, thinking that.

[48:24] Without reinforcing that lock up like you would be with your fist in a frame lock.

[48:31] You run the danger of that knife folding.
Not so much with this.
So keep your eyes peeled on Pinkerton knives and his, this one, prototypes like this are in a number of hands, and I'm grateful to have it.
But he will be releasing something like this in the future. But right now, check out his pre-order of the titanium one with the ring.
I have a feeling I'm gonna have a little inversion collection here.
And it's a good thing because there aren't enough to call style folders.
There are more and more now.
But, you know, best to be safe. Okay, next one is also a double. I have two of these.
And this is based on probably my favorite, one of my favorite knives from history, definitely my favorite folding knife from history, and that's the Spanish Navaja, the big ratchet folder, ratcheting lock folder, that was developed when Spaniards were no longer allowed to carry swords around with them, as fashion and to settle their differences.
So they created these big sword-like folders.
And this is Dirk's take on it.
And here are two of them. They are only available at Smoky Mountain Knife Works.
This is the Nighthorse G10 with, what is it, 14C?

[49:55] This is the G10 with 14C28N blade steel and ultra, ultra buttery action, I mean just ridiculous drop shut action.
$30. I cannot believe they're selling this thing for $30. It's kind of ridiculous.
I'm not sure how they're doing that, but this is an incredible deal at $30 and it comes in three different colors of G10.
That's OD green, black, and this nice coyote or tan.
And then, it comes in three varieties of titanium frame lock.
This one is the bronze, there's a blue, and a third one, maybe it's a black anodized, I can't remember, but same beautiful Navaja blade shape with that Spanish clip, with the, long flat level Spanish clip tip, and then that deep dip down, and then that belly, and and then the pointy, it's just beautiful.
Yes, very utilitarian, yes, you can use this for all sorts of stuff, but to me, with that horn-shaped handle that allows you to choke way back and gives you all that reach, this is a 4.25-inch blade, by the way.
This is a trauma-fighting knife, right? I mean, that's what it's bred from.

[51:14] This is a knife that you carry to protect your honor, you know, and I think it's a really excellent modern interpretation. You know, this and the Cold Steel Espada, by far, are the two most graceful, beautiful, and I would say, accurate to the spirit, modern reproductions or modern interpretations of the classic Spanish Navaja. I do find myself carrying this G10 version more, it's a little bit lighter, the, action is exquisite. I also dropped this on its tip and reprofiled it so I feel much less squeamish about using it, whereas this one is a prototype and I bought it from Dirk and so I want to keep it somewhat pristine. And there's a lot more weight on this one. There's no weight relief in those slabs of titanium which is at once great because I love the weight and then at the same time I wouldn't mind if it were lighter so I so I can carry it in lighter pants, if you will.
This G10 version takes care of that.

[52:22] Really, really check it out. If you have 30 bucks rattling around in your pocket and you're willing to spend that on a knife, go to Smoky Mountain Knife Works and buy the Dirk Pinkerton Knight Horse Navaja.
It is one worth having for sure.
Next up, three custom knives that I'll show off briefly. You've seen these a lot because I love them so much and I carry them quite a bit.
This one I got at Blade Show 2023 this year. This is the Fire Ant.
Now he has a Kaiser folder called the Fire Ant that has a similar blade, but this is the custom fixed blade.
Triple-edged Fire Ant. The only triple-edged Fire Ant I saw at his table.
I'd love to think it's the only one in existence.
I'm sure it isn't.
Blue and black layered Rich Light makes for a super comfortable handle.
It is contoured nicely, fits the hand perfectly.
Just enough there and really, really good aggressive jimping here that stops your thumb from running up onto that very sharp secondary edge.

[53:32] Again, hand ground, well I didn't say it to begin with. This is one of his hand ground blades and it is exquisite like all the others. It has begun to lose some of that coating just from coming in and out of the sheath so much.
This one gets a lot of carry right up front, D2 blade steel, by the way.
This one gets a lot of carry right up front in appendix.
And so if you're looking down your belly at your waistline, this is how I carry it.
Belt runs through here, and this kind of follows that fold between the thigh and the pelvis.
And it fits perfectly and you don't feel it.

[54:10] At all. It's a sweet knife and even this angular handle against the belly doesn't bug. It's really nicely contoured, feels great in hand. I'm gonna leave that up and show you the next one. This one I got at Blade Show 2021. This is the Cave Bear. You know I've shown this one off quite a bit.
It. It is a Pakal-style knife, naturally. You look at it, you see the angle of that blade, you know it wants to be held like this, but you've got that edge forward and edge back and a really, well, by the way, perfectly ground quad bevels there, just exquisitely, done. Nitro-V stamped in there and black coating and the Ronald McDonald micarta that I love so much, but also in standard grip, it's very evocative of a Middle Eastern, sort of double-edged Middle Eastern blade, and I really like it like this, too. This is a jack-of-all-trades.
I mean, no, it's not. No, it's not. It is not a jack-of-all-trades, but you can carry, it, you can hold it in many different ways for its intended purpose, but it's not a jack-of-all-trades in that you're not going to cut carpet with that knife. It'd be capable of it, but you'd He'd be an idiot to do so.
Okay, last up in my list, and certainly, it will not be the last over time, because I'm, you know.

[55:39] Yeah, there are a lot more Pinkertons I want, and he keeps coming up with new ones.
Plus, he's got this real affinity for ethnographic knives, like the stuff I have up here, that I also love.
So, there's always that influence going into his designs. Like this next one, the Razorback, He told me he's influenced by two different knives, the Kanjar of the Middle East, a curved double-edged blade, and then the Hell's Bells Bowie by Bill Bagwell.

[56:10] A Bowie legend for his fighting techniques and also for his blade designs.
And I trust him because Dirk is the designer. I just don't see that influence here, but I'm glad, I always loved the Hell's Bells Bowie, So whatever influence.

[56:29] He gleaned from that to create this amazing knife. I'm on board.
This is L-Max. I don't have too many L-Max blades. It's cool to have one.
Fully sharpened on the back, fully sharpened on the front.
This is just a wicked, wicked, wicked blade. Perfect size handle.
It's not any longer than it needs to be to hold in reverse grip and cap that pommel.
And has incredible grip this way, just enough. And great jimping.
Yeah, love this. I've seen it with the bayonet grind where the sharpened edge comes up to about here and it's jimped up here and I do like that. I also like having this full edge.
So give me all options, I'll take them all. But this happens to be a great, or I put one of these sort of cheap in the waistband clips on it, this happens to be a great running shorts around the house or sweatpants or pajamas around the house. Believe it or not. It just kind of rides in the waist. It's pretty light. And, you know, any uninvited guests come along.
You know, this is a long for the ride. And yes, you do take a knife to a gunfight as Tim Kel just posted in his video. Yes, yes, of course you take a knife to a gunfight.
You also take a gun. But yeah, take a knife to a gunfight. Good idea. Because if you get get real close, you might be happy to have it.

[57:55] You'd be happy you have any of these Pinkerton knives because they all flex between that practical and tactical.
When I was coming up with this episode, that was my original intent.
Like, I want to do a show about folders that are both practical and tactical.
And I know I've done stuff like that before, but I was looking, everything I was pulling out was a Pinkerton, and I thought, why not just do one on a pin?
So check out Dirk Pinkerton, his production designs range, you can get them for inexpensive, you can get them for a premium. And also, don't forget about his custom knives.

[58:30] There you go. One of my favorite designers and knife makers in general.
Thanks for coming on this little journey down knife lane with me.
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All right, for Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer. Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast.
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[59:57] Music.