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Announcer [00:00:03]:

Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the knife junkie DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:16]:

Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast. I'm Bob DeMarco. On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with Michael Cahill of 310 Forge. I met Michael during check-in at the Texas Custom Knife Show in early November this year. He commented on my Ernie watch, and I commented on the multiple forged bowies he had tucked into his belt and coming out of his backpack. I ended up spending a good bit of time bending Michael's ear and checking out each blade at his table multiple times. The historically based Bowie's and other Knives I wanted there were a little bit out of my reach at the time, but I was not able to leave Michael's table without getting something, in his in his rugged and refined American style, so I got this mini scalper, a knife that has turned into a favorite, EDC fixed blade knife. We'll talk to Michael about his life in the forge, but first, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, hit the notification bell, And download the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:17]:

And if you wanna help support it, go to the pay, go to the Patreon page. Quickest way to do that is to go to the knife junkie.com/patreon or scan the QR code on the screen. Again, that's knife junkie.com /patreon.

Announcer [00:01:33]:

If you search Google for the best knife podcast, the answer is the knife junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:40]:

Michael, welcome to the knife junkie podcast, sir.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:01:43]:

Thank you very much. It's nice to be here.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:45]:

Oh, it's my pleasure. My pleasure. Hey. Before we get started, I I I usually like to ask, if it's not readily apparent, What the significance of of people's maker's mark, what their names mean, 3 10 forge, what is that?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:02:01]:

Right. It's from the bible, Joel 3 10 Joel 3 10. It is, turn your plowshares into spears, your pruning hooks into swords, and let the weak say, I am mighty. And there were some other verses that I liked better that fit the motif better, but We're talking about a business name here, so I had to pick 1 that happened to also be a memorable name. Numbers are memorable to people. 310. It sounds like an area code. It's easy to remember and then forge.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:02:33]:

So it's a great way to share a bible verse, share, kind of the very basic philosophy of my business, and then It's just it's just the name that that ended up sticking.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:45]:

Oh, it's a good name, and it it it is catchy. But you say, the philosophy of your business, Oh, how would you encapsulate that?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:02:53]:

Sure. So the number one philosophy of my business comes from scripture. Everything that I do business wise goes back to scripture. As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am required by God's law and I'm I am compelled by the holy spirit to be honest in my business dealings and to provide the best product that I possibly can And not cheap people. So my goal is make a good knife, glorify God with my product, and That's why I chose that name.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:27]:

Yeah. I love that. Glorify God with your product. That's, I like that. That's a very Seems a very worthy goal, for any business. But I like especially hearing that, for a knife company, especially a knife company that is you know, makes some unabashed weapons.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:03:46]:

Absolutely. We can't We can't forget. Everybody likes to think of Jesus as this wandering hippie who said nice things. But let's not forget, he also said, I did not come to bring peace, But a sword. So what is it? The sword of the spirit. And the whole old testament talks about battles, wars. I mean, one of my favorite stories is David killing Goliath with his own sword, taking that sword and keeping it for himself. So We, bible's filled with warriors and mighty men who are unashamed of it.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:04:18]:

Now today, I don't believe that we are to engaging and going out and trying to kill people, things like that. No. But I believe the man of god has every right to defend himself. And why not if I'm gonna make knives? People are like, you're a Christian. You shouldn't make weapons. I'm sorry. Can you can you tell me a bible verse that says that I shouldn't?

Bob DeMarco [00:04:37]:

Yeah. And, from from hanging out at your, table and talking, you've read the bible quite a good many times, so You are, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who could find that, verse and prove what you're doing is wrong. Of course, it's so right, and, I'm so psyched about this mini scalper. And, actually, something that I was not expecting is how much I love the sheath. I EDC knives every day, fixed blade knives, And they all go in except with one exception, they all go into Kydex. And to have a, on top of the belt Leather sheath, that works this well, that was so that acts so discreetly, has been great. Tell me about your style. We know your philosophy, but tell me about the style.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:33]:

I said that to me, it's sort of like an American, all American style. To me, this is like classic little American knife, but tell tell me about the style of your work.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:05:45]:

Sure. So let's just talk about the Mini Scalper for a minute because I've got I've got my own right here. This one. My Mini Scalper, I like, g ten on the handles, Adds a little bit more weight, and I my hands get nasty and muddy and and dirty while I'm working in the forge, so the g ten is kind of the only option, for me, is a carry knife, so I like the g ten. This particular design, I I I was always Reading knife books when I was a kid. Every time I went to Barnes and Noble's or to a bookstore with my parents, I'd pick up one of those books that just had Pictures and pictures of knives and swords and all kinds of things. And I always was, I always, I was drawn to 17th century, early American blades. I loved the Bowie knives, the stag handled knives.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:06:37]:

I loved the The daggers, the native American knives, and that's where the mini scalper comes from. The mini scalper, the blade is shaped like Your typical English trade knife. So we came over here from England with lots and lots of, things that were Desirable to the native Americans because they were still in the stone age. They weren't making their own metal or they didn't have, they didn't have their own smiths. If they had it, it was because it was iron that fell from the sky and they pounded it into useful tools with a rock and hot and hot coals. So when we came over with refined tools, they really liked them. And the English would trade this style blade shape to them, usually a little bit longer in the 4 to 5 inch range. What I did is I took the handle and I said, I want something compact that doesn't go outside the waistline when I'm wearing it or something that I can have inside my jeans pocket.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:07:31]:

And no matter where I grab it, I want to be able to have a purchase on it. And I originally designed this to be A self defense tool, a something that would go in the pocket as a backup weapon, and it Became my best seller. All the knives, all the puppers that you saw at the the show, I don't have those anymore. They're all gone. I'm working on more for my next show, But it's I mean, it's it's a incredible value for, you know, 85 to $125, so It's one of my favorite knives. It gets it goes on my belt every morning when I go to work. So

Bob DeMarco [00:08:07]:

I I, carry it set up for, right hand reverse grip. It comes Oh, like this perfectly. And to me, I think it it yeah. It's a great self defense weapon. I also like the teardrop shaped handle because, it really nestles in your palm. It doesn't have to be a full 4 finger grip, because of how bulbous it is at the end. You get a you get a full, fist of it. And the blade is very thin, and it's kind of Scandi ground in a way, Yep.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:37]:

In a in a sense well, maybe not in a sense. Exactly, Scandi Ground. The blade steel is so thin. It's It's almost like you couldn't do it another way. I love how slice y this is.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:08:49]:

Yeah. It's, 1 16th of an inch thick. The blade still is 15 and 20, Which is I I guess metallurgically, it's very similar to 1075, but it has the addition of nickel. And most people have heard the name 15 n 20, but don't equate it with knife steel on its own. And I don't see a lot of people using 15 n 20 by for knife steal. So it's something that sets me apart a little bit. I don't know a lot of knife makers using it for anything but Damascus, and that's the for Damascus. And, for me, I have a great source of it.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:09:22]:

I'm not gonna tell anybody where I get it. But the reason that I can charge the prices that I charge is because I get a lot of this very affordably. So it it, I started using it. I played around with the heat treat on this knife For a good 2 years before I finally got it, just the recipe to make it so that it's flexible, it's tough, holds an edge, but you can resharpen.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:46]:

Yeah. I I've gotten mine, so incredibly sharp. I I almost nervously sharp or scrub things just out of fun for fun. It's not like I doled it out or anything, but I've gotten this incredibly sharp. You put a you put a sharp edge on it when you gave it to me. You touched it up, And then, of course, I had to do my own, but, yeah, I've I I really like this knife A lot, and it makes me think of the bigger knives at your table that I was really, kinda gushing over, the the Bowie knives. Tell me about those knives. Show us some of them and, And how it is or what it is about the Bowie knife, that is such a, a draw.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:10:32]:

Well, I'm a Texan. Bowie knives, I think, are just in my blood. And before I was a Texan, I was in Montana. And Montana, you've also got Bowie knife. And I think you think of, when I think knife, the first thing that comes to my mind is either Khabar, which is a Bowie knife, or like this old Winchester tin poster that I saw of a guy facing off a bear.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:11:01]:

had a he had a Winchester rifle in his hand and then a Bowie knife in the other. So for me, it's just What a knife is. Everything else is a tool. A Bowie knife is iconic, and this is this is my favorite one, the, The big old Bowie knife. 12 inch blade, purple heartwood handle, and brass guard. It is heavy, weighs 1 pound 10 ounces, but I balance these about an inch, inch and a half in front of the guard so you have The ability to to use it, but also how you shape the handle's important so that you can you can actually wield a large knife like that. This is this is the most unrealistic Bowie knife that I make. I I don't really make Anything a lot bigger than this, I will make swords from time to time.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:11:54]:

But as far as bowie knives go, this is my favorite. This is my favorite style. Historically, it's it's not super significant, but it is iconic. And when people see it, they go, that's a Bowie knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:08]:

When you say unrealistic, do you mean, the the hardest to fight with, or what do you mean by unrealistic?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:12:15]:

Thing unrealistic because I can't think of a reasonable way to carry this knife without making people really nervous. And so It's an unrealistic weapon today as a as a as a weapon. Now you could take this into combat, obviously. I've made I made 1 knife that was bigger than this. It had no guard. I called it the bad day buoy, and it was given officer, as a gift from his from his unit. And the thing has a 15 inch blade. It was ridiculously huge.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:12:49]:

It weighed Way too much, but they just loved it. They go, he's gonna love this for hog hunting and, I mean, if you can think about it, any any movie that you've seen, the most Probably the largest knife that you've seen is like this in The Expendables. Right?

Bob DeMarco [00:13:03]:

Yeah. Yeah. Just about.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:13:05]:

I haven't seen in combat, movies Anything this large except in the Alamo and Expendables. Why? It's just not a reasonable sized knife to carry into combat anymore. The other tools that we have at our disposal. So for me, it's unrealistic. It's fun. It's beautiful. It's what I think of when I think Bowie knife. But if I was gonna going to Carry something, it would be a a smaller knife.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:13:28]:

I do have the knife, my my Bowie knife that I carry daily if you'd like to see that as well. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:32]:

I'd love to see that.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:13:34]:

This this is my carry buoy. Oh. This is a 9 and a half inch blade. It's much slimmer compared to this. Here, I'll show you them side by side. So here's the the Musso style buoy, and here's here's the one I carry. So very, very, a lot slimmer. Let's put it that way.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:13:54]:

A lot slimmer, a lot lighter. This weighs 8 ounces. So if you're familiar with Cold Steel knives, Cold Steel's Spartan knife weighs 9 ounces. This weighs the same as an open Spartan, and that has to do with towards the blade, the way that it's beveled, the way that I I made the tang and the handle and the guard so that everything's balanced. And the balance point on this knife is right in front of the choil, So you have a lot more control near the hand, and it's a lot more lively in the hand so you can move it quicker. The The top cut is only sharpened to about here, where it will actually shave hairs. The rest of it is partially sharpened, so it will cut. So this to me would be a more reasonable weapon.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:14:38]:

I can carry this in my belt, and I believe I saw a video of you the other day talking about You had a jacket on. You were talking about how you carry your fixed blades in the belt. You carry it on the side where you can draw reverse grip. I carry this Like that. So Oh, nice. This was and most people don't recognize that I have it on, And it's one that comes out only if it's a bad day. I've never had to draw it on somebody, thankfully, but this is this is the knife Gary, because I made it, specifically after I lost my daughter, to a miscarriage a few months back. This was my this was the knife I poured all my grief into.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:15:15]:

This was The 1st knife I made with my hydraulic press, and it's got an ebony handle. My father helped me forge the Damascus, so we actually forged forged weld together by hand, the sledgehammer and and just elbow grease, and then the rest of it was done, Done with the press, but it's a a very special knife. It's one that goes with me everywhere, and I think this would be a more reasonable Bowie knife to carry.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:43]:

Oh, yeah.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:15:45]:

It's somewhere between a a Cold Steel Trailmaster and the the slim profile of the Laredo, I believe.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:53]:

Yes. Yes. I have, And I'm I'm huge fans of both of those. But the 1 knife, that comes to mind before both of those actually Is the Bill Bagwell, Hells Bells Bowie, and and and associated? You know, those long, slender fighting buoys. I I I go back and forth. I grew up saying Bowie, but I I understand I need to say Bowie.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:16:18]:

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So this is this is Hell's Bell style buoy that I made, Ironwood handle. I believe I had this 1 at the at the Texas With the brass guard, ironwood handles, coffin handle. And this is even lighter. This weighs 6 ounces altogether, so it's a very light buoy knife. Everyone picks this up and they go, wow.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:16:41]:

That's that's light. Yeah. Yes. This is I think this is a reasonable sized buoy knife to carry if you're in Texas and you're allowed to by law.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:51]:

You know, by law, In a lot of places, you're allowed to run around with a a large fixed blade knife on your hip. For instance, where I live, legally, I could, but, there are so many pearl collectors or in this area. People would freak out and and it would it would just be a problem. But legally speaking, it's good to know, that you're pretty much within your rights in most places to walk around, with a belt knife. Right. So I wanna ask you, how you got into the actual, well, into craft of forging and into the, in this is now your career. This is now what you do, but how did you get into it?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:17:33]:

Sure. So I grew up. I love knives. I have since I was a little kid. My grandfather is a famous knife maker. Well, If you ask people to state who he is, they have no idea. But he used to be a famous knife maker back in the day. He made, small folding knives, and he was a master engravers, but his folding knives would go for 1,000 1,000 of dollars.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:17:55]:

So he'd sell a knife for 4,000, go out in the hallway, somebody Would sell it again for double that to another collector. And, so I would go to knife shows with them, And I remember going to the knife show and meeting Gil Hibben, in Bob Loveless, and that's kind of when I found wow. I There are a lot of different types of knives out there, so then I was hooked. I was a kid who just was hooked on knives, and I would buy every little knife that I possibly could. I had Swiss Army knives, I had all the Walmart specials, the Walmart Bowie knives, and you know what? I broke every single one of them. I don't have any knives from my childhood left. They're all broken. When I got to college and I really I had some spare change because I was working, I realized I can afford better knives, or I could modify ones that I do have and see if that can make them the way that I like.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:18:51]:

And I believe I modified a I took the handle off of a an Ontario Marine Raider Buoy, the one with the ugly rubber handle. And I I stripped the paint off of it, put a new guard, and put a a handle on that one. And I kind of got the itch for crafting, So I made a sheath for it, and I go, oh, yeah. I think I like so I asked my brother who was a journeyman blacksmith in Montana if he would be willing Teach me the basics of blacksmithing, and he just he loved that idea. So we bought some cigars, and I bought us beers, and we, We dug a hole in the backyard, put a pipe in the ground, filled it with, oak lump charcoal and hair dryer, and we made a forge right there. Wow. Harbor Freight and bought a $50 anvil and some $6 hammers, and he taught me how to do it. And I was hooked.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:19:46]:

The minute I did my 1st taper on a piece of rebar, I was absolutely hooked. So it became a hobby. And about a year after I started making knives, my first knife It was terrible, but I still have it. I still have it. I wish I had it here with me so I could show y'all. It's it's basically just a squished railroad spike with a sharp edge. I use it as a hot cut tool in the fort. I'm never getting rid of it.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:20:08]:

It's, it it was just a hobby. I didn't plan on making it a business, just something to do to keep my hands busy because I I went to college and I I hated being an academic, But I was really good at being an academic, but I didn't I don't like I don't like the academic lifestyle just sitting behind a desk and writing or studying or researching. I can do that, and I do it quite often because I I I do preach, I do teach, and I do, I do quite a bit of that still. However, that's now my hobby, and my my life is is the knife making. So, It was it was just a fun thing to do. And then when I got married, my my wife and I needed some extra cash. I got a I got a new truck, So we needed $500 extra a month for making car payments. So we wondered, would I be able to get just an extra $500 a month? Could I sell a couple knives and make that extra $500 a month? I go, well, I have a background in sales.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:21:08]:

I'm sure I could scrounge up $500 worth of customers for my knives. So in a month, I would make a full of knives and try to sell them, and $500 came pretty easy. Now we also, you know, Pray for our daily bread also. I don't I don't think God's gonna leave us hanging if there's expenses that absolutely need to be paid. We we completely trust. But I also believe that a man should work, and if a man doesn't work, he ought not eat. So I went and I did it, and We kept making the 500 of the car car payments, and I go, I wonder if I could just make a few more knives and make a few more dollars, and turned out I could. At that point, I'm trying to be a school teacher.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:21:49]:

I'm doing my certification in Texas and everything. I'm doing all the all the paperwork. I'm working at, the school so I'd work for at the school from 8 AM to 4 PM and then come home and work in the workshop until midnight, And it was just exhausting. And pretty soon, I replaced my income at the school, and I go, Kez, I wonder if we could do this full time. She goes, yeah. You can. And my father-in-law encouraged me. My parents sure about it at the at first.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:22:16]:

They go, oh, no. Our son's gonna try to be an artist. She's never made money. And, it it turned out great. We replaced all our income at the school, so I put in my 2 weeks, and they they kinda looked at me like, you're never you're, like, You you can make more money as a teacher, why would you why would you stop? I said, you guys passed me up for 2 teaching positions, which technically I was overqualified for. And I I made $8,000 this month, and the principal goes, make that much, make it nice? Yeah. He goes, good luck. So that was that was the beginning of it.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:22:57]:

And I started off making 10 knives a month, and now I'm I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 80 to 90 knives a month that I put out of my workshop. Wow.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:07]:

Jeez. Eighty to 90, knives a month. What percentage of them are forged?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:23:13]:

So the Mini Scalpers and the The, so if you look on my website or if you look on my Facebook page, any of the knives that have the 15 n 20 steel, like the mini scalper, those are stock remove, And I do all the heat treating, all the tempering, but I will I will cut the blade shapes out. I have patterns that I cut the blade shapes out. Anything other than those, it's all forged. Everything Wow. So I have a I have a production line. If you stop on the page on the web page there, The knives in the very center of the screen, those are called the Cognito. Same blade as the Mini Scalper, little bit of a longer handle. I haven't made those in a while for they they kind of went out of vogue.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:23:55]:

They stopped selling, so I stopped making them for a bit. I'll come back to them at some point. But everything else is forged. Everything else is done on the anvil. Okay.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:04]:

So who are you selling these to? How did this catch on? You said you have a a background in sales, which, before before we get on to your customer and and how you sell to them, this is an important thing that, Doug Markajda brought up. You probably didn't hear because you were there selling knives at your table, but, when Doug Marcheta was on the stage talking, to knife makers, one of his, bits of advice was, Get a business degree. You know? You have a passion for knife making. You know that you have that, and you know that you're making good knives, but you still have to know how Sell them. Otherwise, you're an artist toiling in obscurity. You know? No one wants to be that. So, I thought that was great advice. You have a background in sales.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:54]:

How did you use that, leverage that to gain customers? Because, I I would imagine in a in a business like knife making, it could be feast or famine depending on the month.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:25:06]:

So my background in sales is actually a failed background in sales. I my 1st job out of college was selling health insurance, and I was abysmal at it. I knew how to sell, but I knew how to sell products that I believed in and I didn't believe that I was selling. So I just couldn't sell it. I wasn't making any money doing it. I think I went 3 months without a paycheck and go, okay. That's that's enough. It was all commissions based.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:25:31]:

However, I I love talking to people. I'm very much a people person, and I didn't know that about myself until I started trying to sell things. And it turns out I really genuinely care about the person that I'm selling to, and I want them to get something for their money because I personally when I buy something, I want value. I want value. I do not want to just spend my money on something that I'm gonna throw away later. I hate that about Our economy, I hate that about what's being made today, that it's it's all disposable. I want a knife. And I don't I don't personally care if my name is remembered throughout I don't care, but I think it would be neat, to look down from heaven one day and see 500 years from now, some guy pulls my knife out of The ruins on some building and sees third as three ten forge Cahill, the maker's mark.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:26:22]:

That's that's neat. That's that's the legacy I would like to leave behind. Good product, and when they look into my name, they see somebody who did their best to make a good product and somebody who genuinely cared about the craft. I make tools, and I I want to make a tool that's not disposable, but something that's generational, Kind of like the gospel, so that it goes back into my philosophy. I believe that the gospel is generational, but it's to be passed on to the next generation and next generation on and on and on. Same thing with the knives. I believe they have to be taken care of and passed on to the next generation. I'm so tired of seeing Poor knives.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:27:03]:

So that's that's the number one thing. If you have a good product and you you believe in your product, it's much easier to sell. If you're just manufacturing something that you're trying to sell, you're trying to sell, sell, sell, if it's all about the sales, You're not gonna get the sales unless you get lucky. And a lot of times, sales is about luck, but You're not selling I'm I'm I'm less selling my knives than I am myself. And I tell people that you're not just buying a knife, you're buying a bladesmith Because I lifetime guarantee everything. I told you at the show, no questions asked. I stand behind the quality of my knives, And I do kind of put myself in a position there where I could potentially be in trouble if somebody breaks 1. But At this point, I've made close to 4,000 sold made and sold 4,000 knives in my career, and I've only had 1 guy return one.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:27:59]:

And he returned a mini scalper. He ran it over with his dually, and he crushed it. And so I said, send it back. I'll fix the handle. And that was before I had, used that good oak handles for my mini scalpers. Now I it the lowest level of mini scalper you can get is an oak handle. Oak is Indestructible. It's a tough handle.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:28:19]:

It's like hickory. But before then, I had a bunch of cypress laying around. And cypress is very beautiful. I can stain it, but it's just soft. And he ran it over with his truck. The knife was fine, but the handle smooshed. So I told him I told him, send it back, and I'll fix it for him. So anybody who breaks 1 of my knives, send it back.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:28:37]:

I'll fix it. No questions asked. And I think that's what I think that should be a policy all knifemakers have, but It's not. And then as far as sales go, you find the people that you wanna sell to, who's your customer base. I'm not trying to sell my knives to I don't I don't market to the guys that are in the market for Microtechs and Bench Maids and who collect, high end pocket knives from manufacturers. Those aren't my customers. And if they wanna buy a knife, they're more than welcome to. I'm just I don't market to them because that's not what they collect.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:29:09]:

That's not their that's not their cup of tea. So why spend the time trying to convert somebody to to fixed blades if they they're not fixed blade guys? So what I do is I market to the people that I think are gonna use my knives, which is mostly hunters, fishermen, blue collar workers, Guys who have an extra $100 or guys who just need a good tool that they can beat up and have fun with. And then the other, group are people who, want a special gift for somebody or some who understands value and longevity. So I know my audience. I know my people because I was one of them, and I I market to those people. I don't try to I don't go outside the box. I'm not I'm not trying to be a, somebody who converts people to fixed blades or anything. I just I know my people, and I sell to those people.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:01]:

Yeah. And and your people have to be Knife lovers to begin with because there are plenty of hunters and outdoorsmen who haven't used knives because they're necessary, But are happy with Gerber. Don't ever need to look any further than Cold Steel, and I love Cold Steel. Don't get me wrong. So how how do you find those people who actually love knives enough to care to get a, you know, a beautifully Forged fixed blade.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:30:31]:

I make videos doing ridiculously awful things to the fixed blades.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:36]:

Like, what? What do you do?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:30:38]:

Guys, go to my face if you go to Facebook and you type in mini scalper destruction test, you'll see the videos that I put up. I shoot it. I baton on it. I do things to a 1 16th inch knife that you should never do to a 1 16th inch thick knife, and I'll show you. It works. You can use it. And, you can have fun with it. You can beat it up.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:30:59]:

You can throw it in a tree. You can draw a circle. My brother and I used to draw circles on logs charcoal and see who can hit the bull's eye standing up down there. I think it's called mumbly peg or something.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:09]:

Yep.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:31:10]:

I I want people to have a knife they're not afraid to use, and I've I've I have some knives in my collection that I am hesitant to use because I'm not confident in the steal. I keep it because it's sentimental, but I don't wanna use it. This is when I bought this in Spain When I proposed to my wife, I was in Spain and I bought this beautiful Gokor Espada. It was it was a good, You know, it was kind of expensive, for me. I don't buy knives very often, but when I see 1 I gotta have, I'll buy it. And this was a very special one. So it's sentimental, but I don't trust the steel. I think it's 420, But I don't know the heat treat.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:31:52]:

And when you go to other and you're not in the knife community, see now I can look at a knife and I can go, oh, you know? I know that company, and I don't trust that heat treat.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:03]:

Joker, however, has a pretty good reputation. And by the way, hold that up. I am a Huge Nevada fan, and I've never I don't have a traditional one. I'd love to have 1.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:32:14]:

Yeah. Well, it's got, like, a Battlesnake looking tail on it. It has a, an abalone stud here and some green brass from being in the sheath I made, A buffalo horn handle. And listen to this, this is great. I love it. They, they don't call them navachas there. They call them crackas Because when you it cracked. Oh, yes.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:37]:

That's awesome.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:32:39]:

So this is a great knife. It's super sharp, But the steel on it, I know, 420, not the greatest at edge holding. Wicked sharp. It will be incredibly sharp, but it won't stay sharp. Mhmm. It can tend to be brittle or it can tend to bend, so 1 or 2. So it kinda just stays as a pre knife in my collection. I'll break it out every now and then, but it's it's not something that I I wanna take out.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:06]:

It'll it'll it'll get you through the duel, But it yeah. But it's not gonna last you for too long with that. So Yeah. So where do you stand on I know you've done a lot of testing and stuff, but, where do you stand on steels? Do you, have a couple that you love to work with, the 15 n 20 or and others, or, Are you someone who's always, like, trying out the new how to steal and and seeing what that's all about, or is that more a folder guy thing?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:33:36]:

It's more of a Folger guy thing. I am not a steel snob, only because of my philosophy, make a top tool. And if you go look at the knives that the guys out there who they're taking their knives out and they're batoning them in logs. They're beating them up. They're, they're all almost always carbon steels. Guys take out their 10 95 blades and baton logs with them. They don't take out their s 35 v n. They take out, 1075.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:34:10]:

Like, Condor, knife and tool. You know Condor. Mhmm. Condor knife and tool uses 1075 for all their hard disk blades. Fin it's fun they had they have a phenomenal heat treat too. And why? Well, because it's a good Steel holds an edge, it's inherently tougher than stainless steel, and it's easier to sharpen. Now I I do Have preferences when it comes to my pocket knives, but I'm on the wrong end of the spectrum than your average knife I hate, I hate hate hate anything over d two steel. I there's I don't like it.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:34:46]:

I like my Aussie, I like, d two, and I like, I'm okay with s 35. It depends on the blade Mhmm. How the company heat treats it. I would rather the company heat treat it softer than harder Because I if I can't re sharp resharpen a knife, it's useless to me. I'm I use my tools. I use my knives. And if I can't re sharpen it, Then I I don't I would rather a knife get dull faster and be able to resharpen it than it hold an edge for Marginally longer, and that's kind of been my experience. My least favorite knife in my collection is my my Benchmade Adamus, and it's in crew wear.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:35:33]:

And I'll tell you what, it doesn't hold an edge any better than any of my other pocket knives. Really? I can't sharpen this knife. It's a nightmare, and I just gave up, and I don't use it anymore. But, This has become my new favorite pocket knife. It's a $20 knife, and it's by a company I found on Amazon. It's kinda like, Sabibi. It's one of those companies that's kinda popped up in the last few years. It's called Sativium.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:36:01]:

It's a 20 doll and it's d two. And I can sharpen it, and you know what? This holds an edge way better than that Benchmade. I know whether they hold an edge or not. This holds an edge better than that than that crew wear Benchmade. So, like, I you can call it, You you can get all the metallurgy that you want, but when you take it out and use it and you have experience with that product and with with the steels, You get to know what works and what doesn't. And I knife a knife steal is not it doesn't have to be an exact science. It just needs to do what you need it to do. And that's that's actually something that I I got from a master smith.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:36:44]:

His name's Jerry Fisk. And those if you go talk to the master smiths who are selling who've been in the business 50 years, they've been making knives now. Jerry Fisk is one of those guys who goes out, and he will take a knife that he'll sell for $10, and he'll go skin a deer with it. And he'll tell you, yeah, I'll take this over $1,000,000 knife. Why? Well, because I can sharpen it. I I can re I can use it in the field, and I'm not scared to use it in the field because I know its capabilities. There are some steels out there that I just I can't trust to hold an edge or to be able to resharpen. I just I I know it's unreasonable, but if I get stuck in the wilderness somewhere, my car breaks down, and I need to use my knife, but it's dull, how am I gonna resharpen it? If I can't resharp, I don't what if you don't have 30 minutes to sit there with the diamond stone? All I've got is a rock.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:37:42]:

I wanna be able to grab that piece of rock and scrape a quick edge on a knife so I have a tool, you know.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:48]:

Yeah. That's, that's what I've always loved about 154 centimeters. To me, that's the that's kind of, 4 folders. That's kind of the magic steel because it's, keeps a great edge, but it's soft enough to sharpen. A lot of people over the years have used it, a lot of different custom makers, but also companies, And, so I love that steal. The the the thing about the super steels and the new steels that come out It is is, you know, you mentioned it, heat treat. The steel doesn't matter if it's not heat treated properly. And, with some of the super steels that that get really hard, that also means brittle.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:30]:

And if your heat treat is off a little bit, you could you could, mess up a whole giant batch of a huge manufacturer, so they're sheepish about it. You know, they a lot of companies tend to be sheepish about it. So, you know, you're kinda not really getting your money's worth. Right. And are you that much of a hard user? Now when I met you, you had one of these in your pocket, in Espada. So is that the AUS 8, or is that the s 35?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:38:59]:

This is F35. Now this was from a friend, this is like my precious

Bob DeMarco [00:39:04]:

It's such a sweetie.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:39:06]:

I love this thing. I carry it everywhere because My best friend gave it to me in a trade for 1 of mine, so I, you know, I can't get rid of this thing. Since I saw it in Expendables, I saw that guy whip it out of his boot and throw it at the dartboard. I go, I gotta have that. And it was Kind of my grail knife, I could never attain. I couldn't afford it. I never had the extra cash for it. And when my friends said, hey.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:39:28]:

I'll trade you for one of your Bowie knives, I said yes, Immediately. I don't care how much I don't I don't care if it's a fair trade. I don't care if it's an even trade. Like, I'll take it.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:38]:

Hey. I got I got another one here. I'll trade you for your buoys.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:39:42]:

And then I did I had, I had found one of these. Now this knife right here actually saved my life. So this is the, the CT, this is the XHP version. And I've had some issues with this one. I actually broke the original one. The original one that I had had the Aussie blade, and it was, It was the bead blast. That blade act and that was the blade that was on it when when, I got I got jumped by 5 guys in a Walmart parking lot. And this knife saved me from them doing something really, really stupid.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:40:20]:

So they they marked me as the wrong guy. They they were looking for somebody driving the same vehicle as me, blue Dodge Dakota. And I get out of the car and these guys approach me, and they're like, hey, Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And I'm like, no. Y'all are looking for the wrong guy. I don't I don't know y'all. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know who you people are.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:40:40]:

And they started getting closer and closer. I didn't have my gun on me at the time because I wasn't I wasn't point 1. I didn't have a license to carry. So I had 1 in the car, but I couldn't get to that. So I just whipped out my pocket knife and I said, okay. Who wants to die first? And they go, oh. And, so they they they left. Now that could've gone absolutely the wrong way.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:41:02]:

And looking back, there were a lot of things that I probably could've done to avoid that situation. I probably could've just the car my car door was open. I probably could've just hopped back in, locked the door, and drove driven off and been fine. But 18 year old Michael didn't have quite the same brain as, you know, 30 year old Michael.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:20]:

But, you had good lines. That's a good line. Okay. Who wants to die first? I mean, if you're gonna pull a knife on someone, you may as well have a zinger.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:41:29]:

Yeah. My dad taught me, If you're ever in a fight, you stare right here, and it does this eerie thing where it looks like you're staring into their soul. Because Usually, when you're talking to somebody, you're looking at 1 eye or the other. When you look right here, you're looking into both eyes at the same time, and it's unnerving. It's unnerving. If you keep that, it's an intimidation tactic for most people that it'll it'll make people either flinch or go away. I have to be careful not to do it when I'm in conversation with people because I like to keep eye contact, so I have to be conscious not to look here because it'll freak people out.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:04]:

Yeah. They'll think You're, you're after them when when really you're just trying to sell them a knife or, like, save their soul. It's something. You know? Yeah. So, one of the things, actually in the, in the buoy that you had that you made to, Process your, yours and your wife's miscarriage, my, my sympathies, by the way. What a beautiful thing to kinda pour yourself into and then and then have that be able to carry it around. One one thing that I really like about a lot of the blades I checked out that you made, at your table is the is the style of sheath. First of all, beautiful, leather sheaths, but they have that stud, so it just slides into the belt.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:51]:

It's not dangling or anything like that. This. Right. That is what I love. Yeah. Tell me about that style.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:42:59]:

I haven't been able to find them. I've been told by other makers that they do exist. However, I haven't been able to find them. I've checked Tandy leather. I've checked everybody. And it could be just because it's the holidays And makers are making a lot more things right now that I might not they might not have them in stock. So all this is is it's a rivet that I've pinned the end over. You can order studs that will screw into the back or that you can rivet on that are better, but, you know, for For my purposes, this works.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:43:30]:

This works okay. And, yes, you just slide it into your belt, and this keeps it from going down any farther. And a lot of guys carried knives like this. If you look at world war 2 knives, this would this was very common, and then it would go into a a frog, which Worked like this, and then you had a leather belt loop on this side. I I actually have some World War one knives. I didn't think to go Get it, but same thing. They have the stud, and then they have a leather sheet you can slide in like that, and it keeps it from sliding any farther past that. My stud design, you can see this one's getting all bent up because it gets used all the time.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:44:07]:

The better ones are made out of stainless steel, and They have a nice little rounded, polished area that doesn't jab you or cut anything. This is actually kinda starting to mess up my belt a little bit, So need to come up with a better solution.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:21]:

Don't put that away because, when you were showing it off at first, we had Some video interference with which we've had a little, sporadically here. So pull that out. Let us see that close-up, And, tell us about the the pattern.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:44:36]:

Yes. So this pattern here, I wish I had better contrast on this one. So this is a 216 layer billet, and it's a it's a pattern that I learned from Jerry Fisk. He didn't teach me. He has, He has knives, and I have one of these weird brains where I can see something and I kinda know how it works to recreate it. And what you're seeing with the lines in here, it's it's called chatoyancy. So there is a distinct pattern in the blade. And when you're looking at it Like this.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:45:05]:

It doesn't look three-dimensional. And then you turn it and it hits the light, and there's all these ripples in it. And that was something that I I really wanted to get right. It almost looks like there's actual ripples and waves in the steel, but they're not. It's it's all two dimensional. It's all perfectly flat. And we have this awesome term for Damascus called. Don't ask me to define it, but I can show you what it is.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:45:28]:

It makes a 2 d object look three-dimensional, Or it makes a two d pattern look three-dimensional. So that's the that's the pattern that you're seeing in that in that blade, which is really neat. All you're doing when you're doing Damascus This is make the billet, you somewhat forge out the blade shape, and then you you take I take a I take an angle grinder and a special cutting disc, and I round off the edges. So then I cut the pattern in, and then you go back to the press and you squish it flat, and that's the pattern so it brings the pattern to the surface.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:00]:

That, that expression and phenomenon of see is interesting. I I just sort of learned it not that long ago, and it was pointed out to me in wood. Certain, kinds of burl woods and such, Exhibit that. And and, I love the word. I just like to

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:46:19]:

say it. You know? It immediate it jumps your IQ. For me, when I Yeah. When I get to a knife show, sometimes my my southern accent comes out and it gets really thick. I usually don't have a thick southern accent, but when I get selling and I start getting tired, I get lazy and my speech turns redneck. I can I can pick a word out of my vocabulary, shacoiancy, and it it makes you sound like a like a smart southern lawyer all of

Bob DeMarco [00:46:48]:

a sudden? In all my years. Yeah. One thing I wanted to ask you. Okay. So Design of the Bowie, that you had out. We talked about the blade. We talked about the pattern. You have something here that I love, and that's a Spanish notch, And, tell me about that flourish.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:47:10]:

So this this notch right here actually is not a Spanish notch. This would be This would be more of a screw notch. Let me get the one that has a Spanish notch to show you. So a Spanish notch, Historically, before there were maker's marks and before it was common for people to stamp their name into a blade, almost like the Japanese, when you see the style blade, you would know who the maker is. It was just a calling card for the maker. This right here is a Spanish notch. Put it on my forehead so you can see the contrast. That's a Spanish notch.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:47:48]:

So when you forge a blade, when you forge out a knife and you forge the bevel, You end up with this rounded portion right here, and that's that's a process from the hammering. You're hammering it out, it's squishing the metal, it becomes round. So it's it's it's just how knives are forged. Now, knife makers the Spanish knife makers would use the opportunity to make Something special out of it, and that would be the calling card of that Spanish knife maker. So that's where you get the notch. It's simply an embellishment. It serves no function but to make the blade look beautiful.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:24]:

Okay. I I was under the impression that it was to catch a blade. You Know when you're going blade to blade.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:48:30]:

And It can be. But in this instance right here, this is more common that you'll see this on Bagwell buoy, or you'll even see it a lot of times on a patch net. What this is intended to be is a sprue notch. It's a historical addition to a knife that's kinda one of those things you don't really need. It's kinda like a can opener on a Swiss army knife. Who actually uses that? Okay. You might if you're an avid camper and you just need it, but no one really uses it. Today, it's simply Something to break the pattern, I use it, today as a as a nice place to to stop my my my grind.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:49:11]:

And it's a it's a place you can set the knife and know this is where I begin, sharpening. So it's a way for me to Start a sharpening, because if if you don't have something that breaks it up like this, then you can tend to get that swoopy pattern as you sharpen a knife for years years. If you look at pocket knife, you end up with almost a recurve. This mitigates that. But a sprue notch, historically, in 19th century, When guns began, people started using and casting lead balls for firearms, there was always a A a little piece of lead that stuck up off the top, and a sprue notch was where you could take your knife, put the little sprue that stuck up off the lead ball and you can knock it off. So you didn't use the edge, and you had a dedicated spot on your weapon or on your knife to to do that.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:02]:

That is so cool. I I I had no idea. I love that. Yeah. I I love the, Americanness of the Bowie knife. I love these, looking at our history through our knives, And you can do that with a lot of different cultures, but we have an especially interesting one, because of how Many different influences, went into, everything that, you know, is American. What what besides The Bowie, do you like to make in terms of large forged knives?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:50:43]:

I wish I had 1. I sold it at my last show that I went to. Hudson Bay, camp knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:50]:

Yes. Yeah.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:50:51]:

Something that is going to be a tool. Any so what do you consider a large knife?

Bob DeMarco [00:50:57]:

Well, Hudson Bay is exactly what I was hoping you would say because, I I love that knife. And to me, it's sort of like a Bowie, but it's also sort of like a kitchen knife. It's also sort of like Camp knife, it's it's a it's a do well knife for a trapper.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:51:14]:

So this is as close as I can get for you. This is this is like, this is a mix between a coffin handled guardless buoy and a trade knife. So you have You have a shelf here that goes off. Here, I actually have a a dropped point, but this is this is kind of like that. The Hudson Bay, obviously, much larger blade, wider, thicker. This is as close as I can get to that. Let me see What else I have in here to represent that?

Bob DeMarco [00:51:50]:

I I like the concept of trade knife. Can you can you, flush that out a little?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:51:55]:

A trade knife is a term that came about in, I believe, 17th or 18th century when We were trading things with the Native Americans. So it was any knife that came from a manufacturer overseas to the colonies Or to any of the English colonies. So a trade knife could be in India. A trade knife could be in any of the colonies here in the United States. Any of the English colonies, that's where that term came from. So a trade knife honestly has so many different things that it could be. It was What was manufactured to be used for commerce and trade? And then today we look at it and go, yes, that was a common trade knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:37]:

Okay, okay. I I I took it for something different.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:52:41]:

The Czech had their own, the English had their own, the Indians have their own, everybody has their own, trade knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:49]:

Okay. Well, if you had to, look into the future, we know what the Kind of the history of American knives are, what's the future? What what what happens with American knives in the future?

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:53:03]:

I don't even know. I'm just praying that they don't outlaw knives like they do in the UK. That's that's just that's my Don't go there because you can get arrested for having your if you ever watch the TV shows or you watch The the border police in any of those countries, man, you've they've got a pocket knife. They have a Swiss army knife. They are a hardened Criminal. Yeah. And when it was just so common to have a pocket knife, I think a man should have a pocket knife. It's a great tool, But you go insane and you outlaw man's oldest tool.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:53:42]:

What do you do to move on from there? Are you are you talking, where do you think style wise everything's going to go?

Bob DeMarco [00:53:50]:

Yeah, that's really what I'm getting at.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:53:55]:

I I think that people will continue moving on towards folding knives. I I don't think folding knives are ever gonna change. So It it it doesn't seem like there's always a progression. It seems like there's a cycle. Sales that I've noticed in in knife community, there's always a trend and the trends are cyclical. Sometimes people like the big knives, like the cold steel folders And the big Bowie knives. I remember when I first started knife making, the big thing was having the most useful one tool option, survival knife. And everybody out there was getting Ontario rats and, Becker Bowie knives.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:54:37]:

And If you didn't have a b k nine, were you really a survivalist? You know, so that but now people have gone away from that, and I love Busey knives, who are are really an amazing knife to me, but you don't really see those anymore unless you see somebody who loves Walking Dead and just got Gemini because they they wanted to say they have the walking dead knife, but I see trends. I see Moving more towards concealable weapons and tools and more more like case and gentleman pocket knives as opposed to having a large Tactical folding knives. That seems to be where things are headed right now.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:18]:

I I take solace in the fact that we have 350,000,000 guns guarding our knives. You know, maybe, hopefully, that puts us in a good spot in terms of, any sort of laws, against we're lucky we have knife rights. You know? Doug Ritter, who has changed the laws in, with his organization, knife rights, 34 states, I think, and I know Virginia is one of them. Yeah. And, it's been great. But, yeah, I I I'm with you. I think, more folder carriers. I think that's, I think that's why there are so many knife collectors these days is, the folder market is so broad, and holders are easier to carry, but, but there are a lot of people like me who let lit I mean, I'm obsessing over case knives and other, slip joints right now, and I'll turn around and I'll buy a Bowie knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:16]:

You know? I I I love it all, and I think that's where, you know, makers like you, can can really, You know, step in and and open minds, especially in terms of those because people love knives, period. And, you know, you're not gonna find a someone who collects folders, who looks at a fixed blade and is like, oh, I don't like that. Like

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:56:41]:

I think there's a barrier there where people want to Carry it fixed, but what man doesn't want to carry a knife on their hip? I'm sorry. If you tell me I don't like to carry a knife on your hip, I think you just haven't figured out what knife you want to carry on your hip. And it's a confidence, it's a, why did why do why or why is every man obsessed with swords? I bought a, I I have Foam swords that I use at youth group. One of them, it was the the the sword from the witch or the one who kills the monsters with. I have a foam version. I brought that to youth group tonight. Boys and girls, all of us, we we 1 person was blindfolded, made an arena out of tables, person had to get everybody else in the square. Just they saw the sword and they go, oh, a sword.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:57:35]:

There's it's so ingrained in our in our nature to want a sword. I don't know.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:43]:

It's primal. It is. It's self reliance and the desire to protect people we love, and then also they're just cool. Hey. Michael, so, tell people how they can find you and find your work and, and get in touch with you if they wanna buy a knife.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:58:01]:

Sure. Best way to get ahold of me is through my Facebook page. It's at 310 forge. 310 forge. And it has the logo that he put up at the beginning of the podcast, the white logo with a blacksmith standing at an anvil. Just 310 Forge, and it's on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. My website is 310forge.square.site. However, that's not the best way to get a hold of me.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:58:30]:

For whatever reason, Square is very annoying and doesn't like iPhones. So if you send me an email or a message through Square, I might not get it. I I have missed messages from people from there before. So best way to get a hold of me is to message me. My phone number is on my Facebook. I'm a very open person. I don't have anything to hide, so why, you know, why why bother? My my my cell phone's on there. Email should be there.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:58:57]:

And best way to get ahold of me is through Facebook. My videos, I post mostly through Facebook. Instagram, I guess, is having issues with knives right now. Age is getting shadow banned, so I haven't devoted a lot of time to my Instagram, but you you're more than welcome to message me there. And my TikTok is three ten forge as well. Real simple. No underscores, no caps, just three ten forge. And I I'm trying to post to that and get a little better at TikTok

Bob DeMarco [00:59:24]:

I would say your your web page is awesome for checking out all your different models. You have a lot of beautiful photographs of your work there, so a great place Check out for reference.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [00:59:34]:

It is. And it it is for whatever reason, Square is not a very friendly site For updating quickly, it is very to get time. And, like I told you, all the knives that I had at Texas Custom Knife Show, they're almost all gone. I have a few of the expensive customs left, but my knives move in and out so fast. It's very difficult to keep the website up to date. The best way to ask, Like to see what's available is to check Facebook. See something you like there? Message and be like, hey. Screenshot it.

Michel Kahil, 310 Forge [01:00:05]:

I like this knife. How much? And then I can make you an invoice through Square. So I still do my business through Square. It's just very difficult to keep the website up to date with how many knives are coming in and out right now.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:16]:

Great problem to have. Michael Cahill of 310 Forge, thank you so much, sir. It's been a pleasure talking with you. Absolutely.

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Bob DeMarco [01:00:33]:

It's true. I am every time. Doesn't matter what it is either. There he goes. Michael Cahill of 310 forge. Man, I gotta Say that, slender black handled Bowie, Bowie. Sorry. I love that.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:49]:

It just has my my wheels, my gears spinning. I I gotta I gotta get me I gotta get me a custom forged Bowie That can slip right in my belt, but we'll we'll talk about that another time. Alright. It was great talking with him. And, until I get that Bowie, I have this to to hold me in good stead. 310 forge, making awesome knives. Be sure to check-in with us next Sunday for another conversation with a great knife person, Wednesday for the midweek supplemental and Thursday for Thursday night knife. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:23]:

Don't take dull for an answer.

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