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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.
©2023, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcript

Transcript

[0:00] Coming up, custom tomahawks for my daughters, I get a bunch of new Civivis, and my full case knife collection.
I'm Bob DeMarco, this is the Knife Junkie Podcast.
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.

[0:25] Welcome back to the show. So one of my favorite comments from this past week was from Vanny 101.
Vanny says, I've really just started a true appreciation for knives and started collecting at 54 years old.
I have a question because everyone seems to have a different idea about quote unquote tactical.

[0:43] And I've become confused. What exactly does tactical mean to you?
First time watcher. Okay, well, I like that you're saying, what does it mean to me? because you've stumbled upon one of the first great mysteries of knife collecting, this idea of the tactical knife.
Tactical knife, I'm going to loosely define it and tell you what it means to me and indeed kind of what it means out there in the world.
A tactical knife is something that you can fight with and that you can do hard work with. So basically, tactical knives tend to be overbuilt.
They oftentimes are black. This one is not.
And have an aggressive sort of profile. In this case, a tanto.
But you can see tactical knives in any sort of blade shape.
But the idea is fighter utility, fighting utility.
Tactility tactical always sort of um um what's what's the word i'm a connotes um you know high speed low drag lifestyle i have tons of tactical knives and my lifestyle couldn't be less high speed low drag so uh really it's a it's a matter of of form and this is the kind of form you're looking for if you're into something tactical uh something with great grip good ergonomics so the the thing stays in your hand, some sort of traction plan, as Nut & Fancy would call it.

[2:09] In my opinion, something over 3.25 inches with a blade that you can both pierce with and slash with effectively, and something that's not too thin behind the edge.
This is what most of us want because that's what cuts best.
But on a tactical knife, you might have to pry open a tank door, a tank hatch, or, you know, Cut tables underwater So you're going to want something a little more robust So think robust fighter utility I've gone on way too long See that's what I mean It is one of the true mysteries of knife collecting, Everyone defines tactical different But that's how I define it.

[2:49] Vanny101 Thanks for watching And I hope that sort of answers your question But if not Let us know And we'll try and guide you even more Alright that being said let us get to a pocket check what's in his pocket let's find out here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives today in my front right i had the amazing model 2 from american blade works this was on my list of best knives of 2023 and i know he announced it showed it off in 2022 but it he really picked up speed and was producing these this year really well done uh he is uh michael martin when i say he he is a one-man band doing american blade works knives and i have the model one and then this model two and man he does beautiful work all by his lonesome all on his lonesome here uh it's a frame lock titanium frame lock with a 20 cv blade wait i'm sorry Sorry. This is MagnaCut.
That's right. This was my very first blade in MagnaCut.

[3:55] And it is nicely, nicely sharp, thin behind the edge, but not in any way too dainty.
But this thing slices like mad. Nice point there, too.
So I also was carrying a slip joint today, and that was my Great Eastern Cutlery No.
15 Boy's Knife. This is a single-bladed spear point, sort of a plain-Jane, sort of a pocket knife, truly a boy's knife from the old days.
But I really love the Autumn Jig Bones.

[4:29] I have a collection, not a collection, I have like three or four of these Great Eastern Cutleries in that style bone, and I just love it.
Really great walk and talk, sorry I'm going to come over to the mic, great walk and talk on this knife, and really done the old-fashioned way.
And this is one of the ones from, what is this, 2018, so this was made on the old machines too.
So, a pleasure to carry around, I had that in this little slip in my pocket today. So really love my GECs, haven't been carrying them lately.
In the waistband, I had this attached with the cord to my belt.
This is the Auxiliary Manufacturing Pocket Buoy.
Thank you so much, Michael Jarvis, for sending this to me. This is such a sweet, sweet little honey of a knife.
I love that recurve, really makes it an effective cutter.
It's a pretty robust behind the edge, edge um kind of like some of your microtacs it it approaches that edge it's sort of a steep angle and yet it is so sharp and slicey and to me i think the recurve really helps on that uh the coffin shaped handle buries into the hand perfectly you can go either picol style or out the or edge out style either way it doesn't matter because it's a symmetrical handle and it just feels great Also in a saber grip.

[5:56] A great little utility knife that you could definitely bend towards defensive purposes if need be.
It came with a sort of discrete carry style clip, but I prefer this sort of cord carry.
This way it just kind of sits in my waistband right behind my belt buckle and I can draw it when I need it.

[6:18] Last up for emotional support and just overall sweetness in the pocket is the After Hours Jack from Jack Wolf Knives.
His, Ben Belkin's second locking release, this time a full frame lock.
Last time it was a bolster lock.
Though I wonder if, you know what, I'm speaking out of school.
I'm not sure if the ones that aren't full tie, they might be bolster locks. I got to check that out.
I haven't had the gumption to because I've been so, So you know how when you first fall in love with someone, you just tunnel vision?
Well, I've had tunnel vision on this particular knife. I've been carrying it every day as I do when I get a new Jack Wolf knife.
But this one has not been buried in the pocket in a leather slip.
It's been in my back left pocket next to my bandana all the time.
And I pull this out and fuss with it and cut with it quite a bit.

[7:10] Beautiful. beautiful. It has yet to acquire any, I'm not even going to say what it has yet to acquire because I don't want to jinx it, but still in really great shape.
That black PVD-coated S90D blade and that black titanium.
So gorgeous. Ben Belkin, man, he is, I mean, he hit his stride on his first knife, but just coming out with these locking knives. Very, very impressive.
All right, this is what I had on me today. What did you have on you?
Let me know. Drop it down in the comment.
And uh if there's something that's out there uh there are plenty i know like the uh like the amphibian from microtech is just the for instance but there are so many knives out there i need to check out that i haven't and man it's uh it's not easy being a knife junkie being a knife collector but uh i guess it could be a lot harder all right uh that being said.

[8:05] This is the Gentleman Junkie knife, and it doesn't get any easier than loving this knife.
This is the Microtech Reverse Tonto Malibu, courtesy of Northern Knives up there in Anchorage, Alaska.
Please excuse me. I almost conflated that with Akron, Ohio.
So Anchorage, Akron, you know, what's the difference?
They sent this here to be the Gentleman Junkie knife giveaway for December.
So we're going to wrap the year up With this amazing piece of cutlery And we've had A few people sign up To be patrons just to get their hands on this And hey I gotta say no shame in that No shame whatsoever.

[8:46] In essence it would be paying 10 bucks if you won It would be winning 10 bucks for this It's kind of like jumping into a lotto But in any case This is 20CV Blade steel aluminum Aluminum with that nice coating that isn't chalky.
It doesn't feel weird in the hand. Deep carry pocket clip.
Incredible, crispy button lock flipper action on bearings.
This is an incredible knife. I really do see what all of the hullabaloo was about. All right.
Well, before we get to knife life news, I just want to say, if you are interested in becoming a patron, quickest way to do that is to go to thenifejunkie.com slash Patreon.
It will take you there and you can check out the three tiers of support uh we offer um that top tier the gentleman junkie tier is where you get automatically entered into monthly contests to win sweet knives such as that be sure to scan the qr code on the screen if you don't feel like typing uh we get it so jim has supplied it for you right there again that's the knife junkie.com.

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[10:52] You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast, and now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.
Another one from Ostap Hell and Best Tech Knives. Ostap, we've had him on this show. What a great guy.
He's from Poland, and he is the man who created the Bouquet series, along with a whole bunch of other beautiful knives.

[11:13] Probably the first front flipper, the Metamorph, that became really popular.
But he is out again with best tech with a new one called the qq which is a cute knife forgive me i am a father uh he collaborated with gogo the eight-year-old daughter of one of the co-founders of best tech to create this which i think is so cool um i love uh collaborating with with my children on little projects and stuff like this this is a big project that i think it's so cool she was inspired by um crickets and so that shape is a is a cricket shape and and ostap hell jumped in and and uh and interpreted her inspiration and turned into that very cool uh dagger like knife it is single edge that blade hides completely in the thorax i mean the handle of the knife and it's all milled out to sort of evoke the folded wings of a cricket beautiful little knife and the first knife of what will surely be a talent in the future little eight year old go-go it is a button lock 2.2 inch blade i don't know if we have a blade steel on it yet it will come in g10 aluminum and then later on once it has proven itself worthy ultima.

[12:32] Okay, next up from We Knives. It's a collaboration with Kyle Lamb of Viking Tactical.
You might know Kyle Lamb, or you might know Viking Tactics. I'm sorry, Viking Tactics.
They are a company that has had some knives made.
Let's see, they did one with Hogue not too long ago, a folder, and then they've done some with Topps, I believe, also, some fixed blades.
But he is back with a knife called the wrecker r-e-k-k-r a really nice looking uh upswept reverse tanto now everything i just said makes me want to makes me want to gag but uh i'm i'm just sort of folding the pressure here beautifully shaped blade i love the look of that sharpening notch and the backward uh facing flipper it is uh 3.6 inch 20 cv blade steel and uh this is actually taken from a custom model from viking full tie scales you got that nice uh sort of knurling and or cross hat hatch texture and it comes with a lefty clip which is kind of cool uh 3.46 ounces four finishes is available go check it out it is a it's a nice looking knife and and And the blade length, I think, makes it all worthwhile.

[13:49] Okay, next up, from Kaiser. So we had Best Tech, We, and Kaiser today.
This is the KUH, the K-U-H, the KUH, I'm thinking is what it's from, is what it's called.
And it comes from design duo Bryce Markle Amaral and Roman Worthy, two buddies who have been designing knives.
And I guess this is definitely their first one with Kaiser. I'm not sure if it's their first release, though.
154 CM blade steel. You see that nice drop point blade.
This reminds me of something I've seen before with some tweaks.
And now I don't remember the company they came and went.
But you've got a 154 CM blade. That's 3.16 inches long.

[14:35] You've got a button lock.
So you can open it with the button lock and whip in your wrist.
You've got thumb studs. You've got a front flipper. You've got a top flipper.
So you've got four ways of opening this knife.
So definitely Mr. Markle Amaral and Mr. Worthy are knife junkies who like to fiddle with their knives.
Really nice-looking thing. I like this sort of oblong finger choil, and this looks like a great little utility knife.
That is my card that you're looking at, 3 ounces, and is now available. So go check it out.

[15:11] One last bit of knife life news. I wanted to talk about my state, the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Some exciting news from Knife Rights. The Knife Rights Virginia concealed carry ban repeal filed.
I'm just going to read from the article here. Following up on repeal in 2022 of Virginia's ban on automatic knives and this year's repeal of the ban on concealed carry of these same knives, knives knife rights good friend delegate lee ware has introduced house bill 11 that would remove dirk bowie uh stiletto knife and razor from the list of weapons that cannot be carried concealed and then it goes on to talk about some other stuff but how cool is that so uh let's see it was two july 1st ago um automatic knives were made legal in my state and then it was last july first that the concealed carry of said knives was made legal and now we have delegate lee where with house bill 11 striking the famous dirk bowie knife stiletto and razor uh bit from the text which is great because first of all um you know dirk this is all very old um.

[16:29] Unless you're a knife junkie, this is all very old terminology.
Like, who's carrying around a dirk? What is a dirk exactly?
I know what it is. But, you know, these are all kind of things people aren't carrying.
They had to outlaw this stuff in the Reconstruction, and now they're just getting around to making it legal again.
So we're all very happy. Thank you to Delegate Ware, and, of course, thank you to Doug Ritter and Knife Rights.
None of this would be possible without any of y'all. So, you're making my state a better place to live.
Alright, coming up, we're going to take a look at the state of the collection, and then after that, all of my case knives.
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[17:55] And now that we're caught up with Knife Life News, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie Podcast.
I was going to do something fancy, but I got my mic here. I know I'll just do something embarrassing.
So I'm going to show you these beautiful BB Tomahawks by Brave Hawk Forge.
I've had Jake Sewell on a couple of times, and I've bought his tomahawks, and I went to his knife show. I'm a big fan.
And he makes these little mini tomahawks inspired by his two-year-old boy.

[18:26] And here, just so you can see what it is.
How they compare this is a full size um this is the full size francesca tomahawk i bought while in texas so these are little but they're definitely capable and he made them razor sharp that's my request they have to have respect uh so i got these for christmas so the girls they don't watch this show they're nothing it's not gonna be a spoiler but uh had them uh with their names laser etched in there and olympia and the cool things about these these are made from some farrier's rasps, and then there's some more high-carbon steel, I think.
I guess the whole thing is high-carbon. It's a farrier's rasp.
So friction fit down on there.
These are meant for throwing. I don't know if they will throw them.
Hopefully they end up in a case never, ever touched again. No, I'm just kidding.
They are meant to be used, and they are full-on, fully capable tomahawks, just mini. mini.
So now when I was getting these, Jake said, I think your 13-year-old can probably handle a full size tomahawk.
And I said, yes, but that ego, you know, so let's keep it small.
And then if she shows an affinity for tomahawks, well, there will be plenty down the line for her.
So I wanted to show these off, the Brave Hawk Forge BB Hawks.
You can go to Brave Hawk Forge and order these, though you will not get them for Christmas now.
I got in right under the wire for that. Excuse me.

[19:56] No one should have to see that, but my chair just slipped down.
All right, next up, I got a box of five knives from Dave, This Old Sword Blade Reviews, and he indicated that they were for adoption, for giveaway.
So I'm still working all that out.
But I have one in this group that, honestly, I think I left it at work.
So I'm very bummed about that. I don't have it to show you. It's the Vision FG.
We all know what that is. It's on everyone's knife of the year list.
And Dagnabbit, I don't have it here to show you, but I'm sure you know what that is. So he sent me that, and that was the one I was really excited about.
But there are three others that are very exciting, too. First one is the Peccaro.
This one is a really unique-looking knife and at a great size.
That's a 4-inch blade, so it's about a 9-inch overall, just under 9 inches. Sorry, my left hand.
It's on washers, which I love. It's very thinly hollow ground, and it's got this really cool design flourish, that big opening hole with the floating thumb stud in it.

[21:06] It works to open it with the opening hole or the thumb stud.
I was always really drawn to this knife, never got it.
This was on a lot of favorites lists, and then it just went out of print.
And so I'm really happy to have this sent along to me I'm going to hold on to it for a while And it might be given away Here's one that's going to get given away This is a very unique one And super cool This is from Michael Gavik and Gavko Knives And also Savivi So this is his first collaboration with Savivi I think he had done some with We The Spiny Dogfish it's called Spiny Dogfish.

[21:49] Very cool compound ground blade. Sort of a bellied sheep's foot or bellied wharncliffe with this thinner portion here and then a thicker grind there.
You've got the long opening hole and a very slender handle here.
Really fits the hand nicely like this.
And I find it very handy like this.
If you're using it for a lot of draw cuts, it just kind of sets itself up nicely between the palm and the fingers there.
So uh spiny dogfish this is in d2 and this is also in d2 and then here in uh 9cr we have the backlash one of the very originals one of the first three models that sabivi ever came out with and they're still making it so nice it feels so great in the hand um and it's a fantastic flipper that uh that flipper design and position uh just is perfect it just flies out with authority um liner lock very thinly hollow ground 9cr blade and then the cool thing about this one is it's an ebony wood so a beautiful piece of wood on both sides nicely milled with that fine fine, with those fine parallel lines there, and a beautiful harpoon-shaped drop point blade.

[23:15] I'm going to call it a drop point, not a clip point. I don't know why, but I just am.

[23:20] And then the last thing he sent me was a petrified fish, a really handsome knife here.
This is the Warrior, and this came out with a little bit of fanfare, I do remember.
Great flipper, great flipper design, Very nice blade shape and ergonomics on this are melt in the hand.
It just really fits nicely. And then you've got a fully crowned spine, including the swedge.

[23:48] And sumptuously, I'm going to use that word, contoured canvas micarta.
Really, really nice. And then you see a little fish. I guess it's a marlin or a swordfish there.

[24:00] The warrior. This is K110 blade steel. K110 is analogous to D2. It's a bowler steel.
And so it's somewhat budget, but it's going to, you know, it'll take you most of the way there probably, probably unless you're some sort of underwater diver who cuts steel with your blade.
All right, so that is what we got here in the state of the collection.
I'm very, very happy and grateful to Dave for sending these along.
Of course, it's always nice to experience new knives. It's also nice to share the wealth. I'm a very fortunate person.
I get knives sent to me, and I've accumulated a lot of knives under my own steam over a lot of years. And so it's nice to be able to share with people. So thank you, Dave.
All right, let us get to my case collection. Now, this might be where some people turn off the podcast because Case is a polarizing brand.
And I think it might be because of the sometimes spotty QC.
Sometimes we don't get what we're expecting.
Now, granted, we are expecting a lot this day and age. So we expect our knife companies to keep up.
But I have had almost nothing but good luck with case knives.

[25:22] I think if we want to look to a company for inspiration in quality control, it's got to be Victorinox.
Have you ever seen a Victorinox with an issue?
I certainly haven't, and I've handled a lot of Victorinoxes.
They make them the same every time. Now, case knives, a little more prone to variation.
So it might take a little bit more in terms of collecting. I know a lot of people say, if you can, open the knife, you know, handle the knife first.
If you're buying it in a store, see if you can handle the knives and then choose from there.
I've never had that opportunity, but I have had some very good luck.
Okay, let's start this out.
First one is, I'm going to go from smallest to largest. this.
First one is the canoe, the case canoe.
And the canoe is a pattern that has a main blade of a clip point.
And then a whoops, it's got a nice spring on it. And then it's got a pen blade.
So ah, oh, geez.
Sorry, guys. First one.
First one, I was gonna say.

[26:35] The whole idea behind those two blades is back in the day, the blade steels weren't that stout, didn't have great edge retention.
So the idea was you'd have two blades, you'd have a main blade there, which you would use for most tasks.
And then you would have the secondary blade, the pen blade, that you would keep razor sharp, like I do, for all other sort of tasks that you might have once you dull out the main blade.
This one is a purple Corallon edition, so they were really, one thing about Case that makes them so collectible is that they do all these different series with different handle materials, whether they're bone or synthetic or wood or what have you, and so they'll put out a line with all the same handle materials and the same steel.
So this was in honor of Corallon, which is a synthetic material and used on countertops and other stuff.
And here it is on my knife. That just sliced me so badly. All right.

[27:56] Second is a beautiful one. This is from the Chestnut Bone series, which I love so much.
The Chestnut Bones series are CV blades, and like I've mentioned many, many times on this show, it seems to me that Case Knives takes special care with their CV blade lines because they make so many fewer of them, and maybe I guess they have to use a different process and such, that they just seem to be better made. I guess that's all I got to say.
Better made, no gapping, and the blades work really well.

[28:39] The CV blades deal is great. So this company, Case Knives, started out, this is another peanut, so it has another secondary blade there.
They started out, four brothers, W.R. Case and Sons, started out in 1890, or I'm sorry, 1889, and they were making pocket knives and selling them on a a wagon trail in Pennsylvania, which I think is so cool.
Like this, this knife brand goes way back.
And, um, so they would take it and, and sell them to a lot of people, uh, on the wagon trail became well known for it. And, um, uh.

[29:16] Eventually opened up a factory in bradford pa and since then so that's over 100 years since then they've been 130 some odd years they've been pumping out these great knives in a at a more, automated pace but they're still handmade and you can see all about it you can see a an episode of how they're how it's made and they go to the case factory that's pretty cool and then i was just on on their website watching a video that they make and they show the whole uh process pretty cool okay next up this one i got from addicts sporting goods before they were uh totally um you know castrated and when they sold knives i guess is what i mean and i bought two of the knives in this in this um collection there and this one is not a very common one this is the jack knife the medium jack.
So like a peanut, it's got a main clip point and then it's got a, what do you call this, a pen blade.
No half stops, stainless steel. This is one of their kind of less doted over models.
You can see all of the grind lines on this one.

[30:29] They usually go for a real high polish on their blades. I like these ones that they don't polish up so much.
They really take a great edge. This This one has done a lot of crap duty, if you know what I mean.
This one has been living in my dresser drawer for years, and any time I have a tag to cut off or whatever, I don't know.
This one is always kind of getting into it. I'm always cleaning this one off and sharpening it up. This is a great knife.
I love these little ones. They call them sometimes the Texas jackknife if it's in the Amberbone series.
And in that one the blade ratio the blade to handle ratio is thrown off a bit okay next up, is this is a beloved knife for me i love this one so much this is the case swayback jack this one is designed by the great and powerful and late tony bows and it's just a beautiful beautiful, uh, uh, wharncliffe on a wonderful little swayback frame.
Uh, it has a pretty nice swayback shaped handle, you know, sometimes like say with, uh, Ben Belkin's swaybacks is kind of flattened it out a little bit.
Well, this one goes across the hand in such a way, uh, that the curve is more extreme.
And so it's really great for the sort of inward sort of pairing motion.

[31:49] This is also in that chestnut bone that I find so beautiful.
I had a mini trapper in chestnut bone that I got rid of, which I'm very sad about.
I wish I still had that. These take on great patinas, though I polished this one up recently.
But I love Case CV's patina capability.
All of these have nickel silver bolsters, by the way. And Case, I defy you to find someone who dyes bone better than Case.
They just do such a beautiful job on their bone.
I mean, GEC is pretty amazing, too. So nice.
All right, next up, speaking of beautiful, exotic-looking bone, this one is from their Purple Barn Door series.
So it's sort of a saw-cut pattern in this purple bone.
It's just it's beautiful uh this is um a barlow which is now going to be a part of their regular.

[32:54] Lineup uh they brought it out of the vault i think in 2020 and um with different blade shapes and you know how they do that every year they'll bring out an old design well it was so popular they're going to just be bringing it back and well it is back i guess i should say and this This is one of those knives representing its backness.
Barlow is a traditional working man's knife.
It's got a bolster that goes about one-third the length of the handle.

[33:25] Which allows you to make a larger tang, and that just gives you more greater lateral strength, which is important in a work knife.
This one, of course, has that beautiful clip point, traditional style clip point blade. and then on the other side with the nail nick on the other side which I appreciate is the uh, pen blade. Now, I've gotten a number, this is one of them, I've gotten maybe three or four new cases recently, and I have to say, they come sharp, but they come jagged.
The edge is not, the edge has taken on all of them.
A little bit of work on my stones, just to smooth out and to get right.
But this one has a really nice walk and talk on both blades, probably sitting around a six or seven.
I say that kind of half jokingly because every my six could be your eight could be his ten so um okay so next up is one that i've wanted for a long time and i had a buck and then i gave it away, and so i finally had was able to get one of these into my collection this is a case canoe.

[34:34] And that's in that amber jig bone cv blade steel when you see cv that's chrome vanadium that's That's their carbon steel, though now they're using 1095 and labeling it as carbon steel.
So you'll see later on, you'll see a bolster that says CS.
So a beautiful knife with a handle shaped like a canoe. You can see these...

[35:05] Bolsters and these bolsters line up with the handle to make a canoe shape as you can see here on uh that etching i love that classical etching with the indian in the boat and then when you look at it it's got a downward canted blade which really does uh help with the with the cutting it traps material we talk about recurves and downward angled blades on this show all the time So you don't see it often in a traditional slip joint knife.
You'll see the spine continue along the path of the spine of the handle, but you'll see the blade, the edge dip down.
But this is a pretty cool way of doing it.
And then over here you've got, on the other side, you've got a pen blade.
And so having single blades on either side, I think that technically makes a canoe a pen blade of sorts, doesn't it? Let me know.
Let me know if you think so. CV blade steel on that. Very nice.
Now, this next one is an exclusive from Deadwood Knives.
They have a few light case knives, and if you don't know Deadwood, you should go check them out.

[36:15] They have a lot of cool traditionals. This one is similar to this.
It really caught my eye because it's similar to one of my favorite case knives, this very pedestrian jackknife.
This has that purple synthetic, and it's, as you can tell from its makeup, it is a Stockman, meaning it's got a main blade clip point. This one is sort of a California Skinner blade.
It's got a sheep's foot, but unlike most Stockman knives, this one has a punch or awl instead of a spade blade.

[36:54] So it's got a nice, very oblique, but very sharp edge right here.
Nice pointy tip, and it's got a stout spring here. So if you need to bore a hole in something, that's your tool.
So this is oftentimes referred to as a cattleman's stockman because of that all.
But it seems like all stockmen are kind of cattlemen anyway, aren't they? Isn't that kind of redundant?
But I look forward to this patina-ing in a natural way.
Because I like the way the case knives look when they patina, but I've forced some patinas in the past, and they never look good.
They never work out for me.
So I always end up polishing them out and then letting it happen naturally.
And usually cutting steak is a great way of doing it, or apples, or potatoes, raw potato.

[37:44] Okay, so that is the Case Stockman Deadwood Knives Exclusive.
Oh, what a nice one. here is a famous one the sod buster junior this is also in cv or that carbon vanadium steel and yellow delrin i love the yellow delrin models they're so cheery i i would never really opt for yellow in any other knife but in a case now when you look at it close up like that with the patina on it that gray blade next to that yellow and the brass pins i think it's, Very beautiful to look at, and it also is very evocative of an older time.
This is like a knife, this is definitely a grandfather-style knife and a work knife. That's what sodbusters are. They're farmer's knives.
They're meant to be simple and robust and hand-filling and able to get the job done. And this one certainly is.

[38:46] I do like the case sod busters. I have two of them. You'll see another one down the row. And I would like to get one with the bone.
But I have heard that to be a true sod buster, you need that really big pivot like you see there.
And when you see the bone sod busters, they cannot make a pivot that big because if you make the hole that wide, that means the bone around the periphery of the hole is going to be too thin and likely to crack.
Um so they make it with a small uh pivot which kind of takes away from it actually being a sod buster but but their case and uh they coined the the term so who am i who am i to say uh but one of those has to be in my future all right next up the slimline trapper a single bladed knife a great great little steak knife pop in the pocket knife this one is uh in jigged brown delrin in.

[39:45] I got this one from a local hardware store that I discovered sells case knives.
And I need to get back over there and buy another one. I want to encourage this behavior.
I want our local purveyors to sell case knives instead of the cheap whatever they're selling.
This one has no half stop. Most of these cases do not have half stops, but it's got a nice about five weight pull.
And um i've recently gone on a sharpening kick and this one is sharper than it's ever been it is a it is a super it's like a razor very sharp edge uh that's again that uh, sort of untreated stainless like we saw on the jackknife you can still see those um grind lines vines and everything, and it's not polished.
A very nice knife. I love these slimline trappers. I wouldn't mind getting one in yellow delrin.
It's a very useful knife, and if you like your single-bladed knives, I think it's one of the best out there because it's biggish, but it's slender and light, and it gives you a good amount of cutting edge.
Next up, a trapper trapper.
Standard trapper, a four and a quarter inch, or four and an eighth eighth-inch long trapper.
Again, that yellow Delrin. You've got the CV blade steel and the nickel-silver bolsters. And look at that.

[41:13] Beautiful patinaed clip point blade there. And then, of course, all standard trappers come with a secondary blade.
And your secondary blade here is that spay blade.

[41:26] Love that spay blade. It's a great butter knife. It spreads butter in a pinch.
It's a great steak knife. It's great for food.
I think the shape of that works great for food because I am not spaying any animals.
But if I need to, I know where to go. No gapping in any of these so far. Oh, that's not true.
There's a little bit of gapping in this Barlow where you can see a tiny bit of light.
But most of these are gap-free, which is nice because I did not examine them to make sure that they're gap-free.
And lo and behold, I lucked out.
Again, this was a Dick's Sporting Goods purchase years ago, and I sure wish they would still sell Case 9.
Second trapper in this collection is the um is a stainless steel polished stainless steel version uh and i love you daddy series which um my wife got for me shortly after we had our first child and it's that smooth white bone which is beautiful and coveted just beautiful um all the the transitions between the pins and the bolsters and the bone, you just don't feel them.
Beautifully polished stainless steel blades.

[42:44] And you've got the secondary spade right there.
Big fan of the trapper. I do love the trapper. To me, that seems to be the most common knife out there.
But I I recently watched a video, I think it was Blade HQ, had a video of their most, oh, no, no, it was Smoking Mountain Knife Works, their most popular, most selling patterns, and it was not the Trapper.
Trapper was number two. What do you think number one was?
All right, next up, this one. Man, this is a, I have been wanting a larger than tiny toothpick for a long time, and this is another one that cases started to make, again, the medium toothpick.
They don't really make the large toothpick anymore. I think that's pretty much discontinued for case. But the medium toothpick.

[43:35] Is alive and kicking again and just beautiful.
Look at the shape of that, of that clip point, that California clip point or Turkish clip point blade.
It is beautiful. You're like, what is it? Is it Turkish or is it California?
And I asked you, does it matter? It's gone by both.
So that is the Smoky Valley Sunset Autumn Bone.
Let me say that again. Smoky Valley Sunset Autumn Bone And it is as beautiful in real life As it looks on camera You've got these nice nickel silver bolsters You have about a 5 Pull on this, no half stop Pretty decent Snap going in, It's not the strongest Snap and knife but I have found Now I don't know if this is just psychosomatic Or if it's, True but I have found that that slip joint knives kind of get a little bit stiffer the longer you have them.

[44:35] The last one I show you is a couple down from here. That is certainly the case for that. It even lost its blade play.
But it's not because there's all sorts of crap stuck in there.
It's just sort of tightened up.
But anyway, I do recommend you check out this series.
They put a lot of effort into this. This is, you can see carbon steel right there.
And um this smoky valley uh smoky valley sunset autumn bone series is really beautiful and like i said with the with the ones that they they don't do often like the cv and the carbon, and then especially a special run of something like that they they pay more attention all right next up this one has been getting tons of use i got this recently um but i've been carrying it everywhere all the time in my jacket and everything um and this is the trapper just the regular amber Remember, jig bone, jumbo, trapper, and CB blade steel.
Got a nice patina working on that clip point.

[45:34] Which has pretty decent action. A lighter pull on this, but man, I've used this a lot.
This is a very, very useful sheep's foot.
Look at how angled down it is. It's really nice.
Very thin, and it's a hollow grind, so this thing just zips through cardboard like it's not there. there, and then of course a spade blade, which comes off of that curved frame in a cool way.
Plus, this contour here really keeps this in your hand.
If you're going to be using this, I'm sure you're not going to be spaying anything with it, but if you use it for skinning something small or whatever, it seems like this handle would be great for comfort and retention.

[46:18] So I do love the Stockman series, or the Stockman design, and I would like to collect more as I age.
All right, second to last, another Tony Bowes design.
This is a big one. It's called the Back Pocket, and this is a part of their Carhartt series.
So they did a series with Carhartt years back, and this was the Back Pocket from that series.
Now, as you can see here, here you might be able to see the pin slightly right there when you see the pin coming through the bolster like that oftentimes it means the user like myself has taken a mallet to the to the bolster and hit it a couple of times just to tighten this area up if you're getting blade play i must have had blade play on this at one time i don't anymore um and took care of it that way on this one again you've got that unfinished steel which makes sense even though this is a special run for Carhartt. It makes sense.
It's on brand for Carhartt to have a sort of workman style treatment to the blade.
This one I got nice and sharp also.
This is G10, like a brown G10 with knurling. It's really nice.

[47:36] And then the back pocket knives oftentimes have the lanyard hole and then this one came with a little case braided case fob and uh where do you carry this yeah you carry this in the back pocket big knives like this are supposed to be paid.

[47:52] All right. And the last one, this was the coveted, well, it wasn't coveted, but this was the, the, the much, much honored muffin knife.
So this was in my car for years.
Uh, when my daughters were little and I was driving them to and from school, we would always stop by Wegmans or frequently stop by Wegmans and get muffins.
And then I would cut them in half and they would get half on the way to school and half on the way back.
And this was the, this was the knife that that was used for that. Yes.
Yes. It's like a ceremonial dagger found in a tomb, this thing.
Also from an older Workman series with that very plain but nice blue synthetic handle material. I think it's Delrin.
Brass liners. This one had all sorts of play, but somehow that has worked out.
You're like, it's all the muffin jammed in the pivot over time.
I don't think it is. I've I flushed this out. I cleaned it out.
There's something about it. Maybe it was being in the car. Shrank it, heated it up around the blade tang a little bit and made it stouter, a stouter action.
I'm not sure. Not sure, but why bother asking? Just go with the mystery.
That's been the theme here today. We've been seeing the tactical mystery, now this mystery.
What is life without mystery?

[49:14] Certainly it's something I don't think I could do. Yeah. All right.
Well, thank you so much for joining me on this edition of the Knife Junkie Podcast and for checking out my case knives with me.
I've been so excited about case knives recently, pulling out my old ones, resharpening them, getting them to be what I love, which is in great shape.
And I love the slip joints, you know, these days. So anyway, case knives, Knives, do you like them or do you hate them?
Have I justified too long? Well, I will move on.

[49:48] Okay, be sure to join us tomorrow night for Thursday Night Knives, where we give away this ultimate beauty, this beautiful, beautiful Microtech Reverse Taco.
All right, that does it for me. For Jim, working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, please, people, don't take dull for an answer.
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[50:52] Music.