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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.
©2024, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
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Transcript

[0:00]Coming up, I show off one of the coolest Gentleman Junkie giveaway knives. I get three knives from Shielden that I'm going to show you, and then we're going to take a look at great movie assassin knives from my point of view. 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.
[0:31]Welcome back to the show. A lot of great comments this past week. It's amazing how polarizing a Bowie knife can be. But this great one came in from Purdue Pharma, who says, I guess my Filipino grandmother could be considered a GI bring back from World War II. And of course, he was commenting on one of the videos on these Filipino swords that I have behind me, which were brought back by GIs after World War II. So apparently his grandmother and grandfather got married over there and she came back with him. I love that cute comment. And also the Filipino grandmother and mother thing about using their shoes as projectile weapons. I find that to be a pretty funny trope because I can kind of see a parallel in my wife's cultures, in my wife's culture where she comes from, Bolivia. So, very interesting. Love that. Thank you, Purdue Pharma. Appreciate that. Next was from Richard Henry, 1969, just a couple years older than I am, presumably. He says, I really like that design. So, I'm sorry. Being from a bad area, when I look for a knife, the first thing I use, but always I look for self-defense. I try to find a good balance, but everything I choose must be a weapon and a tool. This model looks like a good fit. I don't believe I would replace my Vaccaro.
[1:53]XL, and he's talking about the Kubi Hound, which is this knife right here. He's not going to be replacing his Vaquero with this. I don't believe I would replace my Vaquero XL with the Kubi Hound, but it would be a nice second. I don't believe in expensive knives because I use mine more than others, but nothing I can easily replace. In my opinion, anything over 150 is pocket jewelry. All right, so he kind of veers off into different territory. I chose this comment because I like that opening bit because I always look at everything from a self-defense angle first as well because I figure anything that's good for self-defense can open up an Amazon box without any problem. I personally, in my lifestyle, don't need the reverse. I don't open tons and tons of boxes that I need something utility-oriented, like for work, say. And you'll say, yeah, but Bob, are you getting in tactical knife fights all the time? The answer to that is no. So this is just down to an interest thing. So I, like you, Richard Henry, always look at it as a weapon and then a tool. But then your second point about anything over $150 is pocket jewelry. Of course, that is your personal assessment. $150 is your level.
[3:04]People have different levels. $150 is high for a lot of people. For nerds like me who have spent way too much money and too much time collecting knives, you know, I have a different level. But it is interesting. At a certain point, you're like, why do I need this? Is it just because it's so nice to look at, feel and examine because it's such a beautiful specimen of a knife? Or do I really need this $450 Hinderer to open up this box? Obviously, the answer to that is depends on who you are. So thanks for comments, one and all. I do appreciate it, and for watching the videos, the shorts, and the podcasts over this past week. Here's to you. With all of that said, let us now get to a pocket check. What's in his pocket? Let's find out.
[3:53]Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives. In my front right pocket today, I had my newest Emerson. I've had this for, I don't know, going on a year maybe, probably less. But this is the Emerson Tim Kennedy No. 1, the TK-1 folder. So this is made for Tim Kennedy. Tim Kennedy is a renowned Green Beret who has been on all manner of podcasts. He's been on Joe Rogan a bunch of times everywhere else. He probably has his own podcast too. But he was also an MMA fighter fighting in the UFC. And he's just a very interesting dude. People call him up for their shows to get analysis on world events, to get analysis on combat, to get fitness, you know, ideas, all sorts of stuff. So Tim Kennedy, he's a phenom. And he reached out to Emerson Knives and said, I want you to make me a knife. And Ernest Emerson reportedly said, well, it's going to be an Emerson, so it's not going to be a fancy pants knife. This is going to be all about work.
[4:59]And it's and, you know, the finish we do here at Emerson. And Tim Kennedy apparently said, that's why I came to you, Ernest, making something long and stabby and clip-pointed, and here it is. This, to me, is like a Hells Bells Bowie folder. And I'm just talking about the blade here, but long and thin Bowie knife with a long swedge. Great for fighting and sticking. And that's what I love about this. A waveless Emerson. My only waveless Emerson. I think I may have had one in the past, but this is the only one I have now. It doesn't bother me. I generally tend not to wave Emerson's out unless I'm being attacked and then I wave them out. So this one I haven't had to use yet in that manner.
[5:49]Next up, and if you're new here, that was, of course, tongue-in-cheek. I am not, by lifestyle, a knife fighter. All right, next up is the Jack Wolf Knives Venom Jack. This is the second iteration of this gorgeous knife. One of my favorite Jack Wolf knives, just for the utility of it, but also the ergonomics. I love the trapper-style handle with its downward pommel, or kind of bulbous pommel.
[6:18]In this new version of this knife, Ben Belkin has extended the front bolster, added three flutes there in the back. it's double fluted, whereas in the first one it's double and single. Respectively uh this one i have the dark matter red carbon fiber with the black dark wash blade and bolsters and to me man this is the ultimate version of this knife uh when it originally came out he asked me which one i wanted graciously and i got back to him a hair too late and i said i wanted the nap titanium version he said i don't have that one left so he sent me this one and man And happy accident, because this is currently my favorite of all the Jack Wolf knives in terms of aesthetics. It is so beautiful.
[7:10]It'd be cool for Ben to come out with one of his folding, flipping, locking knives in this setup with that dark carbon fiber. It's so swirly. It looks kind of like wood, and there are hints of red in there. And next to the dark wash titanium bolsters and blade i i keep saying it it looks like an artifact to me um but it's in beautiful perfect working modern day condition with s90v super steel so a tremendous knife i love it and of course always i keep them in the sumptuous uh leather slips they send if you buy this knife from their website right now um as opposed to going to one of the dealers if you go to jackwolfknives.com right now and order this knife i just saw this on on the instagram post uh this morning as i as i record this uh i believe they're offering like a fancy black leather slip by some maker i don't i i'm a headline reader let me say i was scrolling and i saw that but uh go check that out don't don't uh quote me on this and if you're watching this This, after I read this, certainly the deal is no longer up, but if you're watching this somewhere around the very beginning of September 2024, go order that knife off of.
[8:28]Jackwolfknives.com and you will get an extra and customized black leather slip. I think it had red stitching, if I remember correctly, but it looks cool. All right, next on my waistband right up front uh next to my belt buckle my new preferred way to carry though not every knife allows for it not every outfit allows for it oh fit i should i just just call it a fit you don't call it an outfit anymore um this here is the aaron bieber knives or ab knives 302 this is just a.
[9:03]This outstandingly gorgeous fixed blade knife. I've been carrying this a lot recently just because I've been back into the Tsukimaki wraps quite a bit. And, man, I defy you to find someone who does a better Tsukimaki wrap than Aaron Bieber.
[9:19]I guess I would say Josh Mason does a great one as well. But look at the way the pommel terminates so nicely. You've got that white ray skin under there, and those ridges just create a great place for the palm and the fingers to nestle in. Such an awesome grip with the Tsukamaki wrap, that traditional samurai wrap. And then this uh blade this incredible sort of is it a clip point or is it a warren cliff style blade with a deeply hollow ground swedge that is so cool the rest of the blade is uh flat ground thin and slicey but that that swedge is deeply hollow ground it's very cool aaron bieber is making some very interesting and beautiful knives and now he's working on a folder And each one is very handmade and exquisite. I got a chance to check out number one and number two at his booth at Blade Show. I believe both were sold, but both new owners agreed to leave it there so people could check it out and check out his folding knife work. I appreciate that. Very generous because I got a chance to actually hold it after watching him birth these knives on Instagram. So check out Aaron Bieber, AB Knives or Aaron Bieber.
[10:41]He's awesome. Incidentally, very coincidentally, he and I went to the same art school in Philadelphia, which was also the very first art school in the United States. But we went at different times. But um i don't know when he said that i was like i knew you had some genius in you uh of course that's patting myself on the back but it was uh it was very cool to find that out because, obviously we kind of came from a similar aesthetic melting pot or something like that all right next down me i had five knives on me today this one i've been carrying a lot because i just recently wrapped it uh this is the fred perrin knives la doc la doc the dagger fred perrin a french badass you know a a former commando and a specialist in knife fighting and and uh dirty hand-to-hand fighting dirt dirty meaning effective of course he's not a pugilist he's a commando So this knife is like a $35 440C Max knives made They're out of France Knife.
[11:47]Pretty uncomfortable in hand though this coffin shaped handle is uh is comfortable in profile but it has sharp edges and everything i knew when i bought it that i was going to wrap it it just took me a minute to do it finally got that jute cord on there it it's 100 more comfortable to uh to wield and it doesn't that that jute cord does not add much to the thickness at all It still drops right in the pocket I have a pair A couple of pairs of these 5.11, Tactical pants that have Pockets on the side so they're technically Cargo pants but the way they're built in You barely see them And so this, Slips in the inner pocket In that outer pocket And just sits there beautifully I don't know it's there until I need it So I've been carrying this one quite a bit I like this knife And you know I've been into the wraps a lot recently.
[12:43]LeDoc. LeDoc? I think that's how you pronounce it. From Fred Perrin. I had a very inspirational conversation with Fred Perrin and Zach Wingard at the Wingard wearables table this year at Blade Show. And I got to have Fred Perrin twist my neck and kind of manipulate me and do martial arts stuff on me. I was like, oh, this guy could kill me in so many different ways right now. And then lastly on me for emotional support this is uh the the first or let's see what was it the second comment was about this knife um i'm really digging this kubi knives sent this to me can we please send you a knife i'm like uh yeah i like you kubi and they said uh choose choose a knife and i chose a knife and they sent me something totally different but i don't care this one is awesome. I really like the look of it, and it just so happens to feel great and cut well, too. Imagine that. This is the Max Chachook Design Hound by Kubi, and it's got this great crossbar lock. Really awesome crossbar lock.
[13:53]I like the way they do it. When I got it the first day, it was a little bit gritty. Took a little bit of flipping, and it worked itself in nicely. They seem to have changed their pivot logo a little bit. That kind of goofy logo has remained the same. I like it. To me, that's a long clip point blade. It reminds me a little bit, I must say, of a Winkler profile on that blade. But the handle with that curve, I saw it. I was like, that might be a little too curved for my more curmudgeonly and conservative self. As I grow older, I like the more neutral handles. But I got to say, it's great, feels awesome in hand. It even is good in a, if you had to pick call it, it'd be fine. But in reverse grip, it's great because it's got this jimped backspacer with the proud handle.
[14:44]Standing gyms gear pattern gyms uh that those gym gyms if we can call them that i don't think those are why they're there i don't think they're there for the thumb grip maybe that's secondary it's really good for this when you put it in your palm like this when you butt the pommel into your palm to pull down on the crossbar lock to flip it back in it just digs into your palm in a comfortable way. And it just gives you the perfect purchase to do this. So if you're into fidgeting with crossbar locks, you will love this one because of this backspacer. You'd never think it's the backspacer that seals the deal on this one because it'll sit nestled in your palm all day long while you do this and drive your co-workers or wife insane. So this is what I i had on me today i had the emerson tk1 i had uh the beautiful venom jack from jack wolf knives the aaron bieber 302 custom fixed blade knife very light you'll forget you have it on you though once you have it in hand um it it feels great and you'll be happy you had it the ledag from from Fred Perrin and Max Knives out of France.
[16:00]Great sheath, by the way. Oh, these red marks, I'm going to mill out little scoops on both sides so I can just drop this in the pocket, and they will hook on the edge of the pocket as I pull it out. Lastly, I had the Kubi Hound on me today. So, laden down with knives, but I'm not complaining. Okay, so, the September Gentleman junkie knife giveaway knife if you're unfamiliar with the concept uh the gentleman junkie is our top tier of support on patreon 10 bucks a month and uh you get everything that everyone else gets except you also get entered into a monthly knife giveaway this month's giveaway is quite special every every few months uh someone will come along and say can i offer you this knife to give away way and i say yes of course this time it came from northern knives and paul monco or colorful filth paul monco the the knife designer of the mystic uh and a couple of other really really great knives made by kaiser he's also an art artist and is a killer anodizer so northern knives mike up at northern knives um every once in a while a couple times a year we'll do these collaborations with Paul Monco and create something very special. This time, it's on a Demco AD 20.5 in titanium.
[17:26]So this one obviously is aquatic themed. You have a great white shark there about to eat a diver who is also about to get eaten. He's about to get sandwiched basically by a, you know what? He's going to be forgotten when that great white shark and that giant squid come together. He's just going to be an incidental meal inside of both of those things. You've got these giant creatures of the deep coming together in this. I don't know how he anodizes this, but it's outstanding. I wonder if it's a little bit like intaglio printing, where you mask off areas of the metal with a non-acid corrosive, like a wax or something, and then you...
[18:11]I wonder if this is like anodizing but engraving also. Anyway, you can see right northwest of the pivot, there's another lurking great white shark in the water. And then check out this cerakoted blade with all the bubbles you got the shark's foot blade of course it would it would make no sense not to have the shark's foot blade and then on this side i i kind of like this scene even better it's like you have the marianas trench here going into the deep i mean it you can see how it continues at the bottom at the pommel i mean like this trench goes down into the depths and there's some all sorts of manner of monster and stuff coming out of there but you have this creepy diving bell all right so you can see how it's uh goes from that high voltage green to blue here just stunning work from paul monco of course uh demco knives and then northern knives bringing this all together so just a beautiful knife this is our Gentleman Junkie knife, giveaway knife. I mean, this is worth, whoops, I just dropped it. At least it dropped it onto suede. This is our giveaway knife. This is worth a lot of money. I don't know how much he's charging for it, but as time goes on, it will be worth more and more.
[19:34]So you might want to go over to Patreon, sign up. Some people see a knife that they like and they sign up for one month. I'm not encouraging you to do that. I'd like you to sign up for multiple months, But if this knife is really floating your boat and you got $10 to spare, go over to theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon, sign up, and you could be put on the wheel of destiny to win this awesome knife. By the way, I have this in the grivery handle. And I got to say, just opening it up with the titanium feels like almost a different knife. I'm not going to do that again because I don't want my wedding ring to scratch this up. I'm going to put it back in its little box here.
[20:16]And put it away until you win it. So go to TheKnifeJunkie.com slash Patreon and check it out. Again, that's TheKnifeJunkie.com slash Patreon. Adventure delivered. Your monthly subscription for hand-picked outdoor, survival, EDC, and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals.
[20:37]TheKnifeJunkie.com slash BattleBox. You're listening to The Knife Junkie Podcast, podcast and now here's the knife junkie with the knife life news a couple of new knives couple couple two three four new knives coming out on the market i thought you should know about first from tops this is their fourth version of the wilderness guide and this is called the wilderness guide 23 so i guess they developed this and uh came up with it last year but it's coming to market now and uh i'm just busting on you tops i love you greatly but tops is known for taking a long time in research and development especially with their folders and i gotta say i'm in no rush just make sure it's tops level when it comes out that's all anyone cares about so the tops wilderness guide 23 uh is a super versatile outdoor knife that's that's the goal of it and uh you know looking at it to me it's no it's no beauty queen but you can see how it is a versatile super versatile outdoor knife so it's got that bull nose 1095 as usual uh blade it's 4.38 inches which is the longest incarnation of the wilderness guide uh this fourth incarnation and it's 0.06 inches thicker so a little bit longer a little bit thicker a little bit sturdier now interesting The interesting thing I like about this knife is the handle.
[22:05]That super ergonomic handle was developed when.
[22:10]When uh owner of pops knives dad gummit his name just oh leo espinosa sorry having a senior moment there uh when leo espinosa picked up a piece of clay squished it in his hands and kind of let it go that's how this handle was developed through the ergonomics of of squeezing into something malleable and seeing what came out of it so a very very comfortable hand shape especially if you have of Leo Espinosa's hands. Obviously, this isn't exactly cast from that, but you get the idea. This one has kydex. In the past, it's always had a nylon sheath, so kydex and currently available. If this is your kind of knife, definitely go for it because Topps makes awesome knives. And I love what they do with 1095. 1095 will never go out of style. It's like blue denim. them you're not gonna jeans never go out of style okay next up from Benchmade and the readout series now I don't have a readout but it's sort of their larger beefier answer to their own knife the bug out.
[23:20]The first one that came out was a drop point, where this one, the 431 readout, is a no-nonsense, hard-to-use folder, this time with a beautiful tanto.
[23:31]I really like that tanto. You've got a center line point. If you look at it, you can see it's a drop point tanto, but you still have plenty of straight on both the forward edge and the main cutting edge. And if you look at, if you're watching this, you can probably see right next to the butterfly of the Benchmade logo, the plunge grind disappears behind that handle and the choil is far down below it. So you can sharpen this thing theoretically until the cows come home, and you're never going to run up against that plunge grind because the sharpening notch comes so far forward and the plunge grind goes so far back that you will definitely be able to sharpen up to the top of that notch and probably even further if you're on a desert island and it's the only knife left and you're sharpening it on a rock. Beautiful knife i think it's cool because it also has this double piece grivery handle and on the the drop point it was gray and gray at this time it's olive drab and a slightly darker olive drab but it's a two-piece handle construction i think it's pretty cool that blade is d2 steel which i don't think we see too much on bench made correct me if i'm wrong i'm sure you will and 3.7 ounces available.
[25:00]Now, I like this one. I'm not a huge Benchmade fan, but I like this one and I especially like and appreciate that deeply swedged blade. By the way, if you look at the tip of that Tonto blade and you block off everything else, it looks like a dagger. Pretty nice tip there.
[25:17]I know what you're saying, brother Vic. That's my brother. I know exactly what you're you're saying okay next up is from demco knives we were just looking at the ad 20.5 from uh, northern knives and paul munco well here is the opposite end of that spectrum a totally new budget version of the shark cub now the shark cub is an edc uh two point what is it seven five two and a half inch bladed uh version of the demco shark lock edc knife it's it's like basically a shrunk down version of the 80 20.5 called the shark cub well now instead of 20 cv blade steel and g10 handle they're going with grivery for the handle and os 10a.
[26:02]Pardon me. And that is making this a sub 100 Demco knife. So this is going to come out for 89 bucks. We don't have a release date on it yet, but 89 bucks for a Demco knives, shark lock, shark cub here. So the most affordable Demco ever kind of, well, I mean, actually technically not the most affordable shark lock, the most affordable folder Demco ever. Uh so excited about this one check it out and and funny you see that drop point i really like the look of that blade right there very nice looking blade it's very much better looking than the shark to than the shark's foot if you ask me so that's my opinion all right lastly in this list of new knives coming out right now uh from giant mouse and it's with whiskey Hmm? Now, it's early as I record this, but if Giant Mouse flunked down a glass of their whiskey in front of me right now, I'd indulge. It looks pretty good because it's a Kentucky distillery. Giant Mouse is partnering with Castle & Key, a small batch distillery out of Kentucky, which, if you're new, if you like bourbon, it's got to come from Kentucky. Otherwise, it's just sour mash whiskey. So this is the real deal stuff.
[27:30]Presumably from Bourbon County, right? Yeah, I see it on the casks there in the background. All right, so pretty cool. I guess Anzo and Voxnes like their bourbon. So with this, they have developed that knife that's right there leaning up next to their whiskey bottle there. And this knife they are calling the... What are they calling this knife? I don't even know what they're calling this oh the distillers blade that's right the distillers blade now if you look at it uh it's got a 20 cv clip point blade with a nail nick uh it is a liner lock titanium uh liner lock beautifully anodized i think they have two versions one is black and black, cerakote and the other is this blue anodized uh version with the with the satin blade.
[28:24]Really kind of a departure from their ordinary aesthetics. I'd say the profile of the handle, that shape of the handle, just in silhouette, is somewhat giant mouse. But the surface treatment, that sort of key pattern around the pivot, and the nail neck, everything else about it is sort of a tip of the hat to the old school distiller castle and keys sort of aesthetic. So you've got to blend.
[28:53]And uh it's kind of neat the the neat 1954 called they want their adjective back it's kind of cool oh that's 1934 all right it's uh it's really bussing how the how they milled in that pattern on the the face of of the blade it looks a little bit um it looks like woodwork i'll say, all right i think it's time i stopped trying to describe this knife it's pretty good looking I like it, but what's really interesting about it, of course, is the fact that it comes out with a bottle of whiskey. So do check this out. Let's see. It's available on the Giant Mouse website and the Castle & Key website. So they only made 400 all day long, 100 of each. And so I should say 200 of each. And Giant Mouse gets 200 of them, both type. And Castle & Key gets 200 of them. 100 of each type as well man that was difficult to get through all i all i really needed was a glass of bourbon to make this go more smoothly but i'm gonna have to settle for this here.
[30:03]All right coming up we're gonna get to the state of the collection but before we do be sure to like comment subscribe share the show uh that's a great way of helping the show if you you can't get into the patreon share the show hey dude you might like this this guy's kind of Weird, but it talks about some really cool stuff. And you can download the show to your favorite podcast app and listen to these golden tones as you drive, mow the lawn, or wash the dishes. So, yeah, do that. And I'll see you right back here for the State of the Collection. The Shockwave Tactical Torch is your ultimate self-defense companion, featuring a powerful LED bulb that lasts 100,000 hours, a super-sharp, crenulated bezel, and a built-in stun gun delivering 4.5 million volts. Don't settle for ordinary. Choose the Shockwave Tactical Torch. TheKnifeJunkie.com slash Shockwave. And now that we're caught up with Knife Life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
[31:04]Thanks to Justin of DC Blades and Tier 1 Gear Review, I have, I have, Shieldon reached out to me and asked if they could send me some knives for review. I said yes, and they sent me three new knives, or three knives. I'm not sure if they're new. One of them I know is new. This one I know is not new. This is the Bulbasaur. and i remember when this came out i remember kind of dishing on the name uh but it's a really kind of cool it's a shillin cutter um at first i was like oh i like the barang shape and then i remember this is coming from china shield uh this is a shielded knives in-house design oh wait i'm sorry this is a django design um but uh presumably django is chinese and this is a shillin cutter it's not a barang it's not a filipino uh short sword here this is a shillin cutter a traditional sort of chinese leaf shape folding knife and it is really nicely put together i gotta say uh i i i love the way it feels in hand and.
[32:11]I very much like that blade so the blade has it it's very leaf shaped the belly is on the spine i mean really you have a very gradual belly on the the main cutting surface but you have a high spine there with a full flat grind which adds to the shearing power so i mean this is going to be a very uh good slicer and shearing knife at the very tip it almost looks like it recurves it does not it just straightens out if you if you hold it on an angle and kind of look down the length of it it straightens out at the very tip which is appreciated because you don't you won't slip out of any any of these sort of utility pull cuts so very good ergonomics that low slung clip look at how low it is on the handle actually that's on purpose really melts into the palm where it is because that that handle that pommel tapers you got that jimping which is very nice especially when it comes to, A what do you call it Saber grip with that excellent Jumping up here I have one Complaint about this knife one complaint So far and by the way.
[33:22]I don't know what the hell this blade steel is. Oh, 14C28N. I'm sorry, that's the model number. It's like 9061G-N. I'm like, I've never heard of that steel. That's the model number. This is 14C28N, which we all know is awesome. Them and shield and knives i know this so far um they do great a great job with their steel how do i know that because i've used their site which is paper thin especially at the tip i've used that for utility and it works great so i think from my experience with the 14c and the s35 that they do they're pretty good heat treaters there but i jumped off topic my one complaint with this knife is the aesthetics. I got to say, I do not like the green and black G10. It's like two shades of green and black, and then you got the swirl. I mean, it's very nice attention to detail.
[34:19]And if this resonates with you aesthetically, man, go for it, because they did a fantastically beautiful job milling out this pivot collar out of the G10 and dropping that in. And then with the anodized aluminum or titanium i'm not sure what it is uh extra color it's very beautifully done um but it's just not my aesthetic in terms of color do i care no it it it feels great in hand it's a 3.7 inch blade so it's a nice long it's got a very good uh slicey geometry and a great um what do you call it sharpening choil there so an excellent knife not crazy about the color. Alright, next up, this one is an all-arounder.
[35:08]I see why they sent this to me. This is not one I would have chosen. I would have looked at this and said, oh, that's way too pedestrian, but I see why they sent it to me. This is a pretty sweet knife. This one is called the, I'll re-flip it because it flips beautifully.
[35:25]This is also designed by Django, and this one is called the, forgive me for a moment, oh, it's on the blade, Empolion. Like Napoleon, but Empolion. And just from looking at it, you can see it's a very neutral sort of drop point blade, 3.6 inches, great flipper, awesome detent, it just rockets out. Nice and thin neutral handle. You've got a little bit of texturing put into the contouring here. If I show it to you in this aspect, you'll see how it's very fully contoured, beautifully contoured. Got a little gear pattern spacer there. But here you've got this jimping along this, not jimping, you've got that random sort of milling pattern on the side. Very much adds to the grip and the feel. I like this one a lot. Not one I would expect to like. Very low profile pocket clip. And will present enough in the pocket to make it easy to grip.
[36:28]All right, last sent to me from Shieldon. This has to be a new one. This is the Height model. 154 cm, so a bit more premium. A lot more neutral than the other ones. And man, what a nice knife this is. This one I'm going to carry. I'm going to EDC this and check this out. This seems to be like a competitor for a lot of the kind of EDC knives that are popular right now. So this one I like a lot, the Kite. I think it's my favorite of the three, even though on paper the Bulbasaur should be.
[37:06]This one comes very close because it's, well, let's face it, it's stabbier. But this one is slicier and much more of an of an all-around EBC knife. 154 cm, a great front flipper, and an outstanding bar lock. Man, look at this just drop in. This drops right in. Very nice knife. So I'm excited about all three of these. Thank you so much, Shield and Knives, for sending these along to me and Stephen. I appreciate it. Appreciate that greatly. All right, we're going to get to movie assassin knives. I'm going to blow through these because I have a lot of them and there could be more, but I'll tell you initially what inspired it okay i was watching with my family the very latest mission impossible movie it's a good movie i haven't seen really any of them all the way through i've seen chunks of all of them as i've been just spinning on tv if i'm bored late night but this was my first one soup to nuts i love it as much as everyone loves to dish on tom cruise he is an outstanding actor He's so good Maybe it's because he sold his soul To Scientology But man, that guy's awesome Let's face it But the guy, the bad guy in this, Very handsome Latin man I can't remember his name But he had.
[38:25]Double um fairbairn sykes knives and uh they come out in a train fight scene they're on top of a train with you got to fight on top of a train at least once if you're a secret agent they're fighting on top of the train and uh tom cruise gets the best of him throws him or what's his name i can't remember his name in the movies throws him over the side but he pulls out one of his daggers one of his fairbairn sykes daggers with the with the s guard quillian this one this this one right here thank you jim and he stabs it into the side of the train and then he takes his other one stabs it he climbs up stabbing this knife into the side of the train and i was like i appreciate it it's not a cold steel a cold steel could do that and i'm not i'm not uh shilling for cold steel but there aren't too many knives that can do that maybe today there are but certainly it's It's not a Fairbairn Sykes. I mean, Fairbairn Sykes were made for dispatching humans, you know, by putting it in the back of the head or into the side of the neck and punching forward or into the heart. It's a stabbing knife into very soft stuff. You're not stabbing it into a train and then hiking up a 200-pound body while you're going, you know, 100 miles an hour on the train.
[39:45]It's just not happening. But as I was watching that, I was like, I've got plenty of knives you can do that with. And then I was like, okay, let's back away from that impossible and kind of stupid use for a knife. But if you're a bad guy and you're an assassin and you're in a movie, what knife are you going to choose? I mean, if I were on the art department, in the art department of any one of these movies, the prop department, I would be like, bring all the knife characters to me because I know what they want. All right, let's start with these movie assassin knives. And I'm just assuming this is a bad guy because he's an assassin. All right, first up is the Cold Steel Tileight 6. But it's got to be the wavy 6. In my pocket right now, you know, that's the Chris 6. In my pocket, I've been carrying this thing a lot. This is the regular Aus-8 Tileight 6. This would actually be better for an assassin, I believe, leave because it's going to go in and come out smoother because of that shape. But we're in the movies now. So the crisp version is going to be way better. By the way, in a slash, that tip is going to outdo this tip. So, you know, maybe it's not all just looks and fanciness, but also on a thrust, the waves on this just open up a larger hole.
[41:05]And then also on the pull out. Also on a slash if you don't get the tip and you hit all those waves it's like a being hit by a giant bread knife so just a wicked nasty blade and of course looks the part.
[41:21]It comes in a number of sizes. You can get this or the small one. You can also get the Voyager. I would just say that the Voyager, Chris, though awesome and just as deadly, doesn't look as cinematic. So I would go with this one. all right next up this is for a uh he's more of a businessman but he is an assassin he's in a suit and you don't know he's an assassin until he comes up on you well he's carrying the arcane designs, antimatter yes it's a double-edged folding dagger looks futuristic also with a with a tip of the hat to the old school coffin shaped handle but this coffin shaped handle is pointed and could totally brain someone in a in a sort of jason bourne style fight this thing would come out it would go from forward grip to reverse grip and back it would do all sorts of damage and um you know it would be it would be in a fight scene where someone is a cut impossibly um an impossible amount of times but still makes it out because the guy who's carrying this is the villain of course he's going to die at some point, but not in the fight scene where this is pulled out. So this is S35, or no, I'm sorry, this is 20CV and titanium and double-edged and so impressive because there are so few of these double-edged daggers that aren't out the fronts. Of course, plenty out the fronts would be great for this role, but we're not going to do that.
[42:50]That's too easy and it's been done. All right, next up, this one, you haven't seen me pull this one out too much, but it's a cool one, and it's very cinematic. This is a recurved Tonto, and it is the Tucson TS-336. You've got a recurve tanto.
[43:09]You've got the flat portion up front that hits the light a certain way. And then you have this hollow ground recurve portion, which to me, a hollow ground, look at how the light, that curvy light dances on a hollow ground blade. To me, it's very cinematic. It's scary looking. It reminds you of a straight razor. razor um but the whole knife overall reminds you of a samurai or someone adept at killing would use this knife uh and this is just the edc this is what they're pulling out to both uh cut their apple in half while they're on a stakeout and then to you know plunge into the heart of some scientist who's coming up with the solution to whatever the problem is in that movie so an assassin would love this knife because it's going to do a lot of damage both going in and coming out but it's also a great slasher with that recurve that secondary point and that long sort of forward it's essentially it's like you have a tanto a recurve and a persian knife all in one.
[44:15]And it looks cool. And it's got a great handle. And it's the only Tucson I haven't moved on. I love that knife. Okay, next up. This one is from Spyderco. And I've seen a lot of Spydercos in movies. In the hands of bad guys, good guys, all that. But it's always the Spyderco police model. And I love the police model. I don't have one. I'd love to have one. But it's always the police. It's like the guy's looking through the book and he's like, well, this cop needs a knife. Which one should it be? Oh, it should be the police model. This is what I would have Our modern day assassin carry It's kind of in the police model lineup Because of the size and because of the fact That it's designer Ulrich Hennicke from Germany Was a police officer As well as a knife maker But this long That's a four and a quarter inch blade It's sinuous, it's dramatic Looking, that recurve, getting bulbous Getting super pointy but then Coming in for that recurve And then that pistol grip handle angle, it's just a looker of a knife. It's unusual, but it also, with those organic curves, is, what's the word I'm looking for, intuitive. You know that this thing could do a lot of damage. And you look at it, it looks beautiful, but it also looks deadly. So I think that this would be a great movie knife for that purpose. It has not, I've never seen this in a movie, But it should be This is of course VG10 Taiwan made.
[45:44]Taiwan made Spyderco are like the best In my opinion I love them even more than the Golden Colorado knives Though the more modern designs are being made there I just love the, Backlocks coming out of Taiwan and Spyderco.
[46:05]I'm such an idiot. That's a Seki City, Japan. Taiwan, I was thinking of Cold Steel. I meant everything I just said, but for Seki City, Japan. Next up is designed by Borca, Sebastian Borca, and made by Microtech. And that's the Stitch. In this case, the Stitch Ramlock. but this stitch is such a menacing looking knife and if you think about it um you know for the length of that blade there's not as much cutting edge as it could have in other words it could be worse but it looks so bad i remember when i got this i was like this is the ultimate utility knife you know and i was thinking because it's got such a big choil and it has the opportunity to have so so much petting edge but it it really sort of forgoes that to be good in hand and a very utilitarian knife this is not so i pulled it out and i showed my wife and i'm like what do you think of this and she's like jeez i'm like what she's like what's scary and you know my wife is no shrinking violet uh when it comes to knives that's how i met her in a knife fighting class but the something maybe the serrations the pointing it looks like a spearhead and um it's just dramatic looking. And, and.
[47:22]I've come up with a perfect use for this. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie The Hunted, but Benicio Del Toro is practicing a pattern where he's doing a cut, diagonal cut, diagonal cut, downward cut, and then he's doing, for lack of a better term, a taint stab, you know, going up into the chode, if you will. Well, this to me would be perfect for that or also an axillary stab under the armpit because it's so triangular and wedged. It's going to find the hole it needs to go in through bone-wise and then it's just going to widen out. This is a horrible thing to talk about, but in Pekiti, Tertia, and all sorts of different fighting blade systems, they target the underarm because you hit an artery there, they go fast. And it's hard that you can't really, unless you stuff it immediately with something, you're not going to stop that wound, that bleeding. Same thing with the taint stab. I'm sorry, I don't know what that's actually called.
[48:25]But that's perineum or something like that. Anyway, it's nasty. And this would excel at that. All right, I'm going to move on. That would be a villainous move, for sure. I'm going to move on to this one designed by one of my absolute favorites he's got two in this lineup dirk pinkerton uh this is his inversion yes it's a menacing pakal knife you add that ring and even if you don't know how to use that ring you're just putting your finger through it it just makes it look twice as badass this would be such a great movie villain knife um you don't want i mean the a hero could use this knife, for sure. But you want to see the hero use something less specialized to take out the villain. You want the villain to have something specialized like this. You say specialized. How is that specialized, Bob? Well, it's a folder. Look, it's a folder, but it's a damn weird looking folder. You think it should be held like this and the blade edge should be here. But when you pop it open... And you can wave it open as well. When you pop it open, that edge is on the wrong side. It's a reverse. It's a pick haul. Tip down, edge in, you stab in, you pull towards you. That's the natural caveman motion. When you're flooded with adrenaline, you're not doing all your precise and neat collie stuff. You're going caveman. You're using that hammer fist.
[49:50]And the natural arcing motion is going to pull towards your body. So the edge being on the inside maximizes the damage. We all know this. I like to talk about it. But here, look, you've got a shiny titanium one with a shiny bright blade, a, what do you call it, satin S35VN blade. This one, of course, you can remove the ring if that's not your bread and butter. But for a movie, can you imagine a movie villain having this? Of course, the clip is on the correct side. So his finger would just reach into the loop. He'd pull it out, the wave would wave it open, and he would flip it around and bring it to bear. And that would be in one of the opening scenes, setting up this villain, and he'd go to town, and he'd be like, oh my God. And then he would quickly put it back away and go about his business, because it's a nice, light titanium knife. He's in a business suit, you know? He continues on with his day. He's a classy assassin. But let's go back in time a little bit.
[50:53]What are you going to use if you're a cowboy or, you know, a Spaniard or anyone in a different time, let's say, but you're in Spain, most likely, or you're displaced and you're somewhere in the New World, you know, in the Old West or in Mexico. Well, your little knife is going to be this. It's going to be, you might have a bigger Bowie, but you're definitely going to have one of these. This is the Joker, which is a Spanish company. Joker Sevillana. I said that like Sevillana, like Sevilla, like civilian steel. Sevilla, the town is where a lot of these knives were originated. This is the Navaja.
[51:42]And it's a folding knife that was originated uh when spaniards could no longer carry swords civilians could no longer carry swords to settle their beefs so they started making these folding locking knives this is just a small four inch version but they made them huge you know like the espada xl from cold steel they could hide it on their person and duel with it so this would definitely be a good one for a movie also that dramatic beautiful spanish clip point blade and then the traditional horn shaped handle with the brass bolsters it's a it's a looker it's very cinematic uh but this one in particular would also do great if you needed to fight with it because it's very sturdy it's very slim and it's super sharp everywhere you everywhere it should be And it locks.
[52:32]Alright, next up We're going to go into the fixed blades here This little one, this is the Pocket Rocket From, Auxiliary Manufacturing and Michael Jarvis To me It's, it's, you know, okay Something about this knife reminds me of a Crucifix, even though there's no cross aspect To it.
[52:51]There's no guard, but I think it has to do with these choils. Any way you turn this knife handle, you've got choils. So it doesn't matter how you grab it. It's going to stay in hand really, really well. But it's a small dagger, which is unusual. Usually you see daggers that are longer. This one for a movie villain would be great. It would be something that could very surreptitiously be carried, pulled out used and stashed and uh to me you know it doesn't have to be a villain a again i could say the regular the hero of the movie could have one of these but usually the hero is less concerned about the hero usually doesn't have a favorite weapon to kill with the hero usually is just you know the guy who who's just getting the job done and he'll use whatever comes his way or whatever is issued to him. So this, to me, is like a villainous knife. Great sheath on this one. I like to carry it in the appendix up front. And, yeah, you could also see a female villain carry this. And I say that just because it's a little bit smaller.
[54:02]Now, next up, only a good guy would carry this one. This is the Agent 001 from T-Cal Knives. And really a highly patriotic, super capable, incredibly deadly, very, very much on point and a wonderful guy would carry this. This is the Agent 001, my design collaboration with T-Cal Knives. The only knife on this list that would not be held by a villain. This would only be held by a good guy and an agent.
[54:33]But being serious, what I like about this and what I think would make this a great movie knife is its double edge. It's small, it's thin, it stashes easily on the belt. You wouldn't know that the character has it until he retrieves it in reverse grip at... Takes out the villain uh post haste and uh and then and then lets it rest by his side while his arm dangles and there'd be a close-up on the knife maybe dripping blood even um because it's uh villainous blood he is not a gratuitous blood spiller he is a hero he has that a nicely uh.
[55:12]Sculpted handle that makes it very easy to grab and keep in hand of course you got the sheet there They're good to go. Next up is a knife I just recently learned how to carry very comfortably by putting on this in the waistband, excuse me, strap, but it hangs on the front scout style. That is the Tomashi-E by Bob Terzuola and Savivi.
[55:39]Just a beautiful knife altogether. together you've got that very um traditional japanese style upswept tanto and um what do you call it uh quaking style i love that handle uh just a beautiful shape and double jimping makes this excellent in both the um standard sort of saber grip for the greatest standoff distance or if you had to come up here for the filipino grip to horse down on whatever you're cutting and it's got great jimping right there that's the tomashi a great sheath also from savivi next up this is our designated bar knife our bar down here in the basement this is uh stashed within the bottles and it is the john uh the williams design crkt hisatsu uh what do i need to say about this. Not much. It's a great slasher. It's a great slasher. You've got two saber ground edges, incredibly sharp. I've actually convexed the edges on this. But really, it's that profile. It's that stabby profile. It just goes in so easily. So you could totally see an assassin carrying something like this because this is the kind of thing you sneak up on someone on and shiv them with.
[57:03]But it's so long, it reaches all the vital organs, you know, and that's what an assassin in a movie cares about, right?
[57:10]And it's dramatic. Here, I'm going to go to the main camera for a second to see if you can see. Like, look at this. That's a dramatic knife.
[57:18]Long and sinuous and follows the curve that you will most likely be using to use it. Also, great sheath. This thing has got to be over 15 years old at this point. Great sheath and has been doing duty in our bar for years at this point. All right, next up is the Attention to Detail Mercantile Medium Fighter. This one I've called for a long time the classy assassin's knife. You've got two wickedly sharp hollow ground edges, a double-edged blade. You've got a crowned spine with that jimping. It's so nicely done. This is when Douglas Esposito was doing fixed blades, obviously. He's not doing fixed blades anymore. He does these incredible titanium frame lock folders. I have one of his very first ones. But this one with its super classy tortoise shell and brass liners, I would love to see this one in a movie. You know, and it would be just this would be peeking out of the pants, the waistband of a beautiful charcoal gray suit on a bona fide badass who would have, you know, all sorts of guns on him, too. Well, like John Wick. This would be a great John Wick movie. Love this thing.
[58:40]This with the sheath and this cheap clip that I put on there has done pajama duty many, many, many times in this house. All right, three more here. This one, the Spartan Harsey Dagger. Every, you know, you got to have daggers in this kind of role in a movie. The sheath on this, by the way, is just so beautiful. This is the Chattanooga Leatherworks sheath for Spartan, for this Spartan knife.
[59:13]Designed by Bill Harsey. this one embodies the spirit of the um of the uh fairbairn sykes best out of any of these here this is a movie uh this is the knife that i saw the guy in the movie using to stab the train climb up it is full tang uh not true full tang meaning it doesn't follow the exact contours of the handle but you have a full tang coming all the way down to the bottom where you see the tang exposed for noggin knocking glass breaking etc fully contoured handle is so nicely done and it's clamshelled around that full tang so you can't even see the metal but it's in there great jimping and sculpting of that handle for a some sort of a plunge cut some sort of a thrust Rust in the saber grip like this. Of course, in standard grip, it's great. In reverse grip, it's not so sharp up here that you can't put your thumb on there. But it's got this thick medial ridge.
[1:00:22]And uh it's hollow ground but it's a shallow hollow grind with a thick medial ridge so this one you probably could plunge into the aluminum side of a train and pull yourself up with assuming it's aluminum assuming you're strong enough while you're hanging from the other knife to to jam that in there this one could do the trick that that old fairbairn sykes i i highly doubt it so that's one of the knives that really inspired this list, us all right penultimate in this list is the one is another one that gets a lot of home duty i carry this one all the time uh this is a handmade custom dirk pinkerton knife of his own design called the razorback you've seen this a million times on this show i love this knife double edge inspired by both the Middle Eastern Jambaya and the American Fighting Bowie.
[1:01:18]As per the Hells Bells, the Bill Bagwell-style bowie. This one has a slight recurve or a slight, what do you want to say, like hawkbill or sickle shape if you turn it in reverse, which you could easily do and use it like a gununting. But the main way to hold it with the thumb up here on the jimping is like this. You have a full sharpened back edge with the hawkbill and then the full bellied front edge that's like a Persian-style blade. Very neutral handle. Feels great and has sort of a coffin-shaped handle. Just long enough to hold in hand and cap, but it's not too long. A guy with big giant mitts could hold this easily. easily but to me in terms of the fixed blade knife with that uh six and a half inch uh length it's a it's a nicely short handle so this would be awesome for an assassin in a movie because it's flashy it's got double hollow grinds which look good on camera and it's double edged so when they get in a fight and they're up close and they're doing all sorts of stuff let me let me just say when i was learning kali there were plenty of techniques that i learned that the A teacher never said, and this is multiple teachers, never said, this only works if you have a double edge. It was sort of assumed, but you can't just assume that you have a double edge knife.
[1:02:39]This one is double-edged all day long. So in the cool movie fights where they're trapping, imagine trapping a guy's arm in here, slashing him. This would be really good. It would look just great on film, I believe. All right, lastly, another one that would look great on film and would be awesome for an assassin to be carrying, maybe in the Old West, maybe not, would be this. This is my hog-tooth knives made loveless sub-hilt fighter with the amazing sheath, of course, that corset-tied sheath, beautiful leather and everything. But look at this knife.
[1:03:18]A long 8-inch double-edged clip-point blade, double-edged all the way down here, razor-sharp. These are hollow ground. And then, of course, that's a custom Damascus 15N20 and 1095 steel blade.
[1:03:34]He took a long time making this. It was the bane of his existence while Matt Chase was making this. This was his first sub-hilt fighter. And of course, I asked for stag, which complicated things. But this would make an awesome movie assassin's knife because it's unusual. You'd look at it, you'd see the horn or you'd see the stag handle. Wow, it's dazzling. You'd see the The Damascus blade, whoa, that's dazzling. People aren't used to Damascus. But then you'd get to this. What the hell is up with that handle? If you don't know what a sub-hilt is, it would look bizarre to you. Because I remember the first time I saw a sub-hilt, I thought I was looking at some magic. You know, until you understand a new technology, it is magic. Why do they have that? Oh my gosh, doesn't that hurt? Well, of course it doesn't. It's a trigger. It's a trigger so that if you're knife fighting and you're using some sort of percussive way of, you know, you're using it like a drumstick for the snap cuts, well, you've got a trigger to engage your forefinger. But even more importantly, after you jam this between the ribs of the bad guy and pulling it back out, you have something here, a positive retention mechanism to pull out with.
[1:04:53]So menacing looking is is an absolute for this list it has to look scary but also it has to function well and of all these knives i would have to say this is the mac daddy of them all so i would love to see this in a movie assassin's hand or on his belt.
[1:05:11]What about you? What do you think would make a great movie assassin's knife? We all watch movies. We all love knives. You let me know. We all watch movies and are disappointed by the knives we see oftentimes. So let me know down below in the comments. All right. Thanks for watching. Be sure to join us tomorrow night, Thursday for Thursday Night Knives, and Sunday for another great interview. For Jim, working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer. Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review at ReviewThePodcast.com. For show notes for today's episode, additional resources, and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, TheKnifeJunkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at TheKnifeJunkie.com. Check out some great knife photos on TheKnifeJunkie.com and join our Facebook group at TheKnifeJunkie.com. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob at TheKnifeJunkie.com or call our 24-7 listener line at 724-466-4487. And you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming episode of The Knife Junkie Podcast.
[1:06:20] Music