Full Tang Favorites - The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 402)

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

Transcript

[0:00] Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast, the place for blade lovers to learn about knives and hear from the makers, manufacturers, and reviewers that make the knife world go round.
Coming up, a nice, big, modern, traditional from Rosecraft. We're gonna take a look at a new knife from me by T.Kell.
So excited about that. And then a long look at my full-time favorites.
["The Knife Junkie Podcast Theme"] Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the Knife Junkie DeMarco.
Welcome back to the show. Lots of comments this week, lots of great ones. But this one really gave me a good idea. And this is from Trent Costello on a past Knife Junkie podcast.
This was Favorite Knives of 2022 from right around January. And he says, I wish you had a fixed blade channel and a dumb folder channel, everything I start watching I leave because of the...
Nope. So I know I missed some cool fixed blades, but not worth watching.

[1:12] Okay, so I'm pretty sure I know what he's saying here and he's getting at the fact that he loves fixed blade knives and folders to him are not interesting.
And seeing this at first I was like, well, doesn't everyone love everything?
I mean, then I realized not everyone is a knife junkie.
You know, some people have more specific tastes. And this made me think that I would love to do a show, and maybe it'll be next week, about variety being the spice of life.
And this is me saying to Mr. Costello, yes, but have you considered, and then show him some of the real wide variety of the stuff I have in my collection.
And part of it, I've been wanting to do that for a while, but this really kind of put the fire under my feet to do so.

[2:03] Just to show off how some of us are knife users and we only have the need for a fixed blade knife.
Maybe we camp a lot, maybe Mr. Costello camps a lot and sees no need for folders.
But to me, it's such a wide, beautiful world of edge tools and whether they're weapons or tools or pocket jewelry, there's a lot of great stuff to appreciate.
So I hope Trent takes a look at the Variety is the Spice of Life episode that'll be coming shortly to see, you know, even some of this historical stuff on the wall behind me is worth having.
You don't have to have a ton of them, but you know, to really immerse yourself in the hobby of knife collecting, maybe he'd be interested.
So Trent, that one will go out to you. Thank you for commenting and thank you one and all for watching and commenting. It's greatly greatly appreciated.

[2:57] This past weekend I had a date night with my wife, which was great.
We don't have the opportunity to do that too much.
Actually, it came from losing a bet.
I was so sure about something and it had to do with an actor slash celebrity.
I should have known years ago, never start an argument about that particular topic with my wife.
But I claimed a certain actor was in something and she swore up and down.
I was like, I know you're wrong. She said, let's make a bet.
Date night, you set it up.
And well, she pulled out the Googolator and I lost immediately.
We ended up going to this great theater and seeing a second run of everything, everything, everything all the time, all at once, Oscar winning movie.
And man, it does live up to its name. It's a it was quite chaotic and well, I thought I'd get more out of it than I did.
And on the way home, I said, you know, there was this movie playing at the same theater called 65 where Adam Driver stumbles upon a planet full of dinosaurs. And she was like, Yeah, we should have seen that. And I thought, man, I'm the, right woman. I think that at least once a day, and date night proved it this weekend. So everything all at once. Curious to see what other people think of that movie. Anyway, all that, being said, I think it's time for a pocket check.

[4:18] Today in my front right pocket I had the beautiful Dirk Pinkerton designed Night Horse. This is the asymmetrical version. Asymmetrical is their mid-tier line, beyond the EDC mid-tier line, and I find this to be a really beautiful modern interpretation of the classic Spanish Navaja.
I have the G10 version.
Which is outstanding. It's a great, great knife. It's G10 and 14 C28N, and it's only 30 bucks.
But I could not pass up the opportunity to get this beauty right here.
This was from a prototype sale that Dirk Pinkerton did, and I really always wanted to get the titanium version, and did so when the offer popped up.
And man, I do love this knife. So, carried this one today and this had cut, I'd used this to cut a big loaf of the boudin's bread, I keep talking about that sourdough bread.
This just sort of powered through it with that long four inch plus blade.

[5:36] Yeah, it wasn't a street fight to reclaim my honor as navajas were originally used once swords were unavailable and illegal to the average Spanish citizen, but it did vanquish the bread quite well, so happy to have that in my pocket.

[5:55] Today I also carried the beautiful Venom Jack by Jack Wolf Knives with that gorgeous blue lava carbon fiber by, I think this is by, this is one of the camo carbons.
A beautiful knife with that. This is S90V, high height, full height, wharncliffe, hollow ground wharncliffe blade. Just astoundingly beautiful and a great, great cutter. And I love the tip down. The wharncliffe tip is naturally going to be down there, but I love the downward rake of the edge, really kind of pushes materials into the cut and puts the tip in an even more convenient spot. I love this knife. I hadn't carried it in a little while because I've been focused on the Javelina Jack, which is by the way a great cigar cutter. I know I need to get a cigar cutter, legit one, but these jack wolf knives are so thin and so nice, they do the job really, really well. So I had that in my front pocket as well, front left pocket for most of the day.

[7:06] Changed it up a little bit with the fixed blade carry and today instead of the Nova 1 I had the, 1558 Revere from the 1558 knife company. This is Josh Fisher, he's a master smith, master bladesmith and I got this at Blade Show 2022. Love this knife, that recurve is beautiful.
I don't carry it as much as I should. I find that my hog tooth knives are frequently kicking.

[7:43] Everything else out of the belt. This one is great because of that thin handle, and it's rounded at the top so it doesn't poke the ribs or the spare tire and I love the recurve blade.
The one thing that stops me from carrying this all the time is the fact that the sheath, which is really nice, is just a little too tight.
But I have been trying to work it out and, you know, put the knife in, pull it out, put it in, pull it out, and sort of loosen it up that way and that's been working pretty well. Last up for emotional support today I had the Rockwall by Tactile Knives. This is an early review copy there you can see the RS on the blade there that's review and review sample I guess that stands for but just a beautiful knife it flips so nicely that milling is outstanding.

[8:45] And was very very happy to have this in the pocket today I haven't carried this one in a little while. A great great cutter. I love the swedge on this. It's got a an aggressive drop point if such a thing exists. It exists right here on that knife. You know, I, always talk about drop points being kind of, you know, the the all arounder and frequently they don't seem too aggressive to me but something about that knife and the point of it really make for an aggressive knife. Small enough to fit in an old Wrigley's five stick gum pack is is the rock wall. And I think that's a cool design requirement that they had for that. So that's what I had in my pocket. I had the the tactile rock wall I had the 1558 Revere, gotta say it like that. I had the beautiful jack wolf knives. Venom Jack, these things I got to say are fingerprint magnets that does drive me a little bit nuts from time to time.

[9:50] Definitely not a deal breaker. And then the the Night Horse by Asymmetrical. Also want to remind you that the Nova 1 pre-order is live. We have a good amount of knives going out and I'm excited about that. It is live for a until the 31st of March and we stop at 50 or March 31st. So get on it now. All you got to do is go to the knife junkie.com slash Nova one. I've been posting a lot of little love letter videos to that knife. The other day I was driving through the parking lot at work rushing back to work and I saw a nice patch of sun I had to stop pull out and show off how beautiful the burgundy micarta is in the sunlight. So hope you got to check that out.

[10:42] Get on it. The NoVA-1. Do you want to want an EDC pocket I think you did. Made 100% in America by Matt Chase of Hogtooth Knives up there in Massachusetts.
Check it out. Alright, still to come on the Knife Junkie podcast, we're going to take a look at some knife life news, and then we'll hit up the state of the collection.
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[11:30] You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast, and now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.
I love how many times we hear the word knife in this podcast.
Okay, so as is sort of par for the course lately, Rosecraft has another knife out.
And yeah, I've been liking the look of some of these unique slip joints, but this one to me just takes the cake.
It is really damn cool.
It's called the Castoria, and it's designed by Andy Armstrong, one of their founders over there at Rosecraft.
And this is a true blend of traditional and modern. First of all, we look at it, We see all the traditional stylings of a Barlow with the really nice spear point blade, bellied spear point blade, and then we have the faux bolster, which is a pretty nice large Barlow style bolster, and the shield.
And then we see, what is that thing protruding from the ricasso of that blade? Yes, it's a flipper.

[12:28] And that thing just northeast of the pivot, yes, that is a button lock.
So this is their second button lock. The first one also designed by Andy Armstrong called the Skink.
Yeah, the skink. But this one is, that's a four inch blade. That's a 3.9 inch blade on this sucker.
I'm compelled by this one. This one is the first Rosecraft that, I don't know, I don't know.
I really think it's a successful marriage of the contemporary and the traditional.
So I'm really looking forward to checking this one out.
I say that every time I talk about Rosecraft, but this time I mean it.
So at Blade Show, if this isn't in my hot little hand before Blade Show, I will definitely be stocking, the Rosecraft table just to check everything out because I've looked at all the designs and we've talked about them here and they are interesting, they are compelling, but this one is, this one definitely, I think, is the same but different. This one really does do something new, so I want to check this out.
That's called the Castoria by Rosecraft, and I have on my notes here, yes. So, yes to the Castoria.
Next up, you know, a resounding yes to Spyderco, especially lately for me.

[13:53] Having gotten the lightweight S110 in my hands here, the Manix. This is the lightweight version of the Lil' Native.
We saw the Native Chief come out, get the lightweight treatment.
These are all announcements from the Amsterdam Meetup, and this is where we hear about what's gonna be new from Spyderco.
And as if it needed it, the Lil' Native has gotten the lightweight treatment.
Now, the Lil' Native has always been pretty lightweight because it's so darn small.
It's had a compression lock version, It's had a slip joint version and now it will be coming out in its classic and original, lock back in terms of the lock.
But it will have the bi-directional FRN texturing, it will have the loop over wire pocket clip, and this will be S30V. It's a 2.45 inch blade and um...

[14:51] 1.55 ounces, so barely there. A barely there but super capable knife from Spyderco.
Man, we're all, I don't know, I'm grateful that they exist. Spyderco, even though sometimes I haven't paid much attention to them, it's good knowing they're there, that they're an American company, that they're making a lot of stuff in America, and just great knives.
And the thing that I keep hearing from those who know, No one, no one, he treats their steels like Spyderco.
And as far as I see, no one, no one innovates with steels as much as Spyderco.
They're always coming out with something new and putting the latest and greatest steels on their knives, which I appreciate.
However, they do have a S30V. They keep coming back to it.
And S30V is a fine, fine steel, don't get me wrong.
But like with the, the Rotary II, which, Man, when is that gonna be shipping, I wanna know.
But putting S30V on that long-awaited revamping is a strange choice to me.

[15:58] Anyway, that's the little native going lightweight. All right, next up, Topps Knives, you know they have this tradition of putting into production designs created by their employees.
They're employees that are not designers.
And this new one is cool. This is coming from an employee in their logistics and procurement department called Anya, or Ana, I don't know, I put, I exotified it.
It's Ana. And Ana has created this clip point meat, or animal hunting processing knife.
You can tell I'm a hunter.

[16:38] But you can tell from the curved blade, that's what this is for.
The curve blade in the size that's a 3.88. So nearly four inch 154 cm blade. And it is been in development since 2019. I think that's when she first designed it and it's been in and out of research and development and tweaking. And finally, here it is with that beautiful high vis g 10 that orange g 10, which is an important feature. A lot of people think in field processing knives because you're picking up the knife, you're using it, putting it down, picking it up, putting it down, and something can get easily lost in all of the brush and dead leaves of the woods if it doesn't have some high visibility aspect to it.
Just looking at it, it looks like it's an ergonomic dream. It looks like it will fit the hand so, so nicely, and then you have all of that curve for.

[17:40] Processing for skinning and all of that. And I like the idea of the clip point.
It looks like a good place to put your forefinger as you do all that.
And I've never done it. I have never field processed game, but I've watched it and I've seen how people do it.
And it seems like they usually have their finger right up towards the tip of the blade.
You don't want to puncture any guts and foul the meat.
But that clip there looks like a great spot to rest the finger as you do so.
So looking forward to this. I think it's cool this person, Anna, was not really that into knives and then working at TOPS over the years.
But it looks like she really got into it because she designed a beautiful knife.
Also, it comes in a really nice looking black leather sheet.
So that's coming from TOPS.

[18:34] Shops, the field dog, their latest employee designed knives.
Last up, I just want to talk about knife rights. Our good friends over at knife rights Doug Ritter has is now suing the state of California. Thank you. Someone's got to sue California, for but he's suing them for a very specific reason. And I'm just going to read this one little paragraph from the knife rights website. In its complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that the state's ban is unconstitutional.
Of course, the plaintiff here is knife rights, and said that there can be no quote, unquote, there can be no question that knives are arms protected under the plaintext of the Second Amendment. And indeed, the Supreme Court made clear, made clear that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to acquire, possess and carry arms for self-defense and all other lawful purposes inside and outside the home." In fact, automatic knives that are banned in California are widely legally possessed in at least 43 of 50 states.

[19:44] Doug Ritter, and his attorneys over there, man, they are brilliant. And they are relentless. They are pit bulls.
And I love that. That's the that's, this is gonna be a controversial statement. But that's the one area where I really do love pit bulls, when they fight like this for our knife rights. If you saw the dog walking video, you know what I'm talking about. But I really love that they're going after California, California, man, such a beautiful state. I mean, I question whether I've been to a more beautiful piece of land as California, but their governance is disastrous. We all know that. And it's good to see Doug Ritter and knife rights going head to head with a state that's not in its right head. Forgive me. I know if you're listening from California, you might agree with me. And this is certainly not saying anything about the citizens of California. I'm talking about the governance of California. It's just off the rails. And here is an area where a change can be made. It's been made in 43 other states. And, you know, I would say that this is a big fish to fry. And I'm glad to see.

[21:01] That Doug Ritter is turning up the heat on California. So we will keep our eye on that As we do all knife rights issues, if you want to help support that, you know you can go to knife rights anytime and support them.
You don't have to do it just during the ultimate steel, though that is the time where you do.

[21:19] Benefit and win knives.
But go over to Knife Rights and plunk down some cash and help them in the fight.
Alright, still to come on the Knife Junkie podcast, we're going to take a look at the state of the collection. I got two really cool new knives and they both happen to be full tang.
And then we're going to get to my full tang favorites.

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And now that we're caught up with Knife Life News, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie Podcast.
Okay, first up in the state of the collection is a knife from a company that I can't believe it took me this long to acquire a knife. But it's a TKAL knife. And this is the one that originally caught my eye. TKAL knives, they specialize in combat and self defense style knives. And this one was the one that really, man, it shook me up when I saw it because.

[22:43] It's a triple edged wharncliffe. Triple edged wharncliffe. Yes, I said it twice.
This is the Guardian from T.Kell Knives. This knife is not exactly like all the other T.Kell knives in that it has a very short grind.

[23:06] It is a very sharp and very nasty knife. You've got an edge on the top, on the front, and on the bottom here, on the main cutting edge.
If, as you can see, the bevels are very shallow, very shallow.
And to quote Tim Kell, this is not for shaving arm hair, cutting paper, this is for putting holes in people and big ones as quickly as possible to get them off your person in a in a self-defense situation. I am really impressed with this knife and I'm gonna have to do some some sort of testing on this besides paper because I have done the standard slash it paper thing and yeah it great but so does so do other things.
I really want to test how this diamond-like tip punctures. It is wicked.
I ordered it with the Blackhawk pattern handle, and that's alternating black and purple.
I just think it looks beautiful.

[24:12] And then Tim sent along his sentry grip, and he makes this sentry grip for other knives.
It's the ringed, sort of karambit-style handle, and you can swap them on and that ring is G10.
You can see how the ring is canted out over the full tang so it's centered on the handle.

[24:36] Just beautiful for usage and for this sort of surety in hand.

[24:44] I think I might be going back to just the plain handle though because it does have a smaller footprint there And it does make it easier for me to carry the way I carry it, though this is this is something I'm not carrying in my usual three o'clock position. I've been carrying it so far scout style on the front and putting on that extra ring throws off the balance just a little. And but man, it's very cool. And if you haven't noticed, he did have my logo etched in. He did etch my logo in there, which I really appreciate.
Man, what an interesting guy. We just did an interview with Tim Kel, which will be coming up this coming Sunday.
And he's an awesome dude. I had such a good time talking with him.
He designs and makes a wide breadth of self-defense and combat knives.
And man, just scratching the surface with this one. Now, if this style bevel, If you just can't get behind that because you're going to be using your knives for other things as well, You know, like cutting cheese and...

[25:59] Maybe not cutting cheese, but you know what I mean. Slicing things, this might not be the way to go.
A lot of his other knives are thin and slicey and have the qualities of knives that are a little less self-defense-y, even though they're all bent in that direction. Also, he's done a lot of cool collaborations. That push knife he's made with Steve Tirani is very cool looking. And then he's he's got one with a gentleman, Emery, Morgan Stern, who's a famous Israeli Defense Force soldier, top tier guy, and they created a knife called the sapper for digging around in the ground and finding mines that just looks so cool. So keep your eye on T Kel knives and keep your eye on the Knife Junkie podcast for an interview with Tim. Next up, a young gentleman sent me a knife. He said, Can I send this to you to check out? I said, Of course you can. And it is the shed knives. knife now shed knives is a company born in a shed. I love that because that's where probably most knife companies are born. And this is an 18 year old man who's got a nice catalog of knives already to his name, and has already done improvements on various models. This model here is the 2023 Tanto.

[27:26] And it, to me, looks like a reverse tanto. I have already taken this out and banged it up.
I'm gonna be posting shorts throughout the week of this.

[27:37] My daughter's helped me shoot. We had a project, we, it is like we.
My daughter has a project for school, a science fair project.
And she's making charcoal filters for filtering the stream water we have close by.
And we had to make charcoal, so that means we had to make fire.
And so I use this to do feather sticking and I use this for batoning through wood and it was awesome.
It worked so well. This knife is a beast, the proverbial beast we all talk about.
It is about 3 16ths thick, 154CM blade steel.

[28:17] You know I love 154CM. And it's got jimping and it also has a shallow grind, somewhat like the Tim Kel knife, though it is a higher, slicier grind.
It really makes this thing great for batoning. I mean, it's just popping logs, and not logs, you know, you can't span very much with that three inch cutting edge.
But once you get it down to a, you've quartered the wood, this thing flies through it and did a really great job.
And then the edge itself is wickedly sharp and very, very acute.
Now, if you notice the tip is a little blunted, that was my stupid fault.
Yes, I can be dumb with my knives and you know that the tips frequently pay for my stupidity.
Bye.
I was like, I bet I could throw this into my knife throwing target.
And of course, you can throw anything at a knife throwing target.
Doesn't make it a throwing knife.
I did throw it. It did stick in. And then I did it again.
And it dropped and somehow found a rock under the ground.
Because it went straight in like this.

[29:26] And it found a little rock. And I dinged the front. So it did not come like that.
But I am going to fix the tip just to make it acute again. You've got this protruding back tang, which normally I don't go for.
But normally that's because I like the option of capping the pommel with my thumb for this sort of motion.
Incidentally, that works great. The way it's shaped, it actually fits perfectly.
But also I don't find myself needing to use this knife in that way. I don't think I did in one of my videos use it to, smash and bash a Portion of the log and dislodge a piece of the log, You know, I didn't think it was not gonna do that It's a solid piece of 154 cm steel, but it did an awesome job. I'm very impressed.

[30:22] By this guy's work, and I'm sorry I to call him this guy. I have forgotten his name It's right over there on a note, but I will be doing a full video on this.
So beautifully done, Shed Knives. I wish you a long and prosperous life making knives.
They're only going to get better from here. And man, this is pretty damn sweet.
Now, he said in his letter, he's going to be moving from hand-shaped G10 handles to CNC-shaped G10 handles.
And said that he'll send me a set to check out.
So I look forward to seeing how they differ.
You can see that these are handmade and nothing wrong with that.
I love the history of a handmade knife.
And, but we'll see how those new scales work.
So there it is, the Shed Knives. Check out Shed Knives, especially if you're outdoorsy and have any sort of outdoor use.
You can see how the tang is proud of the scales all the way around.
And when I first saw that, I thought, oh, that might be uncomfortable.
It feels great in hand.
This really is a nicely, has really nice ergonomics.
So do check out shed knives.
All right, I'm gonna take this reverse tanto and put it over here.
Sorry, man, I think it's a reverse tanto.

[31:41] Like, I would have designed it and made it. Okay, so I wanna talk about some of my full tang favorites here.
Now, I have a lot of full tang knives.
And, you know, to say favorites, I guess they might rotate a bit.

[31:56] But I wanna talk about full tang knives because in using that shed knife this past weekend, it really occurred to me how I would feel very uncomfortable doing some of the stuff, some of the, I'm not gonna say abuse, I'll just say hard use, putting that knife through.

[32:13] I have a lot of nice other sort of knives like this. This is the Boone 2 from Bark River Knives.
And it is a stick tang knife so that the tang of that blade right after the guard is very thin, and it goes all the way down to the butt of the knife to the pommel and then you put the the rings of leather over it and then that aluminum pommel and then you fasten it and it is strong it is a classic style design there's you know nothing wrong with it it is it is you probably could do plenty of batoning and that kind of thing but it does not give me the full confidence of a full tang, it's just less metal in the handle same goes for a tang like this in the the.

[33:06] Natchez Bowie by Cold Steel. This has a cable tang, which interestingly enough has been proven to be quite strong. Quite a strong style tang where you have a stick tang coming off the blade to about center handle and then on the.

[33:25] Handle you have a cable, like a steel cable, braided steel cable, soldered on here and then soldered onto a threaded piece of metal here and then it's all bolted into the pommel back there. You might ask why would you do that? Actually it has proven to be very strong also in the way cold steel makes them anyway and you do that to reduce impact when you're using that thing to say chop wood or do anything that requires impact that cable tang in there, that piece of cable absorbs a lot of the shock. And so that's a benefit there. But it does not leave you with the confidence as say this full tang knife.
This is the Western Bowie by Cold Steel. And ever since I got it, I have been crazy about this knife, using it outside, but also practicing with it, you know, with my colleague, and, and then my version of Bowie knife fighting, which I've sort of ascertained through watching other people and reading some reading some texts, texts on the subject.
It's based kind of on saber fighting.

[34:49] And this design, of course, is based on the classic Western style Bowie, the Western 40 W 49.
And you can see how the Tang is just coming up through the handle.
And it is a blade.
The whole thing is one piece and then everything is applied to it.
The guard is slid down over the tang and then secured on by the scales here.
Just a really strong design and to me this one is an absolute beauty.
It is an absolute beauty and I think that there is some classic menace to this knife.
You see this knife, it looks like a cowboy has it on his hip, and of course, it's ready for use in all sorts of ways, whether it's camp chores or fighting.

[35:45] Like, those are the only two ways. I guess you could dress game with it, I don't know. What do you think?
It seems like it might be big, you might have to grip it way up here to do so, but the strength that you get from the full tang is just pure confidence in the hand.
Sounds like an ad pure confidence in hand. But this first one in this full tang cavalcade is the cold steel Western Bowie, a favorite of mine here. Next up comes from a custom maker, Dylan grace the Dylan grace blade company DG blade Co. I know you know him he's prolific on Instagram and does some really interesting knives here. This one here is his wharny scalpel, his wharncliffe scalpel, and it's a little guy, this buckeye burl handle.

[36:41] As we know, burl is very rare and valued very highly. So when I saw this, I bought this at Blade Show 2021 and asked him what kind of burl it was. He said, Buckeye.
I'm from the Buckeye State originally, Ohio. I had to get it.
But I always had my eye on these. He's got a number of different really cool nooks and large blades. And some of them are really big and robust.
But this little scalpel blade just got me.
He has it in a number of different shapes, but the wharncliffe seemed to make the most sense.
This is a great utility blade. As you can see, you use that just like you would any sort of mat knife or box cutter.

[37:29] So if I were in a job where I had to open up a lot of boxes, like when I used to work in a warehouse at a paint shop, this would have been a dream.
Of course, at that time, I never knew about this guy didn't exist, and I couldn't have afforded it. But if I had that kind of job, now, I would spend the 150 bucks or whatever this, guy can cost to get this and use this all day long opening up boxes. Not only is the knife beautiful, this is forged, he does forge work here. Not only is the knife beautiful and very, very effective for use. But the sheath, he does these leather sheaths that are like kydex, where he wet molds the leather.
And then he has a he has a process that he's not shy about showing off. He does show people how he does this in a number of different videos. But it locks in like kydex here, I'm going to do it in front of the microphone so you can hear it. You hear.

[38:29] That? That snap? The knives actually snap into leather. I have not seen anyone else do this. Now.

[38:38] I've had, I have many blades with the sort of pouch style sheath where it is wet molded around the knife and it fits in there nicely. But this, I mean, this is next level and that's not an expression I like. But this is definitely next level. It snaps in there and yes, it is full tang So it is small, but you could go to town with this knife where I wouldn't feel if this were a stick tang being so small, I would not feel that way because the handle itself is about the size of an ordinary stick tang knife.
So if you reduce that by 50% and had it running down the center, it would not be nearly as strong. So yeah, this one is definitely a favorite. I would, if you're interested in this, definitely check out DG Blade Pro.
He makes some really cool stuff. Grace down there in Florida.
Alright, next up is a production knife. This is the Off-Grid Knives Backcountry Coyote.
I have another, I have the original Backcountry in the blackout version, and he made, Kerry of Off-Grid Knives made a whole bunch of improvements with this knife in making it a, in its second iteration here.
And he really has rounded out the handle nicely and it has wonderful ergonomics.

[40:07] Feels great in hand, but the stout and sturdiness of this full tang is what makes this a true, true outdoors knife.
I always quip that it looks like a fighting knife to me in that blade shape, and yes, You could definitely put it to that use here.
But with the use of a camp knife, and that's what he designed this for, and that's what he uses his knives for. He's a camper, adventurer, outdoors type.
That full tang is a definite benefit here.
Love that recurve and the handle, the comfortable, comfortable handle.
Also, they have upgraded their sheaths to the taco style, and they really, really have a nice snap to them.
I'll bring this over here so you can hear that.

[40:58] It's just a nice snap, beautiful, beautiful blade. We do a, we have an affiliate link with Off Grid.
So if you're interested in Off Grid knives, use the affiliate link, that's theknifejunkie.com slash Off Grid.
And you can get one of these and it will put a couple of shekels in our pocket, help keep the lights on here at the Knife Junkie podcast. I'm glad he gave us this affiliate link. I love his knives. It is, kind of a fighter looker, fighter looking knife that is the off grid knives backcountry coyote. Now coyote of course, is, referring to the color and they have a whole coyote line. And to me, to my eye, they're the most handsome of the off grid knives.
Speaking of handsome, this little devil. This was my first custom knife ever and this is a sheath my brother made for it but this is the, attention to detail mercantile or A2D medium fighter.

[42:01] And man alive is it a beauty. It is a bayonet style blade, so only a partial top edge is sharp.
And then the full length of the rest of the blade is sharp obviously, and it is hollow ground.
I ordered it with the beautiful handle scales. These are, what do you call that, tortoise shell.
Imitation tortoise shell. You know, I don't think you can actually do real tortoise shell anymore.
With the brass rivets and the brass liner. And the thing I love about this full tang, yes you get the strength of a full tang, this is S35VN.
But I love this feature. It is crowned.
The whole spine and including where the jimping is, and then the tang, it's crowned and sits proud of, the scales. So it feels great in hand and it just looks great. It looks great with that crown spine.
But such a beautiful knife. This will always be one of my favorites. And I don't carry this enough.
It's just over my overall length. I can't really carry this very well.

[43:17] Concealed, or I should say in the waistband, the way I like to carry it.
But if I were to, if I were a classy assassin, that's what I kind of call it, it's like a classy assassin's knife.
I know Kaiser makes their assassin, it's a little EDC folder, but this is really what this would be.
It's like a, if anyone has seen the movie, The Highest Art, also called Exposure, I think, it's a knife fighting movie with Peter Coyote from the early 90s, this knife would have fit beautifully into that movie.

[43:53] Gorgeous, gorgeous. One of my favorite full tang knives here.
Now one of my favorite full tang knives that I carry very much on the regular is the Voodoo.
The Voodoo, this is from Kramer Custom Knives. That's Eric Kramer, not Robert Kramer.
Robert Kramer is a chef's knife maker, I believe. But this is Eric Kramer and he makes some absolutely beautiful and very purpose driven fixed blade knives that are for carry. I mean, if you notice how thin this is, it makes for a great, great carry knife, especially if you carry the way I do, which is right up next to the body in the waistband. That thin style really, really accelerates. Well, it just makes it easy to carry. And if it's easy to carry, you're going to carry it more often.
So that's why this one gets so much. Now I know I'm always talking hog tooth because they are my favorite fixed blades for carry, but this one is right up there.
This is 154CM, deeply hollow ground.
I asked for that secondary edge on the swedge there and he obliged beautifully.
Now that edge naturally it has a much more obtuse approach, so it's more of a splitting, tearing, pressure cut kind of edge.

[45:22] For knife fighting. Great for trapping, that kind of thing. But the primary edge here is so thin and so slicey.
So it's a nice contrast. You do have that sort of obtuse and robust edge on top and then that super thin slicey edge, on the bottom.
And that upsweep. I just did a short of this one that a lot of people have commented on. A lot of people love this knife.
And yeah, I do too. I think it's outstanding.
And he calls it a Persian. I call it a Bowie or a Clip Point.
But who's, you know, who are you going to trust? Him or your lying eyes?
So, very nice Persian knife from Eric Kramer. Okay, next up, this was a gift from my wife.
I told you earlier how much I love my wife and There are many many reasons many many many reasons and this is a minor one, But it's definitely a one and this is the the tops a wild pig hunter I put it down here with the sheath because that full green leather sheath is just so beautiful, And I love when tops does leather.

[46:38] So here's the knife and It's barely fitting on the screen here. There it is, This knife is full tang, quarter inch thick, but it has a distal taper and really kind of, well, it remains thick right down to the point actually.
It's not so much the distal taper. It's very much more at the point.
But you get this very rigid build here with this swedge. swedge. It's not a swedge that comes to a gradual full thickness. It's a swedge that drops down and then has a 90 degree turn and then.
And then goes to the full thickness. So it's kind of like an I-beam, super, super rigid for jamming through the tough hide of a charging boar.

[47:30] At least that's how I see it. I know most boar hunting with a knife or with a spear happens with dogs, holding the pig down, and then you go up and you shiv it.
Not like it's easy, I'm not saying, I'm not even suggesting that.
It's a very, very dangerous way to hunt, And actually, it is a way I've always wanted to hunt.
I would love to, you know, in, I guess this is a bucket list item.

[47:55] But it would be cool to go hog hunting with a spear.
I always thought it'd be cool with a spear.
It'd be a bit like Odysseus.
You know, he's got that scar on his leg from boar hunting. And that's the way, when he's dressed up, when he's disguised by Athena to look like an old man, that's how his old nursemaid knows it's him from that scar on his leg from the boar hunt. When he was 12. You know, they built people stouter back in the day, he was 12 years old. When that when he went for hunting and got attacked and gored by a boar.
Anyway, I digress. This is a extremely strong knife for built for a purpose that, man, I challenge you to tell me something more rough on a knife than sticking it in a charging 300-pound bore. No stick-tang knife is going to stand up to that, or at least you're not going to want the doubt of having a stick-tang knife. Here it is full thickness right at where the guard and the blade meet the handle, and that is usually the weakest point of a knife and you've got that full thickness. I've never taken the handle scales off of this to see if there's any weight relief in the middle.
I don't think those weight relief pockets reduce the strength of a knife by much, if any.

[49:24] But something tells me that is a full full tang, meaning not only a true full tang, but no pockets. I'm pretty sure there are no pockets, just from the weight, but I should take it apart and see. Do I want to? Not really. But you can. You can take these apart just in case blood or viscera or any other sort of material seeps in the middle there you don't want it to rust. This is a 1095 blade but they did use that acid rain treatment you can see a bit of a homun there. Pretty cool. Very, classy package. This one does not get as much attention from me as do my other their knives, but I always, you know, look at it and, and marvel at it. It's a very cool knife. They made a black version of this with a kydex sheath, which looks nice, but just nothing quite like this leather this and the look of that gray blade with that leather. Very nice, but would make a great tactical knife. I know the Russians have a design exactly like that that's used for tactical, you know, military purposes. So if if you if you fancy that you can get the black version of this with the kydex sheath and you're good to go in.

[50:48] The tactical sense. Okay, next up is another custom. This is from one of my favorites Dirk Pinkerton. I love his designs, you know for production and I love his custom handmade work.
This is the cave bear in a great sheet. This is the cave bear such a beautiful pakal style knife or maybe you just call it a double-edged Persian knife if you hold it like this but to me this is all day long a pakal style knife double-edged and beautifully ground by Dirk Pinkerton he just does a stellar job behind the grinder very well respected by his peers for that skill, freehand skill at a grinder. Super sharp. Now something about this that it's similar to the to the hog hunter there, to the wild pig hunter. This is a knife that is meant, it's gonna sound ugly but there's no good way to put it, this is meant to go into a moving target that's not, cooperative and that's the last place you want your knife to break or to snap at the handle. And so that full tang, full profile meaning it's coming all the way down, all the way around, everything you see there if you remove that handle scale is metal.

[52:14] And that is just going to give you the strongest results. Do I think that my stick tang Boon 2 that I showed you is going to just break?
No. Do I think that that cable tang Notchez is just going to break?
No. But the full assurance of that full tang with something like this is, man, it's extremely welcome.
This is also a great excuse to show off this knife in particular, which I just find, it's just beautiful.
It is a beautiful knife, so well-ground and so symmetrical.

[52:49] And then with that black blade paired with the happy handle, it just, I don't know, something about that just is so pleasing.
So this is definitely one of my full tang favorites. The cave bear. I know it comes up a lot. But what am I supposed to do not talk about it? All right, next up from Murray Carter, the great and powerful Murray Carter. He is a very interesting dude, came from Canada at 18, moved to Japan and paired himself up with a local, the local knife maker, the local Smith, they not only made knives, they made tools, actually primarily tools. But while there, he learned a 750 year old process and became the, Thanks.
The 40th in a line, 700 years long in that town, making the tools and the knives.
And the knives are astounding.
This is made with a very old style of steel folding.

[53:55] Here at Murray Carter. This was a gift from Murray Carter himself, which I'm very, very grateful for.
And this was the knife he had around his neck when I first met him at Blade Show, I remember, because I was peeping it.
And after I spoke with him on the show, he ended up sending this to me, and it is a beauty.
But he has an interesting setup at his shop where he has numerous apprentices.

[54:23] And they are all great knife makers in their own right. They come into his shop and learn his ancient techniques, and perfect them, and then make designs all sort of harmonizing with his designs.
So they make versions of his neck knife and versions of his other knives, but they put their own personal spin on it and their own personal stamp on it.
So it's coming out of the Carter Custom Cutlery Forge, but it's by a different knife maker.
This one is by the man himself.
And so it is a great honor to have this knife, especially considering it was his and it was good enough for him to wear around his neck.
And I should say carry, it's not a fashion item.
Look at the waves in that steel, just beautiful. This is one of probably my most valuable knives, come to think of it.
And then the way that full tang is incorporated so perfectly, it feels like one material.
If I'm not looking at it, and I rub my hands around like this, That red carbon fiber, those black and red spacers, it all feels like one solid piece.
This is truly an astounding knife. I mean it is.

[55:44] It is something this is a I mean for me personally this is a once in a lifetime night you know this is worth a lot of money and i'm not.

[55:54] Not sure it's so easy to get one of his knives from his so i'm very very honored to have this night.
Murray Carter neck knife. For such a beautiful knife, for such an iconic knife, which it is, it's got a very generic name. It's just the neck knife. So there you have it. All right, second to last in this list of full tang beauties here is one of my favorites because this gets a lot of carry. Now since I've been carrying the Nova 1, I've been much more apt to carry that but this is the Ruffian by Hogtooth Knives.
Um, what do I have to say about this? A harpoon clip point to beat the band.
It's 154cm, deeply hollow ground, it's got that beautiful acid etch, it's got amazing ergonomics including awesome jimping.
If you're a jimping guy, Hogtooth does it exactly right.
And it feels great there. This is a true custom in that I ordered it just exactly like this.
Some of these other customs, like the Murray Carter or like the Cave Bear, I didn't order, I just bought after they were, or acquired after they were made.

[57:16] I did not buy that Murray Carter. So in other words, this one was made exactly how I wanted it.
The natural canvas Mike Carter with blue liners for a little bit of pop there, a little bit of contrast, and it just melts in the hand.
This knife just melts in the hand. Any grip you want, reverse grip, even in this sort of pical grip with the edge in, It feels great.
And like this, this is one of those knives that everyone looks at and they're like, oh, is that a Winkler?
And I think Winkler knives have a certain look.

[57:59] And it's a look that is, it's sort of a universal style.

[58:06] And this to me, I never thought that it looks like a Winkler but a lot of people think so.
And then a lot of people say the same thing about this knife, and they look very, very different.
One, you know, I think it's the long swedge. I think it's the long swedge that gets people to think Winkler knife.
Anyway, this is about this knife. 154cm, as I mentioned, stout as hell, but this is a good carry. This is about the largest I carry on my belt, you know, in the waistband here.
And my most watched video is a short, and it's me holding that one. So five inches. This is the one that I showed how I carry in the waistband. And people are always asking, What is that knife? What is that knife? So I think I need to do a short just with this knife and mentioned that video so so that that can preclude my answering every, comment out this knife is. I think it really resonates with people. That long clip, that wedge and a diamond like point, which makes it so good at thrusting and breaching materials. Very, very sharp knife. He does great work. You don't need me to say that anymore today because I'm always talking about Matt Chase. He's also become a friend in this whole process of collaborating on making the Nova one. So.

[59:35] All right, last up, this one, let me get it. Ah, this is the Full-Tech, if you're wondering what that sound was if you're just listening, it was me hefting the knife, it wasn't anything else.
This is a big, big knife.
This is the Work Tough Gear Pouzon Predator Hunter Bowie.

[59:55] It's a nearly two pound knife, and I have come to the conclusion that though you can do wicked, nasty damage with it, it is not a fighting knife. It's too heavy. It's kind of like, or it's not a fighting knife for me. You want a knife that you're fighting with to be light and lively in hand. You want to be able to move it where you need to go. You know, especially if you're dueling like I'm doing with the camera right now. This knife is more like a battle axe, you know, a battle axe, very effective in battle, but the recovery after a swing is more than a, A sword where you have the weight in the pommel and the tip is moving around lightly and easily.
It's easy to recover after a swing.
With a battle axe, it's got all that weight up front.

[1:00:42] After a swing, it takes a readjustment to swing again. Well, that's kind of what you're dealing with with this knife.
This is, man, this is an ultimate, I'm not going to say it's the ultimate, but it's an ultimate outdoor camp woods knife. I for the first time this past weekend when I was out there with the shed knife, doing the feather sticks and making kindling for my daughter's project, I had this one out and at long last, got a chance to, baton with it. And actually what I was doing was not batoning. I did a little bit of that. But what I was doing was setting up the log and just kind of dropping it.

[1:01:26] You've got something very interesting here. You've got a long, gradual bevel here that gets extremely thin and sharp.
Extremely thin for a big knife like this. And very sharp.

[1:01:41] But you get that wedge-like action at the top and then you have that fuller in there for rigidity.
I don't know, I just think this is a nearly unbeatable knife.
But part of it is the handle.
Handle is just so perfectly designed with the, um, with the bird's beak here and the horse hoof pommel here that extends far beyond the hook where your pinky is.
And that allows for this kind of the action. Um, so this stops it right here and, uh, gives you just great shopping action.
Would I want this with any other time? I'm not going to put that edge towards my face.
Would I want this with any other kind of tang? No way. No way.
Because this is, though about the same length as the Natchez Bowie, this is just screaming out, begging for something other than the fighting purpose. That's that Natchez Bowie is a fighter.
This is just, this is an axe replacement. This is, instead of a hatchet, this is what you're going to bring. So full tang is absolutely necessary and though this is brand new to me.

[1:02:57] I feel like this one is already a full tang favorite. This and the TKEL Guardian, or yeah the TKEL Guardian, which is somewhere. This is also brand new to me but also makes the list. Since I showed it off before, I'll just go over it again real quickly.
It is a full slab of metal. This one does not have weight relief in the handle and being so, it's just super strong. I was talking to Tim Kell and he said that he uses his, or recently used his, to pry a fence board back into place. He has a fence with the slats like this and he had one that was kind of warped and pushed back behind the others.
He stuck his guardian in there and just, and just, sorry for the sound effect.

[1:03:48] Popped it back into place, and you would not feel confident doing that with a stick tang.
So, really for ultimate strength and heft, you know, it does give you a little bit of extra weight in the handle, which can be good.
You cannot beat a full tang.
So, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, 11, I guess, favorite full tang knives in my collection. Does this change? Does this rotate? Yeah. There are some times where I like the Prather War Bowie better than that Wild Pig Hunter. But the point is, for fixed blade knives, for me, it's full tang is the way to go.

[1:04:26] All right, thanks for joining me on this episode. Be sure to tune in on Sunday for my interview with Tim Kell of T.Kell knives and become a patron. Becoming a patron now you get early access to the interview extras, which are always awesome. I always look forward to the conversations we have after the main conversation because things come up in the main conversation that I can't get to and sometimes those are things I don't want in the wider, broader podcast release. So do check that out. Well, thanks for joining me and Jim thanks you as well. For him, 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 review the podcast.com. For show notes for today's episode, additional resources and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, the knife junkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at the knife junkie.com slash YouTube. Check out some great knife photos on the knife junkie.com slash Instagram and join our Facebook group at the knife junkie.com slash Facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob at the knife junkie.com or call our 24 seven listener line at 724-466-4487 and you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie Podcast.

[1:05:51] Music.