Automated AI Podcast Transcript

The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Call the Listener Line at 724-466-4487; Visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2023, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

[0:00] Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, the place for blade lovers to learn about knives and hear from the makers, manufacturers and reviewers that make the knife world go round.
I'm Bob DeMarco coming up a double Civivi giveaway, my knife journal from Apex Alchemy. And when the shiznit goes down, you better be ready. Folder Edition.

[0:23] Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting.

[0:30] Here's your host, Bob the Knife Junkie DeMarco. Welcome back to the show.
I had a couple of comments from this week I want to show. This one is funny because it got me.
It was a total trolling, but it got me. This is from the video for the Taipan, the absolutely incredible and robust dagger that's been a cold steel standby for many, many years. Jonas grumpy 4749 said, This knife is a joke. And I saw that and I was like, What? I got I'm such a spaz guys. I saw that and I got all hot. And I was like, Oh, you know, what is he talking about?
He is no like, and I was like, Wait a second, this guy's trolling me look at his name Jonas grumpy, grumpy 4749. And And of course, this knife is not a joke. It is a it is a very, very serious knife. And thank you, sir. Thanks for the trolling. I appreciate it. And it's always good to keep me on my toes. I'm a curmudgeon. And I am hot headed, you might not know that about, me. And sometimes, things, especially in text, you don't you don't quite understand the content or the intent until you stew over it for a second. So my second favorite comment was on my large pyrite video.

[1:53] And 4449 John said, I'm going to have to quit watching your channel.
Just ordered this, even in the same green micarta.
Thought I was done buying for the month, but evidently not.

[2:05] Love the blade shape, love micarta, and green is my favorite color for cars, tools, and carry.
This will be my first CJRB, so I'm hoping it's everything you said it was.
Okay, I did get a second opinion, and it agreed with you, so things should be happy.
Looks marvelous.
This will be my second button lock. The other is from Olight.
Not sure if I will love button locks yet, but they can sure be fun to play with.
Only time will tell. Well, I love this comment because I have just been crushin' on this knife, on the CJRB Large Pyrite.
This thing has been in my pocket a lot since I got it. I've only had it for about three weeks at this point, I think, but late summer acquisition has been in my swimsuit, swimsuit has been in my shorts and in my work work pocket, you know, for my office job, it has been with me a lot. I absolutely love this knife and the action has gotten just better and better and better. It started a little sticky. But, that was after the first after the first 200 flips, and a little bit of annoyance by everyone around me. This thing was butter smooth, no stick, no nothing and it is solid as the day is long. When they first sent me this knife in the small original version, I was.

[3:26] Showing it off a lot. This one I bought myself. I gave that original one away to a friend, there. Okay, you see that little slot in there? That is where the plunge lock from the button goes and it locks into that. It's not a little cone shape. Same thing on the backside. It's, It's not a little cone shape that the plunge wedges into, it is a defined quarter cylinder notch and then a quarter of the cylinder that is that plunge lock on the button locks into there.
It's like such a nice fit, it's perfect, no stick, and super, super strong.
If you like button locks and you're concerned because you've seen people do spine whacks, You could do it with this lock.

[4:13] But you'd have to hit it pretty damn hard, I would imagine.
Mine hasn't failed.
So anyway, John, I hope you enjoy the knife. It is great.
I have been loving it. I cannot wait until they come out with the wharncliffe, the large wharncliffe, because that's the order of things.
That's how they did it with the small one.
You get people hooked on the drop point, and then after a while, you're like, hey, we got this wharncliffe now, too.
And I will get that in the stainless steel.
For sure. John, Jonas Grumby, and everybody else, thank you so much for commenting and watching.
I greatly appreciate it. And well, we'll see you here next week. All right, all that being said, I think it's time for a pocket check. Let's do it.

[5:00] All right, I will not wax poetic any longer on this. In my front right pocket today, I had the large Pyrite, yes that's an awesome, awesome knife from CJRB, and Artisan, just on a broader note, I'm starting to really, really like Artisan.
Everything I have from them, whether it's in the CJRB line or in the Artisan line, is just, mm, just awesome.
As a matter of fact, right now, I know this is a pocket check, but I have all these knives out.
I have to have something in my pocket while I do a pocket check.
I happen to have this Artisan Cutlery Hyperion in my pocket that Dave from this old Sword Blade Reviews gave me.
Artisan, chef's kiss, big time, awesome. All right, next up in my pocket, yeah, you know.
It is a Jack Wolf Knives laid back jack, but I went back to the original today.
I've been carrying the wood one, the new version, quite a bit, and I decided to go back to this just to compare and contrast.
And this one feels a little bit more rugged to me, not rugged. I don't mean they're both very, very stout. But this one to me, I've had longer and.

[6:10] It has the more textured handle in that micarta and I just feel more likely to bang around with this one than I do with that fine fine rosewood handle. Just a great great blade. I love a swayback jack whether it's this laid back jack or the number 47 viper from GEC or the case swayback Jack, I love my K-Swayback Jack. I just love the whole package, I love that pattern. So I had this in my pocket, double my card... Uh-oh. I think I had all my card... No, I had some G10 in there. Spoiling the party. Just kidding, I love G10 too. Alright, in my front right pocket, right next to the CJRB was my fixed blade. We're kind of going through our dog days of summer, I did not feel like a fixed blade today on the belt or in the waistband, so I had the beautiful Dirk Pinkerton custom broadhead in my pocket.

[7:09] And then there you have that really nicely acute tip and those four perfect bevels coming to it. Just a nasty, nasty tip. I love this knife because it's very versatile. That's part of the the USP of this knife. You put it on your forefinger and you have a like perfectly angled dagger coming out of your grip.
That's my favorite grip of it. With this you can put it on the forefinger and have it like a push dagger. So nasty and with that acute tip it's going into anything. Dirk himself likes it in the reverse grip like this. My pinkies are too thin for that I think. I mean I can grab this handle pretty well with my right hand, but I feel like I would want my pinky to fill that hole in.

[7:57] A little bit more. I got kind of slender fingers there. The grip is this beautiful GL Hansen & Son G-Carda and it's in CPM MagnaCut.
Such a cool knife. I haven't done this yet, but I keep thinking, so I drop this in the pocket, and I can just reach in and put my finger in there, and then pull it out, and then I can slip it off with that.
But I'm thinking, how cool would it be to just put a little patch of Velcro there, and in certain pants, put a little Velcro on the inside, or I could just baby pin it in there, I'm not sure how I would do it.
I want to attach that sheath to the inside of my pocket, so I just reach in and draw that sweet, wicked little thing.
Look, that's a nice lineup right there, if I do say so myself.
Okay, last up, for emotional support, my ESK, my emotional support knife today, was the Pony Stout from Devo Knives.
That's Lefty, that's Kevin Johnson of Lefty EDC and Colin Maison-Pierre of CM Designs come together to form Devo Knives, and they make some really, really beautiful folders. I have two of them.
And this one, I don't know, I vacillate which one is my favorite, which one is my favorite.
Today, it's this one.

[9:20] This is the one I had on me. Nice, deep, hollow ground, sheep's foot blade with a swedge.
Just a beautiful blade, I think. Nice and utilitarian, crown spine, you have a spot there for your thumb.
And a 50-50 choil, so you can choke up.

[9:38] And really do the work.
But the thing I love most about this is the fidget action. I mean, actually, I don't know if that's true.
I love the way it looks, too.
I love the ergonomics of this, but this one is just so fun to flip open and to flick.
Now, this is my left hand, and I can even do it with my left hand, which is, you're like, Bob, you call yourself knife junkie.
52 years old, you can't flick it with your left hand yet? Well yes I can, but put a front flipper on there and I might be in trouble. Alright, so this has been my pocket check.
I got the CJRB Large Pyrite, an awesome knife indeed.
I have another awesome nicety.

[10:19] Jack wolf knives, laid back jack, that's the first version. The beautiful and deadly Dirk Pinkerton broadhead right here. And then of course, the charming and useful Devo knives pony stout.
What were you guys carrying? Let me know, drop it in the comments. Like I say every week, I love the inspiration. I like finding out what everyone else is carrying. We got a classy bunch of people here watching. So I like to hear a bunch of classy knives. All right for gentlemen junkies, in the month of September, which we are in now, can you believe it, September already?
We will be given away on September 21st, that's the third Thursday of every month, we give away a knife for the Gentleman Junkies.
Those are the top tier members, tier one, those are the tier one operators, no I'm just kidding, tier one guys over there in Patreon, that's the 10 level support, and we really appreciate it, when we give away a knife, and it's not commensurate with your support, but it's just a token of our appreciation, and it is greatly appreciated.
Now, this month's giveaway is really cool. These knives, frequently, well, these knives today, come from Dave, this old sword, Blade Reviews.
He gives this channel so many awesome knives, and we like to share the wealth, and this is a cool package.
This is a double knife giveaway, And it's Civivi.
Two small, really cool knives that...

[11:48] If they weren't, if I didn't have a moratorium on small knives going into the collection, I would have adopted these in the DeMarco knife adoption program.
First one is the, what is this one called, the Ki-V, the K-I-V, okay, plus.
So this is the large version of this knife. It is a front flipper, and that's my left hand there, so I'm not going to actually flip it.
But look at this. It's a kiridashi. It's a little modernized folding kiridashi, and you have that upward angle of the blade up towards the tip.
The tip is above center line, which makes it ultra useful, and it is small. That's like a 2 1⁄2-inch blade.
Use it like this all day long for utility cuts, opening boxes, doing school projects, carving out cardboard, whatever it is, but then you're menaced at the Pizza Hut on your way out.
And what do you do? You reverse it in your grip, and you have a perfect angle for a Pakal-style knife there. Look at that.
Look at the way the tip reaches forward. Imagine a back fist with this.
So, yes, it's the charming little EDC Ki-V, plus, or Ki-V, we'll call it the Ki-V.

[13:08] Charming and lovely and white-handled and ivory and nice, and yet you can bend it towards mayhem if need be.
So that's one knife. And then the other, a complimentary situation here, is the beautiful Lumi.
This one looks to me like another little Japanese utility knife, but more along the Quaken line. This is designed by Justin Lundqvist, thank you.
Justin Lundquist, a prolific designer.

[13:42] Makes some pretty cool stuff, and licenses a lot of his designs to companies like Kaiser and Civivi, and we.
Really, really beautiful knife. You have a crowned, well, it's not a crown spine, but the chamfers seem rounded, so it's nice and smooth. That is the signature Civivi hollow grind coming to a crazy acute point.
Two great little, this one is a nice front flipper too. I like the way this one works.

[14:11] A little bit better than the Kiwi, I gotta be honest. But you know, you're not talking to a front flipping fanatic here.
Just a great, great little utility knife. Two fifth pocket knives here from Civivi, going out to a lucky Gentleman Junkie winner on September 1st.
So be here to watch the Wheel of Destiny spin, And who knows, maybe you might be on that wheel to win.
All right, coming up on the Knife Junkie podcast, we're gonna take a look at some four new models, or more, coming out in Knife Life News. And then beyond that, we're gonna take a look at something cool coming to us from Apex Alpha, right here on the Knife Junkie podcast.
If you're a knife junkie, you're always in the market for a new knife, and we've got you covered.
For the latest weekly knife deals, be sure to visit theknifejunkie.com slash knives.
Through our special affiliate relationships, we bring you weekly knife specials on your favorite knives.
Help support the show and save money on a new knife.
Shop at theknifejunkie.com slash knives. That's theknifejunkie.com slash knives.
You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast, and now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.
Did you see the Viper, the LT Wright Knives Viper in that lineup?
Oh my, that looks beautiful.

[15:36] That liner gets me every week, Every week it changes.
And every week there's something tasty. Okay, speaking of something tasty, uh, the new kaiser roll. I mean the new kaiser, Uh is pretty damn sweet. It's a paul munko design, And it's called the mystic. I said the new kaiser. They have a bunch. Uh, this is kaiser knives. That's k-i-s-e, k-i-z-e-r My bad. Anyway, uh speaking of bad paul munko He's an artist, he makes really, really beautiful work and really cool knives.
This is his third one with Kaiser Knives called the Mystic after Mystic, Connecticut because this 3.75 inch Rex 45, yeah, that's right, Rex 45, double peaked clip point is inspired by whaling and the whaling industry and New England.
But when you look at this beautiful knife, it not only touches off certain things for me, 3.75 inches, that beautiful blade shape, this is one I am getting. This isn't just lip service, I will be getting this knife in my life. But you have titanium bolsters, you have the micarta, it's a liner lock, just, The- is it Lila? Or-

[16:55] Okay, the jury is out. I didn't write it down, and now I can't remember.
It might be a bolster lock.

[17:01] Oh, it is a liner lock. Okay, thank you, Jim. Appreciate it.
Yeah, it's a liner lock, and so titanium, micarta, 4.3 ounces, 4.43.
To me, that's pretty light for a 3.75-inch knife, so very psyched about that.
I love this whole connection to whaling and Mystic, Connecticut.
I, you know, I've been up to New England a bit, you know, more when I was a younger man, and I love it up there.
It's so beautiful, and my sister used to live in an old whaling town in Massachusetts, and then I quote-unquote read Moby Dick, that was a book on tape, and it's amazing.
It's a fascinating part of our past that we don't even realize how much whale oil, you know, Our whole society ran on whale oil for a chunk of time.
And these people went out for years at a time hunting whales and sometimes they came back empty-handed and they were paid by commission.
I mean, I don't know, a lot of very interesting stuff in the past, but I'm talking about this knife.
Rex 45 is an old, not old, but sort of a stalwart, what do you call it, tool steel.
And so this will patina. It's a very tough, very edge retention oriented tool steel, but it also patinas.
So Paul Monco, who as I mentioned, is an artist, was interested in this steel because it will also.

[18:27] Kind of keep up with the maritime theme of this knife.
You know, it's supposed to look, it's a harpoon clip point. It has, it's called the mystic.
And then as that blade steel patinas, it will be more and more like something you might find in a heart, in a...

[18:45] Harpoonier's cabinet. I don't know, I think it's cool. I think it's really cool, and I like it, when knives have stories like this.
So anyway, you might be seeing that here soon.
Next up, a knife I wish you'd be seeing here soon. It's just a little too rich for my blood for what it is, is the Benchmade CLA. I love that automatic knife.
It's an out-the-side automatic that I fell in love with once just from watching someone's video, and it's got the composite handle.
It's a very light automatic knife, composite light automatic, I think that's what the CLA stands for.
We went through this on Thursday Night Knives, but that was late.
Anyway, you got this beautiful battle-worn finish, and the same basic shape, they've tweaked the handle a little bit, and on this new MagnaCut version.

[19:38] You get that battle wash, That's what it's called, it's a 3.4 inch MagnaCut blade.
But they also tweaked the handle and are giving you ivory and OD green.
And I think it's beautiful. I really like this knife a lot. It is available now, if you like the CLA, if you like Benchmade automatics, you might wanna jump on this because it's not gonna be around forever.
I love the bronze button on that ivory one. I probably would not get the ivory, because it sticks in my craw when ivory gets dirty.
It makes you look like a dirty person with dirty hands. And I know some of you are like, yeah, well that's because I work. Well, we all work, but you still got to wash your hands.
So I'd probably get the green.
All right, next. Civivi is coming out with Ultim models. Yes, Ultim, that super trendy, plastic that came out not too long ago, first featured on the Bear model from, Tactile Knives. It is a nice, I like it because I like that, not I do.

[20:47] That amber color, I really like the amber color.
I'm not sold on the transparency, I gotta say. For instance, this Elementum is nothing to look at, transparent, I gotta say.
However, the other model that they're coming out with, the Praxis, a classic, these are still retaining their original steels, D2 in the Elementum and then the Praxis here, 9CR.
But to me, the Praxis looks better underneath the hood. You can see through the ultim, you can see the weight relief cuts in the steel liners, and they're more interesting to me, they're more honeycomb.
It's a more interesting pattern, and it looks more deliberate, whereas the elementum looks deliberate, but it doesn't look like it's supposed to be seen.
Anyway, that's my interpretation. I really like the black blade next to the ultim in the Praxis.
So there they go, I'm sure Civivi will gauge the success, of these two releases and then go hog wild, I'm sure.
So that'll be cool to watch. And last up, it's from Rosecraft, again.
Again and again, it seems we have a Rosecraft man. As Ben Schwartz from Knife News says, we can now officially call them a prolific company. And yes, they are indeed.
Here's another one coming out from their owner operator.

[22:14] And it is a really nice, actually, nice looking, long, sleek, clip point blade.
And they're calling this one the Yoka, the Yoka.
And it's spelled a little bit differently, but the Yoka, indeed.
And it is a 3.3 ounce flipper, ceramic bearings.

[22:40] G10 with a faux bolster, and you can of course get it in their signature black and red coloration.
I personally like this better, I'm not a huge fan of the black and red.
Reminds me of hair metal from the 80s. And you know, I appreciate hair metal like everybody else, but you know, don't need it in my life all the time, especially in my pocket.
But that's just me. That's a personal taste thing. Yoka spelled J-O-K-A looks like Joker. What are you some kind of a Joker? But it's Yoka. And that's a serpent or dragon in, Swahili. So there you go 3.6 inches that blade almost fits It's completely in that very doctor's knife type handle.
No doubt gonna be another nice flipper. It's using AR RPM9 steel, which makes me think that it's made by Artisan, I guess one would assume, unless Artisan is selling their steel, to other manufacturers, but who knows?
I don't know, these guys are all making each other's knives.
Who can tell? I don't know.
But I do know I think it's a pretty nice looking knife. I also know, speaking with Jim before we started rolling here today, I need to get some Rosecrafts in here to check out, both in the slip joint and flipper variety.
All right, that is Knife Life news for this week.

[24:02] Coming up next, we're going to take a look at something very cool sent in by Apex Alchemy.
Don't take dull for an answer.
It's the Knife Junkies favorite sign-off phrase and now you can get that tagline on a variety of merchandise, like a t-shirt, sweatshirt, hoodie, long-sleeve tee, and more.
Even on coasters, tote bags, a coffee mug, water bottle, and stickers.
Let everyone know that you're a Knife Junkie and that you don't take dull for an answer.
Get yours at theknifejunkie.com slash dull and shop for all of your Knife Junkies merchandise at theknifejunkie.com slash shop.
And now that we're caught up with Knife Life News, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
Billy from the Apex Alchemy channel, you gotta check that channel out by the way, and his wife, Mrs. Apex, sent me this really cool thing they just came up with called the Knife Journal.
We showed this off on Thursday Night Knives, but I wanna show it off here.
And it's a really cool way to document your knife collection you meant your knife collection and what you've done, to sharpen them, to test them, and what your results have been, so.
And there, you can enter 40 knives in this particular book, which, by the way, is on Amazon here.
I think the logo's covering it up, but you can see there it says knife.

[25:27] So brand and model, let's say Cold Steel Voyager, and then you go down the row here, overall length, nine inches, blade length four inches, blade style, clip point, steel, austen, blah, blah, blah.
And you go down here, country of origin, you fill all this out, your specs, and then over here you can keep a record of your sharpening.
So as you, who knows, maybe this is a knife you use a lot for work, so you end up sharpening it a lot, and you wanna keep track of the different stones and different techniques, or stones, and like stropping that you use, you can keep track of it here.
I really liked the edge last time, I could go back.
And so it's a really nice way to document things. Amen.
You turn the page, and you have testing. Let me see the testing.
And then notes and modifications. So, method of testing, I did jute rope, I did rolled up denim like Stasa.

[26:29] You know, I did all sorts of tubes and cardboards and stuff, you write all that down here, and your results.
Thing was awesome. My sharpening rocks.
And then over here, for notes and modifications, to me, this would be an area where I would keep track, of the history of the knife. Got this from my brother, and blah, blah, blah, and this, or got it in a trade, and I paid this much for it.
You know, I would have, in the notes, I would keep the history of the knife.
So that's what I will do.
I haven't started using this yet, but I really, really like this.
It's, I believe it's 13 bucks on Amazon, and you're supporting, helping support Mr. and Mrs. Apex Alchemy, who, by the way, have an awesome channel, and I really like it.

[27:18] I think this is the sort of innovative thing that people who are in the knife world or knife adjacent or whatever can come up with, make a little money and also be relevant.
You know, this is the kind of thing, people have a lot of knives, they have collections, they want to keep track.
So it makes sense. So thank you both, Mr. and Mrs. Apex Alchemy for sending me that, I look forward to filling it out, and you guys go check it out, it's pretty cool, over on Amazon. All right.
Now we're going to get to our main topic, which is when the shiznit goes down, you better be ready.
I was actually listening to the old Cypress Hill album the other day, and I have a soft spot for that album.
I can't remember what it's called all of a sudden, but I was listening to that and other songs, and they're hilarious.
My brother and I used to be so into them in the 90s.

[28:17] But anyway, it made me think of things we've covered here before, but knives you would want on you when it goes down.
Oh my God, thank God I have this, I might stand a chance. Of course, we're talking in a situation without a firearm or a spear or a battle axe, all you got on you is a folder.

[28:41] This is all about folders. because I have plenty of fixed blades that I would love to have on me.
Probably almost any fixed blade. But these are the folders. Okay, the first one is not readily available, but versions of this are.
And it can be had and will be more widely available in the very near future.
And this is the Inversion Folding Pick Hall by Pinkerton, Dirk Pinkerton Knives.
You can also, Kaiser made the inversion with a reverse tonto, that went like this, and those you can still find. They're out of print, but you can still find those.
So really, it's the folding pakal. You could look at the tier one scythe.
You could look at the Emerson Elvia, or the Kaiser inversion.
For me, it's this inversion by Dirk Pinkerton. I got in on a pre-order that he did with one of these, that also has a ring that you can remove and put on.
But this is small and very useful, for what you're gonna be using it for 99.9% of the time, which is opening up boxes, maybe cutting open a food package or letters.

[30:01] No one gets letters anymore, but you know what I mean. Let's say Amazon boxes, whatever it is, and you can open it up with this wave-like feature on the top.
But if you really need it in dire circumstances, you've got it, and it's built for that.
That sort of melee situation. So the first one is a folding Pakal, in this case the Pickerton Inversion prototype, but there are production models out there that you can get.
You're going to see a number of blade shapes similar to this in this list.
Either wharncliffs or straight-edged blades. This one is more on the hawkbill side, and It just seems that they cut deeper and more continuously all the way to the tip.
So in that spirit, there has to be an Emerson on this list. I'm only choosing one knife per brand on this list, so only one Emerson.
I would take any Emerson into a situation that I thought was gonna be nasty, but this is my favorite.
This is my go-to, even though it's not my historical favorite my historical favorite, on paper it's not my favorite, but in use it is, and that is the Saks, the Emerson Saks. This thing I absolutely adore.

[31:24] I had a hard time with the handle when I first got it. I thought it was too much like the Contego from Benchmade with the middle finger, or with the center partition there, but it has become one of the most comfortable knives for me.
I'm not sure how that happened. think it was more of a psychological barrier I had to get over that with the two finger partition there. But in saber grip like this, man, it is so locked in, it feels so good with us with the thumb pressing against that thumb ramp, and the reverse energy in the fingers going towards the pommel. Naturally, I carry this more in the right hand.

[32:06] With the clip that came on it, it is mounted audaciously low with a standard Emerson clip.
It feels incredibly comfortable the way it came, but it just rides way too high.
You're just asking for some punk to come up and grab it out of your pocket.
So I got the loop over MXG gear pocket clip. I got the short one.
And actually with the short version, it fits the palm perfectly.
So you almost get the same comfort and effect of the original clip on there if you get the short MXG gear clip on there. Very very very very very sharp chisel edge on this. People tend to shy away from chisel edges maybe they track oddly through materials when you're cutting them because it's a one-sided edge but that one-sided chisel edge you know imagine your your V ground edge and then and cut it in half, it makes it just incredibly sharp.
And then Ernest Emerson also likes it on his knives because he believes it makes it field expedient in terms of sharpening.
You only have one edge to worry about. And I get it.
If you're out there and you're on the run from the bad guys and your knife has gone dull and you have like a minute to sharpen it on concrete or whatever, you're gonna be A, glad you have 154CM, and B, you're gonna be glad you only have one edge to sharpen.

[33:33] So it is the Emerson.

[33:37] Emerson Sacks, from Emerson Knives, obviously. Love this knife.
Okay, next up, one of the best battle blades, one of the most iconic and ubiquitous battle blades.

[33:50] And shapes out there is the Kukri. So on this list had to be the Knight's Element MK Ultra.
This is from the very, this is from the second run. So this was when...
He was teamed up with Tactical Elements and Fox Knives and I believe his association with Doug Marcaida on this project had ended. I think Doug Marcaida kind of got him in the door at Fox Knives, I think that's how that worked.
But this is made by Fox, it is such an amazing knife. I mean, over the past few years, you've seen this come out countless times. Great flipper, made by Fox, titanium frame lock.
You've got all the standard goody bits there. You've got the lock bar insert.
You've got the awesome, small, low-profile pocket clip.
Incredible ergonomics. This is a Jason Knight design all day long.
It looks just like one of his big forged kukris, just in folding form.
Perfect blade shape for the purpose. This is my very favorite folding kukri.
I think it beats out the Cold Steel Raja.
Though the Raja is a super performer, I just think this thing looks cooler.
And feels so good in the hand.

[35:15] N690CO blade steel, that's a flat ground blade. It's super sharp.
I know it doesn't look like it goes too high up, but it's very thin behind the edge.
And then you have that really nice fuller. And if the shiznit were going down, you would have thrusting and slashing and hacking capability all day long in this 4.125 inch blade. This is a long blade, this is a big knife that carries small because it's so nice and thin and svelte and light. That's the Knight Elements MK Ultra.
All right, next up, the only folding dagger in my collection and one of the only few out there, So I love the concept of the folding dagger. Double-edge, double-edge people.
It's just a dagger-like object if it's not double-edge. So only a couple of companies have the cojones to make such a thing, and Hinderer was one.
Sharp by Design was another, and Arcane Design was another.

[36:24] And this is the one I have, the Arcane Design, oh, look at that beauty, Antimatter.
Now, this knife was helped along by something obscene company, Felix, by something obscene company, in getting in the door at Riat for this and helping with some of the design work, I think.
I'm not gonna do this with my left hand.
That is a very sharp double-edged S35VN blade.

[36:53] Well, I'm not sure what the steel is on. I think that's S35.
Double-edged and you've got that beautiful machined satin.
Riat makes, excuse me, Riat does an incredible machined satin.
You can see those perfect lines going up and down the blade.
Beautiful center line with a fuller and then that titanium bronzed handle.
Really, really locks into hand. And it being double edged and kind of a broad shaped blade, that handle needed to be wide.
And wide it is, but man, it feels so good.
It's never gonna twist.
And you have these two finger choils here for the thumb and forefinger.
And these two angles here on the pommel make it fit right in the palm of the hand beautifully.
If you were to use this in a thrust, what do you call it, a saber grip, like this.
And it doesn't matter which way you're holding it, it's gonna work either way, obviously.
Just be careful when you go to close it.

[37:59] But yeah, you have to have a folding dagger on this list. And you might add that in this grip, first of all, that peak there is perfect for the thumb, for capping the pommel with the thumb and having a secure grip, so you don't slide down on that.
I mean, this, look at this thing, I mean, just a perfect knife for this kind of activity.
Trapping, thrusting, everything else.
Alright, so that's the folding dagger from Arcane Design called the Antimatter, and I gotta say, it wins on design points.
Look at the Tesla coil here, that totally futuristic look there on the pocket clip, and the overall futuristic look on this ancient, you know, dagger design is just so cool.

[38:49] All right, so that's the antimatter. All right, next up, this is a modern day Viking knife to me, and I'll just get right to it. This is the Bastinelli Creations Big Dragotac.
I love the name, Big Dragotac. Look at that blade. So it is a bellied wharncliffe.
You've got a super acute edge with that big triangular front.
You're gonna make a giant hole with this knife when you thrust it in, whatever you're thrusting it into.
And since this is a conversation on when the shiznit goes down, this is obviously someone who has invaded your personal space.
So yeah, this is gonna fend them off nicely.

[39:34] This is a 4.475 inch knife that, man, that, man, it wears large.
It is a big knife, but somehow, I think it's because it's only 0.6 inches wide, It carries beautifully.
Made by Lionsteel in Italy, this is a titanium frame lock. You've got this rotoblock thing where you can lock it open.
I'm not gonna even do that because if you do it, it starts to think, oh, I'm useful, let me just hop on without you even wanting it.
And I don't like it, but I'm not gonna remove it. It's also an over-travel device.
And I think people sometimes, if they don't like those, threadlock them down so that they don't spin.

[40:16] And I'll like that. But, so why is this on this list? Besides the size, which is obvious, that blade is just so wicked.
And you've got a nice sweep on it. I like the point down at the bottom.
I like the wharncliffe nature of it, the sax nature of it, but you have a sweep to that blade, and then you have an arc to the handle.
So you can present that edge in a number of different manners.
Whether you're up here in a Filipino grip with your thumb on the back of the blade, spine of the blade or you're here where that little thumb swale is is supplied for you on the back in this saber grip or you can come back here for a more hacking grip if you're gonna swing and slash give yourself a self some extra room so this thing I wouldn't go any further back sometimes on the cold steel knives they have something a little extra on the back you can even come back I wouldn't on this, but you've got three easy hand positions here and you're extending your range here, maximum thrusting control here, and then maximum slashing control here. So just a, wicked, wicked knife. D2, I think, yeah, this is one of the early production runs.

[41:31] They, in the last year or so, came out with another run of these after being fallow, this design for quite a while, and they re-released it with a contoured G10 side and M390 blade steel.
So that's an awesome knife, the Dragotac, the big Dragotac. I had the regular 3.6 inch Dragotac and now I kick myself, in the behind for giving that thing away.
All right, next up is gonna be controversial, but I'll tell you why.
This would be a great one for me when it goes down and that is, yes, the Kershaw Lucha.
You're saying, what, what?
But the reason I'm picking the Lucha is A. It's my best bally song knife and B. I've been opening these knives way longer than I've been flipping anything with a thumb stud or a flipper.
You know, I've had these things since I was a kid, folding, you know, butterfly knives.
This one right here, this one I got in Brooklyn in the early 2000s.

[42:42] Probably like 2002 or something, and this lived on our coffee table for years and years and years.
It was the do-everything knife, and just a cheap martial arts store pickup, and then, I don't know, maybe six years ago or so, I got a Barren Sun, and I forgot I even had this knife.
I just dug it up for this show, and I'm glad to have it. It has no lock integrity here.
It's not perfect, and I know Barren Sun makes a lot more high-end butterfly knives than this one, but the Lucha is by far my best butterfly knife.
And I feel like since it is such a natural motion to me, I don't have the skills that the ballet boys at Blade Show have, doing all those crazy aerobatics and all that stuff.
I don't need it. I have four ways that I can open it really fast, and two of them, one for reverse grip and one for forward grip are just no flash at all.
It's immediate and quick.
And I could have this knife out ready to go. And then I have a couple that get progressively flashier, but nothing more than three motions to get the blade out.

[43:55] And by the way, those motions could also be used percussively using that handle.
I mean, these are Filipino knives that were used by sailors.
So the one-handed nature, you're up in the rigging, you gotta cut something, you can open it and close it with one hand.
Yes, but they're also used a lot for fighting and not just the blade.
So these things are pretty awesome. They're not just toys for fun.
They're not just dangerous toys.
They're dangerous weapons, and I feel like if I cared for a while when I first got this I carried it quite a bit, but I could bring this to bear and, The one the one misgiving I have about it is getting that lock closed But if you give yourself a second you can do it either with your other hand, Or if you're in reverse grip you can do it with your thumb.

[44:45] But yeah, Kershaw Lucha. Oh plus 4.25 inches that's the other thing the traditional length of a balisong blade is 4.25 inches so bigger than what we're used to carrying for EDC bigger than the sweet spot these days. Next up because I don't want any knives in this list with a secondary modification I chose the Yojimbo. My Yojimbo has a five by five pickpocket wave feature. But I would vacillate between that and this and this is the Yojimbo.
And the reason I say that is because the Yojimbo is so compact, and so wicked, that you might want that even more than this because this takes up much more real estate in the pocket.
But what I'm getting at is the thinly ground, thinly hollow underground wharncliffe blade.

[45:43] Well, it's called the Yojimbo, and that means bodyguard. And, well, this is the Yojimbo, so it's a big version of the Yojimbo.
And it is designed by Michael Janich, the progenitor of martial blade concepts, and he designed the, which is a knife-fighting system.

[46:04] That he created after years of, A, just being general badass, I mean, being a spy and intelligence and doing all sorts of crazy stuff, I believe, for army intelligence and then other organizations, and then training in Filipino Kali for years and years and years, and then, and other martial arts, and then developing his own sort of, crystal, sorry about that, crystallized version of all of those techniques to make a martial blade system that is direct and to the point, and is all about stopping the opponent.
He's a big proponent of C cuts to the legs with these things, I love that.
Comma cut, it's like this, you go in and you scoop.
So you thrust and you scoop.
And with that blade shape, it is very effective. Do it in some cardboard.
Get a piece of cardboard, thrust at it, and do that scooping C cut motion, like you're carving a comma into that cardboard, and you'll see.
And I know he does a lot of techniques, But the one that sticks out to me from Michael Janich was doing that to someone's thigh.

[47:10] They're not gonna come at you, is the idea after that. But with this knife, you have the amazing...
Compression lock, this awesome action. I did a little bit of modification on this, but it wasn't additional, it was subtractional, and I took away the, there was a peak right here in the center to partition your middle, your two fingers, kind of like we were talking about with the sacks, but it was a little more egregious on this and just annoying, and since there was no liner extending up into that peak, I just sanded it down, and it's like it was never there.
I did leave the secondary peak to sort of bracket my hand in the handle there.
But I've seen people do, like B.J. Hill, do alterations where they make it totally straight and that looks really cool too.
This one is begging for a little finger choil, I gotta say. I'm not crazy about how this terminates here, it's sort of an awkward bit of design.
But any case, such a great knife and so fidgety but so incredibly nasty defensively.
Okay, so something very much in that spirit, but something you can use a lot harder.

[48:25] So if you live a high-speed, low-drag lifestyle, it might be this one that you want.
This is the Hinderer XM24.
That's right, 24 with a four-inch blade, and with the most beautiful and wicked wharncliffe I've ever seen.
I love the Hinderer wharncliffe, I think, especially in the 24, I just think that is so beautiful.
Beautiful, but also quite effective, and look, they have a very similar angle, up at the front of the blade, so you're getting incredible piercing with this and then with that straight edge, incredible slashing, especially as the blade reaches the tip.
Tip below the center line makes it a great utility knife because that's what you're going to use this for 99.12, 99.1 billion percent of the time, but in that one moment where where you actually need this for something else, this handle is so confidence-inspiring.

[49:29] It's thick, it's, I don't want to say heavy, but it's there, you feel, this is one of those knives, some people, newbies, if you will, to anything, but definitely to knives, equate density and weight with quality, and I do not, most of us do not, at this point in our knife collecting using and buying, but sometimes you like a little weight to inspire confidence, and that's what you get here.
Some density and weight. That slab of titanium on the lock side is not weight-relieved.
There are no pockets in there for your dainty little hands to make it easier for you to carry.
You know, buck up, it's a knife, buddy. It's gonna have some weight to it, but it's not excessive.
And it just feels amazing in hand.
Now, I know this is a high-end knife that I'm talking about here, and, you know, there are other Hinderer knives that you can have for way less than this.
This one I lucked out with years ago because I happened to have the $500, or at least I thought I did. This was probably an irresponsible purchase at the time.

[50:42] Now that I'm buying custom knives from people who make them, spending this money on a folder does seem strange to me, but at the time I did, and I'm glad I did, because I have it now, and it's paid for, and it's mine.
But what I'm trying to say is if this is not something that's in your wheelhouse, but you're interested in the ergonomics of a Hinderer knife, you can look towards Viper.
They have some Hinderer-designed knives, a couple, that are way, way, way more reasonable.
You can also look at ZT, you can look at...
Kershaw, Kershaw. You can look elsewhere to get the design and ergonomics of a Rickhander knife, but for me this 24 with that long 4-inch, very pointy wharncliffe is one that I would want in my pocket if things got out of hand, so much so that I was glad to have a defensive knife on. All right, oh by the the way, this one is free, pre triway pivot and has an amazing flipper on the on those Kevlar washers, not Kevlar, what are they nylon washers. So don't be such a spoiled brat and insist that you have none. All I'm trying to say is washers, let's not forget about washers. All right, second to last here on the list is the Microtech Ultratech.

[52:11] This one is, it's such a great knife and such a great defensive option.
But we're gonna start with the blade in. One of the reasons I chose this is this is one of my favorite to hold and I've never held this in my hand during a moment of fear or anything like that.
But when I have this in my pocket, this is one I hold, I'll pull out and use in my hand as if, as if I were using this as like a, what is it called? Not a maquiladora, what's it called?
Kubaton, right? One of those little sticks that you grip in your hand that you can use in a hammer fist or other grips, to hurt someone, whether it's pain compliance or ballistic sort of punching or something like that.
I love the attitude adjuster you can get from the not-too-pointy glassbreaker here.
You got a little tungsten ball at the peak of that little triangular pyramid.

[53:12] On something like the Troodon, you get a true point that you would really break skin and keep going with.
This one you might break skin with if you had to hit someone with it, But you could also just take it and push it into their skin and it wouldn't break the skin, but you could still get that pain compliance.
Anyway, I really like that feature.
And you have the aluminum with a really, really nice sharp cut jimping.
I love aluminum, I love jimping in aluminum because it really grips.
And then you have, in this case, that beautiful double-edged blade with the serrations.
Just about as nasty as you can get in the Ultra Tech, if you ask me.
I do love their tanto. The tanto is beautiful. I love the shape, and it looks extremely useful.
Drop point has never appealed to me in the, none of the Micro Tech drop points really do it for me.

[54:08] But this, and the Hellhound is cool, but a little too many notes for what you get.
To me, this is the ultimate Ultra Tech.
Double-edged with serrations on one side. That has an obvious utility benefit if, you're going to carry this around and do work with it. You have two sides, two different types of cutting, two different sides, a way to maintain an edge for a long time. But if you're going to carry it for defense, you have your, option to hold it like this with the thumb backed up on the actuating switch Or you can turn it over, this even feels more natural to me, and swipe at the bad guy with the serrations.
All right, last one on the list.

[54:55] This is a hard, this was a hard one to choose. I had to get something from Cold Steel. I have a bunch.
And this is the one that right now appeals. But let me show you before I do, two also rams, okay?
The first obvious also ram is the, is my serrated Voyager Signature Series XL Voyager Cold Steel.

[55:17] The reason I didn't go for this ultimately is that this has a snaggletooth MF on it.
And that helps you wave the knife open.
You pull it out of your pocket, this opens it up, snags on the edge of your pocket, opens up the blade for you automatically. I love that feature, but it is not a feature that comes standard on this knife.
But otherwise, that yada-gan shape, that centerline point with the deep recurve and the serrations, this is just a wicked knife and a go-to when I walk the dog.
But not that one. The second also ran here by cold steel is the obvious option the black talent made for evisceration and, and just total.

[56:05] Mayhem and just look at it slashy nastiness. The reason I didn't choose this I do love this knife a lot. And I love how purpose driven it is how unapologetically purpose driven it is. But you don't get a thrust. You don't like if you're when I when I am playing around and I do a lot of thrusting and that point is good for pecking and this guy and slashing obviously draw cutting pull cutting. Get off of me get off of me caveman kind of vibe there but there's no real thrusting with this knife. And you know thrusting can come from all these different angles depending on how you're standing, and what the situation is. And they can be deceptive and hard to see because they're coming at you, instead of this way where you can see the arm. So that is the one deficiency with this knife for me when I have it. I'm like, Yeah, but I, would instinctively go for a thrust. So if you're someone who trains, you know, and you go instinctively for a thrust, this might not be the way to go. But if you're someone who doesn't train, this is definitely the way to go because it will take advantage of your natural slashing and swiping that will happen when you're in caveman mode. So it's a great knife overall but for me not the jam. But I wanted to mention it. Alright so the one that is is my new Talwar XL.

[57:35] 6-inch in serrated edge here. So a couple of things about this knife. Let's, start with the obvious, the business end.
Those serrations are just absolutely wicked. You have a really, really swept up belly there.

[57:56] But you do have a portion of straight.
It's almost like you have two portions of straight here and here separated by this wicked belly.
You got the point up high, and it might seem like it's too high, but then you look at how the edge and the point.

[58:13] Is presented from the arc-shaped handle that it's attached to.
Okay, so if you're up here in a Filipino grip, you have full, the tip is up high and you have full use of that belly and with that sort of forward motion and reinforced with the thumb.
As you move back, the angle changes. I love this knife back here.
Now you have that sort of kukri effect here because look at where my hand is and then look at where that, where the belly is.
And then this ends up becoming a recurve.
And then the point is now below center line. And so this knife can, and then right here in the middle, you kind of really do have the best of both worlds.
You can, you can turn it like this and that tip is in the same point.
Know when it's like this it's going to change positions, So I love the versatility of this, that 6-inch S35VN blade with those 5 points and 1 scoop serration pattern.
I defy you to find something more wicked.
Okay, yeah, yeah, the recurve is pretty sweet.
I guess at this point we're dealing in minutiae. Which XL cold steel with serrations is wickeder than the other?
But right now, this one is the one I'm feeling the most.

[59:42] Also, in that size, it's manageable. You go up to the seven and a half inch XL Espada, and now you're dealing with something that's a little bit larger to deal with when the shiznit goes down. All right, well, thank you so much for joining me.
Sorry I put that word in your mind over and over and didn't say it myself.

[1:00:00] Join us next week for another list of essential knife goodness. Also join us for another interview and also join us on the 21st for the Gentleman Junkie Knife Giveaway where we give the two Civivi knife package out to one of you lucky guys or gals out there. 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 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 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.

[1:01:09] Music.