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

Transcript

[0:00] Coming up, the Knife Junkie gentleman junkie giveaway knife, that's a Kaiser sliver. We're going to be taking a look at Kershaw putting MagnaCut in the leak.
And then beautiful handmade knives by Knife Junkie podcast guests. I'm Bob DiMarco. This is the Knife Junkie podcast.

[0:21] 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.
I have a couple of favorite comments from this past week. This first one is obviously from a German person.
I've known a lot of Germans in my life. We had a lot of exchange students growing up and I went over there a bit and my German is pretty rusty, but it was cool. This is a very typically direct German individual and I like this.
This was on the very embarrassing video where I have the Pusan Predator Hunter Bowie and I throw up a piece of paper and try and slice it in the air.
It takes a couple of attempts and then I get it.
But he says, Du machst das falsch. Du musst das Papier halten und langsam durchschneiden.
Nur so seicht man die Schärfe. Okay? And he's saying, you're doing it wrong.
You have to hold the paper and then slowly slice through the paper so someone can see, so you can demonstrate how sharp the knife is, okay?
And I, I don't know why, it tickled me. I love it. Okay, I'm gonna do that, but I'm also gonna try and cut it in the air, too, because that's a lot of fun. Vielen Dank, SDSurvivor72.

[1:42] This also tickles me because we're going to Germany soon to visit some family, and I'm very, very excited about that.
I get to bust out my Deutsch and eat my way across Germany. Germany. All right, and next up, on the bad knife names, Thursday Night Knives, we had a whole topic on bad knife names, of which there are many. This is K, I'm sorry, Kaido, X Kaido, and he says, there are a lot of unwise or cringy model names.
The Microtech Death on Contact, that's a huge one, and the Jeff Van Der Meulen Double Homicide, which is a very cool knife, but But man, that's a terrible name.
And the many, many Reaper names out there. Also, the John Gray Slut and many of the Top Snots.
I love the John Gray Slut. I don't know why. Just cracks me up.
All right, coming up, let's get to.

[2:36] Pocket check. What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives. Today in my front right pocket I had the Synergy. I absolutely love this. It's the Synergy 4 from Civivi and it's based on the Jim O'Young, well it is the Jim O'Young design that we first saw in the late 90s early 2000s, but done to the nines by Civivi. I love this G10 with the radial circular patterns coming from the pivot, has great grip, and then that Nitro-V blade, four inches in length, beautiful, beautiful tanto. I love it. It's got a considerable belly and a nice upsweep, and yet that point is right down the center line of that knife. So a beautiful knife.
I've been considering getting the gray version of this with the upswept blade, the non-tanto upswept blade.
That is also a very fetching design, but very ergonomic and I gotta say, beautiful looking.
Next up, in my front right pocket, this is where I've been carrying the slip joints lately.

[3:51] Because of the phone.
The phone goes in the front left, radiating my goodies right there.
Okay, so I have the Ohio River Jack here from C. Reisner Cutlery.
Traditional Pocket Knives is the place where you can buy these.
C. Reisner Cutlery is a brand of knife that has been.

[4:13] Well, a brand of knife owned and designed by Austin of C. Reisner Cutlery, whose grandfather was C. Reisner, Carl Reisner, who started the company in the first place.
He sells it through traditional pocket knives. And there are a number of these left.
You can still get these, even though the Lake Champlain Barlow is now the new release and that's been getting a lot of press.
Austin is sending me one graciously. I can't wait to get that.
But you've seen a lot of other knife fluencers out there talking about the Lake Champlain Barlow.
Named after the aircraft carrier, Lake Champlain, that Carl Reisner of C. Reisner Cutlery.

[4:56] Served on back in World War II.
So kind of a, well, a very cool naming naming, and a very cool, um...

[5:04] What am I trying to say, thematic sort of attachment to the personal aspect of the designer.
All that said, this is a great knife. It's got a very strong back spring, so really good walk and talk, and very confident in hand that that thing is not gonna close.
Even if you exert some pressure with the thumb while cutting down, you're still gonna be receiving force in the opposite direction.
This thing is not gonna close on you or anything like that.
And while it's not closing on you and doing an awesome job cutting with that M390 blade, it's going to be looking damn good with that. Perfect. I love the canvas my card at QSP is using on this. It is so even and on both sides so even in terms of how much dye there is compared to how much epoxy there is. Sometimes too much epoxy makes my card look gray and you don't get that at all in this. It feels great. It cuts great. I'm a big fan of the Ohio River Jack.
Okay, next up, in my waistband, now that it's Fall and I can start carrying a little bit larger fixed blade knives, I got my Hogtooth Knives Ruffian in the waistband today, but this does require a three o'clock carry in the waistband.
I've moved everything up front to that appendix carry, but this is probably the largest EDC I carry fixed blade. It's definitely the largest.

[6:30] Pardon me, I'm coming down. Well, I've already gotten under the weather, so I'm sick as a dog right now, so you have to excuse that.
But this is the biggest EDC I carry, and like I said, it's gotta go over here in the three o'clock position, otherwise up here, it's stabbing into all sorts of stuff I don't want it to jam into.
But just a great knife, 154CM, Matt Chase.

[6:54] He is a journeyman Smith, but in my eyes, he's a master. he does just beautiful, beautiful work.
And knives like this and the Nova 1 and the EDC Tanto by him are water-jetted 154CM, and then he does everything else.
And then the fancy pants knives he makes are all forged from the start.
So he's been making knives for 30 years, 32 years, and he's younger than I am.
The stuff he's making is just incredible. I hope for a long, long, long career for Matt Chase, because that means I will have many, many, many of his knives in the future.
Okay, and then last up for emotional support, an odd one, not odd, but just one I haven't carried in a long time. Yep, your eyes serve you right. I had the Griptilian, the Benchmade Griptilian on me, just on a lark. And this is a great knife.
And I forget about it because I like to dish on Benchmade and all the many bad decisions they've made over the years.
But the Griptilian was a great decision and a great knife.
However, the handle was a little too short, a little too light, a little too cheap feeling for me.
And the 154CM blade is just so exquisite on the Griptilian.

[8:12] And I would imagine no matter what flavor you get, but this is just the standard, I think I got this at REI years ago.
But I got the advanced weapons technology handles on it.
Really, really nice aluminum anodized handles. AWT started out making, they make things, for long range shooting, rifles and stuff like that, but they veered into machining parts for, handles for various bench made knives.
And this one is awesome. I like to say that these scales saved the Griptilian in my eyes.
So this is what I had on me today. What did you carry? Drop it down below.
I actually like the look of this right now. We got the Civivi Synergy 4.
We got the Ohio Riverjack, the Ruffian from Hogtooth Knives, and the Benchmade Griptilian.
I like the size differential between all four of those.
Let me know what you had on you and drop it in the comments below.
Okay, well here's a knife that I, here, let me close this so you can hear it.
This is the Ohio Riverjack.

[9:18] Great walk and talk. A knife that I kind of wish were a part of my collection and could have been.
If I were a little more crafty about it, but I shouldn't. Is a knife that was donated to the channel by Dave, this old sword blade reviews?
Yes, it is the beautiful Kaiser Sliver. I love this knife.
This is an aluminum handled, fluted, radial fluted aluminum handle, contoured.
If you look at it in cross section, it's curved this way, contoured very, very nicely.
And you have an S35VN blade again, not again, but I mention this every time I bring out this blade.
It reminds me of a Peshkab's blade. You got a slight recurve, a slight downward angle, but you still have a belly and that point is just below center line.
So you're gonna get great utility use out of this. That's a hollow ground blade, by the way.
Slicy as the day is long.
You're gonna get a lot of utility use out of this, but it's also, I don't know, just incredibly good looking.
Look at this line down here where the fingers wrap around the handle and how it continues straight and then dips down ever so slightly when you get towards the tip of the blade.
This thing is just meant for work and I gotta say it would be a great self-defense knife if you needed it to be so.
Because of that downward angle, you get accelerated slashes, you got a point in a great place, especially for a reverse grip.

[10:45] Thrusting, jabbing, and stuff like that.
But also you have this fluted handle which is gonna keep it in your hand nicely.
So this, oh, and it's also on washers.
So you get that lush hydraulic feel.
It's really nice.
I want people to go back to washers a little more. I like the drop shut action, but man, let's not be Johnny One Note with our action here.
I do think we need to pay some attention to the washers again.
Okay, so this is the October Knife Junkie Gentleman Junkie Knife Giveaway Knife.
Heizer Sliver, as I mentioned.
And this will be on October 19th, we'll be giving this away.
If you are interested in that, you do have to be a part of us on Patreon.
Quickest way to do that is go to theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon.
But really what you're doing is you're helping support the show, and you're also getting exclusive interview extras, and some other things, and then you're getting injected into the Knife Giveaway Contest.

[11:45] So do go check us out on Patreon, if not just to assuage your curiosity, and find out what we're all about there.
Okay, coming up, we're going to take a look at some knife life news right here on the, Knife Junkie Podcast.

[11:58] Among this week's specials at Knives Ship Free, the Chris Reeve Small Sebenza 31, left handed with double silver lugs, in stock while supplies last.
These featured the drop point blade in Magna Cut. The Lil Muk from LT Wright packs a punch with a flat ground O1 blade.
The ergonomic handle provides a nice grip with multiple handle options to choose from.
The Bark River knives, Bravo Strike Force II is back with a brand new production run.
This stylish 3V blade has a slight recurve and Bark River's signature convex grind.
Get these deals and other great specials from our friends at Knives Ship Free. Just use our affiliate link, theknifejunkie.com slash Knives Ship Free. That's theknifejunkie.com slash Knives Ship Free. Support the show and get a great new knife at the same time. Theknifejunkie.com slash Knives Ship Free.
You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast. And now, here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.
Reading that liner was AI Jim.
That was very cool to hear. I think we should do that from now on. I like it.
All right, let's talk a little bit about the Kershaw Leek. It's a knife we all know and love.
Came out in the year 2000, so it's been around for 23 years.
The Kershaw Leek is now coming out in a special edition, and they've done this many times, special editions, but this one.

[13:17] Is in MagnaCut, just like every other knife. And I'm not dishing, I think it's awesome.
I wish all of my knives were in MagnaCut at this point, except for my 154CM knives.
Anyway, so they have a comic book, an in-house comic book series called The Edge at Kershaw.
And so this knife is to commemorate that. I'm sure there are a lot of Kershaw nerds out there who know exactly what this is all about.
I myself do not, but I gotta say, I gave my Kershaw leak to my wife, so it's still in the house, but it's not really mine.
And seeing this one, I'm just loving the leak. Look at that blade.
What a beautiful blade. Wharncliffe usefulness, long before Wharncliffe's were in vogue.

[14:01] Anyway, so this leak is a tribute to The Edge. And this is a comic book made by Joe Zavaletta, I thought I would mention, just because you make a comic book, you should be acknowledged for it.
The knife comes with a book, it's a compendium of all five episodes of the Edge comic book series and it's available now directly and exclusively from Kershaw.
So you want that leak of yours in MagnaCut, go check it out.
By the way, I also like that gunmetal gray anodization on the handle.
Next up from another Stahlwert brand, this time CRKT, they are collaborating with Daryl Kastan of D-Rocket Designs.
We know him for his very retro-futuristic designs, sort of 50s, 60s ideas of what the future would be, and we see that in the design language of Daryl's knives.

[14:57] He also frequently adds very unique ways of deploying or locking up a blade, which is also exciting.

[15:06] Here we have the new Mbombo.
Mbombo, M-B-O-M-B-O, Mbombo. I don't know, it sounds African, or in my experience, Fijian.
The Fijians in the Fiji language, they put the M before the B a lot.
Mbombo.
Don't ask me how I know that, it's a very random fact. I'm not that efficient.

[15:29] The D-Rocket retro-futuristic design here has an inline flipper tab, so when it's closed it does not protrude from the design at all.
At all, and you just pull it back, kind of like those early mods on the Boker Burnley Quaken where you just carve away a little bit at the top of that bolster and it gives you a spot on the tang to grip.
The stylized Tanto is very fetching to me, you've got this big giant fuller down the middle and then you have a nearly 90 degree angle with the curve coming off there, so you've got a sharp front and a sharp bottom.
Kind of how it pans out. Damascus blade steel, which we don't see often from or ever from CRKT and a titanium body. It's a frame lock, this one. This is going to release the week of Blade Show West. That's next week for this recording next weekend, October 13th and 14th, 2023. I like what CRKT is doing to class up their lineup. I think their very first one, The IKOMA with the new lock, the deadbolt lock, was a misstep because it came out for 750 bucks and they had to give them away to influencers.

[16:44] To get attention.
This is way more in line with what they should be doing. So I'm very, very psyched to see this.
All right, next up, we got the Prometheus Designworks Invictus SP.
Now the Prometheus Designworks is a project, a company owned by Patrick Ma who started Triple Lot Design.
And we remember the Triple Lot Design, what the hell was it called, the Dauntless.
Very cool name, by the way.
The Dauntless was a project knife that Patrick Ma came out with for Triple Lot Design, which mostly designed tactical gear, like backpacks, jackets, clothes, and that kind of thing.
But they did make a very exclusive knife called the Dauntless.
And each new release of the Dauntless was designed by a different maker, and it kept certain visual thematic elements to it, but then it would be the maker's take.
So they had a lot of different dauntlesses. This Prometheus design Invictus is based on the dauntless.
We can see some of that influence in the handle there.

[17:50] This knife has been around for a while. They had a teravantium release of this. Teravantium is a, dendritic cobalt alloy that Prometheus Design Works came out with that does not rust at all.
This line is a, or I should say, this re-release is different. They're taking those contoured scales from the original Invictus and flattening them out. They still got those same grooves, but it's a much thinner blade, or a much thinner handle, and now the blade is magna-cut.
The whole idea behind this redesign, I'm gonna read a quote from Patrick Ma, is, let's see, he says, originally designed to address in the waistband carry with board shorts, presumably that's surfing shorts.
These are well-suited for anyone who's looking for a full-size technical folder in a slimmer profile.
And of course, we're stoked about the first knife offering in CPM MagnaCut alloy.
So, that's directly from Patrick Ma.

[18:56] This, designed to put in the waistband while you're surfing. How cool is that?
I love it. Total adventure knife. I've seen a couple of videos up there about this new release.
So, check out some of our trusted voices. These are available now on the Prometheus Design Works, work's website, the Invictus SP.
Alright, last up in KnifeLife news, You know how I love the Boker Burnley Quaken.
You might hear a tinge of sarcasm in my voice, and it's half-intended.
I have always thought the Boker Burnley Quaken, designed by Lucas Burnley, is a beautiful knife.
The part that always makes me laugh is it's endlessly reiterated.
They have made the Boker Burnley Quaken in so many different versions at this point, it's mind-boggling.
And I find it a fun kind of, you know, just hobby to dish on them.
Even though I think it's a great knife.
I think Boker Plus makes great knives. I think Lucas Burnley is a fantastic designer and just, I mean, he's a, at this point, he's a stalwart for sure.
But it's just kind of recreational for me to dish on him.
So the new Boker Burnley Quaken, we know what a Quaken is. It's that flat-backed but upswept.

[20:16] Traditional Japanese-style blade.
Well, the Quaken is now a dagger. Yeah, that's right. It is totally symmetrical, the Quaken Zim.
The only thing that's not symmetrical about this is the cutting edge. Oh man, a lie.
Why won't people just put another edge on the dagger? Because it won't sell as well.
Yeah, but if you're gonna go into the dagger territory, how dare you not sharpen that top edge.
All that said, it is beautiful. Look at this thing. As usual, Lucas Burnley pulls out a beautiful design, elegant, and actually gives a very nice tip of the hat to the Quaken, taking that line right up by the bolster, where the point is, dropping it down to the pivot, and then adding a beautiful dagger blade.
It's all so good, it all fits in the handle so well. That's a titanium handle with titanium bolsters and G10.

[21:19] What, just double-edged it? So that's what I would do. If I were to get this, I would hire someone to, maybe I'd send it to someone to put a double-edge on it, but it's goofy, but it's beautiful.
You know, the flagship knife for Boker, in my opinion, is this knife.
Flagship in terms of modern locking, and so why not reiterate it indefinitely?
This is 154CM, and obviously inspired by the Italian stiletto. It is available now.

[21:51] If any of you get this, please let me know how you like it. As much as I'd like to dislike it, just for fun, I think it's pretty beautiful.
Just double-edged it, that's all.
All right, next up on the Knife Junkie Podcast, we're gonna take a look at a couple of knives, well, five, that are OEMed by guests of this show.
Coming up on the Knife Junkie Podcast. 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 knifejunkie.com slash shop.
And now that we're caught up with Knife Life News, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
No new knives for this week, so I wanted to reflect upon an adjacent topic to the main topic of the day, which is amazing handmade knives by Knife Junkie podcast guests.
I need to stipulate, this is definitely a part one, because at this point...

[23:10] Almost my entire collection is made up of knives designed by or made by guests.
I'm sure that's only about half or three quarters of the collection, but I want to start showcasing some of these great designers and makers beyond what we talk about on the show.
So the first one up here in OEM knives designed by guests designed by guests, is the Dirk Pinkerton-designed asymmetrical contact.

[23:42] This is one of my absolute favorites and go-to's, go-to EDC knives, especially during the summer.
I was carrying this a lot during the summer because it is a three and a quarter inch blade, and I am not generally a three and a quarter inch blade kind of guy.
I usually tend towards knives a little bit larger.
But this one, I'm an absolute sucker for Dirk Pinkerton designs.
I love his knives, and this one really speaks to the things I love about it, because it is definitely a great EDC knife with that wharncliffe blade and that straight edge.
You could utility cut open boxes and work on science fair projects all day long, with this thing and get all the utility of a knife that approximates, you know, a utility cutter.

[24:39] But then, you look at the handle, and it's titanium, it's a frame lock, it's got that beautiful anodized clip, and it's got incredible action.
And then, you look at how this thing would fit in your hand if you had to use it to defend yourself.
And here you look at it, you've got a point forward Paul-style knife with an outreaching edge, which is what you want out of this kind of self-defense knife.
I brought it up with Dirk when he was on the show last time and he said, yeah, that's his intention with every knife.
He recognizes the fact that no one fights with their knife, but everyone carrying a knife.
Thinks about that as a possibility, who knows? And we're not just talking about people, you could be walking your dog, and you might need to defend yourself against something wild, like someone else's dog, or whatever.
The point is, you never know if you might need that knife as a weapon instead of a tool, or in addition to a tool.
This one is a tool all day long, but if it needs to flex into a weapon, it's great.
And then of course, on the slash and the thrust, we get all the benefits of a wharncliffe, that Michael Janich talks about.

[25:55] When he talks about the Yojimbo design.
So first up, the Asymmetrical Contact by Dirk Pinkerton, a exquisite designer, and at this point, I count him as a friend. He's an awesome dude.
All right, next up is from another awesome dude who I also count as a friend, and that's Ben Belkin of Jack Wolf Knives.
We know Jack Wolf Knives for their amazing slip joints, taking traditional designs and modernizing them with materials and design tweaks for the modern-day traditional knife fetishes.
However, Ben, after a full year of releasing knives and kind of going through a broad sector, of the traditional slip-joint patterns, he doubled back to his first pattern, a flip-point gunstock jack, gunstock jack and turned it into a bolster lock knife.

[26:53] And the reason this one makes this list is it amazed me when this came out.
Sorry, I gotta use the right hand.
It amazed me when this came out because he had, Ben Belkin had really, he learned CAD and all that to start this company and really mastered slip joint design.
And then his first outing with a front flipper Locking bolster knife.
My God, he nailed it. So, I mean, if that's not talent, what is?
And, you know, talent is nothing without hard work. I believe that 100%. And he has both.
He did both. He has the talent and he put in the hard work.
And my God, this gunslinger is amazing. I think it's called the gunslinger jack, but I don't call it a jack, because it's more of a front tip.
3 1⁄4 inch blade, perfect in the EDC realm in terms of size of knife.
And then, something I've neglected to speak about at all is the blade, the full height, hollow ground, S90V blade cuts, I mean, really I gotta be honest, I don't really ever see any need to sharpen any of my Jackwolves, they're all either M390 or S90V, come super except for the Pioneer Jack, but I've gotten that super sharp.
And now with those blade steels and the kind of use they get, I can't imagine ever having to put a new edge down the middle of these knives.

[28:21] All right, that's the Jack Wolf Gunslinger. Next up, from our good friends Kevin and Colin over at Devo Knives, is the Stout.
I love the Stout. I got this, I bought this from them at their table at Blade Show.
I should have cleaned up the blade.
There's some schmutz on there. But this one I got a chance to check out when it was just a prototype.
And I really fell for it because the blade reminded me at first of a Bowie and then of a Hudson River knife.
It's got that belly of a Skinner, but sort of a clip point, just like you see on a Hudson River knife, those old traders' knives from the fur traders in the 18th and 19th centuries in Canada.
And I just, I think this knife is great. Very tall and slicey.
This one has, I don't remember the blade steel on this one.
I think it might be 154, but they have come out with a new run of these with different handle treatments and they're really cool.

[29:25] Check out Devo Knives, they're just shooting through the roof, man.
What am I trying to say? They're taking off because it's a great partnership between a great designer, Colin Maison-Pierre, and Kevin Johnson, you know, lefty EDC, who's got such knowledge about knives.
And if you're only listening, that was my brain bursting. He's a very, very, very smart and knowledgeable guy with knives, also nice and funny.
And so this just hits on all cylinders for me. Plus, that micarta, you see that little stain?
That is from a delicious pork lunch I had with my wife on the day I was playing hooky.
Nothing like pork fat to patina micarta. All right, I better get moving here.
I got a lot of knives to show off here.
All right, this one is from Israel Bacchus in Arcane Design.
Uh, this is a double-edged dagger, take note, take note Boker, double-edged dagger fits perfectly in the handle. Be careful, use the quillions to shut it.

[30:27] You can see how deeply recessed that dagger is. Israel Bacchus of arcane design has a really, really great design sense.
Again, retro-futuristic. I mentioned that concept with Daryl Castonknife earlier.
Definitely inspired by science fiction and a sort of, again, retro-futurism.
And what I mean by that is what we all thought the future would look like in the 1950s.
Here we have a Tesla coil on the clip and a Riat made knife.
And Riat, I need more Riat in my life.
I don't know if I can afford more Riat in my life, but the knives that they make are exquisite. I have two of them, this and the Riat branded K2.
So Israel Bacchus, amazing designer, great guy also, and then having his knives designed, designing his knives and having them made by some of the top makers out there.
This one here, lastly in this list, is designed by Jason Knight.

[31:33] And made by Fox Knives and brought to you by Elements, Tactical Elements.
This is the MK Ultra.
God, I love this knife. This is the perfect folding Kukri.
I think it's even better than the Rajah 2.
The Rajah 2, of course, can handle more. It's a bigger, arguably more robust knife, but in terms of taking the Kukri design and translating it into a folder, this is it, baby.
This is it, and Jason Knight, if you know him at all from Forged in Fire or any of his custom work, he is all about the Kukri and the Bowie.
Like, I see Bowie influence in his Kukris, And this right here is the perfect representation his design.

[32:21] OEM by Fox, I love this thing. So this is a concept in a series I'd like to continue because the knife industry is, as far as I know, unlike any other industry, enthusiast industry.
My wife likes to run, but she's not sending in sneaker designs to Nike, you know, she's not sending t-shirt designs into Under Armour.
So to me, there's something totally unique about the knife world, because you have dorks like myself and Kevin Johnson, I'm not calling him a dork.

[32:55] But he, more like me, you know, I had one knife made, but he started a whole knife company out of his nerdiness for knives, and I absolutely love that, and that obviously is in no way a diss, I love Kev, but the point is, you're not seeing that in any other industry.
Okay, I think I've made my point. Now I'm gonna show off some knives that are handmade by some of the guests that have been on the Knife Junkie podcast.
Now, if you know anything about the show, you've been here for a while, you know that I talk to makers, designers, manufacturers, reviewers, I talk to a lot of different, people on this show.
But the real bread and butter are the makers, the people making them themselves, because I like to find out how they make a go at it.
How the hell do you feed your family making knives? And these guys do it, and I love it.
I have very few custom or handmade folders.

[33:53] As a matter of fact, that number is two, and I'm gonna start with both of them.
All right, first up, this is definitely a prized possession in my knife thing, in my knife collection, because it is from, this knife comes from a real legend.
This is the Greg Lightfoot Element. This knife I had custom made by Greg Lightfoot after he came on the show, and he.

[34:18] I'm gonna put it this way, he sensed that I couldn't really afford what he makes, because he makes this design and many other sort of exotic designs in very exotic materials, and they are beautiful and they are very expensive, but I really wanted a Greg Lightfoot knife.
Sensed it," he said.
Well, at this point, it's been so long, I feel like I can say this, he's like, don't tell anyone else that I'm doing this for you, but I'll make you a tactical version, a tactical version of the element.
And so I stipulated I want the green micarta and all that, he gave me this sweet nickels Damascus clip, but basically, Greg Lightfoot did me a serious solid and made me one of his knives for a fraction of what he charges for what he's actually doing now.
So this knife not only is beautiful, but it means a lot to me, because this is someone extending themself to me.
This thing is .8 inches thick.
It is thick, daddy-o.

[35:24] I mean, this thing, here, let me compare it to the, here it is next to the Devo growler. Look at that.
It makes the growler look like a liner here.
Very, very thin.
So this knife is a big chunker. This, Greg Lightfoot was one of the first big tactical folder makers.
We can see some of his designs in earlier CRKT, but mostly he's been a custom maker.
This recurve tanto I fell in love with.
So this is definitely a prized knife. I'll never get rid of this one, seeing as he made it special for me, but also, I mean, how many of you folks have a Greg Lightfoot?
And I don't mean it like that. I got but you know there is some pride and ownership in all the things we get whether it's a 15 v, big brown bear a Shaman by Spyderco or whether it's the Magna cut leak or or it's a light foot custom, We all take pride in ownership.

[36:27] Anyway, okay. Oh, that was a very Joe Biden line. Anyway, okay. Yeah, I lose my train of thought. I'm just gonna say anyway from now on.
Next up is the Attention to Detail Mercantile or A2D Mark I. This is the large. This is one of the very first folders that Douglas Esposito ever made.
And it's an absolutely beautiful knife. It lacks some of what you get now in A2D, which is really, really buttery bearing action.

[37:03] Like I said, this is one of his first folders, and this is on nylon washers, and I love nylon washers, but when you go to his, when I go to his booth, at Blade Show these days and check out his knives, which are a little bit out of reach for me, that are quite expensive, but they are so good.
Here's a former Marine and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with a school who's making these outstanding knives, exquisite. This one here with this inlay, this natural micarta inlay, this is what got me to spend the money to buy this knife.
This was all done with a Panagraph. And there is no flaw in the fit.
Law in the fit. The fit is absolutely perfect.
A second or third knife out.

[37:52] Absolutely perfect, and he does the inlay on the lock side too.
Man, I'm very, very proud to own an early A2D mercantile knife.
Even with its flaws, it's got lock stick and all that. As a matter of fact, sometimes it sticks up a lot, but I don't care.
It's like this tattoo on my arm. At this point, it's all blended in and it's all faded and the ink has moved has moved or whatever, but the guy who did it is a legend.
So I have an early legendary tattoo by that dude, I have an early legendary knife by this dude, and there's a certain pride in that ownership.
Great knife. Okay, next up is the TKEL Knives Night Stalker.
TKEL, God, I'm such a fan of TKEL Knives, and I'm gonna be totally honest right here, and I think it's because I've taken some, some cough suppressant but I'm feeling honest and at first I didn't like TKAL knives and then I got one in hand I was like oh my god.

[39:01] These are great great knives and to me this Night Stalker which was a gift from Tim of Tim Kel knives I had bought the I was buying the the combatant and he He dropped this in the box, unbeknownst to me, I showed up, I'm like, two knives?
He wanted to get this in my hand because he knew how great this knife is, and it is amazing.
This is their most selling knife, the Night Stalker.
Yeah, it's got a ring on it, and you know what I've said about rings in the past, but if you use it in saber grip or traditional grip, that ring makes a great pommel, and then in standard grip, the ring is perfectly positioned, so that you can make a fist.
Or hold it, make a fist, or hold it in such a way that it does not realign your knuckles and in no way.

[39:54] So that's the big problem with rings as far as I see it.
They're positioned in such a way that oftentimes you're holding them unnaturally. This fits perfectly.
And then this is one of the AEBL versions. They do a lot with 80CRV, which is a great, great steel, but this was a stainless venture.
And then you got that, the coating on there that makes it real slick.
These knives are great. This is probably, well, this is one of two favorite knives to carry, fixed blade, because this just rides, like, so undetectably on the front.
Right where the belt buckle is, I just slide my belt buckle over to the left, I drop this right next to it, and it sits flat.
I can wear a t-shirt over it, and you can't even see it. But then you have this super capable knife.
And by the way, these things are ridiculously sharp. These knives, T-Kel knives are crazy sharp.
All right, so there's that. And by the way, since the word is already out, I sent a design to Tim Kel, and we're doing a collaboration knife that's gonna be coming out soon.
I think maybe even this month, at least initially.
And I'm very excited about that.

[41:16] Because I love his knives, and honestly, I think he is just such a cool person, that I'm happy to be doing something with him.
All right, next up, another very cool person who's been on the show a couple of times.
He was on episode 375, is Stroop, Chris Stroop.

[41:35] By the way, well, I'll get to that later. Stroop. He was on episode 375 and then I think he came on a Thursday Night Knives also. I have his.

[41:48] Which one? TR2 with my logo on it. That was a gift for Christmas for my wife a couple of years back.
Then Blade Show 2022, I went with one mission to find a push dagger, and this was the one I came away with. I love this push dagger, and it carries very nicely by the body.
I have this sheet with a horizontal clip on it, and I actually put it angled in the waistband, clipping this to the pants, belt riding over it, and it's the perfect, perfect carry.
And so what I was looking for in a push dagger was the asymmetrical handle, where it's coming out between the, the blade is coming out between the forefinger and the middle finger, aka the swear word finger.
And to me, you get more control over that blade having it closer to the top of your hand where you're used to having a knife than you do in the center.
Center is great if you have a, what do they call it, a Katar, and you're pit fighting, like Conan the Barbarian, but if you're just carrying it in the waistband for self-defense purposes, coming out through these two fingers is where it's at for me.

[43:07] This is also 80 CRV, a very sharp chisel ground. You see it flat on that side.
That comes to quite a high peak on the front side. This means it's going to leave a nasty triangular wound if you have to punch someone with this because they're being a Mommalook and you have to vanquish them.
It.
Assuming you'll never have to do that and you're just gonna carry this and occasionally open a box with it or whatever. It is gorgeous, Beautifully done beautifully made beautifully designed, but also just good to go for action.

[43:41] You know, I haven't seen that action thank God hopefully never will but I Practice and it seems like this one would draw pretty easily Next up, another one that draws very easily and carries really nicely.
This is my second favorite knife to carry, or I should say, the second in my line to be a favorite to carry in front scout style behind the Night Stalker is the 302 by Aaron Bieber Knives.
Aaron Bieber was on episode 432 and he's a great guy. He's a great guy. I met, I've been following him on Instagram because of this knife. And, then also a pakal style knife he does that's actually a recurve tanto pakal. It's just.

[44:29] Just beautiful. But this one is my favorite of his designs. When I was walking around blade show setup in 2022, just this past June, I saw him made a beeline. He was there with John Gray, John Gray is a friend of his and a bit of a mentor, I think, and they were set up right next to each other.
So I went over there, struck up a conversation with Aaron, looked at some of his knives, and through conversation we discovered that we both went to the same art school, which was an immediate, to me, I was like, that's a cool bond, because it was a pretty serious art school, and so I took that into account and then looked at his blades, felt his knives in my hand, and thought, here is someone who really, really understands knives, but obviously also really, really understands art.
And so to have those things combined.

[45:26] You know, in one piece felt very special to me. So I knew I had to order one of these with some swiftness.
A few months later, he comes on the show, and we talk about this knife and all the other knives and his knife-making voyage, I'm gonna say.

[45:44] And I knew for my birthday knife this year, I had to get one.
So I got this with the white ray skin and the sukamaki wrap, he's so good at that.
Tsukamaki wrap is so great for grip, that's why the samurai used it, right?
You've got those alternating peaks and valleys that really capture the fat of your palm and your fingers, and man, it gives great grip.
This knife, I almost forget I have on me. It's so light and slender and sits so nicely on the belt, and also, it's MagnaCut.
So yeah, not too much MagnaCut in the collection, but this is one of them.
Okay, next up is the Kramer Custom Knives, Eric Kramer, not Bob Kramer, who makes custom kitchen knives.
This is the Eric Kramer Custom Voodoo. Eric Kramer was on episode 220, very interesting dude, and started his career after post guard.

[46:44] And he had a lot of friends in the different military branches who he was making knives for, and his original thought was, like me, He's like, I grew up with Rambo and Commando and Predator.
And if you're a special operator, obviously you want something approximating a short sword, because that's cool.
And so he was making all these big, gnarly knives for his friends who were requesting them, and then they would come back with feedback saying, this is such a great knife, but it's too damn heavy.
I'm already carrying 30 pounds of ammo, and 20 pounds of this, and 20 pounds of that, whatever they're carrying.
I need my knife to be lighter. So he started making lighter, thinner knives that are super robust and great for combat.
And this is one of them. This is the Voodoo.
Now, great for combat, I say. This would be great for personal defense.
I had him double-edge this one. Usually, it's just a swedge on top.
But nonetheless, the point is still pretty fine. So this is definitely more of a self-defense tactical knife.
But even, you know, because when I say combat knife, I think of utility built in there.
You can definitely use that for this, but for me, this is a great EDC carry because it's nice and thin.

[48:06] You've got micarta about the thickness as the blade, and you've got a sort of a broadness in the handle that makes it fit perfectly.
So this was probably one of the first custom fixed blade knives that I purchased from the maker and carried on the regular.
I have not carried this in a little while, but just talking about it and having it out, I need to bring it back out because it is a great, great carry.
And he makes a whole host of beautiful knives.
He's working on one right now, or he makes one right now that he's making a lot of, that's based on this MAC V-Saw. So just really awesome.
Next up is a EDC Dagger, which you don't see much of, and certainly not in my collection.
There I have the bicycle inner tube there to keep it from moving around when it's in the waistband.
But this is the auxiliary manufacturing pocket rocket, three-inch dagger.

[49:08] The pocket rocket can be had in a couple of different blade styles.
There's a pical version of this, and then you can get a six or four-inch dagger version of this knife. This is the three-inch, and I love this knife.
Even though it has a relatively straight, well, it's a very straight and angular handle, And it carries very comfortably in that appendix style carry I was talking about before.
Usually you think of curves accommodating the body and the man's belly better, but for some reason this one just rides up that angle of the appendix perfectly for me.
It can be drawn with a pinch of the forefinger and the knuckle because of these facets, curved facets that go all the way around.

[49:57] It's an excellent handle, and no matter how you grab it, sometimes it ends up in this position.
I like to call this a shovel position, because it reminds me of scooping with a shovel, or a shovel punch, you know, that sort of shovel punch to the gut, it's sort of like an uppercut, except it's going horizontally.
So this knife makes for a great, great self-defense knife, no doubt, because of that dagger shape, and this really excellent handle. It's not going anywhere, and yet, you don't need a double guard.
But if you're not getting in knife fights, like I usually don't, this makes for a great EDC.
You just gotta be careful of that back edge.
But the reason a double edge can make a great EDC is obviously you dull one side of that Nitro V blade And then you can flip it over and use the other.

[50:49] So, Michael Jarvis, check out Auxiliary Manufacturing. You can start with episode 391, and then move on from there.
All right, next up, from episode 256, this is J.B. Knife and Tool.
You probably know him if you're at all interested, or you probably know them if you're at all interested in, say, well, EDC fixed blade carry, sure, but Pakal-style Libre fighting.
They make a number of knives that are Libre-ready, as a matter of fact, they make the official Libre fighting knife, I believe.
But this is the Ditch Pick. So JB Knife and Tool, the Pick originally was a Picall-style knife of this profile.
Picall meaning the edge was on that back side, and this was not sharpened, so you get use Use of that gross motor motion like a cat as you fend off an attacker.
Taking advantage of that arcing motion, you get the point down here and the edge in here, and you're penetrating and pulling, penetrating and pulling, and it's very, very devastating.
This one is double-edged, so it's twice as devastating.

[52:06] A great EDC, it carries very nicely in that appendix carry. carry this sort of curve and this handle accommodates the belly but you can easily reach down, pinch it like this and pull it. All of the Ditch models, that Ditch designation from JB Knife and Tool means it's a sixteenth of an inch thick, the blade, just like a cheap steak knife and they test the toughness of these knives and they're very tough, they bend quite, a bit and return to true, this is 1095 blade steel.
And so they're getting a lot of mileage out of a very thin, thin blade steel.
And the idea behind that is ultra self-defense.
I.e. the thinner the blade, the quicker it slices, the easier it penetrates.
Okay, next up, from Blackrock Knives, episode 180, this is Tenvehikite, who, man, he makes some really cool knives. But this one was the coolest to me at the time when I bought this. This is the monkey thumb.

[53:13] Now, made by Fox Knives, Fox Knives, he licensed this design to Fox, and they make a single-edge version of this without all of the cool rock patterning and stuff, but this is 80 CRV, hand-sculpted and double-edged here.
It makes a great self-defense knife. It carries nicely, and the ring, also, as I mentioned with the TKAL knives, that ring is right in line so I can make a fist, without realigning my fingers.
I do like how the hole has a squared off pommel.

[53:54] So if you're carrying this knife, like if I use this knife in forward grip, I'm not using that ring.
I'm not big into putting my pinky through any rings.
But like this, it fits perfectly in my hand. And then what you have is an attitude adjuster over here.
But if you're carrying it in that traditional karambit style and reverse grip, you have those flats to stop rotation.
If you're flipping it around, doing your tricks and stuff, and trying to hurt someone in a very tricky way, you can use this flat portion of the pommel to stop rotation.
So I'm not even gonna attempt on camera to do this because I don't wanna slice myself and humiliate myself, But this one is very facile in the hand and moves around really well. Very nicely radiused on the inside, very comfortable. But at the end of the day, what it is, here I'm going to set it down, what it is is kind of a cuckoo. Because if you look at the flat of the spine and then you look at that extreme downward plunge of the straight of this and then you've got the rounding off of the belly and then the point even below center line, I'd say say you got kind of a kukri.
Also, you have a very good secondarily effective utility cutter because of that point orientation.

[55:18] So Ken Vihikite, Blackrock Knives, check out the episode, it was episode 180.
And look at him on Instagram, he does some really, really nice stuff.

[55:29] All in the fixed blade tactical.
Uvva, uvva, or whatever that word is. Okay, next up is the second one from A2D.
This is the only repeat.
This was my very, very first custom knife, and it is a beauty.
This is the Attention to Detail Mercantile Medium Holder.

[55:50] Now this one was made in the back of Douglas's jujitsu school when he was here in Virginia.
He has since moved, but I went to visit him and pick up this knife from his school.
And it was cool. It was really, really great to see. Not only did he have an outstanding looking jujitsu school, this big, really beautiful spot, but he had in the lobby a case with all the knives he had made thus far, and then in the back, a shop.
This was before his folding days, folder knife days, and that's pretty much what he does exclusively now.
But his fixed blades were so gorgeous. And this is a medium-sized fighter, so you see that bayonet-type grind.
I had him sharpen it all the way to the jimping there. So you got double-edged, asymmetrical, in that this is less slicey on the back.
It's still hollow ground, but more oblique behind the edge. Here it's really thin behind the edge, hollow ground, and very slicey.
I love tortoise shell. he put that imitation tortoise shell over brass liners, crown spine on this S35VN, DVD-coated blade.

[57:07] This is one of the few knives, or I shouldn't put it that way, what I should say is this is one of those knives in my collection that if I were an assassin, if my living happened to involve fighting knives, this would be one of them, or if I were making a movie about people who fight with knives, this would be one of them.
Or if I were called out to a duel, This is one of three knives I would build.
All right, second to last, this may be four knives I would bring, and this might be one of them.
This is the Dirk Pinkerton Razorback. Dirk Pinkerton was on episode 88 and 362.
Awesome dude, I count him as a friend, and I'm really, everything about what he does, I'm enamored with, because he does really, really cool folder designs that he has, and a couple of fixed blade designs that he has produced by companies like Kaiser and Concept and others.

[58:09] But then he hand makes knives also and sells these custom knives and they're positively beautiful.
I have three of his custom knives.
I have the Fire Ant Triple Edge, I have the Double Edge Pecal Cave Bear, and then I have this Razorback.
And yep, it's sharpened all the way up to the jimping.
This is a wicked sort of mashup between a Kanjar or another curved, double-edged Middle Eastern blade, and the Bill Bagwell Hell's Bells Bowie.

[58:44] Magna cut, or I'm sorry, L-Max, and really, really fine micarta, great handle, really nice ergonomics.
No more than you need on that handle. This would be a hard one to disarm using that handle.
But I mean, which one wouldn't? If I had a knife in my hand and you're trying to disarm it, through a protruding pommel, I'd mess you up. So don't even try.
But I thought it's good to mention because really in tactical knives, you don't want too much extra hanging off anywhere.
So this, and by the way, this, he makes amazing kydex sheets.
This one fits well in the three o'clock position, even in jeans.
And this one is pretty big, though sitting down is not comfortable.

[59:28] All right, last up in this collection, I'm sure you all know what it's gonna be, but yes, it is the 50th birthday knife, my hogtooth knives, Matt Chase, forged Loveless sub-hilt folder.
This is something I, this is, I drew it out, I didn't design it obviously, Bob Loveless did, but I drew it out kind of how I wanted it, with a stag handle. I love stag and this is my only stag blade handle. I think it's my, only stag handle period. And I wanted a sub-hilt and I wanted the long slender clip point double edge. And this is the result. And it's a positively beautiful piece of knife making. You can see if you look up real close. There we go. There's that pattern. He labored over this pattern and showed me how he did it. It was very...

[1:00:28] Very cool, yeah, that's wicked sharp on top and on the bottom.
And then he added the, sculpted these beautiful quillions. This is, he does this a lot with his knives, sculpts the quillions really beautifully.
These are made from wrought iron from the Goodfellow, or the Longfellow Bridge in Boston.
And that's Black Micarta. So, an exquisite build, this was the first, and heretofore last sub-hilt folder that Matt has made.
I think it was a real learning experience and maybe a bigger pain in the ass than he expected, but he did an incredible, incredible job on it.
I mentioned there'd be four knives that I would go into a duel with.
Well, yeah, the attention to detail mercantile medium folder perhaps that last Pinkerton Razorback, this knife of course, and then the Cold Steel Trailmaster Bowie.
Those are the four that I think would be most effective. This one is just really up there, especially for the workmanship.
All right, make sure that you tune back in. I'm gonna be doing more of this, showing off some of the amazing work from the guests of this show, whether it's amazing designs that have been OEMed by very good makers, or whether it's makers' hand-making knives that I've acquired.
I wanna show some of these off because these are the amazing people who make this hobby possible.

[1:01:57] All right, that just about does it for this episode of the Knife Junkie podcast.
Be sure to join us on Patreon. If you'd like to help support the show, just go here, scan the QR code, or go to theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon.
Join us here tomorrow night for Thursday Night Knives, and then on next Sunday for another interview special.
Actually, I have to amend that. Tomorrow night is my wife's birthday, Southern. But usually, Thursday, 10pm Eastern Standard Time.
That's what we're doing right here starting the weekend with blades 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 it 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 and you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie Podcast.

[1:03:15] Music.