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The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Call the Listener Line at 724-466-4487; Visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2024, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcript

[0:00] This week, I go Viking and Gurkha, a heartwarming story from Tacoma, and 10 really cool folders I should carry more often.
I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie Podcast.

[0:14] 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.
Go welcome back to the show my favorite comment this week was from ld667 or elda667 who says appreciate your take and comments on a knife i've been curious about and he's talking about the ram lock stitch from microtech it's just a wee bit too large for my liking but i wouldn't have known that without your comparisons and commentary thanks very much well i have to say thank you you very much man does that make me feel good because of all the videos we do here uh including this show the my close-up videos uh and commentary on knives are are the least viewed and uh it's nice to see that um well that my commentary on specific knives and those comparisons uh aren't falling on deaf ears and that uh they're actually making a difference in someone's purchasing habits.
Thank you, Elda, for letting me know. 667. Thank you, everyone, for watching and commenting this past week, especially on the shorts.
I'm very much enjoying putting out the shorts, and it seems like people like watching them. So I do appreciate that.
All right. Let us now get to a pocket check.
What's in his pocket? Let's find out.

[1:43] Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives. Speaking of Microtech, I had this little beauty in my pocket today.
Not so little, though they just came out with a small version of this, smaller.
This is the Microtech SOCOM Bravo, the first overseas-produced Microtech ever.
Two years ago, they started this partnership with Reich Knives, a knife company in China known for their super-precision, yet very artistic and sculptural folding knives.
And you know they make the knives that look like um like insects and and uh skeletons and all sorts of crazy stuff uh but not cheesy we're not talking gas station knives we're talking highly highly uh precise and well-made knives well this seemed to be the perfect company to put together the socom bravo socom bravo has long been a a knife coming out of micro tech that, takes the SOCOM ethos, the SOCOM design, which we all know and love as a very, very sturdy and stout tactical knife, and turns it into a bit more of a sturdy and stout art tactical knife.
And every year they would come out with sort of a new configuration with materials and such.
And eventually it was too much, and so they shipped the production of that knife overseas. sees.

[3:10] That's the story in a nutshell, as far as I know. Look at that jimping. Incredible jimping.
Incredible design on this knife. And when I got it, I was really chasing after this knife.
I got it on the second run. And then I hardly carried it.
Because I have to say, this pocket clip, though beautiful, is a bit of a buzzkill. It is so tight.
And I got to say, I'm kind of squeamish about bending it, but I just got to get a screwdriver under there with a rag around it and just bend it out.
I just don't want to mess it up.

[3:45] Anyway, a very beautiful knife that recently I have been grateful and happy that I picked up when I did because now I am really carrying it and loving it.
Okay, next up, in my front left and right, it kind of goes back and forth all day, is the Jack Wolf Knives Midnight Jack. It's the new one. It's the new one.
I swear, best walk and talk in the entire business is from Jack Wolf Knives.
QSP does an awesome job. You know, there's an occasional case that does well.
Of course, we know Great Eastern Cutlery.
Did I say that? What did I say first? Anyway, oh, I said QSP.
GEC, of course, has some real, real incredible knives. But the Jack Wolf knives have spoiled me in terms of fit, finish, design, and this right here.

[4:40] I've also been spoiled because I got this from Ben, and so thank you very much, Ben.
One of the new things about the new Jack Wolf Knives Midnight Jack is that giant sharpening choil.
The sharpening choil before was already generous, but now on these second runs, they're coming out even larger, so you get even more life out of that full-height hollow ground blade.
This one, of course, has a twill carbon fiber.
Beautiful twill carbon fiber triple fluted bolsters it is a barlow coffin handle sleeve board style i know that's two different things but you usually say coffin handle for a fixed blade but it's got that sleeve board shape in that it's symmetrical and widens towards the pommel uh yet it has these facets here which makes it a coffin shape um that blade is uh it's also Also something they've been doing new on the new Jack Wolf Knives runs are, look at that, beautifully high-polished swedge or at least satin swedge and then a hand-rubbed satin here on the main part of the blade. Long, full nail neck.

[5:55] Really, really nice knife. And the different versions of this, there's a jig titanium.

[6:01] There's this crazy, colorful resin, two carbon fibers.
Uh and each one of them has a sort of different treatment on the blade uh there's pvd coating uh their first stone wash ever appears on one of the the new um midnight jacks and then you have the um the the belt satin and then this hand rub satin so uh just a oh wow look at this double carbon fiber that's a rare thing i didn't even realize that until i'm looking at it that never happens because you know i'm not a huge carbon fiber fan but these two knives here um i really do like it maybe i have to stop saying that because i keep making exceptions there's one type of carbon fiber i can't stand and that's like the first kind that came out just the basket you rarely see that anymore so maybe i should just stop with that okay next in my waistband i love this knife um and it's sort of got this i got a new craftsman so i have my knives now they all have breathing room i can see them i had a drawer full of knives that i love very much that were just kind of heaped on one another and it's like i didn't see this one for a while uh this is the aaron beaver knives ab knives 302 um just uh an incredible edc uh fixed blade knife, this one of course I opted for that gorgeous Tsukimaki wrap it's got the white ray skin.

[7:30] Down there beneath the uh that wrap i love the tsukamaki wrap because of those alternating uh peaks and valleys there when you turn it on its uh spine and look down at it that just gives you incredible grip and and it and it it's no wonder that samurai uh had that on their on the handles of their swords it gives you it gives you superior grip this blade is very interesting to me oh by the way um i found out at blade show when meeting aaron uh that he and i I went to the same art school, just at different times.
But that was a kind of a cool coincidence.
It was an intense place. And it's no wonder his a talent like him came out of that school.

[8:13] Well, that's sort of a backhanded compliment to myself, which I didn't mean.
But in any case, this is like a clip point wharncliffe to me.
You know, you've got a though it's got a belly, so it's not a wharncliffe, then it doesn't have a continuous curve from the spine.
So maybe it's a, it's like a small sax i don't know what this is but it's such a cool blade shape and it's very sharp very thin very slicey condensation from my hand there let me wipe this down a little bit.

[8:43] And uh pointy and beautiful but also very light and carries on the belt i think i'm going to switch this up to horizontal scout carry on the front like i do my t-cals because that's how i carried this initially um though it goes very well appendix carry um such an excellent knife this is this is shaping up to be a beautiful lineup i gotta say if i do say so myself and then to spoil it uh is the blue g10 no i love this knife this was my emotional support knife today uh the cold steel con um since as i mentioned i've been sort of rearranging um the collection collection with the addition of a new tool chest to hold uh it's it's growing numbers i found the con in i didn't find it it was out there in the open in my cold steel folder drawer but it's one i pay rare attention to and i love that tanto blade it's such an acute um pointy tanto blade, this was given to me by the great and powerful jimmy slash thank you so much jimmy he's given He's given me three knives, his own chopper, which is quite a pricey and exclusive knife, which I'm very grateful for. He gave me this, and then he gave me the.

[10:03] My 4max scout. Anyway, this beautiful thing I had on me because people think that, lockbacks are not fidgety. But to me, a triad locks can be quite fidgety because, Andrew Demko's designs, he always designs in a one-handed close.
And by that, I mean, on all of his designs. You put your finger forward in the choil and then let the blade drop.
It will always, your finger will always engage with the ricasso and not the sharp blade.
So you can't say that about Spydercos and you can say that about some Spydercos but most backlocks don't have that.
But the triad not only gives you superior strength, but it gives you superior, fidgetability for a backlog.
Alright, this is what I had on me today. What did you have on you?
Drop it in the comments below. Let me know.
Always good to get inspiration that way. Are you carrying fixed blades?
And if you do, which ones do you carry and how do you carry?
That is an area of interest to me.
My one short that's gotten the most views ever, over a million and some.

[11:16] Always gets some real snarky comments, and it's how I carry my fixed blades.
It's when I carried it over here in the 3 o'clock position. and just today I was looking and someone informed me that that's not how you hold a knife for defensive purposes and I was holding the knife like this so be warned don't hold your knife like this for defensive purposes it's not time tested or proven all right coming up let's uh let's get to knife news but before we do I want to show you this uh really cool uh it's a tooting of the of my horn but I want to forewarn you of something really cool coming down the pipe and it's a collaboration between myself and tim kell knives and it's called the agent 001 and this is a resin print a resin 3d print of it uh this resin 3d printing is amazing i gotta say um it has a different uh a different more uh tough and robust feel uh this resin does but this is a a double-edged belt-worn knife that is going into production soon.
I mean, the steel has been ordered and is going to be cut out shortly.
Double-edged fighter. A fighter is an asymmetrical double-edged knife as I define it. Like that, bayonet grown.

[12:38] You've got jimping here. You've got this handle with the hook.
Look, it's meant to be, I will be carrying this like I carry my Night Stalker, which is a ringed knife.
So it's always kind of ring out. I always grab it like this off of my belt horizontally and I have it in hand.

[12:57] Not ready to use and uh i usually never have to use it in this reverse grip because, unlike that commenter said that is a fighting grip so i turn it around and use the knife how i need to use it uh but i like to have it on the belt horizontally um this of course could be worn anyway you carry a small fixed blade knife even in the pocket um but my preferred mode and how i designed it is is for this so i'm very excited we're making a few tweaks adding adding some jimping.
This handle has the spirit of the handle design I sent Tim.
Tim tweaked it, and of course it'll have his grenade texturing on it.

[13:40] So his handle, my blade, or our handle, my blade, his knife, production.
I'm very, very excited. If you like Tim Kell knives and you think that's a cool design, keep your eyes peeled for the Agent 001. One, he has already designed three other blades to go on this handle, the Agent 002, 3, and 4.
He's sending me those also to check out and show off.
So very, very exciting for me, and hopefully for you and the Teak Hill Knives fan base.

[14:10] All right, still to come, we're going to check out Knife Life News.
Before we do, I'd like to urge you to check us out on Patreon. Patreon.
It's a great opportunity to hear from these great designers and makers that we talk to, but get a little extra.
We offer exclusive interview extras.
We offer the chance to win a knife every month and some other things.
So go over to Patreon and check it out. It helps support the show.
And something I do must say, it's not a life sentence.
You decide you want to support us For a few months That's great, that's what people did when we were Given away that.

[14:50] That very special knife from Dirk Pinkerton. So, consider us on Patreon.
All right, that said, let us roll out of here, shall we?
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[15:50] You're listening to the knife junkie podcast and now here's the knife junkie with the knife life news first up in knife life news one i'm really excited about uh this is a knife coming out from rosecraft blades coming out real shortly they haven't said exactly when but it's called the obed creek bow trapper obed creek bow trapper so keeping with the name uh keeping with the naming um convention and sticking to creeks and rivers uh this thing look at that okay so the bow trapper is a an original pattern by andy armstrong unlike his recent releases where he's been influenced by sheffield makers uh like joseph allen and sons and others with the lusa hatchie jack and the cane creek barlow this is one of his own a pattern of his own device and And we've seen this in The Boat Trapper. We saw this from...

[16:51] Rough rider before he left rough rider uh we saw the bow trapper over there that was pretty cool with the upswept blade that looks a little bit like some of the uh trappers single-bladed trappers he's put out recently but anyway the bow trapper it's like a pistol grip and it's got that curve down uh different from like a sow belly which is sort of a symmetrical dip this has more of a pistol grip uh and a widening uh towards the uh the back the back three quarters uh beautiful bolsters there fluted up front you got a uh drop point with a swedge that reminds me a little bit of say a sod buster uh 3.1 inches d2 blade steel dark green micarta looks so cool it does not come through on the pictures i've been seeing um but dark green micarta with a skull shield i love that skull shield now i'm saying all the time how i do not get into the skull motif the uh the you just I just don't like it.
I especially dislike the appropriation of the Punisher skull that you see everywhere ubiquitously. I hate that.
But what I do like is the skull on this because, A, it doesn't have the jaw, and, B, it looks more pirate-y or it looks more like from a catacomb.
It looks more ancient or something Less like.

[18:17] You know Less like the other skull motif I'm talking about So anyway, I'm very excited about this one Because as you know I really am very fond of the Rosecraft Slip joints So this one is very exciting And then there's another one coming out A rifle, a gunstock jack, Coming out That one to me, I don't think I need to get that one But this bow trapper I most certainly do That's called the Obed Creep Bow Trapper.
Keep your eyes peeled. It's coming soon.
Speaking of coming soon, from CRKT, now they just dropped three sort of surprise releases.
And the only place I've seen them in person is on Neves Knives.
He got three of them. He was showing them off.
Two of them are the Alan Foltz Ritual.
You remember the Alan Foltz Ritual, the white micarta with the blue bolsters and that giant four-and-a-half-inch upswept Persian blade.
Well, they came out with a small version of that. A lot of people like that design, but that big four-and-a-half-inch blade was too much to swing.
Well, this is out now. That's a three-and-a-third-inch upswept swedged scimitar blade.
It is really cool, I got to say. And a beautiful handle This is.

[19:40] I would say since the minimalist and all of the different minimalist versions, this is the most striking Alan Foltz design I think ever.
I think it's really cool. But anyway, these small versions here come in two different styles.
One is the standard version on top.

[20:00] That's with 14C28N burlap micarta and bronze steel bolsters.
And then this premium one right here.

[20:07] Look at that. That's got Damascus blade. it almost looks like to me like a sand my damascus is that a thing uh but anyway it's got a damascus blade and bolster so that bolster is damascus steel and then it's got this coarse textured blue and black carbon fiber very very handsome and and i believe the um uh the top the standard one is assisted and then the second one down here is the obverse this one jared uh neve went bonkers over he said like and and and well listen why we all know that crkt can build a good knife we also know that they um are willing to go out on a limb with designs and they work collaboratively with designers more than probably anyone else and have for longer than probably anyone else but the cheesy materials and the assisted open have always stopped people from from diving in that this is a premium uh knife it's called the obverse that's a 3.3 inch m390 blade super hollow very deeply hollow ground almost full height uh there and it's a coping blade uh people are calling it a sheep's foot i'm calling it a coping blade uh look at look at the steepness of that uh drop that straight drop to the points to me that's copper uh it's on bearings it's got fantastic action.

[21:31] It's got titanium bolsters. The weird thing to me is the screw in the bolster, but.

[21:38] Whatever uh and a very very ergonomic handle um so this is an exciting thing this is kind of what we've all wanted from crkt for a long time and so i'm glad to see that that they are jumping into this territory also it's like only 500 of them are being made coming out soon made in america.

[22:01] And it's only like 250 or something like that 275 250 i can't remember the price it wasn't listed in this article but i remember jared mentioning it so the that's pretty cool that's pretty cool that's what we want we want knives that cost as much or less than riat knives but have all of the same ingredients let's let's hope the fit and finish are there according to our trusted voices it is so that's what we want here in the united states so very very excited to see that from CRKT.
All right, last of the new knives I'm going to talk about is the Olamec Silhouette. You know Olamec.
They are a premium small batch production custom.
I don't know. It's like every knife they make is slightly different.
So I guess we could call them a sort of a custom knife house.
Well, they've been known for their folders. Now they're going to be known for their chef's knives because they have this incredible looking chef's knife coming out or actually it's not coming out it's already available uh this is a seven and a half inch magna cut kitchen knife seven and a half inches a little small uh for a chef's knife but um it's it's a great all-around utility size i would say um.

[23:18] So, yeah, MagnaCut steel, this is something that we haven't seen too much yet in kitchen knives, but it's low-hanging fruit because of its toughness.
Kitchen knives have to be tough because they're getting banged into stuff, lots of times metal stuff, but it also has to be stain-resistant and resistant to corrosion. And we know that MagnaCut is supremely resistant to corrosion.

[23:44] As it's being adopted, it's being drawn into the Salt series over there at Spyderco for its corrosion resistance.
So a great choice for a kitchen knife, heavily contoured and sleek handle.
I think it's a really nice looking handle. It also looks like it would be great on a tactical knife, but it's got this sort of psychedelic custom carbon fiber on there that I really like.
And it comes with a leather sheet, which is cool, too.
Now, the one thing you can't tell from the pictures is the geometry.
Of course, a kitchen knife needs to have geometry, very, very, very thin geometry to it.
A very thin grind to be a successful knife but no doubt alamic has been making and grinding blades for a long time and the ones that i've experienced and that's only been at their booth at blade show have been exquisite uh so i have no doubt that this is too so this is a cool one this is an exciting chef's knife uh released me uh for sure okay one last story here in life knife news uh And that is from Tacoma, Washington.
This just warmed the cockles of my heart. I got this from Knife Magazine.

[25:01] If you don't know Knife Magazine, you got to check out Knife Magazine.
I mean, I'm always talking about Knife News, which is great.
But Knife Magazine is also great. And on the weekends, they have this open thread with news stories and just different stuff.
And so I'm just going to read from this article here about this news story.

[25:19] Uh tacoma washington all right now we also well let me just uh i'll save the editorial for later when a tacoma continue uh when a tacoma convenience store owner was threatened with a knife during a robbery last week he got the best of the suspect defending himself with an even bigger knife, tacoma police department officers responded to the selena one market near south 11th street and South Yakima Avenue on February 5th, just before 8 p.m.
For reports of a robbery.
Naif Katiman, who owns the Salina One Market, said the suspect pointed a knife at him and said, listen, this is a holdup.
The suspect allegedly demanded Katiman open the till and give him money.
Katiman recalled he replied, I don't think so, buddy, before he picked up a machete.
Surveillance video from inside the store shows Katiman waving the machete at the suspect. The owner said the robber fell backward, and he held the suspect with a machete to wait for the police to arrive.
I just want to scare him, Kottemann said. I don't want to hurt him.
And, yeah, man, I love that story. The guy, the robber doesn't seem to be the most spry. The robber doesn't seem to be the most...

[26:33] Uh you know aggressive and in shape um and uh so i am so glad that this gentleman uh mr kotteman didn't get hurt and i am so glad that he had the cojones and the preparation to have that machete and pull it out and i'm glad that it worked out how how it did i mean if you could hold uh the guy with the machete until the cops arrived obviously um you know the the robber was a little bit compromise.
And that's not to rain on Mr. Kotteman's parade. But it is to say one thing.

[27:06] Brandishing and not using is a tricky thing.
When I lived in Philadelphia, I know I've told this story before, but I had a little convenience store owned by some Korean family that I'd go to all the time, every day, a couple times a day to get my coffee in the morning, to get my ramen at night yeah it was those days uh and once i was in there and these young guys uh uh were stealing stuff and and you know making making a scene and um and the guy behind the counter just pulled out his gun and showed it to them and then like held it down and like went to put it back and and uh boy that that did not get the right reaction that he was expecting anyway these young these young And the hoodlums threatened him, oh, yeah, we're coming back and we're going to kill you and all this.
So, you know, you got to be careful about when and how you brandish.
You know, hopefully Mr. Kotteman was ready to take it all the way, A.
And B, he probably may have recognized the person from the neighborhood, also may have recognized that he didn't have to chop the guy's hands off.
So just a word to the wise, be careful if you have to brandish.
Because if you do, be ready to go all the way. All right. That said, I want to...

[28:27] Well, let's just get to the state of the collection. Before we do, I want to mention that we do not only this show, but we do Thursday Night Knives. That's tomorrow.

[28:37] As this is being released, that's Thursday nights at 10 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
We do the Sunday Interview Show, which is really the heart and soul of the Knife Junkie podcast.
The interview shows, the interesting people we talk to, like recently Michael Janich and Bob Terzuola.
But we don't just talk to the big wigs. We also talk to people who are up and coming, just anyone who's making knives that fascinate me.
So be sure to check out all of those shows.
All right, coming up, we are going to get to the state of the collection and check out some new knives coming through my hot little hands right here on the Knife Junkie Podcast.
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And now that we're caught up with knife life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
Podcast so in the opener i said i go from viking to gurkha this week and that's because i got a sweet mail call this doesn't even fit um two knives that i have been wanting for a long time uh i got this week i i've been less ravenous in my buying i've been doing more saving and these two are are um well i i'm very happy i saved for them and they're both affordable as far as that this first one is the chieftain sax from cold steel and i'm going to do a flyby because we'll probably have to go to the main camera at some point this is a big one it's got a 13 inch blade and it's a broke back sax so that this is the reference this is the broke back reference right here this it almost resembles or it sort of resembles a buoy a a fighting knife right here with the, you know, the only thing you would need to make this a Bowie knife would be a swedge.

[30:48] And other than that, it's got that long clip point tapered shape, but it also really has the, I'm going to put the sheath aside.
The sheath is great leather and it's got these danglers. So you can dangle it from the belt in that traditional, traditional way.
Now I say Viking, but this knife, The sax was used all through Northern Europe and Northwestern Europe, I guess you would say, and got its name from Saxony.
In England and Great Britain, this knife was everywhere.

[31:26] But we know that the Vikings used knives like this and then short swords that also look like this called the scramasax, which was larger, which Cold Steel makes a version of with beautiful Damascus steel and an incredible hilt that I would love to get, but it's like very expensive.
It's like 500 bucks or something.

[31:49] So this is really light and lively.
This knife is very lively in hand it is a big knife and a big blade but the weight it's balanced let's see balanced about an inch in front of the about an inch in front of the guard i don't want it to fall about there and this pommel here this heavy brass pommel and a very uh nice wood handle I think that's uh that's stained I'm not sure what kind of wood that is uh but the handle and the weight of the pommel really keep the tip moving really lightly uh kind of like a sword this feels a little bit like a sword where where it's weighted and um like it doesn't have a choppiness to it at all it has more of that sort of fluidity to it I don't know what I'm trying to get at but uh and if you look at the handle you'll see it is engraved in a very intricate pattern and that really adds to the grippiness so you're the fat of your hand really sinks into all those little patterns there it's also an attractive pattern as are the patterns engraved on the pommel and the guard.

[33:08] So kind of a blend of primitiveness, but I think the blade looks kind of primitive.
That's what I like about a Sax in terms of the aesthetics.
But then the handle here looks a little bit more ornamental, so it's sort of a blend of civilized and primitive. Dig it.

[33:31] And I really like the sheath, and this has been my, you know, know i always have a large fixed blade next to me at night as i relax with my wife and um you know just in case someone bursts through the room and uh and uh and i don't shoot them i would stab them with that so um that's been that's been the late night tv uh watching night this is another one right here that I have been really wanting since Blade Show 2022, I believe.

[34:04] I guess it was 23. This is the Kukri from Spartan Blades designed by Bill Harsey.
Now, I'm going to show the sheath first.
The sheath is, I have mixed emotions about the sheath. For the Kukri, it's great.
And what I mean by that is it's got a straight line here, so it can drop straight in without having to curve too much.
So when you're standing and this is hanging from your belt, you can basically line this up and drop it and it'll drop right into place.
It's got this unique release here, thumb release that is spring loaded and you have to push it forward and then it releases from that first jimp notch and you can pull it out. So that's the way this locks in.
It doesn't lock-in using the contours of the blade and the ricasso like a traditional molded plastic, thermo-molded plastic like Kydex sheath does.

[35:08] This is fine for me, for the Kukri, because this is not the sort of knife that I personally would draw in reverse grip.
Unlike my friend Steve Price, who could draw that in reverse grip and slice a falling piece of paper.
That's not how I think of a Kukri, but that is how I think of a fighter.
And the the harzi fighter which is more like a k-bar knife comes with the same sheet same style sheath with the release which means to me how do you reverse draw it so that is one thing about the mechanical nature of this uh sheath lock that i i don't that gives me trepidation but let's talk about the blade this thing this is made by k-bar this is part of their uh part of spartan blades blades professional grade line.
So what that means, this is sort of like the George Raider dagger.
It's in that same line. It's more affordable.
This knife was under 150 bucks. I think this was $130, which for what you're getting is incredible.

[36:15] Chief among all of that That is the Harsey design.
Bill Harsey is definitely in my top five designers of knives out there, and he's been designing knives for elite warriors for years and years and years.
I don't know of starting with, but most notably in the beginning, I should say, for CRK, for Chris Reeve Knives, who was making knives for various Green Beret groups as graduation knives.
Um so uh bill harsey is an amazing guy amazing designer also a lumberjack comes from a lumberjack family which is so cool to me anyway uh this knife here takes the kukri blade and straightens it out a little bit without losing um that profound recurve the recurve on this is really really pretty amazing.
Reminds me a little bit of a...

[37:16] An early cold steel kukri machete or one of those straightened out ones where you can use this point because it's basically centered it's aligned with the center you can use the point um in a more traditional way i should say now kukris are great for thrusting as a matter of fact they're really great for thrusting it's sort of like a pistol grip uh shaped knife a pistol grip knife you don't even have to cant your wrist to get the point where you want it to go kukri kind of works Works the same way except it's up on a different plane.
And you can do some devastating thrusting damage, especially with how that blade will saw into something as you push forward.
This one, you're going to get a lot of that same action, but you're also going to get some of the utility that you're more used to with a straight blade.
So someone who goes from years and years of using, say, a Kaiba or a or a Bowie, can pick this up and get all the benefits of a Kukri, i.e.
That deep deep recurve and the sturdy sturdy blade uh and the chopping and that kind of stuff but still have uh the point and the edge in a in a familiar orientation nice swedge on the top very stout um.

[38:30] Saber grind here that's a flat grind coming up quarter inch uh this unlike the chieftain sacks this is more weighted towards the front though the balance still is about an inch from the guard uh where it should be for a fighting knife so you do feel that uh it's sharp as hell too you do feel that uh choppiness from the big belly and the mass up front uh but you still get the balance of a fighter you know right in front of the guard there so uh the question is this a uh i keep seeing people when this first came out people were positing the question is this a fighting kukri or is this a bushcraft Pukri?
And I say it would probably be awesome at both.
I haven't seen anyone fight with it, but I can tell you from shadowboxing with it, it feels great in hand, and I've seen plenty of people like Scab and Gideon's Tactical take that thing and really, really put it through its paces.
So I'm very happy to have this K-Bar made, Bill Harsey designed Spartan Blades. Look at that.
This is one of the most beautiful hilts you'll ever see with that jimping and this.
And by the way, that reminds me of the Gerber Rock.
Anyone remember that knife? That was a cool knife. Also designed by Bill Harsey.

[39:53] All right. Let me put this away. And as I do, I want to tell you about some t-shirts we got.
Jim is constantly at work in his workshop coming up with new t-shirt designs.
And the t-shirt, the featured t-shirt of the week is this one, this one right here.
Sharp wit, sharper blades.
And this raises an interesting question, or not question, this raises an interesting point. We don't want to be just ravenously collecting knives.
We also want to be ravenously sharpening our minds and making sure that we're reading and that we're listening to interesting people who are talking about interesting things and not just focused on knives all the time.
Because you do that, you learn a little history, you widen your scope, and you're going to learn more about what cool knives there are out there from different cultures and from different points of view that you can collect.
So, sharp wit, sharper blades.
I love it. Thank you, Jim. This is an awesome featured t-shirt of the week.
We're going to start showing these off more often because I'll tell you what, if you go to the knifejunkie.com slash shop, which Jim just pulled off the screen, but if you go to knifejunkie.com slash shop, there are pages and pages of his designs.

[41:11] Like about 50 designs of different t-shirts, knife-themed t-shirts that Jim has come up with. They are awesome.
And, uh, so go there and check them out.
All right. This, this would be my camera turning. So now we're going to get to 10 cool folders.
I really should carry more often. Now, this all came up because I got the new craftsman chest and it's bigger than the other.
Uh, so I have, uh, now I have a lot of room for knives and wow, it gets filled up quickly.
And as I was going through my stuff and kind of giving them all room to breathe on their on their drawers so i could open it up and see what i have i saw some things that uh i know i had and and i became blind to even though i see them every day like these knives i should carry more often first one is the delica warren cliff so this this is my spider coat delica warren cliff this was a gift from uh, Oh, how many years back was that? This was a little while back.

[42:18] And it's the Wharncliffe serrated. I love that serrated blade.
But I took off the GFN handle scales and put on some Smoking Mountain Knife Works titanium aftermarket scales, and it really made this an even more appealing knife to carry.
Now, I love the lightweight of my other Delica, which has just the frm handle but something about beefing it up with the titanium just knowing that to me this is a great small defensive knife in the if you approach things the way michael janich would you could use this to great effect i love the spidey edge i love the spidey spider co-serrations and so this one is great and then and then just to make it even more appealing i I got the small deep carry MXG gear clip for this.
So this is a knife I should definitely carry more often. I'm going to leave these ones out so we can gawk at them, take a look at them.
Next up is one that I was about to give away.

[43:24] And, man, I took it out of the giveaway pile because it's a really, really great knife.
And I have it, and I feel like I would regret giving this away. way.
I think I need more time with it. This is the Pelican from K-Max Rom, the designer, Jonathan Renaudin from France.
Made by Concept, who is just man, they make some of the best. I love their folders.
This just has exquisite.

[43:55] Exquisite thumb stud slash bearing action and um and really nice ergonomics to this titanium handle and then that blade i love the big swale that's a that's sort of a signature to k max arm designs got that swirl there for the thumb very thin and sharp behind the edge this is just a great knife and it also comes in a sheep's foot that's also quite uh attractive and looks very useful very nice clip everything about this i love it's just the size has kept me from carrying it more often and this is something that as i mature and become well as i mature and as i carry all these other knives on me like a fixed blade and like i gotta start allowing myself to carry smaller some of these really cool smaller folders like this one uh this was a gift also this is the the Perpetua from Mastrop and Schwartz.
It's got a ridiculous, ridiculous edge here.

[45:02] Okay, so what is this? This is a hollow ground sheep's foot blade.
Very much reminds me a bit of his Overlander fixed blade, which I think is really cool.
And it's got Nitro-V, G10, everything.
It's made by Millet Knives. It's got a great bar lock.
It was the first one after the AXIS lock patent expired.
They were the first ones to jump on this, TJ Schwartz and Massdrop and Millet Knives, and they did a great job with it.

[45:41] Three and a quarter inches, that's another size that is one that I'm less apt to carry because, I don't know, I guess just because when I started, it was on four-inch blades way back with the Vacchero and the folders back then, everything was four inches, the early tactical knives.
And I think it's like a guy trapped in whatever his, you know, I'm still wearing my 90s jeans, you know what I mean?
I'm not, but it's sort of that fashion thing. So anyway, TJ Schwartz, what a great designer.
He's now doing his own stuff out of house with his CNC machine, killing it with his fixed blades.
And I'm not sure if he's doing folders yet out of his garage or out of his home shop I should say he had to build it around his new CNC uh next up this is a recent purchase and I'm really surprised I recent meaning within the last 365 days I'm surprised I haven't carried it more often and I have to get it back into the rotation I think maybe I got this when I got a bunch of other things and it was Eclipse but this is the Snowdy Mike Snowdy designed artisan accelerator a big big knife.
And that's why I'm surprised I didn't carry it more often.

[46:54] Because it's big, and it's attractive, and it's a great cutter, and it feels great in hand.
So I just need to get this back in. I might just dye those handle scales.
That tends to reignite the magic for me, or ignite a magic that wasn't there before.
Something about these handle scales sticking my craw, I think it's the the fact that no matter how much oil you try and darken them with it just doesn't take sometimes i feel like the grinder leaves the or or whatever is yeah the grinder leaves the micarta on the epoxy more on the epoxy than on the dyed fabric and i don't know if that's actually a thing.

[47:35] Intuitively feels like a thing so this is a knife that's up for a dye job for sure and then i think with with that it will be something i gravitate towards more but i love that blade this is one of the rare cases where the harpoon is the thing makes it and this is, arrpm9 that's right because it's artisan and they have their cool proprietary steel so very nice blade and it comes if you're interested in that knife it comes in a variety of.

[48:07] Configurations to include a knife center exclusive with a frag titanium that's pretty cool next one the vision fg from salivi uh just a really unique design something that's, very appealing to me due to the fact that the designer snex is someone that i followed for for quite a while on Instagram and kind of, he gave an intimate view of the design and creation of some of these knives he makes very, very, uh, um, not only unique and useful designs, but very, um, what am I trying to say?
Intricate engineering, you know, he'd make knives that he'd make maybe 20 of them and sell them to premium knife buyers like Jim Skelton and that type.

[49:02] Made completely without hardware, you know, just fitting together like a puzzle or, you know, just, so just kind of an engineering genius.
I think he's from Indonesia, somewhere, somewhere in the, in Asia.
Um, but so this was this, this is the Savivi version of his vision.
Uh, they, we knife first took that on and, uh, it's got this shark lock like lock on the back and it's only shark lock like in its actuation.
It it actually drops a little tab down in that notch on the tang of the blade and when you lift it up it releases it but a unique design with a with a fidgety and fun mechanism and a great and extremely useful blade good neutral ergonomics i'm not sure why i don't carry it more but i I've got to start carrying that one.
Okay, next up, from Orion Knives, David Cam designed this.
Man, it is a pocket gununting as far as I'm concerned.
It's a great utility knife, and it's a great weapon knife as far as I'm concerned.
And for the same reason for both.
You can see, if you look at the spine of this, the overall shape of the knife is an arc.
See this, like whale. It's like a whale breaching the water as it's swimming, you know.

[50:26] So the result, you get, it is an interesting knife because you get a recurve out of it, basically, but it's due to the shape on the back of the knife, not the shape of the front of the blade.
The front of the blade is a straight edge but it's presented at such a downward angle due to the handle and the overall curve of the knife that you get this great cutting performance from that straight edge so really really good cutter it's thin and hollow ground 14c28n got this beautiful amp, and boina wood on it and really nice uh flipping action good ergonomics i mean it's just an overall really cool knife uh three and 3.7 inch blade everything about it ticks the boxes so not sure where i am not why i'm not carrying it more often but now that i've uh pulled it out of the dungeon it was in and and it gets to breathe and and show its own individuality when I open up my knife case, I think I'm going to be carrying this one more often.
I'm a sucker for... I'm going to totally change the way I say this.

[51:43] Wooden handles on knives are very appealing.
Okay, next one. This is a Jack Wolf knife that I find myself not carrying as much as I should.
Uh this is the pioneer and it is based on the sod buster one of my favorite.

[52:04] Folders to carry one of my favorite uh traditional patterns and he did something cool put his own english on it and put some facets at the end of the handle made it a little more angular yet still very ergonomic a slightly more robust blade than usual is what i hear i don't know still It still seems very, very thin to me and hollow ground, but I guess slightly less so on this one because Ben was interested in the farmer-style pocket knife that put in a lot of work, so he figured he'd make the geometry ever so slightly more robust.
I think I know what it is. I think it's the Ultem. He reached out to me when he was sending these out and said, which handle do you want?
And I said, oh my gosh, Ultem. I don't have any Ultem. and he sent it out and even though i like ochre that's basically the color um yeah it does look like urine i i guess i agree with you you people who who think that uh i just don't go for this knife as much because i think it just doesn't uh i think ultim is just not my thing i'm glad i have some in my collection just as reference and for any ultim i'm gonna like it on this best because Because we don't have skeletonization.
We're not seeing through it too much.
But I don't know. I guess Ultim's just not for me.

[53:32] But this is still a great knife. I mean, look at that blade.
It's an incredible blade, an incredible knife with awesome walk and talk and everything I love in a slip joint.
So I need to start carrying it more. And look at it like this.
It's an Ohio landscape And there's your field Golden field And there's your gray sky That you always get in Ohio Alright, next up This one is from Petrified Fish Petrified Fish.

[54:03] This is the very cool Viking. I love this knife. Why do I not carry this knife?
It's got incredible green-blue, or I should just call it hunter green micarta handle scales.
And when I say hunter green, different than OD green. OD green has more of a tan in it.
Hunter green has more blue in it. And it's like the color you get your 1980s Jaguar, sort of.

[54:29] I love that color. um and in the contouring it's very very nice in hand feels great that d2 blade is or i think that's it's a k39 or no what is it k300 what is it what is it dadgummit i should have done my research i can't even read it it's so small but it's it's that it's that analogous d2 steel that you get from bowler i think uh but anyway uh it's got that incredible straight back blade reminds me me of a quaking a little bit and then that uh angled fuller is so cool and you can actually use it to reverse flip if you get your you know it's not doesn't offer too much opportunity but if you can get in there it's sharp enough you can engage it and flip it open just a great blade in reverse grip it looks great feels great um everything about this knife is is cool uh it's my one remaining um petrified fish i got rid of my victor that um that extreme clip point very nice knife with the denim micarta i gave that to uh um split and slices check out byron kennedy's new channel will be coming out soon uh second to last knife that is very awesome that i don't carry enough um and i even had it tweaked so that i'd carry it more is the spider coat Spidey Chef.

[55:55] This one I had customized by Mike Emler. I had him change the profile and put a clip on it.
And so put a point on it, which I really like made it, let's just say stabby, because before it was like a Santoku kitchen knife.

[56:14] But I wanted something, oh, I remember I saw a fisherman doing a video, some really gutsy guy in a kayak, sea fishing, and he pulls on some giant fish.
It looked like it was going to capsize this whole thing. He pulls out one of these, but it has a tip on it like this, and he watched him gut the fish with his Spyderco Spidey Chef.
One of the USPs about the Spidey Chef, beside it being designed by Marcin Slish, is that it is in LC200N, which is a pretty darn corrosion-resistant steel used in their Salt series, along with MagnaCut and H1 and H2 steels.

[57:01] So, yeah, that's why you saw the fishermen using this. Great.
I never comment on this, but look at that. That's a great plunge grind and termination of that edge.
I think Stassa and Jared would approve.
I think you can sharpen that up pretty high the way they had that set up.
So what a great knife. And then also that blasted titanium handle.
It has all those nice snail trails.
Just an all-around excellent, excellent knife I need to start carrying more.
All right. last up is a a big little knife i always talk about little big knives little knives like say this that pack a lot of punch well this is a big knife that rides like a little knife and that's the cold steel frenzy why do i not carry the cold steel frenzy more that's got a five and a half inch hawkbill blade very reminiscent of a gunun thing similar to the orion here however it's based Based on a Japanese knife, a helmet breacher or something, designed by Andrew Demko, who is a Japanese martial artist.
He grew up, his dad had an Aikido studio, so he and his brother are total badasses, besides just being great at designing knives and making knives.

[58:19] Very nice G10 handle. This was a Frenzy 2. There was a 1, a 2, and a 3.
The one had the blue handle The two had the green handle And the three I believe had the light Gray handle Um.

[58:34] With the layers of black in there and the way that they countered the handle. Looks very cool.
Very great grip in hand. Kind of Tsukamaki-esque, except those peaks don't alternate.
Your fingers really do sink in there. But it's light. It's light and thin.
So this big blade carries like a small one.
If you are interested in a large folder but are hesitant because of how it's going to carry, I do suggest you check out the Frenzy You can still get the Frenzy And then you can also find it on the secondary market I've seen it bouncing around eBay, Alright well that does it It's been a long time since I've done a lineup Like this but I figured this Deserved it plus they aren't giant Fixed blades so I can do it It's the Spyderco Serrated Delica with the Aftermarket titanium scales You got your Concept Pelican your Massdrop and Schwartz Perpetua you got the Artisan Accelerator the Civivi Vision FG the Orion what is the Ocetus the Jack Wolf Knives Pioneer Jack the Petrified Fish.

[59:48] Viking the old Spidey Chef and of course the Frenzy these are knives in my collection that I have to remember and appreciate otherwise why do I have them and I have a lot of knives like that Do you?

[1:00:02] Let's think about this. Go through your collection, start pulling out the ones, remember why you were with them in the first place, and try and rekindle that.
And if you can't rekindle that, let it go.
It's like Elsa says, just let it go.
I'm going to try and do that too. all right be sure to join us tomorrow night for thursday night knives if you are seeing this on the day it drops otherwise join us on whatever the nearest thursday is 10 p.m eastern standard time right here on youtube facebook and twitch and as always check out our sunday interview with a luminary from the knife world 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 The Knife Junkie Podcast.
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[1:01:24] Music.