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Announcer [00:00:03]:
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.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:16]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast. I'm Bob DeMarco. On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with custom knifemaker Jed Hornbeek. I got my introduction to Jed's work on Instagram when scrolling for Bowie's and was immediately drawn to his modern machined take on classic fixed blade knives. Then I started to see his knives featured in the videos of some of the most trusted voices of the bladeosphere, Scab of Choirboys, Cutlery, and Billy of Apex Alchemy, chief among them. After seeing what these knives were capable of, I have a whole new respect. Dead hornbeak knives aren't just easy on the eyes, but they'll cut, stab, and chop till kingdom come. We'll find out how this passion for blending the classic with the contemporary leads to some of the most exciting fixed blades out there right now.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:01]:
But first, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, hit the notification bell, and download this podcast to your favorite podcast app. Also, you can help support the show by joining Patreon. Quickest way to do that is to head on over to the knifejunkie.com/patreon or scan the QR code on the screen. Again, that address is the knifejunkie.com/patreon.

Announcer [00:01:24]:
Discover how you can run your own 6, 7, or even 8 figure business entirely on this one simple platform, the knifejunkie.com/demo.

Announcer [00:01:33]:
Do you use terms like handle to blade ratio, walk and talk, hair popping sharp, or tank like? Then you are a dork and a knife junkie.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:43]:
Jed, welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, sir.

Jed Hornbeak [00:01:46]:
It's great to be here. Easy on the eyes. I like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:48]:
You know? Oh, man.

Jed Hornbeak [00:01:49]:
I've been interrogated a few times, but an interview with Bob DeMarco, that's that's good stuff. It's great to be here.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:55]:
Well, it's really good to have you here. And, yeah, I I first, let it like I said, caught glimpse of your work just looking for Bowie Knives. I'm always looking for for, those in particular, when I'm looking for some, eye candy on Instagram. But then I got a chance to actually, meet you. This was 2 years ago and pick up your, your blades at blade show, and they are really awesome. And and something that immediately, caught my eyes, I mentioned upfront in the intro, is how, like with your coffin handled Bowie, taking traditional cues, but very much modern knives. Tell me, where did this love of knives originate, and how did you, get to develop the style?

Jed Hornbeak [00:02:43]:
Well, I guess I've been a maker since day 1, since I was a small child, like, doing building things, drawing, and painting, stuff like that. So that was kinda always in me, which I think is always and a lot of people, you just gotta bring it out sometimes. But so when I was around probably 5 or 6, I was gifted a knife that was probably about 2 inches long. I think my grandparents got it in Gatlinburg one year. And it was a nice knife, you know, but it was a real small thing. It was a acrylic candle and had, like, a pink flamingo or something on it. But it was nice, you know. I thought, well, there's gonna be more than ours than this.

Jed Hornbeak [00:03:20]:
And so I started collecting from there. And, you know, it's weird to think how your brain just clicks on certain things and why you're interested in things you are, but it it's in a lot of us, predominantly male. A lot of us want are just interested in eyes and short things, and That was in me from my youth. And, you know, I started collecting knives, a lot of nineties eighties, nineties, nostalgic Pakistani knives. I started getting into or basically any knife that I could get my hands on as a young child, probably, you know, 7, 8 years old. I was all over that. But I remember my dad, when I would get enough, money for to buy a knife, there's this man down the road that would set up at a flea DeMarco, and he would have this stuff set up in his shop, in his garage, whenever he wasn't set up at the flea market. And I get enough money, and we'd go out in the evening and buy a knife.

Jed Hornbeak [00:04:17]:
And so I got a pretty nice collection of cheap junky knives when I was a child, and I just that's just what I enjoy doing. You know? That was it. I still made things and did things like that, but I always enjoyed collecting the knives. And then I got into case knives not long after that. You know, steered away from the cheaper knives, and I was just interested in case knives and the slip joint knives. And so I think my dad bought a pawnshop around the time I was Cool. Probably 9 or 10 years old. And, it was great because I go up there.

Jed Hornbeak [00:04:57]:
I think they brought dropped my brother off at the YMCA, no, during the summers. I dropped him off there, and I would go with my dad. My mom went to work, and I go with my dad to work to the pawn shop and spend all summer up there. And I really had it made at that point in life because I could just pull a movie off the shelf and watch it or play video games if I wanna play video games, and I had pretty much dibs on all the knives that came through there at that point. And, it was a little shopping mall right outside of the Air Force Base in Columbus, Mississippi. And there was a a guy that had a Greek restaurant. He was from Greece, but they had the vertical lamb rotisserie in there. And I could just meander on down there, and he would slice them off and make me a gyro.

Jed Hornbeak [00:05:44]:
Pretty fun time, memories of of my childhood. I got to play with the guns there, all the knives, And we went to, yard sales every Saturday morning, and I got a nice collection of knives. They're doing all that, you know. I've got probably 50 or 60 case knives. I know you're a case fan.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:05]:
I am indeed.

Jed Hornbeak [00:06:07]:
But from then, I started getting into guns, and my my knife funds kinda ran low after that whenever I started doing all that. But we moved my granddad died, I think, in 99, and we moved from Mississippi up to Hornby, Tennessee, which was my mom's old home place, the old farm where she grew up. And there was a scrap metal pile there. And so at the age of probably 12, I know I was in 6th grade, you know, I started making make made my first knife. All I had was a Dremel at that point. And I sat there and just carved away a piece of metal until the knife came out. And made a lot of melee weapons, stuff like that. I found old sprockets and this pile of steel and attached a stick to it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:06:52]:
I actually have one out here. Cool. So it looks like a beaver stick that a beaver had chewed on and then just attach a spike and a sprocket. You know? And that that's what I really enjoyed doing at that point in my life. It was just about weapons, melee weapons, knives from, you know, a fairly young age. And I didn't have much starting off. I had a, like, a bench grinder, a dremel, a hacksaw, and a few woodworking tools. Didn't have a workshop.

Jed Hornbeak [00:07:23]:
My dad didn't have a workshop. So it's like all this stuff I had to figure out on my own. It's like, you just make it work with what you have. Here's another few examples. Oh. And that's just, that's just a really crude basic knife. There's no heat treat on it. It's just a piece of steel and some apple handles.

Jed Hornbeak [00:07:44]:
No. There's another one. I don't know if I've ever used these. I used this one to open ammo can once. That's why it's all kinda beat up on the back. And it's got some pesos for a pommel there, you know, chunk of brass. But I did this, a lot, you know, made quite a few things like this, several. There's another.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:06]:
Oh, yeah. That's like an Iroquois, Iroquois war club.

Jed Hornbeak [00:08:11]:
Right. Right. They might have spikes on them and stuff like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:14]:
See, you know what's kinda interesting to me, Jed? Now I I've met you a few times at at at Blade Show and we've talked on the phone and and now and you don't seem to me now I could be reading you wrong, but you don't seem like a violent guy. You don't seem like a crazy guy to me. And I am not I am neither of those things either. And as you can see from the wall behind me, I've always had an interest in weapons too, not just in hives and swords, but melee weapons like you're showing there. And you mentioned before, there's no telling what's gonna click and what's gonna interest you. What do you think it is? I'm just curious. I ask this sometimes when I recognize a a kindred spirit. What is it, like, about weapons in particular, that might draw the interest of a young boy who's not in any other way a violent person or a confrontational person.

Jed Hornbeak [00:09:10]:
Right. Well, it's just a primal instinct, I guess. You know, a weapon for for self defense, a knife is one of the oldest basic tools there are. I worked maintenance for several years and carried a pair of pliers, and that was your tool. And you would use that tool all the time. Same way with a knife. You know? For everyday activities, a knife is gonna come in handy for a lot of things. Not supposed to be a screwdriver, but it it can be a screwdriver.

Jed Hornbeak [00:09:33]:
You're not supposed to open an MO can with it, but you probably can open an MO can with it. But it I it's just interesting. I don't consider myself like an obsessed knife dude, but I may be, you know, crazy. I don't maybe it's just controlled craziness or anger or whatever you said, but it's just it's just in us for whatever reason. It goes way back, and maybe it was just something that was put in us.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:58]:
I think so.

Jed Hornbeak [00:09:59]:
It's a philosophy question.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:01]:
Yeah. It is. I I think, I'm boiling it down to, self reliance for the knife part of it. Self reliance is what it boils down to. And then also, if you have any sort of protector instinct in you, it's like, well, that will help me protect my family or protect myself. As opposed to, like, I was ask I was asking in terms of violence, but that, you know, it's more of a protective instinct, I think. Anyway, it you just, you said something interesting. You said, can never quite tell what's gonna grab onto you.

Jed Hornbeak [00:10:34]:
Yeah. Yeah. You never know. I mean, I like I said, people have different interests. I have several interests other than Nas, but it's just something that's that's always been there. Except I'm into guns too, and I like getting a slingshot when I'm boarding the shop and shooting rocks across the road. You know, it's just it's just in there. I don't know why.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:54]:
So how did you get into machining?

Jed Hornbeak [00:10:57]:
Well, when I was about the era of time I was making these knives, I was getting into high school and had a neighbor. And he was like, you John, you really need to get into tool and die. That'd be a good profession to get in. Tooling, I'm thinking this is the guys that make wrenches, and they love it so much they do it until they die. Come to find out that it's not what it is. So I toured the high school, and they were given machine shop classes there. And I I liked it. You know, this is place where I wanna be.

Jed Hornbeak [00:11:26]:
I was wanting to do welding because of the plasma table I could cut out. You know? I I had this this mindset of making weapons, And so I thought I was gonna be welding until I toured the machining, department. It's like, no, this is where I need to be. They showed the mills and the leis and what they could do, and so I took that for 3 years. And, made knives there at at school. As a matter of fact, my teacher bought me a piece of tool still so I could make a knife. And I tried to heat treat this over an open fire, but it really didn't go well. But you can see the progression, like the the knives I just showed you in this one.

Jed Hornbeak [00:12:04]:
It's actually getting somewhere looking like something. It has a, you know, inlaid antler on it. It's got a fuller in it. Decent little knife for, you know, a 15, 16 year old kid.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:15]:
Yeah. I'll say. And and also markedly, more advanced than what you were holding up before. Right. That that cool antler handle, recurve buoy was cool, and, the long straight blade is cool, but, no doubt that dagger shows a bit of, advanced skill. Just just for context, so people who might not be familiar with your work, pick up something from today, and show that off, just so we have some idea.

Jed Hornbeak [00:12:45]:
Yeah. So that's where it's at today. I made a few of these before, and, you know, it's came a long way. Fit and finish is something that can always be worked on, and that's, you know, that that's where it is today.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:58]:
Oh, wait. Wait. Hold on. Just hold that up and put it closer to the camera, and just let's let us soak this in.

Jed Hornbeak [00:13:04]:
Do what drives,

Bob DeMarco [00:13:07]:
Yeah. Like a pistol grip handle, flip point blade with that double fuller on both sides.

Jed Hornbeak [00:13:15]:
Yeah. So this is the mini barong. It's basically all this is. I had made a full size barong and posted it on social media, and a guy saw it. He wanted 1, but he said, I want something I can carry. So I scaled my barong down to this. This got a sharpened swedge on it, few different colors, the g ten, dual folders. But, yeah, that this was a a customer's request, and I took his idea and ran with it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:13:41]:
But, yes, it's came a long ways over the years for sure. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears has gone into it.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:47]:
Okay. So we just saw, your latest work, and then you showed me, that you showed us that dagger, that you tried to heat treat over an open flame that you made in your shop class. Tell us how you progressed from, taking that metal class, metal shop class, and this and deciding, yeah, this is where I belong. How did you progress into, you know, becoming a knifemaker?

Jed Hornbeak [00:14:11]:
Well, right beside the the school where I took machine, and there's a little machine shop. And, started co op in my senior year and working there, And, went on to machining college, technical college, and took that for about 8 months. It was a 18 month course, but I'd already been working in a machine shop for a while, so I kinda looted that. I had other things with my mom, so I didn't work school after I got out of high school. But I did that and just worked at that machine shop for about 6 years, went on for a few years, didn't make any knives. But I had a a buddy that I was always talking about knives with, and we chitchat, real good friends. He's over all the time. And, told him I wanted a Bailey song with a clip on it, so I carried it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:15:00]:
I was always intrigued by the Bailey songs. And so one day, he rolled up at the house, and he bought me this Benchmade DeMarco 51.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:12]:
Nice.

Jed Hornbeak [00:15:13]:
Which I was just blown away by that. You know, this is 2, $300 a month. Who knows? And so in my attempt to repay him, I was working at the machine shop. I I don't make this dude a knife because he was just so into knives. And I was working on a it's a v s 3 Haas v s 3 mill, which is a a huge CNC mill. It's like 5050 by a 150 inches on the travel. So you could fit 2 small Volkswagens on there, basically, on the table. But I had this tiny vice set up on the corner, and during my lunch break, so I would, you know, design the I was on the computer.

Jed Hornbeak [00:15:50]:
So, you know, working this machine shop, the the boss would just come in and give you prints. And you do everything from sawn it off the rack to machining it. If it had to be heat treat, ground, that was that was all on me, welding. So learn how to do all that stuff. A lot of shops have somebody that programs, but my boss went about that. We all learned how to program, and we did it all ourselves, which was great. You know, that's where all the learning comes in. And so I was gonna make this guy a knife to pay him back for what he did, and so I I drew this up.

Jed Hornbeak [00:16:24]:
And this is what I consider, like, my first legit knife with the actual heat treat and stuff. So I did some deer hunting at the time. He did too, and I wanna make a a skinning knife. And this is basically all skinning is is cutting and pulling. So you skin, pull, skin, pull, kinda like that. Had a gut hook on it, but drew this up and machined this out on the CNC, and it still has the heat color marks. Skinned several deer with this, and I actually cleaned a hog with it here about 3 weeks ago. I've only sharpened it twice, and this is probably a 15 year old knife.

Jed Hornbeak [00:17:00]:
So piece of d 2. It still does the job. And, actually, while I was making that one, my first one, they hired a guy because the guy that ran and b laid beside me, he was quitting. They hired a new guy, which was actually Jason Stowell. So this was before he was making now full full time. He was doing it part time and still machining. And so he started working right beside me, which was for an aspiring knifemaker, having Jason Stout working with you every day is is is pretty good stuff. And so he he taught me a lot.

Jed Hornbeak [00:17:35]:
I never once made a knife with him, but he was gracious enough to answer the millions of questions that I had for him at the time. This is another one that, like, the same batch of first knives that I did. Machined these bevels and, like, would send them in with a dye grinder. And you like, this is worlds above the where the the diagram made in high school. It has it has a rattlesnake inlay on it, burlap micarta handles. I actually gave it to the dude. I made 2 or 3 of these, and I kept 1, gave him 1.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:10]:
Let let me stop you there for a second. Okay. Okay. 2 couple of things. First of all, that that hunting knife is really cool because, it features I mean, you showed it, but in case people are just listening, it features a ring at the for the pinky. So you can cut and then let go of it, cut and let go of it. And you we see that on smaller hunting knives like bird and trout, knives, but you don't usually see them on big game skinners like that, and that's that's cool to see. I like that, that's a cool blending, again, of of, knives and styles there.

Jed Hornbeak [00:18:46]:
Right. And you don't need a big old knife to skin, really. Like I said, I cleaned the hog with that one a few weeks ago. This is not the same model that I I put a handle on, but you you could skin a bull moose with this knife. No joke. It's just a short curved blade, and you really don't need a whole lot. But the finger groove is is in so many designs these days. You see so many knives with the finger on it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:19:07]:
And it's a nice feature. It comes in handy, especially for something like that. You know, it's a knife is a tool, but you're still hands on doing things if you're cutting, so you need as many hands as you can get. And that ring for that application works really well.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:20]:
Yeah. And you see that ring, like, 99% of the time in a defensive situation defensive kinda knife, unless unless it's one of those really dainty bird and trout. So I think adding it to a to that, I think it's brilliant. I think it looks cool. I'm always talking about the looks because, you know, that does matter to me, but, but on that knife, it's pure, you know, purpose. Let let that thing dangle so you can pull. And I wanna ask you about a machine shop. I've never, I don't know much about, it's called a job machine shop.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:55]:
Right? Like, you get jobs that come in and you, what what kinda what kinda stuff are you producing? And, because you mentioned heat treat and and grinding also. Are you, like did you make knives in that shop also? Or

Jed Hornbeak [00:20:08]:
This was, a machine shop. It was beside Goodyear in Union City, Tennessee, and Goodyear was was our bread and butter until they went out of business. But it was just basically, any part that we can make that would come out of that Goodyear is what we would do. It could be anything from a full blown machine that we would paint and weld all these parts to. You could barely get it out the door to just small small parts. And, yeah, a lot of them were heat treated, and that's, that's how we learned how to do it. That's how I learned how to do it.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:38]:
Okay. So

Jed Hornbeak [00:20:39]:
treating stuff like that in high school, but

Bob DeMarco [00:20:42]:
There's parts for all sorts of industrial machines and and vehicles and that kind of thing?

Jed Hornbeak [00:20:46]:
Basically, like yeah. Industrial parts is is mostly what it was. But, yeah, just a ton of that. You wouldn't even know what the part was. It would just be a random part, and you would get it in and just make it to the specs of the print over and over again for 50, 60 hours a week. That's all it was. You know, you do anything for that long, the wait you you should be good at it after a decade.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:08]:
Yeah. I hope so. So I love I love that image of a giant mill table, you know, that you could fit 2 Volkswagens on, but you have this tiny corner and you're and you're creating your knives and that's where it's sort of getting born. How did you get serious about it? When did you discover, like, wait a sec, this is more than more than, just a Bob?

Jed Hornbeak [00:21:31]:
Well, you know, I I went from there in, making those knives, and I thought, this ain't bad. And I met Jason and knew, you know, he was at least making some money. It was a hobby, and he went on from there and, you know, where he is today. But I thought, man, I could one day, this could be an occupation for me, and I could get out of this vicious cycle of living for somebody else's dream, live my own dream. And so I got some machines over the time. I had a a Barrett model 99 gun, very expensive gun that I didn't need at the time and put a 8 by 32 night force on top of it, which is expensive scope that I didn't need. And I had this guy that has a machine shop he was getting rid of, and he had this this mill behind me and the surface grinder and 3 phase converter and just different machines I needed, oxyacetylene to work. So now I traded him the gun and scope and stuff for the machines and the tooling.

Jed Hornbeak [00:22:27]:
I closed in my garage, and I just did what I could do at home for the first, several knives after the ones I showed you. I would do what I could at home. I got a little Grizzly belt sander, and I would do other stuff at work. Like, I didn't have a mill, well, probably before this, so several of these, I would carry to work and heat treat, didn't have a oven. And that that got old after a while because it's hard to do very much when you're having to work on your lunch break at work and stuff like that. So that's when I tried to furnish a shop and get the tools and equipment I needed. And it was strictly a hobby for probably 10 or 15 years and, filled some orders and stuff like that. Nothing very serious, but I just tried to work on my craft over that time and make a lot of different models.

Jed Hornbeak [00:23:18]:
Just try not to get stuck on one thing very long and just try different things. You know? I had to teach myself leather, kydex, and just fit and finish on the knives. It it was a lot to do from there. And so, I got this shop, and I did a few YouTube videos. And I think I may have taken them down now, but I got into YouTube, and that's where I met Scab and Donny b all day and Cowboy Seaboth, another YouTube knife reviewer sensation. And so that's where my my association with him came along at.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:55]:
Well, those those guys are all, big knife, big big fixed blade collectors and users, and they on their channel, they're the ones, upfront I was talking about who, have used your knives and taken them through their paces, doing things that most of us don't ever do with our knives, and I love that. To me, that's a that's a service, because I collect knives and I spend a lot of my time and money acquiring certain knives, and, I tend to be the kind of collector who who's somewhat precious with them. I mean, I like to use them, but, at the same time, it's nice to see have other people who are out there, chopping 2 by fours and cutting tires and throwing them into stumps and that kinda thing, so that I don't have to.

Jed Hornbeak [00:24:43]:
Absolutely.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:45]:
But what is so impressive is how, the knives, your knives have performed in those videos. And And I'm thinking mostly of Scab and actually Donnie b all day, who who puts them through the wringer too. Before you had people that you were connected with like that, how how would you test your knives, or how do you still test your knives these days, once you finish them?

Jed Hornbeak [00:25:09]:
Well, kinda like a lot like a SCAB does. I'll I'll, you know I kinda know where the geometry needs to be and the heat treat, you know, that's done done a certain way, then it's gonna come out where it needs to be. But, like, last time I did one, I found a knotty piece of oak that I burned in the in the house, got a wood burning stove, and just smack away. Or find a piece of brass, that'll really test your age. And just start smacking away, and you'll know, you know, where it fails and where it stands up and where it don't. That'll tell you an awful lot. I mean, there's a lot of different ways to test them. Some of the steel will hold up.

Jed Hornbeak [00:25:45]:
I've chopped steel with steel. I use a lot of 3 d, and I've bashed steel with it, and it's it's set up really well. A lot of that comes down to your edge geometry. And, I mean, every every maker should be testing their knives. They should be taking them out, like, one that you just don't like. Or that's what I mean, some of mine don't turn out right. I'm not gonna sell them. And so I won't take it and see what they're stealing.

Jed Hornbeak [00:26:08]:
But, yeah, I cringe every time I watch, you know, Scav's videos because, you know, this is this is something I made and spent a lot of time on, and he's given it all he's got. And I just think it's great.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:19]:
Oh, you gotta be very proud to see how they perform, though. Oh, this one right here. While we're on it, since Jim pulled it up, the hero Bowie. Oh my god. This is so beautiful. And this is a great example of taking design cues from, in this case, the k Bob to me, but totally blending in, different aspects of of the Bowie knife, like with the with the horse who not the horse whoop pommel, but the bird's beak pommel in the back and, so it it's it the with the fuller and the swedge and, my god. This thing is awesome. But what I'm trying to say is it's evocative of the k bar, but it's so much more.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:00]:
It's so much more.

Jed Hornbeak [00:27:02]:
It has my spin on, I guess you could say. This was a collab I did for, Cowboy Seabop that I just mentioned. He's on YouTube. I think he's actually rebranding his channel to KTV, kinda like MTV, but KTV. But I got with him few years ago, and this was actually roughly based off the anaconda movie. He wanted something like that, but different. I think this is a little bit bigger. The guard is different, and the the shape is different.

Jed Hornbeak [00:27:28]:
But this was you know, he didn't make it collab with him, but this was his his baby, his vision. This is what he wanted.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:34]:
Man.

Jed Hornbeak [00:27:35]:
And so this is what we came up with that I made for these. And, you know, this gets a lot of attention because it's just the big, nasty, heavy booty. 5160, you know, it's it's got some great spring still on it.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:51]:
Cowboy Bob, I've I've watched a bunch of his videos too. Hats off to you. That's a beautiful design, And, of course, hats off to you, Jed, for making it. But, that one to me, your coffin handle buoy, the, they have, or or the Boudreaux. That's one that I was very close to buying. I just didn't quite have the fundage, by the time I saw it, but that's the, your your really unique uniquely ground push dagger. All of these things, again, you know, hearkening back to old designs but putting a modern twist on them. And there's that coffin, handle buoy right there in the middle.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:33]:
So tell me about, does the design evolve from the testing? Does the testing, come after the the the design? What I'm interested in is looking at your current designs here. How did how did you get to this? The Kermit, the double edged Kermit there, that looks like a Sac or not a Sachs, but a a Gladius. This is a lot of very unique stuff happening. Tell me about your designing.

Jed Hornbeak [00:29:01]:
It's all different. You know, I can get inspiration from just about anywhere. Kermit came from, I think, the show Muppet Babies. You know, I got 4 kids. They watch a lot. I've seen a lot of Disney movies. I'm a Disney movie

Bob DeMarco [00:29:13]:
buff, but

Jed Hornbeak [00:29:13]:
not not by choice. But, you know, Kermit, this little, kid Kermit, he's a toddler, but he carries his a sword. And it's not shaped exactly like this Kermit, but, you know, I saw that. That's where the name came from from that. The name was after the za'am. Sometimes I'll have a name before the design, but, I've had dreams before. Like, just dreaming a knife and get up and draw, you know, halfway. In the morning, I've seen I built a knife for, well, built it, and Joe from Jazz Playcraft bought it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:29:43]:
And that was when I was working down at a hog barn one day at work, and this tarp was laid over the hog Bob. Light was coming through it, and it it looked kinda like a Tonto shaped knife, you know. And so, well, really anywhere. Inspiration can come from anywhere.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:00]:
But a

Jed Hornbeak [00:30:00]:
lot of it's just stuff in my head. It's it's my imagination, and that's really all I have to offer. It's stuff that that pops up in my head that I'm interested in, and other people find it interesting as well. You mentioned the coffin handle buoy. That's just the old tried and true tested handle shape, really. This is one that I made, like, my 1st year machining. I was probably 18, 19 years old. I got my machine going, and I would go back and, saw this up and started grinding on it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:30:36]:
Never finished it. I had this chunk of steel laying around in this shape, coffin under shape, for several years, and I finished this right before blade show when we met here a couple years ago. But it I I like the way that the coffin hound you have your hand index is right there. If you make a grip, it's not going this way, and it's not going this way because it's it's basically locked in place. In place, you have a pommel there that you can strike with. And I also like the symmetry. Like a lot of my knives, I try to make symmetrical handles. A lot of them, the design don't dictate that.

Jed Hornbeak [00:31:11]:
But even though you're only been cutting with it one way, it's a won't weld. It's and it's a double edged knife. So you can basically hold this in either direction. The handle's gonna feel the same, and you can cut either way. You know, it really don't make no difference. But I I do like the coffin handle very much.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:28]:
Perfect for, Bowie knife fighting because oftentimes you're flipping it over and using the swedge as your primary striking surface and then using the, you know, that what do they call it? The Randall fighting method where you you sort of thrust and heave ho over your shoulder for the blade part, but you're using the swedge to break to defang the snake, break the hand, do all that kind of stuff, that that cool Bowie knife stuff. I I I love it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:31:55]:
Absolutely. You just feel more like a man with a Bowie knife. I I agree. Maybe nobody else wants to say that, but I'll point you out. You heard it first with junky podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:05]:
You, on on your, site, you also have sais. You you made some s s a I, sai, right, with the Right. Right. The, the one of the Ninja Turtles used them. Yeah. There we go. Look at that. Yeah.

Jed Hornbeak [00:32:20]:
It was a Raphael. Yeah. The red one. The the angry one. But this is just something that popped in my mind. You know, I thought a a knife a knife size, something that you can use that's not just for poking, because it'll it'll cut too, but the the tangs on this are sharp as well. And this was designed to be an EDC, self defense knife. Like, this would this would do great for that.

Jed Hornbeak [00:32:44]:
It's kinda small and compact. It's not just a super long knife. But, yeah, I think there was, Mortal Kombat or something. There was a character in there, one of the female characters that had a nice, and, you know, like I say, it just pops in your head one day, and you're like, I like that, and I'm gonna make that.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:03]:
And so see the sheath for that. I'm curious what what it looks oh, wow. That that's very see, I was thinking, like, how would I how would I wear that and not carry that in the waistband? But but the way it's not those guards aren't fully enclosed all the way around keeps that sheath nice and slim. You could totally EDC that knife.

Jed Hornbeak [00:33:23]:
Yeah. This isn't much larger than, you know, because it's it's thin here and the rivets are they're they're in pretty close, but it's not a real wide knife as much as you might think with the with the Kratics there.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:35]:
I mean, it okay. So it it in general, it would be a huge flex to be just EDC ing one of your fixed blades anyway. But to pull out a sigh, like, who's gonna, like,

Jed Hornbeak [00:33:45]:
what? Yeah. It's a little bit different. You know? And that's that's what I try to achieve, building, designing, and life is something a little bit different. I have a lot of people coming to me and want me to do a custom knife, like something they've drawn. And it's like, I've tried to back away from that because Yep. For 1, it's not my design. And it's I want I want the process of my knives to come from my mind to my hands and that be be all me, basically, is what I want. And something a little bit different.

Jed Hornbeak [00:34:13]:
You know? Some of these aren't probably not for everybody. Like, they're they're just not basic knives in in design. They're some of them are kind of out there, and they're not just so far out there, but they're still simple things, but just a little bit different.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:26]:
Well, it begs the question because you were talking before about your love of slip joints. And, so would you make folders or slip joints or something that is, you know, not everyone can, walk around with a fixed blade, but everyone can throw a folder on them somewhere. Is this something you've considered?

Jed Hornbeak [00:34:46]:
Absolutely. Yeah. I have some designs in the works right now, as a matter of fact, and I've built a prototype for it before and learned a lot doing that. But, yeah, definitely. You know, I'm just getting started as far as night making goes full time. So, yeah, that's in the work, Bob. We're gonna see that hopefully in the next few months, if all goes well. But as I'm I'm in total agreeance.

Jed Hornbeak [00:35:07]:
Like, I'd soon carry a a folding knife because a lot of times don't dictate really a fixed blade knife. You're walking through the grocery store carrying a, you know, 12, 13 inch long Bowie knife on you.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:20]:
Well, not that, but the scythe that you had, that you were just showing, I can't remember the name that you said, but those scyhs? Say that again. Sorry.

Jed Hornbeak [00:35:28]:
Cerberus, 3 headed beast in the dark world. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:31]:
The the Cerberus, you could totally EDC that. And there's another one that you make that I really hope you have one close by because I'd love to see it. Is the Necromancer. You have one of those? So to me, this this is, this will be I think would be my first jet hornbeak knife. This thing is so beautiful, but also just like a nice fighting knife EDC. Tell me about it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:35:57]:
This was designed to be a stabbing knife. You can tell it's got a modified pistol grip on it, basically. And this would be the trigger, or this would act just like a sub hill to keep your finger there locked in position. This guy jumping on the back. This got a Scandi grind, swage, a hollow grind. It's meant for poking. I mean, this is this is a straight up self defense knife that you could EDC. You could still open up boxes with this.

Jed Hornbeak [00:36:24]:
You can, you know, open up your cereal bag, whatever you wanted to. But it's made for stabbing. You know? That's what that's what this is, and that's what it would excel at because it's it's double edged. It's got the grip for it. It's staying in the hand. You're in a, you know, alley at night, low light situation. You can pull this out, and, you know, nobody's gonna grab at you. You you've got some distance there, right off the bat because you have a double edged weapon.

Jed Hornbeak [00:36:53]:
And even if you're just, you know, backing up, trying to get somebody off of you, you still got you still got a nice point there on you. So that's that's what that was designed to do.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:03]:
Oh, yeah. I'm a huge fan of that design. And now seeing it moving around in 3 dimensions, yeah. That's that's that's, definitely one, to save for. That's a beauty. And I say save for, because you make custom knives. You they're not inexpensive knives, but they're also not crazy expensive. They're not, you know, I I think pricing what you make is a difficult thing.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:31]:
I think no matter what you're making, you gotta look at what others are doing, what other knives are costing, what the waters are that you're swimming in, so to speak, but you also have to think about your time and your expenses and also being able to reinvest in your own business and and move forward. Tell me a little bit about that, the business side of things. So what are what are you discovering? What have you discovered in, leading a small business in knives?

Jed Hornbeak [00:37:59]:
I discovered that it's pretty expensive to build a knife, like you were talking about. There there's a lot goes into this. And, for 1, the machines, you know, everything here behind me cost an arm and leg. I had to trade off all my good guns for this stuff. And, you know, I bought and last year, I spent 10 or $12 on laser engraver, tumbler, and harness tester, all this stuff. It's just so it's like the steel. Some of these knives, I'll have over a $100 in. The steel is so expensive.

Jed Hornbeak [00:38:28]:
Do a lot of CPM stills. There's a lot of high end stills. This stuff ain't cheap. The belts are so expensive. I need a belt company to sponsor me, by the way. You hear that on the Bob DeMarco podcast. And the belts are expensive. It costs a lot to run the heat treat oven.

Jed Hornbeak [00:38:45]:
So selling that for $200 just you know, I can't do it. I can just can't I don't imagine many USA makers can, you know, for the same style of knife that I'm going for. But then again, you you try to keep your process. I knew I'm starting off, so I'm trying to keep them low as possible to to sell. I need to move some knives, really. You know? This is what I'm doing. This is how I put bread on the table, so I need to move some knives. And I don't wanna make them just an obscene price, but a price where I can make a few bucks and and move some knives is what I'm doing there.

Jed Hornbeak [00:39:21]:
But, yeah, the business side is is different. Making knives is easy, but but running a business is a whole another layer of of stresses there. But it's it's gone real well. Like, since January, we got the website going and have sold, I don't know, probably 70% of the knives that were on there. And so it it's picking up. It really is picking up. But, yeah, there's a lot to run-in the business, but it's it's nice. You know? Like, I'm the man now.

Jed Hornbeak [00:39:47]:
I talked about working several years in a machine shop, and just you're living for somebody else's dream. There's the owner. He he's given you enough just to keep you there, but, you know, he's doing whatever he does, and that's that's how businesses work. That's awesome. But it just got to a point. It's like I'm making all these parts. I don't even know what the part is. I'm working all these long hours, sacrificing time with my family, working every Saturday up in this joker.

Jed Hornbeak [00:40:14]:
You know? And this just ain't for me. It's not for me. And so I I got these machines. Like, someday, I'm gonna quit my job, and I'm gonna do this if I can because I wanna be the man. I'm tired of working for somebody else and just Yeah. Being on their schedule, doing something you don't wanna do all day long. So I'm blessed to have the jobs that I did, and I learned so much about working in the 3 shops that I was at. And that was great.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:39]:
Those jobs, your jobs, my jobs, you know, the jobs that you have, especially the ones where you're like, you know, they're very valuable because, they teach you, what it's like to be, you know, responsible for someone else's time or responsible during someone else's time and responsible with their things and be so basically, being in those jobs teaches you how to be a good boss in a way, because you learn what you don't want, to do. You can also learn, what you can offer other people if they're moving through if you start hiring. You know that after you learned your skills and you got those skills down, everything after that is piecework. You're just making widgets over and over and over. You mastered that, and it was time to take it somewhere else and put your own creativity to it. And Right. And and that's what why those jobs are necessary, I I feel.

Jed Hornbeak [00:41:36]:
Absolutely. You know, there's there's a machining aspect and and and just everything around us. It started off at a machine shop, but I went from there and, started doing maintenance, industrial maintenance because I wanna learn new skills. I was just kinda tired of the the long hours of machine shop, basically, so I started doing maintenance and and learned that, and it was great. Did that for a few years. In, September of 22, I just made a hard, fast decision to quit my job. I had a situation where I really needed to work from home, And so I had all this stuff set up, and I think, well, I'm just gonna step out and do this. I got 2 options.

Jed Hornbeak [00:42:15]:
I'm gonna make math making work, or I'm gonna make math making work, 1 or the other. And so that's that's basically what happened.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:22]:
Okay. Jim is scrolling through your Instagram, and there's a knife I wanna see, if you have. This is a very unique one I got to check out, at blade show. Your Rhodesian model of the what is that?

Jed Hornbeak [00:42:36]:
The the Kermit Rhodesian.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:38]:
Kermit Rhodesian. Can you show that? This is, one of the craziest knives, and if someone pulled this out of me, I would run the so fast in the other direction.

Jed Hornbeak [00:42:50]:
Right. Right. So the Kermit started off as I made 4 of them, and I have 4 different models now, but it it was a smaller knife. This is this is what it started at, and this is the Kermit Rhodesian. But I wanted a small self defense knife, EDC self defense knife. This is what I I make a lot of, basically. But I wanted something that could be held in the hand in 4 different directions, and the grip would be the same. Maybe you're in a low light situation, drop your knife and you pick it up.

Jed Hornbeak [00:43:23]:
You can pick it up, and it's gonna cut either direction because all of them are are double edged. This one is serrated, the Kermit Rhodesian. So that that was one of them. Did a snakeskin in inlay on that sheath. This was the Kermit Hornet. Again, same handle and and double edged. And so I I made 4 of those, and I went on to, well, that that's a nice knife, but maybe something a little bit combat size would be better for some people. And so this is the full size Kermit Rodin.

Jed Hornbeak [00:44:04]:
And this is chisel ground. Got serrations on the back. Same handle symmetry, geometry, and all that.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:12]:
Wait. Wait. Hold that back up. Not so fast.

Jed Hornbeak [00:44:15]:
Mhmm.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:16]:
This blade is so unique. You've got, I'm gonna start from the top. You've got a a long thumb ramp, kinda like a bayonet grind, grind thumb ramp, directly below it, a fuller, and then you have this wicked run of serrations that terminates in a small flat sharp and then a a clip that's fully sharp and then, like, a tanto blade. You got, like, 4 edges on this thing.

Jed Hornbeak [00:44:41]:
It's a lot to look at. You remember the 1st Mission Impossible movie where he goes in and he's, you know, on this wire, and he's going down into this room and switch dropping off of him and stuff.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:51]:
And Yeah.

Jed Hornbeak [00:44:52]:
The he pulls out a knife with the same basic clip of that, you know, similar, not exactly. You know, I saw that movie probably 20 years ago, and and that's been sticking with me ever since. It's just that I saw this this one small blade shape, and, you know, it comes back around, and I use that on this knife. Nice and sturdy point on that. But, yeah, inspiration from everywhere. That is the Kermit. There is, let's see. I think I have another one.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:26]:
So you you put it on. God, that's

Jed Hornbeak [00:45:30]:
This is the Kermit. Just just the straight up Kermit. But see, it's got the same handle. All have the same handle, and they're all double edged. This one is just like a Gladius sword pretty much. It's got the fuller down it, serrations on one side. May I've sewn a few of these, but, they've actually sewed real well, all 4 of them. All 4 of them.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:52]:
So it sounds like that went into kydex and the last one too, but then you hold it up okay. This one looks like kydex. Do you wrap some of them in leather also?

Jed Hornbeak [00:46:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. So this one Okay. This one had leather sheath on it, and I did some with kydex. It's basically whatever mood I'm in at the time is Okay. Is what I'll do. And next time, it may be different. I may do leather on these.

Jed Hornbeak [00:46:16]:
You know? Some people hit me up, and they want something done a certain way. I like I said, I don't do many customs, but, you know, I can tailor my knife to how they want it as far as that goes.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:26]:
So now who who is buying your knives, and and what are you hearing from the field?

Jed Hornbeak [00:46:35]:
I've had knives that I've given to buddies and stuff that carry them every day and just love it and show them off to people. I've a lot of customers from the website that have bought multiple knives. They'll they'll buy several knives, and they'll lay it out on their carpet at their house and and send me a picture of their whole Jet Hornbeak collection. But that's what I want. You know, these design, they're designed to be used. They're heat treated. They try to use premium ingredients in there, and so they're they're meant to be used day in and day out if that's what somebody wishes to do.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:09]:
So, as a company, Jed Hornbeek Knives, if you were to look into the future, do you wanna become the kind of knife company that has a lot of different models that you're making at or offering at once, or do you kind of want to have a knife, run it for a while, discontinue it, and and do something new? Are are you going to amass a large, stable of models?

Jed Hornbeak [00:47:36]:
Yeah. But, I mean, that's what I'm doing now, and I sold out several of them, but they'll come back around. But when they come back around, it may be a while from now because it it's a planning process, really, because, you gotta order the steel, send it to a water jet guy, cut it out, order belts, sand the materials over leather, all this stuff, and it just comes in. You keep ordering it. And so like a knife that I may just sold out of, it may be 6 months down the road before I have a chance to make it again because there are so many other ones in front of it that are in the works Right. Basically.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:09]:
Right. Okay. Well, that's good. That's good. Because I hate to hear when something I love is retired. Like, oh, I'm not making that design anymore. It's like, why not? I haven't gotten that one yet. But, like like the Boudreaux, I would love to get at some point.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:23]:
But first, it's gotta be a necromancer. Just seeing that can you pick that up again? I just wanna see that again, if you don't mind, just for my own personal edification here.

Jed Hornbeak [00:48:31]:
I know about a lot of things like chips at Walmart. You know, if I start liking it, then they're gonna quit carrying it. That's the way it is. And it's it's kinda disheartening like that. Yeah. Yeah. So I made 3 of these, and this is a design that I recently did, and the the other 2 are sold. This is the sweet little piece.

Jed Hornbeak [00:48:53]:
I'm glad you like that, Bob.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:54]:
Yeah. I do. How long is that blade, would you say? About 4 and a half inches?

Jed Hornbeak [00:48:59]:
Yeah. Probably 4 and a quarter, 4 and a half, something like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:02]:
That's perfect. Perfect for the perfect for the purpose. So, you mentioned that you're not so hot on the idea of making, making a knife to someone's, like, specs. But what about collaborations, where you're working with another knife maker or designer and kinda going back and forth? Have you ever done that?

Jed Hornbeak [00:49:23]:
I have, not with another knifemaker. No. And I'd be open to that. I just hadn't chance I hadn't crossed my path yet. But I've worked with, different YouTubers, like Scav. He's got the Far East Captain Ike, and that was something that he was inspired by, I think, Captain Electro or somebody. Captain Electro designed a knife and made a knife, and Scab wanted something similar to that. And so we came up with something to make it.

Jed Hornbeak [00:49:48]:
I've worked with Donnie before, some knives that he's designed. Actually, the second knife, I'm making another batch right now of a knife that he designed. And so, you know, I like Donnie's designs. He's got nice designs. And that's basically about it. Take somebody's designs. It's gonna have to be something that I like. You know, a lot of people come up to me with a design and want things done a certain way.

Jed Hornbeak [00:50:11]:
And some things I I I do things my own way, and I don't wanna be limited. You know? Creativity is stifled by other people's designs that are, you know, so solid to that. There's no compromise, and that's what I try to steer away from. But, yes, I'm I'm open and willing to work with other makers as far as that goes, and I have built other designs.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:33]:
I I think that if I were a knifemaker, I would I would have I would prefer that approach, rather than a, a, taking orders and having books and and and and and, like, oh my god. I gotta make another one of these, but this time with a red handle, and now I gotta make another to me and my attention span, I think I think, I think I would be more apt to do it, the way you're suggesting.

Jed Hornbeak [00:51:00]:
Right.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:00]:
But then always having, always having those patterns somewhere ready to reemerge at some point when you're ready to do another run. Typically, like, how how large would you say your runs are when you do a knife? Does it just depend on the demand for that one in particular? Or how does that work for you?

Jed Hornbeak [00:51:23]:
It depends. I try to do them, like, not even 10 or 12, but, like, 5 or 6, small batches of stuff that, and I typically don't do this. But, I mean, I could finish maybe 5 knives in a week if it was a certain model, and go through the week as a whole process and be done with with the knives at the end of the week. But, like, for heat treating stuff, I gotta buy liquid nitrogen, so I try to heat treat a big batch at one time and just work on that batch of heat treated blades and finish them out like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:54]:
Jed, my my eyes keep drifting over your right shoulder to that to that that belt filled with cruciform blades there. Let let's talk about that for a quick sec.

Jed Hornbeak [00:52:04]:
And so in the pawn shop, I watched this movie, Desperado. And Danny Trejo comes out. He's an assassin. And, actually, the per people that were killing him was the was the was on the same side, but they didn't. Anyways, he comes out, and he rakes Steve's machining. You know, the knot goes about 2 inches in in Steve, and he dies, like, that quick on the spot. But Danny comes out, and there's this, armored car. They got Desert Eagles hanging out the window, shooting at him, you know, 500 rounds.

Jed Hornbeak [00:52:34]:
And he comes out, and he's got, I think, 15 or 16 of these. And he wrecks 4, 5, 6 people. He climbs on top of it, and he's throwing knives down in there before he finally gets shot and killed. But that that image of this movie, I didn't even finish the whole movie from when I was 12 or 13 years old. It's been seared in my mind so hard all this time. And I thought one day, I'm gonna have me a belt like O'Dani Trejo. And so that's what I did. I I finished these up and actually finished the belt up on the way to Blade Show when we met, you know, on the 7 hour drive down there.

Jed Hornbeak [00:53:09]:
But it's nice, man. It's nice. I gotta figure out how to Yeah. I'll quit carrying a gun at that point because I wanna

Bob DeMarco [00:53:16]:
Well, I was thinking that the cool thing about, a project like that first of all, you know, it's just it's something that you can do for yourself. It's it's probably something you've always wanted, but you can actually build it for yourself, which I think is so cool because, you know, I have so many different projects like that that I would do if I could, build them, but I I think that's neat. But something that is especially cool is the is the reproducibility, the high fidelity reproduction, one after the other, of doing things on a mill. Just looking at all of those knives on that belt, they're probably all exactly the same, And that that is one of the really beauty parts of making knives, the way you do. How how important is that to you to have all of the representatives, all the specimens of one model that you're making be the same? I

Jed Hornbeak [00:54:10]:
mean, that that's how machining is. You get a you get a print, it'll have a part quantity on there, and you make however many it is. This is this is what I've done my whole career, basically, is repeat the same part over and over, to a degree where they all the same. They're all in spec, then they're all the same. I did this on the manual mill, and you would just set up on a jig or clamp this in the vise and do that same cut on all of them and just keep putting them in the vise until, you know, they all look the same, all like you want them. And that's it's it's all in the machine, a lot of it. Like, CNC stuff, it's all just a a press of the button. It's gonna make the same part every single time.

Jed Hornbeak [00:54:50]:
It's a beautiful thing, really.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:52]:
It really is. I'm sure you had a 1000000 people asking to buy that.

Jed Hornbeak [00:54:57]:
I had some people interested in it, but no. And as far as buying it, no. I took it off. It's hard to go to the bathroom with with a knife, though.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:07]:
Yeah. It could be a dangerous prospect too. You wanna make sure

Jed Hornbeak [00:55:09]:
that Absolutely. Absolutely.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:11]:
That those leather, tabs there hold. So, what do what do you see for the future of Jed Hornbeek Knives? Are you gonna hire people? Is that something you could do? Could you entrust anyone to your knives? Tell us what what how you see this company, in the future.

Jed Hornbeak [00:55:28]:
Well, I think the only predictable thing about the future is its unpredictability. I think I heard that on Radcliffe. But, you know, I'm not interested in hiring anybody. I like coming out here. Me and her not here in the morning, early with a cup of coffee and doing what I wanna do. I don't wanna have to babysit nobody. I don't wanna have to worry about hiring and and payroll and all that. I wanna keep it simple on myself, and, you know, I'd rather work by myself.

Jed Hornbeak [00:55:54]:
So I just keep doing what I'm doing. It would be nice to have a CNC machine at some point. That would be, I think, the next step up for me because I'd really be in my element with the CNC because that's what I've done my whole career. Just set up, run, program, CNC, and that would be great. That would be a nice future addition to Jet Hornby knives. But for right now, just keep making knives. Keep designing knives. They got knife designs for days.

Jed Hornbeak [00:56:22]:
And so I just keep doing those and hopefully keep on making what people like. And there's a time when I make stuff that people don't like, I may have to find something something else to do, but until then, just keep on riding this this wave.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:35]:
Well, the cool thing is is that the knives that you're making on the manual mill over your shoulder, will someday and, you know, when you do get that CNC machine, those will jump in value as, you know, the the, the early days or or the the pre CNC days, and it'll add a dimension to your collect the the collectibility of your work. But as it is, as it stands, I know that your work is very collectible and and very, desirable and coveted and I I know that I myself am am now not now, but, just through the enthusiasm of some of the other people who brought me in and now having this conversation with you and and looking at your work. I'm very excited for you and I'm very excited to get my hands on one of your knives and add it to my collection for sure. And, know, like I said, you know which one I want because I wanna be able to carry it every day. I'd love to have that coffin handle or the, hero, but with my lifestyle, that can't be the first one because I have to be able to carry around the first one.

Jed Hornbeak [00:57:41]:
I I understand that. A 100%. We'll have to hook you up, Bob. We can do this. We'll make sure.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:46]:
Will. This is not me begging on camera.

Jed Hornbeak [00:57:48]:
This is Oh.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:49]:
Just saying, don't get rid of that one. Jed, I hate hate to hit you, mid sip there, but I just wanna thank you for coming on the Knife Junkie podcast. It's been a real pleasure.

Jed Hornbeak [00:57:59]:
Has it already been an hour, Bob? That that was great.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:01]:
Yeah. It's been an hour, but you and I are gonna talk for another few minutes for the patrons. So, anyone who's a member of Patreon can hear a little bit more with me and Jed, but it's been a real pleasure. Thank you for showing off your gorgeous knives, and, best of luck to you, sir.

Jed Hornbeak [00:58:18]:
Thank you so much, Bob. It's my pleasure.

Announcer [00:58:20]:
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Bob DeMarco [00:58:40]:
You can cook your bratwurst with it. I have one. It's super powerful and very cool. Alright. There goes Jed Hornbeek. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much to Jed for joining us, and, I'm so, happy to meet him. I'm so glad I got a chance to actually pick up and heft his knives at blade show. You know I was talking about how I wanted a push dagger.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:00]:
Well, I found his push dagger a little bit too late, unfortunately. All my money was spent at that point. But in any case, be sure to go check out Jed Hornbeek on Instagram, and you can also, search him on YouTube and find many of our trusted voices, showing off and using his knives. Be sure to check-in with us on Wednesday for the midweek supplemental and Thursday for Thursday night night, so that's at 10 PM Eastern Standard Time, live on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. For Jim, working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

Announcer [00:59:36]:
Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review at review the podcast.com. For show notes for today's episode, additional resources, and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, the knifejunkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at the knifejunkie.com/youtube. Check out some great knife photos on the knifejunkie com/instagram, and join our Facebook group at the knifejunkie.com/facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob at the knifejunkie.com, or call our 247 listener line at 724-466-4487. And you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie podcast.