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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 knife designer Sharif Manganas. Sharif's name has come up countless times over the past few years during conversation on Thursday night knives when talking about our very favorite knife designers, with many a knife junkie out there smitten with his clean and modern aesthetic. He's a designer that's driven by the desire to create useful and functional objects while paying special and a very obvious attention to their beauty. He's drawn up folding knives for companies as esteemed as Kizer and Kubi, but his own label, Mangana Steel, is where his most luxurious, desirable, and innovative creations are coming to life. We'll meet Sharif and find out what it's like to be an artist in the medium of folding night design. But first, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and hit the notification bell.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:11]:
And, if you like, you can download it to your favorite podcast app and listen on the go. Also, if you wanna help support this show, you can do so by heading on over to the knifejunkie.com/patreon and seeing what we have to offer there. Of course, you can scan that QR code on your screen. Again, that's the knifejunkie.com/patreon.

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Bob DeMarco [00:02:07]:
Sharif, welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, sir.

Sharif Manganas [00:02:09]:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That was, too kind of an in intro for me.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:15]:
I I don't I don't think so. I don't think so. I've heard so much about you and then, and people who've actually met you. And then when I looked up your knife designs, I was like, oh, one guy did all these?

Sharif Manganas [00:02:28]:
Yeah. It it's just fun.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:30]:
When I was looking up, you know, a little bit of information on you, I saw that you have some serious art training and and background. I wanna start there. Tell me how you got involved in knife design, and tell me about your artist's training.

Sharif Manganas [00:02:45]:
Oh, okay. Well, I guess it it it kind of goes really far back to when I was a kid. For some reason, I always had an obsession with, like, coming up with new ideas and, like, new solutions or new vehicles and things like that and I used to, like, doodle them or, like, my my folks would get some gadget and I'd, like, analyze and I'd say, you know, it would be better with this, you know, or or those features or something like that. And, as I got older, I thought that meant that I should be an engineer. So I started going it to to college to be a mechanical engineer and, I hated it. I actually was absolutely miserable because there was a lot of the functional side, but none of the creative, like, problem solving side, at least the trajectory that I was on personally. So I I left, engineering school, and I found out about design and industrial design. And that actually brought me out to Los Angeles to attend the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, which, for those who may have never heard of the school, which is most people, it's kind of like the Harvard of industrial design.

Sharif Manganas [00:04:12]:
Like, when you graduate, you don't get a, a bachelor's of arts, you get a bachelor's of science in design, and, like, one of the only programs that does that. And they have, an intense focus on the industrial design, process, production prototyping, all of that. So when I graduated there, I had a a multitude of skills and I first started kind of working and doing internships in the automotive industry and then consulting, for them and then transitioned over to, consulting for product design companies. I had a business where I used to make drones for high speed applications, and racing. And then once that business kind of fizzled out, I had a, a business partner who I was collaborating with, and they bankrupted their company and that killed my company as a result. So I was trying to find a side hustle, something fun to do with my creative juices. And I said, you know what? I've always had a passion for knives. And I said, you know what? I think there are some things that I would like to do differently that I'm not seeing out there right now.

Sharif Manganas [00:05:38]:
And I started designing, designing, submitting designs that people kept on getting rejected. And then I finally did a really, really crazy design called the Veloce, and it was picked up by Kubi. That's this guy right here. And this was my first actually ever licensed design. And from there, it just blew up slowly but surely. And I find myself here today now.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:11]:
I I feel like you can see your automotive roots in the Veloce.

Sharif Manganas [00:06:15]:
Yeah. The the Veloce was supposed to be, an expression of speed within a knife. You know? I think a lot of designers, get inspiration from sports cars to design knives, but what they what they miss a little bit is some of the the the line tension and the stretching of certain details and certain flow. So I wanted to to bring a little bit of that into the market. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:06:48]:
Let me ask you. When you were in the automotive industry, you said you did, some consulting and and other, types of what kinda stuff were you doing?

Sharif Manganas [00:06:57]:
Mainly so what my primary skill set was within, most of the corporate, like, adjacent or corporate work that I did was actually future forecasting and trend forecasting. Being able to project like 10, 15 years into the future and if not further, and to create roadmaps of where the these businesses or companies can take, you know, their their brand into the future. And that also included me developing sometimes functional prototypes and things like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:37]:
Wow. That's that's really interesting because, well, first of all, I I feel like I've spoken to a number of people who worked in the automotive industry before knives. It seems like, it seems like one of the number of places where where people's fascination, is is channeled. Everyone loves cars, and, everyone here loves knives. You mentioned a passion for knives, and that's where, you know, once your drone business kinda fizzled out and you were trying to figure out what, you know, where to go, you said you always had a passion for knives. Where did that develop?

Sharif Manganas [00:08:14]:
So from an from a, my my high school days, actually, like, my buddies wanted to, you know, get some knives as most teenage boys do. So that went from, like, looking at flea markets to trying to convince my parents to get a Swiss army knife, and then, my uncle actually ended up giving me my first kind of, like, true, true, like, single bladed knife, and it was, of all things, an opium.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:47]:
Oh, nice.

Sharif Manganas [00:08:49]:
And, unfortunately, I did not know how to respect that blade because it was carbon steel, and I lost that thing to horrible rust. So, actually, funny enough, I got this to kind of as as memorial for him because he recently passed away. But this one is, rebladed in m 390, so I never have to worry about losing this one.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:16]:
I've never heard of an m 390 OpenL. That's pretty cool.

Sharif Manganas [00:09:20]:
Dude, there's a a guy, I believe he's out of Ukraine by the name of Triangle Tools, and he does OpenL replays, which is is pretty awesome, man. And he does them in, like, s 90vm390. So, definitely worth checking him out.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:39]:
I'm I'm definitely taking note of that. That's funny that you you say high school was the place, like, I definitely cultivated my knife love there too. You know, my grandfather gave me my first folding knife, and I always loved knives from a a young age, but I had a a friend. I still have this friend. He's more into bikes than than knives these days, but he really, he got some cool ones from his dad. And I remember it was like a constant scramble to try and get my hands on,

Sharif Manganas [00:10:07]:
on some great knives back in the day. Right? Like, your your appetite is bigger than your wallet at that.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:16]:
Yeah. You mentioned something up front, which, I find very interesting. You use the term a term that I use all the time, which is creative problem solving. And, I I work in the creative field and and I had art training, and, that is the most exciting thing to me about the creative pursuits because, inspiration, you can't rely on. Inspiration is great when it comes and, but it's fleeting. And if you wanna be a productive person, whether it's in the arts or design or, in art or design, what have you, you cannot rely or wait for inspiration because you'll you'll start. And you have a lot of ways of, creating your own inspiration, but also, coming up with ways of solving problems creatively and within your within your lane. What were the problems you were seeing with knives? What what propelled you to to want to do that sort of creative problem solving?

Sharif Manganas [00:11:22]:
You you wanna know what was honestly the very first thing that that really got to me was seeing really, really high end custom knives and, even high end production knives being one of the only good places where you could get, like, good knife design. You know? I felt I feel that, like, good design in general is like an overarching concept, should be very democratic. And I know that's a byproduct of being born and raised here in the US, But I think that everyone should be able to have access to good design, good quality materials, good construction, you know, so on and so forth. And it shouldn't have to cost an arm and a leg, you know? So that was the first thing genuinely that I wanted to tackle. And then as it progressed, with each one of my designs, I tried to address or explore like another element that I think, can be adapted in the future. And a good example of this is with, my Kubi Ruckus, which is a sort of tactical inspired knife design. It was the first knife design, that I did a significantly oversized shouldered stop pin on it. The very first generation ones that came with, the blue and black, bolsters, you know, they had a legitimately 5 millimeter thick stop pin.

Sharif Manganas [00:13:07]:
And they got rid of that on on the future models, but everybody who handled it said, oh, this feels more robust and more secure than other knives that I've held. So I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. Stop pins are, you know, a much bigger factor and shouldered stop pins like the tactical construction method.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:31]:
Show us what you mean. First of all, show us the ruckus and then

Sharif Manganas [00:13:35]:
I actually don't have one right next to me, but I can show you what I'm talking about here on the Aurelia. Okay? So the shouldered stop pin here, which is what this little tab is for, is part of the tactical construction method, that was really developed by, Bob Trezola Orb and, Ernest Emerson. Right? You can see that stop pin there in this cqc7. Right? So what that does is it gives you actually a lot of control and power to drive your cutting tasks. And a lot of people will do, stop pins, you know, kind of nested within the blade or, you know, there are different approaches, different positions. But the Ruckus was the first one that I explored. That I saw the success of that, started implementing it in my other models, and I I do little things like that with each release to try and refine and improve what each next one is.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:49]:
I I remember when the ruckus came out. It was probably maybe 3 years ago at this at this point. The blade is so beautiful to me. It reminds me of a barong. It's one of the Filipino blades up on the wall behind me, in a sheath. But, it's got that beautiful leaf shaped blade, and I I believe on the ruckus, it's it's a, it's a saber grind, so it looks like a really, puff looking knife, puff knife, like, the blade looks very stout and sturdy, I think, is what I'm trying to say. Yeah. That design really, knocked me out, and I know a lot of people really like that one.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:25]:
Well, what came next?

Sharif Manganas [00:15:28]:
Let's see. I'm try I'm trying to remember the the the sort of timeline, but with with each as I said, with the each I try to resolve something, like, with the momentum that I did, it was about finding the easiest front flipper design. With the Kizer Grazioso, it was about making an affordable gentleman's knife that everybody could own, you know? With the Kaimano, it was about creating one of my absolute dream knives, you know? And I employed different techniques that I learned from Peter Carey, the custom knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:12]:
Oh, shit.

Sharif Manganas [00:16:13]:
Right? One of the things I learned from Peter Carey was he uses a different, lock bar length than other makers, and it results in a distinct feel and different characteristics on on how the knife feels when you deploy it. So you get this really, like, ka ching, you know, sensation with the knife. So the kaimano, actually, I don't know what you'd be able to see here, but this lock bar length compared to even the Aurelia is quite a bit shorter

Bob DeMarco [00:16:55]:
Yeah.

Sharif Manganas [00:16:57]:
And purposeful with this model. And it that this sort of thing, for example, only works on thumb hole and flippers. It doesn't work as well on thumb stud knives. You know? So

Bob DeMarco [00:17:12]:
make it more difficult to deploy because it's a scouter action?

Sharif Manganas [00:17:16]:
Yeah. Yeah. It affects the tension and it affects the pressure significantly. And so the the each, as I said before, like each one I tried to, you know, play with different details and find the right formula for the particular set of uses that that knife is designed for.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:42]:
That Kubi momentum, really made a splash. I know, it was kind of at the sort of the beginning of front flippers. I mean, they were out and about, but everyone, myself included, was kind of, you know, results were mixed. I always had a hard time with them. The momentum, certainly, I did not. And I know that a number of our trusted voices here on YouTube absolutely loved that knife, swore by that knife. So I'd say that you, solved that issue.

Sharif Manganas [00:18:14]:
That knife. Yeah. It's it's, it's it's just little things, you know, and and it's I I I don't think I have some special insight that nobody else can have. Right? Like, I'm not special in any way. It's just being able to see, like, okay. Right? This is not designed to be a front flipper, but when you think about the, leverage that you need to pull a blade over, if this is your center point, having something a little taller here, but also shape to give you leverage and then this shape, because this is where your thumb is gonna be following, those should all be considerations. For some reason, not everybody does that, but if you can do it right, you can actually be very consistent, and you can even do it with a bigger knife like this. You know? So it just looking at those details.

Sharif Manganas [00:19:20]:
You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:19:21]:
So the Aurelia is an incidental front flipper, and and that's that's what I call a lot of Emersons are incidental front flippers. Like, you could front flip them before that was a thing. I always thought that was cool. But I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Sharif Manganas [00:19:36]:
I was just gonna say, it's actually funny. It's an Emerson design that made me think of that. Right?

Bob DeMarco [00:19:42]:
Yeah.

Sharif Manganas [00:19:42]:
So you'll notice that this guy has got full jimping the whole way. Right? Yeah. And the reason I did that is because with this guy, the, 0 640 by ZT, this is an Emerson design. It has this, and I started seeing on, like, Reddit and forum posts people jimping this in order to get better purchase, in order to front flip it. And I said, if people are going to front flip it anyways, may as well just give them the jimping to let them do it.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:16]:
So let's talk about the caimano for a second. Before we even get to that, because, I I wanna I wanna talk about making a transition between, designing for Kubi and Kizer and then Mangana Steel. Mangana Steel is your label, and you've your you so far have produced 2 knives out of it. Right? The Kaimano and now the Aurelia, which is in production. We'll talk about that in a minute. But what was it like, not that you're done designing for those other companies or or even, but but what was it like kinda striking out on your own with your own company?

Sharif Manganas [00:20:54]:
It is daunting. It is quite honestly terrifying. Right? Because my my goal was always to do this. Actually, funny little story is that when I was really getting my start, kind of like when I hit the scene and people even had a remote idea that, oh, he this guy designed a knife. Right? I actually knew, Israel of arcane design. Like, we were both kind of, like, getting our start in things. And Israel and I sat down and had a conversation one day on what would be the better strategy to go straight into doing your own thing or building your name through licensing so people have some familiarity with you. And we both decided to go in.

Sharif Manganas [00:21:46]:
Each one of us took a different strategy. Israel built his brand. I built my name, and then now I'm starting to build my brand. I gotta say, Israel was a lot more courageous than I am because look at what he's accomplished, and I'm now learning from him and the the steps that he took. But it it's scary, man, because now everything is on you. The marketing, the promotion, the growing of your community, all of that is on you. And if something is is wrong with the product in any way, shape or form, you have to answer those questions. You can't direct them to, you know, a corporate email address and say, hey, go ask those guys about it.

Sharif Manganas [00:22:34]:
You know what I mean? Yeah. So it it was a definite big swing in responsibility. But also it came with a ton more creative freedom. Because now I'm not trying to I'm not bound by having to make things that will appeal to their customer base and be within price points that they maintain themselves in. So if I wanna do something crazy, that's, you know, a 4 or $500 design, I can do that. And if I wanna turn around and do a budget design that's like a 150 or less even, I can do that. I don't have to wait and see and get approval. And so responsibility, terrifying responsibility, but lots of freedom.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:29]:
I I mean, I see the benefits in going either the way Israel went or the way you went. Like, to me, I always think of licensing as a great way to start. For that reason, your exposure is is way much lower, a lot lower. But at the same time, you do reap all of the positive benefits. Having your name out there, having people get to know your design style before and and in a way, I mean, it also allows you a little bit of leverage to to actually figure out what your design style is. You know? I don't have a whole company hanging on it, and, you might make decisions early on in a company that haunt you later. Oh, man. I'm I'm the tactical guy, but now I'm into gentleman's knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:14]:
What do I do?

Sharif Manganas [00:24:15]:
Yeah. It's funny you you actually mentioned both of those because I am both of those. Like I if you look at my personal collection, the single biggest brand I have in my collection are actually Amersons. You know? I like I really love hard use tools, But on the flip side, I really like refined gentlemanly knives as well. And that's actually something that I'm trying to struggle with how to express because the people who may like the gentleman stuff, they're not looking for bruisers. And the guys who are looking for bruisers are not always looking for gentleman stuff, you know? But I would like to be able to do both. I don't think we should have to exist in one box, you know?

Bob DeMarco [00:25:04]:
Well, just, how would you define what a gentleman's knife is?

Sharif Manganas [00:25:09]:
A gentleman's knife, in my eyes, tends to be a little bit slimmer, a little bit easier to carry, should be relatively lightweight, should not have a pocket ripper or a pocket clip. There should be certain design details, that suggest refinement and and sort of delicacy without fragility.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:35]:
Yes. Yes.

Sharif Manganas [00:25:36]:
And, one thing in from my perspective, it has to have a milled pocket clip, for example. Right? A tactical knife doesn't need to have a a mill pocket clip, but it really must with a gentleman's knife. And there will be other considerations for little details like pivot collars, detailed back spacers, maybe crown spines on the blade. Right? These are details and elements that you will find exclusively within the gentleman knife arena that necessarily translate to the use of a tactical knife per se, you know?

Bob DeMarco [00:26:14]:
Yes. Okay. Because for a minute there, I was thinking, boy, those those kaimanos with the with the beautiful, carbon fiber and and, I mean, the blade, the the blade is a harpoon tanto. It's beautiful. Like, it's a very refined design. I was thinking, what's stopping that from being a gentleman's knife? But you're right about the the slenderness, the weight, you gotta think of it in a suit pocket or even a suit pocket.

Sharif Manganas [00:26:41]:
Exactly. Exactly that. You know, like, the way I see it so I'll give you a perfect example. When I envisioned the Grazioso, I in my head, I had this picture of the knife sitting on, like, a wood end table next to, you know, a beautiful crystal ashtray with a really nice cigar in an in a cigar lounge, you know? And that product had to fit. Whatever it ended up looking like, it had to look like it belonged there. Like it wasn't a foreign object in that space. Right? You put a kaimano in that same scenario, it doesn't work.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:25]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Sharif Manganas [00:27:26]:
Not not as well. You know, maybe the the purple haze one, maybe, but not as well as, say, the Grazioso or the Aurelia for that matter.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:37]:
Well, show us the Grazioso. I mean yeah. Show us the Grazioso,

Sharif Manganas [00:27:41]:
please. Give me one second. Let me go snag it.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:45]:
So as he does, you know, I'm I was thinking, well, the kaimano is when you look at the sort of the width of it, the size of it, it is it is definitely a tactical knife, but it is so or tactical, roots, anyway. Definitely looks hard use. We've had a number of people in the past couple of weeks talking about their Taimanos on Thursday night nights. Alright. So you're holding up a grazioso.

Sharif Manganas [00:28:12]:
Yes. That is a beauty. Yeah. This is this was a dream for me, you know, really to make something just refined, elegant. It has all of the things that I wanted and none of the things that I didn't. You know? The recurve was controversial, but I love recurve blades, and I'm not gonna apologize for that. You know? But, yeah, to me, this is kind of like an ultimate expression of a slim gentleman's knife, something that'll just disappear in your pocket. You're not gonna feel it, and when you pull it out, it's not about being threatening or intense.

Sharif Manganas [00:29:00]:
It's just, oh, I'm gonna cut my steak.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:04]:
Yeah. I bet that would do it great. So do you have or could you possibly I know this is hard for artists to do, but could you define your style if, asked?

Sharif Manganas [00:29:16]:
I don't know that there is per se a a concrete term for it, but I like to marry so okay. I'm gonna nerd out for a a split second here, but when you look at the most iconic, vehicles of all time, right, historic Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, etc, right? They tend to have this marriage of feminine fluid lines and masculine sort of like muscles and proportions. Right? Like, if you know if you know Lamborghinis, like the Lamborghiniura is a perfect expression of that. Right? You get these muscular lubes over the front wheels and then these feminine soft lines that interconnect them. Right? Ferrari 250 GTO. Again, perfect expression of that. Right? Just nice, strong, like, almost bicep like muscles over the wheels and then these nice organic flowing transitions into the body line, you know. Like one of my favorite terms back when I was in in design school that actually I was known for was I used to just go around and be like, yo that's sexy or that's not sexy.

Sharif Manganas [00:30:46]:
And that was my way of kind of communicating that concept. You know? So I kinda try to bring those that balance of these masculine and feminine elements into the design to make something cohesive. In certain scenarios, you know, leaning on the curves is more important, let's say, with the gentleman's knife, than when you transition into something more tactical, you want it to be a little bit more more tough feeling. So it's I I don't know how else to express it than that.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:27]:
I like that you bring them both together because, oftentimes, you know, I think of a 19 thirties, sedan, and it's all feminine and but, you you know, with its curves, but the muscularity I like that you're talking about the feminine and the masculine together. You know, that Lamborghini Miura, the the lights look like eyes kind of, you know, giving you the big eye, but it still has these shoulders, the big brother behind it. You know? So I I I'm getting those vibes a lot from from the new one, the Auralia. Yeah. Because it is a sleek and, no. There's there are your Emersons. I'm a and, it's a it's a very sleek design and clean. It's a very clean design, but it also, it's got that muscularity too.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:18]:
Let's talk about this design a little.

Sharif Manganas [00:32:20]:
Yeah. Let me tell you, man. This the the Aurelia was a headache in the best way possible, but there were there were a few times that I actually wanted to almost quit doing the design. When you endeavor to do something minimal, and this is why I will not tolerate criticism of Ray Laconico. Right? Doing something simple and minimal and void of excessive details is the hardest thing you can do. I literally spent 3 months moving the lines of the Aurelia by millimeters, dude. Like, okay. Is for the front finger choil, is this depth correct, or should I go a little bit a millimeter higher, millimeter lower? Right? Is the position where it connects here correct? Right? Again, with the blade, is is this clip, you know, the right angle, a little bit more forward back.

Sharif Manganas [00:33:28]:
When you when you really wanna do something clean, simple and minimal, you really have to obsess even over the most basic things. And this this one was a real labor of love to kind of hit it just right for me.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:47]:
What what were your design goals for this?

Sharif Manganas [00:33:49]:
Honestly, my design goal for the okay. A lot of people have commented that this the Aurelia gives them Sebenza vibes. Right? And that wasn't necessarily my intention, but I had finally gotten a handle of Sebenza for the first time, like, a while ago, and I realized it didn't fit my hands. I I have large to extra large size hands, and the the you know, on the rear of the Sebenza when it transitions into that that back curvature, it kind of comes to a point. And that point was digging uncomfortably into my palm. And I was like, man, I want a knife like this, but nobody makes it for me. And I'm not the biggest fan of drop points. I know they're very utilitarian.

Sharif Manganas [00:34:48]:
Up until recently, I had wasn't even a huge fan of sheepsfoot sort of blade shapes like the Insigno blade shape. Right? I don't mind it on small knives, but on a bigger knife, it's not my thing. So I'm like, okay, what am I going to do? You know? And I said, really, what I want is became this. I wanted a nice, clean, simple handle, a nice long, you know, 3.6 inches blade that's a clip point, but has is dominated by a large flat section because I use my knife in such a way that I tend to do a lot of push cuts, a lot of like slicing like that, and I like having a long flat section, you know, and minimal belly, but still enough belly to do what I wanna do. So all of that kind of came into this and I said, man, I have something here.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:44]:
I mean, I I gotta say, I wasn't really aware of this knife until I started looking into you, and I'm kicking myself, that I wasn't in on that preorder because it I'm a huge fan of clip points. I love a clip point with a lower point. Yeah. You know, in a long straight. It it almost reminds me of a Saxx blade or something. Mhmm. But you got that point real low, so it's very utilitarian. Uh-huh.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:08]:
But it it looks beautiful and it's got that that handle. The handle looks great, and I know just from hearing you open and close it, and I wanna talk about the dual way pivot.

Sharif Manganas [00:36:19]:
Yes.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:20]:
But, I I know it has the action that I would love. I I've heard the clip, now that I've looked into it. The clip has been, like, oohed and ahed over by everyone who's experienced it. I just watched, Metal Complex's video on this, and and I'm kicking myself. So next time it comes out, I gotta get on that.

Sharif Manganas [00:36:41]:
There will be more when it drops, actually. I I ordered extras just in case for the people who missed the pre order that I would have some available.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:50]:
So Yeah. Because you know that they will end up on YouTube and there will be people who will be foaming at the mouth for that. I I am a big fan of, of the Sebenza mostly. I have one. I don't I don't have, like, a desire to get a whole bunch of them. I I hate the, the thumb stud. That that's it. Especially since I've, I I just don't like the way it feels on my thumb.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:15]:
It's very uncomfortable. But, but all in all, I love the solidity of that knife and I feel like that's a main, you know, a main part of of the Aurelia. I gotta ask you a question as a designer, and this comes up a lot, when you're a studio artist or a a fine artist, you know, making paintings or sculptures, but mostly paintings, I hear this. Like, when do you know it's done? So with a design like this, you're moving millimeters here and there. Like, is it just when your eye locks in? How do you know when it's done?

Sharif Manganas [00:37:52]:
So for me, the the way I do my process, I start everything by hand sketching. I work out the details. And then when I get to a point where I'm comfortable with, like, the size, the proportion, everything, I actually turn around and I make little foam models. You know, this is literally just foam that you can buy at, like, Hobby Lobby or Walmart or whatever, and you'll see me do iterations. Like, here are 3 of the same knife design, which I haven't really shown to anybody yet, but, these are I had my original sketch. I shrunk it down to, like, 97%, 95%. And I'll just sit there, and I'll see what feels right in the hand. And the funny thing is with the foam models, you may say, well, Sharif, why don't you 3 d print? Well, I have, what, easily 13 to 15 years of experience with 3 d printing.

Sharif Manganas [00:39:01]:
I could 3 d print these, But I actually found that this process is faster. And if it doesn't feel good in this foam blocky shape, it's not going to get better when you add width and curve and, you know so if it feels good here, then it gets approved, and then I'll move to the next stage. And this is how I know it's done, is when it when it feels right in the hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:31]:
That's a pretty efficient way, too to go about it, especially if you're generating a lot of different designs or a lot of different iterations of the same design, to sort of funnel funnel your efforts into into a singular place.

Sharif Manganas [00:39:46]:
It's cheaper. It's faster. You can literally crank one of these out in however long it takes for you to press copy on your on your printer at home and then to cut it out with an X ACTO blade. So, what, maybe 5, 7 minutes? Where it's 3 d printing, it would be 3 to 6 hours, and then you'd have to go back into the 3 d and tweak it, which is way more of a headache than erasing a line.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:16]:
I gotta say, just in scrolling your Instagram, when you go further down, you'll see some of your hand drafted designs, and your drawing is beautiful. You've got some, you've got a really, great hand, and and the the drawings of your knives are stunning.

Sharif Manganas [00:40:33]:
Oh, thanks, man. Yeah. Compared to my friends, I'm I'm really no good, so I that's my reference point, but thank you for the compliment.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:45]:
I I hinted at it before, with the Aurelia, you you did something new with the pivot. Tell us about that.

Sharif Manganas [00:40:52]:
Yeah. So, you know, one of the things so I I like to learn from other makers in the industry. Right? Actually, I'll take you on a quick side note before even the pivot. Right? When I got my first Aurelius, funny enough, Riyadh actually put, the thumb studs from Null Knives on my knife, and, that's not cool. I don't wanna take any designs from anybody else. So, actually to what your point about the Sebenza, I reached out to a knife modder friend of mine who replaces them and designed pivots based on his feedback or not pivots, thumb studs based on his feedback about what was wrong with the Sebenza ones. And so in that sense, that same sort of vein about learning, like, what others are doing to kind of resolve things. Right? I looked at Hinderer and I said, hey, man.

Sharif Manganas [00:41:52]:
He's doing his tri way pivot. This is not rocket science. Right? If you have a bearing and you have washers that can fit in the same space, why not? And guess who's creating those? SCIF. Right? Skiff is I've been using Skiff bearings in all of my stuff for as long as I can remember. And the kaimano was actually designed to have, you know, SCIF multi row bearings inside, so you get a more robust connection between the tang of the blade and the handle of the knife. Right? So when I did the Auraliad, I said, wait a second, I may wanna run this on washers. So I reached out to to SCIF and I said, hey, guys. I see you guys make these thick washers.

Sharif Manganas [00:42:48]:
What about making them in the size that I use for all of my stuff? And they took a look at it and they said, yeah. We can do that. We'll just add it to what we offer already. You know? Nice. And I said, sweet. Perfect. So this guy, actually in point of fact, is running on washers.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:10]:
Beautiful. I'm a washer guy. Not that I I I would, label myself that, but I love my washer knives and, and how smooth they get, but how I don't know. I just love the way they feel. Yeah. It is a different feel. To to those who might not know, and I might be one of those guys, like, what are the challenges between like, what is the challenge in in creating a knife or creating washers that that you can swap out with the with the bearings?

Sharif Manganas [00:43:41]:
Believe it or not, it's not that difficult anymore, thanks to SCIF. Right? SCIF completely changed the game, and and all credit goes to them because they made it easy for me. Right? So what I have to do from a design perspective, right, I have to think about, you know, what are the qualities that I want out of my knife? So one of the things that I look for is actually oversized pivots. Typically you'll see 4 millimeter or 5 millimeter diameter pivots on any knife that's manufactured from China. All of mine have 6 millimeter pivots. Right? And ideally, I'd like to go bigger if at all possible, but that's not doable right now. So I go with 6 millimeter. And then I talked to the factories and I said, okay, for a 6 millimeter pivot, what is the largest diameter bearing that I can get? Because I want maximal contact area.

Sharif Manganas [00:44:41]:
Right? That gives me my base specs I designed to that and, you know, Skiff had a a bearing that was compatible, hence, what I where I went with the Kaimano. And then his thick washers are the same material he uses for his bearings. He just thickens them in order to compensate for the absence of the balls. That's it. So it's literally a drop in replacement. And all props to Skiff for thinking of that because it works, man, and it works beautifully.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:18]:
So they're they're just thicker washers that sit in the same race as the as the bearings.

Sharif Manganas [00:45:25]:
Yeah. So, like, if you think about a a bearing made by Skiff, it's literally a phosphor bronze disc with, you know, holes drilled and the the the balls pressed thin. So what they did was just get rid of the balls and then just thicken them by the same dimension that the balls would make contact with the wall. So it's incredibly easy.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:50]:
So what what's the, what's the early press on, Aurelia? What are what are people saying about it? Because I know you got it in the hands of a few people.

Sharif Manganas [00:46:00]:
I I have to say I'm really, really blessed that everybody likes it. You know? I actually haven't received any negative feedback, honestly. I have a group of friends we like to call ourselves the brain trust, but we have Maddie, Maddisfactions, Ed Stevie, dude by the name of Chito Bandido, Patina, Homeboy Lung Bone, you know, Steve Clare, few bunch of guys. Right? And they're awesome because when I got the first prototypes, I could send it to them. And they gave me feedback, like, hardcore feedback, and I integrated that all. And in the 2nd round of prototypes, that's what I sent out to all the reviewers and it seems like we caught any potential points of like, you know, hot spots or criticisms that people may have and everyone's been really happy with it. So

Bob DeMarco [00:47:02]:
What do you like, how do you like this? I mean, we live in a in a kind of a privileged time where we can send the stuff out to people, and you can get a lot of different feedback from a lot of different people, and then you can implement those changes relatively quickly. What do you think of that?

Sharif Manganas [00:47:21]:
I love it. It it's it I love the speed of the development process that that we can embrace now, because that's the thing for me. I'm I'm kind of an impatient person. Like, I wanna see it then now, now, now, you know? And part of that's my work ethic. I don't like waiting, you know, for other people, but, the other part is, as you said, it's a very privileged time. The one the one danger and the thing that you have to become really effective at is filtering criticism. Right? And that is the bigger issue because along with the ability to develop and take feedback really quickly, you have an opportunity to gain way more feedback than you ever had before from people. Some of it will be very relevant and apropos.

Sharif Manganas [00:48:16]:
A lot of it will actually not hit the mark. And you have to kind of be gracious about saying, hey. Love your investment. Appreciate your your input, but I may be going in a different direction.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:32]:
I mean, that that's the beauty. I would imagine one of the beauties about Mangana Steel is that, you can remain nimble. You can kind of take on what what you're gonna take on in terms of criticism. You can make changes and and operate relatively quickly, you know, whereas a giant company, puts puts a lot of money into it, creates a lot of different units, and they have to sell them all before they can, maybe make those changes?

Sharif Manganas [00:49:02]:
It's it's, it's a pretty pretty awesome process, but but don't for for the people who are viewing, don't get it wrong, man. It comes with a lot of second guessing. You know? It comes with a lot of doubting yourself and asking questions over and over. Is the right is this the right thing for my brand? Is this the right thing for me? Is this thing going to sell? You know? I have a lot of crazy ideas and not all of them are gonna be accepted in the marketplace. You know? But when you have your own brand, you can also take more risks and do things that the big the big factories would never make. You know? So it's, it's really exciting and but, yeah, I was gonna say, like, don't don't, it it it does it's not like a it's not complete carpoolange is what I'm trying to say. Right? Like, you doubt yourself, you're questioning yourselves, and it's good to have a good group of friends who understand you, understand what you're trying to achieve, and to bounce things with them, you know? That's why I I had to shout out the homies, you know, because, honestly, without them, man, like and and their honest, honest feedback, right, it it would be a lot more challenging.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:36]:
Let me ask you this artistically. How how do you, how do you negotiate? Now, I don't even know how to ask this exactly, but I I've run into this in in my own creative, work, but how do you know when you are in, inspired by someone else's work versus, like, when you're influenced by it or or Yeah. Or, biting off their style? I don't know how else to put it.

Sharif Manganas [00:51:04]:
Yeah. Yeah. That's that's a tough one. Right? Because sometimes you don't even realize you're doing it at the time. Right? Great example is I was talking with the guys earlier today and I was kind of drawing some, you know, sort of like sheep's foot blade shapes. And I realized after, like, a good 10 minutes, I was like, dude, I'm drawing the insignia blade, like, over and over again, You know? And it's like it's it's so bored into your consciousness, you know, that sometimes you you you will step on another design's toes, like, inadvertently. A, it's good to have friends who who know what's out there to be able to say, this is getting kinda close to that if you don't see it. Right? Third of all, it's it's I feel it has to be a conscious decision every single day.

Sharif Manganas [00:52:02]:
Right? So, like, what I mean by that is, for example, Gustavo Ciacchini, he is one of my absolute favorite knifemakers, like, because he is so bold and in and in touch with his own aesthetic. If I wanted to sit down and sketch and really focus on it, I could probably replicate his style. But it's not my style. It's not authentic. It's not who I am, right? So I think the onus is on the designer to really be in touch with with them themselves, right? And like what you create should be an extension of who you are and who and what you are, just like your personality, is not gonna be beloved by everybody. That shouldn't be your goal. Yeah. It should be to be the most authentic version of yourself and the same thing is true with your designs.

Sharif Manganas [00:52:57]:
Now as far as, like, influence, I get heavily influenced by, like, Emerson Customs. I do. It's just, speaks to my heart in, like, like a weird way, man. I can't explain it. Right? But I'm not gonna go and copy him. You know? I I have a different look, a different style. But I could take things, for example, like doing, you know, a chunky tactical folder that's bolstered. And that that comes from, you know, Emerson kind of style, you know, and people have commented on that that like, oh, you look like you were influenced by Emerson.

Sharif Manganas [00:53:40]:
Yes. The Aurelia was, influenced by loguille French knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:48]:
Oh. Oh.

Sharif Manganas [00:53:49]:
Think about the blade shape. Yeah. And that's because I grew up with log wheels. Right? My parents had affordable ones as like our our steak knives. Yeah. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:00]:
My mom has those.

Sharif Manganas [00:54:02]:
Exactly. So, like, you can take influence and reference. I mean, heck, another one. The the razzioso. I really love, Brad Sother. Right? Yeah. You'll see hints of Brad Sotherd in this. You know? Little influences like the dropping down of the tit, the recurve with the bolsters, you know, like, there's little elements of, like, oh, man.

Sharif Manganas [00:54:34]:
Sauter does this better than other people. You know? So I was like, How can I if I was gonna be him, what would I make? You know? Those kinds of things. And so yeah. I don't know if that helps to explain it, but

Bob DeMarco [00:54:54]:
It it does. And I I have another question to ask, before we wrap. But before we I ask you that, just hold up the kaimana. I feel like, I wanted to ask you or just I wanted you to show it off, and and then I went off on the urea for a while, but, yeah, this thing is beautiful. And we, on on my live show, Thursday night knives, the other night, we had 3 people who who this was part of their pocket check. And I thought that was so cool on the same show to have 3 people carrying the same, you know, unique and not not so easily attainable knife. Yep. You have a hollow grind on that.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:33]:
Right?

Sharif Manganas [00:55:33]:
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It so I have always been a big fan of compound grinds, actually, since I got my first really, really well, for me, it was my first what I would have considered really high end knife at the time, the the Pena Lanny's clip flipper that Riot did. And that had a beautiful recurve Bowie style clip point with a compound grind. And I remember I was at, do you know Weebie Knives? They're a store based in San Francisco, and they're, on the pier there. And I remember walking into the store, seeing that in the display case, and just being like you know? So, elements like that that I that I grew to love, I just I wanted here, and I'm glad people like them too because I think that they're awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:36]:
Alright. I wanna ask you before we wrap here.

Sharif Manganas [00:56:38]:
Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:39]:
There are, you know, there's a whole generation of knife designers that are just being born. What what kind of advice would you give to someone, about managing, negotiating, the knife world as a designer.

Sharif Manganas [00:56:58]:
Okay. 1 first first, first thing I'll say is you will fail more times than you succeed to get something made, and that's okay. Right? I think my first 12 design submissions actually got rejected, and that's partially due to the fact that you may need to learn more about how to, align things and make sure everything fits, you know? So what I would say is if you wanna get through that process as quickly as possible, believe it or not, get one of these. This is a little $17 light box that you can get on Amazon with LEDs. And what you can do is you can use regular printer paper, draw your knife, draw your blade, draw your pivot, put another sheet of paper, trace it, and make sure your blade fits in your handle. That's half the battle. But beyond that, really, aside from the functional things, you know, have a vision. Have a desire to bring something new that nobody else has seen, you know, and does something a little different than other people.

Sharif Manganas [00:58:21]:
And don't try to keep up with the Joneses. Try to be as be as authentic as you possibly can, you know, and that will will lead you the majority of the distance. When you finally do get something, you know, picked up, be prepared. Most factories, and it's not just China, most factories are horrible with communication so you're gonna wait a lot of time. So learn some patience, you know, in in those moments, you know, and stand up for your rights and for the quality of your design throughout the process. And I think that's about it. You know? Go for it. Go for it.

Sharif Manganas [00:59:08]:
We we need new. We need new. I can't keep buying drop points, guys.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:17]:
Yeah. I'm with you on that. Sharif, thank you so much, man. I really appreciate, your your time, and it's been a real clip and talk with you.

Sharif Manganas [00:59:26]:
Oh, the honor's been all mine. Thank you. Thank you.

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Bob DeMarco [00:59:45]:
There he goes, ladies and gentlemen. Sharif Manganas of Manganas Steel. You gotta check out his Instagram because, that's where you'll see a lot of his beautiful designs, coming to life, and, and it'll also let you know, when you can get said designs. Like, I'm gonna keep my eye on when the Aurelia drops because, he got a couple of extras, and I will try and beat you to them. Yep. It was a a real pleasure talking with him. Alright. Be sure to join us next week for another great conversation, Wednesday for the midweek supplemental and Thursday for Thursday night knives live.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:24]:
Until then, and working his poor Jim, working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

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