The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
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Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, the Tekel agent 001 is dropping again. I get a new one from Shed Knives. And we're going to talk all about the fixed blades of Hogtooth knives. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie Podcast.

Announcer [00:00:16]:
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 [00:00:31]:
Welcome to the show. One of my favorite comments from this past week in my third interview with Rolando Estocada was from Lone Star Dowboy who says, really superb episode. I was on the edge of my seat. So many questions were answered and points brought up that I had not considered until now. Look forward to more from you and Rolando. My cold steel Marauder and Espadas have moved up in the pecking order after this. Well, thank you Lone Star. That's how I feel after every conversation with Rolando, who just incidentally lives three blocks from where I used to live in Manhattan.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:05]:
If I knew him then I'd be hanging out at his apartment all the time. Much to his dismay, I'm sure. Next one was From Terra Firma 2083 who just says, absolutely fascinating. And I gotta say that's how I feel too. So warms the cockles in my heart that you guys like these conversations. It's hard not to like a conversation with Rolando. He's a, he's a, a wealth of information, knowledge and experience. All right, thanks for joining, thanks for watching, be sure to like, comment, subscribe and all that stuff.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:37]:
That said, let's get to a pocket check.

Announcer [00:01:40]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:47]:
In my front right pocket today was the large 5 inch Cudamax. It's the Camillus Cudamax 5.5. This was designed by Daryl Ralph and just a beautiful knife. He did a whole bunch of these large folders, mostly custom but some of them were produced by Camillus or Camillus however you like to say it. But he did a lot of these really, really cool and aggressive large folders before he passed away in. He made these in the early 2000s. This one I haven't carried in a little while and so unearthed this one and happily carried it. I, I love the size of it.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:30]:
To me it reminds me of a, a long, slender, sort of Hell's Bells style Bagwell, like Bowie. It's got that coffin handle. It's got that long slender blade with the Long clip point. And it's just beautiful, beautifully well made and really fun to carry and use. Speaking of use, the one I actually used today was this little guy. Look at this. This is an exercise in contrast here. This is my chrome vanadium case peanut.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:03]:
This little, little guy I bought on the secondary market from someone who took great care of it, put incredible edges on both the blades, the pen blade and that clip point blade. And had a nice patina on there already when I bought it. This one has that beautiful. I don't know what this bone is, but it's. It's beautiful. I love the color of it. Very autumnal. And of course, we're moving into fall here.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:29]:
So I had this in my fifth pocket. I rarely carry in the fifth pocket. I find that it actually interferes with drawing out the main blade right below in the main pocket. But this little guy doesn't really get in the way. So those are my two main carries today. But of course I had a fixed blade on me and today I had the new agent 001. These are dropping on October 1st. Beautiful blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:58]:
You can see the machining. This exquisite machining now done by NCC Knives. Nick Chuprin and NCC Knives up in New Hampshire made this gorgeous blade. They're machining most of the Tekel knives these days and they're all coming out like this. Just exquisite. Nick is a real perfectionist and he does not let anything leave his facility that isn't positively top notch. So I have a couple of these production samples. I'm so excited for them to get in your hands.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:31]:
I want to see what you think about the agent 001, the agent that started the series. Plus, I have this on this really cool Ulti Clip. It's a spring clip that you can spread out this way. Say you only have holes, grommet holes here and here. You could expand this, stretch it out. But it is a super stout and tight clip and it keeps this so close to the body. I love this. This.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:02]:
At first I had difficulty getting it on, getting it on the sheath, but that was my own sort of poor handling. And now that it's on, I'm convinced I love this. And I texted Tim Kell of Decal Knives to tell him how much I love that clip. He sent the clip with one of these production samples. And I didn't know this beforehand, but he designed that with the late owner of Ulti Clip, who, rest in peace, passed away pretty abruptly. But. So that is a design that, that Tim and that that gentleman worked on together and it works so great. There's so little to it, so minimalist and it keeps it really secure.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:48]:
I thought maybe with this triangular shape it would move around. It doesn't. It stays super secured to the belt and really close to the body. And for me, for every day carrying a fixed blade knife, especially up front and in a front scout position, really close to the body is essential. Lastly, for emotional support, my esk today was the awesome Cold Steel. Oh, I. This is the Cold Steel Mayhem. I had this on me.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:18]:
I also had the Magnum Tanto, but I ended up putting that away. My mistake. But this beauty, the Mayhem has been riding around with me quite a bit. I have the Snaggletooth MF made specifically for this knife. Fits absolutely perfectly. There's a big distance between the thumb stud and the spine of the blade here. And this is. Well, this is what I had.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:42]:
I love brings emotional support not only in its large and capable nature, but also in that air. This fidgety ness which you can find. This is the largest fidgety knife I've ever had. It probably the most dangerous fidgety knife also. But that Atlas lock is pretty awesome. You like the shark lock, you'll like the axis lock. They're very similar. So that's what I had on me today.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:08]:
I had the Mayhem. I also had the, the Magnum Tanto, but I put that away. I had the agent double o one, the new version dropping October 1st, don't forget. And I had a case peanut and the Cuda Max 5.5 from Camillus and Daryl Ralph, may he rest in peace. All right, well, you know, I just said it, but I'll say it again. This sucker, just as a little extra tidbit, this is dropping October 1st. Be sure to jump in on this. I think there are only 500 of these being made.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:43]:
So, you know, on this run, of course they'll be back. This is a very high selling knife for Tim and I'm glad about that and proud about that. This is with the black and blue layer G10, but you can get it in the, in the Battle Lock, Battle Lock handles, the new GRN handles and of course a 30 variety of Micarta and G10. Like all sorts of handle scale materials. You can get it in this sheath, you can get the leather, badger claw sheath, whatever you like. They're really expanding the agent lineup and the accessories that come with it. So definitely go to tklknives.com and check that out. Next up, I want to mention briefly after a long And a long struggle.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:34]:
We have YouTube memberships now available. Check them out. It's kind of like Patreon, except only at the gentleman junkie level. So you get every, all the same things you get as a gentleman junkie, plus some of the little, little extra things that YouTube offers. Like if you're a, if you're a gentleman junkie with a YouTube membership, you get a little star next to your name when you comment. I don't know how important that is to you, but little things like that. So go check us out. If you're not interested in going on another platform like Patreon, but you want to help support the show, just click join down here and that'll take you through the process to become a member.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:13]:
So memberships are live right here on YouTube. To become a gentleman junkie, you want to. Because becoming a gentleman junkie means every third Thursday of the month you stand to win something exquisite like this. This is our gentleman junkie giveaway knife for the month of September 2025. This is a three dog knife riot and luckily we have been avoiding riots lately in this country. And that's because, well, I'm not going to get into it, but we have avoided riots. And here we have a three dog knife riot coming out of Anchorage, Alaska. This is the in house custom knife brand of Northern knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:56]:
You know Mike and Northern Knives. He's on Thursday night knives all the time. He's a great guy and he's contributed a good many knives and other accessories for giveaway here and we're always happy to accept something awesome like this from him. He gave me one myself. People loved it so much he sent another one in to give away. So this comes with a birth card in the form of a dog tag. This is K110 steel which is analogous to to D2 blade steel. It's got a black micarta handle and feels great in hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:36]:
Plus it's got this interesting recurve tanto shape which is great for all sorts of outdoor activities plus a little bit of self defense. It's not bad. Gorgeous leather sheath here. Made from Johnston D. Johnston maker, also out of Alaska. Very stout and sturdy. Set up for that scout carry. So memberships and Patreon go check it out.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:02]:
If you want to be a gentleman junkie, you want to be in the running for this really nice knife. We give away a lot of knives on Thursday night knives but on the third Thursday of every month we reserve our finest, our reserve for the gentleman junkies. So you might want to check that out. Also speaking of Patreon, we have Jim has been busy, busy, busy in his workshop coming up with all these great features. We have the Friday funnies, we have knife notes and then here we have Maker Mondays. The most recent Maker Monday is about the great Tony Bowes coming from his humble eastern Kentucky background or start and really got into knives and fixing knives. The, the types of knives that the people around him, farmers and craftsmen were using. So slip joints and he went from repairing to designing and making some of the finest slip joints of all times.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:01]:
He, he, he partnered with Case. He did a lot to really make slip joint knives. The, the fine, fine collector items they are today. Quick, quick Note. Back in 2019, before he passed away, may he rest in peace, I got in touch with him and he was going to come on the show and that's an interview that never happened. Which is bittersweet for me. Mostly just bitter because he left us and I can't interview him. But that's, that's my problem.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:36]:
Anyway, all of that on Patreon and more. Go to the knifejunkie.com Patreon check out what we have to offer there you can scan the QR code that's going to pop up on the screen any second now. You can do that. That's a quick way to get there. Also, you can save 12% if you join for an entire year at once, which a number of people recently have taken advantage of. Pretty smart. Their, their bill has dropped down by 12%. So go check it out. theknifejunkie.com/patreon

Advertisement Announcer [00:13:05]:
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Announcer [00:13:36]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. And now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:42]:
Okay, first up in Knife Life news, a new one from Demko Knives. This is piggybacking off well, it's part of the expansion of the NanoShark line, their most recent line and their smallest line of shark lock knives. This is the Demko Razor Shark and as you can see from the picture on screen, this is their take on the utility blade folder. So this has a an arm that fits in the handle that flips out just like any normal Demko knife. But this one, this arm of that blit of that knife accepts a utility blade. So you can lock out your favorite utility blade, whether serrated or straight edged with that with that specific type utility blade and have it good to go without worrying about destroying the blade itself or doing any permanent, permanent damage. This is a great one if you work in a warehouse. I gotta say I worked in a Sherwin Williams back in the day for for about two years and I would have loved to have had this.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:49]:
I opened up a billion boxes at the time. This is 6 inches overall, 3.2 ounces. So nice and light. Two different variety of GRN glass reinforced nylon scales. You have orange as you see here or that ad 20.5 gray. These are available now and they are $75. That's the MSRP. So who knows what you'll find it for at your favorite knife purveyor.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:17]:
Next up, another dirty sounding name from Sencut. This is the Sencut Vornix. This is an in house design trailing point clip point, trailing point clip point blade. Kind of a rare style blade but we're seeing more more of these come back. This vornix is 3.6 inches of 9cr18 mov. Look at that beautiful, beautiful shape and beautiful blade. Hollow ground blade as Sencut is one to do. Flipper tab and thumb studs are the means of deployment.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:51]:
Also a pretty considerable row of jimping on the flat of the spine of the blade. This comes as per usual in G10 micarta and wood scales. It is a liner lock as you might expect. Expect reversible deep carry pocket clip on that cool kind of angular handle. It looks pretty standard until you get to the aft end and then it gets kind of angular. I have no doubt that it's very comfortable though knowing from the 1917 frontier Bowie. It'll probably be nice and comfy. Let's see.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:26]:
Do you carry pocket clip? 3.6 ounces for a 3.6 inch blade. That's the exact ratio you want if not lighter. This one is coming soon. $47 is the MSRP on this one. The Vornix. Okay. Next up is the Bestech Heidi Blacksmith number three. It's an EDC fixie.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:49]:
And of course this one is coming on the heels of the 2019 Heidi release which was Bestech's very first fixed blade knife. As a matter of fact, made designed by the same maker, Marcus Heideggen or Heidegen of Heidi Blacksmith. This one is smaller than the original. It Comes in two different blade shapes. This sort of sheepsfoot or santoku. It looks like a santoku to me. Sheepsfoot blade or an upswept blade. 3.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:20]:
2.31 inches in both cases of 14C 28N on a very ergonomic handle measuring 4.7 inches. So good generous handle. Nice diminutive blade. G10 or Micarta. Also the blade comes in the black as you see on screen or in a stone wash. This one is very light at 1.55 ounces. Now I. I don't know if that's just the knife or the knife with the sheath but I would bet dollar for donuts it's 1.55 ounces without the sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:55]:
This is available now. $65 is the MSRP on this. Very nice sculpting on the. On those handle scales. But by the way. All right. Lastly in Knifelife News we have we knife company's new Ryson R Y so N. This is a Sam Tran design.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:16]:
This beauty comes in at 3.3 and a third inches. 3.33 inches of M390 blade steel. We've got a harpoon drop point blade with a. An edge profile that looks almost. It's like approaching tanto. Right. Because you see a very two kind of distinct edges on this but with a nice belly in. In between.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:41]:
Hollow ground. Is this knife with a thumb stud only. I love that kind of actuation. This is a titanium frame lock handle. Pretty neutral. Is that. Is that profile. It's got a sculpted clip set up for right hand carry.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:59]:
The only billboarding at all is a sl is a very subtle we with their. With their. With their three vertical lines and three horizontal lines spelling we embossed at the very pommel of the blade. So no billboarding at all on this. Very, very tasteful and discreet. That's. That's something we is known for and as well as Civivi and Sencut. 3.9 ounces.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:28]:
So you got three and a third inches of blade and 3.09 ounces. So less than that one inch. A one ounce per one inch ratio. This is available soon. $294 is the MSRP on this beauty. All right. Still to come we're gonna take a look at the first tool. Remember the first tool.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:50]:
Well it's back. We're going to talk first tool. But before that be sure to like Comment. Subscribe Join as a member it's. It's a. It's a great thing to do. Plus you can get in on winning some pretty great knives. Also, why not help support the show by sharing the show that that does maybe even more than joining you share the share the show with a friend, they share it with a friend, and so on and so on.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:21]:
Like the old commercial goes. So do check that out and and and do share. We would appreciate it. All right, let's get to the first tool

Announcer [00:20:29]:
Tool you're listening to, the Knife Junkie podcast. Here's some cool knife history with the Knife junkies.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:35]:
The first tool we're going to talk about the Bally song, not this one in particular. This is the Kershaw. We're not going to talk about this or Kershaw. We're going to talk about Balli songs in general. In the quiet towns of Batangas in the Philippines, a curious knife once flipped open with a snap so fast it almost seemed like sleight of hand. Locals called it the balisong, a word thought to come from baling or broken horn. Since early handles were carved from carabao horn, to the rest of the world, it became known as the butterfly knife. Now what makes the balisong so unique is its design.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:17]:
Two handles rotating around a tang, concealing the blade when closed. But with a flick of the wrist or for the skilled, a dazzling series of spins and rolls, the blade snaps into place. Part tool, part performance, it's a knife that dances before it cuts. Filipino farmers once carried these as utility knives. They'd cut rope, slice fruit and use them for everyday chores. But in the hands of martial artists, the balisong took on another reputation. A fast, close quarters blade perfect for intimidation and defense. The quick flipping motion wasn't just for show.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:56]:
It was a way to deploy the knife faster than a traditional folder. By the mid 20th century, American servicemen stationed in the Philippines discovered the Bally Song and brought it home. Suddenly, the knife became a cultural icon. Not just a tool, but a symbol of danger, mystery and skill. Movies in the 70s and 80s cemented its reputation, showing villains twirling butterfly knives with menacing flair. Of course, that fame came at a cost. The Bally song's intimidating image led to bans and restrictions in many countries. Lumped together with switchblades as a gangster's knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:36]:
Ironically, most collectors today prize them less for combat and more for the art of flipping. A whole community of enthusiasts now treats Bally Song manipulation like a sport, trading tricks, tutorials and custom designs. And speaking of designs, some of the most sought after Bally songs today come from high end makers who craft them with aerospace grade titanium precision bearings and Blades made for performance. What began as a humble farmer's knife in Batangas is now a collector's treasure. And in the right hands, still a mesmerizing piece of kinetic art. The balisong has long been more than just steel and horn or steel and titanium. It's a story of culture, migration and transformation from Filipino fields to global fascination. And when you hear that signature clack, clack as the handles flip into place, you're not just hearing a knife open.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:36]:
You're hearing a tradition unfold. Yes, that is the bally song. And I'm glad you're here for another first tool. Here's my favorite ballet song right now, the Kershaw Lucha. All right. Still to come is the state of the collection. Let me show you something cool that I just got this week sent to me. And I'm very grateful from the great Jack Billings of shed knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:04]:
You might think that I'm about to show you something big, something hulking, something to handle all of your outdoor camping chores and more, but I'm not. I'm going to show you this. This is the Skir Lite. I was kind of taken in by this knife when I had Jack on the show last. He showed off the Skir Lite. The Skir is a small blade that he makes with big handle scales. The light one he makes without scales to drop in the pocket or hang around the neck as a neck knife. And I had to get this one.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:38]:
I just think it's really, really cool. And also I saw it as the perfect platform for jute wrapping. So I got this. This is a 316 of an inch thick. And if not a quarter inch, I think it started as quarter inch stock and was brought down ever so slightly. Great jimping on this. A deep hollow ground, 154cm blade hardened to 58 Rockwell. And so this is going to make a great work knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:10]:
A great. We were talking about working in. Working in warehouses before. This would be a great warehouse and works especially well in the finger bang posture here. And I will be wrapping this, as I said, in juke cord only to wear the. Where the holster starts, there, where the sheath starts. Obviously it won't fit under there, but also it'll add in pulling it out and grip all together. What's cool now is Jack is adding a certificate for the hardening for the.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:48]:
For the Rockwell hardness of every blade he's selling, which is a cool move. It's a good move on his part. He's made a lot of changes since he first started first of all, he's got a beautiful new big facility in Delaware where he makes his knives. And he has gone down the the Rockwell hardness rabbit hole and is adding all of that material to the package when you get it. So you'll, you'll see exactly what your blade is Rockwell hardened to. Look at how thin it gets. It's a big, chunky blade and it gets super thin and slicey. This thing is awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:26]:
The Skir lite. Go to ShedKnives.com and check out the different knives that Jack has up there for sale. Really, really cool stuff. This one I'm really excited about. I've been dropping this in the pocket almost on a daily basis. And with that shape of the sheath, it fits perfectly, doesn't spin around in your pocket. And it's also a good neck knife. But I've been kind of not in a neck knife posture recently.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:53]:
Maybe with the changing weather, I'll get back into my neck knives, but for a drop in the pocket. Fix a fixie. This thing is awesome. All right, we're going to get to fixed blade knives of Hog Tooth Knives. But first I want to show off a new design that Jim just came up with. Life's too short for dull blades or weak coffee. Indeed. We coffee.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:18]:
My God, why bother? I'd rather drink dirt with water than weak coffee. Except for my grandmother's. My grandmother made delicious kind of weak coffee, but I don't need to go there. Okay, so check out the the cool stuff you can get. You can get this in all of the many taglines and designs that Jim comes up with at the knife junkie.com shop. Get your apron, get your hat, get your cups, get your T shirts and. And do it there on the knife junkie.com shop again, thanks, Jim, for all these beautiful designs. We're fans, all right.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:56]:
Speaking of fans, I'm a huge fan of Matt Chase and Hog Tooth Knives. You've heard me talk about Hog Tooth knives here ad nauseam and I love his knives. His. His. Well, I'll get to that. I'll get to the fig. It's his fixed blade knives that got me to first. Seriously, Care carry fixed blade knives on a daily basis.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:20]:
But let me show you my most recent acquisition, which if you were here for Thursday Night Knives last week, you saw. This thing's a beauty. This is an homage to the Bagwell Bowies. This is a Bowie I commissioned from Matt and Hog Tooth Knives. And let me just show it to you before I get inside the sheath. Let me show you the beautiful sheath. He does all of his own leather. And to him it's no big deal.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:49]:
Yeah, of course I make my own sheaths. But his sheaths are exquisite. They're perfection. And let's look at this belt stud before we even get in there. I, I requested a sheath that could slip under the belt and with a belt stud stopping it from slipping out. And he, he was not satisfied with any off the shelf studs he found. So he turned this on his lathe. He made, he made this out of wrought iron and brass.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:18]:
That's brass in the middle there. Brass beautifully peened in there. And then gorgeously lathed. And it's the perfect size. It doesn't slip from the belt through the belt. It's. It's perfect. But let's get into the blade here.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:38]:
So here we have a beautiful W2 blade. I'm going to set this down. W2 blade. You can see that hamon running the length of the cutting edge and then also on the swedge. Because I told him I wanted, no matter how oblique this grind was, I wanted it to be sharpened to an edge for back cutting and, and that kind of thing. This I intended to be, as I told him, a fighting knife. If I were ever called out on a duel, I would bring this. And then the last knife we're going to show you here.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:14]:
But, but I wanted it to be balanced as a fighting knife, not just have the looks. Um, but speaking of looks, I wanted that Spanish notch that you'll find on the, the fighting knives of Bill Bagwell. I also wanted those sort of devil horn guard here. So you've got the, the, the upswept quillians here, sharpened to a point, which is a nice touch. The idea of having the guard higher than the Spanish notch is that if a blade. Here, let me use this. If a blade comes in contact with this blade and slides on down, you can capture it in there with the notch using that sort of leverage with the slightly higher quillion. So it was important that the quillion rises higher than the notch.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:06]:
We got that just perfectly right. I asked him to put Luke 8:17 on there. Look it up. It's awesome. It basically says, the truth will always come out, so stop your lion. And that's more a message to myself than, than to the world. There's your hog tooth knife engraving there. Beautifully laser etched.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:30]:
And then here we have ringed gidgee wood from Australia. Really gorgeous hardwood. And then a stainless steel. What do you call those attacks or domes on there? And these what am I trying to say? These are serve. That's the word, serve. A couple of purposes. First of all, for indexing, they let you know where you are on the handle. Say, coming down here is where you might be for more of a.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:12]:
More of a saber thrust. And then coming up above them and kind of opening your hand, as you'll see over here, opening up your hand and doing a drop, a dropping sort of snap cut or back cut. You're riding right in front of that stud there. And so it's a good indexer. It's also a good place to put your finger to know where you are. That's indexing. Same thing back here. So I like that he added those.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:41]:
That's something we talked about. This is nearly full tang. That tang comes down very, very close to the pommel. This is a mechanical connection through that stud there. And so it's got all of the durability that you would need from a full tang knife, but also has that through tang. Look. Look at that beauty. I am so thrilled with this.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:09]:
This has been my carry around the house. I wish that we lived in a society that would allow me to walk around with this. Or maybe on second thought, maybe I don't. We don't need to be getting in Bowie duels, but this thing has really. Yeah, it's gotten me so, so excited. And I want more from Matt and more from Hog Tooth Knives. I've told him the next thing I order from him is a broke back sax with a stag crown handle. But that will be in a while.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:41]:
That will not be for some time. But here we go. Putting it in its sheath. This is like the perfect package for yours truly, your favorite knife, Chucky. All right, next up is the knife that I started carrying on a daily basis, like, all the time. And this really got me thinking about a collaborating with Matt to do a knife the Nova series, but also about what other knives out there, not just Hog Tooth Knives, can I carry on a daily basis. But that first knife was this one. This is the EDC Bowie.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:18]:
I mean, EDC Tanto. Excuse me, comes with that deep carry DCC that's discrete Carry concepts clip, which is my favorite clip. And here is the knife. So ordinarily these come with G10 or Micarta with a Anzo style grip pattern milled in it. But this is that Griptex. So it's got layers of G10 and then layers of a sort of rubberized material here. So it just peeks out here and there, and it doesn't feel tacky and rubbery like say the grivx you'll find on a cold steel knife or a rubbery handled knife. But it just gives a little bit of extra grip and I really like this material.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:12]:
A lot of people have started using this but this is the first place I saw this when I got it from Matt some, I don't know, five or six years ago. Beautiful 154cm blade. This, unlike the Bowie I just showed you is not forged. This is laser laser cut. And so he. This is every forging knife maker. Not maybe not every, but many forging knife makers that you'll run into also do stock reduction knives because they're quicker and easier to make and they help keep the lights on. And this is one of Matt's models that fits that description.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:53]:
Deep hollow ground on the straight which is most of the blade and then comes to that nice faceted tip. A 154cm blade steel. This is back when he was. Oh that's. That is etched in there. All right, so his logo etched in there. That is from a Jim. The jimping is from a jimping file.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:16]:
He now laser etches his jimping. But look at this beauty. It just fits the hand perfectly and fits in the belt or pocket beautifully. I've never pocket carried this but I think that's how Matt carries his me. For me it rides in the waistband whether in the appendix or in the 3 o' clock position. Now I'll tell you a little story about this that Matt relayed to me. He made. Matt made one of these.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:47]:
He's a former Marine Corps Scout sniper. I didn't mention that. And he made one of these for a buddy of his that he served with who had a son who was going into the Marine Corps and, and was deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan or both. I don't remember where he was, but he was in one of those two spots. He had one of these on his plate carrier right up front and. And actually had to use one of these in a self defense situation. Thank God he had this on him. It saved his life in the most real sort of way you can imagine.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:24]:
And he was in a very compromised position. And this was how he got himself out of that compromise position. So it's a testament to how effective the Tanto design is and how incredible Matt Chase's knives are for sure. I won't give you the details, but they are gruesome details. And this saved a great American serviceman's life. Not this knife in particular but a. Another One of this type of design, the EDC Tanto. All right, next up.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:03]:
I remember the conversation I had with Matt when I was like, I've been carrying the EDC Tanto with me every day for, you know, weeks and weeks on end and can we do a collaboration? I'd love to have this with other blade types. And he jumped at it. I think that was just the impetus he needed to make more of that style of knife. And I sent him a bowie design to fit the same handle and that became the Nova one. A number of you have the Nova one. We did a pre order of this and I think we made, we. He made 27 of them. I sold 24 of them.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:42]:
And then the remaining three went to my wife and daughters. My wife and older daughter both have theirs. When my younger daughter graduates eighth grade. That's the gift. That's the gift I get in this family. And since my wife already graduated eighth grade years ago, I just gave her hers. But we, we changed it up a little bit for the production model. Now this is the prototype and there's only one like this with the giant a knife junkie logo on it, which I love, but I didn't expect anyone else to love.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:15]:
So the, the production version has a smaller knife junkie logo on it. It's also numbered 1 out of 27. And instead of maroon, beautiful maroon micarta with red liners, it's beautiful maroon micarta with forest green liners. We also moved that jimping forward for a more practical placement for the thumb up forward and, and pretty much everything else was the same recurve tanto. And as I hold this in my hand, I realize I haven't carried this in a while. I have so many other knives that I'm tempted away. But this is such a great knife. We need to do this again.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:59]:
154cm blade, steel, wickedly sharp blade, hollow ground. The spine comes to a zero ground edge. So not, not sharp like you're going to be shaving parmesan with it, but a nice zero ground swedge you could do a back cut with if you could actually get the momentum on, on the 3.7 inch blade here, but really, really comfortable handle. And that's the thing. I mean this is Matt's platform. I just sort of gave him a blade design to add to it. But the handle is just so comfortable. And we're going to see this handle design over and over here.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:42]:
So this is the prototype of the Nova one. Maybe we'll come out with it again. But I know you can get these from Matt now in, in different configurations, but check that out. And, and every little bit helps the knife junkie here. So we, we made this and then a year later we made the Nova 2 and actually the Nova 3. We're in talks now for the Nova 3. Really what that means is I'm trying to figure out the exact blade shape for the Nova 3. We're gonna do those coming up here soonish.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:19]:
Probably it'll be a post Christmas delivery. It'll definitely be a post Christmas 2025 delivery. But not sure how far beyond that. We're just starting to talk about it. But the Nova 2 came along. And this is the Nova 2. Now this is the prototype also. But the prototype is pretty much exactly like the delivered.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:41]:
The delivered Nova 2s. We made fewer of these. About half the price did have to rise. I took a, took a bath on the Nova one and we had to raise the price up a little bit. But those who wanted them got them. And they are beautiful. Now when you look at it from this perspective, the only thing that changed was the color of the Kydex. For the sheath we went with a deep charcoal gray instead of this light gray.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:07]:
But the rest is as it was delivered. But this here is the prototype. This is the Kiridashi, the Nova 2 Kiridashi. And this one also had the file ground. File ground. Jimping. But on the production models that went out, those were laser cut. So they were perfectly straight across the back.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:35]:
No, no, no hand imper imperfections, which I don't mind. But the Kiridashi blade shape is the important part. So when you hold the spine straight across the back like this, you can see an upward ascending straight edge with a center line point. Some people might call it a wharncliffe, some people might call it a sheep's foot. But really this is a Kiridashi. Deeply hollow ground. Again here. Like this one is even deeper than the Nova one.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:09]:
So very, very thin behind the edge. Extremely sharp. 154cm blade steel. The smaller knife junkie logo there and then ivory Micarta. I mean G10. A beautiful ivory G10. Right now it's just kind of blowing out and looking white on, on the screen. That's the problem with Ivory.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:30]:
Anything on camera here with the red liners, G10 liners. Positively beautiful. And I'm not saying that because I designed it. I'm saying that because Matt makes an incredible blade. I just drew a picture and sent it to him. He made the knives and they are beautiful. I do love the Ivory G10. That was a suggestion from Matt.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:53]:
I was vacillating, oh, should it be? What color should it be? And he sent me a sample of this and I love the way it looked. It's also evocative of bone. And with this one I'm, I'm going for an old school look and it's got the white and the red kind of Japanese, kind of Japanese meets Viking, I don't know. But it works for me and it worked for a number of people who ordered this. I just got an email from someone asking if we were going to come back out with these. And, well, not quite like this, but maybe, maybe in the future if demand is high enough. That's the Nova 2. This one I carry with the soft loop in the front scout position.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:37]:
Okay, Next up is the pocket ruffian. Now I'm showing you the second knife in this series. The first one will come next, but I was just featuring this on my pocket fixed blade knife episode. And I've been carrying this one a lot more since when I got it. I carried it a lot. And then of course it got put down because all sorts of new things came in and distracted me. But I've been carrying this one a lot more recently. Summer is winding down, so it may end up going back on the back burner.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:15]:
But this is the ruffian, just reduced by some sort of percentage. Fits perfectly in the hand. I get a 3 1/2 inch grip on this or finger grip on this. But if you were to put a leather fob on there, it would give you a little bit of extra grip. This of course drops in the pocket with the use of this DCC pocket clip and that thumb ramp, it removes real easily, revealing this beautiful long clip flip point, hollow ground. Again, he does a great hollow grind. I love a hollow grind. Nice and slicey, nice and sharp, always 154cm.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:02]:
And this one has the super grippy, laser etched jimping and natural canvas micarta with no liners. The no liners bit keeps it a little bit thinner, which you're gonna want for pocket carry in my opinion. This of course has that anzo pattern that, that Matt likes to put in his grips, especially on the smaller EDC style knives. Let me show you this with the, with the one that is probably the most. I don't know. People love this knife and I carry this a lot in the, in the fall and winter because this is about as large as I like to go for an EDC fixed blade. This is the ruffian. I got the ruffian for my 51st birthday and I was in Matt's shop in August of that year and I saw a couple of blanks of the roughy and I was like, I want one.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:05]:
And then I saw the different handle materials and picked them out right there. This started out as a natural canvas micarta, more of a tan. But it's as it has aged and taken my hand oils, it's gotten a little bit redder, a little bit more of a warm tan color. And man alive, this thing is, this is a great, great blade. He makes this in a drop point. So imagine everything up until here, including the edge, the same except having a drop point. And that one is. Can't remember the name of it, but man, the hunters go crazy over that one.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:45]:
And I, I guess it's because it's easier to field dress animals with. I'm not sure you don't have that swedge up there, but this one's my favorite. I just love the ruffian. Again, deeply hollow ground. Again, really tough and sharp. 154 cm. The handle, scales and materials are my own choice. You can get this however you want it.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:10]:
I've seen he's done one, he's done a pair of these recently with bolsters of how's it Mokutai bolsters and then like ancient walrus tusk or some sort of beautiful sort of tusk material. So you can get these in all manner and means. And those were forged with 1 forged with 10, 95 and 15 N20 of Damascus. So even though this is a design or a profile that, that is mostly done by him in the pre cut blade, you know, laser or water jet blade blanks. He can also make all of these in custom forge versions. You're just going to pay more for them. The ruffian. This one gets so much love on the knife Junkie podcast and in on Thursday night Knives and in the videos, people love this knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:11]:
I do too. I carry this one at the three o' clock position, ready for reverse grip, you know, because when that's the ruffian and the mini ruffian or pocket ruffian. All right, last up. And, and my most prized hog tooth knife because it was commissioned by my parents. It was, you know, drawn up by me and the, my, my parents commissioned it. They wanted to buy this for me because they didn't know what to get me when I turned 50 and they, they thought this is the perfect thing. And then that led to two Kitchen knives that my dad had made for my mom. So a lot of cool Hog tooth knives in the family now.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:59]:
But this is the, this is the crown jewel. This is the Hog Tooth knives sub hilt fighter. And I'll show it to you in this exquisite sheath, probably the only sheath I've ever labeled sexy because first of all the leather work is impeccable, the stitching is absolutely perfect. But it looks like a corset here. So it looks like, hey, looks like a corset that a lady might wear it. So I find that rather fetching. But that corset on the front is what attaches the belt loop to the main piece of leather. So just, I mean really expertly made and imaginatively designed and executed.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:45]:
And then it has this really cool just stud and, and retention strap here. So here it is my only forged custom forged Damascus blade in my collection. This is also 1095 and 15N20. And that was made very very in a very painstaking way. And actually I happen to have a little piece of it. So he made, he made the Damascus, he'd pound it out, flatten it and then cut it up into cubes and, and stack them in certain ways and re weld them. And this is one of the little bits that turned into the blade. You can see the pattern, the diamond like pattern there.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:37]:
So it's kind of cool. I have that to the side but a long slender. This is a. As the first Bowie you saw was an homage to Bill Bagwell. This is an homage to Bob Loveless. Both of them actually legends of the Knife Makers Guild here or yeah, the Knife Makers Guild founding members actually both of them. But this one has that long slender double edged clip point blade. Both incredibly sharp on the top and on the bottom.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:09]:
Both hollow ground though this one less so because it's a shorter run there. And then you have a 27 piece handle. This was the first time he ever made a sub hilt fighter. And this is the. The tang of the blade comes down here and then there's a frame. So this is not a full tang, a true full tang. Meaning this is this piece of metal you see here is not the tang of the blade. It's a frame that holds this stag.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:43]:
And then these are to the frame and these are silver sterling silver studs here. And then there's a mechanical connection with a, a steel pin here keeping that attached as well as all the other stuff keeping it attached to that blade tag. And then you have a paper micarta here and here as spacers and Then wrought iron from the Longfellow Bridge in Boston, reclaimed wrought iron from the Longfellow Bridge in Boston, making up these gorgeous and beautifully sculpted quillians and guards here. So I've long said that this is my dedicated dueling knife. But now that I have this and this, I don't have a dedicated dueling knife. I have two dueling knives. So I could come out with my sinawale and, and go hog tooth on whoever steps to me. So here are my, my two favorite hog tooth knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:49]:
I will place them down here. Even though we've done the collaborations and, and such, these are just the cream of the crop, the creme de la creme, as they say. So I can't get enough hog tooth knives. I can't wait to come out with the Nova 3, which we'll let you know about. But someday in the offing I got some knives to get from some other makers. But someday you will see in this lineup here, not just this Bagwell style Bowie and this Loveless style fighter, but you will see a Viking style brokeback sax. I think that's the next one. It's gotta be the next one to fit in or he makes some pretty, some pretty beautiful daggers.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:34]:
So I don't know, you'll, you'll be along for the process, the waffling and decision process. Go, go to Instagram and and follow Hogtooth Knives. You'll be glad you did. Even if you never buy a hog tooth knife, it is eye candy as the day is long. Just beautiful, beautiful stuff. All right, thanks for watching me go on and on about Hogtooth Knives. I'll never stop. I'll never ever stop.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:58]:
Also, thanks for joining me for the talk about the Bally Song and of course everything else we've done here on the Knife Junkie. Thanks for joining us on Thursday night Knives. Be sure to join us every Thursday at 10:00pm Eastern Standard Time right here on YouTube. All right. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DiMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

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