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This is the full transcript for Episode 649 of The Knife Junkie Podcast, titled "Prototypes, New Knives, and Loaners," featuring host Bob DeMarco.

00:00 - Intro

Bob DeMarco: Hello to our first Gentleman Junkie giveaway knife of 2026. Happy New Year, by the way. Uh, some really, really great knives in the state of the collection, and then we take a look at prototypes, new knives, and loaners. I’m Bob DeMarco, this is The Knife Junkie Podcast.

Announcer: 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: Welcome back to the show. One of my favorite comments from this past interview with Calvin Richardson was from Jorge Fernandez. He says, “Great interview with Calvin, Bob. I remember when I first saw the Steadfast, it became an instant must-have.” I had the same reaction. Uh, I had missed the first drop and Calvin himself was the one that told me another one was on the way. Snatched one up the first minute it dropped. When the Steadfast L came around and dropped, it was a no-brainer, a perfect addition to an already excellent knife. I considered myself very fortunate to have the set, as do I, and get to know Calvin, too. He's a great guy making great knives, no ifs, ands, or buts. Jorge, I couldn't agree with you more. You'll see my new Steadfast L here shortly, but I've been really appreciating the regular Steadfast. It has become the knife in my survival bag, and I'll tell you about that a little later. But thanks for the comments one and all. We are coming back from our winter hiatus and we have a lot going on here in the studio. It will not be up to snuff for a little while, but that's alright. We're going to rough it out in this space and get through a lot of cool knives. All right, that said, let's get to a pocket check.

02:22 - Pocket Check

Announcer: What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's The Knife Junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco: In left, front right pocket, kind of per usual recently. As you know, I’ve been displaced from my home, or at least I was in the week preceding Christmas. We were back in the house by Christmas, but things have been topsy-turvy and I haven't had full access to my knife collection, or at least my appetite for rotating a lot dried up a bit. But this one was sent to me kind of before this whole episode began, and it's the beautiful Deadbolt by Tuff Thumbs—that’s Jeff Blauvelt and I should say Tuff Knives, Tuff Thumbs was his old handle—and of course, Concept, one of my favorite production knife companies out there. They reached out to me asked if there was anything in their catalog I'd like to see, and I went straight to this. I love Blauvelt’s designs and this is the one they had, and it's cool because this is not the one I would have ordered with this particular style of carbon fiber and that kind of thing, but I really like it. It's not what I would have chosen and sometimes that's the way to go. And I love this knife. I've been carrying it a lot over the past four weeks, you know, Christmas season. This has been in my pocket an awful lot. It’s super sharp. I love the point. It’s a great utility point.

Bob DeMarco: All right, next up, another great utility knife in my pocket a lot, kind of in the same vein in terms of why the lack of rotation, I guess I should say. The Jack Wolf Knives Gateway equal end Jack has been in my pocket a lot. This with the beautiful ebony wood covers, that gorgeous shield, everything done really nicely, as you would expect from Jack Wolf Knives. Though this in the more budget line with the Gateway series has pinned construction which personally as a slip joint guy, I love pinned construction. That's not a problem. You won't find me often looking to disassemble my slip joint knives, so I don't need that. Even though I love the other style of Jack Wolf Knives where it is fully take-downable. So this one's been rattling around my pocket a lot, but because it's in the Gateway series I kind of feel like I can go slip-free with this one and and so have and have seen very little wear on the knife itself. Very robust build and just a great utilitarian design.

Bob DeMarco: Next up, something I got kind of in a nerdly fit on Amazon. I got this little matchbox, like an old-school matchbox. I keep a guitar pick in there, too, because I've been playing bass a lot more recently and trying to pick up the pick again. I used to play a lot with a pick, but I put waterproof stormproof matches in here and I figured, you know, I always try and carry some mode of fire. Why not go old school with matches? And so I've been digging this, I got to say. It's really thin, it was inexpensive, slips in the pocket you forget it's there. It's lighter than a Zippo or about the weight of a Zippo but a little more svelte, so I've been digging this. And it's kind of fun to just—well, we went to a party, a holiday party not long ago. I pulled that out and that's how we gentlemen around the fire lit our cigars. At least that and the Knife Junkie lighter. No one else had a lighter.

Bob DeMarco: All right, next up, this one has been getting a lot of carry recently due to the circumstances, due to most of my knives being kind of tucked away from the prying eyes of workmen, you know. This, the Masato Hachi from Savage Creature Defense Tools, I've been carrying this one pretty much full-time. This has pretty much been my full-time fixed blade with the exception of the Nova once or twice. This one is just so svelte, so nice and thin with that beautiful wrap here with the whole Menuki and the whole nine yards. The beautiful Tsukamaki wrap still remains very thin but quite grippy. Sticks in the hand really well, nice curved blade, fully double-edged, is super utilitarian. I mean, you have four equally useful grips: you have it in this sort of hawkbill Barong grip, you have it in that upswept more Persian style grip, in reverse you have it with the standard reverse, and then this style reverse which is kind of equally frightening. So just a really, really great knife and a great one to have kind of separated from the herd when I was kind of out in the cold in terms of knife collection accessibility. But yeah, really have bonded so seriously with the Masato Hachi. And he's been doing—Roger Pearson of Savage Creature Defense Tools has been doing this clip point recently that looks really cool. Everything he does is beautiful as far as I'm concerned.

Bob DeMarco: All right, I did have an ESK on me today, and this was from last night and into the morning. This is a great sweatpants or sports shorts or whatever you want to call them, jammy carry, let’s say. This is the Spartan George Raider Dagger based on the early World War II era Marine Raider dagger which quickly went away because of its lack of robustness due to the low-grade materials they used for it, but you know, kind of survived on in spirit. And Les George, famed knife designer and EOD Marine Corps member—or former Marine Corps member—and dagger lover, knife maker extraordinaire came up with this. Spartan Blades made it beautifully, made it affordable also. Great sheath, everything about this knife I love. And it does bring such serious emotional support. This is what I had on me today. Let me know what you had on me, drop it in the comments below. I had the Concept Deadbolt, I had the Jack Wolf Knives Gateway, the double-ended Jack equal end cigar Jack, I had the Masato Hachi by Savage Creature Defense Tools, and of course, the Raider George thing. So let me know what you were carrying, including your ESKs. I know everyone has their own sense of comfort. For a while for me it was fidget, now I just like big aggressive knives for emotional support.

09:37 - Promotions & Giveaway

Bob DeMarco: All right, next up I want to tell you about a coupon code we have with Three Dog Knives. They are the custom knife wing of Northern Knives. You know Mike Northern Knives, he comes to Thursday Night Knives quite a bit. They make some seriously cool outdoors-flexing-into-combat style knives. And this is their most recent one, the Champion's Blade. Just a beautiful, beautiful knife. We're going to be giving not this one, the black Cerakoted one away. This one is mine, thank you very much. But they do a lot of really, really great outdoors knives that are up there in Anchorage, Alaska. They're all hunters and outdoorsmen. They make knives for themselves and like-minded. And I think it's cool that they do a number of sort of outdoors Tanto style knives. And I always marveled or wondered why you don't see more outdoors Tanto knives. They've done a great job with the concept. And so 30% or 25% off theknifejunkie.com/threedogknife and use knifejunkie, all one word, all lowercase at checkout, 25% off. That's an amazing, amazing deal. So go check out a robust outdoors knife like this Three Dog Knife. Putting this one away. But this is also what we're going to be giving away for January of 2026. It's our Gentleman Junkie knife giveaway knife. So be sure to join us on January 15th, become a Gentleman Junkie on Patreon, or you can join right here on YouTube and we'll get you hooked up. That means your name goes into the draw for the Three Dog Knife.

Bob DeMarco: All right, lastly here I want to talk about Patreon since I was just pitching it. Something that Jim does, Maker Monday where we feature a maker, a knife maker or someone an innovator. And this week, I'm sorry, we have Sal Glesser of Spyderco Knives here. Just beautifully done and I love the way Jim sets this up. And you want to know anything about any knife maker, you can check it out on Mondays. Fridays we have the Friday Funnies, we also have This Day in History—all sorts of really cool stuff. Added value as they used to say in the marketing world on Patreon. So go go check it out. You will enjoy it. All right, coming up we're going to get to Knife Life News.

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12:53 - Knife Life News

Announcer: You're listening to The Knife Junkie Podcast, and now here's The Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.

Bob DeMarco: A lot of cool knives out since last we spoke, but here are three that really kind of tickled my fancy. The first was the Real Steel Griffin Ultimatum. All right, do you remember the Griffin? Of course you do. That was the knife that Real Steel really kind of came onto the scene with. And funny thing is, that was 10 years ago. Can you believe that? The Real Steel Griffin first came out 10 years ago. I can't believe it, but it is true. And well, now we're looking at a version, a special version just for this sort of 10th anniversary and they're calling it the Ultimatum Edition. Enthusiast-grade version of the Griffin, let's call it. 3.5-inch Vanax SuperClean blade. Now, this is kind of one of those mystical steels. Mystical because you don't hear about it much and when you do it's kind of a funny name and you think, what's that steel? So apparently it's right up there with M390, but that's about the look I have of it. And but I do know that it's appearing twice in this Knife Life News. So maybe it's seeing its time right now. Vanax SuperClean drop point. You got that triangular sort of lozenge-shaped opening hole, a beautiful row of jimping for the thumb there, full flat ground with a 50/50 choil, albeit a cool kind of shaped choil. And then you have this gorgeous titanium milled handle with that sort of repeating infinity symbol thing happening there. Button lock with a secondary lock. Sculpted clip. MSRP 225 bucks. This thing is available now and it's a nice send-up of the old original Real Steel.

Bob DeMarco: Okay, next up from We Knife. This is a cool one, the Skyneks. Now I looked it up. What does Skyneks mean? They always have strange names and they all always usually have meaning. Skyneks as far as I could see was like some sort of cartoon, and that's about as far down that rabbit hole as I was willing to go. So I'm not sure if there's something beyond that, like it's some sort of rare bird or something. That would be kind of We Knife's style. Anyway, beautiful new in-house design here with a gorgeous and dramatic 3.7-inch clip point blade. That's M390 blade steel. Beautiful swedge, gorgeous blade shape on this. Again, you have a finger choil, but this is not 50/50. This is 100% forward of the finger guard and flipper. This also has thumb studs and a beautiful thumb swale there right off that graciously arched handle with a two-thirds carbon fiber inlay. Really nice. The only thing I don't care for are the speed holes. I don't need the speed holes, that's an extra note that this eye doesn't need. I feel like the forward portion of the handle with that precipitous point there is enough of a flourish, I don't need to put holes there for me. But anyway, beautiful. I will not be getting it of course because—but I do, do really like it. MSRP of this: 385. It's available now and you can see there it's also available in a Damasteel variant as they do over there. Knocking it out.

Bob DeMarco: All right, this last one. I say this every time, but this is a Giant Mouse that I could really love. This is a cool-looking knife. And it's also in the carry envelope I prefer. This is the Giant Mouse Number 14, Valetta. Valetta apparently is a Maltese fortress city. And so this has inspiration from that Maltese, Maltesian fortress city. But it is gorgeous. And actually while we're on this shot of it, let me just point out that on a knife as luxurious and expensive as this you would expect that clip to be fully sculpted and only right side, but it's one of those kind of half-and-half sculpted slash loop-over pocket clip type clips. And it does go to the other side, so if you're a lefty, there you go. Are you proud of yourself? You ruined it for everyone. Thank you. But really, really nice and I prefer it to the their usual wire clip. But it comes—it's coming—it’s a limited release and it's coming in two variations. This is the one I prefer. It is beautiful with that blasted titanium and green canvas Micarta inlays. But when you check out the blade—oh my God, the blade on this thing is absolutely beautiful. So again, 3.6 inches. It’s an elongated clip point of Vanax SuperClean. There it is. That blade is so cool. That is a beautiful blade. Kind of low and swooping, exotic looking. It looks like a pirate's knife kind of. Titanium handle. It does have a Micarta or bronze inlays. You're looking at the bronze inlay version now, also next to a cool Zippo there. Liner lock, reverse pocket clip as I mentioned. So they're making 400 of the Micarta version and 200 of that bronze version. So if you're a Giant Mouse guy, you better jump on it. MSRP 445 for the bronze. I don't know if the Micarta is less.

18:55 - The First Tool

Bob DeMarco: Next up we're going to talk about in The First Tool one of my absolute, absolute favorites. I have a couple of them in the collection. Let's get to The First Tool.

Announcer: You're listening to The Knife Junkie Podcast. Here's some cool knife history with The Knife Junkie's The First Tool.

Bob DeMarco: So as you know, we’re talking about the Barong. The Barong doesn’t whisper history, it screams it. Heavy, wide, shaped like a leaf, the Barong is one of the most visually striking knives ever carried. Originating in the southern islands of the Philippines, this blade was more than a weapon. It was a statement of identity, faith, and resolve. At first glance, the Barong looks almost exaggerated. The blade swells dramatically in the center, giving it forward weight that makes every cut devastating. This wasn't accidental. The Barong was built for close combat. That broad belly delivers crushing chops and damaging slashes, while the thick spine gave it strength. You could thrust this all the way in and save your life with it.

Bob DeMarco: But the Barong's story isn't just about violence. It's also about belief. Traditionally carried by Moro warriors, the Barong was often associated with spiritual protection. Many blades were believed to possess kantunga or spiritual essence. Please forgive me if I butcher that. Handles were carved in hardwood, horn, or even ivory sometimes, shaped as stylized cockatoos, abstract forms meant to ward off evil and other such things. The scabbards were wooden also adorned. Now I have to say this one is a rare find given to me by my brother with this sort of basketweave metal around the hilt. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Barong gained international attention during conflicts between Moro fighters and foreign military forces. Accounts described warriors charging fearlessly, armed only with these blades driven by faith, conviction, and defense of mother home. Whether mythologized or real, these stories cemented the Barong's reputation as a knife tied to courage, ferocity, and sacrifice.

Bob DeMarco: What's fascinating is that the Barong wasn't just a battlefield tool. In many communities, it served everyday purposes: clearing brush, processing food, and handling daily tasks. Like so many great knives, it lived at the intersection of the mundane and the violent. This one here has a much thinner blade than the one you usually see on the wall behind me when the studio is in its right place. Today, authentic Barongs are prized by collectors not just for their rarity, but for what they represent. Each blade is slightly different, forged by hand, shaped by tradition, and driven by purpose. Each one feels unique. The Barong reminds us that knives are never just steel. They are beliefs made tangible. And when you hold one, you're not just holding a blade, you're holding a story honed by generations.

Bob DeMarco: Well, if you like this kind of talk, you like knife talk, join the conversation on Thursday nights with Thursday Night Knives. That's every Thursday night, 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time right here on YouTube and we talk knives for two hours. It's awesome. You can even join up and see yourself on screen. So check us out, Thursday Night Knives, 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time right here on YouTube. Now let's get to the State of the Collection.

23:09 - State of the Collection / Prototypes / Loaners

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Bob DeMarco: First up, this is one that I got under the tree this year from myself, and I had to make a show of it. To Bob from The Knife Junkie. But I've been wanting this for a long time and then talking with Calvin Richardson on the Knife Junkie Podcast about this design really cemented it. This is the Steadfast L, the large Steadfast from Work Tuff Gear designed by Calvin Richardson. I've been carrying it around while I've been sort of vacating for the holiday season and I've been loving this knife. Taking it on dog walks, hanging out with it around the house, outside, doing a lot of burning of stuff in the fire pit, you know, whatever the excuse is. But this has been on my hip the whole time and I love it. I love the sheath, I love this K329 steel. K329 steel, the design is just beautiful. It’s super utilitarian, but my gosh, what a great fighting knife this would make. Heaven forbid you had to fight with a knife, this would make a great one. The handle, everything is awesome. This one they've added jimping. Now just for contrast, let me show you the regular Steadfast, the original Steadfast with the 5.5-inch blade. That's a 7-inch blade, same handle. I was lucky enough to get them both with the white lining, both with the K329 blade steel. This one feels like it has a slightly more contoured and comfortable handle. Man, I'm in love with this blade shape. And so this one has now become my current survival go-to bag's knife. So this one lives in that bag now and that lives in my closet. It's not something I'm leaving in the car. I would hate to lose this to to some sticky fingers. I do have a survival kit in the car, but definitely do not have a knife of this caliber in that in that kit. I always commented on how this is kind of a big sheath for the Steadfast, but the Steadfast L sheath is perfect. It really kind of does everything just right. So I'm loving this knife. It's the Steadfast L, or large, from Work Tuff Gear and Calvin Richardson.

Bob DeMarco: All right, next up, this was my Christmas present from my brother-in-law. He almost gets me something cool. This year he got me this HX Outdoors folding tomahawk or hatchet—it's more of a hatchet. Folding hatchet. This thing is built like a proverbial tank. I mean it really is tank-like. Interesting design aspect: if you look at just this handle part, it looks a lot like their signature outdoor knife—I'm not sure what they're calling that knife right now, but it has this same handle, though I bet that is a little bit thinner. This one is nice and thick to accommodate that giant wedge-like blade. I have not used this yet. Now I've been doing a lot of stuff with the hatchet outside, just kind of clearing brush and getting rid of some old punkwood, just doing a lot of chopping with a hatchet and dag-gummit, haven't brought myself to actually use this yet. Even though it's got a secondary lock for that ambidextrous bar lock. Though really a cool, cool gift. I love the idea of a folding tomahawk or hatchet. We’ll see that again coming up here in the prototypes, new knives, and loaners section of the show, but this thing takes the cake. I got to take it out and abuse it. Not abuse it, but push it a little bit. It's got that big hammer pole on the back. I bet this would be a great backpacking implement. It is heavy, but it would cover the hammer and the tomahawk or hatchet sort of section of the list. So the weight-to-utility tradeoff might be there. It's called a Falcilux or Falculux folding hatchet. I'm not exactly sure how you pronounce that, but there you go. It's got a spot for you to come all the way up here, too, to do your close-in cutting. It's a really, really cool tool from HX Outdoors, which I don't have any of their knives. I do know they've reached out to me in the past and I try not to just take free knives for the sake of taking free knives. But now that I'm more interested in outdoor knives and kind of outdoor utility stuff, I might take them up on their offer, especially having gotten this. Really really like it. HX Outdoors Falcilux folding hatchet. Rolls right off the tongue.

Bob DeMarco: Next one, this was from my—he’s like my cousin, but he's my cousin-in-law, my wife's cousin. Great dude. He got me this for Christmas and thank you, Jonathan. I appreciate it greatly. This is a Garrett Wade bifold pocket knife. And it's a fancy knife. Check this out. Like that and then like that and then you have a beautiful blade here, nice edge, very solid build that singular blade. The whole thing has a nice weight to it, nice feel. You could totally rock this as a gentleman in your suit. Again, this is a—it's a little hefty, but in a suit pocket down at the bottom or in your jacket pocket this thing would be great. And then champagne comes out and you have to cut the foil. Look at that. I mean this is a really, really beautiful little knife. So thank you again so much, Jonathan. I love the details like the sort of brute de forge look on the tang of the blade. I love the monumental sort of build of it. Yeah, so very, very cool knife. This one deserves a nice little leather pocket slip.

Bob DeMarco: And last up, since last we spoke, this dropped and I got one but I have to do my videos on it. Like I said, things have been topsy-turvy so I haven't had a chance to talk much with you about the JW collab Backwoods fix EDC. And this is with Melissa Backwoods. This is her design collaboration with Ben Belkin. You’ve got this beautiful little Bowie shape. It’s about a 3-inch blade and it is wickedly sharp. One of the few Jack Wolf Knives that isn't a full height hollow grind, this one is a half height but hollow ground and sharp as the day is long. This thing has an incredible cutting point, very useful point. I know a lot of people don't like clip points, especially those with curved clips because they believe that the point is going to be too high to be useful in everyday utility tasks. But this one has a center-line point, so you still have that beautiful swooping edge there and belly, but you have a nice acute tip right down the center. A beautiful Bowie shape on this. I love this little clip point knife. This one is in that camo carbon fiber with the celebratory colors. I can’t remember what this one's called, but beautiful white laced leather sheath. Stout as the day is long and fits nice right in there. Goes really well next to whatever your main carry is, actually. It goes nicely right in the front right pocket. All right, that's the Jack Wolf Knives JW collab Backwoods fix EDC.

Bob DeMarco: Now before we get to these cool prototypes, new knives, and loaners, I just want to show off a new design that Jim has come up with. If you want me to listen, talk about knives. This Christmas break that has come in handy numerous times. Just kidding, I love my family, love talking with them. You can get this on a water bottle, you can get this on a hat, you can get this on an apron. It's always grilling season or in my case, Blackstone season. Or you can get it on a t-shirt, you can get it on your jammies if you want. theknifejunkie.com/shop. Go check us out. Over 30 pages of awesome merch with really, really cool maxims and designs. So go to theknifejunkie.com/shop.

Bob DeMarco: Okay, I just had Mr. John Marconi on the show and I wanted to show off some of—a couple of his signature knives. He sent them to me to show off to you and man, he's working on another model that I want so badly. So these are very cool knives, want to show them off. They're called the Tulom. The Tulom and it comes with a trainer. Okay, so I'll put the trainer down here but here is the Tulom. Comes in an ambidextrous sheath, so beautifully done ambidextrous sheath in this sort of modern pocket style carry. You can see how high up this discrete carry concept clip comes, so the apex of that clip is where your pocket seam is. So only about that much of the knife is showing, but look at that grip. You’ve got that mushroom style grip there and then you have a Tsukamaki-wrapped Coke bottle style grip. Really, really nicely sculpted, very nicely shaped. Ideal in my opinion for reverse grip. He does this thing, he meaning John Marconi, tapers his tang so that by the time the wrap gets to the pommel it's not super thick and blown out—not blown out, but bulbous is the word I’m looking for. It gets a little bit wider but not too bulbous, and that's how he prefers it. I like it both ways, doesn't matter to me. But beautiful profile to this handle gives it incredible grip. So you get a really nice grip, like I said in this reverse with the thumb on the back. Or with this sort of almost three-fingered—for me, I don't have giant mitts so it's still four-finger, but I know for some guys it's going to be three-finger. But this pommel nestles, that shape nestles in the palm perfectly. So it aligns with your bone structure and on a thrust it aligns that point up perfectly. He does a cool thing with the steel to get it to do that. I think he said mustard and vinegar or something. Sounds delicious. Ray skin under there and epoxy-impregnated lace here. So you get all of the benefits of the Tsukamaki wrap with that lace, however that lace is not going anywhere. It's in its place forevermore. Really nice sheaths, as I mentioned. And then here is the trainer. So John firmly believes that his knives are for self-defense, you know, or I should say he really designs them for that and the utility is secondary, I guess we’ll say. So he really believes that a trainer is necessary if you want to be very fluid and confident with your daily carry fixed blade. So thank you, John, for sending me these to check out. I'll make a close-up video of these so that you guys out there who love your ambidextrous pocket sheath fixed blade knives as I do can check it out.

Bob DeMarco: All right, next up, this is from viewer James. I will withhold his last name, but great guy. He sent me a number of folders recently to check out—those custom knives, the Shawn O’Carroll knives. Well now he's sent me three really cool—well, two of them are knives, one of them is an implement. We’ll get to that shortly. But this first one is from Greg Medford and Medford Knife and Tool, and it's this beautiful 250th anniversary USMC fighting knife. You’ve got the—a blade that’s evocative of the Ka-Bar though it's more of a drop point than a clip point, but you have this handle, this wicked knuckle duster handle in the classic 1918 configuration with the points each one a glass breaker, a pyramid of pain, I don't know what you want to call it but I mean just a just a brutal wicked setup on the knuckle duster. Now for me, it's slightly large, it kind of separates my pinky, I don't want to say uncomfortably though it doesn't feel like it's made for my hand. It’s made for a slightly larger hand with longer fingers and the whole nine yards. But I have no doubt that use it to to great effect if I had to. Heaven forbid. Look at this thing. Even if you're just clearing brush, it'll protect your knuckles.

Bob DeMarco: Okay, and on the pommel, you've got a glass breaker slash noggin-knocker slash attitude adjuster or skull crusher, which is a very inelegant way of saying, you know, pointy end used for defense. I'm going to leave this out while I show you the next one that James sent me in the same vein. That thing is beautiful. This next one is no slouch herself. This is the Medford Knives USMC Raider. It looks a lot like the take-down fighter but this is the USMC Raider. You’ve got a really beefy and wicked compound-ground blade with this part here, this straight part is slightly hollow ground, this is flat ground up front. You’ve got a swedge that comes close but I guess with a little effort and a grinder you could make that sharp. And then you have that notching saw on the back for survival tasks. You’ve got a removable guard. It’s pretty big and protects you not only on the bottom but on the side, but you can take that off with an Allen wrench looks like. And then this handle. Nicely comfortable handle, it’s squared off but really comfortable and neutral I guess you'd say. And then again that sort of attitude adjuster at the pommel. So two really like cartoonishly nasty knives from Greg Medford and Medford Knife and Tool. James also sent me the sheaths, they don't look like they've really held the knives and I’m not going to—that's not going to be up to me to put them in for the first time. So I'm going to leave those out but just gorgeous. Look at the shapes of those knives. The knuckles on the 250th look amazing, though like I said they're a little bit large for me. And then the blade on the bottom one is just just sick. I love where the the point is almost a little bit lower than center line. Or maybe I shouldn't say almost, is a little bit lower than center line.

Bob DeMarco: All right, next up also by James and the last thing he sent me. This is the implement. Now I’m not at the point where I can whip this thing open like I've seen others do but this is the Joe Caswell designed CRKT Provoke Hatchet—or tomahawk, tomahawk actually. So yeah, this is like the Provoke, this is sort of in the same line as the Provoke morphing Karambit. This obviously is a morphing tomahawk, folds fits right in the pocket easy, I’m told. There you press that and it folds. I’ve seen people really whip this thing open but I haven't haven't been successful with that yet. But there it is. Really, really cool. I mean can you imagine someone pulling this out? You’re getting in a little scuffle, someone pulls this out, whips it out because that's how you can do it. You’re going to have to say, you know, I take it all back, let me buy you a beer, I love that sweater, can we just chill out? This is—it looks like a little fireman's axe and it's intimidating, but it also looks incredibly useful as a like a campsite implement. I don't know, what do you think? It's the morphing Karambit by Joe Caswell and CRKT. No, doing it the old-fashioned way. There it is.

Bob DeMarco: All right, next up I got a bunch of stuff from Dirk Pinkerton. I got a couple of prototypes from big companies, a couple from his own, and then a custom thing that he's working on that I insist I buy when he's done with it because it's just about the coolest knife ever. All right, but first knife, this is his personal carry I believe in version, and I really like this. So this is the Pinkerton—this is Pinkerton design knives, so this is Dirk's own company production. Look at that. Oh, just beautiful. It’s S35VN blade steel. You’ve got that gorgeous titanium with the pebble or moon surface texture. And of course, this is set up for it's optimized for this sort of reverse grip, this sort of self-defense Picall style tip down edge in grip. It’s got a thumb plate that can also wave off of your pocket and self-deploy off your pocket. Now these are, like I said, optimized for that reverse grip. These are really actually great regular everyday utility knives too. I have one similar to this not in this setup, which is just gorgeous. I’m not—he has not given me the release date of these, but go check out Dirk Pinkerton, Pinkerton Design, to check out when when they will be dropping these. Also Instagram is a great place to keep up with him.

Bob DeMarco: Next up, also under his own shingle. These you've seen the titanium frame lock prototype here because he gave me one which I'm very grateful for. But here is his G10 versions of the Stand Off, which to me is an everything knife. This is a really, really, really great knife because it's a 3.7-inch blade so it's a nice sized blade. It's a true Wharncliffe, so that means it's got a point down low great for utility. It’s got a great utility straight edge, but also happens to be an outstanding shape for self-defense. It’s got a great handle and ergonomics. In this case, these are—what the blade steels are on these, I haven't gotten full details. But this one's got the frag G10, this one's got the chamfered G10, super comfortable. You’ve got multi modes of actuation, you can use that—since the prototype I have, he's really sharpened up the fuller there so you can middle finger flick it quite easily and still has the flipper and all that. This just such a great knife. So I highly recommend you you keep up with him for this drop in particular. This is just such a great knife. Mine, like I said, titanium frame lock, but these G10s are so nice, so light, they feel great in hand and man, what utility from that blade.

Bob DeMarco: All right, next is the—this is a cool one. This is coming to us through Concept and it's called the—this is the Incitatus. Incitatus, I'm saying Incitatus. Oh my gosh, I practiced this before. Incitatus, which was Caligula's horse that he almost like elected the Senate. So named after a crazy emperor's horse—crazy perverted emperor's horse. It is so cool, the Incitatus. It's sort of in the—what was that? Now it's eluding me. His fixed blade, he had a fixed blade I just had it on the tip of my tongue with a blade shape like this and I know that this is part of that design family. You can also get the—you can also put that wave opener on this one. Any Pinkerton knife that has a thumb disc will accept that sort of wave. I love this knife. I would say it's a little bit below my typical size carry size. I'm betting that is like a 3.3-inch blade, but I just love the blade shape. And the whole knife itself is super comfortable. I do love the frag pattern and I love the sort of commander style 1911 commander style hammer flipper there, flipper tab looks really cool. So coming to us from Concept. I'm a huge Concept fan. I’m going to turn these over so we can see their makers. Another one from Concept based on the Asymmetrical Night Horse, which was an exclusive and larger than this—it was an exclusive with Smoky Mountain Knife Works. This is the Navaja, so very much based on that knife. Beautiful shape, it’s brought down in size to about a 3.4-inch blade. You’ve got that gorgeous horn-shaped titanium frame lock handle, so similar to the traditional Navaja with the horn-shaped handle—horn like steer like bullfighting. This one has a really cool or great fuller useful fuller for middle finger flicking and the like. Just gorgeous in this black and gold iteration. I know it's going to come in a brushed titanium, I think that's probably not the right clip for this model, but just a cool, cool knife and I’m really glad to see the Night Horse carrying on in the Navaja there.

Bob DeMarco: All right, this prototype is unnamed. I know he doesn't have a name for it or at least he was asking me my opinions on things. I gave him an opinion, I'll tell you what I think in a second. But this one is a really cool long clip point with a recurve. This will be out from Artisan and in this version of course it's got that beautiful bronzed blasted titanium handle, those Pinkerton chamfers there, the big broad chamfers and then also the Pinkerton little cup jimping that you see there. That's a very Dirk design flourish there. Great jimping on the thumb for that thumb ramp. And this prototype is in S35VN. Not sure if it will come with a tab filler there, filler tab I should say. But a sculpted clip that can go either side. Really really nice knife. Love the way this one looks. Now I said it reminded me of the nose of the F-111 fighter bomber called the Aardvark. One of our awesome swing-wing fighter bombers from the Cold War. The Aardvark was a side-by-side fighter bomber such a cool plane. Go check it out. It was the first one ever to have terrain-following radar so it could like it could point its radar down and say, keep me 350 feet off the ground and it would read the radar and kind of autopilot steer the plane over the terrain which is pretty cool. Though I would imagine a lot of pilots were like not trusting that autopilot all the time. That would make me nervous I got to say. But so these are some prototypes from Dirk Pinkerton coming from his own Pinkerton Design—these first three—and then these two from Concept, you had the Incitatus and the Navaja. Look at how beautiful those knives are. And then the heretofore unnamed clip point from Artisan.

Bob DeMarco: Now the last one is the one that I'm shamelessly kind of begging for because I love this thing so much. I love it so bad, man, I love it so bad. I want this knife so badly. And I know he's done a small version of it, but here it is and this is a custom Munjilar from the Middle East. And you can see my dried skin already embedded in the texture G10 from from swinging this thing around. It moves amazingly. This beautiful fully double-edged recurve is just astounding to me. A lot like the numerous knives that I usually have on my wall here, which will be back up when the studio is is fully back up. But you got that dramatic recurve bringing that point pretty close to the center line so it's not in a weird place. It just gets there in a weird way. You've got these two really deep recurve surfaces. So trapping material and pushing it through either the hawkbill on the top or the scimitar of the belly on the bottom. You just get good amounts of combative utility in this. The handle is also somewhat traditional in in shape and it is just melts in the hand. It's perfect, perfect for my hand in both forward grip and in reverse grip. This is just a perfect knife and I really love it. It does not have an edge on it. The sheath, you know, the sheath does not have all the grommets that it needs so it's a a work in progress, dag-gummit. But I want it so bad. I want this to be mine so bad. And I will commission one. I know this is the first time he's done this knife and I know that this is his and he wants this for himself, pretty sure. Even though I left my dusty fingerprints on it. But you know, I’ll commission one and I'll get a fancy handle material or something but I am just smitten. Smitten, smitten.

50:50 - Outro

Bob DeMarco: All right, that just about does it for this edition of The Knife Junkie Podcast. Thanks for your continued watching, thanks for watching, thanks for commenting, liking. We've gone through a difficult season here, but we're moving on and and we are back with our interviews, we are back with Thursday Night Knives, we are back with this show. Holidays, we always take a little time off but this was more than expected due to these issues in these here walls. All right, for Jim working his magic behind the switch here, I’m Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

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