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Here is the full transcript for The Knife Junkie Podcast Episode 652: Most Loved Folding Knives 2025.

Bob DeMarco: Coming up, the Case Trapper. I finally put my Mora knife carbon steel fixed blade to work, and we’re going to talk about my most beloved folding knives of 2025. 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. A couple of my favorite comments from this past week were from, first from Thomas Nugent of Knives by Nuge. He said, "Three Nuge knives in one video! I’m glad you’re enjoying the Cub and the Bruin, and I’m pumped that the Wicked XL made your top list." Yep, last episode I did my top fixed blade knives of 2025. There were a couple of more than there will be in this folding knife episode because I’m more into fixed blade knives, and one of Thomas’s made the list for sure.

Another comment was from An American Father who said, "You were really there for me today, Bob, and I appreciate it greatly. I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but trying to raise children into young adults in the year 2025 is so much harder than I ever imagined it might be. Today really had me on the ropes, getting lost in listening to someone talk about my favorite tool for a while was exactly what I needed. I can’t thank you enough."

Well, American Father, I can’t thank you enough for being a part of the show, showing up every night, every week to Thursday Night Knives and offering your insight and conversation. It’s a two-way street, my man. So, thank you one and all for listening, liking, commenting, subscribing, and thanks very much.

All right, that said, let’s get to the 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 my front pocket today was the beautiful Cuda Maxx 5.5. This was a knife I wanted way back when, when it was available very early 2000 or 2001 or 2002, somewhere around there. Darrel Ralph, may he rest in peace, was doing these amazing designs—both in his custom shop, these large folders, but also with various companies like Camillus and others who were putting out these knives he was creating. But real big, beautiful, in this case, folding Bowie, this Cuda Maxx 5.5.

If you’ve ever seen The Expendables, which I know you have because you’re a big old nerd like me, you’ve seen some of Darrel Ralph’s big fighting folders, especially that scene in the beginning of the first Expendables movie where Jay Stay—that's what I call Jason Statham—attacks the bad guy at the basketball court who is dating his ex-girlfriend. And he uses a knife similar to this one here, though a custom.

Next knife I had in my front right pocket was the beautiful and new Timber Jack from Jack Wolf Knives. This is a collaboration, but it’s not part of the JWK collab series. This is part of the lightweight series. There’s also a version of this very profile that’s part of the steel series that has steel bolsters and different handle materials. This one being all G10 is part of the lightweight series. But a beautiful 154CM blade, beautiful drop point coming from Tracy LaRock, custom knife maker. This is a knife in his catalog, and he teamed up with Ben Belkin of Jack Wolf Knives to make a more affordable version of his very in-demand folder. So this beautiful Jack Wolf Knives Timber Jack, an awesome collaboration. Also pretty big—that’s a 3.5-inch blade. It’s a big, chunky knife, and it’s got a very, very stout backspring, even stronger to close it than to open it, and I’m a huge fan of this January 2026 Jack Wolf Knives release.

Next in my waistband today, riding at the 3 o’clock, I had the beautiful Brock Blades Magni XL. This is originally a Joe Watson design, and his friend Ken Brock did a version of it and I bought it. And here it is, so beautiful. I got this at Blade Show 2025. It’s got a very, very thin swedge; you could totally sharpen that down and have a double-edged blade. I’m not going to do that. Maybe I would send it to him to have it done, but what’s the point? What’s the point? Thank God I’m not getting in knife fights, otherwise I guess I would.

Last, my ESK, my Emotional Support Knife today, was the beautiful Work Tuff Gear Steadfast L. This is designed by Calvin Richardson, great dude, and he designed the Steadfast, a smaller 5.5-inch bladed version of this knife. This is a 7-inch bladed version, but this one sort of fits in the design parameters of the Ka-Bar fighting knife, fighting utility knife, but this is a much more modern interpretation. I love it with that long, long swedge and the true full tang handle. I’m a huge fan of this knife, and I’ve used it a little bit roughly in the backyard, and it lives up to it. It’s ready to go. I love this thing.

So, this was my ESK today: the Steadfast Large by Work Tuff Gear. I had the Joe Watson and Ken Brock Magni XL, beautifully made knife. I had the very stout and sturdy, ready-to-go Timber Jack by Jack Wolf Knives. And right here, I had the Cuda Maxx by Darrel Ralph, and I love that thing. That is a beautiful knife. Thank you to Dirk Pinkerton for making that available to me a couple of years back.

All right, now I want to talk about 3 Dog Knife. You may have seen this knife; it was just up on the leather here. This is the Champion’s knife. This is Champion’s Blade designed by Trevor Burger, who is a winner of the Forged in Fire television competition, forging competition. He’s one of their winners. He’s an Alaskan and makes knives, but teamed up with Mike of Northern Knives and 3 Dog Knife, their in-house custom knife brand. And now Mike and 3 Dog Knife is doing the OEMing, or the building, of these beautiful Trevor Burger outdoors knives called the Champion Blades.

And the funny thing is, yes, I’m saying OEM, but these are still made by hand. So, maybe that’s not exactly the right term, but these things are beautifully custom handmade by Mike and crew over at 3 Dog Knife, and it’s real, really tremendous. We just gave one away. This one is mine. We just gave a black-bladed one away. This is a tried-and-true outdoor bush sort of design, as are all of the 3 Dog Knife bush designs. I finally put the MAC, the Multi-Animal Knife, to use, though not on an animal; this is just in my suburban Virginia backyard fire pit and such, but this knife is awesome. And then this is the only one I haven’t used so far; this is the Riot. A knife that’s equally comfortable in a back alley as it is on the back 40. What do you think about that? TM.

All right, so that’s these knives, and you can go to theknifejunkie.com/3dogknife. It’ll take you right to their website of these gorgeous outdoor handmade knives, and you can get them for 25% off if you use "knifejunkie" (all lowercase, all one word) as the coupon code at checkout. So, a very, very super generous deal from Mike and 3 Dog Knife. So go to theknifejunkie.com/3dogknife and when checking out, use "knifejunkie" as the coupon code and you’ll get 25% off. Super generous, and so there you go, wanted to tell you about that.

All right, lastly before we get to Knife Life News, I want to tell you about a feature we have on our Patreon page. Jim is always busy at work coming up with new ways to give you value add on the Patreon page, and Makers Monday is one of my favorites. This past week has been about Enrique Peña, and it gives a pretty in-depth history of his career and then sort of signature designs and landmark knives and that kind of thing, and it’s really super interesting. Jim gives us one of these every Monday for Makers Monday. There’s also the Friday Funnies and other features every week, so you’ve got to check it out. Go to theknifejunkie.com/patreon. See that and all the many other things we have to offer you on our Patreon page. Go to theknifejunkie.com/patreon or you can scan this QR code on your screen; takes you right where you want to go. I don't know, that’s kind of some sort of new tech I don’t quite get, but I’m told that’s what I should say. And when you get there, 12% off when you join for a whole year at once. 12% off, that’s more than 10%. That’s 12%. So, pretty good there. Go check that out. You could also subscribe here, re-join us right here on YouTube. Either way, you definitely want to do that. That’s theknifejunkie.com/patreon again.

Adventure delivered. Your monthly subscription for handpicked outdoor, survival, EDC, and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals. theknifejunkie.com/battlebox.

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

Bob DeMarco: Okay, first up in Knife Life News, one of what I know there will be many of these Sencut and Civivi stories this year. This one is a Sencut, it’s called the Sencut Tauron (T-A-U-R-O-N). It’s a beautiful in-house design, I like it a lot. It’s out in the house of We—we know Sencut is a descendant of We. It’s We, Civivi, and then Sencut, but they do a lot of very interesting stuff on the Sencut and Civivi levels. This one here is a 3.48-inch D2 clip point blade with a dramatic fuller up there—I really like that. I mean, not fuller, dramatic harpoon up there where that swedge is. Nice thumb swell with some jimping there and a flipper and a thumb stud.

And then you look at the handle, it’s a nice big roomy 4.5-inch handle with all sorts of swoops and swales. The one you see here is a maroon G10. They also have Micarta and other colors. This will be available soon. That’s a beautiful version right there with the black and green handle. Available soon, $47 MSRP. Check it out, it’s the Sencut Tauron. And you can go to theknifejunkie.com/sencut and get a deal on it with our affiliate link there.

Next up, Kershaw. Kershaw just dropped its 2026 so-far catalog. And I say so-far because they will have a couple more installments, I’m sure, where they announce more designs. But the one that was most interesting to me—I mean, there are lots of DuraLock knives so far in this upcoming lineup, and that DuraLock is their ambidextrous bar lock—but the one that excites me the most is the one that Jim has up on screen right here. They’re bringing back the Bareknuckle, a great design, part of that ZT 0777 family that started, I don’t know, 15 years ago or something. But that beautiful and dramatic drop point, kind of Wharncliffe, modified, I don’t know what it is, but a beautiful blade. In this case, made out of MagnaCut. 3.5 inches of MagnaCut in this modified drop cliff, we’ll call this. And then you have that gorgeous sculpted and green anodized aluminum handle. But the DuraLock there, the ambidextrous bar lock, is winning the day there. There is an ambidextrous clip and 3.4 ounces. Available now, 190 bucks for this MagnaCut sent-up of the DuraLock Bareknuckle. I like it a lot. Had the Bareknuckle, same color, got rid of it, now I want it back. Now that it’s in MagnaCut and with that DuraLock. Beautiful.

I think the theme this year so far has been lightweight, but also this DuraLock, this ambidextrous bar lock. And you could see in a lot of the Kershaws this year coming out in 2026, a lot of DuraLock. All right, we’ll leave it right there.

All right, next up and last in Knife Life News is from, well, Kershaw’s big brother, or well, we'll say stablemate in the KAI umbrella. This is the Zero Tolerance ZT 0117 (or 117), just like the F-117 Nighthawk, the stealth fighter. This one taking some influence from that design. But this, actually, there are other Zero Tolerances that had more faceted designs. Personally, I don’t think this looks like an F-117, but I’ve studied that plane for a job I had once, and this one does not remind me of that, but still very cool. I do like it and I like that Zero Tolerance keeps coming back and keeps giving us some cool new knives. This is 3.3 inches of MagnaCut steel, spear point, with a DuraLock again. This one looks a little bit more like the Ram-Lok from Microtech with the tab instead of the stud. And then this one has a thumb stud with the KVT ball bearings. A very old-school sort of carbon fiber handle, you know, with that sort of basket weave. And then you have an ambidextrous deep carry pocket clip. 1.9 ounces. So, a very, very svelte 1.9 ounces. Available now, $240 is the Zero Tolerance 0117. So, is it a Nighthawk or not? I don’t know, you decide. Don't think so, not so much. But hey, great plane, I’m sure it’s a great knife.

All right, that said, let’s get ourselves over 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: Okay, so for this first tool we’re going to talk about a design that is very close to my heart, and that is the Case Trapper. Case isn’t the only one who makes the Trapper, but they’re the classic.

Picture a cold morning on the edge of a hardwood forest, the kind where your breath hangs in the air and everything you touch feels like iron. A trapper checks a line, skins a little game, trims cord, prepares tack—50 tiny chores that don't feel dramatic until you realize one tool is doing nearly all of them. That’s the spirit of the Trapper pattern. Few versions are more recognizable than the Case Trapper, a double-bladed slipjoint that’s quietly become a pocket-sized American classic.

The magic is in the pairing. The clip point blade is your do-everything worker: slicing, whittling, opening feed sacks, cutting twine. Clean, controlled, easy to point wherever you need it. Then there’s the spey blade: broader and less pointy, originally favored for jobs where you want cutting power without an aggressive tip. Think skinning, trimming, castrating, and carefully working around hides. The Trapper wasn’t built to be fancy; it was built to be useful.

And because it’s a slipjoint, there’s no lock to fuss with, just that satisfying backspring, that "walk and talk." It’s old-school engineering: simple, dependable, and meant to be opened a thousand times without complaint. Case itself is part of the story. The company’s roots trace back to 1889, and by 1905, the Case operation had moved to Bradford, Pennsylvania, where the brand became a heavyweight in traditional American pocket knives.

Collectors love Case for the details, especially the tang stamps and the cover materials that help date knives by era. For example, "Tested XX" generally points to the 1920s to 1940s, while the "Case XX" is commonly associated with 1940 to 1964. That’s where the Case Trapper turns from tool to time capsule. One might ride in a rancher’s pocket for decades; another might sit pristine in a display, its bone or synthetic scales still bright, its blade still snapping like a screen door in the summertime. Because in the end, the Case Trapper isn’t just a knife pattern; it’s a small steel reminder that American life has always been built on doing more with less and doing it well.

Well, if you like to hear this kind of knife talk, maybe a little less poetic, a little less dramatic, but if you want to be a part of that talk, a part of that conversation, join us every Thursday night at 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time right here on YouTube for Thursday Night Knives, our awesome live show where we do a lot of knife giveaways. We have a lot of knife conversation and, well, we’ve all become pretty familiar with one another. So come on over, join the conversation. Thursday Night Knives, 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time right here on YouTube.

All right, let’s get to the State of the Collection.

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Bob DeMarco: Okay, so I haven't had anything new to show off this week on the State of the Collection, but what I do have, I want to show off this Mora knife that I got kind of without much fanfare a little while ago. This is the Mora knife carbon steel fixed blade knife. It’s not the Garberg, it doesn't have a full tang I don’t believe, and it’s kind of—well, I bought it just because I wanted a carbon steel Mora, and I also know that this thing has a great 90-degree spine.

So I had it, I’ve had it for a while, I finally rotated this into my outdoor haversack just for hiking and stuff. And I really like it. I finally used it to start a couple of fires and to carve a couple of feather sticks and to make a couple of, what do you call that, like bundles of flammable kindling from fatwood. And I used this ferro rod here that I attached to this to make it work.

So, yeah, I love this knife. I bought it thinking I would like it and then put it away for a long time and realized that most of the Moras that I end up using, like the Companion or the Number 2, they don’t have 90-degree spines. I can’t even spark up ferro rods with those. This one I can, and I also can with the tiny little one—I can’t remember what that one’s called now. But so I am liking this knife so far and I feel like it would make a very good camping companion, single-tool kind of option. And yeah, I really like it. So, I just wanted to show this off, and then let me show you this real quick.

Right here, I tipped this off of one of my Apoc survival knives. It’s a great little ferro rod, you have a nice grip to it here and you can really throw some sparks. So, that’s what I’ve done with this so far. And I’ve got to say, I know my use is very light compared to some people who are out there living in survival and that kind of thing on their knives and their equipment. But I’ve got to say, for a newbie, if I can make this thing work, anyone can. So I really, really like this knife, and I’m a big fan of the Mora knives. So, there we go.

All right, so let's talk about some of my most loved folders of 2025. We're solidly, we're right in the middle of January 2026. I’ve had time to ruminate and reflect on what my most loved knives of 2025 are. But before we get to those, I want to show you this latest design that Jim has come up with. This is "Warning: May Judge You Based on Your Blade Steel." And indeed, that is something you have to worry about in the high-pressure world of knife collecting. You might just choose the wrong steel. But I say you can’t do that. Unless you get like a pot steel from Pakistan, you can get 420 from Buck and it would be great. Just depends on how you sharpen it and how you use it.

But this is a great way to meet up with like-minded people. You go out in public, people see this message, they know you’re a knife junkie, they are immediately drawn to you and your social network grows. So go check out all the awesome shirts, hats, mugs, aprons, everything. Anything you want, one of our cool logos or pithy maxims on, you can get. Just go to theknifejunkie.com/shop and check out our many, many pages of cool stuff. theknifejunkie.com/shop.

All right, 2025. What a year. What a year. It was fun, it was great, I loved it. But I had some knives that really, really raised—rose to the top. And this one didn't make the list quite, but it’s kind of there. So I’m just going to show it off real quick and yeah, I love this thing. It is a beauty and you know, you’ve heard me talk about it many, many times, but this did not make the list: the Pyrite-Tech. Very, very cool knife, but very much up there.

Let me start with the knife that did really take this all off. And this is the Rajah 3 by Cold Steel. This is an old one. This is an old knife, and this year I actually even doubted they were still making it. When I found out they were, I had to get it. I got it and I carried it relentlessly for weeks and weeks. This is a really great cutting knife. That’s AUS 10A on the blade. The blade itself is a 3.5-inch kukri-style blade, deep recurve, centerline point, super useful and utilitarian, great cutter. Heaven forbid you need this for self-defense—a great self-defense knife, not only for its stabbing and slashing capabilities but also for the fact that it will open up on your pocket when waved with this thumb plate here. So a super robust knife using the Tri-Ad lock, so one of the strongest, if not the strongest, folding knife locks in the industry. Right here, this thing is awesome. And then to sort of top it all off, the handle itself is nicely contoured, Coke bottle in that direction, contoured in this direction with its swales and swoops, and really nice FRN. So warm in the hand in the winter and not so bad in the summer. That’s the Rajah 3. I love this knife, can’t say enough about it.

Next up, this one excited me from the moment we talked about it in Knife Life News here on a show about a year ago. This is the Kansept Knives Bison, designed by Ray Laconico. And a sort of a different style knife for Mr. Laconico, who does a lot of drop points, a lot of super clean lines. We have handles sort of disintegrating into blades and that kind of thing. Here we have something different from Ray Laconico. Nice beautiful clip point blade, a generous 4.2-inch blade, so bigger than most and probably not legal everywhere. S35VN in this case, a nice stonewashed black finish on this. And then a titanium handle with really cool finger guards. So down here on the bottom, we have something stopping our forefingers from running up on the blade, and then something to brace against with our thumbs up here on the top. As I mentioned, titanium. Some models of this—this comes in about eight different colorways—some models come with this center part colored differently, anodized differently, but not knurled. I opted for the knurling just for a little extra grip, and you get it on the clip too. So the thing I love about this knife is that it is big and mean—it’s a big mean folding Bowie for your pocket, but it’s also refined, it’s somewhat slender, it’s made of titanium. It’s a nice, nice knife, nice production, but also kind of burly and nasty. And what’s more, it’s a Ray Laconico, and doing something different for the kind of knives he designs. So super thrilled with this knife this past year: the Ray Laconico-designed Kansept Bison.

Next one, this is a Serberus Knives design, and it’s a collaboration with Jack Wolf Knives. This was their first JWK collab knife. We saw this in 2025; actually, we saw three JWK collab knives where Ben Belkin of Jack Wolf Knives collaborated with someone from the knife world who was doing cool stuff and created a collaboration knife with them using all of Jack Wolf Knives' production resources and such. So this, as I mentioned, a Serberus Knives design. You can see the Serberus Knives logo right there. This one full titanium, though it came in a number of other bolster lock versions with different handle materials. But this is just so gorgeous with that radiating pattern of ridges coming from the pivot. Blast-finished titanium with all of the requisite snail trails, really showing its age and carry beautifully. I carried this one a lot over the summer; this was one of my absolute favorite knives of the summer. It got tons of carry. I love that compound-ground S90V blade. You see you have a deep and really fine hollow grind here with a very thin behind-the-edge straightaway, and then as it rounds the belly and goes up to the tip, it turns to a flat grind which is a lot more robust, and all housed in this beautiful titanium handle. I love this knife. This is the Tango because it takes two to tango, and this was the very first Jack Wolf Knives collaboration.

Next up, this one from DC Blades. Old Squirrel Knives and Tier 1 Gear reviews came together to make DC Blades, and they really blew up in 2025. And this was a knife that they released in 2025 that just blew me away. I love the shape of this, everything about this knife. And they came out with a lot of really cool-looking knives, a lot of very tactical and dedicated self-defense knives that really turned me on, but this one takes the cake. Just the design of this is so amazing to me. I love that compound ground blade. You can see the swedge and then the flat portion here—or that’s a hollow ground—but I mean the straightaway right there, which is hollow ground and oh my gosh, this thing is so thin and slicey and pointy and nasty. It’s great in a standard—what do you call that—saber grip. It’s great for the saber grip, equally good in reverse grip with that great thumb placement right up top. This is made for fighting. This is a self-defense blade, but a luxury self-defense blade. Let's look at this handle. We’ve got knurled titanium with these carbon fiber swirl inlays. And then you have all that also on the back side where the lock is. Pretty amazing. Awesome clip here. And then an M390 blade. This thing is just super, super luxe, you know, assassin’s knife. I don’t know how else to put it; that’s really what it is. A super luxe John Wick-style knife. And then of course, yes, you can wave it open using this right out the pocket. So, yeah. Everything you wanted and more out of a small self-defense fixed blade knife.

Next, one that I did not see coming, but really, really love and have carried this a lot. This is the new Buck Range series from 2025. This is the Range Elite. This has a MagnaCut blade and an aluminum handle with a crossbar lock here and an ambidextrous deep carry pocket clip. This thing is awesome. It’s got a really nice thin blade, very well heat-treated. This is a Paul Bos heat treat and that’s, again like I said, MagnaCut. Great blade shape, just a really, really nicely—what do you call it—executed effort from Buck Knives. Just a really great knife. This one makes me very excited for the Buck 110 and 112 that they’re coming out with that use all the same old materials but is this thin, because this is so sturdy, this is so ready to go. I love this thing. Bos MagnaCut. Got a bit of markings in the anodized aluminum handles, but it’s to be expected. I carry this one quite a bit, I keep this on my dresser; it gets thrown in my pocket a lot more than many other knives that you hear me talk about here. This is the Buck Knives Range Elite, this one in MagnaCut. Now, they sent me one in FRN that I gave to my wife and she loves it. It’s tiny, and she lost it, so now I have to get another one. But yeah, that new Range series is awesome. Check them out.

All right, next up, this one from North Mountain Blades. This is the BBMN. This is a Duane Dwyer design. Duane Dwyer, one half of Strider Knives. That’s why this looks so damn familiar—from that sharpening choil to the shape of the tanto to the handle. This thing really is Duane Dwyer all the way, and I love this knife. So I have one Strider—I’ve had two in my life, I only have one left—and I’ve always liked the idea of Strider better than I’ve actually liked Strider knives in carrying them. But when this came out, I had to get it. And I’m so glad I did. I love it. It’s got a lot of the things about Strider knives and Duane Dwyer custom knives that I like, minus the price tag, and then also adding some of the perfection that going through a manufacturer can sometimes bring. I just really love this thing. No bearings in this knife—this is all on washers, bronze washers. You can see them right there, and it just works so great. I love this and the way it feels—that glassy, yeah, glass-on-glass feeling. It opens and closes beautifully. Love this knife.

Okay, next up, this one is Jeff Blauvelt design. This is the Kansept Deadite. This is another one that has gotten so much carry and use in the past, I don’t know, three months or so. So, last quarter of the year of 2025, carried this thing all the time. This was sent to me by Kansept; they asked if I wanted to check out any of their knives. I jumped on that opportunity because I absolutely love what they do, and they just so happened to have this on offer. And I love Jeff Blauvelt of TuffKnives and TuffThumbs; I love his work. But, you know, there’s no chance I’m getting one of his customs, so this was the closest I would get. And I love this knife, man. I’ve used this knife so much. Very thin, slicey blade with a great point, really awesome action with the thumb stud and with the flipper tab there. This one in a colorway I wouldn’t have chosen myself, but I really love with the black bolsters, the black blade, and then this carbon fiber. Really excellent, excellent blade. I’ve been loving this one and I highly recommend it. This is the Kansept Deadite by Jeff Blauvelt and Kansept Knives.

Next one, probably my overall favorite of this past year. This is the Aurelia by Manganas Steel. Sharif Manganas, the designer of this knife, and this made by Reate and sold under his shingle has been the most amazing knife of the year, I guess I have to say. I’ve been loving this. So, fully contoured titanium handle, super comfortable in hand. You’ve got a MagnaCut blade, a clip point blade, nice and thin with a full row of jimping that is perfect, perfect engagement on the jimping. Nice and thin behind the edge on this clip point blade. A low-slung point, about centerline on a nice straight on that edge. Thumb studs only unless you want to use the front to front flip it. Super contoured smooth handle, and then a sort of Terzuola-esque clip here. Beautifully done. Probably, yeah, my favorite knife of the year and one of my favorites altogether. This is one I put with my Chris Reeve Knives Sebenza, I put it right next to my Hinderer and, like, this is very top-shelf for me. I love this thing. This is the Manganas Aurelia and if you’re watching this episode as it drops, I do know that a whole other run of these is about to drop. So check out Sharif Manganas and Manganas Steel. You will be glad you did.

All right, this penultimate knife in this list is a sentimental-style knife. This is the Buck 112, but this is one from 1970 to 1984. And this is from my friend Mike, who lives around the corner from me, and this was his father’s. And his father was kind of a bit of a tough guy back in the day, in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and carried knives and, you know, was kind of a tough dude. And when he passed away, he left some stuff to my friend Mike, and Mike got some knives from his dad and he gave me this one. And I was very moved that he would give me one of his dad’s knives. And I just love hearing about his father, who was, you know, like I keep saying, a tough guy. The kind of people my uncle hung out with back in the day in the 70s and 80s walking around with—anyway, this did that sort of duty. And I love it. So, it was quite dull when I got it; I brought it back to shaving sharp. It’s wickedly sharp. Again, that’s 420 steel, I think; back at this time it was 420. It may have been 440 actually; I’ve got to do that research. But the squared-off handle, squared-off bolsters, squared-off wooden covers and all of that. No nail nick—that’s another way you know that this was from that era, from 1970 to 1984 or so. And so I got this one several months ago and it has been a prize possession ever since. So, thank you, Mike.

And then last up in this list... there we go. The Cold Steel Mayhem. Now this was one I said for a long time I wasn't going to get. I thought it looked rather comic-bookish, rather comedic in its tactical audacity. But I ended up getting it because it was recommended by so many of you whom I trust, and I got it and man, thank you. Thank you for insisting because I love this thing. I love it not only for its fidgetiness but for its giant profile, that beautiful clip point blade, an awesome point. And then of course, I had to get it with the Snaggletooth Tactical MF on it. Snaggletooth makes a pocket catch specifically for this blade, and it’s not complete without it, I believe. So definitely get it if that’s in your budget. But this one has gray and black layered G10. It does have steel liners and the Atlas lock, which is very similar to some other locks like the Shark-Lock, except it’s got another pin basically. And then this one has AUS 10 blade steel, though every once in a while they’ll re-release this knife with an S35VN. But this one has the AUS 10. Definitely one of my absolute favorite knives of 2025. This one played the role of ESK many, many times during the year, and so had to be a part of this list here.

All right, a quick one guys. Thanks for joining me for my favorite knives of 2025, folder edition. Last week I did the fixed blade edition; you should check that one out too. Be sure to join us again here next week where I will have some new knives and more interesting stuff to go over. All right, for Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I’m Bob DeMarco saying until next week, don't take "dull" for an answer.

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