The Knife Junkie Podcast #307 Automated Transcript

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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 de Marco.
Bob “The Knife Junkie” DeMarco
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast.
The place for blade lovers to learn about knives and knife collecting, and to hear from the makers, manufacturers and reviewers that make the knife world go round.
I'm Bob DeMarco and coming up, we're going to take a look at an oldie but goodie antique hearth knife from my collection, charity and knives.
And then we're going to get to a major grail that has come my way and some more new things that have come through.

00:46
I've had an influx.
After a bit of a a little leg, I've had an influx influx of new stuff coming in and I want to show it off.
This will all have these will all have their own broken out videos in the future, but it's kind of an exciting array of things and one of those I am so thrilled to show off.
On this very same podcast, because it is an ultimate kind of lifetime grail of both mine and my brothers and he would so generously got it for me.
But first you know what we do here.
First a pocket check.
Let's find out what I was carrying and then let's let you tell me what you were carrying.

01:27
Today we have some people here who carry six or seven knives at once.
It's astounding.
I mean, I always thought that I was, you know, a junkie.
But six or seven.
I say I should buy them.
Knife junkie.
Suspenders OK. First up in my pocket.

01:44
Today was the coobie.
Yeah, that's right, the kubi flash.
Kind of an odd name to for a. Black knife, but you know this comes in a variety of color ways, et cetera.
I opted for the black and the blacked out hardware and the blacked out blade minus that flat.
I think that's kind of sharp, sort of a sharp look, sort of tuxedo ooid, but a little more subtle than straight up black and and white cerakote.
I really like this knife.
I'm quite impressed by how smooth it is, how amazing the action is.

02:20
It's very sharp D2 steel and and.
Or the paces I've put it through.
So far it's been totally fine.
I take it on good word from my trusted sources and voices out there in YouTube.
Knife land cubes are are are some of the ones to beat and so far that has been my experience too.
I'm very impressed with this $40 knife and not for nothing.
It's a looker, feels great in hand too.

02:47
Almost a four inch blade.
I like larger blades and it's kind of funny how when new knife companies come out at least.
Some of these uh Chinese knife companies.
They're always making four inch blades.
First they make large folders and then gradually they start to pair them down.
I wonder why that is.
I wonder if they think, oh, the American market must want huge knives because Texas, but but then they realize, well, a lot of people like to carry things that are a little more, well, small and manageable, and.

03:18
And Cube has definitely I. I feel like they've kind of gone that route and they've maintained the cool large stuff that I like as well as make really interesting and very well made smaller knives.
Speaking of very interesting and Mel, well made smaller knives in my left pocket.
Today was the modern clad the instant classic.
If you want to call it that.
The Rockwall by tactile knives.
Now they've come out with this knife in Flipper format, as you see here.
They've come out with it in a thumb stud format, which looks really, really tempting, and now they're serving them up with Magna cut, which of course is is the outstanding amazing kind of Uber steel derived.

04:06
I mean not not derived, but created by larrin Thomas of Knife steel nerds and of larrin Thomas Steels.
I mean my God.
He has revolutionized blade steel.
You you gotta love that I got to get my hands on one I've I've been taking a look at that Hogue Deca, which I've haven't gotten yet.
You know, three years after it's released, I've always been interested in it, but now that it's you can get it in some really swirly nice shred carbon fiber with Magna cut.
Well, now I'm tempted, so I'm going to.
I'm going to have to check that one out all right.

04:42
And then lastly, on my person today though not used.
Thankfully, was the.
Spyderco Ronin an excellent, excellent knife.
It's it's kind of interesting though, and Michael Janich, the designer of this knife and also a a muckety muck it Spider Co told me about the sheath of this and.
Well, let's get to the let's get to the knife first.
The knife itself is BD one it's, uh, CTS BD 1 N Steel Hollow ground, very thin and sharp and and just kind of nasty, just a nasty little self defense knife.
It is in between the Yojimbo 2 and the Yojimbo in terms of in.

05:26
In terms of blade size, but it's shorter overall than the Yojimbo due to its handle.
Look at how thin that handle is, it's just two very thin.
Slabs of G10 peel ply G10 on the sides of this knife so very thin.
Very easy to carry.
close to the body as I like to however you look at the sheath and it's this giant pancake sheath and the knife fits very well in it.
But the footprint of it is very large and I keep promising myself I'm going to take it out to the grinder and get rid of this quarter inch all the way around these grommets and bring it down, but I'll just I should just at this rate make my own that's more customized to.
Might carry preference now.

06:10
Due to mass producing these kind of boltaron or or or kydex or you know the thermal molded plastic sheaths with the vacuums in them and such I guess it Spyderco they they they need to kind of make them a little bit larger so this is kind of this is maxing out my my in the waistband carry.
Luckily today I had I had on a pair of.
What are these Duluth trading company with with some expansion in the way so I could wear this rather large sheath?
I've just been lazy, haven't gotten around to make a new sheath for this, but I I think this is an awesome awesome knife and it's a very well priced knife.
It's pretty inexpensive, and if you can wear fixed blades and if you like to wear fixed blades and you do a lot of utility stuff, this would be a nice light utility knife because of that nice tip and that super fine.
Edge and hologram.
So that's what I was carrying today.

07:07
I had the cube flash.
I had the Rockwall by tactile knives and I had the Spider Co Ronan designed by our good friend Michael Janich.
What an interesting and cool guy.
That guy is.
Tell me what that's one of the favorite interviews I've done.
Let me know what some of the favorite interviews you've heard on the show, who we've spoken with that you've thought was most interesting.
People are going crazy over Dan Keffler this week.

07:35
It was a very interesting.
Interview and I'm excited.
People are excited about Dan Kuffler called the listener line 724-466-4487. And yeah, it's #307 for show notes to this show.
You can always check that out too.
Another thing you can do is check us out on Patreon.
Now Patreon is a special way you can help support the show, but at one level of support the gentleman junkie level of support that's $10 a month you get entered every month into a knife readopting a knife adoption look right here.
This is what it is this month for the giveaway.

08:16
It is the harns.
Falcon.
This is a blindingly good looking knife in my opinion.
It actually kind of looks like a Falcon and this is sort of milling right here around the pivot collar.
Sort of belies its inspiration, you know, kind of looks like feathers and such.
And that whole front of that of the blade reminds me a little bit with especially with this non opening opening hole.
I mean you can't.

08:44
You can't really use that to open it, but it is a it is a flourish and it lightens the blade a little bit and awesome CAT110 blade very thinly ground.
And that wicked tip.
This is both an excellent utility knife in its.
In where the tip is kind of center line but also with a little bit of belly for good utility cuts and such, but would also make an outstanding, well great EDC knife yes, but also an outstanding, you know, kind of kind of feels really good in the hand.
Has a great traction pattern, has a thin blade.
Nice point.
Who knows who knows what?

09:23
What you might use it for.
I think it's a great all around her.
I love this storm cloud blue.
Is that what I'm calling it no thunderhead, blue G10.
It's that gorgeous Gray blue color.
I love it.
I'm seeing it on a lot of knives and I just love that color.

09:38
It also has the same G10 as a backspacer sort of gear pattern.
Jimping, it's a. It's actually a pretty aggressive there, less aggressive even than on the blade, but the jumping on the blade is just how I like it.
Like aggressive enough, you know, you know how that is.
It's it reaches the magic mean.
Now if you ever have to flip this.
Knife over and use it in this grip.
This reverse grip.

10:04
You have an excellent platform for your thumb hair.
It's perfect, perfect.
That's what I like.
I like to see a little angle there for your thumb to curl over and you really get a tight purchase on that and you could slam this into you know that 55 gallon oil drum filled with Uzis and not slipped down on that blade because of that nice thumb engagement.
There.
You've got a proprietary pivot.
Really nice knife.

10:30
Incredible action and this could be all yours.
If you become a gentleman junkie at, you know on Patreon on the knife Junkie Patreon page.
Quickest way to go there is to go to the knife junkie.com/patreon and give that a try.
Just go to the knife junkie.com/patreon.
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast.
And now.
Here's the knife junkie with the knife life news.

10:58
Next up, we're going to talk about a man that we can all relate to.
I know we can all relate to this.
OK, so I saw this on knife news where I get a lot of my knife news.
You gotta go over there and check them out if you haven't already.
I know you have the man who holds the record for the largest knife collection in the world.
Yeah, and Guinness certified.
It is planning on doing a giant charity auction just one year after his after his world's record.

11:29
Was certified, his name is Luis Bernardo Mercardo Mercado and he made history with an enormous personal knife collection.
21175 knives.
Now that almost I. I'm going to be totally honest here and and and and I'm gonna say when I read that number 2175, probably like you.
You were a little disappointed or maybe surprised.
I was like I was expecting someone who had the world's record for a knife collection was more than that because if I keep this up at my current rate and live to, you know a ripe old age.
I might just have more now.
I don't think so, because I will do some giveaways and some sales before then, but I I love this story.

12:18
This guy's gonna take a majority of his knives, he says.
And you can imagine a majority of his knives.
Getting rid of them will leave him with plenty.
And he's gonna sell them alongside fine art field tools and other collectibles at the Calaveras County Art and Knife charity estate sale, at which sounds like a place I want to go to not only for the knives.
I love old tools, and that would be sounds like a ball.
I mean, so this guy is selling everything from bench mates.
Buck Medford's, custom knives, microtex marfione, soggs rat work, Gerber everything from just like many of our collections, some real high end, some real low end, some custom.

12:59
Even and when asked and pressed, what is he gonna keep he he's gonna keep that 110 folder that he's always loved.
A couple of hawk knives and then Andre Thorburn and then several other hundred.
So there you go.
Check it out if you're in Calaveras County October 15th 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific that's in in a few months, so you can save up.
So check that out.
I love that knives going to charity.
And I also love this.

13:30
Wait, I'm sorry one more thing.
There's a quote from here that will ring true to all of you, he says.
I have not yet settled on which exact knives to keep, though I know for sure a few custom OTFT will be in the 100. He's keeping 100 and then he says every knife is special to me so it will be hard to let any of them go.
And I know how he feels.
I mean, it's kind of like Sophie's choice.
Just kidding, just kidding, but there you go.
I I can understand the the whole quandary with letting knives go out of a collection.

14:08
Once you've let yourself go to get to the point where you have this massive sprawling collection, then you have to figure out what you're gonna let go.
And you know, that can be very, very hard.
Speaking of charity, Bob Kurzawa has created a beautiful version.
One off of his style tactical knife with the four inch blade and a hollow ground slightly recurved clip point with a giant swedge and he is going to be a lottering this off to help Ukrainian refugees.
It is a beautiful knife.
You see, it's got a carbon fiber show side sort of contoured and then it's got a blasted titanium lockside, but the real sort of.
Collectible part of it is that Backspacer a split yellow and blue backspacer out of G10.

14:57
To signify the Ukrainian flag.
So no doubt a masterpiece in a very, very usable a tactical slash utility folder, but no doubt the person who gets this will be locking it away because it's a one off and it is a very special special knife.
You can go to the Kurzawa website and that's on April.
Let's see when is that going to be?
Oh well, I guess we're late so you can't.
You cannot join us now that is over.
But this is something that has has just happened and we have not gotten the final price on what they earned to give to Ukraine.

15:38
I do apologize I had this.
I had this when it was pertinent and it got pushed and then I really wanted to showcase it.
So there you go.
You have the knife community all over the place selling knives, making knives to benefit people.
Whether it's through a local auction or whether it's through this very important Lotto, tickets were 25 bucks.
You know, tickets to enter this lottery were 25 bucks, so I hope they made a mint.
I'm sure they did to help the Ukrainian refugees.

16:09
OK, still to come on the Knife Chunky podcast, we're going to get to the state of the collection where I have an oldie but goodie.
I want to show off that I can't believe I have never shown.
And then we're gonna talk about 8 new implements.
I've gotten 7 new implements I've gotten through here recently that bear mentioning are very interesting.
We'll have their own breakout videos and a couple of these.
Here are.
I've been waiting for them for so long that I just have to show them right now all coming up on the Nice Chunky podcast.

16:40
And now that we're caught up with knife life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
OK, oldie but goodie.
I love the oldie but goodies sometimes I forget I look around this room and you can see some of the things on the wall behind me.
If you're watching right now.
But there are things on other walls as well.
Not not so much like the wall of fame here, but quite a few other things.
And then one is something that I forget that I have and I kind of just I lose it in my I'm blind to it and it's something Vic my brother got me a while ago.

17:16
I I told him.
If you're ever in your in your wanderings, you come across an old Bowie knife.
You know, let me let me know and he he found this here.
First of all, this is the sheath he made for it because it didn't have a sheath but a thing of beauty.
My brother is very talented.
Anything he touches, he he's like a master.
He masters it and he's one of those guys.

17:37
And this was one of his very early leather projects and glad he made it.
This allows me to put it on my belt and a sideways can't which I prefer.
But this is a big I'm calling it.
It's not quite a Bowie knife, it is in a clip shaped blade here.
It's kind of long, so I'm going to.
I'm going to.
It's about a 16 inch 17 inch blade.

18:00
I'm going to put the tip off the edge and show the handle for a second.
This he found out in Amish country at an old like gun and a curio shop out in Ohio.
And what I and I'm calling it a hearth knife because it reminds me of the German Messer knives from sort of the Renaissance and and and well I guess yeah the Renaissance and after that in Europe when people you know swords are expensive and not only noblemen in a lot of cases had swords.
That people still needed blades and they made these immense messers the German word for knife.
They called them messers but they were, you know, a like short swords with big handles and capable of handling many, many chores around the house in hearth and then also could be used as a defensive weapon.
And I'm not sure if that's what this was.
That's what I'm kind of calling it though, because it looks like a giant doesn't look so much like a weapon to me.

19:00
It just looks like a giant utility knife that would be used for.
Uh, you know very much as a machete.
It's nice and thin.
This was made from a saw blade like one of those two men saw blades where where there's a post on either side and a long saw in the middle.
That's very flexible and that that has big gnarly teeth and they go back and forth and saw through giant logs.
That's what this was made out of.
If you believe the guy who sold it to my brother and I have no reason not to.

19:32
But made at home by someone named.
I forgot the name here.
Jerry Anderson, that's right, look at this.
Jerry Anderson right there on the inscripta.
Beautiful script.
Etched into this ricasso here.
If you can call it a ricasso and I don't and I don't mean that a snotty way.

19:56
It's just a you know this this is so thin that really all it took was kind of a convex thing of the edge at about a third of the way towards the edge so it's not a big you don't see much of a ricasso here at all actually or or a flat there.
Beautiful brass guard very large.
You can imagine if your hands get sweaty.
You're doing a lot of work or they get dusty and you've got leather gloves.
One might slip around a bit.
You definitely don't want to come up onto this very sharp blade.
By the way, this is quite sharp.

20:31
And the handle itself is pretty cool.
It's a 2 scales sandwiching the full width of that blade.
You can see how much of it was kind of thinned out here.
Look at how thick it is here.
It's a quarter inch thick here and over here it's nice and thin so that was deliberate.
But I love this sort of an inset double arrow.
It's kind of mysterious.

20:53
I don't know what it means over here.
You just have the.
The backside of the nuts there, but what is that?
What does that mean?
Those that double arrow?
They went to a pretty decent effort to.
You route out that shape.

21:12
That double arrow shape and then make a piece to fit in there.
I wonder what it means?
Is it a brand?
Is that someone's brand for their farm or something?
I don't know.
That's what I love about these old knives.
The old knives on the wall behind me.

21:26
This old knife.
The one I'm gonna show you in a few minutes.
That's what I love about them.
You don't know what the story is behind them and you can.
You can do your research and then you can extrapolate and then you can just imagine and that's.
That's kind of the bittersweet beauty of it is that you never will find out the answer.
I'm sure there are rare exceptions with knives that have numbers on them, or maybe you know real real special.

21:52
One of a kind type things, but for these kind of average person knives and swords and that kind of thing, you're never going to know.
And that mystery is part of the thrill.
I think of the collecting, so an oldie but a goodie.
I'm going to hold it up here for those watching, so you can see the kind of the scale of it.
Big.
Big, very flexible.
I mean I can bend it right here, so meant for machete work, meant for probably huing.

22:22
Not hewing, but cutting down grasses and and wheat, and that kind of stuff I don't know.
So there it is beautiful sheath.
Putting this down here, and I'm going to refresh the show every once in a while, with some more oldies but goodies because I have them and they deserve to be taken out.
And also when I do that, I remember things and I I'd like to do that all right.
So now let me show you some of the knives I have.
Some of the new things I have in right now for.
Review or just for my collection that I'm extremely excited about and the first thing is a Gerber knife.

23:02
Now I am not.
I'm not saying I'm extremely excited about this Gerber knife.
What I am saying is Gerber Gerber sent this to me to check out and get me excited and so I am going to give this a a A. You know a nice testing and I'm going to carry this for a while and see how I like it and be really really.
You know I'm going to really do my job with this one so to speak because it's fighting an uphill battle because it's a Gerber.
It's the Gerber affinity in copper now Gerber saw excuse me Gerber saw my review of the.
Uh.
Of their new one that I really like in red and inexpensive knife.

23:46
I'm sorry it'll come to me in a minute.
I got it for 20 bucks and I think it's incredible for what it is now.
It's current execution is very cheap, but it's only $20.00 but it still has great action, great blade shape, great ergonomics and great potential to be a a knife that could pull Gerber out of its slump and really thrust it to the forefront.
Kind of like, uh, and to me it it would be it.
It's competitors would be something like the bug out thin light, great blade shape and all that well.
They saw that review.
They liked it and so they said, hey, could we send you this?

24:23
And I said sure, send it and it's copper which I like, and so this is the copper Gerber Infinity.
They also have one in aluminum straight off the bat.
I was like oh that that blade looks funny.
It's a little skinny for the handle, but it does give you a very slender profile when it's when it's folded up.
And it is a hollow ground blade of what does?
This is D2 I believe, and.
Odd two, that's a good improvement for Gerber for sure.

25:01
In terms of blade Steel definitely I mean the the other Gerber that I was just talking about was a was was like a three CR or something or no.
It was a 7 CR and so somewhat capable.
But really you know Amon Lowe with D2 your way in a better spot and so immediately the looks of this I got to say I do like because that D2 sort of demands a coding.
So you got that nice black coating.
And then this.
Copper is really nice.
I I I have never had a copper knife.

25:36
I've always wanted one, but the the weight or what?
I perceived the weight to be always kind of turned me off, but having this in hand and this is a steel lock steel frame lock here with copper and of course the steel blade.
It's not that heavy and this this knife here comes in with a three and a half.
.123 yeah it's a 3. In a little bit more than 3 1/2 inch blade.
And like I said, it's not really that heavy aesthetically.
Like I said, my initial thought was that blades too skinny, but then the hollow ground won me over so that I don't really see anymore.
I I see a sleek knife.

26:19
I do like the copper.
I like the attempt at interest here with the D shaped pivot on this side with their with their Gerber logo there.
This side is also interesting.
Reminds me a little bit of how they did the lock bar over travel.
On the.
They're cleverly one ohh man, all of these Gerber names are are are escaping me now.
You know which one I'm talking about.

26:45
Though it was their breakout hit a couple of years ago that looks like a cleaver.
They did that same thing.
They put the plate over the lock bar so that you can't overextend it and then they put some designs on it as a flourish immediately.
Something here strikes me that I don't like design wise and I'll I'll point this out here now again, as I mentioned, these are all going to get full reviews, but these are sort of.
Initial takes on a few of these knives and and one thing I see here that I don't like is the way this clip or or the way this piece of copper.
Is not parallel to this chamfer line.
It starts closer here and it widens out a little bit here and it's fine.

27:32
Obviously it doesn't affect anything but it doesn't seem deliberate now.
Looking at it it is deliberate because there is an inset.
There is a a milled out portion for that to rest in, so I mean they did mean it, but something about that sticks in my craw ever so ever so slightly.
But that's only an aesthetic thing.
That's a taste issue.
And I'm not even saying good taste versus bad taste.
I'm just saying my taste does not like that.

27:57
I my eye wants to see it parallel.
Really nice in reverse grip if you're if you need it like that and also reverse reverse grip if you need that, but this isn't that kind of knife.
It is solid enough to be that kind of knife though, but if you were to use this in any sort of tactical situation which they don't intend this for, this is a gentlemen's folder for them.
It's like a larger gentlemen's folder for them, actually.
If you read the affinity right up on the website they they go into some, you know, some.
They write a little literature, you know it's.
They get a little flowerly flowery with the language which I appreciate, but.

28:40
Yeah, a gentlemen's folder, but if you were to to use this for self defense or or out in in the rain in the woods at this handle would be slippery.
I it might even be a nightmare, I don't know.
Very nice pocket clip.
I do like that that pocket clip it works very well.
I thought it would be badly positioned near that scoop out, but it isn't.
You have the the barrel spacers very nice and then lastly the big one of the big USP's of this knife is the pocket clip.
Whoa, I'm off camera sorry that pocket clip.

29:14
Right here it has a a torques.
Bit there I mean a torque screw there and you can slide this and tighten it down and move that clip back and forth down that slot to accommodate your own hands and your taste and in ergonomics.
And I think that that is very.
Consider it.
But I gotta say, and I'm, I know I will say this.
This will be a sticking point in my review is if you're concerned about ergonomics enough to create a system where you can loosen the thumb stud and slide it up and down a slot, well then.
Make sure that your lock bar where you put your thumb to disengage that lock bar isn't thin like a razor and painful to disengage.

30:03
And you know sometimes I I bristle at talking about discomfort on a knife because I'm like I'm a knife guy.
I should be tough, but no, no no this this you want this knife to break in and be super smooth and fidgety like the other Gerber I just had whose name I can't.
Oh the zilch, the zilch go back and every time I said I couldn't remember just fill it in with zilch.
Great knife has awesome action that took very little time to develop this one I feel could but could get that action and we'll get that action, but it's not a pleasure to disengage that lock bar as a matter of fact, it's kind of a buzzkill.
You end up using your your thumbnail and not realizing it or trying to do and not press your your even calloused thumb flesh against.
They like thin it out and make it even thinner right at the edge.
I don't quite understand that bit of design and and I'm I'm pretty sure.

31:02
I mean like look, you have a very short lock bar here.
Here's the relief cut.
OK, I said this wasn't gonna be a full review and it's not, but there's the relief cut.
It's halfway down the scale.
That means the tension on this lock bar feels higher and and then you make it sharp on that lock bar.
And it's a little painful, but I I will soldier on.
I do like this knife I I want to like this knife I'm rooting for this knife and I think I think that it's going to be.

31:34
I think it's gonna be good I I just think it's gonna take a little bit of breaking in.
And like I've been patient with other more expensive knives like Emersons which require you know a. A nearly.
Well, a a disheartening break in period where you're like, my God, what did I do and then suddenly it blossoms into this wonderful, you know, out of its adolescence into a wonderful full fledged knife.
It could happen with this Gerber and I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure that I know whether it can and I think it will.
I can.
I think I can already tell it's just that disengaging that lock is pain right now.
But I don't get tough to it.

32:15
All right.
Next up is the Bronte.
Now I did.
I have done a full review on this Bronte now that is a send cut knife.
My very first send cut knife.
What is who is send cut you ask?
No, you don't.

32:30
You're you're all the ones who told me I was like send good.
Who's this new send cut and someone let me know.
Yeah it's servives downstream or or you know high value brand and it is very high value.
This was a $45.00 knife.
I bought it on looks alone.
I think it is a beautiful, beautiful blade and.
I love the neutral handle altogether.

32:57
The overall profile of this knife, I think is really, really nice, really appealing and it's very thin.
Very sharp.
That point is awesome.
Scares me a little bit, but I think maybe I've outgrown the dropping knives on the tip thing.
Maybe I'm out of that Phase I don't even want to say that.
Because you know, you know how luck works, but really, really nice the the action on this is not what I was expecting.
I was expecting fall shuts of Evie action this is not.

33:28
This is definitely.
You know I need to use my fingers to close it.
This is on bearings.
I took this apart, I oiled it.
You know, cleaned it.
It didn't need much cleaning.
I thought maybe there was some gunk in there or something.

33:43
It wasn't clean as a whistle, but.
Just not not fall shut smooth and you know what?
I don't need fall short smooth, but I always thought that on bearings you would.
You would always get that and without.
Without tightening both sides of that pivot to get.
To get just the right tension for flipping it out and to get no blade play.
I just couldn't quite adjust it and have it come back in so that it it falls like say this right here this harns see that just drops right in on bearings takes.

34:22
You know this one not so much but.
I still really much like this knife.
I can even front flip it using my.
My forefinger, which makes me feel like I'm part of.
Part of the club I used to say Ohh I can't front flip and then I realized, hey Bob, you're rejecting new technology.
This makes you sound like an old fart.
And so you know really, it's not that hard.

34:46
It's that the engineers didn't have it right until now.
That's what it is.
It's the engineer's fault.
This send cut to me is sort of reminiscent of the that big Chinese two handed Chinese war sword with the ring.
It's it, it looks like a lot of different things.
It reminds me a little bit of a straight razor, a lot of a worn Cliff with a belly, just a wonderful knife, and I've I've really grown to like it.
I'm carrying it, not grown.

35:14
I liked it since the moment I got it and and the action doesn't bother me.
So been carrying this with me every day.
Kind of in a tertiary secondary or tertiary role and getting that my card a nice and funky all right.
Next up is from a company called Station 9. Station 9 is a company that is.
Developed to came into being to reproduce weapons that the resistance, the French resistance and other European resistance outfits against the Nazis in World War Two used everything from well in.
In the case of Station 9, everything from big knives or they have a big knife based on the sort of butcher knife that people repurposed into tactical knives.
In World War Two, it's a really nice looking thing.

36:14
I think that's their number one and they also have a couple of small sneaky knives and I'm going to show you one of those right now.
This is a classic that I've seen many, many times in in different books, especially that weapons book I talked about last week.
This is the station 9 #4 OSS lapel dagger.
They just called the lapel dagger, but I know it was developed for the OSS.
The Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA and lapel dagger.
Of course they didn't use kydex sheath.
They had a little leather sheath but this thing was sewn under the lapel of a sports jacket or or of a overcoat.

36:58
And in a pinch, in a real pinch you'd remove it and you have a super sharp double edged blade there.
And you know, maybe you need to stick it in someone's carotid to make a quick getaway, you know, jump on their motorcycle and.
You know, jump a fence back into your territory.
Whatever it is, uh, this is a last ditch obviously last last last ditch, but also super low profile weapon.
To have on you, let's see if I can get this to.
There you go, Station 9 reminds me a little bit of that we that came out not too long ago.
That little double edged we.

37:36
I think they were kind of probably thinking of something similar.
Now, according to the station 9 folks, there's some pretty cool looking dudes, some ******** guys.
They show off how to use this thing.
I'm gonna I'll show it over here.
They have a bunch of different holds to it, but basically they they do a cord like this where it's tied off in a couple of knots there and you can carry it.
In your maybe not purple.
Maybe you'd want black or something so it doesn't attract attention, but you can kind of carry it around in your palm like this, and then you can flip it out like this and have it pinched between your thumb and finger.

38:17
It's just a very small surface here that you pinch the handle there, but it's really, aggressively gimped so you can you can.
You don't even need a cord and you can pretty much hold on to this and stab cardboard.
Cardboard of course is not a. Resisting man in a leather jacket.
But it is a an indication that you can hold on to it somewhat, but if you have that cord in your hand and you have it braced against your finger, you can really go to town with this thing and it's just a cool little great, very razor sharp.
Weapon little little tiny knife, but the I mean the weapon part of it is the historical part of it, but it makes an excellent drop in the pocket knife I've had it also riding in my pocket a lot and kind of forgetting it's there, like literally forgetting it's there, not just.
Oh it's so late you forget it's there.
And then at some point in the day, I pull something out.

39:13
I'm like, Oh yeah, that's right, I I have this sneaky little knife here.
Sneaky little dagger and there are a couple of different famous patterns of those little OSS lapel daggers, but that's the most famous, I think that double edged 1. I'm really psyched.
They made it.
Next up is.
Part of a growing obsession, this really got my got me going when I saw this station 9 makes these.
This is their number 3 the knuckle duster, and.
If you look here, it's cast aluminum.

39:50
With the finger holes and then it had does not have a palm brace.
A lot of a lot of.
Traditional knuckle dusters have a palm brace, something that extends down into the palm that you push against that that gives you backing and solidifies it in your hand.
Now I'm going to say right off just in testing the McNeese, a knuckle dusters, and then these knuckle dusters without the right fit and without gloves like I would only use these if I had a certain pair of gloves that I have on, you could really mess up your hands.
I think maybe maybe it's.
Maybe it's my lack of experience, or maybe it's the fact that I've been testing these out on a heavy bag and maybe in a dynamic situation punching a person is less bad, but I just feel like you know how we talk about the ring knives and how dangerous they could be for your fingers.
Well, this is kind of times four in a way, and I would also imagine if I were to get one of these made custom I would have it smaller.

40:57
These would definitely fit in big, much bigger hands than than mine, so maybe the fit also is a factor in why it hurts to use these.
Unless you have gloves on underneath them.
But in any case, if it's a devastating little arc here with the four holes, no palm brace and four nubbins that stick out just to menace.
I mean they talk about full force multipliers.
If you didn't have those, they'd be devastating.
Enough to get hit with, but you add those protrusions and men, it just complicates things exponentially.
The weight this is aluminum.

41:39
It's very light these I've had in a light jacket pocket in my right pocket for a couple of days.
I lost it actually, where's the damn?
And it was in my pocket.
I forgot about it because they're so light.
How does that affect the traditional role of the brass knuckle to, or the knuckle duster to accentuate, a punch?
It's not just with hardness, but also with weight.
Well, in this case, I don't think you get much of that weight factor.

42:07
You get hardness, and you get menace.
You get nastiness, and those little spiky protrusions, but you're not getting that real extra added mass that that might add to the wallop.
I don't know this is a developing theory.
You know, these kind of important topics need lots of thought and lots of you know, hypothesizing and such.
So right now, that's kind of how I feel.
So that means to to really work this out in a in a well in a responsible way.
I it means I have to get brass knuckles made of brass.

42:45
I got to get knuckle dusters made of brass and perhaps other materials just to see how they work out.
Now I know.
I have heard of people making them out of wood, exotic woods and such, and who knows.
So maybe I have to go go down this this rabbit hole.
What do you think?
Probably so.
Next up is a knife I've wanted ever since I saw it, and it's it seems to have just been restocked.

43:13
I think this company makes smallish batches.
Of their stuff, only ever had one of these once before a long time ago?
Got rid of it kind of wish I didn't.
But that was an old knife.
I don't think they make anymore anyway.
This one is the sandstorm OK?
By Maxis Maxis is a company that I guess until maybe a year ago we heard about and they made knives available from time to time.

43:42
But I have a feeling that unless you were kind of keyed into Max Ace as a real fan it was kind of catches catch can now I think they've gone wider.
Am I right about that?
Am I wrong?
Leave a comment.
Let me know what you know about maxace.
The Sandstorm K is the K110 and G10 version of their Maxis Sandstorm, which is a more fancy well.
First of all, it's a it's a large frame lock, a titanium frame lock folder like this and the blade has the same profile but it has a much more exotic treatment with a giant fuller and some interesting grinding and such, but this is really appealing to me.

44:22
You've got that double peaked or double humped Bowie shape.
That I like so much that was made initially made popular by the Macabee SOG Bowie.
This of course does not look so much like the Maccabee SOG Bowie, but it has that spirit in the spine.
And I do love that I'm going to do a show here soon featuring just knives that feature this double humped spine thing.
And why I like them so much.
This is a big knife.
Look at this.

44:50
This is no shrinking Violet.
We've got 1234 and.
Hmm 4.6 inch blade.
I mean they say 4 1/2 but.
Yeah, we'll call it 4 1/2 inches.
This is a big knife, it's even bigger.
It's bigger in blade than the.

45:11
Bastinelli Big Drago Tech and.
It sits proudly next to it now in my.
In my case I love this thing.
I have carried it a number of times.
It's probably too big for many people and it's too big for certain garments of mine.
Of course, I would never wear this in dress pants or anything like that.
It's OK in khaki pants.

45:33
It's it's definitely OK and like a stretchy tactical or work pants like the ones I'm wearing right now.
Jeans, it's a no go.
It's too much.
It's too too thick.
That's like a A. Six in a .65 thick.
Here it's heavy.
It's like a 7 ounce or seven and 1/2 ounce or here and in the front you know when when you wear a knife in the front pocket of your jeans and it's too big.

45:58
It kind of feels like it's right on top in front of your leg.
This is not so comfortable in the jeans, but everything else.
It's been great.
You've got this nice thumb ramp, really great ergonomics and a lot of room.
If you have big honking hands this would be a great night for you.
You've got two pretty subtle finger grooves here and then.
This giant area here, where you could just fill that in and then an extra ramp here for your freakishly large hands, your pinky can rest there.

46:30
You've got sort of a rock, not a rock pattern, sort of in a modified anzo pattern.
In the G10, nice.
Concentric circles.
Thingy here.
Pivot, I'm sorry, I pivot and OK. 110 blade very very fine at the edge.
Very broad blade and flat ground so this thing comes to nearly A0 edge.
I would imagine they ground that to a 0 edge and then put that that backed it up a little bit and put that final cutting edge on because it comes to such a fine behind the edge.

47:10
Dimension there.
Very comfortable here with the back thumb swedge or thumb ramp and then also comfortable up here.
They give you some other jimping right there.
Two different kinds of jumping, neither of them aggressive enough if you ask me which you haven't, but I knew you would so I just heard you off at the pass there I would.
I would make the the.
Both sets of Jimping are just a little bit more grabby.
It's like that it was cut and then and then tumbled and then polished, and it feels like it just sort of lost some of its some of its klunge, but it probably doesn't matter because of the ergonomics and the sharpness and the acuity of the point and all that stuff.

47:55
Here.
We've got one of those annoying kind of roto block things here, but it doesn't really bother me.
I don't feel it in either.
You know in either hand and it it has yet to automatically engage on me.
It's not supposed to, and it only would if I turned it by accident with my hand.
So all good there.
The pocket clip is leaves me slightly cold.

48:16
I'll be honest, at least it's subtle.
At least it's not leaving me cold because it's over branded and and gaudy and stupid, but they could have done.
I don't know.
I don't know.
It doesn't quite seem proportionate.
It seems like it needs to be a little wider, but just just aesthetically speaking.
Otherwise it works great in and out of pocket and keeping it where it needs to be in the pocket.

48:38
Action is outstanding access to the lock bar is awesome.
Disengagement of the lock bar is great.
Obviously no play, obviously on bearings and the weight of that giant blade, really.
Well, really gets that thing moving.
So I'm very psyched about this maxace.
I look forward to kind of daily carrying a nice big knife again.
I haven't carried something that large consistently for a while, so I'm sure I'll carry that consistently for a few weeks.

49:10
And then have to get the Goliath, the maxace Goliath, which I think is also very large.
I think the name is what tipped me off to the Goliath.
OK, Next up is something we've been waiting for.
A lot of us have been waiting for for over a year and it's so exciting that the time has finally come.
And that is the first Jack Wolf knives knife and it is here.
I'll show it to you first in this leather pouch.
Very nice, it ships with this leather pouch that's the logo.

49:44
Love that wolf logo.
Both my wife and I have the Jack Wolf Knives wolf just the wolf head on our cars because we both like it so much.
I for the knives and for Ben and for the logo.
My wife just because she likes the logo so there you go.
I can't argue against that.
Can't argue with that so this is the sharp shooter Jack man is it beautiful but I I'm sorry I'll reserve all comments.
You can make your own.

50:09
Management.
This is a gun stock Jack.
You can tell by the shape of the.
Handle there looks like a gun stock.
It's also a very ergonomic grip.
A lot of there are some very famous gun stock grip knives.
Here's the the 44 you can see that same shape by GEC makes for a very comfortable knife, but this one has that extra blade so you don't get to really benefit from the contours of that gun stock.

50:40
Here you Get full access to that gun stock grip and what.
And what Ben Belkin, the owner and proprietor of this country company who has worked so hard to make this happen, make this a reality.
He has redesigned put some of his own English on the on his knives because he is a high end slip joint collector and has distilled like many others, has distilled out all of what he thinks a knife should be into his designs.
He's got about 8 designs and I've I've had the pleasure of pawing some of the prototypes, but now I have the true pleasure and honor of owning one of these Jack Wolf Knives, which they're they're going wide.
At a number of distributors, a good number of distributors on the 15th of the month, 15th of April, Tax Day.
Do yourself a favor by yourself.
A Jack Wolf knife on tax day because you deserve it.

51:43
You deserve it.
OK, so let's take a quick look at this knife.
This has, well, we'll start at the at the handle area as I was mentioning.
He put his own special little ergonomics like the some of the slight curves on there to the profile of the handle, but the bolsters and the liners are integral pieces of titanium.
One piece of titanium here carved out the bolster and the liner.
And then that small area for the cover in the slip joint world we call scales covers.
So this cover was put down here in this little notch milled out of this liner.

52:25
So it's the bolsters and the liners are integral to one another.
A little different from integral in the in the folding locking knife world where it's milled out of one piece of titanium.
Unlike that this is a slip joint so it has the steel spring.
Coming up the back here beautifully, perfectly seamlessly mating up with the blade so nice.
The handle here before I move forward to the blade.
These covers are fat carbon and it's called blue, dark or dark matter blue, so it's sort of a shred carbon fiber.
They're marbled and they threw some of that beautiful blue in there.

53:07
And you know, I've been fetching for years about carbon fiber and how boring it is.
But the the the industry heard me, you know, and they caught up with interesting things and I love all of these, sort of swirly.
Interesting, marbled and shredded carbon fibers.
Much more than those basket weave carbon fibers.
Those just bore me.
They bore me.
But this is just gorgeous.

53:33
Blasted titanium, unlike most you can.
You can adjust the pivot there.
And then we move north to that.
Or I guess that's West.
We move West onto the blade and it's that beautiful clip point.
Traditional clip point shape.
Full height hollow grind, full height hollow grind.

53:55
Comes to a wicked thin behind the edge geometry.
I mean just crazy thin behind the edge.
That's M 390 people M 390 with a beautiful satin machine.
Satin finish on it and a nail neck where it belongs just on one side and that Jack Wolf Knives logo.
This is a great knife.
This is a great knife if you like slip joint knives and you want something I mean.
Ben has taken two years coming up with these things.

54:28
He has worked.
He has worked and he has tried and he has prototyped and he has dialed it in to a production masterpiece.
So that's my way of saying if you like these this style of knife, keep your eye on Jack Wolf knives.
They are launching on April 15th with the first model and that's this sharpshooter Jack.
But they got.
He has a number of other models up his sleeve and they're all cool.
They're all.

54:55
Beautiful, uh, this one comes in this fat carbon fiber and then three flavors of.
Canvas my car at a black natural and green plus.
I'd be remiss if I didn't show you this comes in a soft touch box.
Ohh yeah, that's nice, but look at this.
Comes in a loop in an aluminum tube with original artwork.
He contracted a very accomplished comic book artist to create characters wolf characters for each one of his knives.
This is the sharpshooter, so you see a sniper wolf here.

55:33
Pretty cool you unscrew this.
You get one of these.
Is this called a POG?
Someone someone younger than me tell me you get one of these in the top and I know people are psyched about this.
I think it's sort of a trading card kind of thing, or something that.
You tell me what that is, POG or something and it the knife itself comes wrapped up in this awesome branded microfiber orange cloth.
Blindingly orange cloth and then you get a sticker in there and just amazing packaging and Ben is very adamant that part a large large large part of the experience of collecting.

56:18
And also you know receiving and collecting knives.
Is the packaging and boy he got that downright?
I feel like he's done this whole thing, right?
Slow and steady wins the race my friend so really well done.
I'm looking forward to a breakout video of this one for sure and had a great time using it in the woods this past weekend.
All right, we've gotten to the GRAIL.
This thing I've wanted since I was a kid.

56:43
So did my brother ever since that weapons book, and ever since I discovered this thing and he finally got his hands on one and he said it was very very very hard parting with it.
But here it is.
It is the US 1918. Trench knife this thing is a very hard.
Knife to come by.
If you want an original.
If you want something from back in the day.
You're gonna search long and hard like my brother did, and he wanted one with the especially pointy spikes and held out and finally got one.

57:22
I'm going to show this with the sheath first.
It's a metal sheath that's spring, has two four points of spring tension.
These are sort of pressed into the into the path of the blade and they keep it in there.
Kind of like a bayonet sheath.
When you remove it, this is the knife.
This is.
It's breathtaking.

57:46
OK, let's talk about it.
It's a molded bronze handle cast bronze handle here and then you've got the signature pointy grommet there.
Whole nut holding the blade in.
It's a rat Tang blade, double edged and you look at this and you know exactly what it's for.
This is not a utility knife.
This is 100% a fighting knife.
The the the knuckle dusters have spikes on them.

58:15
Uh, the edge is double the weight of the handle is giving you that weight.
I was talking about with the aluminum knuckles.
Those aluminum knuckles can't come close to this.
You swing this around and you can feel the weight.
Carry your hand so this is just an absolutely devastating piece of kit.
Now historically it did not.
It did not stick around for too long how it went.

58:42
This was developed at the end of World War One.
Basically they they were working on it through World War One, but it was developed.
You know, mostly came out after World War One.
As you can see from the 1918 moniker on this.
It was in service between then and and into World War Two and then it was replaced by the M3 Trench knife and then later and then the Marine Corps got the K bar but that M3 trench knife replaced this.
What it was is a similar well not very similar at all.
Actually what the M3 trench knife is was a non knuckle duster version of this with a bayonet style blade.

59:24
So sharp for half of the top.
Edge and the full bottom edge.
It had a leather stacked handle with forward with a top forward facing quillion and a bottom regular straight and great for fighting but also utility.
This thing as you can tell is not a utility knife and they needed a something that could flex from weapon to tool weapon to tool weapon to tool and also something that didn't use up so much.
Metal this handle is solid bronze and the blade obviously is steel and there was a concern about about conserving the strategic metal resources for the country and this knife definitely soaked a lot of that up so was replaced pretty quickly and so there aren't so many of them out there like there
are K bars, M threes and and other military blades because they just didn't make as many of them.
So I'm very honored to have this.

01:00:25
Thank you Vic I I love you dearly my brother.
I mentioned him here all the time.
He's got me some of the greatest things in my collection and ever so grateful for them and I'm grateful to you for tuning in and watching this me gushing over these new products that I have.
Some new, some old, some I can't even call a product.
This is an artifact here in my head, but I appreciate your watching and listening and your support.
Please be sure to join us again tomorrow night on Thursday night.
Lives in come on and actually talk and meet me.

01:00:56
That would be great and then coming up on Sunday Episode 306. We will have a Ben Belkin of Jack Wolf Knives and and we will be talking to him about his creations and.
And the drop.
So that'll be awesome guys.
Thank you so much again, and I just want to say for Jim working his magic behind the Switcher, I'm Bob de Marco, saying until next time.
Don't take dull for an answer.

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