The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
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Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, the Armas knife and tool VSK one, a brand new luxury Pacal folder from DC Blades and amazing EDC fixed blade knives and how to wear them. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie podcast.

Announcer [00:00:18]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the knife junkie DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:31]:
Welcome back to the show. I had a couple of, favorite comments this week. First one from Joseph Vincent four six two nine, and this was on the Tim Kell interview. He says, Tim, you are the best, and I know you work so freaking hard to get your knives to us as fast as you can. I just got my agent double o one double edged. Stay strong. God bless. Well, this is the knife, and, thank you so much, Joseph Vincent for getting that knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:01]:
And I say that as the co designer on this knife. And, yes, Tim does work very hard to get those knives out to people. I know people get frustrated when you can't just order a knife and have it show up in three days, but, that that's the nature of a small custom knife business. But he does a pretty damn good job. So, thanks for that comment. And then another great one from, RNK mode eighteen seventy six. This was on the station knives station nine knives short. He said the last two knives are sweet.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:35]:
The number eight survival knife looks like what I'd imagine a Demko Armager six would be if it existed. LOL. Dude, you have a ridiculously huge awesome collection of knives. Well, I have that knife right here, and, this is the number eight sear. And I I do see a family resemblance, But, I think that the armature would have a slightly different swedge and a different blade shape. But I'm I'm with you. I hear you. And this one is very cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:06]:
If you can get your hands on one, I highly, highly recommend it. That's ten ninety five blade steel, by the way. So super tough, ready for action. Thank you one and all for your comments this week. It's greatly appreciated. Let me put this back in the sheath before I hurt someone, and that someone is me. That's it. Let's get to a pocket set.

Announcer [00:02:27]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:35]:
On me today, as was the entire weekend behind me, I had the Civivi Synergy four on me, that beautiful four inch tanto blade with that upsweep. Though the whole thing canted down still puts that point near center line, just slightly above. And, that is a gorgeous four inch blade. And, I love the concentric circles radiating off of the, pivot on this one. It has great grip. Now I had this in my pocket all weekend because I traveled to Baltimore for a girls volleyball tournament. I wasn't playing, but my daughter was. It, was a loud affair, man.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:18]:
Every single point, that is scored, gets a lot of screaming, and there were some hundred there were a hundred courts there, several hundred teams. It was it was loud and crazy. But I had this on me because, I had to look up Baltimore knife laws before I went down there. I used the, the app that knife rights puts out called Legal Blade and, checked out what I could carry. The only thing I could carry concealed was a folder, so I made sure it was a big, lovely, robust folder, but one that, if I had it taken away for whatever reason, it wouldn't break my heart. Though I do love this knife. I wasn't looking forward to anything like that. This is what I had on me.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:03]:
It's kinda like, when you travel the blade show and you bring something that you don't mind if TSA nicks. Well, you'd mind, but you know what I'm saying. Alright. Next up in my, back left pocket, I had awesome Jack Wolf knives after hour jack. I've been carrying this one all the time just like when the first version of the after hours jack came, came out. Mine is the all black version. I carried that thing religiously, even after I got my new Jack Wolf knife. I still carried that one all the time.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:38]:
This one I love, especially with that dark, dark matter red carbon fiber next to the dark blasted not blasted. Dark washed titanium bolster. This is just a great knife. S 90 v blade steel. There's a new one on its way to me, and it's from the new line. I haven't really checked out what it is. I kinda like the surprise at this point, but, had that on me. And I used that as a food prep knife today, which you wouldn't expect from the shape of the blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:13]:
My fixed blade knife today at 03:00 in the waistband was the beautiful and ever, ever loyal. That's the word I was looking for. Kramer custom voodoo. I haven't carried this one in quite some time. I have so many so many choices, and that's because I'm lucky and somewhat, irresponsible sometimes or I have been in the past. I've got a lotta knives. And this one was, one of the first I carried on a regular basis as an EDC blade. See, I interview these awesome makers like, like this.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:52]:
When I when I interviewed, for Kramer custom knives here, I got this and I carried it all of the time. And then I interviewed someone else and I got one of their knives, and I I carried that all the time. So Eric Kramer of Kramer custom knives has been making them for a long time. He's been working on folders of this same profile, and Manalhive, are they beautiful? But today, I figured I'd bust this out. The Voodoo, he calls a Persian, I call it a clip point or a Bowie. I had him double edge this, and it's nice and thin and just carries really excellently. I have put it appendix, in the past, but I do prefer this one, right over here at 03:00. So that's what I had on me.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:40]:
And then my emotional support knife today was one I've been carrying quite a bit for emotional support, the station nine number 12. This is called the undercover, a beautiful double edged Persian knife. Some might call it a Bacall. It kinda looks Bacall ish with with the, serrations on the back of the blade. You could do damage coming and going. And, I just like this one a lot. Now I have it set up for front scout carry, with this DCC, double pocket clip. Used more for, pistol holsters, I believe.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:21]:
But it rides nicely right up front, left of the belt, or right of the belt buckle. But I didn't have it on me today. This one goes nicely in the bag, and so I had it close at hand. What a beautiful little portrait we have there. This is what I had on me today. What did you have on you? Do drop it down in the comments below and let me know. I I like to get that sort of inspiration from your carry. Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:46]:
Well, let's do that, and we'll get on to knife life news in a second. But before we do, I want to urge you or suggest that that if you wanna help support this show, if you like this kinda content, knife content, you can go to Patreon. You can scan the QR code on your screen right here, or you can go to thenightjunkie.com/patreon and check out what we have to offer. I'll read that long complicated address again. That's the knifejunkie.com/patreon.

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Announcer [00:08:49]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast, and now here's the Knife Junkie with the knife life news.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:56]:
Launch cart works better and it's American, unlike Shopify. Alright. Next up, Life Knife news. Knife Life news. We have a couple from Ka Bar and a couple, couple from Boker. Let's get to them. First one is from Ka Bar. It's the Apex fixed blade, and this is a beauty, I gotta say.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:16]:
It's kind of an outdoor knife but I think it would flex easily into the tactical. You know I kind of always think that way. Look at this thing. It is it's a handsome knife. We've got an elongated d2 clip point blade. That's a four inch blade, 3.96, if you really care. And then it's got the GFN handles, with that sort of bracketed design. So, little more slender towards the ricasso and the pommel and then fattens out in the center.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:47]:
It looks a little angular, but just speaking from experience, angular knives sometimes feel great. Think of the Cyborg Jack, for instance, or the, double o, 55 from ZT. This one also comes in a GFN sheath with a good deal of, lashing options. And it is from collaborator Petr Yanda or Janda. I'm not sure how you pronounce that, j a n d a. Hopefully, I haven't totally butchered your name, Peter, but he is a frequent contributor to, KA BAR knife design since 02/2007. So a really fine looking knife. I gotta say, this one reminds me a little bit of Poltergeist Blade Works designs, just a little.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:37]:
But I find it, very fetching, and it it actually fits in with today's topic of conversation, great EDC fixed blades, because this one being at about four inches is ideal for that purpose. Alright. Next up, this one is from these two are from KA BAR as well. These are the Dust series. We have the Dust one and the Dust two. Some rugged outdoor fixed blade knives, also quite handsome, with the same setup with materials. First, the Dust One has a 6.125 or six and an eight inch if you speak English. Straight back d two, very tactical looking knife with a swedge.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:23]:
Almost a Quakken if you ask me, but it's got a perfectly straight back. It's not sweeping up at all. Very nice looking knife. I love the look of that long swedge. It will make for a great penetrator. And then this one has a, a finger guard dipping down right in front of that sharpening choil, so stopping the forefinger from sliding up on the blade. Nothing in terms of a guard on the top side, which allows for that Filipino grip, very easily. So you can have that thumb on the spine of the handle or spine of the blade without having to negotiate a guard.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:00]:
I like that very much. I also like the color of that, GFN handle. And then it's got a little bit of a noggin knocker there, that pointy sort of persuader on the back. All of these things together, the swedge, the guard, the, pointy pommel, make me believe that this, along with this, six and an eight inch length, is a bit more of a tactical knife here. But the second in the Dust series, the Dust two has a five and a quarter inch blade. No guard, no skull crusher, if you will, and a full flat grind without a swedge. So this one is more of an outdoors knife. This one is more of a general utility knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:44]:
And, as Ben Schwartz of knife news states, it does resemble slightly a puko, which we know as a Northern European, Nordic style utility outdoors knife. This one also has the GFN handle and the GFN sheath or glass reinforced nylon sheath. So I I'm liking the look of especially the dust one with that swedge guard and the pointy pommel. Though, for me, on a tactical knife, you don't want it too pointy back there because you might wanna use it in reverse grip, in which case you wanna put your thumb and cap the pommel there. If it's pointy, that's uncomfortable. But two from Ka Bar, that's the Apex, the Dust one, and the Dust two. Now on to Boker. These are all, recent releases or recent announced releases, coming from SHOT Show.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:40]:
Boker, every year, they put out a collection piece or a collection knife. I believe last year it was with, the the steel harvested from various tanks from World War two. Well, this one, the 2025 collection knife is from Thierry Savadin. Now I follow this guy on, Instagram, but I've never this is the designer's name. I've never actually said his name out loud. And I don't know if it's Terry, it's t h I e r r y, or if it's Erie, the way it looks. Last name's Savidan, s a v I d a n. Anyway, he is a high end custom knife maker and this is a high end election Boker.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:23]:
You have 3.38 inches of MagnaCut blade steel on that broad drop point. A pretty elegant looking knife here, with a long spine following fuller. So long fuller all the way up to the tip, so you can be using that middle finger to flick this sucker open at any, pretty much any spot on that blade, where it's available. It has a very subtle spine, I'm sorry, not spine, but, edge side flipper, so just a regular flipper. It's just pretty hard to see as it's pretty small. And tie bolsters, titanium bolsters, extending almost a third of that handle with, marbled carbon fiber. And then blue anodized hardware. You see it on the body screws, you see it on the clip screws, and you also see it as a collar around the, pivot.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:19]:
So very nice looking knife. This one's coming in at 5.64 ounces and will be available on Valentine's Day. So ladies, if you're listening to this, which you probably aren't, but if you are and you wanna get your man something for Valentine's Day, special knife, check out this Boker twenty twenty five collection knife because that's the day it drops. Alright. Lastly, this one is also from Boker, and it's something that we've kind of never seen before. At least I haven't, and, I challenge you to tell me if you've ever seen a knife on which you can change the liner lock from side to side. No? Yeah. Me neither.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:00]:
This is from Boker and Chuck Gedratis, one of the greatest, custom folder makers out there right now. He comes from from the New England School of knife making. He's up in Massachusetts and makes some really outstanding, gorgeous sculptural things. He's also the maker of, the Vic the Victorinox esque, flippers or, automatic knives. So, the the switch army knives as he calls them. This one is called the lefty. Yes. The lefty.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:35]:
And that's because you can change that liner lock that you see right there to the left side, for left handed carriers. This is a stout 2.2 inches of 12, c 28 n. It's kind of a wharncliffe, bellied wharncliffe, you might call it, with a swedge. This opens up with a thumb stud. You've got aluminum handles with a full four finger grip, I'm told. And then as you can see, you can switch, the pocket clip from side to side. But the the real USP, the unique selling proposition of this knife is that swappable liner lock. That's really interesting.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:15]:
One screw can do it, by the way. One screw and you can switch that liner lock. This one is available soon. I'm not sure what that means, but keep your eyes peeled if this, tickles your fancy. I really like the idea of a fully ambidextrous liner lock. So, you know, you're not only, you not only have the ambidextrous thumbs, thumb studs there. You can not only switch the pocket clip, but you can switch the damn liners. How cool is that? Leave it to Chuck Pedratis to figure that out.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:48]:
Alright. Still to come on the Knife Junkie podcast, the state of the collection where we have some very, very cool stuff. But be sure that you like and comment and subscribe and and, download this show to your favorite podcast app. You can see them all right here. We're on all of them. Another great way to help support the show if you can't do Patreon is to send it along to someone else. Share the show. You have no idea how, how great that that little, gesture is.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:19]:
So like, notify, subscribe, and share. Alright. Coming up, we have the state of the collection.

Advertisement Announcer [00:18:27]:
Adventure delivered, Your monthly subscription for handpicked outdoor, survival, EDC, and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals. The knife junkie dot com slash battle box. And now that we're caught up with knife life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:46]:
So coming to me from Armas Knife and Tool, I am so excited to feature this. This is the VSK one. The VSK one, we are gonna have, Michael, the designer of this and maker of this, on the show, soon, but he sent me this so I could check out some of his work. Now this was a company and a knife that was, that was referred to me by Dave at OG Blade Reviews, and I'm so happy he he, hit me to this because it is so great. I love it. So first, you see a, a very ambidextrous sheath, which is rare for a fixed blade knife. And then you see this gorgeous thing here. So this is the Armas knife and tool VSK one, and it is optimized, if you ask me, for reverse grip.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:35]:
It is extremely comfortable in both grips, which is, I don't wanna say odd, but somewhat unexpected from a, two finger partition style handle. These don't always work for me, but this one really works for me. So you got the the forefinger and the middle finger in that opening well here, and then the other two fingers in the back. You have a great thumb ramp, and a spear point blade with a, what do you call that? Saber, ground blade. That's S35VN. And then in reverse grip, you have this, awesome thumb, spot here. So you can cap the pommel on that large, thumb plate. That's not a thumb plate, what is that? A platform, we'll call it.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:30]:
And it just feels great in hand. Now here is the Hermes knife and tool logo there. You can see the grinder marks on there. This is 100 American made and very comfortable to carry. Now when I first got it, I was trying to put this sheath in my waistband. It's no secret I've been talking about it for weeks. I overdid it at Christmas, and now I'm trying to lose the the little extra I put on. So there's not too much that is too wide going into the waistband these days.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:05]:
And this is a somewhat wide sheath. It's one of those ambidextrous, in the pocket sheaths, and that's what I realized. This one is optimized for in the pocket, and I have to say it is very comfortable in that spot. It goes great in my front right pocket, and, I was thinking it would only work in jeans. But today, I had khakis on. I tried it in my khaki pants, you know, with the with the, vertical pocket openings, and it worked great. It didn't stick out. You know, usually that's the problem.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:37]:
It'll stick far out of the of the, of the pocket, leaving the handle leaving the handle coming out like this. This, not so much. It rode really nicely and thinly. I didn't carry it all day, today, in the front right pocket, but I did all last week after I got it. You saw this on Thursday Night Knives last week, and, yeah. This thing just fits great. I love this blade. It feels, it feels great in the hand, varies nicely.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:11]:
Has a wicked, wicked blade. It's pretty nice and thick. I'm gonna say that's maybe three sixteenths of an inch, but we will find out here when I have Michael Grasso on to talk about it. He's the gentleman who, runs, and started this company, and I'm really excited to talk to him. The VSK one, there's also a VSK mini, and then as you can see, the clip here is a, DCC clip. Discrete carry concepts. Something I wanna actually point out here is right in the throat of the sheath, you can see it's padded. It's got a soft, the soft side of hook and loop, and it's very, very, or or Velcro, I should say.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:00]:
It's very soft coming in and out, coming in and out of the sheath. Love this. So another very interesting thing that they sell there is this sheath. Now this is a paring knife sheath, and this is for the traveling gentleman or lady who likes to carry a fixed blade knife but can't travel or carry something like this. So really what you're buying is the sheath. And then you you go to any grocery store and pick up a cheap paring knife, and this one was sent to me by, Armas Knife and Tool. And pretty much any one of these kind of, cheap, paring knives will fit in there. So you can drop this in the pocket, have a knife, but you don't have to travel with it.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:51]:
You can go to the next place and get a new one. So here, this I, I bought for the kitchen at work a long time ago. Just put a screamin' edge on it again. But this one fits in there. I checked out the paring knives in our kitchen. The only one that doesn't fit in there is the, is is our, Steve Colari custom knives one. It's got too wide a handle. Sorry, guys.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:21]:
Late night here. But, the, Kai paring knife I have works. This one that they sent works. This random one that I got for work works. So it's a really great way to travel and have a fixed blade knife without necessarily having to travel with the knife. You just go to any grocery store, get a paring knife, boom, pop it in there. This one also has that, Velcro in the throat of the sheath, and it just, gives it a quiet little cushion. And say if it doesn't So these two have a different width in the handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:59]:
The one on the bottom that, was sent to me fits snugly. The one on the top fits a little more loosely, but that Velcro kind of pads it and makes it a good fit. Also a deep, DCC pocket clip here and that awesome topographical G10. I love the way that looks. So great idea, from Armas Knife and Tool. It's a a travel sheath. You buy the sheath, I believe it's $45, and, you always have a great place to put a knife and no excuse not to have a knife on you. That's what I say.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:39]:
Lastly, sent to me by them from them is this Sharp e. Yes. It's a Sharpie with the, g 10. So it's a sharpened g 10 in what looks to me like a nicely used Sharpie. It doesn't have any of the writing on the side. I have plenty of Sharpies like that that I've thrown in my bag and that writing has worn off. Well, this one, you can stab with. It's a self defense, last ditch self defense tool, that might get past security.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:13]:
Who knows? Might not. I I've heard that some TSA agents have gotten wise to these things, and so they look at Sharpies. But I've gotten through, TSA with my, Revenant Core version of this, tool. This is something that's been, being made by various people for some time, and I really like it. It's a great idea. You take a, a rod of g 10, remove the felt point of the Sharpie, and sharpen that g 10, and insert it in there, and, you know, use it to defend yourself. So thank you so much to Armas Knifing Tool for sending me these things. They are so cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:54]:
I cannot wait to talk to Michael about these things and, find out what his plans are for the future. But so far, I've been really, really digging this VSK one. Alright. Last up, this is another UD that was just sent to me by Justin of DC Blades. Feast your eyes, people. This is the DC Blades Vendetta, and it is a folding Pakal style knife, but a luxury version thereof. You've got a beautiful, micro milled titanium handle here. It is a frame lock.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:36]:
And then beautiful inlays of this aluminum foil carbon fiber, not only on the show side, but on the lock side. You have a removable wave type feature. If you don't want to use that front flipper, which is, to me, optimized for the forefinger. Opens up so nicely. And then you have this wave opening feature that removes with a screw there, and a beautiful hawkbill blade of m three ninety blade steel. And that's why I say luxury. You got titanium, you got m three ninety, you've got those beautiful inlays, And, oh my god, the ergonomics on this thing just feel amazing. I'd you know, if I were in a self defense situation and I had this, I might, I might tuck it away so it doesn't get taken from me and use something else.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:29]:
I don't know. Pick up a rock or something because this is this is too nice. I love it. I love the, jimping on the back of the blade. Now, you get a little bit more, engagement there if you remove this, but even so, with that wave opener, the thumb fits so nicely in there. If you're just gonna use it for regular tasks, put your forefinger there, open up boxes all day long, but heaven forbid you actually need it, you draw it out with the pocket, with the pocket catch here and it opens it and you have it in hand. Really, really awesome. Now if you don't know DC Blades, you know DC Blades.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:09]:
They're the guys who did, the Rev with Shieldin and auxiliary manufacturing, and then they did the Pocket Sight with Shieldin. That's, same company. It's Justin from tier one gear reviews and Old Squirrel Knives, custom knife maker old old squirrel knives. Well, they are the dynamic duo that are DC blades, and this is their latest release. You can go to dcblades.net and buy you one of these. They have four different configurations. This one and then this one with a satin blade, and then I don't remember what the other two are, honestly. I think the inlays are different.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:49]:
But it is awesome, super stout, and very, very beautiful. The DC Blade's Vendetta. Check it out. Alright. I'm gonna set this aside and let you know that Jim has been back in his lab creating more great fashion for us to wear. Don't take dull for an answer. I love that line. Well, look at this.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:12]:
This is a t shirt he just created with a beautiful, clip point there, double guard clip point with don't take dull for an answer. You can go to the knifejunky.com/shop and check out all of the great merchandise we have to offer there including pages of these great designs, coming from the mind of Jim, the man behind the switcher. So go to the knifejunkie.com/shop and check those out. Also, subscribe. Alright. So let me take a little little nip of this. I say nip. It's water.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:47]:
I wish it were a nip. I could use one today. Alright. We're gonna talk about some amazing EDC fixed blade knives and how to wear them. I say wear, because carry there are lots of ways to carry a knife, but you have to wear them also. So I have basically three different ways outlined here. First one is front scout. That's what I'm calling sideways on the front of your belt as opposed to sideways in the back.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:17]:
That's called scout carry. You carry it sideways on the back. Well, sideways on the back does not work for me, for a couple of reasons. First of all, if you get swept to the ground and you're fighting, say you're biting, heaven forbid, well, that thing is on your back. It's very hard to reach, and it's digging into your lower spine. This doesn't seem like a great way to carry a knife. And you might say, well, the Vikings carried it there. And, yes, they did, but they had much larger knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:49]:
Their Saxes were bigger. If they were on the ground, they could reach it, probably. Not only that, but they dangled. We are not talking about danglers here. So the first knife I'm gonna show you here, that rides Front Scout, and I carry it all the time, is the Teakel Knives Agent double o one. My design collaboration with Tim Kehl, I came to him with an idea for a knife that is, similar to a a Loveless sub hilt fighter blade. So kind of a clip point, kind of, drop point, but also double edged with a bayonet grind. And, I sent him this blade design.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:29]:
He said, I'm not sure if I can do that. And then of course, he managed, to pull it off. It was this curve up to that tip which was the issue. And then he and I worked together on this handle to create the perfect grip. I gotta say, I I know I'm biased, but this is one of the most comfortable handles you will ever hold. This, of course, with that beautiful purple Burl, g 10. But let's talk about the sheath. Decal knives are known for their slender line sheaths that are about the width of a belt, and, this is no exception.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:07]:
Here I have that double DCC clip on there, the one that you saw on the Station Nine knife earlier. And when I carry this, if I'm wearing a leather belt, this just goes right over the belt. If I'm wearing a thin nylon belt or no belt at all, which is very rare, it goes, and and latches on the inside of the pants. So it just depends, but it's a very, very secure ride. And if you're looking down, pretend that your belly is right here, or your six pack abs are right here. You're looking down, this is what you see. And it's the belt buckle rides right to the left of it. And when you draw it, you're drawing it in this reverse grip.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:53]:
You can always draw it in reverse grip and reorient to use it like a, yeah, in this forward grip. But I have it set up for a right hand reverse grip draw or a left hand standard draw. And, that works for me. Your mileage may vary. You can always just turn it around and and use it. But I have lately been liking this style of carry the most, that, front scout carry. I'll show you, one of the knives that really got me into carrying front scout, and that is this. This is the three zero two from Aaron Bieber knives or AB knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:34]:
And it is so light and so beautiful that, well, the beauty doesn't have to do with this, but it's so light and kind of compact that you can carry this, horizontally on the front of your belt and kinda forget it's there until you need it. But I have it set up so that it's, reverse draw as well. Look at this thing. Stunning, stunning knife. You've got a hand ground clip point blade, I don't know, sax blade? It's kinda hard to tell what this is, but, you do have a hollow ground swedge there, so I'm gonna say it's a clip point. Very, very sharp. This is MagnaCut blade steel, and you have that sukamaki wrap. Aaron Bieber does an amazing job with his Japanese wrapped handles.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:26]:
That is genuine ray skin under there, and you have a perfect grip. The grip is so nice on this. This is one of those knives where it's almost more comfortable to have it in hand than not. I'm gonna show it to you like this so you can see those alternating peaks and valleys, that you get with a tsukamaki wrap, especially when done like this. But don't worry, those laces are not gonna come loose. These are impregnated with, epoxy. So really, really nice. And then a very nice thin lined taco sheath, with that carbon fiber look, kydex, and a, belt loop.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:07]:
So two different ways to carry it horizontally here. You've got the belt loop and you've got the clip. I do carry some other teakal knives horizontally and some other knives in general with the plastic clip, that you generally see on pistols, pistol holsters, but in this case, they work great on knife sheets. Alright. Last one from this category, the front scout category. This is on the larger side of what I'm comfortable carrying that way. This is the Civivi Tomashi e, designed by Bob Terzuola. So a very Japanese inspired blade here.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:50]:
Kind of a Quaken style blade. Also sort of a bayonet grind without a sharp back, but you have a long swedge and then, extra jimping on the blade for when you wanna reach forward like this. Or you have the jimping here on this beautifully sandwiched, micarta handle there. So you can carry it, or use it, deploy it just as easily here with that sort of, saber grip, or come up to a Filipino grip and put some more power behind the cutting there. As ships from Civivi, it comes with this nice kydex sheath. This is a pancake sheath, meaning you have grommets on both sides as opposed to a taco sheath, where the grommets are only on one and it's folded over. Here I have a very old, in the waistband, rubber, strap here that keeps it really close to the belt. And this one is nice and light.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:53]:
And though it's longer than both of the both of the previous blades here, especially with the handle, it really rides nicely. So I have a couple of Civivian Sencut fixed blade knives that I like to carry in this fashion, but this is my favorite of all of them, the Bob Terzuola Tomashi I. I do not have any other Terzuolas, be they custom or production. This is the one and only. And, of course, I'd like to increase that count. All right. I'm gonna put these aside and we will come to the next style of carry here. And this is in the waistband.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:32]:
And these are, you're gonna see the most knives in this category because this is how I carry most often. Though though lately it's been a lot of front scout, over the years, it's been in the waistband the most. The first one, I don't carry like this too often. Sometimes it will be a new knife, a new fixed blade knife, and I'll try it out in this fashion, and then I'll end end up migrating to a different way of carrying. But this is in the waistband with a cord. So this here is the, CRKT Obaki. This is designed by, what's his name? Yeah. Burnley.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:17]:
Lucas Burnley. Sorry. I just had a little senior moment there. Lucas Burnley is known for, well, for working with CRKT and Boker, and he's got a lot of knives with them. But he's also known for his Japanese inspired designs, and this obaki is chief among them, I'll say. Again, you have that beautifully, epoxy and laced tsukamaki wrap with the alternating peaks and valleys looking, from one side to the other, which gives amazing grip. Whether flat like this or in a standard grip, the fat of your hand just sinks into those valleys, and you get amazing purchase. Now, I am not sure if that's genuine Ray Skin under there.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:03]:
I'm guessing it's not just due to the, high value of this knife. In terms of cost, this has 14 c, 28 n blade steel and a nice hollow grind and that upsweep. Though, the belly, the continuous belly of the edge makes it look like it's, sweeping up and, like, the tip is higher than, the back of that straight, spine, but it is not. It is a perfectly straight spine and, just a great, great carry. Very easy to carry. If you wanna start carrying fixed blade knives, and don't know where to start because it's a little bit too much for you, try this knife. You can easily carry it as a neck knife, but I prefer it. You take this part of the, the cord and wrap it, in your belt or through a belt loop, and and then you put this in your waistband, just loosely in your waistband up front, and then when you need it, you tug the handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:09]:
This comes out and kinda dangles, by your side. You use the knife however you need to use it, and then you resheath it, and then put this back in your waistband. And it just sort of friction fits in the waistband. But it will never fall off you completely because it is lassoed to your belt or belt loop. So this is the one knife that I have that I consistently carry this way. If I'm carrying this knife, which I haven't in a little while, but when I do, it's always like this. Other knives come and go. Like, for instance, when I first got, the number 12, I was carrying it like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:50]:
It was a little too uncomfortable with that square sheath to do so like that, so I had to put it on the outside. But I was gonna first try out a knife this way. Alright. Next up in the waistband, this is dedicated appendix carry, and you'll see from looking at the sheath and looking at the shape of the knife, it's sort of shaped like a revolver. So this goes great in the appendix. And, say you've got a little bit of extra belly there, it goes nicely right there, over the top. You don't have it poking up into the, into the soft regions. This one has the DCC style clip, and it also has, some of these clips have elongated notches, so you can kind of move it and, reorient the clip in such a way that, it makes it easier to carry in certain circumstances.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:48]:
This one I find incredibly this is my most, comfortable appendix carry. The next one I show that's appendix carry is also quite comfortable and has a very different, profile. So you'll see what I mean there. But this knife is set up like this. The regiment blade's low vis, and, your finger goes through that, that back notch, I'm sorry, this forward notch here, or hole, and it's got great jumping for the thumb. And you thrust with it, stab with it, and you don't have to reorient your wrist at all or your fist. It is optimized for a punch. So it's kind of I'm gonna come to this main camera.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:35]:
It's kind of like a push dagger, except it's not the blade isn't protruding from between your fingers. It's not a t shaped handle. It's just a sort of pistol grip handle. You can back it up with the other fist, your other hand to keep that hand, that live hand out of the way, but you can get a lot of power in that punch there. And it draws real easily. You just lift it out of the waistband. Comes out so easily and, it's very easy to grab as well with the shape of the handle. And a nice part about, that hole is that the entire hole is, is presented.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:20]:
So as you're drawing, your waistband here is is right here. And as you're drawing the knife you can immediately go to, your hand posture. Here, I'm gonna come up here again. So here's your belt, my hand is your belt, you just come up like this, boom, Hug it out with that, and there you got it. Right in hand. So it's like a perfect appendix draw, knife. And those of you who are, carry pistols, and carry it in that appendix, appendix placement there, this will come to you very, very easily. And you might say, well, why would I carry that if I'm carrying my pistol? Well, you can't always have your gun on you.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:06]:
But if you are going somewhere where you need to carry a knife and you can't have your gun, this is a great replacement because it's a it's a motion you're already used to, to drawing. So, go for it that way, and then you can put a lot of power behind that stripe due to the shape of the handle. Next up, I prefer this one in appendix carry as well. This is the Pocket Rocket from Auxiliary Manufacturing, and, it is a great, great knife period, but great for self defense and great for appendix carry. Now it's very, very different. You look at this and, you say, hey, Bob. You said this one was comfortable because of that curved handle. Well, what gives, man? That's a totally straight handle, and I know.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:55]:
But it you know that line, you know, figure your belly comes in like this, and eventually it ends up into your crotch like this. Well, this straight handle and straight sheath follows that line perfectly, the fold of your inner hip. And so you can have this up front like this, riding, in your inner hip and then pull it out and you have a perfect reverse grip on a three inch dagger here. What allows that is this excellent handle design. No matter how you turn it, you have choils and facets and choils and facets and places for your hand and your, the the fat of your fingers to bury in there. Doesn't matter if you grab it sideways accidentally or have it perfectly oriented. There's always a grip with this handle. You get a great grip no matter where you you grab it.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:54]:
Even diagonally in hand it works. I'm a huge fan of this knife. I love, Michael Jarvis's designs and, his handmade knives. They're just outstanding. This one, right now, I don't think he's made this one for a little while. But I think he may have mentioned on one of our interviews that someone might be making this, for him in the in the near future. So keep your eyes peeled for a pocket rocket, but hopefully I haven't said too much. Very, very sharp.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:27]:
He does expert his his his bevels are amazing. They're all hand done, but he just has a great, great hand. And, I love this one for appendix in the waistband carry. Now two others. Just like I was telling you about the custom Kramer custom Voodoo that I carry today at 03:00, I'm just more comfortable with this in the 03:00 position. That was the original, in the waistband. Nah, that's actually not true. I used to carry it all the way around the back, but I stopped doing that a long time ago.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:06]:
I love the three o'clock carry, especially for the larger knives. Now if you look down and your belly button is 12 o'clock, obviously, your right hip is three o'clock, your left hip is nine o'clock. The smaller your back is six o'clock, and you can figure all the rest out. Well, this one here, this is the, Cave Bear, a custom knife by Dirk Pinkerton. It's a Pakal or a Persian. You decide. I'll call it a a Pakal. This fits perfectly in the 03:00 position.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:37]:
It's also not so much of a slouch, due to this curve here in the appendix, but I rarely carry it there. This one is one of the few I have an Ulticlip on. I just happened to buy this at Blade Show for this knife, so I've always left it on there. But here's the knife, a really outstanding Talk about someone who knows how to grind. This is, this is a hand done knife by Dirk Pinkerton. We know him a lot, he's very, very popular for his designs made by big companies, especially with the folders, but his handmade custom fixed blades are just superlative. And, this one is is no exception. I love it though in that 03:00 because it's a little bit larger.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:28]:
The ones that are too big in the appendix, you're starting to poke when you sit down, and that's not a comfortable poke. So you want it over on the side, and you can kind of hide the length of it along your body, and it, is much more comfortable like that. This one, double edged, nitro v coated, and it's got that, very cheerful handle. I like the cheerful color of this. Our eyes met across a crowded room at Blade Show twenty twenty one, I think. And, man, I couldn't wait to buy this. I thought someone was gonna get it before I got to the table, so I made a beeline. It is a beaut.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:09]:
But the sheath itself also really lends itself, to in the waistband carry because, it's a flat, pancake sheath, and it just fits really nicely against the body. And then the curves, whether they're the con convex or the concave curves, just fit the curves of the human body very well. And then you have this nice extension on both sides on both sides of the throat of the sheath that just sort of give you a little bit of a hedge against poking or slashing accidentally the love handles, if they happen to be there. You know what I mean? So you got that little bit of extra protection there, and, I do appreciate that. All right, last up, for the in the waistband, we're gonna talk about one I talk about quite a bit. This is the Hogtooth Knives Ruffian. And it's a perfect knife for three o'clock. Perfect for the three o'clock position because it is on the large side of what I will carry, in the waistband, or EDC fixed blade at all.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:21]:
It's got a somewhat I don't wanna say thick handle, but it's got a, a girthy handle. I guess it's the same thing. And, but the scalloped pattern here, the sort of anzo pattern on half of it reduces the weight and also gives great gription here. And then it, and then it, terminates as you get towards the pommel. This one, by the way, all of my three o'clock, carry knives, I have set up for this reverse grip. So as I draw it, it's gonna be in reverse grip like this. However, if you do it, if you, yeah, let me see how I could do this. If you reach like this in a cavalry draw, cavalry cavalry draw that refers to how a cavalry would carry their pistols, with the with the handle forward like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:19]:
It's easier to draw it in standard grip like this than it is if it were up and down and you're pulling your pistol out like this or your knife out like this. And if you're just listening, I don't even know how to describe it, but if you have it in a standard grip just the way your hand falls, you have to pull up very high to clear the sheet. So if you have it canted forward and just have it so that the back of your hand, grazes against your body and grips that, grips that handle, you can draw it in a standard grip and have it ready to go. We're not always wanting to draw a knife in that reverse grip. We're not always charging into battle where we need, this sort of reverse grip. Sometimes you just need to cut a piece of string, and so you wanna draw it like this. So cavalry draw works great for, for 03:00 and all sorts of knives. So these are my favorite, I'm not gonna say my favorite knives, but this is my probably my favorite way of carrying, across history, though recently that front scap has taken, some pressing.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:43]:
Okay. Last in this version, in this, list here are the pocket carry fixed blade knives. This is a new thing, relatively new, and, I've highlighted a couple of knives a lot here on this channel. First one I'll mention is the Fisherblades Beckwith Covert, and, here's the knife. It's an awesome everyday defense knife. This is not meant for cutting sandwiches. This is meant for cutting suckers who step to you. I know.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:17]:
I'm very straight. But this is the sheath, and it drops deep in the pocket. You have this extended discreet carry concepts clip. You can see the logo right there, fixed onto the, the sheath. This does not work well in the waistband because of all of the space between, the top of that clip and the top of that sheath. You would be cutting your pants open all day, every day. But what this does is drops in the front pocket. It works great with jeans.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:50]:
It works great with khakis. Doesn't matter. Drops in there and clips to the top seam of your pocket. And then what is what is left to be seen is just a little bit of that clip and a little bit of that handle. And this one has a back quillion here on the pommel that allows you to easily grab that knife, whether in reverse grip or forward grip. It works really, really great. Now, the first time I saw this concept, it was with this. This is a knife my dad got me after reading, the James Reese novels, and it is the Amtac Northman.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:35]:
This is a, Bill Rapier design. Bill Rapier, what a great name. Former Navy SEAL, also a great name for a Navy SEAL and a knife designer. But, the Northman is, a pocket carry fixed blade. Here's the sheath. Again, you see that, that deep drop and the DCC style clip firmly attached to the sheath. This just slides into the pocket. You know, I I wondered before I got this knife, before my dad very generously got this for me, how you would navigate getting this in the pocket without cutting yourself or cutting the pocket.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:16]:
And really, if you just trace the blade down the clip, it's dropped right in. So it's very easy to resheath, even though the throat of the cheap, the throat of the sheath is deep inside your pocket. So, a very interesting style of knife. This one also has a ferro rod built in and a little Velcro place to stash, I don't know, whatever, a hundred dollar bill so you can get out of country or whatever. But this throws nice spark here at the back of the blade, and there you go. This one is very small, unlike the Beckwith Covert, which fits my hands. In most people's hands, though, I hear that people with the giant mitts, are asking for a larger version of this, and they just might get that. This one is damn small, I gotta say.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:10]:
Even for my medium sized hands, I just get on there, without coming up on onto the blade. It does come in an XL version or a larger version. I opted for the smaller one just for discretion's sake. That's m three ninety blade steel, by the way. And, recently, I've been seeing on Instagram that, AMTAC is offering different handle scales, some really nice looking handle scales, to include wood and other materials. But again, you get that quillion on the pommel for easy draw. And I like this knife especially in the reverse grip because you have that reinforcement with the, with the thumb there. Last on this list, yes, I showed it to you before, is the VSK one from Armas Knife and Tool.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:03]:
Again, I'll I'll just show it real quickly. This is the biggest of the three for sure, and, I find it really, really comfortable. I do prefer it in the jeans, as I do these other two as opposed to, the the vertical pockets of khakis and that that type of pant. But it it goes great in both, and that's primarily due to these, discreet carry style clips. You can angle them in such a way that, it's not sticking sideways out of your out of your pocket. So another great way to, to carry a fixed blade knife. I know a lot of people are a little squeamish about carrying fixed blades, especially considering some of, some of the laws and some of your jurisdictions. People don't wanna carry them, myself included, just hanging off the belt like you would if you were camping, when you're walking around in, regular society.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:59]:
So you gotta try and figure out a way to, integrate fixed blade knives into your daily carry, especially, I gotta say, especially if you consider a knife as a defensive tool, which we all know it is. But if you carry for that reason, you might wanna figure out how to carry a fixed blade because, in in a moment of truth, you're not gonna be trying to fuss with it, open it up, and that kinda thing. You just pull it out and you have it ready to go. So, what's your favorite way to carry a fixed blade knife? Let me know. Drop those comments down below, and perhaps we will bring it up in a future Knife Junky podcast. Thanks for joining me. I really do appreciate it. I love talking about these things.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:42]:
And, if you like listening, like, comment, subscribe, and, share it with a friend. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

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