Automated AI Podcast Transcript

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. Call the Listener Line at 724-466-4487; Visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2023, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcript

[0:00] Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast. Coming up, Doug Ritter's coming out Thursday Night Knives tomorrow night. We're going to take a look at the new Vampire Jack and best bedside knives.

[0:14] 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.
Welcome back to the show. My favorite comment this past week was from Billz2214 and he says, Hey Bob, I'm looking at one of your videos for the first time in almost three years.
I'm done with nursing school in December and I've been able to maintain my discipline about not looking at knives in that time. But now that I'm almost done, I am salivating at the idea of purchasing a knife. How fortuitous that I am commenting on this Jack Wolf video, because this is exactly the one knife I want to purchase. I would like your opinion on what is the best way to obtain one. I do have preferences towards blade shape, but honestly this website has many good designs and I don't really care. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Now, on a side note, you cannot count my Randall Made Knives order in this because I have to wait more than 5 years to get that knife. Another knife brand I am intently waiting to revisit is T-Kel Knives.
Oh Bob, it feels good to be back viewing your videos again.
Well, Bills, 2214, I applaud your discipline.
That's something I'm always aiming to bolster in my own life, my own self-discipline, and I applaud you.
You're taking care of business, getting the nursing thing done.

[1:42] And then moving on to collecting knives once you start making that nursing money, Because I got to tell you, nursing is a hard road to hoe.
I do know that just from friends who are in that line of work.
So congratulations on almost being done and out of school.
And I will help you in your deciding which jackwolf knife you want, because it is an important decision.
All right, Bills, thanks again, and thank you one and all for commenting. I got a number of comments, this past week, learn how to pronounce Bowie. And I had to answer someone and say, look, I'm a Yank, it's Bowie. You can say Bowie all day long, but it's Bowie. I know I vacillate, but okay, people, I'll, you put up some videos, I'll start correcting you too, because, I'm pretty good at doing that. All right, so coming up, well, actually right now, Now, let us do a pocket check.
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.
The Kaiser Mystic. Man, I have been carrying it quite a bit.
This is designed by Paul Monco. It is an awesome, awesome Kaiser.
You might notice during this episode, my left thumb might be a little hobbled.
It's killing me. I don't know what I did. Maybe I'm getting arthritis.

[3:02] But it's a good thing I'm carrying this knife today because all it takes is the most gentle of nudges against that thumb stud to get the knife to rocket out.
This is a beautiful clip point harpoon blade and overall with a tie bolster lock, very nice action here and very nice fit and finish.
Linen micarta, you can tell it's linen because it's got the real fine weave.
Very, very, very nice knife, a luxurious knife, but that, with that collar being also, that pivot collar is also my Carta, and Rex 45 steel.
How cool is that?
This Rex 45 is beginning to patina.
I've cut some meat with it, I've cut some other food and stuff, trying to hasten along that patina, because that's one of the cool things about this steel.
It is very high in hardness and toughness. It's a very good steel, kind of a great all-arounder, but it's not resistant to corrosion.

[4:09] So you can put on a patina, and then that will protect the steel, and it will also look cool.
Plus, this is the Mystic, and it harkens back to our whaling past, especially up in Mystic, Connecticut, where Paul Monko is from, and it sort of has that feel of an older tool, even though it's in this modern context.
And with the patina, it's gonna really just sort of sing seaside town.
It's gonna have that whole vibe going. So I'm really excited about that.
Okay, next up in my pocket today was the Ohio River Jack.
This is such an awesome note.
Austin Jackson of C. Reisner Cutlery designed this, had QSP producing it.

[4:56] They still have a few left on the website, but they've really moved operations over to the new Lake Champlain Barlow, a big barlow that I need to get my hands on, it's so cool.
But this one I had been looking at for so long, and then when my buddy Ketmuk Neshart sent me some, by the way, Ketmuk, I'm gonna be sending your knives back this week, but when he sent me a couple to take a look at, a double-bladed and a single-bladed, I was totally hooked, and then I've been watching a lot of Doody's Daggers channel.
He's the interview this week, you gotta check out the interview, it's theknifejunkie.com slash 455, with Kevin Doody of Doody's Daggers, great channel that I really, I really like, and he's just a cool dude.
But anyway, he made me a slip for this knife, and it is gorgeous, I cannot wait to show it off.
It's going to be on the way this week, and I can't wait. But this straight-edged M390 blade is so sharp and so acute and has such a nice point.
It's just an awesome utility knife.
And it's also a looker with that beautiful canvas micarta.
Next up, in the waistband up front, an appendix carry, I had my Eric Kramer Custom Knives Voodoo.

[6:18] I had, this had sort of gone onto the back burner for a while because of my love of hog-teeth knives and then the Nova 1 and just getting new knives.
But this is still one of my favorite fixed blade knives to carry all day long.
It really, really blends in.
You just kind of forget it's there. It's so thin, but so capable.
That's 154CM blade steel, and that is a nice deep hollow grind.
Yes, I had Eric Kramer put a sharp edge on the swedge, and though it's not as slicey, nearly as slicey as the main edge, it's a nice gouging, tearing, gashing edge, just in case.
Okay, and last up, for emotional support, another fixed blade.
I rarely do that, but this just drops in the pocket so nicely.

[7:09] This is the Broadhead by Dirk Pinkerton. And Kaiser Knives did a version or two of the Broadhead, but this is a special one.
This was made for me by Dirk as a gift and a beautiful, beautiful thing.
It is indeed so acute at that point.
It would just so easily penetrate whatever you're trying to get it to go into.
A great knife. this grip right here, but you can put it here like a push dagger.
Himself is very fond of the reverse grip, but he's got bigger hands than I do.
For me, it doesn't fit on the pinky so well.
But you can grip this little handle well enough that you can make it work in pretty much any situation.
A great neck knife or a great drop-in-the-pocket knife.
I would even sew the sheath into my pocket if I needed to. It would be one of those kind of easily stashed but easily retrieved get-off-me-type weapons.
But, of course, I don't fight with knives, thank God, I mean I would if I had to, but.

[8:16] This is more about how beautiful this thing is and carrying it around, it's like carrying around a little piece of art, functional art.
That's G.L. Hansen and Son, G. Carter there, beautiful, and then here this is MagnaCut blade steel, So just super, super cool and in a great little sheath that you can hang around the neck or just drop in the pocket.
So this is what I had on me today.
Please let me know what you had on you. Drop it in the comments below.
I'd be very interested in finding out what you were carrying today.
All right, well, let me put this away. This is the Eric Kramer Custom Voodoo, of course, the Pinkerton Broadhead, which we were just talking about. The, wait.

[8:58] Ohio River Jack with that nice walk and talk. And then the seriously drop shot action on this Mystic.
Amazing action on that Mystic.

[9:08] Okay, well as you may know, this is we're coming up on the third Thursday of the month.
That's tomorrow.
And I have a Gentleman Junkie knife giveaway knife to show off.
This is a beaut. This is a real beauty.
And to me, it's somewhat exotic looking. It's reminds me of a Peshkab's knife.
And I think it's beautiful. This is the Kaiser Sliver, and this was given to the channel, donated to the channel by Dave of This Old Sword Blade Reviews, and he's given us a lot of knives that we've given away, few of which I've adopted, but he keeps his knives in impeccable shape.
They are incredibly maintained, and they're always wicked sharp.
So this like brand new Kaiser Sliver with the fluted aluminum handle, the S35VN, the awesome liner lock, and a really thin, behind-the-edge hollow grind, could be yours.
If you're a Gentleman Junkie, that is the high tier of support, $10 a month on Patreon.
Every month on the third Thursday, we give a cool knife away, and this is the one for this month.
So if you're interested in helping support the show, You can do that by going to theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon, or you can scan the QR code that Jim pops up on the screen often.

[10:31] And that's how you will get this. It is a beauty, and this is gonna be a hard one to let go, because it's sitting over on the giveaway shelf, but I do pick it up and pot quite a bit.
So I'll swab it down with alcohol before I send it your way.
And I look forward to getting that in the hands of someone who's gonna carry it and use it.
It's a beautiful night.
Okay, I just want to pause for a moment to honor two folders that did a lot of work this week.
One more ceremonial, that's the one I'll do first. This is the Artisan Hyperion.
Also, this was a birthday gift from Dave, so very generous guys giving us a lot of stuff.
But this was for me, knowing my taste, and I absolutely love it.
This is a D-Rocket design, Daryl Caston blade.

[11:17] With that beautiful bowie, it kind of looks old-fashioned. And with the gunstock handle, it looks sort of old-fashioned, but with the bolster lock, titanium, and the carbon fiber, it's very modern.
Anyway, my wife's birthday, we went out to a nice dinner, and I got a steak, and that did the fancy steak cutting.
Now, something that bothers me, sometimes fancy restaurants cut your steak for you.
Like, that's okay.

[11:43] I'm a big boy, I came with a knife, and this is the knife. And I did catch some of the waiters glance at it.
And I'm like, yeah, it's fine.
See, like that nasty knife you gave me? I mean, this is a nice restaurant, and yet, the knives, I mean, they're better than most, but dull as the day is long.
What are you gonna do with that?
Saw, saw that expensive piece of meat. So this did beautifully.
A nice, fancy dinner steak knife. Second, this, I just gotta honor this knife.
This is such an unsung hero in my collection, because whenever there's a crap job around the house, I pull out the Endura.
And mostly it's a painting knife. And I've been doing a lot of painting here because a huge soiree, which we like to do from time to time.
Last time we had one like this was for my 50th birthday.
Well, this is for the wife's 50th birthday. And so I did a lot of painting and this knife is so awesome.
I end up using it a lot for edging the tape, but for whatever I need, and then I clean it up when I'm done.
And I really dulled it this time and went into it with my 800 grit Spyderco stone.

[12:55] And put a wicked edge on that VG-10. So this thing is an awesome knife.
Don't forget about your Endura. Even though it's not as sexy as some of your other knives, it will go the distance.
What a great night.
Okay, let's put these two away. You know me, I'm not a huge actual user because of my lifestyle, so when I'm actually using them and using them somewhat robustly, I like to show it off.
Not that cutting steak is robust activity, but the Spyderco definitely went through its paces.
Okay, so tomorrow night, as I mentioned, on Thursday Night Knives, Mr. Doug Ritter will be with us.
I'm very excited.
You know Doug, he's been on the show a whole bunch of times.
He's been on Thursday Night Knives, He's been on the town halls, he's been on just the Sunday episode, interview episodes.
Great guy and really, Knife Rights is just doing amazing, amazing stuff.
And he's going to be on tomorrow night.
I have his mini RSK Mark I here to show off that purple, what do they call that?
G-mask is so awesome. This was a gift from Doug Ritter.
I appreciated it because right before he sent this to me, I gave my big one to a friend in need and then sent this to me, so boom.

[14:14] So really, really awesome. He's gonna be not only talking about a story that we're gonna be discussing in Knife Life News, he's got a lot going on.
Knife Rights has a lot going on right now and they need a lot of support and they need a lot of people just knowing what's up and what they're doing.
He will also be announcing a new knife. I don't know if it's an announcement, he's talked about it before, but he's gonna be showing off the RSK Mark I Autos.
The full size, I'm gonna have to get one, because I don't have a full size one of these anymore.
So why not, why not get an auto version?
But he will be showing that off, talking about knife rights, be sure to join us.
It's going to be awesome. Tomorrow night, Doug Ritter, what a great guy.
We owe a lot to him. All right, still to come on the Knife Junkie podcast, we're going to get to some new knife releases coming out of Blade Show West, which I regretfully had to miss.

[15:06] And then we'll get to the state of the collection and a beautiful brand new knife.
Among this week's specials at Knives Ship Free, The Patriot is an affordable USA-made fixed blade from L.T. Wright that's perfect for EDC, or a companion on hiking and hunting excursions.
These are back in stock with durable Micarta handle scales and come with a leather sheath.

[15:26] The small Inkosi Insingo is an EDC frame lock from Chris Reeve Knives featuring added finger grooves and larger pivot hardware. These are back in stock with Micarta inlays and MagnaCut blade steel. And the ZT0308 has a sizable handle, solid build quality, and a CPM20CV blade with a large cutting belly. Get these deals and other great specials from our friends at Knives Ship Free. Just use our affiliate link, theknifejunkie.com slash kniveshipfree. That's theknifejunkie.com slash kniveshipfree. Support the show and get a great new knife at the same time. Theknifejunkie.com You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast, and now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.
The Tactile Knife Company, you know, our good friends out of Texas who started from the Tactile Turn Pen Company, well, they have a new knife coming out. It's beautiful and it is their first, or their third, I'm sorry, collaboration with a big time knife maker slash designer. The first two were Richard Rogers and Matthew Christensen. One was a a folder, one was a fixed blade.
Well, this is the great and powerful TJ Schwartz. I love that guy's knives.
And also, he's a cool dude.
But this is his new knife called the Archer.

[16:45] Coming up from Tactile Knife. You can see that it's a titanium frame lock, and you can see a lot of little micro milling per the usual arrangement on that handle.
Beautiful 3.5 inch MagnaCut blade, drop point. I love the overall arc of that handle.
I guess it makes sense that it's called the Archer.
I guess it's got an arch.
Shipping with Skiff Bearings, yes, that's right. Shipping with Skiff Bearings.
And it debuted just this past weekend at Blade Show. This, I do, I have liked the other collaboration knives that they've done, the Tanto with Christensen, and the Axis Lock knife that just escapes me right now, that they did with Richard Rogers, but this one is way up my alley.
It looks like a bit more robust than all the other knives they've put out.
It looks a bit more ready for action, like a little harder use.
And I know that TJ designs a lot of knives for lifestyle slash camping outdoors.
I should put camping and outdoors first.
They just kind of look really cool, so that's the lifestyle part.
So very much looking forward to checking this out. Too bad I wasn't in California to check it out in person.
Next up, also announced and debuted at Blade Show West.

[18:06] Is the new CRKT Fortuitous. Isn't this fortuitous?
Now, they recently announced a D-Rocket design, the Mbombo, and they're coming out with a small version of that too, which is pretty cool looking.
But the thing that's most interesting to me is this Fortuitous.
It's a limited edition knife. It's a collaboration with the great and powerful and artistic Michael Walker. If you don't know who Michael Walker is, just look him up and then you'll see why it's kind of a big deal that CRKT is doing another collab with him.
They've done a number with him, but he's a very, very artistic, sculptural.

[18:44] I mean, this guy lives up in Taos, and builds these gorgeous, gorgeous knives that people pay major bank for, and he's slumming it with CRKT, I shouldn't put it that way, But he's making these production runs with CRKT and they're beautiful, look at them.
They're all sculptural, multi-materials, produced by LionSteel.
LionSteel is doing a lot of their high-end collaborations, or a number of them.
Two versions of this. One will have that rose damasteel that you see and the other will have, yes of course, MagnaCut. That will be a coated blade and the visual elements on that and the handle will be darker as well. But this fancy one here, you can see it's got all of that, all of the dimpled and applique and all these, the dimpled titanium and the applique and all and all these different materials and elements on there.
And then it's got that sculpted tie clip with a roller on it.
So, it's cool, I like it.
It's not my cup of tea, but I appreciate all of the detail.
And I gotta say, I'm not usually so into damasteel, but I like the look of that rose damasteel.
So, overall, very cool thing. I like the trend with CRKT going higher and higher end with some of their stuff.

[20:09] I don't know how they're gonna price this, but hopefully there's not too big a chasm between their regular production stuff and their high-end stuff, because I think it'll be hard to draw people who already collect high-end stuff over to CRKT.
But I don't know, we'll see how it works. Obviously, they're doing something right, or they wouldn't keep putting out these fancy collabs. Now, this is available now, Now the Blade Show West has happened.
Okay, last up in the new knives here is a Schillen-style folder from Bastide and RS KnifeWorks.
That's Robert San, I'm sorry, Robert Sanisalchi, and he is known for his, I've been following him for years on Instagram, really cool folders, but he's known for his multi-grinds on his blades, and he had that Wharncliffe with them first on their high-end, it was a limited edition, But this one, you might look at it and say, oh, it looks a bit like the Nightshade.
Well, it does have some of those elements, but this one is called the Morel, like the most delicious mushroom that exists.
And apparently, Robert Santasalchi is a forager of fungi, and that was what he was thinking of when he designed this knife. I gotta say, personally, I really like the look of this.
I'm a sucker for that shill and cutter look.

[21:30] It's evocative of other knives that I'm more familiar with, and I just like that leaf-shaped blade with the downward angled handle.
This one, as you can see, has a very large portion up front.
I guess I'd say 3 quarters of the blade, or maybe even 4 fifths of the blade forward of the Ricasso is a thin, slicey grind.
And then right back at the Ricasso, you've got about a fifth of that blade, or a quarter of the blade, that is a stouter, more oblique grind.
So, you get a number of, you get a couple of different styles of cutting, I guess you could say, out of that.
And I just think it's incredibly cool.
But looking, that is N690 blade steel, aluminum handle, love aluminum, axis style bar lock, 3.4 ounces, and coming in these multiple colors.
Now, I can't tell from the picture if those are actually white Cerakoted blades or if they're just shiny. I think they're just shiny satin blades.
The one second to last, looks like it might be Stonewall.
In any case, all very cool. This is a Vosti that might get me back off the couch.
I love all of their knives, I mean they're all really cool.
I haven't personally been moved to get one recently just because of how my buying habits have changed a little bit.
Do check that out, they are available.

[22:51] All right, the last story in Knife Life News I want to cover, I kind of don't understand.
And so we will have Doug Ritter again on tomorrow night to explain this. I know he's eager to explain what's going on here, but I just want to give a little teaser. Knife Rights has filed a motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit to end the unconstitutional Federal Switchblade Act.
So this is a move to get rid of the federal prohibition on switchblades.
And a couple of interesting things in here. I'm just going to read from the website. It says, In our motion, you will find some interesting history that seems to have been mostly lost to the community memory. Did you know that according to Senate report number 1980, that was produced in 1958 for the hearings on the proposed Federal Switchblade Act, quote, in the United States, two manufacturers have a combined production of over 1 million switchblade knives in a year, quote unquote. It goes on to say, quote, it is estimated that the total traffic in this country in switchblades exceeds 1,200,000 knives per year.
And then this is his commentary, wow, just wow.

[24:11] So, these were some of the reasons why they started to, some of the reasons on the books as to why they started banning switchblades.
Of course, we all know that it was some of those juvenile delinquency laws that were happening, all the pearl clutching that were happening over teen behavior in the 1950s that led to this, like Rebel Without a Cause and those kind of movies.
And then there was also the...

[24:39] The knife laws that were left over from reconstruction and all that to keep knives out of the hands of African Americans, et cetera. So there's a lot of bad that went into these knife laws.
That's about my understanding. So really, whenever Doug Ritter comes on, he really sheds the light and explains things in a way that I can understand.
And then it's not just appreciating how the laws change, but it's also appreciating all of the effort, time and money that goes into changing these knife laws.
And by the way, speaking of money, this is how Doug Ritter makes his money so that he can fight the good fight.
So if you like your knife rights, go to KnifeWorks and buy an exclusive Hogue RSK Mark I and any one of the many, many, many flavors.
And this helps put money in Doug's pocket so he can keep doing this for us.

[25:32] So that's, well, I can't make you do it, but that's my advice.
So please do check that out.
All right, so let's move on to the state of the collection, but before we do, I'm gonna say, please go to Patreon, check us out.
You also get exclusive interview extras. That's something I didn't mention before.
You can scan that QR code on the screen and check it out.
That's my favorite part of what we offer. Yeah, we give away knives, we do other stuff, but to me, the coolest part is that you get to hear a little bit extra of the people I interview, and in a lot of cases, you hear stuff that maybe we don't want to say as far and as wide, so.

[26:12] There you go. There's your USP for Patreon. Just go to theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon. Again, that's theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon.
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And now that we're caught up with Knife Life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.

[27:05] Okay, new night this week, so cool, and here's the thing, I always complain because I always get it after everyone else, and I think it's because of where I live, it's a very densely populated area, so I get to drool over everyone else's jackwolf knives, and then mine arrives, and then it's like, builds up anticipation beyond belief.
This is last year's vampire jack, and then this is this year's vampire jack.
So, this just arrived yesterday, well actually as we record this, yesterday.
And this is the new release of the Vampire Jack for October.
Perfect knife for this month.

[27:47] You've got that coffin shaped handle with the coke bottle sort of extension here that accommodates the spring and allows for a larger blade to sit, a broader blade to sit deeper in the handle. So we're getting all of the same incredible fit and finish. Look at that lock, there's like barely, you can barely see where that lock meets the blade. You've got a really nice deep hollow ground, S90V blade.
And then this one has that hand-rubbed satin finish.
And then you might notice that from the old one to the new one, the finger choil has been greatly enhanced.

[28:32] And on this one, there are two carbon fibers, two titaniums, there's an all-black titanium, it's like murdered out, quote-unquote, titanium with a smooth contoured handle and the black blade. That looks cool. Two carbon fibers, this one, and maybe it's three carbon fibers. That jigging is so nice on the handle.
This one I'm really excited to get because it's my first all-tie jackwolf knife and I think it's my, no it's not my first all-tie slip joint, but it is really, really nice.
Another difference, triple fluting on that front bolster instead of the single fluting.
The materials, it really has a different feel with the full titanium handle and it has a slightly different sound. I'm gonna bring this to the mic.

[29:27] As you might expect, it has a harder sounding hit just because it's going into a metal body.
But I'm going to show these off together again.
I really dig this model. To me, this is my favorite spear point.
Probably one of my favorite spear points ever on a slip joint.
Definitely my favorite spear point for jackwolf knives.
And he makes, designs a lot of cool spear points.
So, yeah, this is the king of them for me. And, I like to look at this as a.

[30:03] It looks sort of weapon-y.
And of course, this is not something you're gonna use as a weapon, but it has that vibe.
I think it's sort of the symmetrical handle and the symmetrical spear point blade.
It looks sort of like something, I don't know, like if the military gave out a slip joint, it might look something like this.
Or maybe not, I don't know. You military guys are probably laughing, saying, are you kidding? No, it would look nothing like that.
It would look much, much worse. So this is the new one. This is being released next Friday.
So be sure to check that out. All of the, let's see, let me start that from the top.
Jack Wolf Knives has really expanded its base of retailers.
So they have become easier and easier to find, And with great success, Ben has upped production every time.

[31:00] So there are more knives available, which is great. That also means there's gonna be more knives available, on the secondary market if people sell them.
A new artist starting with these two knives ago, I believe. And here's the Jack Wolf, like a vampire, about to bite into that lady.
Let me show you real quick.
Pog, the usual awesomeness. awesomeness. And then of course it came with the slip and then a new sticker. I like this.

[31:32] Sticker. Very cool stuff.
Imminently collectible, that's the point. I mean, he really, really nailed this. I gotta, say Ben Belkin does it 100% right. And when you buy a knife, you're paying a premium, but you are getting the full experience and you're gonna have a knife that is gonna perform and look amazing for the rest of your life.
So it's awesome. All right, I wanna move on now to best bedside knives.
Now this requires a little bit of a discussion up front.
What do I mean by bedside knife?
Well, yes, I'm talking about a knife as a weapon, of course, because ordinarily we don't just keep knives beside the bed.
Now, I can hear you all saying, Bob, you should keep a gun beside the bed.
And then, of course, my answer is, yes, yes, of course, this is beside the gun next to your bed and beside the Roman gladius that used to be next to the bed, it's now on the wall, fell on my foot in the dark too many times. And I decided I just don't need a sword next to the bed.
But anyway, we all have our druthers, right? Some things we should have, we should probably have a firearm close at hand if we're concerned about home invasion or anything like that.
But we should also have a knife. And here's the stipulation for the knife.
This comes out of my imagination.
This is a knife that is there for, here's the scenario.

[32:55] Maybe you've had a party, maybe you've gone to bed, three sheets to the wind.
Maybe you're a little bit buzzed, tired, drunk, whatever it is, and you're a heavy sleeper.
And someone breaks into your house, and they start to strangle you.
Now, I can hear you all laughing and rolling your eyes, but stranger things have happened.
And if you find yourself in this situation where you're awakened in a horrible state, and you need to get someone off of you, you do not want a giant, giant knife.
Now, this was the knife, this is the OG. This is the knife that I've had by my bed since 1988.
This is the Cold Steel Tanto, original Cold Steel Tanto, and it's just gone with me everywhere and been by my bed all the time.
But rarely do I think of this now as my bedside knife. This is usually in the drawer next to the bed.
I'm talking about the thing right on the bedside that you can reach over in the dark and grab.
And then the other important thing, it's gotta be small Because you don't want to be trying to like...

[34:00] Defend yourself with something too large, you don't want to hurt yourself either, and you gotta be able to pop the sheath off.
It cannot be a folder. I don't care how much you fidget and fiddle, it cannot be a folder.
I was considering maybe an out the front, but even then, too much failure can happen and too much dexterity and awareness is required.
So it's gotta be small, it's gotta be fixed, and you have to be able to pop the sheath off.
So let's start here. This is a knife I just gave to my wife, but it used to be mine.
Counter-Tac 2. Now this is an awesome neck knife. Believe it or not, this thing, it carries so well. It barely prints.
It's not even that thin, but it barely prints.
It's super light, and it is also, incidentally, the neck knife of choice for Lynn Thompson.
But this knife is nice and small.
You can pop off the sheath. That sheath is now on the floor.
And you have this double-edged, hollow on the backside, which is a little nasty, tiny little knife in your hand that you can use to motivate someone to get off of you.

[35:12] Now, you might say that this is a vanishingly rare scenario, and thank God you're right, but it's something people should be prepared for, and as knife people, I know we have knives all over the house, but this is a good one to think about having.
This is very simple, this is not for cutting, or slicing, as it is for just sticking in, Look at that, look at the point of that, it's like a...
It's like a chisel spear. So it's also got a nice grippy handle and guards so your hand's not gonna slide up onto that blade.
So first is the Counter-Attack II. Second, this is a great knife for gun retention.
This was a knife that was originally designed to help an armed law enforcement officer, who's in a struggle for his gun. This is to help him maintain control of his gun.
This is the Ka-Bar TDI.

[36:13] This sheath pops off easily. Now, as you can see, they don't all shoot off, through the fitting, but if your arm is reaching over and you do this and it falls on the floor, good enough.
So this is the same concept. Small blade, that's a two and a half inch blade, 1095 blade steel, wicked sharp, in a handle that's very intuitive, to anyone who's comfortable with guns uses pistols a lot.
So as you can see, the blade protrudes from the hand like a pistol.
You could unzip something organic easily by just doing this, sticking it in, and driving it down.
So this is a small enough and also, by the way, dark enough knife.
It might not be seen sitting there on the bed stand. That's another thing I think of.
Not all of these are dark, but you You might consider that just because, you don't want to offer a weapon of opportunity, to someone in your house.
So that's why I keep my stuff locked up, this room locked up.
I would hate to have one of the doors off the wall.
That'd be terrible. So this TDI is great. Also, it's just a great little self-defense carry.
And if you're not gonna use it for self-defense, which most people never will.

[37:34] It will do you great service as a utility knife.
Look at this, in terms of opening boxes and stuff, doing the work for you with that curve.
So that's the TDI by K-Bar. Now that one used to live in my gun safe next to the bed.

[37:52] And then I decided to, and I also had a couple of gold coins in there.
I didn't know what I was thinking I was gonna do with that gun safe, like grab it and run, but I decided to empty everything else.
There's no, well, I got a new gun safe, but also just so that there's no grabbing anything extra or accidentally, especially if you're groggy and sleepy. And by the way, all of this stuff should be practiced.
Just like you practice your jab, your cross, your hook, or you practice your speed by running, or whatever you practice.
You practice stuff at work so that you're great at work.
Well, you should practice this stuff too. Like lying in bed with the covers over you in whatever position, I'm always, you know, and then practice jumping out of bed, rolling onto the ground, opening up the gun safe, or grabbing the knife, or whatever it is.
All that stuff should be practiced.
Just so that it's a part of your thinking, and a part of your muscle memory.

[38:44] Okay, next up, this one is really, I've loved this knife for a long time.
This is the CRKT Obaki.
And this is a small fixed blade neck knife.
It comes with a neck lanyard and this really cool little skull bead.
You know me, I'm not huge into the skull motif, but I love this little skull bead, little stainless bead there, very cool.
And then, yes, you've got the James Williams design Quaken style blade.
And it's just an awesome little knife.
A lot of people are kind of down on CRKT. This is one that everyone should have.
Great little fixed blade knife.
These are, this is actual lace on the Sukamaki wrap that's impregnated with epoxy so that it's nice and stiff.
And I always hold the Sukamaki, the Japanese wrap, this way so you can see those alternating peaks valleys where you're fat of your hand and your fingers just nestle in and the grip is amazing.
This of course is real slender and very stab oriented so no matter which way you grab it in, This sheet pops off nicely, I forgot to show that, but...

[39:57] The sheath pops off nicely, and you can get it in either way.
However it goes in, however it's oriented, it's going in without any trouble.
So this is a good little one. Again, it's an under, it's about a four-inch blade, so it's not too much knife to be wielding in the dark.
And by the way, this is all theoretical, of course.
You might have someone else in that bed with you. You have to be so careful.
Again, I tell people this too. You have to be really careful if you're a guy like me, who, you know, when you're comfortable late at night and you're in the house and you got your pajamas on or whatever, you got that folding knife in your pocket, don't forget about that folding knife when you get into bed, especially if it's a Delica, something small and light, you could forget about it.

[40:45] It would take a lot of chance, but that knife could come out and open up in the bed, and imagine how horrible that would be. So just be careful.
This is kind of a whimsical conversation about self-defense from dead sleep here, but just on the note of seriousness, just be careful with the knives and the bed.
Especially those folders that you forget you have on you. I've done it a few times and I've woken up totally, totally grateful, thankful that nothing had mortified at my stupidity.
Okay, next up, that's not an uncommon feeling, but in this case, a dangerous stupidity.
Okay, here is another one that I love, and it's kind of in the same realm as that CRKT, and it's a little higher end. It's the Topps RapidStrike, and that shoots off.
I just didn't want to launch it off the floor.
You can just, with the thumb, a slight nudge on that little thumb ramp, boom.
It goes flying off, and then you have this very capable four and a half inch slender fighter.
That's a fighter style blade.
And in my case, I have the double edge, you can get it single edge.
That's default, I guess. Or you can buy it double edged here.
You've got jimping all the way around the handle.

[42:07] Sitting just below the top contour of the, or just sitting below the contour of the entire handle.
But when you squeeze it, your flesh sinks into that. And then up here, just really great for that thumb.
You're not going to slide up onto that secondary edge. It's got such a nice grip.
This is another one. It doesn't matter how you hold it, even if it's a reverse, I mean, even if it's a single edge, any way you thrust it, it's going in.
And you don't have to worry too much about a curve, you don't have to worry too much about an upsweep or anything like that, but it's small and manageable and you'll be able to pop the sheath off.
Also, if this is something that you're not just laughing at and you're actually considering.

[42:52] That this is something you wanna think about, also think about where you place it.
I always have mine just beyond my phone. My phone is always closer, it's my alarm and everything, and it's a full extension of the arm. I'm on my back, boom, my hand lands right on it.
It's usually on top of a Bible, and boom, grab it.
Go to, you know, if need be. So just practice where it is and how you're gonna deploy it if you actually need to use it. Next up is the Waxahachi from SenCut.
This is a really cool one. This was a gift from my brother-in-law, and it's funny, because I was eyeing it up.
I thought, I should get that robot. you have enough, and then he got it for me.
And that's the sign of someone who really knows you.
Got a great brother and a great brother-in-law, I'm a lucky man.
But this one pops right off too.

[43:44] And then reveals that really, really nice blade. That is a clip point blade that looks to me a lot like the very first button lock knife that the Wee Sabibi Sen Cut brand put out.
That was the Cogent, a little bit of an upsweep before you hit the, the, uh...
The down of the swedge, and then the tip below center line so you get great utility cuts, still maintaining a belly.
So this is the, to me it's the best kind of clip point blade for EDC in that it's got the tip down low.
But you still get that widening effect from having this upward slope to the swedge.
So the thing I like about this a lot, Those lightning holes in the handle really give you great grip, give you a place to sink in.
Even if you grab it wrong, or have an abbreviated grip somehow, you can really lock into those lightning holes right here, and make good use of this knife.
You know, grab it accidentally like this, and it's all janky, you still have a really great grip on it, because my fingers just sink into those holes.
So, very nice. This is a 9Cr18MoV blade steel.

[45:05] And this is one that I recommend a lot because it's a great, inexpensive, everyday carry fixed blade knife. And I carry this one in this forward scout carry.
Though, I'm not a big fan of these big, giant, fat, these are the only ones I had around, these old in-the-waistband carry straps.
I'm gonna get some new ones that are much more slender. But I do like this knife in that front scout position.
Okay, next up is probably the biggest knife, well it is the biggest in terms of length knife in this.

[45:42] Cavalcade, but if it's too long for you, you can get it in a shorter version. I just don't have it to show off here, but this is the Spyderco Street Bowie. They have one called the Street Beat that, has a three and a half inch blade, but this one and this one, like it doesn't shoot off, but it basically falls off.
The sheath is very loose.

[46:05] And that's one of the things I actually like about it. Because it makes drawing it, it makes flicking the, I mean I just flicked that off with my thumb.
And my thumb is jacked up for some reason. So it comes out really easily.
But what you have here, and what I like about this knife besides the business end of course, that great bowie shaped blade, is this typically designed Fred Perrin handle.
Fred Perrin, a French badass, former commando dude, and just close quarters combat expert, and designer of really great knives.
He always uses, in very traditional French form, he uses the blade as the guard.
So that little finger notch in there is angled. It's not a perfect half circle.
It's angled with a flat in the back, which also changes the angle of the blade on a slash, angling it down a little more.
But you have just an incredible grip here. This is a bit of rubber, rubberized material set into this GRN molded handle, and usually I don't go for rubber, but this isn't too grippy, just grippy enough, and it has a lot to it.
You grab it like this, you're good to go, even with that choil.

[47:16] You grab it like this, it's never coming out of your hand. Even if your hand gets wet, you've got the contours of this handle keeping it in, and you have this rubber keeping it in your hand.
So if you still have grip, if you still have tendons in your wrist, you'll still be able to hold on to this thing.
And use it however you need to use it.
This one I keep this very happy little lanyard on there for a little bit of cognitive dissonance.
I carry this one in the park often.
This one, actually not recently, but this got a lot of carry in the park.
It's also a really fun throwing knife.
You can see from the tip, I've whipped this into my target outside quite a bit.
Very nice knife. This one took me a while to get a nice edge on, though, I got to say.
But anyway, that is the Street Bowie or the Street Beat Bowie designed by Fred Perrin.

[48:11] Next up, this is the heaviest. This was my bedside knife for a while, last year.
This is the Off-Grid Knives, yeah, and that just goes flyin'.
Off-Grid Knives Backcountry. This is the Backcountry Coyote, comes in black.
This is the V2 of this knife, where the handle has been contoured very nicely.
It used to be kind of a squared-off, Lego-style handle, if you will, but they contoured it and put these nice big chamfers down here making this, and the honeycombs making this, a super comfortable knife in hand.

[48:50] It's marketed so that it can be sold on Amazon, basically as an outdoors knife, but it is very, it was tactical in inspiration.
I do know that from Cary Orifice, the guy who designed this.
So yes, it does great in the back country, but it also does great in the back alley, I would imagine.
And on the bed, the bedside table, it inspires confidence. I had it for a while.
And a big part of that is how well the sheath is formed and how it flies right out.
But another part to me is that recurve. If you push this into something past the widest point, it's going to be a big hole and then you have that recurve which will really aid in cutting.
In whatever you're cutting, whether you're feather sticking or doing other stuff, this is going to be a great knife for that. I love how the sheath pops off and not too large at five inches to be effective with it. Alright, so these two are the largest right here.
Next up, now the next three are customs, but they are customs within reach.
And what I mean by that is if you have a ZT in your collection, or if you have a Benchmade, in your collection, or a Jack Wolf knife in your collection, these are all within reach.

[50:19] Some hovering, all of them hovering around 200 bucks. a little more in some cases there.
But okay, first is the Pocket Rocket by Auxiliary Manufacturing.

[50:32] Michael Jarvis in Auxiliary Manufacturing is really blowing up, you've gotta check them out.
He just does incredible, incredible knives. I love the designs and his builds, I can vouch for all day long.
This one here, I'm gonna, there, it just flies right off.
And also, it makes a cool sound. I'm going to put this in front of the mic for a sec.
Listen to this coming in and out.

[50:58] I don't know if you can hear that, but it's got a cool texture on the inside that engages the blade. Anyway, pops right off, and here you have in your hand a three-inch dagger.
That's a, I don't remember the blade's name, I think it's Nitro-B. But you have a handle in your hand, almost more importantly than the blade, that works in any orientation.
It's octagonal and cross-section here.
And then it's got scooped facets in the top, near the pommel and near the ricasso for your fingers to land in and to pinch.
And that's one of the things I love about this knife. I love everything about this knife, but something I love a lot is how is this handle and how no matter how you grab it, whether it's like a shovel or whether it's like Saber or it's Canted Halfway Caddy compass in between, or it's in reverse grip, no matter how you have this in your hand, you're gonna be able to use it to great effect.
And this one being nice and small and being double edged, you're really getting a lot out of your.

[52:12] Out of your get off me effort with the double edge there. Also super acute point, very much like the broad head I was showing before. I mean, the point is just insanely acute.
And yet stout with that center ridge and that super even grind.
Wow. This one has a paper micarta handle that I really like, or yeah, and brass pins.
And he's doing these in all sorts of different carbon fibers and he uses different layers of, he's been building some really beautiful handles.
So check out Auxiliary Manufacturing. you will be happy you did.
Second to last knife, this will probably be no surprise, it is not the Nova 1, because that's not readily available, but this is, and it's what the Nova 1 is based on.
I'm gonna do this gently, because it will fly.
The sheath flies right off. This is the Hogtooth Knives EDC Tanto.

[53:13] Also a custom knife, he makes these and you can buy them, or you can custom order one.
They're under, they're 250, I believe. I don't wanna speak for the man, but I believe they're 250 bucks.
And if you got something like this, if you got this EDC Tanto or something else from him, but this in particular, what you would be getting is a perfectly fit-in-hand, custom-made, 154CM, super sharp, hollow ground Tanto here, melt-in-your-hand handle.
And battle proven. I'm not gonna tell you this story, but this, not this particular specimen, but this model knife has been used to save the life of at least one person that Matt Chase knows.
A deployed son of a friend had one of these and it saved his life in a very, you know, scary way.

[54:12] And so you know that this thing will work for this topic here, this bedside strangler topic.
That's kind of what was happening to this individual. He was being smothered, basically, and was able to use this knife to save himself.
So this not only is intuitively incredible for this job, but we also just know anecdotally that it has done the job, and to great aplomb.
So this EDC tanto by Hogtooth Knives is a serious contender for great bedside knife.

[54:49] Okay, last up in this list is my current bedside knife. I just decided I'd leave that one for last.
So these are in no particular order, but this one is pretty awesome.
All right, this is the Tecal Knives Guardian.
Okay, so here it is, and the sheath flicks off.
That would slide right to the ground. And here you have a triple-edged wharncliffe blade here.

[55:18] Triple-edged. And something that you get from TKEL knives that he really thinks about, especially for his EDCs, he's like, I would say his bread and butter are the smaller knives that people carry every day.
He makes a couple of large, more combat-style knives, but these smaller knives, he really focuses on making the handles just big enough, so that there's A, not a lot to carry, not a lot to print when you're carrying it, not a lot to get in the way when you're carrying it, but also when it's in your hand, not a lot to disarm with.
If you have a lot of extra handle hanging out there, there's a chance it gets caught on something, on your shirt, on the other guy's able to lever it out of your hand.
Using that, whatever it is, the handle is just big enough to fit in your hand.
And then this, of course, has a super wide, this is what you're getting when you get a Guardian, or a Guardian-style blade. He makes a couple of other knives in this blade style.
You can see how shallow that grind is. This is not made for cutting cheese, or slicing salami, or cutting bread.
This is meant for slap gashing, if you will, and thrusting and making big holes in bad guys.
Like, that's what this is for. It is not a...

[56:39] A nuanced blade, this is not a knife to do nuanced work with.
This is something that you're thrusting away and gashing and doing all sorts of caveman motions with, to get your way. And your way is get off of me and get out of my home.
And this is a great next to the bed knife.
And again, just to reiterate, these are supplementary to your main strategy.
Probably is a firearm, and if it's not a firearm, maybe it's a baseball bat, or maybe it's something that gives you more distance, maybe it's a sword, maybe it's bear spray, I don't know.
But consider a small fixed blade knife with a sheet that pops off easily for this role of a bedside strangler get-off tool.
Tool. Right, okay, well thank you so much for joining me on this. I want you to consider what it is that you keep next to your bed and is it what it's there for and drop it in the comments. Let me know, do you have a bedside knife? Am I nuts? Am I just screaming into the wilderness at people who are rolling their eyes thinking, this guy, man, what do you...

[57:56] Probably, there's a bit of that, but let me know. We all have imaginations, we all have things that we worry about, we all have fears.
This is a big one of mine, and I will be damned if I let anyone come into my house uninvited.
And if they make it all the way in, because I've been stupid and had a beer, too many the night before, this is one option for helping the situation.
All right, be sure to join, be sure to listen to Doody's Daggers interview this week.
He's an awesome guy with a great channel. If you love slip joints, you'll love this, but also if you like blade testing, you'll love this.
Great personality on the guy, too, so be sure to join us there.
Also, Thursday Night Knives, tomorrow night with Doug Ritter.
Be sure to join us there.
Ask him questions. This is gonna be an open forum.

[58:44] He's gonna be talking about his efforts to strike down the unconstitutional federal switchblade ban, but he'll be talking about so much more, including his auto RSK Mark I. Cannot wait. All right, be sure to join us then. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.
Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review at reviewthepodcast.com. For show notes for today's episode, additional resources and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, theknifejunkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at theknifejunkie.com slash YouTube. Check out some great knife photos on theknifejunkie.com slash Instagram and join our Facebook group at theknifejunkie.com, slash Facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob at theknifejunkie.com or call our 24 seven listener line at 724-466-4487. And you may hear your comment or question, answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie Podcast.

[59:47] Music.