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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] Coming up, the ProTech Malibu, I get a bevy of Rosecraft traditional knives, and the best knives of 2023.
I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie Podcast.
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.

[0:27] Welcome back to the show. My favorite comments from this past week were from a couple from HeroStix, our good friend HeroStix.
He says, I like the look of that propaginator. That's a new suburbia, I believe.
Apparently it means a male champion or defender.
Clunky word, cool definition.
And then he said, again, he comes back and says, forgive me, bit of a word nerd.
But a natter is a UK term for an adder snake.
And a natter is also a type of dragon in most fantasy realms.
So I'm always going off about the weird names we're hearing from Civivi like the keen natter.
I had some ideas some inkling that it had to do with a snake.
I didn't know about the dragons. Very cool. And yeah, propagnator I could have just looked up I'm sure it's there in the dictionary but male champion or defender.

[1:18] Great definition, clunky word. Thanks HeroStix, appreciate those.
And then we got another comment that I liked from Brandon Maples.
And it was a comment on the Thursday Night Knives, excite me about modern folders, same.
I've lost a lot of interest in folders, more excited about fixed blades, especially T-kel. Well, I can definitely concur with you on the T-kel train, and I've been very into fixed blades, but recently very into slip joints.
So folders indeed, but just kind of, I've been not as interested as the titanium frame locks, if you will, except there's an exception to that in today's lineup of best knives of 2023.
Well, there are a couple of them, actually.
All right. Well, I think it might be time to get to a pocket check.
What's in his pocket? Let's find out.

[2:14] Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives. In my front right pocket, I had the awesome Spyderco Yojumbo.
Beautiful knife designed by Michael Janich. This is the big brother of his Yojimbo II.
The Yojimbo II, incidentally, is so much of a better knife, if you ask me, so much a better design than the Yojimbo I.
I've held both in hand, and just looking at them, the Yojimbo II was definitely a very well-earned and nicely done, too.
And then the Yojimbo, awesome, and now they have the mini-jimbo, is that what they're calling it?
I probably won't get that, but the Yojimbo and the Ojumbo are classics.
That's just terrible left-hand manipulation.
This one, I took down that middle finger partition.
For me, it's much more comfortable like that, and then I put on an MXG gear clip, which used to be all the rage for me, but now, with how thick they are and the button locks, they're cool, they're fine, but they are a little high profile on the pants.
So you do have to be careful with the pockets. So, yo jumbo.

[3:28] Little leather pocket carrier thing I have with my space pen and my little IT5 light.
I had the feel-good jack here from Jack Wolf Knives, the classic doctor's knife with the nearly parallel spine and belly portion of the handle terminating with a totally flat end for crushing up pills.
Traditionally, this had two different tools, a blade, spear point blade, and a sort of spatula that you would use to stir up the crushed pills and tinctures you'd be making on your house calls.
But I love this knife. It's a very svelte, but long and capable knife.
So it's got everything you want in a slip joint because it tucks away very easily being very thin, but it also gives you that nice broad, hollow-ground sheep's foot blade, we call it.
Very nice accent on that, by the way. Alright, next up, speaking of teakale knives, I had my Knight Stalker on the belt today.

[4:34] Just one of my favorite, favorite, favorite fixed blade knives to carry, because it just disappears on the waist, but is so easy to retrieve, whether it's in, for me, saber grip on the left hand side, or reverse grip on the main right hand side.
And just a very, very comfortable knife, and a great knife just to use, to pull out to use.
Yes, it's highly capable as a defensive weapon, but just as a knife to pull out and use for whatever you need your knives for. It's great, and so are all the other TKELs, with one exception, I'd say the Guardian, and the Guardian-like knives.
Those are very much intended to be skin-splitting weapons. They are not meant to cut anything other than humans.
So, with that exception, I would say all TKEL knives. They're just great on-the-belt utility knives.

[5:24] Okay, lastly, I had emotional support in my off-grid Stinger EDC today.
I've had this a few weeks now.
This is the new one that came out with the Cayman XXL Bowie drop.
This is the small version, the 3-inch version of the 4-inch Stinger.
The 4-inch Stinger has a very, very similar handle, I would say exactly the same, just larger by whatever percentage, but that blade is different on the Stinger EDC.
This is more of a drop point. The other is a spear point bayonet ground, so it's got a full swedge up to about a thumb's length up the back of the blade, and it has a center, you know, medial ridge where the two grinds meet.
Even though it's one of the most oblique of the off-grid knives, folders, grinds, it's still wickedly thin and extremely capable as a cardboard cutter, for instance, and this little fully flat ground version of that knife is, I would say, right there. It's just as.

[6:33] Just as slippery through the materials. I love this one, and they also sent me a black one, which we will be giving away here. So this is what I had in my pocket.
Let me know what you had, drop it down below. I had the Yojumbo, I had the Feel Good Jack, the Night Stalker from T-PAL, and the new Stinger EDC from Off-Grid Knives, now available.
Also, just to note, we have an affiliate link with Off-Grid Knives.
So if you like them, if you wanna buy any Off-Grid knife, you can go to theknifejunkie.com slash off-grid. That will take you to a page.
You could buy your off-grid knife, and then somewhere down the road, we get a couple of cents there.
So, that's a nice little program, and do check it out if you have the desire or the means.
Okay, next up, I just wanna take a brief moment to talk about a couple of traditional knives that have proven themselves to be absolute cardboard devourers in the last 24 hours.
And the first is going to be the Jumbo Stockman from Case.
I hear some of the eye rolling. I know a lot of people don't like Case.

[7:41] I guess I can understand. I am in a Case mode.
I've always loved them, especially their carbon steel models.
They don't make too many of them and they seem to spend special attention on them.
They're always super sharp and never have any trouble. Like, the heat treat on this is proven to me now, especially on this blade here, the Sheep's Foot.
Yesterday, we had so many Amazon boxes.
The Christmas presents are coming in from my parents, who are early.

[8:13] You know, they get the Christmas presents out early, so we've got all those boxes to break down.
And it's my daughter's birthday, so we have all those boxes to break down.
And I used this and wanted to see how long the edge I put on it.
Didn't come with a great edge, would last.
And it lasted through more cardboard boxes than I expected and just kept coming.
This is 1095, I believe now, is what they're using in encased carbon steel blades.
So yeah, I'm loving this one, especially that sheep's foot, did a great job.
It's kind of angled down.
So I like to cut cardboard by pulling towards me.
And this works great because it traps the material in that space there. Great knife.
Oh, I like it. You might not like it, but I have a special place in my heart, in case.
And then next up, as I mentioned up front, I got a bunch of Rosecraft blades, well, three, and they're all awesome, but this one is really cool.
This is the one I almost didn't get, because it's kind of funky looking.
This is the kayak, the Okosi, oh, I don't, I'm sorry, I'm having a blank on how to pronounce that, but it is a river, and Rosecraft names their out the river, which I think is cool.
Somewhere in the south. And this is a kayak, and it's a take on.
That's a new, look at the handle shapes, very similar.

[9:37] Designed by Andy Armstrong, they were doing, he was designing, I believe, I think he designed the kayak for Case.

[9:46] Plus Case Reserve, or not Case, Rough Rider Reserve before Rosecraft, and brought that handle design and blade, but made the blade a little more robust.

[9:58] Gave it that nice belly and that severe, sort of downward angle this thing is amazing especially in that sort of pull cut scenario I was just going through.
So this is D2 and a little bit fatter a blade than this.
It feels different but the broadness of the blade the super sharpness of it and that D2 holds a great edge.
So these two were on cardboard duty. I gotta say the case did more I used the case more than I did this but I was so impressed by also the action and the lock on this is very stout.
So there was no, a couple of times I had this happen with this knife when I was going through thick cardboard and maybe I hesitated or jerked back and it would get stuck and that happened maybe two or three times.
Nothing that I was concerned about in terms of cutting me but that did not happen with this at all. It's a very stout lockup, you know, for a non-locking knife.
And then the ergonomics, so comfortable.
It's just a funky looking knife. I think that's why it's kind of always available.
I would check it out. If you have any interest in Rosecraft blades, if you like them or have not yet, you know, gotten your feet wet with them, get that knife.
That is really, that Kayak is a very cool knife and very capable and beautiful to look at. The bones, the red bone is really gorgeous.

[11:22] All right, before we move on to life knife news, knife life news, I want to talk about the upcoming very exciting giveaway for the gentleman junkie.
This is your opportunity to win a Malibu in reverse tanto here beautiful new brand new Malibu inbox from our good friends at Northern Knives.
Northern Knives, they they join us a lot on Thursday Night Knives, great conversation.
Great taste in knives, they have a really cool outfit up there in Anchorage, Alaska, and yeah, I'm very interested in finding out more about them someday.
Perhaps I meet them in person up in their turf, that would be very cool.
This is 20CV, this is like the original, amazing flipper button lock, it is really astounding.
It's Pro-Tech, you know, Pro-Tech's been making button locks forever, just in that automatic format, So I don't think it was too much of a jump, but they really nailed the detent on this one.
Just incredible, crisp detent. I like to hold this one up for the mic because it sounds so nice.

[12:33] Opening up in that aluminum handle. Anyway, if you are a Gentleman Junkie, that is a supporter on Patreon at the $10 level, that's our top tier, you will automatically be in the running to win this on Thursday, December 21st.
Just an absolutely beautiful knife. Thank you very much, Okay.

[12:58] That is it for this section of the KnifeJunkie podcast.
Coming up, we're going to take a look at some new knives coming out on the market in KnifeLife News.
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The shallow finger grooves and streamlined shape of this model allow it to remain ultra-compact but still provide a usable 3 finger grip and it weighs only 1.4 ounces.
And Kniveship Free is having a sale on the Spyderco Thin Red Line and Thin Blue Line knives that feature their lightweight FRN with combo edge VG10 blades.
Grab one for 30% off while you still can. Get these deals and other great specials from our friends at Kniveshipfree.
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 slash Kniveshipfree.
You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast.
And now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News. Brand new from Spartan Blades, I always love saying that because I love Spartan Blades.
They have something brand new, it's a collaboration with the Czech, or the founder of the Czech company, he's a co-founder of the Czech company.

[14:25] Acta Non Verba, A-N-V, really beautiful combat knives, especially their daggers in my opinion.
But they have teamed up with him to produce this.
This is either in G10 or in textured G10 or in textured titanium.
It is called the Nemec because the gentleman's name is Andre Nemec.
And I'm looking at it and I'm seeing a gentleman's folder.
I'm seeing a CEO style folder. I'm seeing a Ocaso Solstice style folder.
Something totally unexpected to me from Spartan Blades.
But it is beautiful, it is sleek, and perhaps it's for the owner of a contracting company, you know, military contracting company, who's got the important meetings he's gotta go to in a suit and needs something light and capable.

[15:25] I say that sort of jokingly, but that's how I see this. To me, it's a very sleek, sleek, modern gents folder.
That's three and a half inches of S35VN, tie, or I'm sorry, I said G10, it's carbon fiber or tie, liner lock with a milled texture. Those are available now.
Always exciting to see new Spartan collaborations because they mine some of the best talent out there.
And this is an interesting, I don't wanna say departure, It's an interesting addition to their lineup.
All right, next up is the Kaiser Huntsman. This one's an interesting one.
I can't tell if I like it or not, I gotta be honest. I like its audacity, and there was a time in the past where I think I would have gone totally bonkers over the blade, but this is from James Lowe, designer James Lowe, and it's named after the Huntsman spider, a giant, nasty, nasty creature.
I used to be terribly arachnophobic, now I'm just only sort of arachnophobic.
When I moved to Philadelphia and discovered cockroaches, well that disaffected me of a lot of my arachnophobia.
Anyway, this one is as big and mean looking as its namesake.
Look it up, it's a terrifying spider.
It's 3.82 inches of S35VN, now just a stolid classic, that's almost kind of like B2 at this point, but I love it.

[16:54] Very cool blade shape. I'm not a big fan of windows through blades or multiple holes through blades.
An opening hole is fine to me, but that I'm not so crazy about.
I do like the external stop pins slash thumb studs, and the handle widens out in a sort of pleasing way, looks a bit like the Evo, or...

[17:18] Or maybe a little bit of a strider. But interesting knife.
I just like seeing that they do interesting blades over there at Kaiser and are always willing to take chances, even on their high-end titanium sculpted affairs like this. This one is coming soon.
All right, next up. This is an exciting one. Actually, I have an opportunity to get the folding brother of this one, but right now I'm not made of money, so I think I might have to say no to that. but this is the Emerson Knives Tim Kennedy Fixed Blade.
We all know Tim Kennedy, total stud extraordinaire.
He was a Green Beret, he still is I guess, and MMA fighter, he was in the UFC for a brief period of time, and he's also sort of a political commentator. Interesting guy.
Well, this is his second collaboration with Emerson Knives, and this is a beautiful 4.8 inch fixed blade version of his folder.
I love it, I love the long slender lines of it.
It's like a fighting buoy, it's like a Hell's Bells or something like that.
I like that style of buoy.
And you need a little bit of length to really express that style.

[18:34] Otherwise it's gonna be frighteningly thin and you don't want that.
But, yeah, that long, tapered, fighting style, that's, ah, I think it's a beauty.
I'm rarely, shall I say, tempted by Emerson fixed blades, but this one is, I don't know, strumming some heart strings here.
It's the usual 154CM, that's how they do it, and that's how they do it. They know 154CM.
G10, as usual, chisel edge with a saber grind on both sides.
We grind. Pydex, coming soon!
To a knife store near you. Okay, last up here is one I will be able to show you in person in a few minutes, but this is definitely newsworthy.
It's Jack Wolf Knives' second locking folder. Man, alive is this gorgeous.

[19:24] Ben Belkin just proving his talent once again. He's not just a one-trick pony.
He's not just amazing at designing traditional-style slip joints, and by that I mean using the kick and not a stop pin, as well as some other factors.
Not only is he a master at designing those, but he has proven himself with the Gunslinger, and now again with the After Hours Jack that he can make the design of beautiful and dare I say perfect front flipping folder. This thing is awesome.

[20:00] I'm really thrilled about it. I can't wait to show you mine.
But it is in carbon fiber. I think they've got two different versions of carbon fiber on this one.
They have this gorgeous keranite as pictured here, that lime and black swirl keranite.
It's beautiful next to the black anodized titanium and the PVD coated blade.
And they also feature a smooth tie, which I will show you in a minute, and a jigged titanium. The Jig Titanium is raw with a satin ground blade, I believe.
3.14 inches of S90V, super thin and awesome in terms of the grind, and it will be available as you are hearing this, if you're hearing this the day it's dropped, the day after tomorrow.
But December 15th, 2023, please go live.
So do check out your favorite purveyors.
He is selling these knives. he's got a lot of dealers, he's got an expanded capacity so you don't have to sit there constantly refreshing to get a jackwolf knife which is so thrilling for both Ben and his business but also for us who like to buy his knife.
All right, thank you very much for joining us for KnifeLife News.
Let us get to the state of the collection but before we do I just want to say again.

[21:26] Thank you for your support, I appreciate it. Thanks for the likes and the comments, I appreciate it.
Thanks for checking out Patreon with the QR code or theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon. It's greatly appreciated.
I'm very much looking excited, looking excited, looking forward to another great year, seeing what's coming next from the makers and from the companies, and I'm starting to see some of that drip out, and it's very exciting, so stick with us.
All right, still to come, we're going to take a look at some new Rosecraft knives and a case right here on the KnifeJunkie.com.
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[22:24] That's theknifejunkie.com slash saveongas.
And now that we're caught up with Knife Life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
I mentioned before I was waxing poetic about the beautiful red bone on the kayak here from Rosecraft Blades.
And man, is it nice. Now, I think that they do a really, really stellar job with their bone dying.

[22:54] Okay, so I got this knife. I put the little leather fob on there.
This one is, I've been carrying it just dropped in the pocket.
It does fit in my little, in my little leather case thing that I keep in my pocket. It does fit in there.
But I just drop it in, it bangs around the pocket.
It's not so long that if it goes horizontally, it's too much of a bother, even though I will obsessively reposition it. But the fob kind of keeps it oriented north to south in my pocket because it grabs on a little bit and so I like that.
But what you can see here when I hold this and hold it upside down like that, it kind of makes it more apparent, that curve.
So when you're holding this knife like any other knife, the blade dips down like a kukri or a recurve in essence.
Also puts that point down real low. So, doing any sort of draw cut with the tip is just so easy and you are set up.
And if you, as I said before, if you have reservations because it's weird, a little bit weird looking, man, let those go because this is a great knife.
And I'm really excited about Rosecraft blades. I hope not too excited because you know where that leads.

[24:11] But here's the other one that I find really stunning. This is the French Broadjack.
I've made jokes like, oh, French Broad, it's like a lady. It's not the French Broad. I'm just a barbarian.
And the French Broad is a river.
These are all named after rivers.
And as far as I know, I think most of the slip joints, or if not.

[24:37] Because the surgeon's knife, I don't think that is too.
Any case, a really beautiful design. This reminds me of the 38 from GEC, especially the 38 special like I had from, I don't know, 2018, mine has a clip point, but it's same sort of handle.
Same sort of serpentine, maybe, that is, handle that really fits nicely, especially in the back grip.
And then here, it gives you a little more meat to pinch on to.
These have amazing walk and talk.
And by that I mean not only do they make nice sounds and have crisp action, but they have a really nice retention when they're open.
Of course they're not locked open and you can close them one handed which is nice.
But when they're open, they're very stoutly open.
You can push on the back like that. And you know, if you're using the knife properly, it's not going to be an issue because you're not going to be using the spine of your folder, especially your slip joint folder.
But look at the dye job on this.
They call this one, I think this is Candy Apple Red.

[25:52] Yeah, it's gorgeous. I really, I really like it.
I'm very much looking forward to the, what is that Barlow called, that they have the clip point coming back out.
That is a nice one too. and a really nice orange jigged bone.
Okay, the last one I got from them is a $15 keychain knife called the Awanada.
Man, this is also a great knife. This is purple G10, it comes in six different colors.

[26:24] Fully contoured, beautifully contoured G10, and it has a, I was expecting it to have, the feel of, say, like a bug out, like just light and and kind of chintzy but it's really sturdy like you can't squeeze that shut and then it has a really nice pull it's got like an eight pull or so seven or so seven or eight opening it up and it's a little easier to close I guess but uh this fuller here acts as a pull very nice um sort of patch there and you can just rip it and grip it uh pull it right open And it's a great little utility knife.
It's about an inch and a half of cutting edge.
It's D2 like everything else from them, at least in this realm here.
And a great way to spend 15 bucks, especially if you need a little knife like that in your life, this is a really good one.
And you can buy it, I think for 76 bucks, you can get all six and get them in all the different colors and then you can have an excuse to have these cool little utility knives stashed all around the place, in the car, in the kitchen, you know, in the utility room, wherever.

[27:38] I put a colorful little fob on mine. All right, last up in here, I'm gonna close this in front of the mic so you can fully appreciate.
So these use a stop pin instead of a kick.
I'm gonna put this under the camera real quick. You see that right where my thumb is?

[27:57] That bright line is a stop pin. So when you close it, it engages with the sharpening notch there and it stops the blade, meaning it will never recoil against the back spring.
With a traditionally designed slip-joint knife like this Jack Wolf knife, it's the height of this kick, this part of the ricasso, that hits the back part of the spring, and it's the height of that which determines whether or not it slaps into of the lock, and there's a lot more play in that sort of design.
It takes way more refinement, I would say, to get it so that you can get as much blade in the blade well as possible without it ricocheting across, against the back.
And that's where the real skill comes in, I gotta say, not that there's not real skill in designing these at all, these are also amazing, but there is a certain delineation in the designs there, and I think it's interesting. I love them both.
Alright, lastly, something I've wanted for years and finally pulled the trigger on.

[29:05] A case canoe. As I mentioned up front, I love case knives.
I love them for their aesthetics, really, their bone.
And then, you know, their bone, their dye jobs and all the handle materials they use, but mostly the way they do their bone.
And they really remind me of my grandpa. They always have and always will and.

[29:31] Something I love about the carbon steel knives is that they make fewer of them and they seem to lavish them with more attention like Rarely do I see gaps on any of my, carbon steel case knives and This is also no exception, So, the canoe is called a canoe because if you look at the handle, it's canoe-shaped with those bolsters that come up.
Traditional canoe has a large spear-point main blade, and I love the Indian in the canoe etch on this one.
It just reminds me of how old-timey this knife is.
And then it has a pen blade on the other side. And I wasn't sure if it would be sharing the same spring or not, but they do not.
They both have their own independent springs.
So, great knife. Really nice walk and talk on this. Again, it came with a case edge, which means I had to take it to the stone for a little while.
It was sharp, and it was jaggedly sharp, I guess you could say.

[30:41] That's how case knives have come to me recently. I've gotten a few new ones recently and they've all been kind of, the edge is not very refined, they're sharp, but sort of field grade sharp.
But once you get there, they're now using 1095 as their carbon steel, I think before it was 1075, but in any case, as my jumbo trapper proved, or my jumbo stockman proved, They do a great, they do do a good heat treat on the carbon steels. All right, that's enough of that.
So the Case Canoe, I'm very excited about that. I'm gonna try and keep it pristine.
I don't think I want it to patina because I don't want to eventually polish off that Indian. I like the Indian.
All right, now it's time for me to show you what I think are the best knives of 2023.
You know, I wanted to make this list, and before I started, I thought, oh, I didn't get too many knives this year.
Like, what do I have to show for, you know, new knives of 2023 that aren't custom fixed blades or something?
And I realized that, yeah, you did. You got quite a few knives that were released in 2023.
And here are your top favorites. This is a baker's dozen.

[31:57] So, hang in there with me. But a very handsome baby doesn't it that.
First up, this one I'm extremely impressed with. This came out at the beginning of the year and it took me almost all year to get it.
But I've carried it so much, I love it. It is the aluminum handled iridium.
I mean, I guess they're all aluminum handled, so that was a weird way to differentiate it. I guess I should say, it's the black Iridium.
The Iridium, a new folder for the 2023 model year, for Kershaw has this crossbar lock, has a really beautiful spear point blade that evokes some of the knives from 2020, like the Lucha, has a similar blade to the Lucha in Swedge, and I really like it.
It's got a slight downward curve in a belly, making it a very good cutter in this region. As you can see, I've used this a lot for cardboard.

[32:58] This coating marred surprisingly quickly. I don't mind it because it looks like I've had it for years and I've used it for all these adventures, but really I've just cut a whole bunch of cardboard with it.
But I was surprised how quickly the black coating marred, but it didn't bother me. Very nicely, gently contoured handles.
Feels great in hand with that anodizing. And I gotta say, they have nailed the crossbar lock.
It is totally solid, including up and down, which is where you sometimes get action in a crossbar lock.
But to me, I like it even better than Hogue. I'll be 100% honest, it's my, it's my, my favorite one.
It's my favorite crossbar lock, right here on the ruby.
Very nicely done, and that is, it is D2. Great steel, great knife, and this thing just keeps an edge for a long time, too.
Very nice knife. Alright, next up, speaking of Hogue, and not speaking ill of Hogue, certainly.
As a matter of fact, one of my favorite knives from this year was produced by Hogue. It is the Ritter Hogue Auto RSK Mark I.
It has all of the greatness of the RSK Mark I regular folder, but with some refinements.
One obvious refinement or change I should say is the coil spring out the side.

[34:27] Automatic action that Hogue Knives is so good at.
So that's really great. The steel has been upgraded.
That is Magna Cut. This has some schmutz on it from the last time I used it.
Magna Cut steel. They have it to 6364, I believe. Rockwell hardness.
Even their deep carry clip, I feel like they've increased the gauge of the metal of their deep carry clip. still on that post, still with those nubby sprit.

[34:59] What do you call it, screws.
They should really consider going flat with those, especially given how tactical this is and how a lot of tactical people with thick pants, you know, or Carhartts or something might wear this.
But, you know, not a deal breaker. A very nice standoffs. This one's got a lot of dust. I've carried it a lot. It's got a lock.
But another enhancement or refinement, I should say, is the texturing, that radial sunburst texturing has been knocked down a little bit.
It's not such a pocket destroyer, but it still grips the hand really well.
So this is an awesome knife. Every time you buy one of these, this is a KnifeWorks exclusive.
Every time you buy a Ritter Hogue, you can only get those at KnifeWorks, you're putting money in the pocket of the man who is fighting for our knife rights.
You know, it's not a direct donation to Knife Rites, but it is paying his bills, which allows him to fight that fight.
So, whether you're donating, and you should, if you have the means or the desire, you should donate to Knife Rites, but also you should have this knife, it is so awesome.
Or one of the knives from this series.
Just great, great knives. And that contoured handle is also just so comfortable, you could use this all day long.

[36:18] All right, next, probably my favorite folder this year has been this, the Kaiser Mystic.
I've carried this thing so much, I love it so much.
That's a Rex 45 blade, which I originally forced a patina on and then polished it off, and some patina is coming back now, or I'm starting to put a little patina on it.
I want it to happen naturally, it looked kind of cheesy when I forced it, but Rex 45, super, super hard steel, and I can't remember how high this is on the Rockwell hardness, but a very loved steel, and apparently a pretty difficult one to sharpen.
So comes razor sharp, I don't really see the need.
I haven't used it that hard yet, but just a beautiful Palmonco design, called the Mystic after Mystic, Connecticut, where he hails from, and designed to sort of evoke the whaling industry, sort of looks like a whale, kind of with that arched form, but also has some of the characteristics of whaling equipment.
There's a harpoon there, a little on the nose, but I don't think that that was the intention.

[37:35] But, you know, it just kind of looks like a piece of whaling kit to me, like it could be hanging on a wall of a cool mystic Connecticut clapboard whaling shack.
Or it could be in the pocket of a bougie suburban knife collecting dad.
Just kidding, I'm not bougie. But love this thing. One of my favorite knives in my collection period and definitely, probably my favorite locking folder of the year.
Love it. That's linen micarta, by the way.
Another favorite from a favorite guy slash designer is the Dirk Pinkerton Nighthorse.
This one is the asymmetrical version.
It also comes in a, this is S35VN in titanium. This one happens to be a prototype, that I bought from Dirk himself, which is pretty cool, very honored to have this.
But this is what the production is like, and it's solid titanium handle slabs.

[38:42] S35VN, great bearing action, and beautiful titanium sculpted clip.
One of the best clips. I love how it sort of matches in with the whole thing, but that shape is evocative of the great Navaja, the big folding locking knife that Spaniards started carrying to settle their scores when they could no longer carry rapiers and swords.
I love this modernization of it. I love that long, flat Spanish clip point blade, that downward-sweeping edge.
This thing is just beautiful to look at, fun to carry, and also just a deadly knife.
I mean, this is definitely a fighting knife.
And I don't mean necessarily this particular thing, but the whole setup, you know, with the way the horn-shaped handle is, and everything about the Navaja is built for speed.
And I love how asymmetrical, who is beyond EDC. Beyond EDC is the parent company.

[39:44] And then they have a line called Beyond EDC that is sort of their most budget friendly.
Then they have Asymmetrical where they step up the materials to titanium and S35.
And then they have the Terramundi like the John Demko Riverwolf is made by that line.
And it's an even higher level of production in terms of materials and hand finishing.
All right, next up, one from a company that has been ever so impressive. I just love them.
They're not getting better. I think I'm just liking them more, and that's Civivi.
This is the Civivi Sentinel Strike. I got a couple that could have made this list.
I love that Synergy 4 and several others, but I had the Tomashii, but I'm not sure.
This one to me is just 2023 for Civivi.
I know a lot of people love the Cubid, or the Quibid, Cubid, which looks great.
It's also a button lock, aluminum handle, but it's just too small, and the blade to handle ratio annoys me, so I know I would never carry it.

[40:53] But this is kind of the tactical, or almost the Klingon version of that, because it's got a similar construction, though this one does have this integral backstrap, which is really cool.
It's one piece of GRN that's sculpted, it fits over the top.
So it's an integral backstrap, very similar to, reminiscent of the, some of the Whees that came out this year that had that integral backstrap.
Albeit those were made of zircuti and all sorts of exotic materials.
But that's what I love about Civivi. They do all sorts of stuff down here on this level.
They take a lot of chances down here on this level, but they also give us some of those super premium things for a lot less money.

[41:44] I love this knife. I think it's beautiful to look at and so super useful.
This has got a bunch of use too, but you can see, unlike that.
Unlike that iridium, you can barely see any markings on that blade.
Could that be because they stonewashed it after they coated it? I'm not sure.
But the Sentinel Strike is a great one and comes in a multitude of colors.
So, actually I say a multitude, not too many, but others more than this.
You know, some Civ IVs come in wood, and Injun 10, and in micarta, and this and that.
This comes in like three or four different colors. All right, next up, this is one we were just talking about, and man, it's hard to pick a favorite jackwolf knife of the year.

[42:31] And the reason I say it that way is because, you know, I want multiples of those to be on this list, because especially in my slip joint phase, I mean, he just gives me the stuff I need, man.
But this just takes the damn cake. I think everyone wanted this.
This is the folding version of the Midnight Jack, this is the After Hours Jack.
A beautiful 3.15 inch S90V bolster lock that I can't do with my left hand.
I love using the fullers on this.

[43:05] But it is a front flipper, it is a fuller flipper, it is fully hollow ground.
This one, as you can see, is anodized black and then it has this PVD coating, super thin and just a slicey blade.
To me, this is kind of, this is a perfect little folder.
This is one that is only just barely over 3 inches but has taken over front right hand pocket duty several days in a row. And that is like, never happens.
So, to me, that's an impressive thing. Something about this knife is so bad ass.
And I think the black definitely helps that image.
But with the yellow tyranite, it looks beautiful. With the various carbon fibers, it looks beautiful.
But I gotta say, this black titanium, man, does it really work on this design.
I always think that Ben's Sheepfoot blades, whether it's on this knife or on the Feel Good Jack, they look like locomotives.
They look like Art Deco locomotives racing, you know, towards the frame.

[44:26] Beautiful knife. Beautiful knife. And you can really gauge how straight that edge is when you have that black coating.
Very nice to look at. great apps.
Love me the Jack Wolf knives and I gotta say the After Hours Jack and the Gunslinger, the two folders, have really...
Really kind of shocked me with how good they are really like also Makes me consider carrying more small boulders Next up this one.
I've talked about a couple of times here now, but this is definitely on my list I wanted to put one of these two rose crafts in I gotta say I've used the Kayak a lot more.
I've carried the French broadjack But I really this past weekend used this thing a lot and it it proved itself I knew that one of these was going to be in there because of how appealing they are and how high quality they are But then once I used Use this one for quite a bit, It won me over So that is the kayak you can get a kayak style knife as I mentioned from Rough Rider Reserve, and that one has two of this style, this one you cannot pinch open, two of this style blades, though they are smaller and svelter, and it kind of looks clunky.
But here, I believe Andy Armstrong has really refined that kayak aesthetic.

[45:54] All right, next up from our good friend, Austin Jackson over at SeaRisner Cutlery.
This Lake Champlain Barlow really, really won my heart.
Very big, very snappy, slip joint knife, Barlow, you can see that is a three and a half inch blade.
This is no shrinking violet here.
Very big knife for a slip joint, but it has a spring that is commensurate, spring strength commensurate with its size.
So, make sure your fingers aren't in the way when you're closing it, but it's going to stay open for you when you're using it.
It comes in this, you can get this only at traditionalpocketknives.com, designed by Austin Jackson of C.
Reisner Cutlery, and it comes in this clip point or sheep's foot.
And man, I gotta say, I've been really, my eye has been wandering to the sheep's foot, but I do have a wandering eye when it comes to knives.
We got that full, beautiful back strap that's like so nicely hafted.
And a almost half of the length here is that titanium bolster.

[47:13] Really nice micarta. The micarta was green, but just was mostly just gray.
So I dyed it with indigo Rit dye and made it my own. Man, I absolutely love this thing.
And this is a beast of a folder, of a slip.

[47:35] And this is that modern style using the stop pin.
So that thing is so strong, that spring is so strong, but it's never gonna hit the back.
Okay, one that I got this year that is just blown up. I'm so happy and so excited to see this.
Steve Kolari Custom Knives.
He started, Steve Kolari, Super Steel Steve started making knives this year.
Late, late last year, I believe I got this one this year.
And this is one of his eight inch chef's knives. He has a couple of different designs.
It's nice to have an early one. I'm looking forward to getting another one, one of these days he does exquisite handles.
In my case, I asked for a antique micarta, and this is a sort of a chocolate brown antique micarta and beautiful black and white spacers.
This is our family kitchen knife, as you can tell.
That's 8670, I believe it's called, 8670 steel.
I think you can only get it at Pops Knife Supply. That's a very famous place among knife makers.
I think they're in Georgia or in North Carolina.

[48:48] Super thin, that's a 16th of an inch, I believe. Thin and very broad and fully flat ground.
So it's like hair thin behind the edge.
This is wearing kind of an ugly patina, but it's a patina that works just as long as my wife doesn't wash it and leave it in the cutting board.
We've done that several times but we have stopped doing that.
I just take it and polish it but I hate seeing the red the red rust on this.
On this blade, so thin that when it's dull, it still cuts like it's sharp.
So I highly, highly recommend you seek these out.
I'm sure they've gone up a little bit in price, but very reasonably priced.
Steve Kolari, he's been on the show a couple of times. He was a professional chef for many years, and now he manages kitchens.
So he has, he tests these in this crucible. He has, you know, his friends bang him around in the kitchen.
They take all sorts of abuse and shock, and he's got the heat treat down.
They hold an edge great, but they're also, like, very tough.

[49:59] You know, they can take dropping, and all the banging into metal and marble and stuff, that happens to knives in kitchens.
So, I highly recommend you see God Steve Kolari Custom Knives.
Also, he does a great paring knife.
That is the knife that my daughters like to use because it's smaller.
All right, next up, this one just dropped and is very exciting to me.
I'm a big fan of auxiliary manufacturing. I've been carrying the Pocket Rocket 3-inch dagger for a year in appendix very frequently. Love that knife.
And I love all of his knives and his clean aesthetic.
And he's another guy who makes awesome kitchen knives, but he's way more focused on his EDC fixed blades these days.
Auxiliary manufacturing, Michael Jarvis, he just dropped this pocket Bowie, and I am in love with this thing.
First of all, here it is in its little sheath. This I have carried, actually just dropped in the pocket like this several times.
It works actually quite nicely next to a folder in my right pocket.
I know that's weird to double up like that, but I need my left pocket available for my phone.
So, but I'm gonna shock cord this. I'm gonna put the 550 and just wear it in the waistband.
But it chugs right out and here it is. Beautiful little recurve.

[51:25] I love this. This is AEDL stainless steel and it's got a full swedge.
It's a nice thick chunk. It's about, I'm not sure how thick that is.
Obviously it's less than a quarter inch but it's pretty thick.

[51:42] Oh, three sixteenths of an inch. Duh. I'm just remembering the birth card now.
But look at this. It's got a coffin shaped handle which is a classic bowie shape, but who knew it would fit so nicely as a small handle.
We always think of a coffin shape as that swelling out at the end being sort of at the end of your hand so it doesn't slip out, but it also fits really nicely in the palm of the hand.
This faceting here nestles itself, butts itself in really nice if you're going to use this in sort of a pushing saber grip.
Whether it is you're fighting, which you're probably not, or using it to cut into something tough like a big thick clamshell package or something, it fits very nicely like that.
It also happens to fit very nicely in reverse grip.
I have medium sized hands. If you have giant hands, it might get a little bit lost, but for me, it fits perfectly across my palm for sort of a more tactical fighting grip with this.
But the cool thing about it is you can also just flip it around and it's totally symmetrical, except for right here obviously, but it's pretty much symmetrical and you can have a great pical style grip on this knife.

[53:10] This knife, which is wickedly sharp. This reminds me of a, um...
Microtech in how it has sort of an oblique approach but is so damn sharp it's like you know it might not be super slicey because of the blade geometry but it is super sharp my god yeah so this knife comes in this green and orange g10 it also comes in a really tasteful sort of tan and white G10, and then a space-aged carbon fiber, and then lastly, a beautiful Sukamaki style wrap, or ray-skin lace wrap. Really beautiful work.
One thing about Michael Jarvis' work is that it is so, you hear people talk about clean, it's so clean.
Well, his stuff is so clean, not only in the design, but in the execution.
And this takes the cake.

[54:08] So, I am loving this knife. All right, that is the Bowie, Pocket Bowie, new from Michael Jarvis and Auxiliary Manufacturing.
Next up, a big release from Demko Knives this past year, another fixed blade, that is the Armiger IV.
Armature 4 series has a lot of special aspects to it, one of them being the sheet, which is totally disassemblable so you can clean it in the field if you have a screwdriver or a multi-tool, if you get sand or crap in there.
This is, it comes with a drop-in.
Drop loop thing. This is just a clip I put on it for household carry.

[54:50] But besides the sheath, this thing is incredible. Comes in five different blade styles.
A drop point like this, which has a bayonet grind.
And this one, as you can see, is serrated, but they also have a non-serrated version.
But it also has that top bit ground, which I love.
Keep doing that. It comes in a tanto and then a serrated tanto and then a straight edge clip point, plain edge clip point. It does not have a serrated clip point.
Very nice symmetrical rubberized handle which very thoughtfully and with a lot of consideration puts jimping on the top so you can index it in the dark, you know which way is up and down without having to touch the edge.
Also gives you that jimping on the back, so you know if you have the edge out, or the main edge out, or the main edge in.
And I think that is great. I think all symmetrical dagger style handles should have such a feature.
Especially if you're gonna go all tactical. You know, this is definitely a night ops knife.
You know, I'm joking, I've never been on a night op before, unless you count vandalizing golf courses.
This is black, traction-coated 80 CRV II, which is a tough steel that you're seeing in outdoor knives more and more.
Full tang, tang protrudes to the bottom.

[56:14] These are 80 bucks, guys, 80 bucks. And the Demko's use some of their very well-worn.

[56:22] Taiwanese contacts to make these.
So these are OEMed in Taiwan, and we all know that that means quality.
Taiwanese knives tend to be incredible.
That grippy texture is nice and does not interfere with like a shirt if you're carrying this under the shirt and then in cross-section it's got those coke bottle that coke bottle shape.

[56:43] Second-to-last knife here is the Off-Grid Knives Cayman XXL Bowie.
I've been waiting for this knife and am so thrilled with it.
I saw Terry Orificie of Off-Grid Knives showing this one off.
Um, I don't know, maybe it was at the very beginning of the year or the end of last year.
And I was like, oh man, it's the obvious extension of the line.
So it started with the Cayman EDC folding knife with a blade that looks just like this.
And then they made the four inch version, one of my favorite off-grid knives.
And I thought, oh man, make a fixie. And he did.
Seven inches of D2 blade steel, just a nice chunk.

[57:26] This is about 316ths of an inch also. No, I would have to, sorry to get off the rails.
It's a little bit thinner than that, which actually makes it very, very nice and very sharp.
Like all off-grid knives, super sharp and thin behind the edge.
Look at how broad, this is like a two inch broad blade with pretty thin blade stock and a full one inch of that is saber ground.
So it's wickedly thin behind the edge. I love this knife.
If you love a Bowie knife and you wanna get one in the collection, these are very reasonably priced.
I would go check one out. Oh, again, yes, we have the Off-Grid Knives affiliate link, so you can do that too.
All right, so that is the Off-Grid Caiman XL. Love that.
Okay, last up, this one, man, left quite an impression this year.
This is the Pouzon Predator Hunter Bowie.

[58:23] From WorkTough Knives, WorkTough Gear Knives.
I was just stammering because I looked, I put this away wet, apparently.
I see a little bit of something right here.
But this is a fun one to bang on. I use this sometimes as the family fire pit knife.
Doesn't get much other use than that, or just to be around and be impressive.
I always have this on the table for Thursday night knives in case it comes up, because it's just, it's a showstopper.
You got 12 inches of SK85, it's about two and a half inches broad, it is really really sharp.
You know, it's not a big, it is a quarter inch thick, but it's so broad that by the time you're down to the edge it's pretty thin, I'd say.
Very nice and slicey, and this I thought was going to be uncomfortable, but it is very comfortable to put the finger through there if you're doing your quote-unquote close-up work.

[59:30] You know, you're making punji sticks or whatever.
I love the horsehoof handle. It feels great when you're chopping with it because it extends far out for the palms.
You've got the hook here, and then you've got the palm bounce.
So really, really nice.
So yeah, this is, I don't want to say it's my favorite knife of the year, but I would say it's the most impressive knife of the year.
And all of these knives have been impressive, and I got a lot more 2023 releases than I expected, and I'm very happy to show these off.
What were your favorite? Let me know, drop it in the comments below.
I always find that interesting.

[1:00:10] We talk about that a lot on Thursday Night Knives, which you should definitely join us for tomorrow night, 10 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time, right here on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
And then of course, join us every Sunday for a great interview and conversation with a knife guy.
All right, 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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[1:01:14] Music.