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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] Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, the place for blade lovers to learn about knives, and hear from the makers, manufacturers and reviewers that make the knife world go round.
I'm Bob DeMarco. And coming up, we're going to take a look at the double bundle Civivi knife giveaway for the gentleman junkies. This month, we're going to take a look at the new Jack Wolf knives Pioneer Jack, and then dangerous curves.

[0:25] 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 from this past week and there were lots of them was from go noise stick. And he said this was on my procrastination pocket check.
I did two of them this past week. And that's when I'm waiting in the car at gymnastics or volleyball for my daughters. Now, gymnastics I cannot watch at all. Volleyball, I only go in for the last half hour. That's the good part. When they're not drilling, they're actually playing games. So I don't want you to think I'm an inattentive father. But anyway, I hang out in the car, get a little work done, and shoot a video when I'm procrastinating. And go noisestick says, I pity the fool who would reach in for you sitting there. Lots of people getting jacked while sitting in parked cars on their cell phones these days.
Just yesterday, two sketchy dudes in a tinted window car crewed several times around the lot I was waiting in. They were not looking to park, there were lots of open spaces.
I had my Spyderco Matriarch and Yojumbo at hand to choose from if need be.

[1:38] You gotta go with the cold steel Thai pan for more weight and width.
Now, that was in response to which would you take, the cold steel Thai pan or the Spartan Blades Raider dagger?
So, he was answering that. I had a bunch of knives in the car with me and I just kinda went through them.
The other thing I wanted to mention is, yeah, remaining vigilant.
I feel like I sit in my car quite a bit. Not only do I drive a lot in my day-to-day commute, and there is a lot of traffic here.
But I feel like I find myself waiting in my car, with some regularity. And yeah, it is good to be alert. Pat McNamara says five and 25, check five yards out and 25 yards out when you're in your car and you're getting out in the parking lot to see who's around and see who could be on top of you.
Anyway, good to be vigilant. Thank you Moistik for relating and also telling that little story.
It's good for us all to remain vigilant. That being said, time to get to a pocket check.
In my front right today, I had one of my all-time faves.

[2:52] One of my all-time favorites here, the XM24 by Rick Hinderer Knives.
It's so nice in my new camera, that auto-focus.
So let's see, this knife I've had for probably about...
Going on 10 years now, I don't know, that's totally, I'm pulling that out of a hat here, but, no, no, no, actually it's been less than that, because I started my real serious folder collecting 10 years ago in 2013, when I started buying Emerson's.

[3:26] With, you know, with a little bit of disregard.
Don't be irresponsible, people, don't be irresponsible.
So I've had this one probably eight years. such a great knife. I love the size of the XM24. It is big. I don't find myself wearing it much in the summer, but as we come off of the summer months into fall and start to wear pants more, as opposed to shorts that is, this is riding more. This and the other large knife. I love the shape of it. I think that the choil, oddly enough, I like the choil better on the wharncliffe design than I do with the choil-free version. I have the XM18, with no choil. And just in terms of how it looks and what the vibe is, I prefer this.
It is a big work knife. You do want to sometimes come up onto that handle and get your finger up in that choil to do work.

[4:34] And you're like, you don't do work with those knives, Bob. And I'm saying, hypothetically, you would want that.
So, love having this knife.
It's also, by the way, just incredibly tactically sound. If I had to pull that out to thrust or slash, it would be a great knife to have for that purpose.
Okay, today, in the spirit of the knife that I'll be showing off, first up, in the state of the collection.
I had this on me today.
This is the GEC No. 72 Bullnose.

[5:08] I've had this one a long time, that's a natural canvas micarta, and of course I had to put a little fob on it, love the fob, on knives that I know I'm going to keep, especially clipless knives.
This one, Sodbuster, or Farmer's Jack Knife, sits really nicely in the back pocket, it's nice and light, and it's a chunker, it's got a nice handle to really grip onto and open those feed bags and prune those roses or whatever you're doing with this knife if you're not a suburban dad.
But just a great knife to hold on to, great knife to use, you've got the 1095 blade steel which patinas nicely and I was really looking forward to the Pioneer Jack so I've been carrying this one quite a bit and today it was riding in the back pocket next to my bandana.
So, good to have there, let's see, what's next here? Oh, well, of course, my fixed blade.

[6:13] Today I had the Aaron Bieber 302. I love this knife. This was my birthday knife this year, this is a custom.
You know, sometimes I like to differentiate between a custom and a handmade knife that you're buying, but this I had done the way I wanted to.
That beautiful machined satin blade, 302 blade, which is kind of like a clip point, and a wharncliffe put together. You got that real low slung point.
You have a swedge up here, which is hollow ground, a beautifully hollow ground swedge there.
And then you have this nice curve on the blade, you know, gentle belly, but all very low slung.
So you get the utility of a wharncliffe, the.

[6:59] But the profile of a clip point. I love this thing. But then, or I should say, I love this blade.
But then we get to the handle and he does this in a number of different materials. G10 and I've seen it with jigged bone, which is cool, but I had to get his Tsukamaki wrap. Exquisite Tsukamaki wrap. There's the white ray skin underneath and the black epoxied cord wrap here, and just, oh, it's so good in the hand, so well in the hand, I love the way the Sukamaki grip feels, you have those alternating peaks and valleys, your fingers just sink in, and as I like to say, it stands to reason that samurai who definitely want to keep their swords in hand would use that style of grip.
But we have this awesome epoxy we can impregnate that lace with, so it's not gonna move around at all.
And then in my pocket for emotional support was the Ocaso Knives Solstice designed by Andrew Demko.

[8:09] Love this knife. This knife is definitely a gentleman's knife, but stout enough to be used as a last-ditch defensive weapon if you needed to.
And a classy last-ditch defensive weapon it would be indeed.
I have a carbon fiber, one of these, and then two of the titanium.
I had two of the carbon fiber, gave one to my dad, he loved it so much.
So, what I'm trying to say is, I really like the carbon fiber, it's super light and very strong, deceptively strong for how light it is, but I like the titanium the best.
It feels really good in the hand, it's got the weight of the titanium, Just a little extra weight makes it feel better.
You know, just a little bit stouter. What an awesome blade this is. It's like a scalpel.
It has an actually pretty steep full flat grind, but then a pretty high.

[9:07] Relief edge there and is just wickedly, wickedly sharp. And at the tip, it does two things. It stays nice and sturdy. It doesn't get too thin at the tip, but also that tip is extremely useful for fine cutting tasks.
So this thing is awesome and supplies quite a bit of emotional support with its amazing action.
I'm always impressed when a very light blade has drop shot action because that means it's 100% action and it's not the weight of the blade dropping it back in the handle.
So that's what I had on me today. What did you have on you? I had the XM24, I had the GEC-72 Bullnose.
I had the 302 by Aaron Bieber Knives and the Solstice by, Acaso Knives designed by the great and powerful and maker of sharp knives, Andrew Demko.

[10:01] All right, let me know what you had in your in your pockets.
Drop it down below. I always like to hear classy ladies and gentlemen carry.
Next up, I want to show off what we're giving away tomorrow night. For the September 2023 Gentleman Junkie Knife Giveaway.
I call it the seeing double Civivi package because two knives come in that package.
First is the Ki-V plus, or Ky-V, I'm not sure what this thing is actually, how that's pronounced, K-I-V-I, this beautiful little front flipper kiridashi type thing from Civivi.

[10:42] I think with this knife, my favorite way to open it is the quote-unquote reach around. I think it's hilarious that that's what people are calling it.
But anyway, this is the kiridashi. It's sort of a reverse tanto.
Yes, I did say that. But I love that it's got a straight spine and then the upward angle with the tip where it is.
Because it's great for utility and all that, but if you have to use it as a last-ditch weapon.
It's a great pakal-style knife because of that upward angle of the edge places the point in such a place that you don't have to torque your hand if you were to use this defensively, to get the blade where you need, or the point to be where you need to be.
I know that is not, this is made as a classy, cool, stylish, designy, little lifestyle EDC, but I'm just telling you, in my twisted eye, it flexes well into self-defense knife.
So that is coming, and then by Justin Lundquist and Sabivi, this beautiful little thing.
What is this called? This is called the Lumi. That's right, the Lumi.

[11:49] Front flipper with this gorgeous little, this also has a Japanese vibe to me.
It looks like a little tiny Quaken or something. Hollow ground blade.
I don't know, people. I don't have my readers.
There's no way on earth I could read what steel this is.
They print it so small, which is fine.
I don't like the billboarding, but it's got some sort of steel here on this sharp blade, or comprising this sharp blade. Beautiful gray G10, nice contouring, excellent action.
Again, look at how small and light, but it basically drops when you engage that lock.
Deep carry pocket clip. Look at this cool package. That is a cool carry package.
I mean, I could see someone carrying both of those at the same time.
And who doesn't adhere to the knife junkie rules of you can't carry two of the same brand knives of the same size. So if you're a rule breaker, a rebel, I'm a rebel, got it.

[12:48] You are a rebel.
This might be your thing. So anyway, join us over at Patreon.
That is a way you can help support the show.
There are several tiers of support.
At the Gentleman Junkie tier, you get entered automatically into a knife giveaway, and on the third Thursday of every month, on Thursday Night Knives, we do the giveaway live with the Wheel of Destiny. It's a lot of fun.

[13:14] I love it, and it's my way of giving back. Now those two knives, Speaking of paying it forward, as it were, we're donated to the channel by Dave of This Old Sword Blade Reviews, a gentleman and a scholar, and an owner of some incredible knives.
Alright, coming up on the Knife Junkie Podcast, Knife Life Newsroom, we're going to take a look at a new cool CRKT, and then a cold steel we have all been waiting for is ready to drop.
If you're a knife junkie, you're always in the market for a new knife, and we've got you covered.
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You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast, and now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News. If you're watching the show, did you get a look at that Chris Reeve knife, Sebenza 31 with the Tanto blade and the Madagascar ebony?

[14:24] Manajah. I want that knife. I want that knife. But there are other things to do.
So I'm trying to be responsible here.
Let's talk about Essie's new fixed blade. It's called the Sensillo or Sensillo.
I don't know. If it's Spanish, it would be Sensillo.
But it is a new knife designed by Jeff Randall himself from the guy who started Essie.

[14:49] And he is the Randall in RAT, Randall Adventure Training, RAT 1, RAT 2, that stuff.
Anyway, he just came out, or he's coming out, they are coming out with this new Sensilla, and I gotta say, the blade looks very, very Essie to me, To me sort of a um...

[15:07] A very utilitarian drop point. I gotta say the thing that's exciting to me about this is the handle. I love these kind of egg-shaped handles that your grip sort of fully encapsulates.
I like them for two reasons. They feel really good in the hand and they give you.

[15:24] A lot of control. If they're not too rounded, this is nicely rounded but you can also tell it's flat, so it's not going to turn in your hand, but also they make them more carryable.
A smaller handle with rounded, I'm always talking about this, a smaller handle with rounded dimensions really inspire you to carry them more.
And if you carry it more, you'll have it on you when you need it.
Especially if you carry in the waistband or on the belt like in the front scout, like I've been carrying these. It's got to be small lengthwise when you're there.
And then also rounded, especially in the waistband, waistband because you're dealing with, we're not all six pack abs kind of guys and sometimes you got a little extra there, you gotta worry about interfering with the knife handle and if it's squared off or too long, it's gonna be uncomfortable.
So this first version coming out is in A2. This is one thing we all love about ESEE is that they adhere to some of the old school steels, 1095 Chief among them, those are great fixed blade outdoor steels because of their toughness and their ease of sharpening and their edge retention and the durability.
So, coming out in A2 first, then MagnaCut.

[16:39] And as Ben Schwartz of Knife News said, in MagnaCut's effort to saturate the entire world with itself, ESE is crying uncle and going to a super steal for this, which is cool.
You know, I like that.

[16:54] You know, you don't see them doing that with their full lineup, but it's nice that they have a small EDC going to that steel because a lot of people like to carry, small SE fixed blades as their EDC knives.
So take a look for the Sencillo, it's not quite out yet but it's in the offing.
So keep your eyes peeled for that. Another cool one that I've just started to see out there, I saw, the Amber Combat, who was it?

[17:25] The knife woman, Amber Survival, I can't remember her full name. She's awesome.
I've subscribed to her on YouTube, and she does a lot of shorts, and she just recently had this new CRKT, Ken Onion Collaborative.
Very cool. Somehow I knew it was from Ken Onion, even though it does not look like a Ken Onion to me.
To me, I always think of the curvy 90s designs, the leak, and the many, many curved knives.
Let's see, the Zero Tolerance ZT0200, those like lot of curvy knives he made.
This is a lot more straightforward. It's called the Redemption, and it's inspired by the old West gambler.
And a cool knife indeed. I like, let's talk about it first, in that it's got a four inch, 4.2 inch, or 4.02 inch magnet cut blade. It's a dagger ground blade.
It doesn't have double edges. It could, look, that blade fits entirely in the handle.
So they took it all the way there and then just this wooden double-edged.
But maybe if I ever get this, I'll have someone do that.

[18:37] But look at this thing. They used a crossbar lock, deep carry pocket clip, G10 handle, and that coffin-shaped handle, steel bolsters.
Apparently their crossbar lock is pretty good.
So this knife overall looks like just about the most, oh, and USA made.
Just about the most appealing CRKT I've seen in years. when they came out with that $750 one with the.

[19:04] That proof of concept knife with the bolt, deadbolt lock. The first time that deadbolt lock came out, it was that Icoma design, kind of a cool design, but 750 bucks for a CRKT was not realistic.
This is, I think this retails at 259, which for retail and MagnaCut and USA Made and Penn Onion is not too bad, and then we all know, oh, 225 right there in front of me.
But we know that when it gets to Blade HQ or our favorite retailers.
I should say KnifeCenter, Blade HQ, is not my favorite retailer.
But KnifeCenter or wherever else, it's gonna be less.
So this one looks cool.
I would like to see more. I'd like to see more of this from you, CRKT.
Like going into dad mode here, but it's nice to see what CRKT can do when they apply themselves.
Okay, next. Cold Steel Mayhem is ready to drop. I'm excited about this, I'm nervous-cited.
Let me say that, I'm nervous-cited. And the nervous part is only because, I feel like it's sort of a ham-fisted design.

[20:14] I like it, you know what, the 12-year-old in me is crazy about this knife.
And let me just let you know, the 12-year-old in me has quite an influence.
I mean, so I'm not trying to say that this is a 12-year-old's knife or that it's, But something about this design is so extra that it even has the 52-year-old me looking like, really, Bob?
And then the 12-year-old me is saying yes, and then so is all the other year-old me's.
So I don't know what it is, I guess I'm just getting old and maybe more conservative than ever, but...

[20:51] Then I got a chance to hold this at blade show, and I gotta say it changed my mind.
I had been kind of looking down my nose at this for a while, oh it's an in-house design, oh it's a little clunky looking, but then when I got it in my hand, I gotta say it is compelling.
It is, if you know the feel of a six inch cold steel in your hand, you'll know what this feels like, and you'll like it.
That Atlas lock, I'm liking the Atlas lock, this is the first time I've experienced it.
It does create quite a heavy guillotine, that's a hell of a blade.

[21:23] And in this shot, it looks sort of hollow ground. The ones that I experienced at the blade show were not hollow ground.
Blade would, sweet of course, but it would also lighten the load a little bit and maybe make that blade as it comes back into the handle a little less menacing.
I mean, I'm looking at it now, Jim's, Jim's volleying through these different angles. And I gotta say, it is pretty cool. I don't know where I get off, kind of not being excited about this knife, given the rest of my huge Cold Steel collection. So anyway, it's on the way, coming out first in Aus10. I shouldn't say first, but coming out in Aus10 in a more budget friendly version and then G10 and S35 in a less budget primary group. As far as I'm concerned I'm just gonna stick to the Aus10. They do a great job with their heat treats and what am I gonna be using this for you know and I'm not sure S35VN is the way to go for the upscale steel for a knife like this. I think for a knife like this you should assume with a knife and a lock and a blade like this you should assume someone might be doing a little bit of chopping let's go with 3V. And they do a lot of 3V at Cold Steel. So instead of that It's 35VN which is a folder steal and we're like, yeah, okay.

[22:48] Yeah, I think 3D would be the smart choice and then they could charge whatever they charge for 3D.
All right, lastly in Knife Life News, a very compelling story in my book.
This is ArtisanCutlery's new collaboration folder. We've been seeing a lot of knife, fluencers showing the four different versions of this off on their channels. This is the new Artisan Cutlery Boa, and it's a collaboration with a young man named Jonathan Shaw.
He's a Canadian knife maker who started making knives at, let me hold the vomit, 13, 13.
And this guy is now 17, and this is his design that he is doing a Kickstarter with Artisan Cutlery and having four different versions of this made.
This is the Stippled Boa. There are three others.
But this guy is now 17, designed this beautiful knife, and he is closing down his shop called Triple Stripe Knives in Canada because he is now going to serve his country in the armed forces there. How about that?
I mean, this is a, seems like, on paper.

[24:00] A stand-up young man. I love his story because he knew what he was into at an early age and went for it, and he's been making knives for four years.
He's accomplished creating a business and a shop, and then now he's doing a collaboration that is so highly, people are so impressed with this knife.
It is beautiful to look at. Here he is. Look at this guy, this young dude.
Jonathan Shaw, 17, going to volunteer for, going to sacrifice for his country.
Man, come back after you do that and pick up where you left off, man.
This is cool stuff, and you're a stand-up young man, and others need to look to you and emulate some of what you got.
I appreciate that. All right, coming up on the Knife Junkie podcast, in the state of the collection, we're, oh, here it is, Jim has the Kickstarter up.
It is fully funded, but it's open until October, so get in on it.
You can see the four different versions here.
I know that one is called the Stippled, that's the middle one, and then the one right next to it is called the Rustic, and then I don't know what the two on the outer ends are, They're fancy, or they, they, they.

[25:11] They span the gamut from fancy to everyday, but they are very cool and definitely worth supporting, no doubt.
Okay, now let's get to the state of the collection, but before we do, let me just say, like I mentioned before, we do have this Patreon.
You can join us on Patreon. The only thing I want to go back to is, I have such great post-interview conversations with everyone I interview. They come back on for 10-15 minutes.
And we cover stuff that I haven't been able to get to for time or things that maybe I don't think are appropriate for the far and wide but for the for the smaller group of patrons. So it's an interesting thing. If you're interested in that you want to hear more from the people I interview on the show.

[26:03] Go to the knife junkie.com slash Patreon and check it out. Or you can scan that QR code again. That's the knife junkie.com The GetUpside app is your way to get cash back on your gas purchases.
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And now that we're caught up with Knife Life News, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie Podcast.
Okay, so it came this week, and I'm so excited.
This of course, you know what this is. This is one of those beautiful, I love these things, beautiful leather jack wolf knives slips that comes with every jack wolf knife except for the gunslinger.
This beauty, okay, what does this contain? that contains that I'm always the last.

[27:05] Oh, there it is, the Pioneer Jack. And what were you just complaining about, Bob?
Nothing, I'm gonna be quiet.
I live in a place of high congestion, so my mail is slow. And I get to watch other people open up their jackwolf knives, and I wait.
Poor Bob, poor Bob. All that put aside, thank you so much, Ben.
This is a gift from Ben Belkin of Jack Wolf Knives, and I'm very, very grateful.
Also, love, help getting the word out about his amazing knives, be they slip joints or bolster lots, but this one is based on the sodbuster style or the single bladed farmer jack, like the GEC Bullnose I was showing off before.

[27:49] But he's got the Ben Belkin twist. He's got the modernized angular handle.

[27:56] He's got a large bolster here that is a, what do you call it, like a Barlow bolster.
Comes about a third the way down the handle, extra strength, three flutes as usual, a nice thick liners and bolster all integral, and then this blade, this beautiful straight black straight backed blade with that gorgeous swedge running near the length of the top. This is different from other jackwolf knives in that right up front at the tip of the blade it's nice and thick. Look at how thick that tip stays. Most jackwolf knives at the very tip are super thin and that's great for fine work and slicing and stuff but this is a sort of harder use knife based on a farmer's knife so it's gonna be a little bit more stout and I like that this is a showing like you can feel it thin thin thin thin thin and then maintains its thickness right up until about that last eighth of an inch taper towards the point.
And then, of course, Ultem. Ultem is what you're looking at here.
That's the handle material.
Now, this knife comes in two different titaniums, a black, all black knife with the jig handle, and then a sort of plain Jane style.

[29:22] Plain blasted titanium, and then carbon fiber, and this Ultem.
And the Ultem here, I was looking it up. I was curious about it.
Like this flavor of the month, Ultem, I like it because I love the color.
Not everyone likes that sort of dark yellow, but I love it, especially next to dark gray.
I love that color combo.
But anyway, Ultem is a super high heat-resistant thermoplastic.
I mean, this thing is really, I was looking it up, its properties on its website, and it's good to go.
It's quite stout. It can maintain its shape in really high temperatures.
It is, what do you call it, tough, impact resistant, a really interesting material.
And you can get it at various levels of transparency or translucency.
This is totally transparent.
So you can see the screws, the body screws underneath.

[30:28] Just a really beautiful knife. And then, of course, you've got the Jack Wolf Knives walk and talk.
Jack Wolf Knives action here is just awesome.
So for a knife that you're going to do maybe heavier chores with, because it's got a stouter blade and all that, you're going to want a really stout lock like this.
So I like how heavy the walk and talk is on this.
You can pinch it open. It's not as easy to pinch open because of this swedge.
Now, on most jackwolf knives, it's a full height hollow grind, and that grind comes all the way up to the spine, which gives you essentially a lip on both sides, a sharp lip that you can pull, even if it's this far buried in the handle.
But in this case, there's that beautiful swedge running along the top of the blade.
And so that swedge breaks the sharp edges of the full height hollow grind.
So it makes it a little less easy to pinch open. It can still be done.
But on this, I keep finding myself just kind of going to the nail knife to get it started.
Awesome knife. I'm gonna put it up to the mic for a sec so you can hear it.
I can't hear that well.

[31:56] You know, you can fidget with anything. So, you know, of course we think of our fancy modern folders as the most fidgety and granted they are, I would say, but you can fidget with a cold steel triad lock, lock back, you can fidget with one of these, you can fidget with just about anything. Okay, so what's next? I want to show off these two knives sent to me by by Ed Saul. Ed Saul is a knife maker who was a contestant.

[32:30] A finalist on Forged in Fire, and a friend of our good friend Byron Kennedy. And Byron introduced me to this gentleman and he reached out and sent me these two knives.

[32:43] The first one is a field knife, that's what I'm calling it. It's a beautiful, he also does really nice leather work away. But it's a field knife in this beautiful drop sheet that it locks nicely into. Super thin ground, convex edge, very very sharp, zips through paper like it's not there. I haven't done anything else with this knife because it's not mine and I don't want to it at all but really nice full height hollow flat grind here and a handle that, if you look at it in cross-section or you look at it from the top or bottom is lost wasted so it really locks your your fingers in there and it's a really really sure grip this material he used here is cool I like it it's kind of retro. It looks like something you might see on an old slip joint or an old field knife like, Haag. So I really like this. He's got the spine is 90 degrees. You could definitely throw sparks with this and just a great overall field knife handmade by Ed Saul.
That means sun in Spanish. Nice little bead here made of the same material that the handle is made of. And then this other knife he sent is a collaboration.

[34:11] With Tim Hunt, TM Hunt Knives, and this thing is called, creatively called the Brain Shovel.

[34:22] I like the name, what can I say? Beautiful, beautiful leather sheath, first of all.
Let's just take a look at this sheath. Single welt sheath with a fat, you know, fat leather hide here on all three layers.
Beautifully molded to this knife, and you can see the gorgeous wood handle here peeking out.
Now let's take a look at this.
You can take this little fob here and help extract the knife, but it is a different kind of push dagger.
The Brain Shovel is. This is a double-edged, beautiful spear point double-edged blade.
This is made from Apex.
Well, hang on, I'll get to that in a quick second. It's made of a special steel, that has some special qualities.
It's a super refined powder metallurgy steel that has like super fine grains.
It can be forged and there's more information on it.
And I will pull that up in a second.

[35:24] I had it and my phone closed up. But I'll get that in a second.
Beautiful, the whole point of this, well, sorry, beautiful wood handle and the look of the steel is pretty incredible.
But the big thing in the room here is the...
The design of it. The design is a push dagger, but it's set up differently. What am I getting at here?
Here's a more traditional style push dagger, this one from Stroopknives, where you are grabbing, and putting that blade between your fingers. Okay, so that's the traditional setup.
Some people don't like that, and so Ed, Saul, and Tim Hunt.

[36:09] Created a push dagger where your finger goes through it. So it's kind of like a nook, it's like a nook, a bladed nook, but I personally wouldn't use it so much like this.
This spreads my, my fingers aren't that big.
This spreads my fingers out a little bit. Not that hitting something soft would hurt with this, but I like it like this.
I'm kind of comfortable with it in my hand like this. Kind of like I would hold the Pinkerton broadhead.
Kind of like that. This feels really good in hand. It's got beautiful fit and finish.
You got nice crowned area here and everything is radiused so nicely and comfy.

[36:58] There is Tim Hunt's maker's mark And then here is Ed Soule's Maker's Mark.
Okay, I realize this is, I'm not gonna have the information on that steel right now because I kind of lost it.
I was gonna read something from their website. But I am going to be doing a full close-up video of these knives and talk about Mr. Soule's work here.
And I will talk all about the special steel that that one is making this.
The brain shovel, interesting name, I gotta say, I gotta get this out.
I have an issue with naming conventions that are too on the nose.
Yes, you could definitely shovel out a brain with this without much difficulty.

[37:47] But the problem I have is two things. I like cognitive dissonance, I'd rather call that the petunia than the brain shovel.
And then I also think that if you ever, heaven forbid, You have to use it for self-defense, and then you come before a jury or a judge, and they mention the name of it.
It doesn't help. Let me just put it that way. Having the Kaiser Assassin involved in a court case.

[38:14] Even though it's a little puny three-inch flipper knife that it couldn't be further from an Assassin's knife, it just doesn't look good.
So that's my only comment about that. But just a beautiful knife and a gorgeous sheath, man.
I am so impressed with the sheet work here too.
This leather work is killer. Of course you can drop that in your pocket and put this over the side, and the only thing that's gonna peek out is that.
No one's gonna know what it is. Very cool.
Okay, lastly, Camillus, you know Camillus Knives. New York legendary knife company reached out to me.
They're selling two knives at Home Depot, and the funny thing is, is the day they reached out to me, I had gone to Home Depot, and of course, and I always go to see what kind of knives they have.
And I saw both of these knives, and I was like, oh, those are new.
And one of them definitely got me interested. It's this first one.
And so, that day they reached out and offered to send it to me.
Let's give this a nice little bit of...

[39:13] Okay, this one is called the Camillus Dominator, and the first thing you will notice is that this is the Daryl Ralph Dominator, his custom knife.
Daryl Ralph, may he rest in peace, is a legend in the tactical folding knife world, and he's been on this show, and he was a really, really nice guy to talk with and interview, and I I remember he sent both me and Jim, these beautiful copper pens, one of my main pens still.
This is the pen that he sent me and Jim.

[39:51] Jim has one also is what I mean. So very generous guy, very warm guy, and I love his knife designs.
He's famous for his Expendables knife, the knife that in the first Expendables that Jason Statham carried and threatened the abusive guy who beat up his girlfriend with, and remember he pops the basketball.
It's sort of in his expository scene. Let's get to know who Jason Statham is in this movie.
And he is 100% badass, and he uses a five-inch Daryl Ralph to pop a basketball.
And he has a really corny line, but anyway.
So this is what they're selling through Home Depot.
All of that to say, I think it is so cool, A, that Daryl Ralph's designs are out there, besides, you know, now that the customs aren't being made, so his work is continuing to be honored.

[40:52] But it's also cool that it's getting into the hands of non-knife people.
This is being sold to non-knife people at Home Depot who just need a knife to work with, and look at what they're getting. getting this beautiful design.
So let's talk about the steel. It's sort of an anonymous stainless steel.
I haven't been able to find what it is.
It's probably 420, I'm guessing. It's got titanium, some sort of titanium coating that's supposed to make it harder than it would be without it.
I'm not sure how that works because they say on the website that the titanium bonding makes it harder than it would be if untreated. And I don't know if they mean harder than if it were unheat-treated, or harder if it wasn't treated with the titanium.
But anyway, you're not buying this knife for its high edge retention and its super steel.
You're buying this to work with it, and work with it with abandon, and resharpen it quickly at night when you're done.
But you get some of the, besides the pedigree design, you get some really great features and a $20 knife that you're buying at Home Depot.
You get that kind of drop-shut action. And yes, there's no play.
You get that drop shot. I mean, this is, you know, flipped.

[42:13] 50 times, and you've got this incredible drop shot action pretty much out of the box, which is cool, you know, that ball bearings have made it to the pivots of all knives now.
Now there's no excuse, really.
There's no excuse for SpeedSafe, except for the fact that it sells and people love it, I guess, but I mean, you know, we can get amazing what was custom action 10 years ago, on a $20 Camillus at Home Depot.
So that's pretty cool.
The thing I don't like about this is this flipper tab. Now it gives you great purchase and it would be awesome.
I have a feeling they made it like this for guys wearing gloves.
But it does interrupt, it does really get in the way. This is a small finger troil here.
And even without gloves and even with slender fingers, it's in the way.
You know, this pokes into your finger. Like, this should be flat like this or something, if I were using this, I would grind that down, if this were going to be my.

[43:19] You know, if I were going to use this on a job site, I'm sure there's some way on that job site, to grind just a little bit of that nubbin off and then you're good to go.
But overall, I think this is a really great way to spend 20 bucks at Home Depot, I gotta say.
FRN handle, stainless steel liners, great action. All of that is to say, I haven't used it yet, this weekend I hope to do some videos where I just get to hang out outside and I'll cut some stuff with it, and by stuff I mean sisal rope and wood, that's pretty much all I got.
But I want to see how long it takes to dull that blade, sure it won't be too long, but, But that's okay, you know, that's what you expect from a $20 knife that you're buying at Home Depot. You're going to have to resharpen it.
But chances are you're a handy person anyway, and there you go.
I'm just thrilled that they're making this really, really great design in a Home Depot model, in a more pedestrian model.
Pedestrian, that sounds like a diss, but I don't mean it that way, I just mean something that is every day. Any Joe can walk into a Home Depot and come out with a knife designed by a famous custom knife dealer.

[44:41] I like it. Okay, next from Camillus, thank you by the way Camillus for sending this to me.
We're going to do a giveaway of this knife and the next knife.

[44:51] This is called the Swedge, and apparently it's a pretty famous knife, a working knife by Camillus.
They're also selling this at Home Depot. The first blush, it looks like a Mora.
It's got that sort of plastic molded drop sheath, really nice. You got bum push-offs, it's ambidextrous, so it doesn't matter which way you drop it in there, I don't think. Let's see.
Okay, so there's the knife, let's see if it goes in backwards, yeah, it can go in backwards.
It's at home this way, but it will drop in there and lock in there this way also.

[45:33] So if you're working and you don't want to worry about anything, you just got to get it out of your hands, you don't have to fuss about which way it's going in there.
Okay, obviously a work knife, this looks very at home, at Home Depot.
Got this really nice molded FRN handle. It feels like it's got a tiny bit of rubberization in there but maybe not. Maybe not. But it's a full tang according to the website and you can tell because it's got some serious weight in this handle. And then it's got a point for pounding so that pommel you can mallet it or hit with a hammer but probably be better off of the mallet to use this chisel point. Now this chisel point is interesting because it's not very sharp and not being a construction guy, construction worker, I'm not sure if that is left dull and then if you want to you sharpen that or if there is some use, common use on a construction site, pray doll chisel, Now you could definitely scrape with this. I mean it's not dull, like that is a fine.

[46:46] That is a very fine, what am I trying to say, 90 degree angle, but there is a surface there instead of an edge. So you could scrape with it, but if you really wanted this to be a chisel, you would have to sharpen that front. Okay, so the rest of the blade is pretty sharp.
In cross-section it is a chisel, but it is set like a wedge, so in other words, both sides are ground to a wedge, but you can see that chisel tip.
On the back you have a quarter inch wide file, I mean the whole blade is a quarter inch wide This is all a file here.
So kind of a really nice multi-use job site or working like toolbox knife.
And then not for nothing, but you do still have a bit of a tip here.
So you could be getting into packages with that. This is not exactly 90 degrees.
Even if it were, you still have that point there. So you can still cut into stuff, even though it looks like kind of a cleaver.
Also, that titanium bonded stainless steel, they did stipulate that this is 420, that's why I thought that maybe the other knife, the folder was too.
Cool little feature here that you see, you can just put it right on your work belt, no problem.

[48:16] All right, that's from Camillus. Let's get to dangerous curves here, and let's blast through these.
These are knives you've seen before, but it was occurring to me that I'm always talking about the Wharncliffe and how much I love that straight edge, but with this office in turmoil.

[48:34] I have a lot of boxes around and so I started testing some of my more curvy knives on them.
And there's only one of them here that's a little different but I was amazed at how incredibly these things cut and so I wanted to highlight them.
And we'll do that briefly here.
Okay, so first up, this is new to me, but an old knife in the lineup.
This is the Cold Steel Steel Tiger.
And this is the one that inspired this little list here, because I just randomly pulled this out on a lark, and took a swipe in forward grip like this at a cardboard box, and I could not believe the devastation it wrought.
What happens is that blade pierces.
When you use this knife in forward saber grip like this, this is a big 5-inch karambit if you're not looking.
When you hold it in forward grip like this and you swipe at something, it's first stabbing.
Tip is going in like this, that first.

[49:36] Three inches, two and a half inches is a stab. And then, as you continue with your swipe, it turns into a gutting slash. This is just utterly horrific.
This blade can, so this is a very dangerous knife is what I'm getting at, and if you have this, I highly recommend you get the trainer.
I do not have the trainer, but I'm not trying to use this like a karambit, I'm not flipping it around and doing all that stuff.
But if you have any, any aims of doing that, please get the trainer.
And it looks just like this, it's weighted just like this, but it's all plastic and the tip is a big ball.
Because even a plastic trainer of this, and I have the FGX version of this, is gonna cut you, it's gonna stab you.
So do get one of those.

[50:25] All right, so that is the Steel Tiger by Cold Steel. Next up, a custom knife from a dude I've been following for a while. He does a weekly drop of really interesting knives.
Some I love more than others. And then some are just mind-blowing.
And this one is the Draug. This is from Rib Splitter Knives.
I love the name, Rib Splitter Knives. Great sheath also, but this is the Draug.

[50:52] And obviously, it is a Pical-style knife. So this is a knife that you grip in your hand with your thumb capping the pommel and the tip down, and the edge in, and it is for gross motor motion.
It is for adrenaline dump, self-defense style techniques here.
So the edge is in, and the point is down. You got that clawing motion.
People talk about karambits, which I love, like the tiger claw, for instance.
They say, oh, it's just like a cat's claw. You know, just like, yeah, but cats don't have their claws facing forward, and they don't do this motion with it.
They have their claws facing down, in, and they grab, and they pull. So really, the real tiger's claws and the real cat's claws are these call-style knives. So yeah, made weekly, by hand. I think he's in Pennsylvania.
I tried to have him on the show, never worked out. We'll try again sometime. But these are forged beauties, and I just think they're really cool. And the curves, the overall lines of this are just wicked cool.

[52:00] I just became a Bostonian right there. All right, next up is another, if you recall, style knife that I love, man, fell in love with the whole genre with this knife.
This is the JB Knife and Tool Ditch Pick.
Now this knife is really thin. That's 1 1⁄16 of an inch thin, wickedly thin.
That's like, it's like cheap steak knife thin.
And the steel is really a well-tempered 1095 blade steel. I'm talking to Brian from JB Knife and Tool.
He said they put these Ditch models, the Ditch models are the, all of his models in 16th of an inch are called the Ditch and then whatever.
But they torture test these because they're so thin, they want to make sure they're durable.
And these pass with flying colors, with the flexibility and toughness, which you need on something this thin.
Double-edged pick-call style, this one, I think this was the first run where he offered them either bayonet double-edged, where the double-edged starts here, or full double-edged.
I had to go full double-edged, even though, you know, being a shallow guy, I like the way the bayonet style looks better, but I figured, why just go halfway, if you have the option to go all the way, so very dangerous curves on this wicked, little, thin, slicey, nasty, little last-ditch knife.

[53:27] Okay, from the tiny to the quite large. The Odinwolf sowcatcher.
Now in my notes to Jim, I called it the hogcatcher, but I remembered later, it's actually the sowcatcher.
No big deal, you'll find it when you go to Odinwolf on Amazon.
They make a couple of different models, and I think they're really cool.
But this one, my god, the blade is just gorgeous and stunning, And it reminds me of Sting, Bilbo Baggins' sword from the animated Hobbit from when I was a kid in the 70s.
I loved his sword in that movie. And this has that. It's a wasp-waisted, full-bellied dagger.
The wasp comes in here real thin, or thinner, I should say, down by the ricasso, and then.

[54:19] Widens out dramatically towards the tip and then of course tapers in at the tip.
This does a couple of things. This is if this is for sow catching and hog hunting, it's a thrusting weapon. It's a weapon that you use to stab into the heart of a raging beast. So having this, these two wide bellies here make a really wide wound channel and make it a devastating thruster. But then, Again, these curves here, these recurves, make for a really, really effective slasher too.
Something that you don't see, and chopper, something you don't see much on a double-edged Dagger style knife.
So the Odin Wolf, sowcatcher, definitely dangerous curves on this one.
Now this next one is a dangerous knife, but the curves aren't what makes it necessarily dangerous.
They are just what make it beautiful and iconic.

[55:16] And I don't use that word lightly, like MTV. Everything's iconic on MTV.
I don't know if you've ever watched that channel.
Anyway, okay, so here is the SOG Super Bowie. And what curves am I talking about here?
You know what I'm talking about. Those double peaks, the mountains here on the top, of the blade, I love knives that have that double peak.
And of course that came from Saab.
Now you could argue that it has a purpose. I'm not sure what that would be.
I mean, staring at this beautiful dazzling blade right now, I could see if you were using this in a thrust and you went beyond this first peak, you could do what we were talking about before, to make a bigger, wider, nastier wound with this knife.

[56:04] I'm not sure if that's why that was designed that way, but I do know that on this iconic blade shape, this SOG bowie blade shape, those curves are integral to the design and to the legend.
So I had to include them, include this knife in this list, not just go all karambit and pickaw.

[56:30] I love this knife. The SOG at Super Bowie, I'd love to get the regular one, the six inch, this is the seven inch, just to get the classic, the one that was in Terminator 2, that's the first time I saw that knife.
Okay, next up is a custom, this is from Blackrock Knives, this is the Monkey Thumper.
And the curve I'm thinking about on this is the overall curve, because it has, If you just look at the blade, and forget that I had it double edged, it just looks like your standard drop point blade.
Maybe it's a drop point harpoon.
But then when you add it to the handle, it becomes more of a kukri because of how the, straight edge and then the belly are presented at an angle to the hand.
Now when I use this, when I hold this in a saber grip, I never use the, I just don't like using the ring for the pinky pretty much in any knife.
But I find that the ring on pretty much any knife makes a great pommel.
So I'll hold it like this and or like this, and you get this amazing recurve effect just from the angle, overall angle, this overall curve from the tip to the pommel.
You get this curve that presents the blade, makes it super, super effective on a cut, on a slash, and even on a thrust, because as you do thrust, it pushes in and widens everything out.

[57:57] So that's the monkey thumper. And yes, indeed, it does have dangerous curves. There was a place.

[58:05] Right down the street from my brother when he lived in Manhattan. It was a place of ill repute and was called dangerous curves. I never went in there. I don't know about my brother, but I never went in there. Okay, next up is from Michael Knight. It's not from Michael Knight. It's from Jason Knight. Jason Knight and Elements and Fox. Fox Cutlery. The curves are all over this thing. First of all, just like the Monkey Thumper, you have this overall curve, which, presents the blade at a downward angle, accelerating all cuts and enhancing thrusts. But in this case, it's also a Kukri blade, so you've got those two curves that recurve. So this knife, especially for a folder, is just really devastatingly effective on a slash.
But let's not forget, kukris are great for thrusting. We always talk about them as choppers and slashers, which this is awesome, but also that tip is right in the right place for me to thrust without having to change my wrist angle.

[59:09] So the curves here that I really think are effective is the overall curve and the blade curve, but also you have this awesome bookended curve here in the handle that, just locks it right in. Next up from Emerson, the Emerson Elvia. Yes, another pick haul, but this one, this is one of the first ones I fell in love with, and partially because it's an Emerson, but also because of how audaciously that curved knife is angled off the handle. Not all pikals are equal. Even if you look at the Draug I had out, this is relatively straight by comparison. See how much the Emerson reaches up and out.
And what that does is accentuate the effectiveness of a punch. I can do a back fist, or like a hammer fist, and that point is right where it needs to be. Instead of having to like change my angle to get the knife to fit, bang.
So, that sort of outward and upward reaching point makes this Emerson, I would argue, more effective.

[1:00:24] Than a straighter pick-haul. Now, at this point, I have a feeling we're just picking knits and really getting into the weeds with it, but this is all, you know, we speak in hypotheticals here anyway, and I think hypothetically, this is probably the most dangerous of my pecals, especially my folded pecal.
Alright, penultimate here by one of my favorite makers, designers, and just people in general, is Dirk Pinkerton's Razorback in Magnica, in LMAX.
This is a very thin, hollow ground, double edged.

[1:01:06] Bowie, Hells Bells Bowie and Kanjar inspired knife. So it's a bit of a mix up, not mix up, what do they call it, mash-up, with the different inspirations, but to me it really calls out Middle Eastern knife, because it's that curve, that upward curve, and then the fact that both edges are sharp.
That's one of the things I love about the Kanjar and the other knives from the Middle East is their unapologetic curves and edges, how they edge everything, both sides of the blade, even if it's a radical curve.

[1:01:47] But this one to me is just about the perfect fighting knife.
I mean, there are a lot of great fighting knives in my collection, but to me, this one hits a real balance of simple, comfortable, perfect-sized handle, not too big, it'd be hard to use that pommel to leverage it out of my hand.
It'd be hard to do anyway, because I'd be stabbing you and slashing you.
But it's perfect size for my hand, for that reverse grip, and it's really light and perfectly balanced right there at the first finger. That's where you want a fighting knife to balance.

[1:02:23] And man, this thing is awesome. So definitely some dangerous curves right here, on this Dirk Pinkerton Razorback, but I gotta say this last one probably has to take the cake, right?
Am I right? a bunch of dangerous curves on this one. Yes, if you're only listening, you heard it right.
You heard this open up. It's the Ty-Lite XL or 6 inch Chris. This is the signature Lynn Thompson version and man alive is it dangerous. You've got an Aus10 blade with one, two, three peaks, and one, two, three valleys on this blade, and one nasty downward facing hawk build tip. Any criss worth its weight ends with the point going down in the front and not trailing, and then you'll know it's good to go. So the benefits of all of those curves not only are in the slash and the cut, it's like a big bread knife if you're swiping and you hit right there and you pull those curves across the skin as you as you slash it that it's just going like big serrations it's just going ever deeper into the skin, and then you're ending with that nasty tip.
But also on a thrust, it continues to widen as you push in.

[1:03:50] So, very, very deadly design. I know people tend to think chrises are just there to look cool, but this is really the science of pain and butchery here that came up with this.

[1:04:03] I shouldn't say butchery, I should say warfare. So, there you go.
This is my, these are just some highlights from my collection of the dangerous curves I have all around me, some of them on the wall are the worst of them because they're big and curved.
So let me know what you think about that. Do you like curved knives or are you in a wharncliffe phase as I've been for such a long time?
Be sure to like, comment, subscribe, check us out on Sunday's interview show, and then of course tomorrow night, Thursday Night Knives, live 10pm EST, we're going to be giving away the Civivi MIC double 2-pad. So 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 review the podcast.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 the knife junkie.com slash YouTube. Check out some great knife photos on the knife junkie.com slash Instagram and join our Facebook group at the knife junkie.com slash Facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob at the knife junkie.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.

[1:05:32] Music.