DC Blades (Justin Carvin and Chris Harrison)—My 8 Knife Collection: The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 610)
On the midweek supplemental episode of The Knife Junkie podcast (episode 610), Bob “The Knife Junkie” DeMarco looks at his growing collection of DC Blades, including the Sting and the Vendetta, and the new TOPS Ephyra, among others.
Bob begins with his favorite comments of the week. He also shows off the 3 Dog Knife M.A.K., the July Gentleman Junkie knife giveaway knife.
During his pocket check of knives, Bob highlights the TKell Knives Agent 001, the Knives by Nuge Primitive Wicket, Civivi Baby Banter 2 – TG, and the CJRB Pyrite Rose Gold (Emotional Support Knife).
In Knife Life News:
• Elk River Easy Open Jack from Rosecraft Blades
• Leatherman Jumps Into Knives with Both Feet
• New Boker Mini Atlas Slip Joint
Meanwhile, in his State of the Collection, Bob updates us on his Very Good Knife Co. First Strike after a hard day’s work in the backyard.
Please find the list of all the knives featured in the show and links to the Knife Life news stories below.
Be sure to support The Knife Junkie and get in on the perks of being a Patron, including early access to the podcast and exclusive bonus content. You also can support the Knife Junkie channel with your next knife purchase. Find our affiliate links at theknifejunkie.com/knives.
Episode 610 of The Knife Junkie podcast showcases Bob's DC Blades collection - 8 innovative knives from Justin Carvin & Chris Harrison. From the iconic Scythe to the tactical Ephyra, see why these designs are changing the game.… Share on XThe Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2025, Bob DeMarco
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Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, the July 2025 Gentleman Junkie Giveaway Knife an update on my very good knife company First Strike. And we take a look at eight really unique and awesome DC blades. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie Podcast.
Announcer
Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the knife junkie DeMarco.
Bob DeMarco
Welcome back to the show. One of my favorite comments from this past week on the Yoni Wonderman Compliance Edge interview we had regular regular guy say I have three of Yoni's knives and they are my three favorite and most carried knives out of many svv.
Bob DeMarco [00:00:48]:
I'm sorry, SVM is my single favorite knife. Great interview. Thank you. And well, I love hearing that because I've been admiring Uni's knives for a long time, have not gotten one yet and it's just cool to get. Well, it's cool to get a note from someone who's an old school fan, old time fan and collector carrier of his knives. Second was from Blade Tastic Knives, my friend Steve Price. He said he's definitely right about choils and snag points. Also correct on the on the four firm getting chewed up by skull crushers.
Bob DeMarco [00:01:24]:
So I asked Yoni what he had learned most about about designing knives and said two things, one of which is on a tactical knife or a fighting knife, not to have a big sharpening choil or sharpening choil at all as that can snag on clothing, zippers and and other kind of impediments when coming out of whatever you stab. And then the other thing was skull crushers eliminating skull crushers on the pommel because first of all you can't really put your thumb on a sharp point if you need it in reverse grip. And also when it's in the sheath and your arms are just kind of moving around, those skull crushers can be menacing to the forearm meat. So thanks Steve Price and and thank you regular guy and everyone else who watched, liked and commented over this past week. It's greatly appreciated. All right, that said, let's get to a pocket. Check what's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.
Bob DeMarco [00:02:28]:
That's right, this is what I had in my front right pocket today. I've never carried this in the front pocket at all, but today I did. And this is the TKEL agent 001. Now I'll tell you how and why I carried this in my front right pocket. This is usually something I'll carry in the waistband or just right on the belt, right up front under my shirt. But yesterday. And so this is what I've carried around today as well. Yesterday we had a big pool party.
Bob DeMarco [00:02:59]:
And not we don't have a pool, but we have a community pool with a lot of neighbors and friends. And it was just for the adults and it was at night. And I just wanted to carry this knife, but it wasn't feeling comfortable in the waistband, wasn't feeling comfortable on the front of my belt. And so I put it in this sheath with the DCC clip and tried it in the front pocket of my shorts, which those pockets come down at an angle. You know, they're not straight across like jean shorts. And this thing was great. Sat perfectly in my pocket, north to south, this pommel kind of hidden underneath the top of that dang diagonal cut. And it just was perfect and comfortable.
Bob DeMarco [00:03:46]:
And so I carried this. Didn't need it. Fortunately, I did use a different knife I carried last night for food. But in this case, this was there for defense. And thankfully, the pool party remained peaceful. So I had my agent TK1 on me. And I can't. I can't say enough about this knife.
Bob DeMarco [00:04:05]:
Of course I'm biased as I co designed it with Tim. Tim Kell. But also they're coming out with a new run of these this August of 2025. And I've seen the. The advance or the. The rushes, if you will. And they're awesome. They look so good.
Bob DeMarco [00:04:28]:
Different machinists than did this initially. And so some big improvements were made. I look forward to showing those off to you. All right. The only knife I used last night was this. And this is the Primitive Wicket by Knives by Nudes. I had this around my neck in lieu of a slip joint. And this one cut all the sausage and pork I was eating.
Bob DeMarco [00:04:54]:
There was a big suckling pig at this party and tons of bratwurst. The bratwurst was my favorite. It was so good. Beautifully done. And this is what I cut it with. Of course, there was plastic silverware. I don't come near plastic knives. Sometimes I have to use plastic forks.
Bob DeMarco [00:05:11]:
Ask Jim. When we go out to lunch, I always hump my own fork in. That's one of those things. You know, people got freaked out about straws. I've never cared about the straws. To me, it's plastic silverware when we could all have our own silverware. Anyway, at the party last night, I didn't bring My own silverware. But I had this and this is what cut the.
Bob DeMarco [00:05:30]:
Cut the meat. Did a great job. And oh, that's a hair. Okay, there's a hair on there. Beautiful 80crv2 blade with that awesome jute wrap that Tom Nugent is so good at. So had that a bit of an unusual carry last night. My emotional support knife was this and I forgot to show it to my one friend that I saw last night who's a big Civivi fan and now I'm kicking myself. But this is The Civivi Baby Banter 2 TG.
Bob DeMarco [00:06:01]:
And TG stands for Touch grass. And that's referring to. It's a double entendre if you will. Because this G10 is textured with these horizontal sort of grooves that really do emulate grass. And then you've got that beautiful 2 tone G10 there. But also touch grass is a common thing people say when, when they're trying to tell you to get offline for a while, go outside, enjoy the real world, enjoy nature, take off your shoes, walk in some grass. That's what's real. And the Internet can be.
Bob DeMarco [00:06:41]:
Well at this point the Internet is very, very real as well in terms of like what happens online has real world consequences. But the point of touch grass I don't have to over explain. Just you know, put the phone down for a while and go out and experience nature. Last up, that friend I wanted to show this to, which I don't know why I didn't gave me this. He's gotten into knife collecting and he got the CRG CJRB pyrite in rose gold with the steel handle and the button lock and it just was not his thing and so he gave it to me. And ordinarily this would not be my thing because the rose gold but in real life, irl as I'm looking at this, it's really. I like it, I like it a lot. I'm going to start carrying it.
Bob DeMarco [00:07:32]:
I. I do like the Bowie blade much better in person than I did in pictures in. I really like the shape of that audacious Bowie. But the rose gold as I said was a turn off initially but I've. I've really, it's really grown on me in the last say 12 hours or so. That's a steel handle and a great button lock though I gotta say I really trust the GRB G CJRB button locks because of how they're notched. Hang is notched in there, you see that little scooped out cup and the lock falls into that instead of it being like a a cone shape. But this one in particular sticks.
Bob DeMarco [00:08:13]:
Can't tell if it's because I just oiled it and it will stop sticking like my other CJRB button lock pyrite. But in any case I look forward to carrying this thing and throwing it in the back pocket and kind of wearing it in getting it broken in. A very odd carry for me this beautiful hot mid summer weekend. But hey, it was cool. It was nice wearing the Tekal knives. Carrying The Tekal Knives Agent 001 in my front right pocket. Gotta say. And that's what I had as well as the knives by Nuge Primitive wicket around my neck, the little neck knife.
Bob DeMarco [00:08:49]:
Love this thing. The baby banter, Touch grass baby banter 2 TG and the CJRB pyrite. This came halfway through the day so I love getting knife kits. All right, that's what I had. What I. What did you have? Drop it in the comments below. Do let me know. I'm always curious about what you guys are carrying.
Bob DeMarco [00:09:11]:
All right, next up I want to show off our Patreon gentleman junkie knife giveaway knife for July of 2025. And here it is. It is the beautiful Three Dog Knife Mac. Mac stands for Multiple animal knife. This is made up in Anchorage Alaska by three dog knife. That is the in house custom knife brand but of Mike and Northern knives. Sorry about that. I'm only one coffee in guys.
Bob DeMarco [00:09:51]:
Three Dog Knife M A K Black Cerakoted Black Micarta M 390 Blade Steel. Born on June 12th, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. This thing is beautiful. Now you've probably seen mine. Mike sent me one a little while back with the tan canvas micarta and sort of stonewash blade. I loved it so much I kept it and so he sent this one to give away to a lucky gentleman junkie. So very generous. Thank you so much Mike.
Bob DeMarco [00:10:25]:
I really appreciate it. This thing feels so good in hand and I. I dare say you don't have to be a hunter to have this knife. Love it and enjoy it as I do mine. Also I love the leather sheet. Really nicely done leather sheet by that gentleman, the Johnson. All right, so this is coming up. So just become a gentleman junkie.
Bob DeMarco [00:10:49]:
Go to the knife junkie.com Patreon and check it out. We have. You can scan a QR code that Jim puts up on screen and and all of that but something else that you get from. So okay if you sign up to to be a patron get a couple of things. Don't fast forward yet. You, you get interview extras, you get stickers, you get coasters, and now you get knife notes, something Jim has created. And it's, it's awesome. It's a regularly updated, what do you want to call it feature.
Bob DeMarco [00:11:21]:
And here is this week's it's on the John Nelson Cooper's Sealed Knife Design John Nelson Cooper was one of the charter members of the knife Makers guild. And you might be asking, well, what does this mean? What is it? And basically, by welding, brazing and epoxy bonding the blade, guard and handle into one solid unit, Cooper closed every gap where water, blood or dirt could hide. Hunting guides loved that a quick rinse was all the cleanup they needed. The bonded joint also spread across the whole knife so guards didn't wiggle, hidden tangs didn't snap under heavy baton work. So that's a straight read straight from these knife notes. A really cool feature. I'm, I'm loving it. I'm loving it.
Bob DeMarco [00:12:10]:
So you will too. Go check that out. This is a regularly updated sort of post feature on Patreon and very proud of it. Thank you Jim for doing this. And go to the knife junkie.com Patreon and check it out. All right guys. Knifejunkie.com Patreon
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Bob DeMarco [00:12:47]:
It's fast, flexible and even includes low cost payment processing to help you keep more of your profits. Start your online knife store today at the knife junkie.com launch and turn your passion into a business. You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. And now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life news.
Bob DeMarco
First up in Knife Life news from Rosecraft Blades. Yes, another super beautiful looking slip joint. This one is called the Elk River Easy Open Jack. And this is a, a knife that comes in a sleeve board shaped handle but you'll notice right away it's got one of those big easy open notches on it.
Bob DeMarco [00:13:29]:
I love that feature. I have a, I have a GEC with that but that, that notch right there towards the end or the butt end of the handle allows you to pinch the blade with your fingers and pull it open. You don't have to dig your nails and a little nail neck to open this knife. Beautiful 2.75 inch D2 lambs foot blade with brushed satin. It's got A half stop and a long, beautiful swedge. That'll help on piercing. Help with piercing. So now if you're wondering what a lamb's foot is, and maybe you're a little bit new to slip joints, lamb's foot is kind of like a sheep's foot and that it's got a dead straight edge, it's got a steep descent from the spine to the tip, but in a lamb's foot case, it sort of tapers towards the tip and then drops down drastically.
Bob DeMarco [00:14:22]:
Whereas a sheep's foot either remains parallel to the edge, the spine remains parallel to the edge until it takes a rounded dive. Rounded but steep dive down to the edge, or sometimes it even flares up and then goes down. But the lamb's foot tapers. I don't have a lamb's foot. I've always thought they were cool. I know that, that they're kind of hard to come by. So this is, this is a good way to get behind a lamb's foot. A blue Dyn blue denim covers with brushed stainless bolsters.
Bob DeMarco [00:14:53]:
I also see that it comes in a wood that they show on, on Knife News, but I couldn't find it actually on the Rosecraft website. So I'm not sure if this was just a promo picture and they're going to be releasing that soon, but as of right now, you can buy one of these Elk River Easy open Jacks. Now, this is inspired by an old IXL pattern. IXL is a British company. I had one, I sent it to Patty. This one's reimagined by Andy Armstrong and you can see that is evident with that skull logo shield. Kind of cool. I'm not a skull guy too often, but I think that one looks pretty cool.
Bob DeMarco [00:15:35]:
All right, next up, everyone's heard this. This is not news to you now, but Leatherman has really doven in, jumped in with both feet into the knife market here. Now, Multi Tools. They are the kings of the multi tools. Them and Victorinox say. But they've come out with three fixed blade knives and, and two folders and I have not watched the reviews yet, but I have a feeling I know what, what we're going to hear. I'm sure they're very well made, but let's, let's get to this blazer. The first one is Blazer 3.15 inches of magnacut.
Bob DeMarco [00:16:16]:
That's a drop point and stainless handle. So it's going to be heavy. I don't know if they did weight relief, but stainless, sculpted stainless handle with what they're calling a compression wedge lock. We'll say CWL now. Compression wedge lock. And so it looks kind of like a button lock, but we all know what a compression lock is. So it's basically a buttoned compression lock, deep carry clip. The next one is also a folder and it's a little bit smaller.
Bob DeMarco [00:16:47]:
It's called the Glider. And this one is a Sheepsfoot. So if you're trying to picture what I was trying to enunciate before, basically that's a sheep's foot 3 inches also of Magnacut sheep's foot blade. It's got the CWL or the compressed wedge lock and a deep carry clip. Also a steel handle. I feel like we've seen this knife somewhere and I can't quite place it, but you know, knives are not. Next let's go to these outdoor knives, these fixies. This first one, the pioneer, is a 5 inch Japanese style Tanto, albeit with an abrupt ascent to that tip, but there's no faceting in that edge so it's more Japanese.
Bob DeMarco [00:17:31]:
Again, MagnaCut G10 handles. Thankfully they didn't put steel handle slabs on this With a leather Kydex sheath. It's not leather wrapped, it's a regular Kydex sheath. But the, the drop down loop for the belt is leather. The next one, also an outdoors knife. The track, 4.2 inches Magnacut Drop Point G10 Fully Leather Sheath which I like the sound of and from the look of it it looks hollow ground. But I couldn't find information on that. The last one, and I'll tell you why, why I'm jamming through these so fast.
Bob DeMarco [00:18:04]:
The last one is the Russell. It's a 4 inch Santoku style kitchen or you know, food knife, food prep knife. 4 inches, so a respectable length for like a camp kitchen knife. Comes with a kydex sheath. Also G10 and magnacut. So each one of these knives, Whether it's the 3 inch glider folder, the 4 inch Santoku or the 5 inch Japanese Tanto Pioneer model, they're all 300 bucks. The Russell is 279. But the rest of them are 300 bucks.
Bob DeMarco [00:18:39]:
And I was surprised. I, I feel like that's expensive, especially for steel handles on the folders. We don't want steel handles. I mean steel handles can be great like in this inexpensive CA CJRB pyrite steel is nice. 300 bucks. You want something a little bit lighter, a little bit more lux. In terms of materials, I understand they're using Magn cut and that's that is what it is and some people really love it. And that's the industry, you know, kind of high mark.
Bob DeMarco [00:19:11]:
But I feel like they're expensive and that is msrp. So maybe, maybe not as expensive but you know, on the dealers. But you know how that will scale down. It'll be two something and still to me, for folders, steel handles, unless they did something really unique and cool, unacceptable for that price in my opinion. But I haven't experienced them yet. I'm sure they work well. All right, next up, the Boker Mini Atlas. This is a cool one.
Bob DeMarco [00:19:42]:
I like this little knife. This is a miniaturized version of their pretty popular slip joint called the Atlas. Which is sort of a tribute to the 20th century European slip joints like the Mercator K55. That's the black Cat, everyone knows. So basically it's a. What that style is really signified by is that single piece construction. It's one piece of steel that's folded over to give you the handle. And then within that you have a slip joint spring.
Bob DeMarco [00:20:21]:
There's a little relief cut from the. From the top of that and you can see that's where the. That's where the spring is. So one basically an integral. It's one folded over piece of steel. For the handle you got a separate little component. For the lanyard hole you got the spring and then you got this very plain. I shouldn't say plain, but a very.
Bob DeMarco [00:20:41]:
A clean spear point, drop point style knife. This is 1.65 inches. So the a substantial subset substantially small knife and a substantial miniaturization from the 2.75-inch original version 12C 28N nail neck only 0.39 ounces and comes in black. And it's available now. All right. Also has a couple different models, anodized or a coated model. So I remember seeing a blue and like a green. So anyway, go check that out.
Bob DeMarco [00:21:21]:
I also want to get myself a Mercator. I always thought those were cool. Just have never gotten one. Why? I don't understand why. Yeah, so we're gonna get to the state of the collection in just a moment. But please be sure to like comment, subscribe and subscribe. Really subscribe. I forgot about this until right now.
Bob DeMarco [00:21:43]:
But I just want to mention. So just listen to the. The words of my voice. If you're not subscribed, do it now because once we get to 50,000, Dirk Pinkerton is going to make us make me a custom knife to give away to you. We will be doing when I get to 50,000 subscribers. We're just a hair over 40,000. So it's going to be a while, but I don't want it to be that long. I want people to subscribe so that they can win this knife.
Bob DeMarco [00:22:11]:
And I can't wait to see what he's going to make. We're going to talk about it, we're going to decide, but a custom knife coming from Dirk Pinkerton if you subscribe, so do that now. You can download the show to your favorite podcast app and also sign up for the newsletter. That's the knife junkie.com/newsletter. Lots of ways to keep in touch. All right, coming up, the state of the collection adventure delivered your monthly subscription for hand picked outdoor survival EDC and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals, the knifejunkie.com battlebox. And now that we're caught up with knife life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast. So I finally put this beauty to use yesterday.
Bob DeMarco [00:22:56]:
This is my very good knife company first strike with this happy red Micarta handle. I've never quite been able to look at this as a combat. I mean, it is a combat knife for sure, but the handle kind of also makes it like a weekend edc. Put it on the belt, walk around, do your work, take care of business. And then if you need a knife, use this. And that's what this was for me this weekend on Saturday, we had a lot of tasks we had to take care of before we I went out for the evening. My wife and I had a date night. And so I was making the dog's food.
Bob DeMarco [00:23:32]:
And you're saying what, you make your dog's food? I'm sure a lot of us do. My mom did growing up. She's like not buying that crap and I can make it for cheaper. And so that's what I do. And every couple of weeks I take a whole bunch of ground beef and see spinach, broccoli, chopped up, carrots, rice, egg, and then this, this dog vitamin powder. And I go out to the griddle, the big Blackstone griddle, and I start frying it up and it's awesome. It takes a little time. The dog loves it.
Bob DeMarco [00:24:04]:
And it's stopped him from getting these little weird things he would get on his skin. And so it's been great. So I had this on me while outside taking care of that. And while it was cooking, I was taking care of some vines too. So this did an awesome job hewing down vines. And then I used it to kill time While I was at it all spread out on the griddle at a low heat, I was feather sticking with this beauty. And this, this hollow grind is so nice. 80 crv2 just.
Bob DeMarco [00:24:36]:
I could make really, really fine curls with it and so was kind of just killing time with that. I didn't do a fire yesterday, but I have those sticks in reserve and I'm going to use them. I also use this to slice open bags of plastic bags of frozen spinach and broccoli and, and the roast beef, and not the roast beef, the ground beef came in this big five pound tube and it's wrapped with this real heavy plastic. So, you know, I had to hit it a couple of times as if it were an arm. And it also did great against, you know, arm like, arm like targets. So I love this thing. I think it's beautiful. That knife.
Bob DeMarco [00:25:20]:
I mean that blade is very much a combat blade. Looks a lot like a K bar to me. And this handle is just so spot on. It's so comfortable. So I'm going to be speaking with the proprietor. I almost forget his first name. It's. It's.
Bob DeMarco [00:25:40]:
It. Joshua. No, that was. Anyway, I'm going to be speaking with him and then I won't forget his name because then I will have been talking with him for an hour and I look forward to it. I spoke with him quite a while at blade show and I'm looking forward to talking to him again. He makes very good knives. The Very Good Knife company highly recommend it. And I want to get one of the saxes he makes.
Bob DeMarco [00:26:07]:
Not an axe. Very Good knife. So it was fun carrying around. Also the sheath is 11. All right. Very good knife company highly recommend it. Go check it out. I'm going to put this down here.
Bob DeMarco [00:26:19]:
And before we get to DC blades and the eight DC blades I have in my collection, I want to show this latest design from Jim. Form follows function. And that if you, if you notice that knife there looks a lot like the, the Cooper's sealed knife design that we were just talking about. Cooper's, a sealed knife, very similar. And form follows function indeed. And I wish I had that apron yesterday. As a matter of fact, I need to get myself an apron. My own apron.
Bob DeMarco [00:26:53]:
I had to put on one of my wife's little aprons because all of that, all of that beef on the, on the big griddle was. It was raining me with hot grease. It was not pleasant. So anyway, form follows function is what I'm going to have to do. So go check it out. Go to the knifejunkie.com shop check out this latest design and look through the catalog of designs. You can get it put on a hat, T shirt, mouse pad, a bougie, water bottle or an apron. Whatever you want, go find it there.
Bob DeMarco [00:27:25]:
All right, so DC Blades. Who is DC Blades? DC Blades is a combined effort, a whole company made up of Justin Carvin Tier 1 gear reviews and Chris Harrison of old Squirrel knives, custom knife maker who on his own makes beautiful knives. Really, really beautiful knives. I had a chance to check them out this year at the show but with Justin Carvin he is co designer of some really wicked wicked folders and one really wicked a fixed blade that I know of. But I don't have the full collection of his designs. They are their designs. They are very prolific especially for such a young, young company. But I have some real gems here and I want to show them off right now.
Bob DeMarco [00:28:14]:
Okay, so this first one is the one that they are probably best known for. This is the Scythe. This was their first design. And this is the Scythe xl. It's made by Shieldon Knives and branded as as a shield and blade. They have some knives that are branded DC Blades and then they have some knives that are co collaborations with other companies. So this one, you can see their maker's mark right there. The maker's mark I think is changing.
Bob DeMarco [00:28:43]:
At least their pivot. The maker's mark they put on their pivots are is changing. But this one has the shield and pivot because it's a shielded branded knife. Really, really nice Paul style knife. You've got a, a rounded contour handle that has a very proud gear pattern backspacer which flattens out the handle a little bit and stops it from turning. Though I have not used this in a heavy situation, it will stop you from turn it from the this very neutral rounded off handle from turning in your hand. That and the pocket clip it is real comfortable and you've got a great place for the thumb and you get a lot of control with that wicked hawk bill blade. Very graceful and beautiful design.
Bob DeMarco [00:29:35]:
I think I, I, I think it's kind of novel having a coffin shaped handle for a knife or for a blade like this. A really excellent action. You know it's like what you come to expect from a premier Chinese maker. Super, super awesome action. Super awesome. He said he grew up in the 80s. Yeah, super ground. A super awesome action S35VN blade steel cerakoted there and or DLC there.
Bob DeMarco [00:30:08]:
I'm sorry. And really, really nice sculpted pocket clip with the ball. This is one of my only clips with the ball. I love that. I think that was pioneered by the Begs Beg knife company. All right, next up. Now this is the. This is a three way collaboration with SHIELD and Knives Auxiliary Manufacturing, Michael Jarvis and DC Blades.
Bob DeMarco [00:30:37]:
So this is a folding version of the Rev which is a pacal version of the. Now I can't remember. I. So okay, here it is. You look at it like this. Imagine the edge on the spine like a regular knife. And then this is a design that Michael Jarvis and Auxiliary Manufacturing had a custom fixed blade design. Now what he did, someone asked for a pick call.
Bob DeMarco [00:31:07]:
What he did was take his blade blank of that design, reversed it and called it the Rev and put the edge on the backside making a really nice straight pacal knife. Well DC Blades, Justin Carven recognized the. The great design and the great utility and having a straight pick all style knife pickall with the tip down edge in. Because this one can be really be used like a regular sort of swayback style knife. You're not dealing with an extreme curve. This, this, this you can use but it's awkward when you don't use it in that pacal style. But this puts the tip down low, gives you that straight edge. It's basically a ambidextrous in terms of call or standard grip.
Bob DeMarco [00:32:00]:
And comes with that little opener there. It's a. It's got a very stiff detent. That's my one ding on this. Almost too stiff but other than that. Well, you just break it in. Beautiful ultim handle. This is 14C20.
Bob DeMarco [00:32:16]:
I mean sorry. 154 centimeters. I was getting my blade steels completely used. 14C28N and really, really cool knife. Very light. That's what I was going for. Really light. Great back pocket knife for me.
Bob DeMarco [00:32:30]:
And available on the Shield in. I. I'm sorry on the. Yeah. Shielding website. Shielding Auxiliary Manufacturing and DC blades. DC Blades was kind of like the project manager for that and the re. They took it the.
Bob DeMarco [00:32:46]:
The fixed blade and redesigned it in CAD so that it would fit in the handle and all that as a folder. All right, next up, the next two knives. I remember coming out at the same time and they just blew my mind. Their designs are so beautiful. This first one I've been carrying a lot this summer. The sting, absolutely beautiful Persian style blade and a really dramatic up curved upswept blade. I will say in profile but the way it's designed into this handle, the shape of the handle, the cant of that of the blade to the Handle keeps the tip of that knife instead of trailing up real high, it keeps the tip at a relatively low spot for, for use. Now it's not going to be the, it's not going to out perform a wharncliffe for, for hole cuts and utility cuts and stuff like that.
Bob DeMarco [00:33:44]:
But the dramatic blade set in that handle is a little less dramatic in terms of use. Like it's a little easier to bring to bear. And I just find it to be a pleasure to carry and to use. And everyone I show it to is like, ooh. Because it's a striking design. I think this is one of those designs that, and I guess I will say across the entire DC Blades universe so far, I think this is their best design. They're most graceful, most pleasing to the eye design. When I had Yoni Wonderman on, he was talking about knife designs having like a magic mean, like a certain, certain ratios come together to make a knife that is undeniably pleasing to the eye.
Bob DeMarco [00:34:31]:
And then you've got a man, then you've got to engineer and make sure that it's pleasing to the hand and pleasing to use. But this, I feel, is that knife for DC Blades. This is such a gorgeous design in my opinion. Okay. Anyway, M390 blade steel. You've got beautifully knurled or, or checkered titanium handles here. Nicely contoured to fit in the hand in forward grip and really spectacularly in reverse grip. This feels like it was designed for a reverse grip first.
Bob DeMarco [00:35:08]:
And then you have inlays of that beautiful carbon fiber. Really nice sort of signature style, signature design. Sculpted titanium pocket clip. We'll see this clip across the, across the catalog. And this is not the full catalog. There's, there's some knives I don't have by them, but not too many, I'm happy to say. Really nice. Jimping.
Bob DeMarco [00:35:33]:
I can't say enough about this knife. I guess it's my favorite. It's my favorite of the DC Blades there. I'll say it didn't want to play favorites, but now I'm doing it. This would probably be my second favorite. This came out at the same time. And this one is called the Vendetta. A very aptly named knife because let's see if I can do this left hand.
Bob DeMarco [00:35:53]:
Yep. Because this one is a really wicked self defense, slash fighting style knife. Paul, with that tip that's reaching out above the center line so that in a, with a back fist, you're landing that point right where it needs to be better with my right hand. So very Very useful hawkbill design, especially in terms of self defense. Now can you turn it over and use it as a utility knife? Sure, of course you can. But you can tell it's just not optimized for that. You can get a. It comes with this pocket catch that comes on, you can take it off.
Bob DeMarco [00:36:35]:
That's not your jam. It, it certainly is mine. Knife like this should be pulled out of the pocket and ready to go. And that is so as you pull it out, it catches the seam like a wave and then you can just rotate it into your hand for use. To me it reminds me it looks like a crow, very crow, like in its beak. It's, it's a blade design. If you do take this off, you have better access to that thumb area if you're, if you're using it in this standard style grip. Really, really beautiful knife.
Bob DeMarco [00:37:11]:
Again manufactured by Miguron, like the Sting. And then this one has pinstripe milling. You've got the DC Blades logo there. It's like a demon skull. And they were in speaking with Justin and Chris, they were saying that that very detailed demon skull on the pivot is kind of complex. And so we will see a more simplified and like symbol. Like I don't want to say symbolic, but symbol like pivot coming up here in a minute that. I hope that made sense to you.
Bob DeMarco [00:37:49]:
This is more like an illustration. The next one is more like a symbol. Very, very nice. M390 blade steel. All the good stuff. All right, this next one is the also DC blades branded MK2. So you can see it's another pickal style knife. This one has two notches here that have become sort of signature for them.
Bob DeMarco [00:38:14]:
And those of course allow waving open so you don't have to put that extra piece on top. And so you can pull this, wave it open on your, on your jeans pocket and then you have it in hand like this. The call style knife. Now you got a little point there for breaking glass possibly. I'm not sure if that would break glass, but it's a steel so presumably it will. And then, oh, you have a setup here where the ring is pushed out ahead of the handle. Here you've got a setup where you can make a full fist that you don't have to alter at all to accommodate that ring which I really like. Aluminum handle scales, 14C 28N.
Bob DeMarco [00:38:59]:
I really like the, what is that called? The frag pattern on it. And then you've got that clip. I'm sorry, did I say aluminum? These are titanium handles. Wicked, wicked Wicked. So that's what they do. They do these wicked self defense style knives. I know Justin really prioritizes self defense in the knife seed designs and I really appreciate that. This would be decent as a, that says non lethal option.
Bob DeMarco [00:39:34]:
Though I do have to say the peak here behind that thumb ramp will dig in into the hand, but in a pinch you can do that. Very nice knife. And I'm still getting the ambidextrous bar lock here. Still trying to get it to be comfortable to fidget with it, but being that far off the handle, not so much. So not so much a fidget knife. I guess if you drop it, you can catch it like I just did. All right, next up. This one is called the Nameless, which is menacing to me and I like that sense of menace.
Bob DeMarco [00:40:09]:
All these designs have that. This is a little bit upgraded. This is M390 blade steel and titanium. Thick titanium slabs here. And you've got this beautiful, weird marbleized carbon fiber inlay. I say weird because it's got these hints of red, black, gray, white. Really, really beautiful material here inlaid on both sides, which I definitely don't know why people would not inlay on the lock side. I think people are trending now towards doing this, but yeah, I never, never quite understood leaving the lock side.
Bob DeMarco [00:40:50]:
Totally plane. You got a thumb stud here and again this, you could use this as utility. It's more comfortable because it doesn't have the ring. But that really tip. When you reverse it like this, that tip is pretty high up. So this is definitely a Pacal style knife. So a self defense knife like super classy assassin self defense knife, that titanium, that M390. And again, you've got the double notches here which help you wave it open on your pocket as you draw it.
Bob DeMarco [00:41:21]:
It also has a front flipper. Oh, right. I'm going to use my right hand front flipper there. I'm going to do this. This is actually really nice to slow roll with. Try that again with my thumb. But really it's meant for front flipping like that. But it puts the hand in kind of an awkward position.
Bob DeMarco [00:41:46]:
So I just prefer the pulling it out and waving it open and holding it in reverse grip. Really excellent ergonomics for reverse grip. You can see that little swale on the pommel there. Perfect for your thumb. And then the rest just falls into place. Really comfortable. All right, this is the Nameless. The menacing Nameless.
Bob DeMarco [00:42:10]:
All right, next up is one that has spent the last month just on my desk since Blade Show. I've had this kind of on my desk. It's been getting some use. This is a pretty cool one. This is the DC Blades branded DC Blades Glaurung. Glaurung is a golden dragon. This is all what I've gotten from you guys and also what I've read on online. But Glaurung was a golden dragon.
Bob DeMarco [00:42:44]:
I think the father of all the dragons in the junior Tolkien world. Am I right about that? Yeah, I'm right about that. But I really like the look of this one and it's so useful. You know, you looked at reverse, I'm sorry, recurve tantos and they always look like. Almost like they're verging on mall knifey or. Or mall ninja. Like a little too many curves, a little too menacing, little too badass. But they're really useful.
Bob DeMarco [00:43:14]:
This long curved portion up front is great for rocking cuts. I've used this for labels. I cut myself. Stab myself that bacon. I've used this for those printout labels. Those little brother label makers. I go crazy with those at work. And I've used this to shape them or, or cut them down to fit on manila folder tabs.
Bob DeMarco [00:43:39]:
Yes, I'm nerding out. I like stationary. What can I say? So that. That is a very useful portion. And then back here, this thin hollow ground curve is great for trapping materials and gliding through like cardboard. I've not used this to cut cardboard, but I know it's going to be awesome because it's a thin blade. Overall, you've got a really thin portion behind that recurve edge and it's just going to glide through. It's going to get trapped in there because of that recurve.
Bob DeMarco [00:44:09]:
And also look at how it's downward angled so that point is center line even though it's on an upswept flip point. Reverse recurve. Not reverse, but recurve conco. So cool. And then this I, I chose. This is a little bit out of character, but I chose this silver twill carbon fiber. I tend not to like the twill carbon fibers, but this one just, I don't know, tickles my fancy. What can I say? You've got a depression in the blade for spidey flicking and just thumb flicking or slow roll.
Bob DeMarco [00:44:51]:
You can thumb flick it, you can slow roll it, whatever you like. This is a really cool one. This is kind of on their budget end. 14C 28N twill carbon fiber steel liners with plenty of weight relief and just really comfortable in hand. Stout, nasty little knife, so I highly recommend it. And like all DC blades, excellent in the reverse grip. See how the thumb just kind of arcs over the top and pulls back? Really, really excellent control in reverse grip. Highly recommend the Glaurung.
Bob DeMarco [00:45:24]:
Like I said, it's on the budget end and it can be had for under a hundred bucks. I think it's like 79 bucks, but don't quote me. And there's their logo. Very cool. All right, last up in this list of DC blades, this is a short one today because it's a short one because I thought I actually had one more and I don't. And it's also a fixed blade and I think, I think I may have left it at their table this year. But anyway, this next one is a really exciting design collaboration with Tops Knives, one of my favorite, favorite manufacturers out there. Slash companies, brands, I should say.
Bob DeMarco [00:46:04]:
And so this one is the Ephyra. It comes on with a sheath with this clip oriented horizontally. It's very comfortable to put on the belt up front and just have right here in front of your belt. Pull it out there. You got it. Here's the knife. This is wicked. I, I know I've said that a couple of times, but it, it really is like that.
Bob DeMarco [00:46:31]:
That is the perfect adjective for that shape of blade. If you're just listening. It's got an offset reverse sickle blade or an extreme upswept Japanese style or American style tanto on a curve. It's very hard to explain. So you just gotta, you just gotta check it out. It comes or I should say this profile is great for a forward grip. It's very comfortable, almost natural fist here and here. You've got great jumping here.
Bob DeMarco [00:47:05]:
Justin says this can be used for all sorts of chores. I think it's very, very much a fighting knife, very much a self defense GTFO kind of knife. But he says that forward surface is very useful for rocking type cuts, for preparing veggies at the campsite. All, all sorts of things he says. But I think he's being coy. This is ten nine, this ten ninety five. And Micarta Beast is not a beast, but it's a wicked, wicked, nasty little little thing. So, yep, you could use it for anything.
Bob DeMarco [00:47:40]:
But if I'm going camping, this isn't my first choice. If I'm walking the alleys of Philadelphia, it might be. Check your local knife laws. Philadelphia. I know they're not good. So this one has dark red liners here. Underneath that Micarta. Really, really beautiful knife.
Bob DeMarco [00:47:59]:
The fira just feels great in hand. And I can't wait to get more DC Blades in hand. Go to their website and check out their models. You can buy through them and then some of them you, you either buy at the Shield and website, like the Rev or the Scythe, I know can be had in its various forms. This comes in G10. It comes in another size. You can get those on Amazon, I believe, as well as Shield and elsewhere. So a very prolific design team is Justin Carbon and Chris Harrington.
Bob DeMarco [00:48:41]:
And I'm really grateful to have these knives and some of them were given to me and I really, really appreciate it. So there we go. Go check out DC Blade. All right, guys, thanks for watching. Really appreciate you. Join us tomorrow night for Thursday Night Knives. If you're listening to this as it drops Thursday Night Knives, tomorrow night we're giving away beautiful Mac from three Dog knife to one lucky gentleman junkie. So join us then.
Bob DeMarco [00:49:10]:
All right. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, my name is Bob DeMarco. Saying until next time, don't take Bill for an answer.
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Knives, News and Other Stuff Mentioned in the Podcast
- Elk River Easy Open Jack from Rosecraft Blades
- Leatherman Jumps Into Knives with Both Feet
- New Boker Mini Atlas Slip Joint
- The Knife Junkie’s Patreon Group
Pocket Check
- TKell Knives Agent 001
- Knives by Nuge Primitive Wicket
- Civivi Baby Banter 2 – TG
- CJRB Pyrite Rose Gold (ESK)
State of the Collection
- Update: Very Good Knife Co. First Strike
DC Blades (Justin Carvin and Chris Harrison)
- Shieldon Scythe XL
- Shieldon REV
- DC Blades Sting
- DC Blades Vendetta
- DC Blades MK-2
- DC Blades Nameless
- DC Blades Glaurung
- TOPS Ephyra
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