The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
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Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, the new JW collab. I get a new one from LT Wright Knives and great fixed blades for trail and camp. I'm Bob DiMarco. This is the Knife Junkie Podcast.

Announcer [00:00:14]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the knife junkie DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:27]:
Welcome back to the show. One of my favorite comments this past week was from Lone Wolf 597 about LT Wright Knives interview. He says, Love LT Wright Knives. Some of the sharpest useful Scandi blades I own. Bob, check out the forest trail that might be right with a W up your alley. Thanks for a great interview and thank you Lone Wolf for the dad joke. I love a good pun. Next was from Trent Costello.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:54]:
And he just said simply cool guy. And I couldn't agree with you more, Trent. Not only do we agree on big knives, but yeah, man, LT Wright is a, is a very cool guy. Great story to tell. If you haven't heard the interview yet, definitely check it out. I am suddenly hooked on his knives. I've got one and we're going to be giving away one and hopefully I have more in my future. All right, that said, let's get to a pocket.

Announcer [00:01:22]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket. Check of knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:29]:
First up, in my front right pocket, I had the beautiful and once coveted Emerson tack. Now, I say once coveted because this was the Emerson Persian. It was out for a while, a long time ago and then it went away and everyone wanted one and they were very expensive and hard to find on the secondary market. Well, thankfully Emerson, Ernie Emerson and Emerson knives came back out with the Persian, now called the Ptac. You can see that right there, PTAC on the blade. They're one of the only blade companies, knife companies whose billboarding I like. It's this and Microtech and maybe one or two others. But this knife is great.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:15]:
When it first came out, I was so excited to see that finally there was an Emerson Persian or Ptac, now called Within Reach. Super comfortable and ergonomic, like most Emerson knives, puts that point, which is a, an upswept trailing point, something that's kind of trendy these days, kind of in direct contradiction to the trendiness of the sheep's foot in the wharncliffe over the past 10 years. And what I, what I was getting at is that ergonomic sort of pistol grip handle puts that point in a reasonable place, especially for thrust this the usual recipe. 154 cm blade steel with G10 and titanium liners. Yes, a little bit of lock stick when you first get it. All Emersons go through an adolescent phase, but all the great people you know and love today go through an adolescent phase. So don't, don't look down your nose at an Emerson because it's not immediately perfect on the action. All right, so that's what I had in my front right pocket.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:21]:
Love that thing. One of only two non waved Emersons in my collection. Next up I had the Gateway Barlow from Jack Wolf knives. This is from the, this is from their within reach. Let me wipe this off from there. Within reach lying here, the gateway line. This is The Gateway Barlow. 154cm blade steel on that beautiful clip point blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:50]:
Nice plunging straight on that edge. Gives you a lot of life in the knife. And then that, that cutting trajectory bellies out which is great. And then puts that point nice and low for all sorts of utility cuts. This one of course has that beautiful rosewood handle there. I love that with the shield and the triple fluted steel bolsters. These are only 75 bucks. And if you know Jack Wolf knives, if you done your research or bought any, you know that the premium line is very, very expensive by comparison, like $300 more.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:31]:
But this is a great way to get into a Jack Wolf knife. If you love their designs. Love the fit of the Jack Wolf knives but don't want to pay for the finish and the materials of a premium line. I feel a sneeze coming on. So if I suddenly sneeze out of the blue, excuse me in advance. I love this thing. This is the one Jack Wolf knife that I don't feel obligated to drop in a leather pocket slip. Though I often do just to keep it oriented north to south in my pocket.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:05]:
Because I don't like it when, when knives are loose in your pocket and they just kind of fall sideways against your leg. That kind of drives me nuts. All right, next up, one I've been carrying non stop since I got it. This is one of the new production runs. This is a production sample of the new Tkal Knives Agent 001, which is on the way. My design collaboration with Tim of TKL Knives started the whole agent series based on the Bob Loveless sub hilt fighter. It's a slender double edged clip point. You're probably saying it's a drop point, but take it from me, the designer, it is a clip point.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:45]:
Love this thing dearly. I love the fact that it's now machined by Nick Chuprin of In the CC knives. Look at the shouldering and the, what do you call it, chamfering on this beauty. And then of course you've got the mill lines on the bevels. Just a gorgeous knife. This is coming out for everyone to buy far and wide on November 1st. Now just a note. I have been saying October 1st for quite a while because that's what Tim told me.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:17]:
And then he sent me a picture of his production calendar saying how did I screw that up? I think he thought 10 was actually the 11th month of the year. So these will be out November 1st, just in time for Christmas. This one here is wearing that gorgeous battle lock handle scale set here. Really super grippy. Made by the same people who make SIG and FN USA pistol and rifle grips. Super grippy, super durable FRN. I ordinarily go in for G10 and Micarta but I am really loving these Battle lock grips. They will be coming.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:04]:
They're available in like a thousand different colors. They can turn that fancy high end super ballistic plastic basically into any color. But I've noticed on the green and the desert tan that I have a super saturation even on a dullish color like desert tan. It the the coloring is amazing. So I'm really excited about the battle grips. Last up for emotional support today. One I haven't carried or put in my bag, I should say, in quite some time. I had my Randall made number two six seven.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:41]:
This is the number two fighting stiletto. The dash seven part refers to the blade length. It's a seven inch blade. Beautiful double or quad hollow ground bevels and a thick medial ridge all the way, nearly all the way to the tip. This thing is one hell of a fighting knife. One hell of a beautiful dagger. This is with the stacked leather commando style handle incidentally, or just if you want to know, I bought this and my other Randall made knife off of Knifecenter. They are one of the few dealers that will get advanced copies if you if you will, from Randall Made and they just sell them.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:25]:
Ordinarily I would have to order that knife from Randall and wait 7 years now to get my preferred version. Luckily knifecenter.com had my preferred version of this knife which is the commando grip. That's the profile of that handle with the stacked leather handle, the double brass quillian, et cetera, et cetera. So I just happened to luck out and also this was when I just so happened to have Randall made. Money in my account, my knife slush fund. So I got that, of course, comes with the beautiful leather sheath here, Q7 on the back. You got an Arkansas Whetstone in there. So this is what I had on me.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:10]:
My Esk was the random A2.7. I had the beautiful TK knives agent 001 here in the new version, which will be dropping November 1st. A refined production of this amazing knife. This. This version of it for me. I have this new wire horizontal Ulti clip on it. So awesome. Love that thing.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:36]:
I had the Jack Wolf knives Gateway Barlow. A beauty at a fraction of the price of a normal premium Jack Wolf knives knife. And then of course, I had the P tap from Emerson knives on. Let me know what you had on you. I'm very curious. Always like to find out what. What people who enjoy this show are carrying. All right, I mentioned the agent 001.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:02]:
I have something else on offer. Now, you can't buy an agent 001 through me. You do have to go to TKL Knives to order one of those. But I have something cool right here that I'm selling. That's a nice junkie Zippo. That's right. I just got a. A bee in my bonnet to get myself a Zippo with my logo on it beautifully emblazoned on there.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:27]:
Now this is. I put my own insert in there with the double jets because I like to smoke cigars and that's how I prefer to light them. But I. I bought five extras. And of course, this is the insert that actually comes with it. The windproof regular Zippo insert. I bought six of these at once. One for me, and actually someone else just bought the first one.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:50]:
So there are four of these left. If you're interested. Let me know. 50 bucks for the knife Junkie Zippo. That is a little more than what I paid for it. That way I can pay for shipping and have a little extra for my effort. Let me know if you want one. I'd be happy to send you one and give you the details on how to do so.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:13]:
The knife Junkie Zippo. I don't know. Does anyone still smoke out there? I don't smoke cigarettes, but I do like a cigar and I love the Zippo jet inserts. Also. You should probably always have a way to light your way to cut your way through something or to set stuff on fire. So always have a flashlight on you, always have a knife, and always have a lighter. And if you're gonna always have a lighter, why not make it a Zippo I, I mean, are you American? Get yourself a Zippo. And if you're not American, are you a man of adventure or a woman of adventure? Do you not want a lighter that you can light and then throw in a pool full of gasoline? If there's a villain in there, you're gonna want that.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:52]:
So check it out. Just get in touch with me and well, I got one for you. And if I don't, I'll order more. It was really fun to do that. I love Zippo lighters. I've always had a little collection going and I figured, why not have one with my boat. Okay, next up we're going to talk about the gentleman junkie giveaway. This month we are going to be giving away this beauty right here.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:18]:
This is the Frontier Valley from LT Wright Knives. So LT came on the show and he said he wanted to send me a knife to give away to someone who is helping support the show. You know, gentlemen, junkies help support the show no matter how they do it. You can do it through Patreon, you can do it through the join button here and become a member on YouTube. But for October, this is the giveaway knife. October 16th we'll be giving away this beautiful LT Wright Frontier Valley. Now, when it showed up, the handle was all nicely oiled up and unicolored, but I have put it in the sheath. The sheath has soaked up some of that oil.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:04]:
So a couple more times in the hand or re oilings of it, you'll have a universal color there on that gorgeous micarta. This thing is beautiful. This is AEBL steel, a full flat ground everyday sort of trail knife or you know, backpacking knife. You've got a full on 90 degree spine for throwing sparks. You can see how LT put that 90 degree spine on there. There you have the shed or the shack I should say, and all the rest. I'm very proud to be giving this beauty away to one lucky Gentleman Junkie on October 16, 2025. Beautiful leather sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:51]:
Also that it comes with. There's a little marking on here. I'm sure that'll buff out or what have you. But this is the way it came to me and this is how I will be giving it to you. Beautiful leather sheath, beautiful knife. I'm very proud and happy to be giving that away to one lucky gentleman junkie. Speaking of gentleman junkies and Patreon and other type things, I just want to mention Maker Monday, this is one of the features that Jim has come up with to give you value added on our patreon Page Maker Mondays. Here this time is Bob Kramer.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:28]:
Bob Kramer, a famed kitchen knife maker. Now I would love to talk with this gentleman right here on the show. You can check out all the information about him, his most collectible knives, his influences and legacy and all the rest. I've, I've had another Kramer on this show and I'd love to have this Kramer on. He is very well known amongst the professional chef set and very well known for his knives. So we have a new feature featuring him. So every Monday you can expect My Maker Monday on Patreon as well as knife notes as well as the Friday funniest and the interview exclusives and everything else we offer you from becoming a Patreon member. All right, that's it.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:18]:
That does it for this. Check us out on Patreon. Quickest way to do that is to go to the knife junkie.com Patreon scan the QR code on your screen. If you get it an entire year at once, you save 12%. So go check us out. Goodnightjunkie.com Patreon then SL Adventure delivered your monthly subscription for handpicked outdoor survival, EDC and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals, the knife junkie.com battlebox.

Announcer [00:15:49]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. And now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life news.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:55]:
First one up in Knife Life News today fits perfectly into our great fixed blades for trail and camp theme today. This is a new one that'll be coming out in January 2026. January 5th. So keep your eyes peeled for this. But this is called the Boker Brassa. The Boker Brassa, it's a compact fixed blade for backpacking and camping or anything else you need a compact fixed blade for. But this is designed by Thomas Ward. It's, it's quite a little beauty, I gotta say.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:26]:
2.83 inches. A double jimped drop point blade of 14C 28N bob. What do you mean by double jimped? Is that just two jims? No sir. That is two runs of jimping. So something for your thumb and something for your extended forefinger as you use that tip. This. Here it is right here. You'll see it on screen.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:50]:
Quite a beauty. I, I think is this knife a nicely curved yet neutral handle. You got that straight back and that curved grip for the fingers bolted on milled G10 scales. Comes with the Kydex sheath. Only 1.9 ounces. So feather light this one. The MSRP, a manufacturer suggested retail price of this is $43. So check this one out.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:18]:
I really like the look of that. I just have to say, say to editorialize here, I love the look of the sharpening notch and the finger grip and then the overall profile of the whole knife. I think it's a pretty sweet looking knife here. All right, next up, one you're going to see live and in person and in color coming up here shortly. The day the JW Collab scuffle. Now, you've been around long enough to know that JW Collab is the Jack Wolf knives collaboration branch. So this is the third in that series. We've seen the Tango and the Collusion and now we have the Scuffle.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:58]:
And this is with famed designer Nick Rogers of Niche Designs. Look at that beauty. Absolutely beautiful. Inspired by old Western Bowie style knives and also of course old school jack knives. This one though is much bigger, I gotta say, by comparison to most other Jack Wolf knives or all others actually at 3.54 inches in blade length, clip point, full height hollow grind. Except for that, that fuller there. So nearly full height. We'll say s 90v with a fuller and a the first Jack Wolf knife with a traditional slipper tab on there.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:43]:
And don't make a mistake. That choil is for sharpening. That's a sharpening knot and not a finger choil. I'm sure someone's going to jam their finger in there and get cut and say, but really that's for sharpening. And you get years of life out of this. If you look at that plunge grind versus that sharpening notch versus the thinness of the hollow grind, you'll be able to sharpen this until the cows come home or at least until your mortal coil expires. Jack Wolf knives first kind of traditional old school flipper, but with that big, big size. Also a first with the pivot column.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:21]:
This one has ceramic bearings and super smooth action. A bolster lock, except for the full tie version which is a frame lock and comes in five different colorways. Sculpted titanium clip. These are dropping October 3rd, 2025. So if you're watching this as it drops in three days, save up your shekels. You'll, you'll be able to get this only 3.5 ounces on average. They, they vary due to materials, but not by much. MSRP of this sucker is 350.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:57]:
So a beautiful, beautiful knife and you'll be seeing it here shortly. Okay, next up, the Civivi yonder. We all know that knife. It won Best Buy at Blade Show 2024. This is a Halloween version. Now this was designed by Zach Whitmore. You know him maybe as the guy who used to be in all of the Blade HQ videos when he was with their marketing team there. And Zach in the wild since he's left there.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:30]:
This Beauty is a 2.88-inch 14C 28N spay style blade. A lot of people call that a reverse Tanto, but let's call that a spade blade with a continuous belly from Ricasso to tip. Really nice looking knife. Thumb stud actuation. Or you can use that ambidextrous bar lock should you prefer to be fancy. But this one has that Halloween theme. So you've got the orange G10 with the black inlays looking a lot like a jack. Okay.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:04]:
Reversible deep carry, bent pocket clip, 2.68 ounces. Nice small utility oriented knife. Very much in keeping with this other Civivis. And all of a sudden I'm forgetting which one I'm trying to mention. You know it the one that they made 50 million versions of. So kind of in that same size range and use case. This will be out soon because we are nearly at the end of September. Well, we're at the beginning of October as you listen to this.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:40]:
So this will be out in the next couple of weeks. $74 MSRP for the yonder Halloween edition. Just looking at this thing, I really like it. It'd be cool if they made it larger. I'm glad they don't because I would have to buy it if they did. Last up, we were just talking about Jack Wolf knives. This one I have to be 100% honest with you. Really made me think of Jack Wolf knives as soon as it popped up.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:06]:
But this is a cool one. This is from Kaiser, called the Trestle A. Their first slip joint knife, I think. I mean traditionally manufactured. Not manufactured, but traditionally designed slip joint knife with a kick that stops the blade and all of that. But this is an Azo my design. He's the head designer at Kaiser as. Oh my, look at that.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:33]:
Now that's one of the limited editions you're seeing there. But this is a single bladed jack with a 2.9-inch quick point blade. All right, get ready for this. You can get this in M390 with a camo carbon fiber. You can get this in S45VN with mother of pearl. And I believe there's a wood version of that too. You can get it with a Damascus with wood. You can get it in 14C 28N with Micarta Overall, eight different colorways for this beauty.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:06]:
And yeah, I I've seen a few of these out there, a few videos of this so far and I think it's really cool. It's got an almost half stop meaning it's the blade does not stop at 90 degrees. It stops at, I don't know, 110 degrees or something. So it gives you even more clearance for your hands if you're being a fancy pants and closing it with one finger, which I've done many times and cut myself even on camera here, so maybe having a not so half half stop is a good idea. But a pretty long, nice beefy blade there. They range in price from $80 to yes, $300 depending on materials and like I said, eight varieties. These are available now with some limited edition versions with different colorways and materials in the office. So check this out.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:02]:
This is the Kaiser Trestle. Want to sell your custom knives online? With Launch Cart, you can easily create your own e commerce store. No coding required. Launch Cart is designed for knife makers like you with built in tools to showcase your craftsmanship, manage orders and grow your brand. 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@the knife junkie.com launch and turn your passion into a business.

Announcer [00:24:35]:
It's time for some knife history with the first tool here on the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:40]:
If you've ever slipped an opinel knife into your pocket, you've carried more than just a blade. You've carried a piece of French culture. The story begins in the late 19th century in the Savoie region of the French island Alps. A young blacksmith named Joseph Opinel wanted to design a knife that was simple, reliable and affordable for everyday people. In 1890, he forged the first prototype. Its beauty lay in its simplicity. A wooden handle, a folding blade, and nothing unnecessary. It was a tool made for farmers, shepherds and workers, not aristocrats.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:20]:
But word spread quickly. By the early 1900s, the Opinel had become so popular in rural France that it was sometimes called the knife of the peasant. But the design struck a chord far beyond the countryside. Intellectuals, artists, and even royalty began to carry them. Pablo Picasso famously used an opinel to carve his sculptures. Even King Charles of England, he was a prince back then, has been photographed with one tucked in his pocket. One of the Opinel's clever features is its rotating safety ring, the ViroBlock, patented in 1955. With a quick twist, the blade Locks open or shuts, turning a humble pocket knife into something sturdy enough for serious work.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:11]:
Yet despite this innovation, the overall design has barely changed in more than 130 years. The silhouette is instantly recognizable. A beechwood handle with a graceful curve and a sharp clip point blade. Collectors often talk about the numbering system. From 2 to 13, each side was. Each size was made for different hands and different tasks. The number eight, which you see right here, was just the right balance of size and utility. It became the most iconic, the most embodiment, the highest embodiment of the Opinel spirit right here.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:49]:
But what makes the Opinel truly special isn't just its design. It's the philosophy behind it. Joseph Opinel wanted a knife that was universal, something anyone could own. It was priced to be affordable, and it never lost that reputation. To this day, an Opinel costs just a few dollars. Yet it has found its way into museums of design and the pockets of explorers, hunters, artists and royalty. The knife born for shepherds, embraced by artists and carried across the world, the Opinel is proof that sometimes the simplest tools are the ones that last. Because when you carry an Opinel, you don't just hold a knife, you hold a tradition.

Announcer [00:27:33]:
And that's this week's look at knife history with the first tool. And now back to the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:39]:
Okay, we just spoke about this knife and here it is in living color. The absolutely beautiful JW Collab scuffle. This a design collaboration, as the name would imply. JW Collab with Mitch Designs. Nick Rogers. I love his work. He's done a number of really great knives like the Egress and the Ingress. I have one of his prototypes from.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:06]:
From early on. He's done a lot of beautiful kitchen knives, but this one just takes the cake. It's very much inspired by both traditional slip joint knives, slip joint single bladed jack knives, but also western bowie knives. That's right, the good old fashioned fighting, hunting, camping all around bowie knife. And we can see that here. That three and a half, almost 3.6 inch blade of S90V with A, with a nearly full height hollow grind that opens so, so nicely. All right, so this one is the linen green linen micarta with stonewashed titanium bolster version. This is a bolster lock.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:55]:
As I mentioned earlier, this does come in a full titanium version and that is the only frame lock among them. They are mostly bolster locks. So if you look at the blade here, you'll notice it's got this gorgeous speckled and flecked stonewashed blade. It also comes in a grinder, satin and also a DLC black version. I love that swedge going down the full length of the straight clip there and that super thin S90V blade. I've had this for a couple of days now and have been really digging it. This is one that I'm proud and happy to carry in my front right pocket. Not that I'm not proud and happy to carry every Jack Wolf knife production I have, but this one really fills that front right pocket niche for me.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:49]:
Niche designs, but that's because of the size. I love the size and the rough and tumble sort of attitude for this. Now this one, as you can see has the bronzed pivot collar and the bronze sculpted titanium pocket clip. You can see some of my blue jeans right there under the clip. That's just because they're. I'm wearing a pair of old and busted blue jeans. But the clip is not that stout that it's going to tear your jeans up. You got a bronzed backspacer here.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:24]:
Two runs of jimping. Just an awesome, awesome nut. Really happy about this. As you're watching this, keep your eyes peeled in the next two days for a an up close video of this knife. Second up in the state of the collection. I want to show you this beauty. This is from LT Wright Knives. Right after I interviewed lt, I went on his website and bought this.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:54]:
And then he surprised me by throwing one right in the box for giveaway. This is the beautiful small northern hunter. So very much in the spirit of that Canadian belt knife profile. Just a gorgeous, gorgeous knife. I had the large version of this on loan for a while and really loved that. I think that was Kepler Nessart who loaned that to me and I really, really dug that knife. This one, I knew I had to have this profile in my collection so I got the mini version. Same thing as I mentioned with the other one.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:33]:
The titanium has sort of, or, I'm sorry, the micarta has sort of lost some of the oil when I stuck it in the sheath. But through carry, carry and use, this will all become one universal color. Really nice, really sharp and an excellent spine for throwing sparks. All right, one, one thing to note here is that this is a Civivi fob. I will be putting my own leather fob on here soon enough. But this rides deeply enough in the sheath that it does require a little something to help it tug out. So we're gonna get two great fixed blade knives for trail and camp. But before we do Let me show you some of this cool merch that Jim has come up with over this past week.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:24]:
You can get this rotten around the pumpkin patch kind of a creepy design. Very, very seasonal and I'm loving it. You can get it on T shirts, you can get it on all manner of apron, hoodie, whatever you want. Just go to the knife junkie.com shop. You'll see it there amongst the many, many other designs that Jim has come up with for our all of our cool merchandise and you'll be a proud knife junkie merch owner. And it's a conversation starter so just put that on, go to the barbecue or the pumpkin patch or whatever you're doing to enjoy the fall and meet like minded people. Okay. So great fixed blade knives for trail and camp.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:09]:
Let me just, I'll start out with this knife. This one is awesome. Why is it good for trail and camp? Well because it's got a super useful saber ground blade, a really great shape and it's small and light just like its cousin here or brother, the LT Wright Frontier Valley. Now I'm showing both of these at once because I've talked about both of them already but these are the first two. I'm going to kick off this list of 11 great trail and and camp knives this north so I have not really carried this one at all. Now the the Frontier Valley. This is going to a lucky gentleman junkie so I'm keeping this one pristine and just showing it off on the show and on Thursday night knives. But this one I've been carrying around obsessively since I got it less than a week ago.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:06]:
And yeah, I am going to get around putting a different fob on it but for now I will leave that on there. These are perfectly sized to go with larger knives but they're also really nice and light and I am told that backpackers and and avid thru hikers like really light knives. So these will fit the bill. They're big enough at 3 1/2 inches in blade length here and 3.25 inches in blade length here to get almost all the work you need with a knife done, you know, barring batoning and that kind of thing. But for food prep and for carving stakes and all that kind of thing, these are great whittling, what have you, great knives for that purpose. So these will, these will do you right because they're nice and light. I love personally this one right here is just so up my alley. I love that leaf shaped blade and I also love that they both have 90 degree spines.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:10]:
Lt Wright makes a special effort to, to give them nice sharp spines for throwing sparks, for getting that fire start. Because you don't want to be a sucker and use your lighter unless it's a knife junkie zippo. You want to throw sparks and impress the, impress the camp. So definitely check out these LT Wright knives. Love this. And I love the other one too, though the other one is, is not mine, it's yours it you just don't have it yet. Okay, next up, the knives by Nuge Primitive Wicket. This one is great.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:47]:
It rides right in the pocket ambidextrously. So if you want to carry it normal for Saber draw, which is actually how I normally carry it, you have. Either way you drop it in, it's going to work. But that's something I really like about that sheath, is that it's a drop in sheath, much like a leather pouch sheath, like what we were just looking at with the LT Wright knives. Ease of resheathing. You don't have to worry about how it's going in so much. You just can put it down. You don't want to put this on the ground or whatever when you're, when you're doing work around the campsite, you want to just put it somewhere and it's easy to find that opening and easy to drop it in if you put it in reverse.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:34]:
You can always go back and change it, but the point is easily drop into the sheet. All right, now that, now that that's out of the way, here's the knife. All the knives by Nudes knives that have the primitive moniker have a jute wrapped handle which is nice and thin, nice and grippy. And due to the broadness of the handle, north to south, you still get a great grip despite the thinness and it's quite comfortable. This also has a very sharp 90 degree spine on that 80cr V2 blade. And being a primitive wicket, it has the scandi ground load, scandi grinds, great for carving, great for all sorts of outdoor cutting tasks, but especially those kind of carving tasks where you're removing large pieces of wood and just want to get down to the, to the thick of it or I guess down to the thin of it. This thing is a beauty and it just seems to go with the whole nature theme here. So nice and light, nice and thin, easy to carry in the pocket, easy to in and out of the sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:48]:
No matter how you put it in, it's good to go. That is the primitive wicket. And just as an aside, here is the Primitive Wicket neck knife. This is the small one and somehow the sheath is caught strangely on something on my desk and I can't show that to you. But this is the small one and this is the large one and both of them make great knives. And just so you know, this jute is very, very comfortable against the naked skin. I carry this neck knife often just against my chest without it harshing me or, or bothering me. You think jute might be itchy? It's not sackcloth, it's jute.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:33]:
And the way it's done, impregnated with epoxy and then singe. It's nice and smooth but nice and grippy. So whether you choose the large one or the, or the neck knife, you're good to go with the knives by needs Wicket or Primitive Wicket xl. All right, next up, you know that no list is going to be complete without this, so I'll just get this out of the way. I love this knife. This is the Mora knife companion. I have a few other Moras. I've got that old number two with the red wooden handle and I've got the, the car, the carbon steel one.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:11]:
But none of them really do it for me like the companion does. Yeah, it's true. It has a three quarter tang and it does not have a 90 degree spine which is strange to me. It really should being a great camp knife but I think that would be easily enough done with three and a half minutes and some sandpaper. So I will do that at some point. But really this is just a great, great all around knife. Four and a half inches of of blade here and a nice scandi grind on it. Nice grippy rubberized handles with the plastic bolsters here, if you can call them bolsters, that's the stainless steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:57]:
Most of them are stainless and these things are just awesome. They speak for themselves. They're great outdoors knives but also untold by the great and powerful Ed Calderon that they make for great tactical knives too. If you ever, heaven forbid, had to fight with a knife, this would be a great one. He says to do it with Made in Sweden. An awesome sheath. All of this whole package is like just barely over 20 bucks these days with inflation. But I when these first came on my radar they were below 20 bucks.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:30]:
Got a nice thumb push off and a sheath that you can just clip on anything. I've had this around on my gym shorts when I've been around doing chores around the house and it works great. This is the Mora knife and end next night, next one Is going a little more premium, a little more high end. This is the tops Knives Tex Creek. I just showed this one off recently. Last week when I was showing off my tops knives knife. This one has gotten a lot of outdoor use here. A great pouch style sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:10]:
This is really what this is the knife and the sheath that really got me to appreciate this kind of sheet. I used to think, oh, it's not tactical enough. I need a strap. I need something to make sure it stays in when I'm doing my ops. Well, I don't do ops so I don't have to worry about jumping out of airplanes. I don't have to worry about running from the enemy and my knife falling out. I'm just putzing around the backyard. And this works great.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:35]:
So you just kind of use it, drop it in. Gravity will take it all the way down, but if not, it comes out nice and easily. And you've got a beautiful full grain leather sheath here. But that is 1095 blade. Steel four. And let me measure that right here. Yeah, about four and an eighth, four and a quarter depending on where you measure it. Inch 1095 blade with that acid rain finish.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:02]:
You can see the, the hardening line, the hamon there kind of running down the center of that bevel. Beautiful G10 handle scales with the red liners. Really, really nice in the hand. Feels so good in hand. When you look at it from the top down, you'll see it's contoured with a palm swell. Got nice jimping there that engages the naked thumb. Or if you use this with gloves, which I have plenty of times. Feels great in hand that way too.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:32]:
And you get a lot of grip as the leather from your gloves sinks into those gyms there. Made in the usa. I like this one with the lanyard on it. I like to do it like this. Wrap it around the back of the hand like that and then use it like this. Or you can kind of choke back a little and do light chopping with it. If that looked as lame as it did to you, as it did me. There we go, right hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:02]:
That works much better. I'm a right hander, what can I say? But if you've got this smallish 4 inch fixed blade knife and you do need to engage in a little bit of chopping, just use that lanyard though. The handle to blade ratio is about one to one. That's the one reason I didn't daily carry this. I bought this to daily carry under my shirt with a very nice Kydex sheath. I Made for it but discovered that the handle's just too long for that. And I love this knife so much I didn't want to cut it down just to carry it sometimes under my shirt which upon reflection seemed ridiculous. This is just a great outdoor camping and trail sort of knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:47]:
Also 1095 blade steel, super tough but also easy to resharpen. I chipped this one before hitting chain link fence and other stuff while chopping. This is the tops. Texpred next one. This one is new to me. I've had this for a few months now as we record this. But I've carried it around recently quite a bit and I'm loving it. This is the three dog knife Mac M A K which stands for multi animal knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:19]:
This is the in house brand from Northern Knives up in Alaska. If you spend any time here on Thursday night knives, you know Northern knives. And Mike comments quite a bit. He's a. He's a regular here on the show. He sent me this and then he sent me another one which we gave away to a gentleman junkie not that long ago. Beautiful outdoor knife. Another four and a quarter inch blade here.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:46]:
This one is M390 blade steel. You've got nice G10 handles, nice and thick so really hand filling. But you also have that anzo pattern ground into the or carved or whatever milled into the handles which give you great grip. But you also get this nice thumb ramp on the side for all your chest pulls and the other different kind of specialized cuts you might do with this M390 of course we know as the super steel holds an edge for a long time and is a great has high corrosion resistance. This made in Alaska by three dog knife. Multi animal knife is definitely meant for outdoors hunting, camping and all sorts of tasks. A great sheath here, all sorts of outdoor tasks. Great shake.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:41]:
A sheath here made by D. Johnson, also an Alaskan maker that just fits the blade beautifully. It's a nice blend between pouch sheath which is easy to return back to place and Kydex which is form fitting. This is a pretty form fitting leather sheath. So I mean this is not going to fall out easily at all. I'm shaking it pretty hard and it's not falling out at all. Whereas that Tex Creek would come flying out. No judgments.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:12]:
I like them both. But this is a real nice and secure knife and this is something to think about. If you have a lanyard on and you're walking through the woods, you don't want it. You don't want your knife to easily. If you Have a lanyard say for instance, snag on a branch as you walk by a tree and pull your knife out without you knowing. With this one that's more of a possibility because of how loose the blade sheath the blade is. Nishi. So just something to note.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:42]:
Next one comes to us from BTS Knives in Ukraine. This is a family business out of Ukraine. I have two of their knives. My youngest daughter has one of their knives. The one that's made just for kids. This one is great. This is called the Fin Light. It's a, it's a Puukko style small utility knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:05]:
It came with the regular blonde colored handles. I just sort of stained it. I like this red color and other than that I've used this one quite a bit. As you can tell from looking at the 1066 blade. 1066 is a high carbon steel one. That one that I have chipped, I must be honest, not this one but I have their, their MP5 knife and I have chipped that doing chopping and hitting, hitting objects I shouldn't have hit but I mean same thing has happened to me with that 1095 from tops on the Tex Creek. So no judgments about the steel. It is 1095 or I mean 610 66.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:53]:
So you might be tempted to do all sorts of stuff with these blades. Just know that they are susceptible to damage that all, all types of blade steel are susceptible to. Very comfortable in hand with that rounded off contoured handle. I get a full four finger grip on it though. It's a small knife at three and a quarter inch. I'm guessing three and a quarter. Let's see. Yep, three and a quarter inch blade, Scandi grind.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:23]:
Just a really, really excellent knife. The thing I like about this is that this beautiful sumptuous leather sheath with the white stitching. I'm a sucker for white stitching. Has these three holes for putting on Ulti clips or DCC clips or whatever kind of clip you want. But I've never been inspired to do that. I just like to keep this in the sheath and then just drop it in the pocket. It it comes out easily. You can just, you can just grab the, this little 10, this little 550 fob here, pull it out of the pocket and this will snag on the side of the pocket and then you got your knife in here.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:06]:
But a really handy, handy sheath. Beautiful. Made out of that leather. These BPs knives out of Ukraine family business as I mentioned, very, very reasonably priced, I dare say inexpensive. So check them out, especially if you're someone who talks about supporting Ukraine, support them this way. Also, it's, they're really, really good knives. And I'm a sucker for a family knife business. We know that.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:36]:
All right, next up. Now this one is the only cold steel in this list. I've decided to keep this list to one representative per brand. And I know you're thinking, oh, it's an SRK or it's the trail master. It's one of those knives that Bob talks about all the time. Well, it's not. It is the roach belly. This one of course has a sheath I made myself.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:02]:
But the sheath that comes with is pretty darn good, albeit cheap. And I've also wrapped it with jute cord. This is just personal modifications, but the reason I, I put this knife on here is that A, it's super light, B, it's got that 1060, I'm sorry, 4166 Krupp steel from Germany. So it's a nice tough, cheap stainless steel that sharpens really easily. It holds a pretty decent edge, gets wickedly sharp. But the reason I have this on here is because I knew someone back in my former days of New York City who, he was a cousin of a friend of mine who had spent some two, two and a half, three years backpacking across the country, living on his wits and his know how in the woods. And this was his one and only knife. Not this one in particular, but the cold steel roach belly.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:00]:
And he just loved it. And I've had this, this is written in my, in my car for years now. And I've used it for odds and ends here and there. But I love knowing that this, I'll say it, cheapo cold steel knife, which you can still get for under 20 bucks, just goes the distance. I know someone for whom it went the distance for more than three years of everything, whether it's cutting food or cutting wood or making stakes for the tent or whatever it was, you know, was doing with these, with this thing. It's a really robust, cheap little knife. Also, not for nothing, would make a pretty decent self defense knife if heaven forbid, you needed a knife for that purpose. But just a really outstanding blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:49]:
I always wish they'd make a fancier version of this. 4 and 4.6 blade inches in blade length and a nice clean curved cutting edge. Great point, nice jimping. It has a smooth FRN handle with some sort of wood grain texturing in it. But I did my own little carving in there and then wrapped this jute and just it's not coming out of the hand now. I mean it's so, so perfectly tractionist. I just made that word up. It has really great traction, especially now with the little modifications I've done.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:28]:
But this is a great knife also. If you've just got a hankering for a new knife but you don't have a lot of money to spend, what a great knife to get. I highly, highly recommend the Roach Belly. I do have its brother, the, the Finn whatever Finn Wolf I think it is. And, and then the Canadian belt knife and the other knives in this cheapo line or high value line. But this one is by far my favorite. I got it originally to test out making Kydex sheaths, but it's become one of my favorites. Okay, next up.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:06]:
This one is from off grid knives. This is the tracker and I've used this one quite a bit too. You know I have a lot of knives in my collection. I don't use them all but this in this list. Most of these I've used quite a bit. Absolutely. And this one, the Tracker, I have it used. This one now comes in an XXL version.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:29]:
So a much larger version of this. But I love this knife first of all very hand filling and comfortable handle here with the milled and textured sort of lizard scale. G10 here bunky pen G10 or Micarta. I just frankly I can't tell and I don't know. But you got a full flat grind here on that. Nice drop point blade. Kind of reminiscent of like an SE or something like that. Really great jimping.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:01]:
That's D2 Blade Steel Cryo D2 and a very comfortable knife in reverse grip. Not that I really see you using this in reverse grip. You never know when you might have to power down on something. This one I've used for saplings, I've used this one on for vines. I've also used this to make kindling and what do you call them? Feather sticks. So just a really great all around knife. Really excellent taco folded over taco style sheath here with the belt loop. You can of course remove the belt loop and put it on your belt in another way or just drop it in your pack.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:42]:
One thing I like about these drop loops is this velcro snap situation here. So you don't have to take your belt off. But it's nice and sturdy and will under the pressure of your belt will definitely stay locked down. Very nice fit into the sheath itself and a great press off point for the thumb. The so this is the tracker. If this is too small for you at five and four and a half inches, you can check out the XL or XXL version of this, which is a pretty big beefy knife. But to me this one is just hits that sweet spot. Off grid knives, tracker and ultimate.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:28]:
Here is the Apoc Survival Wallace Fuko. Now I'm showing you this one. This is the 4 1/2 inch version, but the one I've used actually is the very small version. This one is really nice, they're both really great, but I guess you want the larger one for the most all around useful. But this one is nice and light and you could actually clip this to your, the straps of your backpack. It has a very useful ferro rod here and a sharpener attached to the side so you're out in the field. It gets dull, you can just run it over that and give yourself a restored edge. Now the one thing about these Apoc knives that is slightly bewildering is that they don't have the 90 degree spine.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:21]:
You can still throw sparks with them though, oddly enough I have with this one. But when you feel it, it doesn't quite feel sharp. So maybe that's the best of both worlds. It's more comfortable on the thumb, yet it can still throw sparks. You've got a saber grind on both of these, sort of emulating a Scandi grind, which we all know is great for woodwork and all sorts of outdoor tasks. But they do have a micro bevel at the very tip and I mean at the very edge. Keeping it maybe a little bit more robust by making that edge a little more oblique than it would be with a straight up scandi. Both of them come with the same setup.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:08]:
Very nice Kydex sheath, the sort of mini Tek Lok style belt attachment and then the ferro rod. So you, you choose your size, but I'm going to go with the Apocalypse Survival Wallace Puukko. That's Mike Wallace and not the guy from 60 Minutes. All right, last up, I have a couple of Bark river knives that would fall nicely into this category. For instance, this beauty here, this, this sort of just outdoor wharncliffe, great little side knife. But I'm going with this. This is the Boon 2. I love this.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:46]:
This is the largest one in this category. The boon to just a super classic outdoor knife. The kind of knife that the, that a lot of young GIs were bringing at the beginning of World War II with them overseas. This is the kind of hunting outdoors clip point knife from the early 20th century that eventually led to the K bar in a lot of ways. And I just love it. I just love this nug. You've got stack leather handles, so sort of traditional in that way. Aluminum butt cap and aluminum double guard.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:22]:
This one has 3V blade with the appleseed edge or convex edge. Of course. It's a clip point style blade with the fuller so that fuller lightens things up. No, it's not for channeling blood out of whatever you stab. It is not a blood groove. It is a fuller, but just an overall super robust knife. It's got a rat tail tang, but I have baton this through wood. And I gotta say, to be 100% honest, these little spacers have come loose and I've had to re glue them.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:58]:
But I think that's an anomaly. I know bark river knives from my own experience and what I've heard from other people who handle their knives in a lot rougher way than I, that they are extremely robust knives, especially with that convex edge. So that is the boon 2 a knife anyone would be proud and happy to carry on their belt at the campsite. All right, thanks for joining me on this little jaunt down the trail for great fixed blade knives for trail and camp. I really appreciate it. Not just the knives, it's also the sheets. They really have a lot to do with how great these knives are. Let me know what you think the best outdoors knives are.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:43]:
I'm open. I'm way open. A because I want to get more and you know, I want to increase my collection with more outdoors knives. But also you guys probably have more outdoors experience. So I want to hear it. Let me know. All right. Don't forget about the the Zippo lighter.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:00]:
The Knife Junkie Zippo lighter. We'll see how these go. This one of course, has that double insert. That is something that I have for myself. This does not ship with that, but do check that out if you want it. Let me know and we'll let range postcast. All right. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DiMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

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