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.
©2025, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcribe Your Podcasts and Videos: https://theknifejunkie.com/magic (affiliate link)

Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, the July 2025 Gentleman Junkie Giveaway knife, the Gateway Barlow from Jack Wolf Knives. And I'm going to show you 11 great new fixed blade knives. I'm Bob DiMarco. This is the Knife Junkie Podcast. Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the knife junkie DeMarco. Welcome back to the show. Had a couple of favorite comments this week from my interview with Josh Wolf of Red Beard Knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:37]:
He I'm sorry, Jason Scott said another great interview, Bob. His knives look great. The Goblin model I think is my favorite on his website. Thank you for your service. And he was thanking Josh because Josh was a former Army Ranger and sniper, so did a lot of service for this country. Next up was from the Prepper Bunkers Outdoor Prepper Bunker Outdoors. He says Josh is an amazing guy who makes amazing blades and that sums it up pretty well. I think he must have one of Josh's knives because it sounds like he knows, but just from picking up those knives at blade show and, you know, really examining them, feeling them in hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:19]:
Yeah, I look forward to getting my hands on a Red Beard knife. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening and leaving comments. It's greatly appreciated. All right, 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 in my front right pocket today, playing first fiddle is the TK one from Emerson Knives. The Tim Kennedy folder.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:48]:
That's what this is. A design collaboration with Tim Kennedy or design cross promotion, you might say. Really, really nice. Long, slender fighting clip point blade and the usual super ergonomic useful handle from Ernest Emerson and his his design mind. I say useful because there's nothing less useful than a knife that doesn't have a comfortable handle. If you can't hold on to it, you can't use it. So I love this thing. I haven't carried it in a little while.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:23]:
It's it was my first of now two Emersons without the wave. I guess personally, I guess I would always opt for the wave in terms of utility because I carry these mostly at when I'm thinking of a defensive blade. And of course nothing is faster in terms of a folder than a waved folder. But in terms of the clean lines and just, I don't know the looks, I really have taken to the waveless feature on this and also on my Persian, my PTAC one. So this one was in the pocket today, that's a full four inches. Or actually, if you're really, really measuring, it's like 3.97 inches just to keep it legal. Love that thing. Okay, my back left pocket.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:10]:
Another one that's been really hard to kick out lately. I've been talking about the Aurelia because I've been carrying that full time. Well, this one has also been getting full time treatment either in the front right pocket in the shorts or in the back left pocket when I'm wearing jeans or work pants, work clothing. This is the JW Collab Tango. And that JW stands for Jack Wolf Collab with the K to make it. JWK stands for collaborations, obviously. And this one is the first in the series with. And this one is with Cerberus knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:47]:
There's his really cool maker's mark. Cerberus, the Greek mythological dog. Guard dog. I think of Hades. Am I right when I say that I should look it up? This is such a great knife. I really love this. I, you know, I would love this at four inches or, or three and a half inches in blade length, but this is about three inches and I'm still just madly in love with it. You don't hear me say that too much about a knife of this size, but I really, really dig it.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:18]:
This one is the blasted titanium handle with the, those radiating sunburst patterns coming from the pivot area. This has already gotten some nice snail trails on it. I love snail trails. You know, I'm blasted titanium. There's nothing you can do to stop them unless you really baby the knife and keep it in like a leather slip or something like that. Now for this, this is going to show its age. I've used this one quite a bit too. It's not just a, a babied knife in my collection.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:52]:
And yet another baby knife in my collection. This one has gotten a lot of use. It's super robust and those slabs of titanium are nice and thick. Gotta say. Next up, for some of the time today in my waistband at the 3 o' clock is my Dirk Pinkerton custom Matador. Now when I got this knife, you may remember, I showed it off at Blade show. It had no name and I keep thinking that it looked. It reminds me in Blade a lot of the Night Horse, Dirk Pinkerton's production version and modernized version of the Navaja.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:29]:
It just looks like a Spanish clip point to me. So I asked him if I could call this the Matador. He granted me permission. And so this forevermore will be called the matador. Beautiful four and a half inch blade with this is Elmax I believe. No CPM3. I'm sorry. CPM s, 30 volts blade, steel, fully sharpened top edge.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:54]:
That is after that thumb placement area which is perfect. This thing is so comfortable and wicked and classy and I just think it's beautiful and it's so comfortable in hand. You could probably tell from just looking at that smooth contoured. He's not even sure what that material is. It looks kind of like a G Carta to me except it doesn't have that fuzzy soft feel of a G Carta. So maybe It's. Maybe it's G10, I'm not sure. But you've got these beautiful swirls in there of these different greens and whites and earth tones.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:28]:
I really like this. This is a real unique knife. I don't know how many of these dirk made. I think this is a somewhat old. I think, I think he made that a few years ago. He couldn't even remember but he had it on this table of blade and I fell in love with it immediately. It's been a great carry. I've been carrying it quite a bit here.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:46]:
I got the discrete carry concepts clip and a ranger band on there. That ranger band is to keep the clip from moving too much because the holes don't quite align for this clip in particular. So it, the ranger band does double duty of keeping the clip from rotating too much and it also keeps it situated. You know it grips the inside seam of my pants and keeps it from moving around. So there's that. And then for emotional support obviously I was not carrying this on me though it does carry not too bad in the waistband. It's just not easy to sit down with. This is the awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:26]:
Put this over here. This is the incredible and beautiful Spartan George Raider dagger. Now this is another one of Les George's amazing dagger designs. He makes them, he designs them, people make them, he makes them, they go all over the place. But he is a true, true dagger man. And this is based on the Marine dagger that was very short lived at the beginning of World War II. It had a cast aluminum handle and a pretty delicate but very, very acute blade. Oftentimes marines would drop them and break the tips and so they would kind of do a flat chisel grind across the the front just so that the tip wouldn't break again.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:14]:
And so it was very short lived like I said. And the materials that went into it had to go into different, different things at the time. And so they, I Think they ended up going with the M3 trench knife for a while and then to the Ka Bar. But I love that knife. It's just such a beautiful dagger. And this is a great sheath from Spartan comes in and out. Exactly. The tension is exactly perfect.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:40]:
It's not going to shake out if you hold it upside down, but you can draw it really easily without pulling your pants up around your nipples. So a great, great knife and pretty beautiful carry I must say today. So I had the Emerson TK1, I had the JW collabs, tango, the Matador from Dirk Pinkerton, the self named Matador from Dirk Pinkerton and of course this Raider from, from Les George made by Spartan Blades. So what did you have on you? Let me know, drop it in the comments below. I, I, you know, you must look at this and think wow, what a bougie carry. And yeah, it's true. But as you know I'm not a hardcore user. I love and look for every opportunity to use my knives but frequently I'm making up excuses and uses and you'll see, you'll see a little evidence of that later.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:38]:
Okay, next up I just want to show you what the July 2025 gentleman junkie giveaway knife is. Gentleman junkie? You, what is that you might be saying? Well, that is our high tier of support at Patreon in Patreon. And every third Thursday of the month on Thursday night knives we do a special giveaway just for our gentleman junkies and it's always a special knife or package. And we've had two recently. We've had four altogether, but two recently coming from Mike at Northern Knives. Last month, June of 2025 was that Benchmade bailout which was beautifully anodized by, by Paul Munko and colorful filth in that, in that cool UFO attack helicopter theme. Well, this month he sent me one of his three dog knife knives. This is the Mac.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:36]:
Three Dog knife is the in house custom knife brand of Northern Knives, the premier knife purveyor from Alaska there in Anchorage. We've had Mike on the show, he's a great guy, he's a regular contributor on Thursday Night Knives. He gave me a Mac a few months back and said you can keep it or give it away. And I'm sorry, I'm selfish, I had to keep it. But he said okay, I'll send you another one, you can give it away. So he's very generous and I'm showing it in the sheath because the sheath is just so gorgeous. This is made by D. Johnson Maker Alaska.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:11]:
Beautiful full grain leather sheath, fully molded to the blade. And I'll show you the blade in just a quick second. But on every three dog knife there comes a dog tag. So three dog knife Mac, that's M period, A period K period. That stands for multi animal knife. This one has Black Cerakote M390 Blade Steel, Black DLC, Black Micarta, I'm sorry. And was born on June 12th, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. So you get all, all those details on the dog tag.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:46]:
Here's the knife, just a beautiful slab of M390. Beautifully ground and cerakoted and just a dream in the hand. Nice and thick handle here. Not too thick, but just enough to really make you make it sure. In hand you've got the anzo pattern milled or, or ground into the handle scales and then you have that thumb scoop on the side for those, for those tasks where you're holding your knife sideways. I don't know what those are because I don't skin animals. But the multi animal knife has a long standing reputation in Alaska for being super robust and just a great, great hunter's knife. It's skinned minion animal.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:30]:
And there's a story that goes behind the naming this of multi animal knife. Not just that you could skin a bunch of animals with this, but I think one of the early ones did skin a whole bunch of animals and so that's what they named it and that is before it was even sharp resharpened. So great heat treat, beautiful steel, great design, awesome package altogether. So if you like this, if this is your cup of tea, check out Patreon and become a gentleman junkie. If it's not your cup of tea, rest assured that there we give away all different types of knives. Some tactical, some outdoors, some folding, just, just changes with the month. You know, I'm a knife junkie. That means I ravenously go after everything with a blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:16]:
So you, you're likely to find any sort of knife and the gentleman junkie knife giveaway. All right, that said, I think it's time to get to knife life news. But before we get there, two things. If you want to know how to become a patron, just go to the knife junkie.com Patreon and check it out. There's also a QR code on the screen that you can scan that'll take you there right away. If you sign up for a full month at once, you get 12% off, which is quite a deal, I must say. And we have a new feature on Patreon. That's pretty exciting.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:52]:
Very cool. This is the brainchild of Jim. He's been putting this together and I'm absolutely digging it. It's called Knife Notes. So every week a new feature about a historical knife, or doesn't necessarily have to be a historical knife. In this case it is. The first one was the kukri and this one here is the Bowie knife. From sandbar fight to American legend.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:16]:
And it just runs down the history of the bowie knife and in beautiful writing and has an illustration there. Sometimes it's more illustrated, sometimes less. Doesn't matter. You're. You're always going to get something really interesting, informative. And who doesn't like to read about knives? I mean, we're all readers when it comes to knives and we're all artists when it comes to knives. Because who among us doesn't doodle on whatever they have to write on every day in the margins? A little knife here and there. We all do, let's face it.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:50]:
All right, that's it. Go check out patreon the Knife Junkie.com Patreon the Shockwave Tactical Torch is your ultimate self defense companion. Featuring a powerful LED bulb that lasts 100,000 hours, a super sharp crenulated bezel, and a built in stun gun delivering 4.5 million volts. Don't settle for ordinary. Choose the Shockwave Tactical torch. The knife junkie.com shockwave you're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. And now here's the Knife Junkie with the knife life news. So this first one is pretty cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:25]:
This comes from Civivi. We talk about a lot of Civivi here. That is one of my high value collections. I love Civivi knives. What can I say? I. I can't quit you, Civivi. All right, so this first one is the Civivi Shaka. It's a shaka, let me tell you, because what it is is a folding fillet knife, but it's not a folding fillet knife in the usual way like that really cool Spyderco folding fillet.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:51]:
This one is a full on 5.81 inches of 14C 28N. So a, a great, great steel for all sort of food applications. Long, slender, flexible filet knife and profile here. This one has jimping on the thumb, which is nice for, for the thumb, I should say, and a French style nail neck there. But the really interesting thing when you look at this and then you look at the sheath is how does that knife fit in that sheath? Looks too long. Doesn't it? Well, if you look at the handle on this one, that red portion there folds out and extends the handle almost by half there. And then you use a liner lock and you fold the blade and it completely fits within the handle. So we've seen things sort of like this throughout history.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:44]:
Large folders where the handle is much smaller than the, than the blade. As a matter of fact, I had one here that I showed off a couple years back. But this is a very modern interpretation of that sort of old school folder. And it's a beaut. I think it's beautiful. So that, that handle is aluminum. So you, you pop that handle open, unfold it, unfold the liner lock, fold the blade in and then drop it in that nylon pouch style sheet. So just a really, really cool knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:18]:
I have no need for it though. Who knows, maybe in retirement I'll, I'll start fishing again. I haven't fished since I fished with my grandfather when I was a pup. But I enjoyed it. So maybe someday in the future I'll start fishing. So I think just to be safe, I should get this knife now because. Well, I can't get it now, but it will be available soon. So maybe I should get this one.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:43]:
I just really like it. I think it's cool. And, and not for nothing, I always thought that filet knives would make good fighting knives. So if that's, that's any interest to you, go check that. All right. Next up, the Buck of the month for July 2025. This is a cool one. It's the buck 110.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:03]:
Here's a classic ordinary buck 110. I love this thing. I'm always searching for it on this show and it's never on this desk. So I decided to move it down to this desk. So here's an excuse to show you mine nicely well used buck 110. Love this one, but the buck of the month is a buck 110 as well. And as you can see on screen, it's a fancy pants one. You got that 3.75 inch California clip point blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:32]:
Such a beautiful blade with that weirdly offset but very appealing nail neck that follows the contours of the clip. This is Magnacut. Buck has really embraced Magnacut since its release. And so they put it on this one. They put it on a lot of special edition and buck of the month knives. You can see nickel silver bolsters instead of this sort of tarnished brass and. And then in the center you can see camo carbon. But this Camo carbon looks like quite patriotic.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:06]:
It's red, white, and blue, and they look like bursts of fireworks. They call this the America pattern of camo carbon. Each one is unique, so. So every one of these 750. They're only making 750. See if you like it, jump on it as soon as you can. But each one will be absolutely unique in terms of the handle covers. So go check that one out.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:31]:
Also, that sheath that it comes with is distressed black leather. The sheath that came with mine was shiny new black leather. It's become distressed over time. But this looks like it's softer and just more cushioning on your fancy new buck of the month. So check that out. Buck.com Buck knives.com Next up, this is an exciting one. This is from Boker Knives, and it is a production version of the auxiliary manufacturing pocket rocket. I've talked about this knife a lot over the past, I don't know, five, four or five years.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:09]:
This is from Auxiliary Manufacturing, Michael Jarvis out of Reno, Nevada, making these absolutely beautiful knives. And I've talked about how perfect the bevels are on this dagger hand ground bevels and a perfect handle. Well, this comes in a number of sizes, or at least it did when he was making these custom a couple with a larger blade and a signature one with a much smaller handle. That one has been picked up by Boker. Boker, I love you. You bring all of these awesome custom designs into reach. And here is the auxiliary manufacturing pocket rocket by boker. This is 2.5 inches dagger ground, and that's D2 blade steel with a really cool faceted handle, much like the faceted handle on this one that I have here.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:00]:
Really, no matter how you grab it, it stays oriented in your hand for use and stays locked in your hand for use. This one has a Kydex sheath, and it's 2.3 ounces and is available now. As a matter of fact, if you're listening to this on the day this podcast drops, I believe it's available today. So go check that out. I highly recommend it. As, as someone who's a fan of Michael Jarvis's work auxiliary manufacturing knives, and a big fan of the pocket rocket itself, I highly recommend it. Also, another thing about this knife, the Boker version that I think is kind of neat is that it's kind of similar, reminiscent to a lapel dagger. You know those OSS lapel daggers from World War II? I believe so, yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:52]:
Go check it out. All right, last up here, this is from our good friend Jared Neeve. At Neeve's Knives and the Neve Knife co, it's WE knife co and it's the Inmate. So if you don't know, Jared Neve has a knife shop and you know an online knife shop and he's been designing knives for manufacturer by some of our and his favorite manufacturers. This latest one is from the WE knife company and it's called the Inmate. All of his knives, including the one made by made by Tkel Knives have a sort of criminal theme to them. That's the Fln FLN and this one, the Inmate. Look at this happy knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:37]:
This is 3.7 inches of 20cv blade steel. You've got a very super useful drop point, hollow ground drop point with a swedge. This one has a front flipper and an opening hole. And I guess the thing I like the best about this is the blade, the hollow grind on the blade. But something interesting about this. And if you watch Neve's knives, I'm sure you're very familiar with this concept. But access to the lock bar is so important to Jared. And on this knife you have a super ergonomic handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:12]:
Very simple, very clean, no choils, no nothing to lock your hand into a certain grip. But even in the la, even in the absence of a choil for the front for the forefinger, he gives you incredible access to that lock bar. So I, I was looking around on the Wii website and there are a bunch of different pictures of it there and you can see that there. So a very signature theme for him. It's one of his main gripes is if a knife, you have to like dig around with your thumb to get to that lock bar. 4.12 ounces. Of course that handle is titanium and a frame lock. If I, if I failed to say that.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:51]:
And four different versions. If this sort of teal version isn't, isn't for you. There's one that's all metallic looking, all, you know, gray titanium and silver blade. And then there's an all black version, there's this one and a combination of the two and also I think they're going to come out probably with a fancy version at some point. All right, that is knifelife news. A lot of exciting, cool new stuff coming out from, from our favorite manufacturers and I love these collaborations. Boker, by the way, is doing a collaboration knife also with Aaron Bieber knives or another one of my favorite custom pickups from Blade show over the past few years, the 302. So keep your eyes peeled for that one too.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:38]:
All right. Still to come on the Knife Junkie podcast, the State of the Collection. I'm going to show you a new knife and then give you an update on on some other knives. But before we get there, I want to remind you that we do a newsletter here that, that you can check out. But I want to urge you kind of, it's kind of in the same vein about the knife notes do go over to Patreon. I believe you can even view them if you're not a knife Junkie member. Is that right, Jim? I'm, I'm talking out of school now, but you can check that out. You can also check out our merch.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:10]:
We have a lot of cool merch. No, you cannot see it unless you're a patron. Thanks Jim for letting me know that. So a lot of cool stuff happening here. I had someone reach out to me and asked about, about the merch. So you go to the knife junkie.com shop. He wanted a black hoodie. All of these things can be had right there.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:31]:
So do go check that out. All right. Coming up, the state of the Collection. 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 moving more of your profits. Start your online knife store today at the knife junkie.com launch and turn your passion into a business.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:07]:
New from Jack Wolf Knives. Well, he's got a bunch of new stuff, JW Collab. This is a whole different concept. Well, here's a new concept from Jack Wolf Knives is, and I don't mean this to sound snarky but affordable slip joints. You know that his Ben Belkin and Jack Wolf knives, their slip joints are super ultra premium and the most premium materials. Incredible design and in outstanding manufacturing. Well this maintains all of that except the materials part. So this is the Gateway Barlow, the first in his Gateway series.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:48]:
And here I'll show you the artwork on the box. First part of what makes this affordable. These are 70 slip joints. So it's, it's coming down by a factor of like 230 bucks. So here is a picture of the Jack Wolf here, Jack the Wolf with that gate open and he is able to pass through that gate. The Gateway Barlow. This is the Jack Wolf knife within reach. He's reaching out.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:15]:
You know lots of symbolism in that picture. But here we go. Here's this beautiful Barlow. Now it's manufactured by the same company that does his super premium knives. So it's made to the same exacting standards. But instead of s 90v blade steel, we have beautiful 14C 28N. Instead of a full height hollow grind, we have a full height flat grind here. And instead of titanium integral bolsters, integral with the liners, we have steel, stainless steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:52]:
So a beautiful solution to the problem. I want a jack wolf knife, but I don't want to pay the premium cost. The. This I've been carrying for, I don't know, close to three weeks now. And I am absolutely loving this knife. I, I love the feel, the fit, the finish. Everything about it here and everything about it I love. But let me, let me give you some assurances here.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:16]:
Look at the spring. Look at the lock spring. If you, if you're just listening, the lock and the whole back of the knife, the lock spring and the whole back of the knife is super flush. It, it looks essentially like one material. And then at the half stop you get the same thing. The half stop, you get a full flat bar bar lock here on the back. And it looks like one solid material. That is a real sign of craftsmanship and high quality manufacturing.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:49]:
Is it necessary? No, it's not necessary. But that's one of the great things about it. That's why slipjoint collectors want to see that it isn't necessary. But it goes to show that the maker has gone the extra mile. And then open. It's got a great pull, it's got a great walk and talk. I would give this about a seven and a half on the pull on my totally arbitrary scale of, of slip joint pulls. So it, it's, it's, it's got a satisfying thunk open and it, and it closes easily, you know, closes nicely with a snap.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:26]:
And then it, it's really tight at the half stop, with which I like tight, meaning it doesn't come to the half stop and wobble back and forth. It just goes whoosh and then closes. So really, really awesome, these things. I can't believe he's only charging 70 bucks for them. They are. I, I would, I would have to say that is well worth the cost. This one has these special beautiful rosewood covers. Rosewood like you see on the fretboard of a guitar.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:57]:
Very, very nice wood. Beautiful wood. It's got a shield in there. And ordinarily I don't like a Barlow with a shield, but this is the first time I've even thought, wow, this is a Barlow with a shield. I, I really like it. Why don't you like a shield with a Barlow? Well, the Barlow means that you've got one third of the handle taken up by bolster. And so I always felt like putting a shield on a Barlow was just a little extra. Maybe too many notes, but in this case, not at all.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:27]:
Comes in an abalone, very special abalone, which I believe sold out like nearly immediately. But also there's a blue camel bone. That's beautiful. And a two flavor, one carbon fiber and one green micarta. So definitely go over to Jack Wolf knives, check them out, see which one you like, and then go to any one of the dealers to check them out. But if you look at this, I'm gonna put the spine totally flat across the top so it's parallel with the top of the screen. Look at the descent of that straight portion of the edge leading down to the belly. That is awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:07]:
I love that. That'll give you so much shearing power and also a lot of life to this blade if you have to sharpen it over time. The most used portion of that blade is the belly. And you'll be sharpening through that belly a lot. But due to that descending straight edge, you will have a lot of life and you'll maintain the, the shape, the clip point shape. So just a great knife, beautifully designed and fantastically manufactured. Some of the cost savings are in the materials and in the packaging. You're not getting the tin with the stickers and the leather sheath and the cleaning cloth and all that.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:46]:
You're just getting it in a very nice box here where it form fits right into that foam. So if all of that, if all of the bells and whistles aren't for you, this might be your, your knife right here. Highly recommend this knife. All right, before we move on to 11 great new fixed blade knives, I want to give you an update for my Apoc survival knives. Two of them that I used all day this past weekend. I did a bunch of yard work and I didn't use them for that. But I have this old table, this old wooden IKEA slatted table that I, I was hiding kind of in a little copse of trees we have at the back of the, of our yard. Because I didn't know how I was going to get rid of it.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:33]:
I was. But I decided yesterday I was going to disassemble it and burn it because it's all wood and just burn it in my, in my fire pit. So I used two different APOC survival knives to do that. The here, the first one was this, the hybrid Rhino, designed by Andrew Demko. A very bizarre looking knife and really a camp cleaver. Now I've been discussing this knife because I've had it for a few weeks, but I hadn't actually put it to use. Well, yesterday I did. And I use this for a couple of things.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:11]:
First of all, for splitting already already broken down logs, I did not, I did not split any logs with this. But the quarters from those logs I split with this to make kindling and it worked great. Now I've commented on how that bill hook at the tip is great for grabbing wood and pulling it close to you. I didn't actually do that because I was not on my knees like you might be at a, at a, at a campsite. If you're splitting wood, you, you got to be very careful. A lot of people do this technique where they lay a log sideways kind of in front of their knees and then cut and cut, put the cutting wood in front of that so they don't cut themselves. Anyway, I wasn't doing that. So I had no use to, for the bill hook to pull wood close to me.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:57]:
But what I ended up doing was I also used this to chop apart the slatted surfaces of this wooden table and then to get those, to get to the inside of those wooden slats so it would burn easier, I used this spike. So the spike is, is spiky. Only in this dimension. If you turn it on its side, you see it's totally flat. And so coming down with the grain on one of these wooden slats, they just exploded in half. And I just throw it right on the fire. So this thing is awesome. Like I kind of knew it was intuitively, but now that I've used it and used it for a, you know, for a while yesterday I was out there for about five hours and it's hot as hell here.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:42]:
And I had a, a fire pit going that was poorly thought out, let me put it that way. And then I used this, the Wallace designed small cuckoo to light the fire. I used this to light the fire. And this and the blade, it comes with a ferro rod and this blade. I also used it to make shavings of fatwood. So I ended up igniting a piece of cotton, you know, one of those makeup remover things that your wife or girlfriend has that impregnated with wax that I made over the winter. You know, kind of ruffled that up and put some pieces of fatwood on it and threw sparks on that and it started the fire lickety split. It was awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:33]:
I gotta say I, I do wish this had a slightly sharper spine, but there was really no problem throwing sparks with this and I got it to ignite using this fire steel. So they're not just lookers, they're not just fun to have. I've been looking forward to using these knives outside. Finally did and very excited about them. They will be a part of my regular panoply as I do outside work this road on my belt all day long. I liked it. Came in handy for a bunch of stuff. We have this, we, we got a bunch of stuff and I, I use this to take care of it.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:13]:
Bunch of stuff meaning saplings. I think the guys who mulched our yard mulched the beds in our yard. I think their mulch was containing like all sorts of seeds of nastiness because we have all sorts of crazy stuff growing in our mulch now. So I don't know what's up, but anyway, use that to cut that down next time. I'm going to try the larger 1, the 4 and a half or 4 and 3. 4 and 4.75 inch version of this Puuko. A large Puukko designed by Mike Wallace, created by Mike by Apoc Survival. So that said this, before I get into it, I, I want to, I want to show you these 11 great fixed blade knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:53]:
But I first want to show you this great new design that Jim just created. Stay sharp and stay wild. And I gotta say, I'm really digging the apron. I like the uh, that sort of olive drab apron with this uh, but you have a very traditional style Bowie there and, and the, and the cool logo. Stay sharp, stay wild. And this has been reminding me of some videos I've been watching recently that are sort of takeoffs on the most interesting man in the world. And if you've been watching them, maybe, maybe you get the reference. But just go to the knife junkie.com shop and get t shirts, you can get hats, you can get hoodies, you can get water bottles, coffee cups, aprons, whatever it is you want.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:37]:
You can get, you can get a Ferrari Testarossa with this on it. It's amazing. So go check it out. Thenifejunkie.com shop all right, I'm going to start this list of 11 awesome new fixed blade knives with the hybrid rhino. I do suggest if you're a camp guy or if you're like me and you like to putz around in the backyard. This is an awesome knife and it looks cool. I mean, that is something. It does look cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:08]:
I did try feather sticking with this. It worked fine. I did find that the puukko was, was much more to my, to my liking. But this thing, the reason this is on the list and, and kind of starting the list is because it's really unique. We haven't seen anything like this. Really reminds me of some of those outdoor tools that, that sort of approximate knife and hatchet. It's just a different thing, but it's extremely useful. I'm excited about it more than I have been so far.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:41]:
At first I just liked it because I thought it was badass looking. But now I really know it's useful and cool. And I gotta say I'm. I am gonna add a lanyard to this because coming back on the handle way back here is very useful for chopping. I didn't run in the house and get anything and I wasn't in much danger of this coming out. I had some grippy leather gloves on me. But I, I did find myself coming back here a lot to the back of this nice long handle to do that, that chopping action. Everything is chamfered up here.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:13]:
So you're not gonna be throwing sparks with this knife. Oh wait, that's not true. I guess you could up here on the main part of the main spine of the blade, but right around where your thumb engages with that jimping. It's chamfered on the side. Very, very comfortable. And yeah, love this thing. I love the hole up front. It's just sort of evocative of the old school meat cleaver.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:35]:
Also, let me show you the sheath. Very useful and easy to use. Sheath. This is an odd shape to sheath, but here you just put the hook in there, lock it in. This holds it in nicely if you're just putting it in there for a minute. But if you're any longer than that or walking around, moving around, you're going to want to snap it in using that. And it also has a retention up here. Retention.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:00]:
So that is the Apoc Survival Demko designed hybrid Rhino. Next up and sort of an opposite extreme is the TKEL Knives DP1. This is a special DP1 that I got at blade show from, from Tim Kell. Comes with a beautiful badger claw sheath. Badger claw Outfitters sheath. Ordinarily, this knife comes with the typical Kydex sheath from Tekal knives. But this one here is special because it's a collaboration with Tom Nugent of Knives by Nuge who did the beautiful jute wrap on this. This is a great little super useful knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:44]:
Two finger knife. Let's not be fooled at all. You can't even call this a three finger. Maybe the third finger back here on the pommel. So I did have to add this little leather fob to it. Ordinarily I'd put a noose knot on this. I like noose knots on leather. But in this case I wanted something that was more like a ball at the end to like really lock it into my hands because it is a pretty small knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:08]:
This one is 80 CRV2. This is 7 out of 20. He only made 20 of these collaborations. There's the knives by Nuge logo. But if you just like this knife and don't care about this, this particular version of it with the jute and the leather, it can be had with all of the myriad handle Options and the G10 sheath from Tkal Knives. Just go to tkalknives.com actually go to the knife junkie.com Tkal Knives and use the coupon code ALL CAPS Bob DeMarco and you save 10% off your purchase. I get a little kickback and Tkel Knives gets a sale. So it's a triple win, baby.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:51]:
So this is the TCAL knives DP1. And this was the very first knife. This is a redo redux of the very first knife that Tim Kel ever made. And he made it for his father in law and his father in law's initials are dp. So really cool. It's a very special knife in a lot of ways. So check this one out. Next up is also a small pocketable knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:19]:
This is the from my buddy Dirk Pinkerton. This is his design. You've seen a custom version of this here before in S60v and G Carta. But this is the tenable. This is made by Tenable. Tenable is sort of the high value line from Concept. He does a lot of stuff with Concept, loves their manufacturing, as do I. So this is the tenable Siafu.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:48]:
The Siafu is a type of African army ant. And this is in the, this is in the Fire Ant series of designs by, by Dirk Pinkerton. Man, I love this knife. I can't say enough about how comfortable it is. It fits in the hand perfectly. And for me it's a four three and a half finger knife. I mean my, you know, my pinky is engaged, but not fully. But the, the bulbous nature of the profile of the blade gives you A lot to grip onto.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:23]:
Not the blade, the handle. I'm sorry, in this case I got the satin or the stone GR. Stone washed with this natural tan canvas micarta. It does come in a black version with black handles. No, green, Green micarta handles and yeah, it's very, very comfortable. I, I think this is a 14C 28N. This is a prototype. So it hasn't quite come out yet or at this point it had.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:56]:
My gosh, sorry guys. This point it has come out but when I got it it hadn't. And this here is a sheath that Dirk made for this knife in particular because it hadn't been quite released yet. But this is the Hannibal Siafu and Man Alive. I highly recommend it. And like the DP1 by TKEL knives before it, this is one I just drop straight in the pocket and oftentimes it'll be in my right pocket next to my main carry because it fits. And I keep a cell phone in the left. So yeah, digging this one.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:35]:
If you want to see one in the black, I believe in the black and the green. Dave of OG Blade Reviews has a video up of that one. Next up is from Gunfighter Customs, a newish company and this is their gunfighter model. I just put a short of this. People have really taken to this knife. This is an awesome tactical knife. This is a, a small hideaway double edged knife that takes advantage of this sort of egg shaped handle a la the clinch pick. But is according to the makers and well according to me, also a an improvement on the clinch pick.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:22]:
Here's the clinch pick which is a little bit smaller and is top edge sharpened only for a very specific use. The gentleman who created this, I believe his name is Craig Douglas, but he goes by South Nark on Instagram. Very cool guy. Teaches a lot of tactics for guns and knives and is also a very sharp dresser by the way. Puts up videos of just how he dresses up for a fancy occasion. But this thing here was meant for just pulling. So you're sitting in a car seat, you're doing a drug deal because you're an undercover cop and things have gone wrong. The guy is reaching across.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:01]:
You can just pull this out of your belt line and pull up and you trap and cut and does all sorts of nastiness here, but you might say it's limited in its applications. Well, the gunfighter kind of takes care of that. First of all, they put a crook in the blade and angled it down so that a, you have a place for your finger in in this sort of saber grip. And B, you have a place for your finger in this sort of Filipino grip if you want to do pressure cutting and that kind of thing. And C, it allows you to have a front edge and a back edge. So this is, you know, nicely bayonet ground, double edged blade with room for your thumb. And that I gotta say is something I really appreciate. I love the clinch pick, do not get me wrong.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:51]:
But every once in a while I forget that you do have to wrap your thumb into a full fist to use this. Or you can turn it over and use it like that. But for me, yeah, see, I almost did it. For me it's very important to remember, keep your thumb off of that in defensive, in defensive situations. But here, this design takes care of that. Now this is designed by Mike Elliott who's a works with Gunfighter Customs. Jared Franklin is the proprietor owner of Gunfighter Customs. But this design, as are a couple of others is by Mike Elliott.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:30]:
He, I've met him a couple of times at the, the booth at Blade Show. Great guy. He's a Pikiti Tertia Kali practitioner and really knows what he's talking about. So this one is the Gunfighter Customs gunfighter. Next up, a design from DC Blades. DC Blades. Man, they are prolific. So many cool designs.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:56]:
But this one they have made by tops the beautiful Ephyra and it is a tactical knife all day long. I mean look at how wicked this thing is. But it does have practical applications because of the way the edge is oriented to the hand. You can use this for all sorts of push cutting tasks. I'm, I'm told that you can cut vegetables with this. You can carve wood with this. I haven't done either and actually I, I wouldn't even consider it unless it was my only knife. There are other knives better suited for that.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:31]:
This knife is best suited in my opinion for fighting it is or a GTFO kind of situation. You know, get someone off of you right quick with this. This is the affair. This is made from 1095 blade steel with that black traction coating that Topps is famous for. You've got beautiful dark red liners there. I love the look of those liners. They look like a darker red than the usual tops, kind of bright red. It's beautiful maroon sandwiched between the black blade and the black micarta handle here.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:08]:
Really nice in reverse grip with the jimping on the pommel and an easy carry in this Kydex sheath. It comes with the tops spring clip. This is not the Rotating spring clip. I definitely prefer the fixed spring clip like this one. The rotating one is useful in some situations, I would imagine, but it places the knife far further away from my belt and my body than I want. This is a nice, discreet carry right up front and it locks in beautifully. This is the Ephyra designed by DC Blades and made by Tops Knives. Next up is another custom.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:51]:
This one is from Savage Creature Defense Tools. Man, I am so. I'm. I'm. What can I say? I'm speechless about this knife. I absolutely love this and all of Roger Pearson's designs. This one takes the cake, though. He's very inspired by Japanese knives, as you can tell from that outstanding and immaculate tsukamaki wrap here over bright red ray skin with two dragon manuki, one on each side, giving it a slight palm swell and just a fantastic surface to grip.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:28]:
The alternating peaks and valleys on this tsukamaki wrap are hardened by epoxy. So it is incredible. Your hand locks right in. But let's look at that beautiful blade. That's a high carbon steel blade. I think he uses 1095 most of the time, but with this incredible finish. And I tried to get him to tell me what that finish was, but it's a trade secret, I guess. Super acute point, very, very sharp on both edges.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:58]:
And if you like this, he does a larger and a smaller version. But this Masako Hachi is the original size right here that, like I said, smaller, larger, and then variations on this theme in different knives. But he's, he's a prolific designer and they're all on this same shelf. They're all meant for, for self defense. Some of them maybe have more practical applications as well. I mean, you could, you could do practical stuff with this, but let's face it, this is a fighting knife. But if you like this design, like this format, because most of them have this sort of wrap, though he does use handle slabs now and again. G10 and Micarta, go check him out.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:42]:
These are custom knives that you would be proud to own. And seeing as they're fixed blades, they cost a little less than, say, custom folders. I know people get wrapped around the axle with customs, but if you're buying something like a zt, you can buy something like this. It's also got the DCC pocket clip and an awesome sheath. Not, not easy to do for a curved blade. Next up, from one extreme to the other, this is a. An inexpensive production knife, or I should say, you know, an affordable production knife by Civivi. And this is the gander.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:18]:
This is designed by a gentleman named Matt Gentry and he's a Michigander. And so this is the Gander after that. Very, very nice knife. This was recently sent to me by Civivi and I took it up in the mountains with us when we went on our trip. And I had this clipped to my backpack when we went on this epic ridgeline hike, slash, rock scramble that I've done before, but man took it out of me this time. But this was with me the whole time and it did get a little banged up on the rocks because I would drop my, drop my backpack to gulp down water every, every mile or so and it got a little scraped up. But that made it even easier for me to, to use because I didn't have to worry about any sort of, you know, you get a new knife, you want to keep it pristine until you don't and you go for it. 14C 28.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:19]:
And this one has a very nice wood handle, but they also come in different colors of G10. And I believe there's one micarta of almost full height flat grind on this very broad clip point. I'm calling it a clip point. You can call it a drop point, but you, you'd be wrong. Clip point blade, very, very sharp and thin behind the edge. Just a nice all around knife. This would be great for camp tasks to include food prep. Look at it.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:50]:
Almost looks like a food prep knife. The Civivi Gander by Matt Gentry. I highly recommend this knife. I really, really like Civivis as I mentioned before, but I, I, I'm, I'm very much into their fixed blades and this is an awesome one here. Comes with the Civivi Terzuola Tek Lok style thing and a great sheath here. I just called it a thing. It's a clip. It's a clip.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:15]:
I shouldn't be so unspecific. Okay, next up is a great one also. This is from. Oh, shot right off there. This is from Fisher Blades. This is the Beckwith fs. So this is the larger version of their Beckwith covert and everyday defensive blade that you carry in your pocket. This one comes with a sheath that allows you to mount it all different sorts of ways.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:40]:
As a matter of fact, they send you three different ways to mount it. Soft clips, soft, you know, IBW loops made of rubber, these loops that are for Molly and then this awesome DCC clip. So three different ways to mount it. Plus they give you a length of cord if you want to just put it through one of the Grommets and, and just slip this in your waistband. So great sheathing options there, Great carry options and the same awesome ergonomics as the, as the COVID except just scaled up. And you thought the COVID was comfortable in your hand. Well, man, try this one. You can even go into a deeper saber grip with this and take full advantage of that thumb ramp and that center line point and that downward raked straight edge.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:31]:
You got that nice peak in the, at the spine of the handle that really nestles into your palm. And then the quillian pommel here, that allows you to grip it and rip it right out of the sheath, whether it's in reverse grip or you're using your pinky to index and, and pull out. You've got awesome ergonomics on this and just a beautiful M390 blade with a super, super sharp and that awesome secondary point. This one is number 86 out of a hundred. So they made a hundred of these. I know they're going to be making a lot more. By the way. There's jimping in various spots on the handle here at the peak, that thumb ramp and on the pommel.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:16]:
Really awesome knife. The Beckwith fs. FS stands for full size. Oh, real quick note. You can also adjust the tension here on the sheath with that screw. So again, if you're, if you're jumping out of an airplane, you can screw it all the way down and it won't pop out, hopefully. All right, and here is from Bald Man Knife and tool. This is Brent's latest design.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:41]:
This is the Sicario. The Sicario, really, really awesome looking knife. Very kind of primitive looking, especially with this particular micarta. You can get this in a number of different handles. Some beautiful carbon fibers, G10s, Micarta's. But I opted for this natural linen micarta that he toasts. This is called toasted micarta. That's what he calls it.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:06]:
Where the peaks of these carve outs are singed. And it just looks beautiful to me. This looks like an old Filipino knife, even though it's called the Sicario, which is Mexican. Like what? Mexican enforcer, I guess. Beautiful deep recurve blade with a center line point. So that point is right where you need it for thrusting in a thrust situation. Sometimes a deep recurve like this approaching kukri can, can put the point in a place where it's hard to find. But if you're kind of thrusting from different angles like this, the point is right where you need it all the time.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:47]:
And that's one thing I really like about this design. Wicked, wickedly sharp. And this is 80cr v2. He gets that texture with a hammer that he specialized. He texturized the hammer poles of and so when it's nice and hot, he pounds into it and gives it that cool rustic look. This is the Sicario from Bald Man Knife and Tool. That's Brent Smith's company. A lot of you guys know Brent Smith.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:17]:
Really awesome knife. This is the most fighting knife of anything I've seen him make. The most tactical. Next up, an awesome in pocket Terry knife. This is the Armis knife and tool VDK1. And this is larger than I would expect, than I ever would have expected me liking for an in the pocket carry fixed blade. It also fits nicely in the waistband, but I really carry it mostly in the pocket in the waistband. You need a little extra space.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:52]:
My jeans have been snug for about six months now. I'm changing that, I'm changing that. But so this has not gone in the waistband. It's a little thick for that for me, but it goes really nicely in the front pocket of jeans. I don't, I'm not, I'm not actually sold on the in the pocket carry of any knife in a khaki or with the slanted sort of pocket. This actually doesn't do too badly in that in that case, but it's a little more noticeable. Really awesome triangular shaped blade, sort of a drop point, but really, I guess more of a spear point profile. But no swedge on this.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:33]:
Just a, just a saber grind here. Super sharp point, super acute point, but with a lot of beef behind that point. So a pretty strong tip on this one. This one's got the flat textured micart G10 handles. He does do a carved version of this with sort of a rock pattern carved into it. You can also buy these with trainers. And he will make the handle exactly the same so that you, your tactile feedback is the same going between trainer and real knife. Yes, this is an awesome utility knife.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:13]:
You could use this all day long as a utility knife. But really with that hook and that handle, this thing is optimized for reverse grip like this. And that's how I carry it. I carry it to be drawn in reverse grip. Big, big fan of this knife. Armis knife and tool VDK1. Great, great ambidextrous sheath here. All right, last up in this list of 11 great new fixed blade knives is the very good Knife company first strike.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:51]:
This one is definitely new to me and it's one of the newer models over there at Very good knife company at. But there is a. An even newer version of this in a full flat grind. This one has a hollow grind and this is AD CRV2 and Super, super comfortable in hand. You got a nice length of handle here where I can go full saber grip here and have a little bit extra in my palm so that it's just nicely backed up. This, this area right here under the top quillion feels so comfortable on my thumb. Of course, that top top guard is short enough. You can come up and do a Filipino grip or, or apply pressure on the back for pressure cutting.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:42]:
This is a. You know, I've seen this tested by, by choir boys outdoors and I've seen this tested by Peterbilt knife guy. And um, I know from their tests that these have tremendously awesome heat treats. I have not done anything nearly as rough with this as they have, so I like knowing that this can take that. But right now I'm still in the honeymoon honeymoon phase with this knife and have not done anything to. To use it. I'm sorry to say. I.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:13]:
I will change that. I do know from slicing paper it's incredibly, wickedly sharp. And to me, this is kind of a fighting knife. Now, I'm not sure if it's intended for that. It is called First Strike, but, you know, that full flat grind version of this I think is more used for utility outdoors kind of stuff. But to me, this is kind of a fighter. What can I say? Beautiful, beautiful knife. I look forward to speaking to the.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:42]:
The proprietor of the company. He will be on the show soon. We've made our date and I'm looking forward to talking to him about this. He's been in business for 15 years, quietly making some of the most awesome knives out there. Very good knife company First Strike. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that does it for this edition of the Knife Junkie podcast. Thanks for watching. It's always fun for me to, to pull out knives from the collection, show them off and, and let you know what I'm thinking.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:13]:
We're up to 40,000 subscribers now, which is pretty exciting. If you're not one of them. Join us. It's. It's well worth it just to see my. My face pop up in your queue every once in a while. Well, that's twice thrice a week at least. And then you'll see my hand and other knives and shorts and videos.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:32]:
So be sure to join us and subscribe. All right. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher Bob DeMarco saying, until next time, don't take dough for an answer. Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review@reviewthepodcast.com for show notes for today's episode, additional resources and to listen to past episodes, Visit our website thenif junkie.com you can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at the knife junkie.com YouTube it.