The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Call the Listener Line at 724-466-4487; Visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2023, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPT

[0:00] Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, the place for blade lovers to learn about knives and hear from the makers, manufacturers, and reviewers that make the knife world go round.
I'm Bob DeMarco, and coming up, the perfect pyrite, a giveaway in July, and knives that are great, fixed blade knives for summer weight carry.
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.
This week, my favorite comment was from Dragon Rasp, and this comment came on the Just the Tip video I put out, and it was about the fact that even if the swedge of a bowie is dull, you can use it to great effect in knife defense.
And he said, I've been teaching Kung Fu for decades and never came across this piece of info. Great video. I teach a lot of knife defenses and this style of flicking the wrist attack would be very effective.

[1:06] Not much you can teach a person to counter that. Thank you Dragon Rasp. And I appreciate that comment because it is info that I got from somewhere else. I am not out there Bowie knife fighting but it's interesting information that comes from trusted sources. So I decided to pass it along and illustrate it and here's someone who got something from it and I I appreciate it. I appreciate that because I think frequently the instinct is to be is to comment like on a video like that So, you know man, how many bowie knife fights have you been in and true, you know?
I also haven't flown a fighter plane, but I know some things about those too. So.

[1:44] Thanks again dragon rasp and thank you one and all for watching the videos and commenting and I really appreciate the engagement All that being said, I think it's time for a pocket check.
Today in my front right pocket, this one has been hard to kick out ever since Blade Show.
I had the American Blade Works Model 2. Look at this beauty.
This Model 2 is titanium milled with MagnaCut and I am just in love with the look of this thing.
It has a sort of Art Deco look to me, sort of early 20th century fashion or design, I guess I should say.
I always say it reminds me of the Chrysler building, something about it.
Just a beautiful looking knife, open and closed.
But besides that, it actually has an incredible blade. It's MagnaCut, my first MagnaCut knife.
And I should say my first, this is on loan, but I am definitely buying it from Michael Martin Martin who loaned it to me. It is a really great, great cutter. It's deceptively sharp on the edge, not that.

[2:58] I mean, not that it doesn't seem like it should be, but it is like the kind of edge that touches you and cuts.
It's really, really excellent.

[3:07] I've used it for a number of things and the more I use it, the more I carry it, the more the pocket clip is beginning to become my own, if you know what I mean, how things get marred, how pocket clips get marred.
And definitely, definitely looking forward to my own actually. And that way, I can feel free to carry it all the time, get get some nice patina on it, not that it's gonna put some, but you know, how a knife kind of wears into your own, your own style of carry. Also, I forgot to mention, he really dialed in the action incredibly on this model to my model one is a great knife, but the action just isn't quite there. That was the model one version 5. He took it to the version 6 and every version 6 I've I've experienced say thin butter smooth drop shut kind of thing. And that's what he got on this.
Very excited about the American Blade Works Model 2. Okay so next up in my pocket I had the Jack Wolf knives. This is another one I can't get rid of this not get rid of it but get it out of my pocket. It's the gunslinger Jack. It's, It's an exciting revolution, I got to say.

[4:26] Ben Belkin took a surprising turn and went to locking knives.
So he's got these beautiful bolster lock gunstock jacks.

[4:39] So yeah, they are flippers, they are front flippers, they have amazing action, incredible ergonomics.
Again, as I talk about all the time, the ergonomics of the Jack Wolf knives are great because they're single-bladed knives.
You really get to feel the contours of the different styles of handle.
And I've really grown to love the Gunstock Jack from the first release, the very first release, the Sharpshooter.
This scales up a bit with a 3.25 or 3.23 inch blade, very nicely hollow ground and fullered on both sides, S90 v-blade, that beautiful clip point design, a really really excellent front flipper, and also middle finger flipper, and also slow roll thumb, and just any way you want to open this thing. It's incredibly fidgety, incredibly sturdy, robust, thin, slicey, incredibly thin and slicey. I mean like, okay so Ben Belkin here, really nailed it.
Nailed it. He's definitely proven himself to be a multifaceted, incredibly talented knife designer because he shifted over into this style of knife designing.

[5:50] With no false moves. This thing is amazing and I already saw on Blade HQ, four of the five models had sold out the day it came out last Friday.
So, this thing is a blockbuster.
Try and get your hands on it. I'm sure he's gonna have more.
He's upped his capacity. He's able to sell more knives now, which is excellent.
Because these, these are great. These are kind of blowing things up in my mind.
I've never had a sort of traditional style slip jointy flipper before.
And so, I'm loving the form, but I'm also loving how Ben did it.
All right, next up on my waist, also a knife from a friend, TKEL Knives. This is from Tim Kel.
This thing is awesome. This is the Night Stalker. This comes in three different varieties. There's a combat grade, which is thicker. I don't remember the measurements, but it's got a slightly thicker blade stock. And then there's the original, and then there's another one. And I can't remember what the other one is. This is the original. Full swedge on this perfect drop point blade.

[7:01] You can see it's a thick blade. It's a thick-ish blade stock and a nice grind that comes thin behind the edge with a tall cutting edge. That relief edge is nice and tall so that, naturally means it's like super sharp. And this is covered with nickel boron. That coating there makes it real slick. That's borrowed from the gun industry and I think aerospace.
And this is AEBL stainless. A lot of the knives from TKAL knives are carbon and I love high carbon steel blades but he's excited about some of the stainless offerings. Really awesome three color camo handle with the with the milling in it. He calls it grenade milling. Really makes a great grip. This knife works great with or without the ring. You can't say that about all knives with rings. Frequently a ring knife for me is just a knife with a wider pommel, and I like to hold knives like this too. I definitely prefer in the forward grip not to put my pinky through the ring. But yeah, really nicely done, nicely designed and this one with this micro sheath really sits, micro sheath and also a discreet carry clip that that he designed with him really sits nicely and flatly on the front and a t-shirt, Just a t-shirt draped over it will, um...

[8:28] Will obscure it and cover it with very little to no printing. Last up, one that I've been fidgeting with. I love this knife. This is the Pony Stout from our friends Lefty and Colin at Devo Knives.
This thing's really cool. They loaned me last year when it first came out, they loaned me the Stout, which I liked a lot. It was a bigger version and a bolster lock style knife. But this one here, I gotta say, in the smaller version, is just the bee's knees.
And I rarely take the small version over the large version, but this is really excellent.
Very thinly ground, 14C28N blade steel here, contoured G10, really nice action, very nice to fidget with, and very nice to use.
That point, the point here of this sheep's foot, sheep's cliff, I'm not sure what that That is one clip for sheep's foot.

[9:28] But the tip looks nice and rounded, very unthreatening. But I gotta say, that point, that tip there, does get into whatever I've needed to get into so far to include clamshell packages.
It's got a nice coating on there that hasn't been marred yet.
I've used this quite a bit since they gave it to me. This was a gift.
Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate that.
And I see why you wanna get these into people's hands. They are great knives.
That's the Pony Stout from Devo Knives.
I think you can just go to their website and buy them.

[10:02] And they might be, oh, White Mountain Knives, I think they're an exclusive.
Oh, you know what, talking out of school here. Look them up, you can go to their Instagram and find out.
That said, the Devo Knives Pony Stout.
And that's the American Blade Works Model 2, the Jack Wolf Knives Gunslinger Jack, and the Night Stalker from TKEL Knives. These were the knives I had with me today.
What were the knives you had with you today? Let me know, do you do a wardrobe change when you get home?
I'm not just talking about getting out of your monkey suit from work, but I mean also changing your knives. and, I might do a little bit of, but I never change the main actor.
The front right pocket never changes.
That goes from dusk, or from dawn till dawn. All right, you know, from night, moment I wake to the moment I go to bed.

[10:49] It's only right. Okay, so next I want to talk about, just show off the knife we're going to be giving away on Thursday Night Knives on July the 6th, two days after the 4th of July.
I'm excited to give this away. This was given to the channel by Olight a few months back, and I've been holding on to it holding on to them And then actually it's a two knife or a to.

[11:14] Implement Giveaway here first. It's the flashlight that I love from Olight. I have a bunch of these, Kind of I have like four of them. I guess the i3t, EOS flashlight and this one of course anodized with old glory I love that.
Great thing about these lights. Now, I don't have batteries in this one, so I'm not gonna show it off, but great thing about these lights too, you've got a low and a high setting, and then that clip that you see folding back works great as a pocket clip, but also fits great on the bill of your cap.
If you're wearing a baseball hat and you need some light, say you're just trying to get the rest of your truck loaded up before you head on out, you just slip this on the bill of your hat, turn it on, and you have a headlamp.
So I love that feature on this and many other flashlights.
But it only makes sense on small, light ones. You can't have a big, heavy flashlight hanging from the bill.
Next up, this thing is awesome. They really nailed the crossbar lock on this knife.
This is the Rubato 2 by O-Knife.

[12:24] The O-Knife, the O-Light Knife brand, as you may imagine. Really, really excellent action on this.
Swings shut, or you know, swings on those bearings.
Very nice. And a great 154CM blade. It's really thin and this thing's gonna cut great.
It reminds me a lot of the Model 2 I just had out.
A little bit of belly to the blade and a little bit of an upward swoop put in the tip.
Kind of in the middle, which is a good place for it, but still down below, so you can use it in those kind of utility cuts.
And then of course you have that aluminum anodized handle with the American flag.
I think it's really cool, kind of interesting coming from a Chinese company, but, you know.

[13:13] Why should it be? Very nice bit of kit here will be given away on July 6th, Thursday Night Knives.
So definitely join us then.
And that will be available to anyone who is capable of typing hashtag knife.
Maybe it'll be KnifeLite. Or probably just be knife. Into the comments, that's it.
And then you go into the random number generator and boom, you've decided.
All right, coming up on the Knife Junkie podcast, we're gonna take a look at Knife Life News.
And then, in the state of the collection, since I didn't get anything new this week, I want to take a look at some wood handle folders.
Coming up.

[13:49] If you're a knife junkie, you're always in the market for a new knife.
And we've got you covered.
For the latest weekly knife deals, be sure to visit theknifejunkie.com slash knives.
Through our special affiliate relationships, we bring you weekly knife specials on your favorite knives.
Help support the show and save money on a new knife.
At theknifejunkie.com slash knives. That's theknifejunkie.com slash knives.
You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast and now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.

[14:23] So a recent knife that has really perfected in my eyes the button lock is the CJRB Pyrite.
Of course, everyone knows and loves the Pyrite. They came on like a storm. They sent me one, a very vanilla version with G10 and the drop point blade.
And I remember thinking and even saying at the time, this is soulless.
And then I started flipping it and opening it and closing it and fidgeting with it.
And it quickly became one of my absolute favorite all time budget knives.
It's such a great little knife. And then they almost immediately came out with an even more appealing wharncliffe, which has the perfect angle to the tip.
And I love that knife. A buddy of mine at work got one in all black that he showed me after I showed him my pirate and I became immediately jealous.

[15:16] So they just came out with an interesting concept here and it's a Kickstarter project, which is interesting to me coming from CJRB slash Artisan, which is a what I would consider a big company.
But what do I know about their structure or how big they are? I don't.
So they're doing this Kickstarter program. They've already exceeded their $10,000 goal here.

[15:41] But they have created four different tiers of this beloved knife, this Pyrite.
And those four different tiers are the Daily Driver, which as you can imagine is the lowest tier, if you will, with an AR-RPM9 blade in that wharncliffe shape with G10 handle scales or steel.
Okay. Daily driver. Second is the Enthusiast. Ooh. I'm interested.
I'm listening. That has the AR-RPM9 blades with titanium handles.

[16:15] Okay. Third level, the Connoisseur, oh, really, is Damascus, or I would imagine it'll be Damasteel, I think, and wood inlays.
On titanium. Very nice. We like wood, and I mentioned I'm going to show some wood later.
Oh, and the aficionado is the fourth tier. And that is S90V with titanium, and inlays of either exotic carbon fiber or micarta. So, really, really nice. I've seen these on a couple of the bigger channels, like the Neve and, max level EDC. They sent these bundles out and people are showing them off and they look cool. And there are a number of of choices here at each tier. So a potential of a lot of pyrites in the market, the secondary market coming up here in a few months. So keep your eyes peeled. This is really I think it's a cool project and I.

[17:16] I think I'm kind of charmed that it's a Kickstarter project because it just goes to show that they have a great idea and they can't leverage it completely on their own right now and so they're going to the public to see how, you know, if it'll stick.
And I think it will. I might have to check that out.
I know I say these, I overcommit on these shows. I talk about Knife Life News, I get excited about a story, I'm gonna have to get one of those.
You know, 90% of the time it doesn't happen.
A man can only get what a man can get. Next up, from Burnley, Lucas Burnley, what's the word I'm looking for here? He's kind of a mysterious character to me.
I've reached out to him a number of times. I would love to talk to him.
He has designed a lot of knives for some big companies, and he's got a thriving custom career, it would seem, and he does a lot of good stuff for the community, and I just always thought he'd be an interesting guy talk to him. But anyway, Lukas Brindley has a new one with Boker knives. It's called the Bend. And this is this has the, the BMW Z4. I think that car is called Syndrome, which is to say it's really cool looking. But man, think of how cool it would be if you stretched it out. I really like the look of this.

[18:39] Ben Schwartz is calling this a drop point. I'm calling it more of a bellied wharncliffe. This is a really nice looking blade and overall package. It is a budget knife. This is GRN we're talking about, coated D2 blade steel. You got that flipper and thumb disc, a combination that I love. I love the thumb disc. You have anodized pocket clip and backspacer and pivot collar and nice little lux touches on a rather, you know, budgety EDC knife. This thing I think, to me, is exciting looking, it has potential, I guess is what I mean. This is a knife that would look cool dressed up, this would, look great in titanium with bolsters, that kind of thing. It would also look great, elongated, or put some micarta you know, grn, you know, it's going to be thrust into a tier that most of us are maybe less interested in, in aspiring for let's put it that way. But a good looking knife. Lucas Burnley is known for making good looking knives. He's also known for knocking it out of the park with companies like Boker and CRKT. All right, next up in KnifeLife news and this is news It's the Jack Wolf Knives Gunslinger Jack.

[19:58] I was just showing it off and talking about it but just to get to the specs and stuff like that, things I generally tend not to do. Gunslinger Jack, an exciting first locking folder from Jack Wolf Knives and no stumble whatsoever. He absolutely nailed it. I was watching Jared's video yesterday and he had a ding and that is my only ding also which is a slight lack of access to the lock bar, it feels like you gotta kinda cram your finger in there to unlock it.
But that is like if I have to reach for something, because even though there is no cut out there and there's chamfering there, so you can get your thumb in there, it's not a big deal at all.
But if I were forced to come up with something, that's what it would be also.
This thing is amazing, but getting to it, first locking knife blasted titanium with the three flutes on the bolster up top and the one flute back. I love that look. I love the three flutes. He's done that on several other than I've.

[21:05] Midnight Jack being one of them. But that blasted titanium again, so gorgeous as as it is per usual, but in this one, when you look at it from the from the bottom aspect, or from the opening side, I guess it just looks different because you see the lock coming in and then you turn it to the side and you see, The clip so the first jack wolf knives with a clip this has ceramic bearings hollow ground s90v, and 3.25 inches Now you can get a pocket slip from him. This does not fit the, Pocket slip that has shipped with every other jack wolf knife because this is a little bit bigger, So, but if you prefer slip carry, you can take that, you have to remove the scale, but you can take, because the hardware is hidden, take this off, put it in the filler tab that ships, that ships with it, it's in the same color, and then buy an aftermarket slip from Jack Wolf Knives, it's branded Jack Wolf Knives, from several, I think he's using two different leather makers.
I have to investigate that because I want the option.
As a matter of fact, I want to get it, but not remove the clip.
But still keep it in there with the kid.

[22:25] But just a great knife. I'm, this is gonna sound strange, but I'm proud of Ben Belkin, not proud like I taught him something or proud like he's my son or proud, but I'm proud to know him and proud to have been his friend during this period of time where he developed jackwolf knives and, and, and then to see this, this quantum leap in his designing prowess makes me excited. It's like when Joe Pesci gets made in Goodfellas, like, you know, everyone's excited. Everyone's excited. Look what he can do. So anyway, very happy for you, sir. You will do well and prosper. I look forward to new handle shapes with the lock. I look forward to new blade shapes with the lock. But I also look forward to more slip joints. This doesn't mean that slip joints are over, I don't think.
Okay, next up, another great guy that we've talked to here from Who Knives, Who Knives out of Carl Pearson, out of Great Britain, designing, this is a knife enthusiast in Great Britain, which we know is not an easy thing to be.

[23:37] And so he designed some knives that he can carry in Great Britain, but still have some of the hallmarks of the of the tactical folders that he loves. And this is his latest he's got this is his fourth model. This is forthcoming but this is his fourth model. He's got a V one, two and three which all kind of are similarly themed in that they're the double ball detent style. This is his first one using the backspring slip joint style. And as you can see it is a man it's a very tactical looking design. To me, this could be a Spyderco almost, and I'm not saying this is derivative in any way, but I see a 50-50 choil, which is a great thing to have on a non-locking, but somewhat hard-use folder like this to keep the blade in place, but it also is a visual reminder to me of Spyderco knives. Beautifully contoured handle, a little bit more contoured than we've seen in the past from Carl's designs. I really like it, those ergonomics look really great.
And then that very robust looking blade shape.
And also something I wanted to mention about this back spring, which is if you want to go a little bit heavier duty.

[24:57] On your non-locking folder, that is a slip joint is a good way to go as opposed to that ball detent because you're getting a lot more pressure on the tang of the blade coming down from that spring.

[25:10] Opposed to just a ball sitting in a little pocket milled into the blade.
Cool, exciting new knife coming from who knives I'm excited for Carl I like I hope to see this company take off. I know that, that there are a lot of knife enthusiasts in Great Britain. And I know that their laws are very well, not very friendly to those knife lovers like us. All right, coming up on the night junkie podcast, we're going to take a look at some of the wood handled folders. Well, just for wood handled holders, folders.

[25:44] That I'm really, I love and I want to get more wood in my knife collection.
And then coming up after that, great Summerweight EDC fixed blade knives.
Don't take dull for an answer. It's the Knife Junkies favorite sign-off phrase and now you can get that tagline on a variety of merchandise like a t-shirt, sweatshirt, hoodie, long-sleeve tee and more.
Even on coasters, tote bags, a coffee mug, water bottle and stickers.
Let everyone know that you're a Knife Junkie and that you don't take dull for an answer.
Get yours at theknifejunkie.com slash dull and shop for all of your Knife Junkies merchandise at theknifejunkie.com slash shop.
And now that we're caught up with Knife Life News, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.

[26:32] So this morning as I was readying myself for work, I was trying to pick what I was going to carry, and I didn't end up carrying any of these, but I went down the wood rabbit hole.
And I realized I don't have as much wood-handled, as many wood-handled knives in my collection as I thought I did.
Now, what do I like about wood-handled knives?
It's the warmth. I do like natural materials on knives, especially those that tend more towards the traditional.
But it is the warmth in both look and feel that is a huge turn on and this came on with.

[27:14] Let's see, I guess I should say this became formalized in my tastes.
When Finch Knives sent me this over a year ago at this point, this is the Buffalo Tooth, and it's their big folding version of this sort of large sunfish style knife.

[27:34] Just really an excellent knife with a very, very sharp, thin, slicey, tall 154cm drop point.
A really great knife. But this was their first, I believe, with titanium. So these are titanium, there's a titanium frame and bolsters here. And this came in a full titanium, a Mother of Pearl, or this Coca-Cola wood. And they sent this to me, I didn't have a choice, but I realized how excited I was about this, even over the jigged titanium model, because to me, this looks like like a gentleman's knife through and through, but it defies our usual definition of gentleman's knife as being slender and thin.
So very, very psyched about this knife when it came, and it was that look, that coca bola, which is such a rich, you know, rich, deep wood.
And to set it down on my nightstand next to my leather wallet and another knife, it just looked good.
So it's that wooden thing also makes it look old, makes it look like it's something out of the Old West to me.
That's why I put that with my Old West character in last week's show.

[28:50] Okay, another one that really got me excited is when I was looking to finally get myself a Civivi Praxis, it had to be this because of how good it looks.
It's the, okay, the Cuburtia, I'm not really sure how you pronounce it, but it is a beautiful, rich wood.
It's a very warmly colored wood, and then having it next to that tumbled black finished Blade, just sold it for me. And then having it in hand, there's micro milling on here because they mill these out on CNC and you almost can sense the texture there.

[29:34] But it feels great in hand, this wood. It's smooth, it's warm, and then you have, you say warm, why do you keep saying warm?
What I mean is like, if you were to have, first of all, it just feels good in hand, like my Carta.
But also like my Carta, if you were to have this in your pocket, in cold temperatures, you pull this out, it's not gonna feel like carrying a metal handle.
It's gonna feel warmer in the hand and will warm to your hand quicker.
And also just in terms of the visual tone, very nice. So, what do you call it?
Civivi and SenCut does a really nice job with their wood handled knives.
And I'm glad that companies have done a lot to bring that natural material back into modern knives.

[30:23] I would like to get, for instance, an Emerson with a wood handle, he does a lot of cool stuff.
The Smatchit, this one was a gift from Dave. The Smatchit from Boker, an amazing knife, but with that beautiful, and this is rosewood, rosewood like on the fretboard of a guitar, beautiful, and feels warm. Again, I'm going to stop using that. Smooth and feels great in hand.
With the fluting is grippy, but even without that fluting, wood also has a grippiness to it.
That as long as it's not too highly polished, it just doesn't, it feels secure in hand. Of course, you got great ergonomics with this knife. That's a VG10 blade. Bayonet ground with the, basically it's a dagger grind also, but bayonet grind in that this top relief stops short.

[31:17] A really great action on, you wouldn't know it from my left hand, but a really great action on this thing.
And just the sumptuousness of wood, and I do believe that sumptuous is a word you can use with wood.
Last up, this is the one that got me really thinking about it, the Cetus from Orion Knives.
This was a gift, Cetus from Orion Knives, this was a gift to me from David Cam at Blade Show.
Thank you, David. This is so cool. He knew I love this knife. And I know he was getting it in the hands of people who are going to talk about it. But he also knows I love this knife. He loaned it to me in the past when it was a prototype. And I raved about how it reminds me of a gununting, the downward sickle-shaped sword from the Southern Philippines. But how efficient a cutter it is with that straight blade. It is not a hawkbill, that's just sort of a visual trick.

[32:16] Due to the overall arcing shape of it. So that overall arcing shape gives that straight edge a downward tant, which really makes it an outstanding cutter and slasher and poker and everything else just makes this thing awesome. But it's also cool to look at and it's got this beautiful amboya wood. Amboya? Amboya burl? I mean, I don't know, that kind of looks like burl wood to me but then again I don't know really what amboya wood normally looks like. So burl or not this amboya is gorgeous and again next black of the blade. It's a really...

[32:52] Visually appealing thing. So I'm going to look forward to getting new, more wood handled knives, especially the folders. I do have a couple of bowies and actually I'm going to be setting up out upon a long-awaited chore or task. No, chore and task make it sound like it's not fun. I'm going to be rehandling my, my Black Mule Bowie with some of the walnut, that Byron Kennedy, a Byron Kennedy patron and friend of the show sent me some amazing walnut wood that I'm going to be rehandling my Black Mule Bowie with.
So I'm very excited about that. There will be more wood in my life.
Summer weight fixed blade knives for everyday carry during shorts season

[33:36] And all that that implies. Okay, so next Knife Junkie, Gentleman in Junkie Knife giveaway will be during Thursday Night Knives on July 20th.
All right, last up, I want to talk about summer weight, fixed blade, everyday carry knives.
I talked about summer weight, fixed blade carry folders a few weeks back, and I think I called them spring weight at the time because I was starting to wear shorts.
But we are in shorts season here, and that does change carry.
So I wanted to talk about some of the knives that I have that are available that are great for carry.
Now this does involve, does include some custom knives, but they're all within reasonable realm.
And what I mean by that is, you know, under 200 bucks.

[34:23] Maybe under 250 bucks, but I don't even think it goes up that high.
And I say that's reasonable realm because these lists often include folders that are twice that. So let's get into it.
Before we do, I wanna put out some caveats.
Like here is a lightweight fixed blade knife that is not on the list.
It is a polymer knife from Cold Steel. It is sheathless.
And in a last ditch, you could tape it to your leg and drop your pant leg over it and use it.
But that's not on the list. There are knives like this that are not on the list, like this little shard, this little scalpel knife from Futo Forge.
Or also kitchen knives that have been turned towards tactical purposes, like the Elvia, are not on this list.

[35:14] Here, this one could have made the list, but I just received it and it's on loan so I can't speak to it much.
And then lastly, a knife like this, the Williamson, Marcus Williamson, or WM Steelworks Merlin.
This is an awesome little fixed blade knife, but it is 100% pocket carry in this beautiful stout leather sheath, which is great in the fall and a pair of car hearts or in a pair of jeans, but in a pair of shorts, this sort of in the pocket only carry is not my jam. Okay, so all of those caveats out of the way, let's get to this list of knives here. She these because you know what can happen if I don't. All right. First up a modern classic, the tops rapid strike. This has been a very popular knife for tops. It is a small, thin, and slender.

[36:15] Knife with a four and three quarters inch blade that can either be single edged or double edged, but it's this beautiful fighter style bayonet grind with, like I said, a very thin profile, a great thin Pydex sheath and it ships with a good clip. This one I ground down the handle, the handle is about another half inch and it comes to a pure middle peak for glass breaking.
Glass breaking, I just didn't want it on this knife, I wanted to keep this strictly self-defense-y, and that means capping the pommel with my thumb and so I ground that down and made it nice and Smooth.

[37:00] All right, so that's the first one, the Rapid Strike, and of course, I had to get mine double-edged.
Any man who would do less is less than a man.
Ha, just kidding.
We can't all have double-edged, and we don't all have double-edged needs like I do.
Just kidding.

[37:18] But you know what I mean. Most of us who use our knives don't want double-edged unless we're using it to kill people. Let's face it, we do not.
Okay, so next up is from K-Bar. This is the TDI thing knife, and it's small and light, and it was developed as an off-hand, what do they call it, off-hand gun retention knife.
So it is, it's set up in that pistol grip orientation for gun guys, for people who are more used to this form factor than the regular straight knife setup.
So we have this really extreme angle on the blade, and it requires you to do nothing with your wrist if you're going to thrust with it. You don't have to cant your wrist or change at all.
And if you're swiping and slashing, look at that downward angle to the blade.
It's like having a little mini kukri in the hand. It's very slender in this aspect, and it comes with a decent sheath. Now this is an older one.
My brother gave this to me years ago. I'm not sure if they have upped their game on the sheath.
The sheath is pretty thin, but with this big kind of clunky metal spring clip, it kind of thickens it up a little bit the way it's mounted.
There are more modern ways to do it now, but a great knife and a great small, light, defensive and EDC carry.
Definitely a handy knife to have.

[38:46] Next up, I was talking about Senkut when I was talking about the wood-handled knives, and they incidentally have a very cool wood-handled version of this next one.
This is the Senkut Waxahachi. This was a gift from my brother-in-law, also a great guy who's given me a lot of great knives.
This one has a beautiful clip point blade shaped much like the Sevivi clip points, Like the, what was it, the very first one they came out with, the Cogent, has that sort of upswept clip there.
And this one's a little dirty, I carry this one and use it.

[39:28] So yeah, this little guy got some schmutz in it, I'm staying, but you've got the natural, cam, not cam, it's the natural Jade G10 here, which is just dying for a dye job.
I got some maroon Rit, I'm going to dye this one of these days.
But yeah, a very, very cool knife and great in the reverse grip and very thin and slicey, very useful knife.
This is 9Cr18MoV blade steel. Also you'll notice the only knife in this list or any more at all where I use the in, the waistband with tension straps.
I'm pretty much, this is pretty much a discrete carry concepts family at this point.
But I like this on the belt up front and these loops keep it really snug.
This is another one of those knives that, like the Night Stalker I was talking about before, is a nicely sized knife that hides deceptively well.
It hides under a shirt easily in that scout, front scout position.
We gotta come up with a different term for front scout.
I think someone said something on Thursday Night Knives that I like, but that was Thursday night, and I forgot it.
So if we have a better term for front scout carry, let me know.

[40:49] Next up is from Off Grid Knives. This is the Hoglet.
The Hoglet, a charming little pig of a knife. The Hoglet is, it's got this, It's got a very nice pancake style sheath, very stout.

[41:06] If you want, yeah, I might, if I were to make this a daily carry, I might make a taco sheath out of it. Not out of this, but make a taco sheath for it.
I like taco sheath, but they're just smaller, a smaller footprint.
This one comes with a kydex wrap over belt loop.

[41:22] And here you go, this is a cleaver style blade with a nice belly and a very decent point.
So this is a good utility knife, but it's also a good food knife.
This would make an excellent camp prep food knife. But for EDC, again, it's got a rounded handle and an arced back. So for me, the rounded handles are essential for carry.
For carry, though I do have some recent knives that have more angular faceted pommels and they're very comfortable in my new sort of appendix style of carry.
But in general I go for a curved pommel, curved handle on a small fixed blade, EDC knife because I'm carrying it close to my body. This one I have never set up in that orientation, or not orientation, but in that style of carry in the waistband. This one I have used the belt clip for which works great This is a great round the houser, so to speak, in the summer.
You're hanging out in the house, it's hot, you got your shorts on, you know, and little else, this is a great one to have on the belt.
Comes in very handy. This is also, would be a great painting knife, a great chore knife.
Oh, also, I forgot to mention, that jimping is perfect. It goes almost all the way down the blade, so for really tough push cuts and stuff like that, You have some great perches on this knife.

[42:49] Okay, so this is Off-Grid Hoglet. We do have a, what do you call it, affiliate link with Off-Grid Knives, because they make great knives.
So check it out if you want to get an Off-Grid, any one of the Off-Grids, including that Hoglet.
You can go to theknifejunkie.com slash Off-Grid, and it'll take you right there.
And if you order a knife from Off-Grid, then we get a small kickback.
Oh, I shouldn't call it a kickback.
A small affiliate nation or whatever it is. So definitely check that out.
All right, next up, I was just talking about how it's gotta have a round handle.
Well, this was one of the reasons I stopped myself and said, well, I do have a couple that aren't round that are really comfortable.
And this is one of the two I was thinking of. This is the Fire Ant from Dirk Pinkerton.
Now this is a custom handmade knife from Dirk Pinkerton, but it's in this list because I paid $200 for it.

[43:45] That was table price at Blade Show, So I think if you were to order one from him, it would be slightly more.
But I'm putting this in the affordable realm of custom knife because a lot of us, myself included, tend to spend more on folders.
So we balk at a fixed blade costing that much, but this, you'll see why in a second.
Okay, so great sheath. I put on the discreet carry clip.
Dirk doesn't ship his, or doesn't put clips on his sheath.
I also have this little bit of tire inner tube under here.
I'm starting to do that on some of my EDC fixed blades because it keeps it, it just keeps it in place.
You know, things can tend to reorient. This just keeps it in place.
And with this straight handle, I like it at a certain angle, circumnavigating my slight pooch of a belly.
So having that rubber there keeps it at the angle I want it all day long.
All right, but here is the knife.

[44:47] Super nice and super nice, dude. It's super nice, really nice and light and slender, but you have a, I think that's an over four inch blade. I don't know. I hear I'll measure it using the bokeh snatcher, No, it's a less than four inch blade, but it is a little big blade You've got a sheep's foot there with three edges The top edge is sharp, the front edge is sharp, and the bottom edge is sharp, You know, I mean, who could ask for more?

[45:20] I really love this because I love that blade shape. You could call it a reverse tanto, and not be run out on a rail, but I'm gonna call it a sheep's foot.
I love that sheep's foot blade shape so much, but then you add that front edge and the top edge, just makes it so wicked.
Blue and black layered rich light, nicely contoured. He had a number of fire ants at his table, fixed blades.
They do have a fire ant kaiser that he designed also, folded, but he had a number of these at his table, so it's a regular model in all different kinds of dress.
This was the only one in triple edge, and I like to think that maybe he made that thinking of me, knowing I'm a sucker, and he's like, oh, I know, if I just triple edge this, Bob will buy it.
But I'm sure there were plenty of people there would have gotten it if it weren't for me.
I just kind of ran to his table as I did past you.
All right, so Dirk Pinkerton, you can have a handmade knife from him for relatively little, and it is 100% worth it.

[46:28] And he is very, very well respected by his peers. I always like to talk about that, how Sean Kendrick, a master folder maker, was like, oh yeah, Dirk Pinkerton, I asked him, who do you admire?
And he said, Dirk Pinkerton, and it surprised me because I didn't put them in the same category and uh...

[46:44] For his ability at freehand grinding. All right, next up, another master, another guy who's creating, in his own words, tactical art, is Bastien Cove of Bastinelli Knives.
What a cool dude.
Just a consummate gentleman, cool dude, making really, really, really, really sweet weapon knives.
This is the Anomaly, one of the few ringed things that feel comfortable in my hand, the way that's designed, but it's no wonder because Bastien is a practitioner of Filipino martial arts.
He's designed many, many ringed knives and he designed this one in a four knife series with Doug Marcaida, also a master at the ringed knives, so karambits, et cetera.
So they know how to design that ring and put it so that it keeps your knuckles aligned and you're not jacking up your fist.
This one, of course, as you can tell, is not a traditional-style karambit, this is a pical-style knife.
So the curve is going in the opposite direction of a standard karambit, and so you've got that tip-down, edge-in, pical thing happening.
You could definitely use this, carry this as I have in the past, and use it for utility.

[48:01] You know, it's not the most comfortable setup for using it for utility, but hey, it's a knife with an edge.
And if you have one knife to carry around, would be this would this would be fine maybe not great for cutting your steak, but it'll do in a pinch very light and thin again hides under a t-shirt that's That's part of this summer weight thing and um the uh...

[48:29] Uh, it lies real flat and it's the last thing I was gonna sorry guys senior moment Um, but yeah, nice and thin light. Oh, oh and uh scout style on the front whatever we're calling that. This is great for that, Okay, next up continuing that sort of tsukamaki themed wrap That's what makes that one a custom by the way is the sheath and the wrapping, Um, the standard version is also really sweet. I think I might like the sheath from the standard version better than the custom, But, you know, that's neither here nor there.
So, continuing with the Japanese style Sukamaki handle wrap, this one is from Bright4War, Josh Mason. You should follow him on Instagram.
He does a lot of this style of knife.
He's been doing them bigger, and man, they are beautiful. Some of them with jamon lines and everything.
I'm showing you in the sheath because, as always, you gotta show the sheath for a fixed blade knife.
And this is great for two styles of carry, actually.
Now, for a neck knife, it looks big, and it is, but something about the layout, this is a nice, flat, against the body neck knife. This is, and it's light.

[49:42] The only thing that will make me change it from a neck knife to the next style of carry is sometimes the footprint of that sheath, Just a little too big. little keyboard.

[49:55] As an alternative, because generally I neck knife it first, but as an alternative, this makes for a great in-the-waistband tension cord draw. So basically.

[50:08] You have this wrapped around your belt at nine o'clock, and then you snake this cordage in your waistband, tuck it down in your pants, coming all the way around the front, and then this tucks in your waistband like this, you're looking down and here's your belt and here's your belly and, it just sits like this and it just rests there and it's so thin you can drop a t-shirt over it, you don't notice it and this is snaking around your belt and then when you want to use it you just pull it and in an emergency you pull it hard and this falls but it's still dangling by your, waist and you have the knife in hand or you can just do it slowly and keep the sheath in place.
So that's actually a great style carry, but usually it starts on my neck.
I love this little beautiful Quaken.
I think it's 1095.
I did have a patina on it for a while, and then I took the patina off.
This is a great steak knife, and I've gotten comments on this one, a dressy steak knife, of course, but you can sort of see his maker's mark.
I accidentally kind of polished it off a little bit when I was getting rid of the patina.
Beautiful ray skin on that handle and then wrapped. He's really good at that cord wrapping.
And then this thing here, what is that called?
It's some sort of a knot.

[51:30] They call it like a sheep's head, sheik's head knot or something.
Let me know in the comments if anyone knows what that's called.
Great, great, great knife. Very, very thin and sharp.
He grinds his knives down to a zero edge.

[51:47] So the whole thing is the edge, and then he puts a tiny relief edge on it, just to make it strong, but it is incredibly sharp.
Josh Mason, again, a maker that you can find as brightforwar or joshmason on Instagram, making this style of knife and others larger and...
But you can have his knives custom, you know, for a very reasonable price.
And that's the thing, that's the thing to do.
Get in early on someone, not that he hasn't been around a while, but get in on someone's career, and someone's hobby, some of these knife makers are hobbyists, because they're doing other things to make ends meet.
Get in on their work on the ground floor, you can get some great knives for less money.
And also, there's that pride of ownership, knowing that you have custom-made knives from someone that, you know, maybe not so many people, I was way into Hug Tooth before anyone else, you know, like that kind of thing.
Like I was into Nirvana before they, that kind of thing. Alright, next up, Spyderco Ronin.
This is a great one. This is another one that has a gigantic footprint sheath.

[53:02] And is begging for another sheath, but it's still comfortable.
Like I still find myself carrying this until I get around to making myself a new Kydex sheath for it.

[53:13] Because it's so comfortable. And so it uses this Spyderco lock that really does not lock. What is that? Belt clip. It really works great on belts. It also works great on sweatpants, pajama bottoms, gym shorts, you know, things that are loose and light. This knife is good because I think it it might be because of that broad wide sheath against my hip in the waistband.
There's a lot of surface area there. It just sort of stays in place. It's not too heavy for those light garments. Plus the knife is wickedly thin. I mean, this knife is incredibly thin and easy to draw and then when you do you have this amazing, Warncliffe and Ham.
Super hollow ground.

[54:01] Bob, it's just hollow ground. Yes, it's hollow ground. And that bd one blade steel, but look at the angle at the tip, you you get that magical angle, and I need to get a protractor and figure out what it is. But you can see it across the Hinderer wharncliffs, you can see it across the Pinkerton wharncliffs, you can see it on this, the Jimbo's, and it's all this angle, and I've matched them all up. And I've never gotten a damn protractor. So someone figure it out. I'll do, it, but it's the perfect angle for utility and tactical. So for a fighting thrust, that's an amazingly shaped tip because you're piercing and then it's widening out pretty quickly.

[54:45] But the piercing is easy to do. But also with that tip, it's low and that triangular shape down low, as we all know, like a carpet knife, like a mat knife, like an exacto knife, is a great utility shape for pull cuts and that kind of thing.

[55:01] So really thin, but because of the broad shape and the ergonomics of the handle, it's very secure, very sure in hand. And then you have that thumb swale.
This is just a great knife and inexpensive.
The Spyderco Ronin is much less expensive than say it's Folding Brothers, the Yojimbo, Yojimbo and soon to come the Microjimbo, which should be cool. That is the Ronin. And plus with the BD-1 you're saving, you're saving money and that's those are GRN handle slabs. So you get a price break on this.

[55:39] All right, next up. Now this one is one of the ones that this is this was a little bit over 200 bucks.
So on the higher end of this list, but still, I would argue, within reason for most of us.

[55:52] Who have gone over the rails one or two times on an expensive folder. All right, this is the TKEL Knives Combatant, a just overall small, charming, extremely capable package. So what you have with with this. Now I this came oriented for for sideways scout carry and with that super thin sheath, it's great for it. But I have found for my purposes and my desired style of carry this, elongated discrete carry clip in the waistband appendix is is best. But this this knife is great. It's got a short handle.

[56:32] I can just get four fingers on it. But those two deep finger oils up front with those high peaks really lock this knife in. Oh my god, they really lock this knife into place in hand. So as you can see, my pinky, you know, my hand completely covers up the pommel. It is completely buried in my fist, but I, with my size hands, can get my pinky, can get good purchase with my pinky. Yours may vary if you have big giant hands, but your fingers will lock get into those two little swales and regardless you'll have an incredibly stout, wickedly sharp knife that is small in overall size and hand. Plus you've got these scoops in the G10, scooped out there and there's great ergonomics here.
But also a really nice blade shape with a swedge. This is his second version of of this, second iteration of this blade, and in that he reduced some of the belly to make it a little stabbier and gave it a nice swedge for the same purpose.

[57:42] I ordered this one with that beautiful sort of wood grain three layer G10.
So it's got tan, brown, and black, and it's all kind of randomly in there.
It's not layered in discrete layers.
Sort of marbled in there, and then when you shape it, it adds to the swirliness.
So it just looks like wood grain, just a beautiful knife.
Now you've got the pass-through screws here, so you can make all sorts of lanyard attachments and that kind of thing in the handle.
And again, just an outrageously sharp blade, like the Night Stalker I was talking about before.
Just outrageously sharp. I've watched him sharpen his knives, you can see it on YouTube, Man, he's got a jig.
Not a jig but a platen that holds the blade at the exact angle when he sharpens it so really.

[58:37] You get an extremely accurate 20 degree bevel on both sides. I think he said it was 20 degrees.
Awesome, awesome knife. That's the Combatant. I love this little guy. The only thing against this, is it's a little heavy so it's slightly heavy but if I can wear it in light gym shorts it's It's not that heavy.
If it doesn't bother me in light gym shorts, it's not too bad.
But it's probably one of the heavier ones here.
All right, second to last in this glorious list, one of the other ones that doesn't have a curved handle, but is very comfortable to carry, and that's due to the length of the sheath and the blade instead of the handle, is this auxiliary manufacturing pocket rocket.
This comes in a number of different sizes. This is the three inch dagger, but I wanna show off this beautiful sheath first.

[59:26] Really nice pancake sheath that is minimizing the overall size and ships with a discreet carry concept like clip.
And oddly enough, it's a great clip. It works great, especially with that rubber underneath it.
But discreet carry has got something on it because it just does.
But a very nice clip to ship with. I like it if I absolutely need a discreet carry, I can swap it out, but I don't. This works great.
All right, so also, the sheath is really nice in that it's molded around the handle and retains really well, but draws really easily.
I really like how this one draws. And then I'm gonna put it up to the mic real quick. Listen to the sound.

[1:00:12] It's got a great, it's got a really great sound coming out of that sheath.
But here's the blade, beautiful. I believe it's 80 CRV2.
Now I'm forgetting what this blade steel is.
But you have to use your eyes on this one. Just a beautiful knife. Totally symmetrical.
You've got a really well-ground, thin, precise dagger blade there.
Very pointy, very sharp on the edges, very thin on the edges.
And then you have this really nicely faceted and then swaled octagonally cross-sectional handle here, that is comfortable any way you grab it.
Of course, I carry it in appendix grip, so I can reach in and pull it out like this, or I can reach in and pull it out like this.
Either way, no matter how it lands in the hand, it's comfortable.
If you are using it defensively and like that sort of flat grip, I'm not sure what they call that. I like to call it shovel grip in my mind, but it, cause it reminds me kind of of a shovel hook punch.
But if you're going to hold it like this, you've got...

[1:01:26] A swale on the sides. It's a pinch, like this pinch point here. If you're going to hold it in that traditional regular saber grip, you've got pinch points here and back here, and same goes for a reverse grip. You've got a great pommel for capping with the thumb and really nice faceting, or swaling, all the way around. So this knife, though it doesn't have quillions or a cross guard, And this dagger is really nicely set up for use and really secure grip.
Hats off to Michael Jarvis of Auxiliary Manufacturing. I think this is a great design and I'd like to get the larger one now.
And the smaller one, you know, why not collect them all? And a great sheath.

[1:02:15] All right, last in the list is, you might not be surprised, this is the Hogtooth Knives EDC tanto. This is also one of the customs in this and also can be had for, 200 and don't quote me I think it's 235 or something. This one is a little different from the ones he had at his table because this one features a handle material that Matt Chase doesn't use too often it's that alternating kydex and rubber layered material I can't remember what it's called but it, feels really great it's not too grippy but you feel a little extra grip from, that rubber and it looks nice with the maroon and the black mingling but usually he uses straight g10 it's a little and then it's got the I don't have I don't have my Nova one but it has the cutouts that the Nova one has the scalloped handle but anyway this one is very thin very light this is the one that really got me EDCing a fixed blade regularly. The E part, you know, the every day. I got this from from Matt shortly after I got my my.

[1:03:30] Sub-hilt fighter and just carried it so much. That's what inspired the Nova 1 collaboration.
It's just the perfect size, perfect weight, perfect handle ergonomics.
Everyone I hand the Nova 1 to, people are like, oh, this handle.
I'm like, that's the part I didn't design. But they like the blade too.
But the handle is so comfortable and I've put it in some giant hands at this point.
Dude I trained with, who's a colossus, held this knife and loved it. It's a three-finger knife for him. Imri, Morgenstern over at the TKAL Knives booth, he's the guy that they're doing the collaboration. Sapper knife with, he's a big dude. I showed him the Nova one. He loved the handle, kept going and on over it. And that's what you get here with the EDC Tanto. This is a regular model of hogtooth knives and it is spectacular.
The the hollow ground tanto blade is amazing and stout at the point and I'm not going to go into detail but Matt made one of these for the Marine Corps son of a friend and it saved his life in a room clearing operation when he was tackled. So you can you can put the rest of that together but it is a very capable knife, but also the perfect platform overall carry package for summer weight, for sweatpants, for gym shorts, for.

[1:04:58] Swimsuits, and for everything that's light that you're going to wear in summer. Well, thank you for coming on this extra long journey episode of the Knife Junkie podcast. Sorry, little little senior moment there again, great summer weight BBC fixed blade. Be sure to join us on Sunday for a great interview and of course tomorrow night for Thursday night for Jim working his magic behind the switcher. I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, please don't take dull for an answer.
Thanks for listening to the knife junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review it review the podcast.com for show notes for today's episode, additional resources and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, the knife junkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at the knife junkie.com slash YouTube. Check out some great knife photos on the knife junkie.com slash Instagram and join our Facebook group at the knife junkie.com slash Facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob at the knife junkie.com or call our 24 seven listener line at 724-466-4487. And you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming, episode of the Knife Junkie Podcast.

[1:06:10] Music.