Jerad Neeve, Neeves Knives - The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 393)

©2023, Bob Demarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

[0:00] 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 to the Knife Junkie Podcast.
I'm Bob DeMarco.
On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with Jerad Neeve, one half of the dynamic, Neeves Knives YouTube channel.
Jerad and his lovely wife Kara started Neve's Knives five and a half years ago at their kitchen table, and now they enjoy an audience of nearly a quarter million subscribers.
And it's no wonder why.
They offer a comprehensive picture of the contemporary folder market.
They host numerous live shows every week encouraging conversation and community.

[0:46] And they're just cool people. I got a chance to meet Mr. and Mrs. Neeve at Blade Show last year and really enjoyed it.
And I look forward to catching up with Jared right here. But before we do, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, hit the notification bell, and download the show to your favorite podcast app.
And as always, you can check out what we have to offer on Patreon, like the extra interview hot takes with Jared we'll get after the show. Just go to theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon.
Again, that's theknifejunkie.com slash Patreon.
Ever strop a knife again, even though it gets no real use? Face up to what you are.
You're a knife junkie.
Jerad, welcome back to the show, sir.
What's going on, Bob? Oh man, it's good to see you. Good to see you.
Amazing intro, by the way.
Why thank you. Why thank you. You can put that on your resume. Yeah, for sure.
So before we get cracking, I got to ask you what you're carrying today.
What's in your pocket?
Actually, so right at the moment, I've switched a couple different things, but I have the, AD 20.5 with the reblaid from transparent knives.

[1:48] With the magnet cut at 64.5 HRC deep hollow grind amazing knife now It's like basically a hundred percent USA made aside from the locking mechanism, That it was in the clip that was original but um, I have, Here a bunch of or like four different versions of the rock walls that are going to be dropping, on the 23rd They're all special editions and if you look they all have like something unique like this one has a bullseye, Oh, yeah, and it's almost like a gunmetal blue, but there's three other ones like here's like an army green one.

[2:24] With the Yeah, those colors the dots on there. Yeah, it looks really cool, but there and then there's two other options There's one with an anchor and another one for like a construction worker. It's got the hazard sign.

[2:40] They're really cool though, so and I'm really excited about the maverick that's gonna be coming, And it's not going to be much longer after these drop not too much longer as far as I know, So so the Maverick that's the Richard Rogers design, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's their new one. It's it's a little bit larger than this I mean, I haven't tried it. I'm hoping I get it on the channel before it drops.

[3:01] So yeah, it's uh, it looks really cool They're gonna be doing their version of the crossbar lock and also.

[3:07] Their magnet cut on that is going to have the higher HRC because these ones were already done So there was nothing they could obviously do about them. But since this one is obviously new they're able to, he treated a little bit better or a little bit higher HRC.
All right. So a little bit of a philosophical question here on your 80 20.5. It's been totally rebuilt and now it's basically completely American made, whereas it was originally, built in Taiwan. So is this the same knife it started as? This is a question my daughter was asking me about ships. Not even a little bit. It's completely redone. Well, first off, it was, originally the FRN scales or whatever. I personally don't really like FRN. There are some knives that that have ever run that are okay, but this one's full titanium now and the blade, the reblaze because of the geometry.
I mean, this one is 10,000s behind the edge and it's like 10,000s for a long ways up.
So I could sharpen this thing to death and it's still gonna be 10,000s.
So it makes it to where not only is the blade shape in my opinion more useful, but it is so, so much more slicey.
All right, so just sitting here listening to you evaluate this knife and kind of being along the ride the whole time. Obviously you've learned so much in the period of time you've had this channel. Why did you guys start the channel in the first place? Well, two reasons. One.

[4:34] We found the community and I was like into knives. I've always been into tools and stuff. I've done construction my whole life. So pocket knives was always just like a part of me. I've been carrying a knife since I was like five years old. So when I found the community, it was something special to I mean, like, I loved like I dove in so deep and it was like, I couldn't watch anything else, put knife stuff and then Kara, because she was right there.
She started like getting interested too, you know, and she saw how fascinated I was with like the build qualities and the machining and stuff like that.
And then I, I loved it so much. I knew like that if I started a channel and I was serious about it, it was a possibility I could.

[5:15] Basically run a business doing what I love. So, but when you started, obviously you can't just, you can't just go pro immediately. No, I was willing. So the way I looked at it was I'm willing to put in two years of work without getting paid. And that's basically how it went. Once I started taking it seriously, which was about six months to a year in, because at first I was working really difficult jobs and stuff. So it wasn't as easy for me to do it, but I figured I can start building my catalog of videos and then at a certain point I'm going to seriously take it serious and I did and then once I did that once I started taking like really serious that's when it started blowing up just being out more content and stuff, you know and I think the knives you've always presented have been obviously things that you're passionate about but also things that a lot of us are passionate about folders, action, getting specific. You know, it seems like I started watching nothing fancy videos way back in the day. And that was before bearing action and stuff like that. And he would talk a little bit about that stuff about the action. But but these are things that kind of came along the way. And a lot of them I became aware of from watching your videos. There are a lot of things that I look for now, in folders, specific little details, right? It's the little details that matter and and that's also something that because when I review a knife.

[6:40] If it's not my style, it's not my style, but that doesn't matter.
That has nothing to do with the video.
It has to do whether or not if this knife, who it's for, is it built well?
And does it do the job that it's advertising as well?
Kind of like, like a say, if it's a light duty folder, like this, for an example, and it has a super thick blade and geometry, that just doesn't make sense.
So it has a hard use knife, a blade with a light duty handle.
So the handle can handle the pressure that the blades gonna have to take.

[7:11] So like something like that like it just doesn't make sense But if it's a knife that's not my style I still want to review it for the person that it is and let them know whether or not it's built, Well, does it work and does it work? Well with what it's advertised as you know? Yeah Yeah, it's like you can you don't have to love the thing to evaluate it and to know whether it's a good type of that thing or not, you know like, upfront, I was saying, one of the things I love about your channel is that you always have like a brand new fresh and specific take on a brand new and fresh, knife, you know, the contemporary modern folder world, like you've got it on lockdown and your reviews and several other people have inspired this term for me trusted voices, like if you say, the access to the lock bar, for instance, that's something I look for now all the time. And I actually think about it's, something I never thought about before. Maybe I was like, this is uncomfortable, but I, I didn't think about the solutions or what have you.
Yeah. Well, also when you start getting to a certain price, there's little things that are acceptable at a lower price, but when they start getting higher, it's like, what am I paying for?
Like am I paying the extra money to not get this right? Because I think those things are where the extra money starts coming from.
Of course the materials get better, but then it's like, what did you do with the materials? You know, and I, this, I hate it when I'm trying to disengage a knife. I think a knife should disengage just as easy as it engages.

[8:39] Like however good the action is.
Closing it should be easy to like it. You shouldn't have to skip off of it.
You shouldn't be frustrated. It shouldn't be painful.
So and you know, like I said, if it's a little bit more on a budget side, it's a little bit more acceptable.
But there's no reason why budget knives can do it right.
Why can an expensive knife do it? You know?
Yeah, it's almost like there's no excuse at this point. You know, I got a craftsman knife at at Lowe's not too long ago, and it had all the hallmarks of a $300 knife. If it had a bearing action, it had a deep hollow grind.
It had all these things.
I was like, damn man, this is a 20 bucks, yeah.
They're listening. Yeah, exactly. They're listening.
And it's channels like yours, definitely with your reach, that has a lot to do with that.
And that kind of information raises all ships. You know what I mean?
And I love that when the companies contact me before the model ever even comes out, maybe it's a year out or something, they'll contact me and just have me take a look at it really quick and say, hey, what do you think?
Is there something we can change on this? You know, and I'll tell them my honest opinion, like, yeah, you should move this or change this, or, you know, allow this or whatever.
And then it makes it to where now this knife is gonna be far better when it comes out than it would have been if they wouldn't have.

[9:53] That's an incredible position to find yourself in. You know, I was gonna bring that up.
I drew up some designs.
I've, you know, like probably everyone listening, I've drawn up a million designs.
I sent a couple to you for your evaluations, you know, hand-drawn designs, and gave me a lot of useful information. I was thinking, maybe you should stick to fixed blades.
That's what I really get, you know?
But I don't think so. I mean, if you like folders and you like designing folders, I think go with it because.

[10:20] It's not like if you do one, it doesn't mean you can't do another.
You know, it doesn't mean you can't do 10.
You know, the time can just keep going where you evolve into maybe a specific type.
Because I guarantee, I guarantee everyone will have your like aspects or like your designed influence.
Kind of like when you look at a Ray Laconico, you almost always know when it's a Ray Laconico.
Right. You know, it just speaks Ray Laconico.
So, you know, I think it's awesome to, you know, to want to do that.
I know I would love to do that too. I've actually done a little something right now that's in the works.

[10:55] But It's not gonna be for a while, but I'm wanting to do a lot more I would love to be designing knives and you know being involved in that type of way, I'm definitely not a knife maker so I couldn't do it myself.

[11:10] You know maybe in the far future, but but as far as like fold ears go. I'd love to design, Well, I mean, you really do get not only through your own acquisitions and through generous, you know, people who send things along for you to check out, but you seem to have, I mean, I can't say this for sure, but you seem to have very good relationships with a number of different companies. And they know to send stuff to you, I would imagine, because you have great reach and you have a very thorough evaluation process. And that could be, you, know, that's incredibly appealing to a company who knows that they've got their game in order, know, but it could also be good for a company who's trying to get their game in order. So Yeah, how much how much of this consultation do you do?

[11:51] I pretty much do it on the daily basis. Whoever contact because I've announced it many times over.
Like if anybody ever has a design that they're thinking about and they just want to run it past me or if it's a company that has questions or wants to reshot and see like what could they do better. I'm always here and I'm always here to help. I advocate for the knife companies to do better and for the people to get the best quality product possible. So, you know, I need to be an asset in that way. And I like to be, I have no problem with it. And it's better. Like, there's a couple of companies I can think of right now that contact me on the daily basis, with their models coming out and what they could change, what they could do better.
And the ones that have from the beginning have massively evolved like into something that's great now. But when they started, it might not have been so great. You know, they're good, But you know, it's the little details, you know.
Well, imagine you own and run a knife company or you're part of a design team and a knife company and.

[12:52] You've got to keep your business afloat. You've got all these details. You've got to make sure you have materials. You've got all of these concerns. And then it comes down to the very, very finite details of the knife. It could ruin it. Yeah, could ruin it. Yeah. And your head could be swimming. Your mind might not be in detail of the access to the lock bar. So sending it out to you and having having fresh eyes especially yours take a look at it be very valuable.
Plus, like how much do you think the fact that you've seen eight billion knives come across your desk has to do with it.

[13:24] Well, I think I think it's a really good thing because i've tried the good and the bad, You know So because I have so much experience with bad and so much experience with great it makes it to where I know, Usually right away exactly what's wrong like I remember in the beginning, I didn't quite like there was like little details where it's like, you know, this is kind of annoying or you know, whatever, But but it wouldn't be that big of a deal to me as it is now because now I know the difference, And how big of a deal those little details are especially in the long run, especially when you're you're spending, You know quite a bit of money these little details are what's going to when you get it in your hand, It's going to make the knife feel premium because you can make a premium knife feel like a cheap knife without the little details, It's kind of like I always explain like we were just talking about with the lock bar access, The comfort of the lock bar as well, right?
Like when you disengage a knife, how comfortable is it when you disengage it?
Because if you, I don't know if you've noticed, but premium knives that are done very well, they're usually very comfortable right there.
And they're nice and soft. They're easy to disengage, plenty of room.
And that bit of comfort makes that knife feel even more premium.
Now, if that same lock bar was sharp and annoying to disengage, it would take a premium knife and make it feel way lower than what it is.
Yeah, it also makes you feel like they don't care.

[14:51] It's like, you have hands, no doubt you're a human, and you have hands, did it feel good to you?
Right, did you try this thing? Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And if you're a collector, and I am a collector, and I've got a lot of knives, and there's some knives I don't wanna get rid of, but I also don't carry, because I'm like, eh, I don't feel like dealing with that today. I'm the same way.
I have so many knives I won't carry, but it's like, I don't wanna get rid of them.
Kind of nostalgic or maybe it's just like...
You know, I have it in my collection and nobody else does. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And at some point you will open up the the the Neve Museum of Cutlery and you're going to need examples of as much of it.
Yeah. Or my other justification is is when society falls and I need to trade something for food, knives will be good.
It will be a very good currency. You can guarantee that actually.
No doubt about it. Oh my god.
Well, you've talked about on your live shows and how you grew up kind of in rough neighborhoods, or you dealt with some rough characters growing up. I definitely grew up in rough neighborhoods, yes.

[15:56] So does the knife, you know, for me, this is something I love about your channel as well.
You are not, you don't wince at talking about knives as self-defense items.
I mean, it's A, it's low-hanging fruit, B, it's so obvious, and C, like, It is something that is you have to consider. It's the only responsible thing.
And I'm not saying that you have to use it for self-defense, but you have to know that you have a weapon in your pocket.
Right, well, I also, I've seen it used so many times. So like I've seen some very crazy things when it comes to firearms, knives, and weapons in general.
So I understand like how deadly they can be or how messy it can be.

[16:41] But yes, you're carrying a tool in your pocket and just like any tool, it can be used as a weapon.
Now, historically speaking, of course, it was always considered a weapon and like basically a multi tool.
And it still is. It's a knife or it's a it's a tool that you can use for multiple different reasons.
And I like to always give this analogy. It's like because most of the time people think that the self-defense is going to be a human on human attack.
And in many cases, it might not be, it might be something where you're going to need to cut something to save something or someone's life.
Like just for example, like a dog jumps over a fence and it's got the leash on, right?
You know, and it starts getting choked.
If it's not a chain, you can cut it off maybe really quick.
Or I give the example, a dog attacks your child. Even if you have a firearm, you might not want to take that shot, right?
Because you could hit your kid.
So having a blade on you might be the better option. Or tending somebody's wounds, you know, somebody gets wounded and it's your partner or whoever, right? You need to tend to the wound. You might need to cut the clothes off.
There's so many examples of which, you know, you might need to cut a rope or something to save you or somebody's life.
Like maybe on a boat, like you're on a boat doing fishermen stuff and one of those lines, get caught around you, right?
How many people die a year on those ships, you know, like with the crabs and stuff like that from ropes? ropes, like the ropes catch them and tear them off the boat. So like, not, you know, There's so many examples where...

[18:10] It might not just be somebody or a human attacking. Now, of course, that's always the thing, too.
But it's nice to have a tool on you for the just in case. And, you know, to handle whatever purpose comes up.
Yeah. Ernest Emerson tells the story about how he was on an escalator and someone's, a kid's shoelace got caught in the escalator and he came up and cut it and walked off.
And as he was walking off, he heard someone say, Who is that man with the knife?
I think that's awesome. You just saved the day. Yeah, exactly.
And then my wife and I have a little running list of movies where little folders have saved the day. Like without that folder, you know, this character would have been lost.

[18:53] I love that stuff. And I love, you know, I've done a lot of blade oriented martial arts.
And for me, it's theoretical. For you, it's a reality that you have seen in your past.
It's part of your past.
For me, it's part of what I've done to make sure I'm not too much of a cream puff basically.
And it's fed into my love of knives.
I would argue that's even better because I think it's important to, with anything, with any tool, it doesn't matter what it is. You know, like if you're going to carry a hammer and use a hammer all day, you better be driving nails and know how to use your hammer, right?
So whatever the tool is that you're going to be carrying, it's better if you do train in practice and have some sort of knowledge of how to use it and also make it a habit because it, whatever the habit is that you have, that's what you're gonna fall back to, no matter what it is, right?
So if you're not used to practicing and training with something, then when crap hits the fan, you're going, you're not gonna use it.
You're not gonna have a natural instinct to do whatever with it because you're just not used to it, right?
You always fall back to your habits, so.

[19:58] Yeah, it's like, well, you don't want to have to think in that moment, it's like in Maverick, I don't know if you've seen them, everyone's seen Maverick, but in Maverick, he's telling his upstart fighter pilot, don't think, just go up there and do it.
If you think, that's when you slow down, that's when things get, and so you want to rely on your muscle memory, and so that's why you want to train.
For sure. And it doesn't mean you have to take years and years of whatever, it might be years and years of a martial art, I should be specific.
It might be just a style of knife like the civilian or a hawk bill or something that, just takes gross motor motion of the call knife or something.
But how does that aspect of things filter into your personal taste?
Like that beautiful rock stead.
How does your taste get informed by that? It does just because.

[20:53] I've I carry so many different eyes, but I always have in the back of my head always, I just I can't get away from this. So it's like it's just like genetic I always think like if something happened, could I use this?
To save somebody or my own life and if the answer is no Then i'll usually carry something else with it, right? There's something that I can do that with because I would hate.

[21:15] It'd be nothing would be worse than coming into the situation and me having the tool on me But the tool is not an acceptable tool for the job and then I get screwed trying to use it or whatever, Whether it's not big enough whether the blade shape isn't good enough, you know, so I'd like to think that.

[21:34] Certain eyes and that this is a reason why also I love spear points I love spear points for this exact reason because it's such a versatile blade shape. It's a blade shape I can basically do anything with whether it's poking slashing or pulling right?
I can use that shape so well and I'm not trapped using it one way.
That's interesting. Well, how does that feed into your taste in ergonomics?

[21:58] Well, I think that's the reason why I love neutral ergos personally.
Not saying that I don't carry other knives that are not neutral.
I love the Spyderco Mannix and other knives alike.
But my favorite, my absolute favorite is something with neutral ergos where it doesn't matter if I'm I'm holding it backwards, forwards, pinch grip, reverse, whatever, it's gonna be comfortable and I'm gonna be able to use it.
That's my favorite. Like I said, I don't always carry that, but that would be with my optimal.

[22:27] All your descriptions remind me of that new Ray Laconicco Civivi that I wanna get my hands on.
It looks beautiful. And it's got that spear point. It's got a nice looking handle that looks neutral, but also in standard grip, looks like it melts into your hand.
And they stepped up their quality with their micarta massively like this is a huge jump from their old stuff i'm pretty sure not 100 but i'm pretty sure this is usa made micarta i mean it looks like it so yeah no this is a great one i love the steel i love the blade shape the ergos are just it's hand melty um and yeah if you want to try it man i'll send it to you oh cool i mean, i might just have to go buy one because that is usually i mean you're probably gonna want to to have to try it. It's that good. Like to me right now, it's the best knife for 65 bucks.
Wow. Okay. I just got the, I'm calling it the Watauga, but the Watuga. The Wataga?
Yeah, yeah. Whatever. That's a good one too. That's a great one too.
This is Senka. This is the third tier down on We Knives. And man, it is so good. It is so good. And this is coming at a point where I was sort of deciding I'm going to get rid of all of my inexpensive knives and I'm going to focus on whatever and then I got this and I'm like, no, I'm not.
I'm going to expand my high value collection. I do have an issue with this.
It is a problem.

[23:53] Yeah, it's okay. It's a healthy problem. It's a healthy problem.
Yeah. I have some others that probably aren't so healthy. So how do you decide what you're going to keep?
Oh man. tough because I give away a lot, like a lot, like a lot. We do a massive amount of giveaways a month. And I love it. I love doing that. I love giving stuff away. So, but I usually keep, this is one way how I think about it too. And this is a little bit more business sided is, is it good for the channel? Is it good for the channel? Can I use it over and over? Is it, something I can affiliate link things like that? You know, and I know that that sounds a little little bit more business-esque more than knife collector, but I have to think of it like that to keep the channel, you know, flowing.
But I usually do it whether or not this is something I recommend.
Like I don't keep something that I don't want to recommend and then recommend.
And it's something I love and I know I'm gonna want to recommend it.
And I know I can link it.
And I know people are gonna love it. And I know it's something that's gonna be timeless, that I won't hurt someone else.

[24:56] Yeah, right. That makes sense. I mean, it is you are running a business, you went full time with this channel. Yes. And so you, you have a responsibility to think of it as a business, because it is. What has that been like? How? What was it like to take that plunge? And what have you learned?

[25:14] Well, um, I mean, I guess, you know, learning, because growing up, you know, I did construction and I ran construction sites and things like that. But I never really learned the, business aspect of how to run a business legitimately because you know it was always under the table stuff and even when it was legit it wasn't as legit as I am now so you know I have to think about the taxes and all the little details I have to think about my overhead and you know where I'm losing money or gaining money.
How like what kind of expense can I have and will I get a return on it because, sometimes you know if I buy a knife and in a year I don't wind up making enough on it then that was kind of a bad purchase so I have to think about things like that but it's doing very well the business is doing very well so so I'm, very happy where we're at and very happy with the way it's growing. You seem to have a real knack for it you put out a video that I studied pretty diligently, And actually it has shown a little bit of returns on my end, but you did a video on following the analytics of your channel.
It's there. It's a tool for you to discover and strategize. And you did a great video on that.
And I think that that was a great service.
Yeah. I also did one with Ray. He'd done this a couple of times.
I'm gonna have Ray on my podcast or on my channel again really soon, but.

[26:42] We've we talked a lot about that and he brought me on and was asking me like the things that I've done and I've told this to everybody and I'll say it again here anybody ever wants.

[26:53] Help or wants to know exactly what I do down to a t, I have no problem helping them giving them tips tricks, whatever whatever I can um help with, And also and i've said this too because I know I get a lot of kickback people thinking i'm like buying subs and stuff, I've left it very open that I will show you 100% my analytics and everything I do that that buying subs think that's not real, People don't buy I know you know, but but I like to be an open book about yeah Yeah, I mean that's just that's sour grapes and when you were talking about Ray, I think you're talking about eating.

[27:24] Everyday city, sorry. He's so cool man and his his his ASMR videos are just mouthwatering I hate to put it that way, but they're they're really awesome and he he's really right now, because it took him a little bit longer to catch some steam, but right now he's starting to catch some steam, he's doing it full time, and you can really tell it's starting to pay off for him.
So I applaud him, man. He's putting in a lot of work.
So this is a big part of why people come to channels like yours, channels like Ray's, is that whether or not you're watching a video about a knife you're interested in buying, you like the person, and you like hearing their voice, and you like hearing their take on things.
You know, that's the same reason why I listen to certain news podcasts or certain, you know, certain other things.
It's, you can relate.
Yeah. You know, and that's a good thing to do. Yeah.
It's good to relate with the person because sometimes you can have five channels or five people doing the exact same thing, but you relate with this one a little bit more, maybe their personality, maybe their humor, something.
Right. And then that makes that one stand out a little bit more than maybe the three others that are almost identical.
Yeah. So, yeah. And I would say that people liking your personality and Kara's personality and your dynamics together is, you know.

[28:43] A big part of your draw. I mean, when I met you both in person at Blade show, that was awesome. First of all, I had a great time. Yeah, that was great.
But you're going again this year? Oh, yeah. Yep.

[28:52] All right. I'll see you. Yes, indeed. But to be around the two of you in person was kind of like being around the two of you on screen.
I felt immediately comfortable.
And there's there's something to that. You know, you have to be willing to go out, a little bit further than you might be comfortable.
You have to show your face. Maybe you don't have to that's that is not a prerequisite.
I think it helps because people relate to other people's faces.
But look at Nick Chabas. He he but he's got a great mind. So you got to have something.
He's gotten very lucky. Yes. That's the way he does. Yes.
Because I don't think that that's typical. I think he's gotten very lucky.
He showed up in a time when there was no other channel. So I think that helped him a lot.
I love Nick Chabas. I love what he does. I think he does it great.
But I think for the most part, people like to see a face to see it.
They can it's almost like a trust thing, you know, can I trust what you're saying?
And I trust you know your beliefs in this or whatever and I think people do trust Nick, But I don't think that'll go the same way with a lot of other people if they're not willing to, To show their hand a little bit right even like your personality like you said, That's a huge huge thing because if I meet you I don't need you meeting me and then telling everybody Oh, he's nothing like he is on camera. Right? I, I promise you if you meet me, it's going to be 100% exactly what you got.
Same. Hey, Kara, it's a pleasure to see you. Good to see you.

[30:17] I popped in because I heard you guys talking about showing faces, which was something in the beginning of this channel that I pushed hard. Yeah.
And I think you were so used to seeing tabletop that you didn't, you originally didn't think people would like it.
Well, I didn't want, I didn't think people would like not being able to see exactly what you're talking about up close.
So that was a huge thing to me as I wanted to make it as clear as possible because there were some people doing face stuff.
And that was my complaint with that.

[30:45] No, I mean, there were there were many, many more night channels now doing their faces.
Yeah, I did three years ago.
Yeah, definitely. And that's when we started that a lot of work. It was what I see.
They were all tabletop. I remember that was the one thing I was like, we're doing it.
We're not doing just straight to even if you just do the intro with your face, you can show the knife up close for the rest of the time.
But like, if you can get people attached to who you are, like you were just saying, that's, a really big part of things.
And ever since like reality TV and all that stuff came out being very fake, and the news, everything is just kind of fake, you know, so that's why on YouTube, realness and people became very popular.
There's even studies that show that like, you know, your little logo, like how ours is NK and you have, you know, up here in the corner, the back, they even have done studies that show if that is a face, you get more clicks on your channel. Now we don't want to change ours just because it's synonymous and I just feel like people know it at this, point, but they've done clear cut studies that channels get more clicks when it is a, face in that circle. Look for the new knife junkie logo.
Yeah, yeah. Hey. But anyway, I have to go mail a bunch of knives. I just wanted to pop them and say hi.
Hey, I'm glad you did. And I just want to say one thing before you leave. I would also say kind of in line with what you were saying. These days people are more atomized due to lifestyle, due to family setups and due to.

[32:12] Social media and the phone obsession and and and and so I think people are maybe a little bit more lonely than they ever have But before so if they can check in daily with the neves or or with Stasa or whomever they like, You know, I think that's a big job too.

[32:29] Yeah, for sure. We make a humongous effort to answer people like yeah, I spend most of my workday, day, answering people, like not just companies or I go into two, I do a couple of more of the business interactions, but Jared and I both spend a long time, you know, answering questions. And if there's a question that I don't want to answer, because it's about sharpening, I just got his exact words and be like, Hey, this is Kara. But here's what Jared said, you know, like we, there are many times I go on there, like even today for this, I was on there, I go every day, every, Yeah, every day I spend a couple hours.
But the point is that as a team, we make a big effort. We're able to do it.
To communicate. We're not able to do it alone.
Like almost every single person that reaches out. Do you have that in Indiana? Yes.
Okay. He sent it to the email. Okay. Go ahead.
All right, well, I'm gonna go handle that. Kara, good to see you.
And I'll see you later. All right, take care.
Bye. Thanks for dropping in. I wanna talk about the sharpening too, but before we do, I wanna continue with this idea about community.
You have on your YouTube channel, you can join your YouTube channel as a member.
And you've created a, what's kind of organically formed the bang gang.
I love the name. I think it's hilarious. But people have used- In some cases people say it backwards.
I mean, it's not as good. Yeah, right.
Well, yeah. but really, really.

[33:59] Great sort of community feel there and you show things. You talk about sharpening and you give demos.
Tell me a little bit about that.

[34:07] So what I do is twice a month, I do a live for the members. The members, so like this Sunday, we have a live, so 12, 15, so if you're a member, we do live sharpening.
And if you are a top tier member, you can request for a one-on-one, meaning like I will literally do basically the same thing I do live, but with just you there, nobody else there.
So if there's things you need help with or you need to show me something, we can do it together.
But otherwise, I leave it open for anybody to watch, but only the members can join.
So only members can communicate and things like that.
And then also we do giveaways on there. Even this Sunday, I have a set of stones from some Japanese water stones we're gonna give away.

[34:49] We give away knives, sharpening devices, sharpening supplies.
I try to help them. People like if they are a member and they say, oh man, I don't have a strop or this or that I'll figure out a way to get on my strap.
So I try to make it to where people are able to learn and be involved in sharpening so that even if it takes a year or something for them to get really good at it, which it is, it matters how much time you put in.
So the more time you put in the easier and faster it'll be, but it makes it to where they have a place, they have a place to learn to, to work with somebody.
Because even me, when I first started, I would try to contact people that had channels that did sharpening content, but it was very difficult to get the information correctly and you know, really communicate with them. So I mean, I try to make, easy for people.
I know Emler had Mike Emler had some influence on your on your sharpening.
You know, yeah, he's a good guy and he does great work.

[35:45] But I love the fact that you use me. You were you were kind of coming onto the scene.
I don't know how to put it, but like the fact that you had some some prowess at sharpening was coming to the fore when a lot of people were doing this, with the Wicked Edge and I know the Wicked Edge will give you a Wicked Edge.
I just you know, I don't know.
I think I like the idea of using a stone. I just use a triangle sharp maker and a strop, and pretty much I don't use my knives that much anyway.
So there's so many different devices and stones and techniques.
And it's like, there's always going to be one that suits you the best for what your use is.
Whether that is just honing and stropping, maintaining your edge.
When it finally does need a full sharpening, send it to somebody that's fine too.
You know, as long as your knives are sharp, that's what's important.
But anybody can learn it and then there are luckily there are devices that make it super easy, where they'll hold the angle all you got to do is move the stone and, Understand you still have to have an understanding of the scratch pattern and creating a bevel, But it's it's easier if something's holding the angle for you for sure right right, I got a KME a few years ago, and I used it a few times And I don't know I just I kind of put it away a little bit I feel like I reprofiled a couple of knives changed the silhouette a little bit and I was like.

[37:05] You got to practice. Yeah the idea was to get a bunch of cheap knives and practice and then I just, Kind of didn't do that, But the way you sharpen using you know on a on a stone using your finger and your thumb as guides That's what my grandfather used to do. So like yeah, so to me that resonates, and he also used to go in a circular motion but he for chisels and stuff, but he would always use his thumb and his finger as guides to hold the angle.
And when you showed that off, you know, a couple of years ago now, I thought that was so cool because it's an old school way of doing things that works in a day and age where you have a quicker solution, with the wicked edge. Yeah. Well, people's hardest thing with freehanding is once they pick the knife up, they're unable to put it right back down at the same angle. So what will happen is, every time they pick it up, they set it down at a little bit higher, a little bit lower.
So now when they go across the stone, the scratch pattern is completely different. So it makes it to where you can set it back down in 100% at the exact same angle that you just lifted off from.
Now, another way to make sure that you have the same angle is that every time you put it down.

[38:23] Do not do less than like 20 strokes.
So the reason why and you can go back and forth, you don't have to just push it forward, you can go back and forth. For some people, it's easier for them to hold their angle as long as they don't lift the blade off the stone.
But you go back and forth 20 times. And the reason why is because just doing it once or twice might be a different, angle and different scratch pattern on a microscopic level.
But in the big scheme of things, it's going to be making you change your angle.
Constellation doing 20 swipes will ensure that once you, if you did start a, barely, barely little bit of a different angle, it's going to, the whole edge will be that new angle now before you lift back up.
Yeah. And eventually you'll get that makes sense. Yes, it totally does.
And you'll get sensitive enough to actually feel when you're flat, just flat on the surface on that tiny little edge.
It just takes a little bit of time. It's like riding a bike. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
These are skills like, you know, Joe Rogan always says, It's important to pick up.

[39:21] Difficult things, you know, and try and master them at one level.
I can't do more. Yeah. Yeah. It stretches you. It, you know, it makes you smarter, too.
I see. Speaking of Joe Rogan, I heard I seen he was carrying a crooked river.
I'm sure a crooked river. Oh, really?

[39:39] Very cool. And he had he had he had the premium one. Oh, of course. Well, with the Damascus and stuff.
Yeah, it looks really good. He also has a couple of half face blades.
I know and I'm always whenever they cut to a knife collector for sure. Yeah. Yeah, whenever they cut to the wide shot I'm always looking on his desk. Yeah, cuz everyone's and same thing with Jocko willing. He always has a knife on his desk.

[40:04] Yeah, yeah, so Besides the regular sort of V edges the V ground edges that you're adept at obviously What do you think of other grinds? Um, do you have do you like knives with apple seed edges convex edges?
Is, you know, other kinds of things.
So the way I teach my convex edge is I teach to hold the stone in hand.
And the reason why is because in when you do it, you're trying to hold the angle perfectly.
You're not trying to convex. All you're trying to do is just hold the stone, hold the knife, hold the angle perfectly and go across.
But because your hand is going to move a little bit like this, in many cases, usually the blade alone and just move the stone, but because they're kind of both moving at the same time, it will automatically convex your edge.
And to me, that's the easiest, fastest, and best way to convex an edge when you're free-handed.
So yeah, I like to teach it all.
I like to teach all different, different methods and for even to get the same effect, different methods, because some people are gonna be better at one thing than another.
But yeah, it's good to know all different types of sharpening.
And that's just something that comes with experience. You know, you should learn something, master it, and then move on to something different.
Yeah, yeah, I've had issues before where I've had a knife that's been so older.
Maybe I found a knife from my childhood and I wanted to put a proper edge on it.
And it's like, God, where do I start? Because I don't have, you know.

[41:27] So what I've done in the past is sandpaper, you know, put sandpaper and varying grits down on a flat surface and then and eventually get that.
I will I will admit I did that not like more than two weeks ago because it was cold.
I didn't feel I have a grinder in the shed that I could have gone out to but you know, it works, It works sense just something as simple as sandpaper, you know.

[41:52] Oh, I think it's also good because even with like regular stones natural stones things like that Because if you're in the field most likely these are gonna be the tools you're gonna have at hand, So know how to use them, right? Well, that's that's uh, that's always been Ernest Emerson's.

[42:08] Justification for the Chisel edge, you know, he does some just chisel ground blades and then and then they all have that chisel edge What do you think of that? So I like it I think one it makes it to where you can have a more robust edge that slices, Really really good because you can have a lower angle. Like I actually have.

[42:31] One here somewhere Somewhere but it's an Emerson the the a 100. Oh, yeah And but and I love it and it's chisel ground but I lowered back the edge even further than what it comes with, And then that thing is razor sharp and it cuts really good But you wouldn't expect because of the geometry it has robust thick geometry Some people would say almost too thick of geometry, but because of that chisel edge, It makes it to a one you can sharpen it easily in the field or not because it's 154 cm and two, it's gonna cut really good and it's gonna be nice and tough with the same breath. Yeah that's always been my my point it's their chisel edges can be so extremely sharp it's half of what you what you already have with a V ground edge. Yeah and oh yeah I remember seeing this a couple of days ago.
Yeah that's good. You can see I got um I got a nice low angle on there you can see some spots That's our day where I got messed up.

[43:27] But yeah, no, it's a nice low angle. So this thing is it's screaming sharp There's a couple nicks in my edge, but but besides that though, man, this is a great night.

[43:37] I like it. I've been wanting one of these for a while. 154 cm is it's also an incidental front flipper All of the Emersons you can kind of front flip.

[43:46] But so 154 cm has always been one of my favorite steels. I love it. It's very you know, it's not too flashy flashy, but you can keep it real sharp and get it real sharp.
And with the kind of use I put on my knives, it's not like it dulls quickly or anything.
What are your favorite steels and why?
So if we're going to go budget, then 14C and Nitro V because 14C, 28N and Nitro V are very similar. So they have the same attributes that I love in steels.
They have a well rounded, easy to sharpen, and they take an incredibly sharp edge, especially at low angles and high polished edges. So if you like polished edges, they take a good polished edge and they hold it fairly, well. Also 14C was it evolved from AEBL, which was originally made for razor blades. And it was made to heat treat, basically on a conveyor belt to where.

[44:41] The heat treat process would be very easy. And so you can guarantee when you get a 14C28N, steel that it's heat treated well because it's so easy. It's hard for them to mess up.
And it has a wide range of HRC. Obviously, the higher the HRC, the more edge retention.
So we want to see it on the higher side. But if it is a little bit on the lower side, it's not going to be a bad steel like some steels would be. Also, I love crew wear for that exact same reason who wears a steel that takes and holds a really, really good fine edge. Now, it's like the exact opposite of Maxamet where Maxamet holds a really good toothy edge or sorry, a really good working edge for a long time. So like if I was going to say like what a working edge and fine edges one would be like hair shaving working edge would be slicing through paper, right?
Magna cut or sorry, Maxamet holds a working edge for a super long time, but it doesn't hold a fine edge for a very long time. Her wear holds a fine edge for a very long time, but it doesn't hold a working edge very long. So it's like the exact opposite. My absolute favorite steel, is K 390 right now. I love K 390. I also recently got to try which which it's new, but the triple B's 15 V I'm trying to how I'm loving that stuff. That stuff is really good. And then, If magnet cuts heat treated properly, it is incredible. But.

[46:05] It but it has to be treated properly. As long as it's between 63 64 HRC. Oh my goodness, is it great? Like some of the stuff I've tested night and day difference from like the stuff at 60 to like 63. Oh my goodness. So the way it sharpens the way it takes an edge the way it holds it everything across the board. So do you have to sharpen the steel to be able to evaluate it fully? I would imagine that's a big part of it Yeah.

[46:31] Yeah, because like, I can't go off of a factory edge. A factory edge. If you have a factory edge and it goes doll fast, that doesn't mean anything.
Because one, it could be burnt. Two, maybe they didn't put a proper edge on it. Maybe they didn't deburr properly.
Explain the burnt thing. Burnt steel?
So when they put it on a belt and they're sharpening on a belt, the belt heats the edge up higher than what it's heat treated at and automatically that's going to burn the steel.
So right there at the edge, it's going to be burnt.
It doesn't mean the blade is burnt.
It doesn't mean you can't fix it.
It just means it needs a few sharpenings to remove that burnt steel right at the edge, right at the apex to get into good steel.
And usually that's within two, three sharpening. You'll get into good steel.
So that was ZT with Elmax when they first came out with Elmax.
That was happening a lot, right?
Exactly. Yes. Their S35 too, they did. I actually got one from ZT. That was so bad.
It took a lot of sharpening to get rid of the burn steel. So it was like really, really bad.
And I don't think that that was typical.
It just happened to me. So is that something you can see or you just feel it as you're sharpening?
A little bit of both. So you can see it, but if you don't see it, that doesn't mean it's not there.
So like, if you look at your edge and you see browning, like browning, especially near the tip, you'll see it blueing, browning. That usually means it's burnt.

[47:49] Now, if you don't see that, that doesn't mean it's not. But one thing I can really tell is When I'm sharpening, I'll go from the steel feeling soft on the stone to all of a sudden out of nowhere, it'll be skating across the stone, which means I've gotten into harder steel.
So that means the steel previous to that was not as hard as the steel now.
And it's a huge indicator. You can feel it right away.
Now when you're, when you're using your knife, if the knife is going dull really quick, in many cases, that's because it's burned.
Now it could be your fault too, like you didn't deburr properly, something you did wrong.
But in many cases, if you're really good at petting, you know you sharpened it properly, you know it's a properly sharpened edge and it goes dull a lot quicker than it should.
That doesn't mean the steel's bad, that just means it might need to be sharpened a few times.
Like even with Outpost 76, just for an example, He does sharpening sometimes so sharpen, like four times and he'll tell you the edge retention difference from the first sharpening, to like the fourth sharpening in some cases it'll jump up sometimes even up like 50% more.

[48:55] So you know sometimes it's not that much but in other cases it is like it's a crazy jump from one sharpening say if it sharp or say if it cut 100 feet of cardboard well then after the fourth sharpening it's cutting 200 feet. So I guess the optimistic way of looking at it is improved, performance. But you don't want to start there. You don't want to have to remove steel to get that performance.
Well, you can also tell if you're staying off of the burr. So the way an edge comes up with a burr the way it removes. So like if it's well heat treated, the burr will be easily removed. And, also like how it pops off. So like there's times when ID burr but burr will come off as an entire wire or a couple chunks of wire.
The burr is the part that folds over as you're sharpening, right? It gets real thin. Okay.
It's a wire so when you're sharpening this side of the edge It'll start going like this and then this is the the wire that's on the apex you want to do this again, And then once you get to your final burr you want to make the burr go back and forth fold it back Like kind of like a paper clip holding it back and forth and then it'll pop off That's what you want. You want to pop off completely.

[50:04] But if it's soft soft like a paperclip, it'll bend back and forth Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right? But when it's hard, it'll just bop bop and snap right off.
And you can always, you can tell very easily. There's times, like I said, my, my stone, I'll see the actual wire sitting on my stone and I can tell the stuff she treated very well.
Wow. That is, well, that's a tip right there. And not to, not to do a commercial for your channel, but that's something that you could learn.
I will do a commercial. That's something I appreciate.
Could learn by going on to your channel and watching these sharpening videos, because I've always heard of the burr and I know what it is, but it never was quite explained to me that way. And how it relates to the heat treat. So I want to ask you, I'm looking at your feed right here. And that little best tech is coming to me soon. I can't wait to check that out. But what are the things you see everything you get a chance to experience, like almost everything and you get different versions of everything. What are you looking forward to? What do you, what do you really love right now that's out?
And then what are you looking forward to, you know, in the offing this year?
Well, one thing I really love is I love being able to find great value. So something that's done well across the board, you know, in the little details for a good price, because people don't want to spend an arm and a leg to get good quality. So they You want to get the best bang for the buck. So I love doing that but then I also love.

[51:34] Love my titanium frame locks and super steels. I'm a steel nut. So I love the steels. I love well, properly heat treated knives and.

[51:43] This is the thing and when you get a knife and you know the difference between a properly heat treated knife versus a non.

[51:51] You start despising Non like stuff that's not heat treated well because of the way it comes up with it, It's actually the way it deburs the type of edge it has how well holds it all these little details because you hate the spent 300 bucks and then find out like man this stuff sucks, You know and and especially if you know how to sharpen because now you're spending the time to put that that really nice edge I John so when you get a steel that man this stuff sharpens up so good take such a good edge It's so easy and blah blah blah. It makes you feel good about your purchase You know, yes, and you know, you're not ready to use it, You're not afraid to use it because now it's like it's gonna hold its edge and when I go to resharpen it It's gonna sharpen up really good, But yeah, and like I said those little details. I love finding knives have the little details knocked out of the park.

[52:38] So any names can you name names? What are you excited about?

[52:42] Well things from Ria I'm always excited about things from Ria But right now tactile like I was saying before tactiles got some great stuff coming, I love seeing anything that coming out of the US. I love seeing right now I got you know some issues with some of the the more affordable USA made knife companies. I don't think they're doing.

[53:00] Anything, any, or us any justice at all.
But as far as like Spyderco, I love seeing Spyderco come out with new stuff, any new design from them. The military too.
Hoag's, Hoag's do really good job. I know you just in CRKT just did two designs with Hoag.
I do think they're overpriced, but whatever, they're at least USA made, I'm happy for them.
Make you money, whatever it takes.
But I do think they are overpriced.

[53:26] This is a little thing, like little stuff like this. And I know this is like going off the rails, but I think this thing is so wickedly cool.
I love things like this. It's different.
It's unique. It's kind of special. You don't see it every day.
And damn it is this thing brutal.
This thing does damage. It's crazy. I had, I have this leather that's two millimeters thick.
So cow hide leather, way thicker than our skin. And I wrapped it around cardboard and I was slashing it.
When you see how much damage this thing does, you realize like what it would do to somebody, right? And I'm not advocating for violence or anything. I'm just saying like in a situation where somebody's on top of you or something, this is not going to have any problem getting it off. And I said in the video the other day, one slash with this on an arm is going to be life-threatening. 100%.
Hold that up for a quick second. This is the Strelet. It's designed by Ostap Hell, right?
Is Ostap. Yeah, yeah. And chances are you will never use it for a slashing push dagger.

[54:32] It's got a wave. And so if you don't, you've got this incredibly unique, beautifully designed by a designer. You know what I mean? That makes a difference to me. You've got this incredible pocket tool that's unique and different that you could also turn into a, you know, a tool of mayhem, if need be. But that's the cool thing about exploring all these knives, these brilliant designs. Look at that thing. That's beautiful. I've had one sitting in my cart for a while and I think I'm going to go for it after this. Oh, you should go for it. You're going to love it if you to do. I'm thinking about getting the premium version because I love it so much.
Well, you mentioned in your video that that that the premium version would be even better because it's a frame lock and you can reinforce that.

[55:13] Yes. And yeah, because you can squeeze the lock stronger. Now I've tested this and I haven't had even close to anything failing and I've hit wood. I've scratched really thick cardboard, the leather.
I've actually tested it quite a bit and it's been great. So I've even spine whacked it a little bit just to make sure that you don't want it holding on you. Now, if it happened to, it's going to, what is going to do, it's going to go down and go right back up. So I don't think anything will happen. I think it'll just come out of lock up and then go right back to lock up because your finger is going to stop it and lock it back up.
Right. So, but still, nobody wants the risk of failing. So I think a framework is the better way to go. But yeah, I love things different. I love that. It's not the same thing over and over and unique. It's kind of special. And, you know, it is pretty useful, you know, and I love, I like, things like that, you know, and there's a lot of other like I love just great working knives. I love knives that are kind of.

[56:08] Purpose, like they have a specific purpose they're trying to go for. Yeah.
Then I also like versatile tools, tools that are made to be, you know, whatever you want to make it right, like it's gonna seem like like this.

[56:21] Man, I can't even think of the name. Do you remember?

[56:24] No, but that's a that's a little conical. It's something having to do with Star or sky or what's the name of the artist i just got.

[56:34] Andromeda. See, I knew it had something to do with space. So this thing, it's neutral ergos like I was talking about earlier.
I love neutral ergos because they're good in any grip.
And then it's got somewhat of a spear point blade.
So it's going to be a versatile blade shape.
And, you know, it's just really cool. So this is a great EEC knife.
And could it be a good salt-prevent knife?
I don't know. But it's still, you know, it's shaped to do the purpose.
You know, it's a beautiful knife.
And in the right hands or in that with the right or wrong situation.
Yeah, of course it could be. You know, I want to do a speed round with you everyone who reviews knives. I like to do a speed round. But before we do that, I want to ask you this question. And it comes up every now and again, I think. And it comes up with my own with with the title with the tides of my own collection. Like right now I'm coming out of a huge, big fixed Bowie phase. And I'm not sure where I'm probably going into a dagger phase. I don't know. But when I'm out of something like, say, titanium frame locks, I might think something like, have we hit peak knife? Is there anything new that can happen with titanium frame locks that will really get me excited?
I think Yeah, okay. Tell me tell me why. So I think, and I'm not saying this is in the works, so don't think I'm saying that, but I think that they could evolve the compression lock.
And if we start seeing titanium used, where is their titanium compression lock knives? There isn't.

[58:04] Unless if you modify it, right, you can modify your Spydercosin.
But I think that that's going to be something we're going to start seeing.
And I think they could, and I've like designed it in my head, where you know, the, the CME most CD for EDC, right? The CME, they go on the compression lines. Think about it, that was just all one system. You know, I think if we did see that with titanium, I think that that would be super innovative. I think the new locking, mechanisms period, right now, the MSI, right? The microtub?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And the stitch, right? Their new lock. What's it? What's it?

[58:38] What? I forget what's called the rock. It's their sort of bar lock, right? It's the sliding. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't remember what they call it.
What's the name they call it? But stuff like that, man, that's awesome to see stuff like that. So if it has titanium on it, even titanium frame locks, just good old titanium frame lock, when we see new materials of inlay work and you know, great blade shapes and grinds. Like if I see a titanium frame lock come out, and I see it has a deep, tall, broad hollow grind. Oh, man, I'm so right, right. I'm trying to grab two of them.
Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't have to be I guess I guess what you're getting at is it doesn't have to be some crazy feat of engineering. Although that's always cool to see too. But just subtle subtle differences in combinations to Keep things go and and obviously I'm never losing winter blades by him what he's doing. Oh my god. Yeah. Yes, amazing, Amazing and you know, it's not just his knives that are cool He had this magnetic spike launcher wrist mounted magnetic spike launcher that he had on his jet I was like, oh I want one when he's selling these.

[59:44] Next to my flame. Yeah, exactly. Um, did you see what?

[59:50] The guy who designed the rear exoskeleton. Did you see what he's got coming? No a, a locking one. So one that's going to have a lock on it. So it's because everybody complains about it being able to open up. It's going to have a lock on it. And he also has a karambit version coming that looks really cool.
I got to get an XO in my life. I don't know why. There's so many knives, man. So many knives. And that one deserves to be in this room. I'm just kidding. I deserve to have that knife.
I think is what I'm saying.
Yeah, I love it. All right, Jared. It's gonna be really cool seeing the crammed version of it.
So that's an incredibly illegal knife because- In a lot of places, some places it's not though.
Because of this silly gravity knife thing that's still in a lot of knife laws from like 1923 or whenever it was written.
But okay, so speed round here. I'm gonna find out, we're all gonna find out your tastes, in about 16 questions.
And- All right.
I might alter them as we go just to just to be more relevant. Probably not. No problem. Okay first fixed or folder.

[1:00:58] Depends on for what no no no fixed or older Flipper or Thumb Stud?

[1:01:05] Thumb stud. Okay. Washers or bearings? Bearings. Tip up or tip down?
Up low, tip up. Okay. Tonto or bowie?
Ooh, that's a good one. Depends on what kind of bowie, but I'm gonna go bowie.
Okay, spear point or wharncliffe?

[1:01:23] Oh, spear point. I thought maybe we- I love the wharncliffe.
Yeah, I know, because you like those, the tip down low and those, yeah.
Yeah, I do, I do. Okay, so full size or small?

[1:01:33] Full size. Hollow ground or flat ground? Hollow. Gentleman's knife or tactical knife?
Tactical. Automatic or bally sewn?

[1:01:45] Automatic. Riat or Reich? Riat. Benchmade or Spyderco?

[1:01:53] Spyderco. Civivi or Kaiser?

[1:01:56] Ooh, civivi, civivi. Okay. Milled titanium or spring clip.

[1:02:04] Milled. I like the way they're doing the balance right now where they have some milled, uh, deep carry like this. Yeah. It's a milled deep carry.

[1:02:15] Yeah. That's also like a spring clip. Um, I think arcane is doing that too. Oh, cool.
Uh, so, uh, let's see. Carbon fiber or micarta. Micarta.
Finger choil or no choil. Choil. Give me that choil. All right, now we're getting meta. Form or function?

[1:02:34] Oh, function. All right. And then lastly, this is the one knife you get to keep for the rest of your life.
You got to get rid of everything else. It's your desert island knife. Oh, shit.
The Manix too. Wow.

[1:02:50] First of all, that seems like a really good answer, but I'm really impressed by how quickly you came up with that.
And you've got the one with the, you have one with a titanium handle, I think, right?
That's probably. I have a couple. Okay.
Is one of the best XL knives out there.
If you never tried the Manix XL, it is an amazing XL knife.
It's tough lock. This is one thing I like about it. This is why I picked it.
I'll explain it perfectly.
The locking mechanism that they do on that is made to be opened and closed open and closed open.
So if I'm fidgeting with it, I'm not wearing out the lock like I would be on a frame lock or a liner lock.
It's made to be doing that.
I've never felt a Manix that has blade rock at all. And I've held a lot of them.

[1:03:31] Beat up ones, old ones, all of them have strong lock up because of the way the locks designed.
So it's a lock that's made to be used over and over and over for long periods of time, was still strong and it's a very strong lock. It makes it fidgety. So it has the fidget factor, the longevity, the lock up strength. And then Spyderco does the best heat treats out there for production. That's what I've heard from that's what I've heard from everyone. They're doing the past two years, especially the past two years. They have been just knocking it out of the park, with their huge roots. They actually care and are focusing on that heavily. So, and I got to applaud that because a lot of other companies are not. Well, on that note, speaking of knocking it out of the park, Jared, it's so cool to watch your channel grow, but it's even cooler just to watch your channel. I love your, I love your videos and you and Kara are top notch folks. So thanks again for coming on the show. And, and for those of you, my pleasure as always. And for those of you who who are patrons. We'll have a couple extra minutes of conversation with Jerad coming up. Jerad, thanks again, sir.

[1:04:34] Adios. 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 junkie's merchandise at theknifejunkie.com slash shop.

[1:05:07] There he goes ladies and gentlemen, Jerad Neeve of Neeves Knives. Man, I could talk to that guy about knives forever. Very interesting and knowledgeable dude and if you want to talk to him about knives go join his channel become a part of the Bang gang wanted to say that right. And, and like he said, you can even if you're top tier, you can even have a one on one sharpening session with Jerad. So super cool. All right, be sure to join us next week for another awesome conversation. And of course, Wednesday for the Wednesday midweek supplemental, where I get to wax poetic about my knife collection and the new things coming out and of course, Thursday night knives at 10pm Eastern Standard Time right here, live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch. Until next time, I'd like to say for Jim doing his magic, behind the switcher as always, I'm Bob DeMarco saying, don't take dull for an answer.
Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review, at ReviewThePodcast.com. For show notes for today's episode, additional resources and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, theknifejunkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at thenifedunkey.com slash YouTube. Check out some great knife photos on thenifedunkey.com slash Instagram and join our Facebook group at thenifedunkey.com, slash Facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob at thenifedunkey.com, or call our 24 seven listener line at 724-466-4487 and you may hear your comment or question.

[1:06:34] Answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie Podcast.

[1:06:38] Music.