The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
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Bob DeMarco [00:00:03]:
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.

Announcer [00:00:16]:
Welcome to the knife junkie podcast. I'm your host, Bob DeMarco. On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with Jeremiah Burbank, proprietor of online knife retailer, PVK, and host of the popular knife podcast, Bladeology. I've been following PVK on Instagram ever since I started on the platform and have found myself countless times staring slack jawed in wonder at the high end rare and exclusive knives PBK offers. Their selection is a carefully curated selection that would make any nice junky blush. I also had the good fortune of speaking with Jeremiah on Bladeology, a podcast he hosts with two masters of knife making, Nick Chuprin and Chuck Gudredis. Tonight, it's my turn to find out what makes Jeremiah tick and how he made PVK such a success. But first, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and hit that notification bell, And be sure to download the show to your favorite podcast app.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:13]:
That way, you can listen on the go. And if you wanna help support the show, you can share it. That is that goes miles and miles, or you can go to the knifejunkie.com/patreon and see what we have to offer you there. Again, that's the knifejunkie.com/patreon.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:31]:
If you search Google for the best knife podcast, the answer is the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:39]:
Jeremiah, welcome to the show, sir.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:01:40]:
How's it going, Bob? Happy to be here.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:43]:
It's going great. It's good to see you in person. We spoke on your show, which, the audio podcast, which was awesome. Turned out great.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:01:52]:
That was a blast.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:53]:
Yeah. I really enjoyed talking with you and, and with Chuck and Nick, and you are a very good host. So I hope I live up to that. I wanna congratulate you on thirty one years of PVK.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:02:07]:
Thank you so much. It's, it's it's been pretty crazy, actually. It's it's a it's a it's a wild story. It was started by my brother, in the early nineties in our hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts, and, I joined on, obviously, a little later on. In the early two thousands, we sort of worked together to bring knife videos to the Internet pre YouTube. And then since then, it's just always been it's always been a family business. It was it was the two of us for a very long time. Moving to Vegas, moving back here, it's it's a lot.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:02:43]:
It's a wild ride. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:45]:
Yeah. I know I know PVK as PVK Vegas, and I know you're not there currently. What what pulled you out there?

Jeremiah Burbank [00:02:52]:
Okay. So originally, right, we started in Amherst, moved to Nashua, New Hampshire later on, and my brother was invited, by a good friend and, at that time, early maker, Hank Greenberg of Blackside Customs said, hey. There's this really cool knife show in Las Vegas. You should come out. It's called the USN gathering. And at the time, we weren't really going to shows a whole lot. We were just online and doing the retail, so Josh decided, you know, great time to take a vacation. Go to Las Vegas.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:03:26]:
Why not? Went to Las Vegas, went to the USN gathering. It was a huge success, a lot of fun. Made a lot of friends in a very short amount of time and, and came back and said, you know, I know the next move. Like, I know I see the I see the the lights, I see everything, and it's we have to go to Vegas. And I said, that's the craziest thing ever, but let's let's do it. And so we literally just we picked up, we found a little flex warehouse space by the airport, and we set up a in person showroom that was, at first, appointment only, with the whole, you know, PBK shipping in the back. We made even more friends, and, a good customer of ours at the time offered some space on Las Vegas Boulevard. He's like, I have I have some space on the Strip.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:04:18]:
It's a prime location. You know, you should you should bring this to the world. Like, you guys are doing something here that this city has never seen before. Like, I'll help you. Whatever you need, let's do this. And, you know, at that point, we were pretty used to very serious and drastic transitions. So we said, okay. Let let's do it.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:04:38]:
Let's, let's open a shop on the Strip. And that's sort of that's where PBK Vegas really that's where the engines really started turning. That's where the popularity of the business sort of I mean, we were you know, we we've been at it for a long time, but the PBK Vegas part really that sent it into the stratosphere. Got a lot of attention that way. Showroom on the Strip on Las Vegas Boulevard. I've got some stories. I don't know if they're all podcast appropriate, but, yeah. It was it was it was wild.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:05:07]:
It was really fun being there. I don't know if you ever made it to USN while it was still in Las Vegas, but the the shop ended up being an epicenter for makers, for collectors, for celebrities to sort of come and hang out, in our shop, which was, you know, huge amount of fun and and a blessing to have everybody.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:25]:
I mean, that that sounds like a reality show in the making. That that is so cool. What was it like having a shop on the on the strip? I've I've been there a couple of times when I was a younger man, and it was kind of a wild place.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:05:38]:
Oh, yeah. No. It's, it's still really wild. So I think, the city gave us demographics. They're slipping in my mind at the moment. Tens of thousands of people a week walk by, that shop in in that area, which is which is no longer. They they tore that whole portion of the strip down, but, I mean, basically, if you're familiar with Las Vegas at all or and I'll paint you a picture. So our shop was directly on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:06:07]:
So there was no we were here. This is the sidewalk. That's Boulevard right here. And if you stood outside the shop, which we used to do a lot and people watch, bring people into the shop, we would stand outside flipping ballet songs, like, firing switch plates, having a blast. Directly across from us was the crystal shop with giant Louis Vuitton, Gucci signs, and we were literally 400 feet to the right was Planet Hollywood where USN was. So if you can imagine that, day in, night, afternoon, just people walking by in various, you know, inebriated states or sober, you know, bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, clowns, flamingo girls, the whole thing, just on display. It it was, it was wild. I mean, people would exactly like, you know, like, you might think.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:06:56]:
They went to the casino, they rolled the dice, they hit gold, and a lot of those whales would come over to the shop and just, you know, impress me. Show me some crazy knife that I've never seen.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:08]:
Oh my god. That's perfect. That's that is perfect. And even if they didn't strike gold, that's, you know, the the the kind of person who's willing to go spend a lot of money on gambling. You could probably convince them to spend a lot of money on something like a pocket knife.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:07:23]:
Absolutely. You know? And that was I'll tell you the best part about that experience on the strip. It was fun, you know, helping out these these giant ballers and everything, but it was equally as fun because Las Vegas is an international city. People fly there year round twenty four seven from countries all over the world, And those people would come to the shop, and they would experience something that they've never seen before. Right? Like, knife retail has seen a resurgence probably only in the last five or six years that hadn't seen previously. So it was so cool to have people from all over the world come in and go, oh my god. I didn't even know this existed. You know? And they're not gonna buy a thousand dollar knife, but just exposing them to knives and they find some some little knife that that they fall in love with, they have to have.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:08:08]:
You know, we would ship it for them. If they were, you know, flying internationally, it'd be hard to sort of get that on sometimes. We'd be happy to ship it. But, no, I mean, the the coolest part about that retail experience was, again, it was both ends of the spectrum. Just everybody coming in and being enamored with these with these tools and objects that we all love.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:27]:
Yeah. And and what a great way I mean, because as I sort of hinted at upfront, you sell you sell a lot of regular production knives, but you also have this really crazy, like I said, curated collection, or selection of knives that you sell. Some of the stuff, I mean, we're gonna bring out one shortly that that I'm I can't believe you guys have. But, you know, you have a lot of really beautiful and and, exclusive stuff. What a great way to show people they're not just murder weapons, and they're not just, the thing you cut your steak with or or cook dinner with. These these are little kind of artistic pieces in and of themselves

Jeremiah Burbank [00:09:09]:
Oh, yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:09]:
And, worthy of collecting and worthy of spending money on.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:09:13]:
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean and and exactly what you're describing is so much part of, you know, being a dealer and having a showroom anywhere in the world. But, I mean, it's it's sort of that's what I see as part of my job, which is imbuing exactly what you're saying, which is like, hey. I know your first impression of this is maybe this is some sort of weapon, but it's really not. I mean, sure, anything could be a weapon. But, I mean, more than anything else, you know, we see them as tools. We see them as art pieces.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:09:39]:
You know, we see these as something to treasure, something to use, something to collect, something to invest in. And and that's so crucial to to everything that we do. You know, as a knife dealer, as a person, as a knife enthusiast, but being on the strip like that, it's exactly that. It's people see a custom knife and it something changes. Right? Like, they understand something they didn't before, especially when it's a super high end custom. They see it as as art. They see Damascus and they go, oh, well, Damascus isn't you know, it's immediately not a weapon if it's if it's Damascus because it's this beautiful art piece.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:10]:
Would would you say that Vegas was where your company, where PBK was kind of exposed to some of this, more exotic stuff? Or were you seeing this in Nashua and Amherst? We did you have the same sort of catalog?

Jeremiah Burbank [00:10:26]:
Oh, no. For for sure, I would say that being in Las Vegas and seeing the company grow, I mean, you have you have to consider. When we moved to Las Vegas, there were me, my brother, and one or two other employees, especially at the airport. It was it was relatively insular. At the time, you know, we've always been a huge MicroTech dealer. You know, my brother was buying MicroTech. I'm gonna go ahead and say before just about anybody. I feel like Tony would be okay with that.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:10:51]:
You know, we were buying knives from the kitchen table. So, I mean, our custom selection was mostly marketing on custom, which is phenomenal. Right? I mean, those are still some of my favorite knives. But when we moved to the strip, things changed. We had, you know, a larger audience. Therefore, we had more people looking for higher end items and being in Vegas. Right? That's part of the score. I mean, you want you want something that's, like, really, you know, glitz, glamorous, you know, jazz hands.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:11:18]:
Like, that's what you want from a night. So, no, our our customs on on Las Vegas Boulevard went from, like, 10% to more than, like, 60. Like, it it went it went up a lot.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:28]:
Well, today, I was, perusing your website, which, you know, it can be bittersweet, I gotta say. You know, unless unless you are a baller and you have money you wanna spend or money you can spend. Oh my gosh. So I was very surprised to see. I very rarely look at Balisongs. And I go to your website with, you know, some frequency, but today, I clicked on everything, and I went to Balisongs. And, I could not believe my eyes when I saw that you have more than a couple of 29 knives, a brand 29 knives that, I I used to follow on Instagram. I don't see him post anymore much, but, the thing that blew me away the most, these big beautiful ballet songs, was that he was putting blades on these knives that you never see on a pocket knife, and a lot of them are, you know, the kind of knives that are behind me, Filipino swords and weapons, those exotic blade shapes.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:23]:
I mean, that's just one example, and we'll and we'll look at a bunch. But tell me, how how did you get connected with 29? And tell me about that. I know you have one in front of me you can show.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:12:33]:
I do. So that that that that's a good story. So 29, the maker, Chris Olafsson, is actually a, Massachusetts resident. I have the the ballet song we were speaking of, which I'll open in just a second. But Chris has been selling to us on and off for more than twenty years. He was very good friends with my brother, and then, thus, I became friends with Chris. And over the years he's sort of he was a full time maker for a very long time, during the sort of the two waves of the Balisong movement, give or take, which we can look at, but he's always been very interested in traditional Filipino blade shapes and Filipino weaponry, and he was a huge huge huge huge huge fan of the Pacific Cutlery, Benchmade era. You know, he was in direct contact with Les, very early in the days, you know, custom buying Valley songs, hanging out with Jody Sampson.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:13:40]:
He was very much influenced by the all of that early culture and a huge love of traditional Filipino weaponry, which is what we have here, which is a kampalon, which you really would never see outside of Chris's work. He has a huge appreciation for this stuff, and he puts it in balisong form. So, essentially, what we're looking at here is let's see. Is a completely straight bottom edge with a double spike and then a sharpened top

Bob DeMarco [00:14:14]:
sort

Jeremiah Burbank [00:14:14]:
of swedge. So this this is a relatively dangerous thing to flip. It's also full stainless steel handle construction. So these are not sandwich handle. They're they're channel cut. So this is a super heavyweight balisong. As you can see, he loves to dovetail in the inlays, so they're definitely not coming out and right. As you would recognize, traditional square ears just like you would see on the sword, same thing you're gonna see on the Balisong, and then you're gonna see I think backwards, but you're gonna see the '29 logo, which Chris takes super seriously.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:14:53]:
It's mesh it's measured down to the, to the microns. Every every logo is exactly the same in on each one of these knives. Essentially and and Chris in his own words has told me what I do as a passion is I make knives, but what I do in theory is I continue the Benchmade custom shop. And that's the way he looks at all the knives. He's he's you know, I like to make knives, but what I really wanna do is I'm carrying on the lineage of of everything that was the Benchmade shop. He's like, I those were my favorite knives in the whole world. I taught myself. He's totally self taught.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:15:26]:
He taught himself how to make those knives so he could just continue to consume those knives. Chris has a huge collection of his of his own knives. I joke with him about that all the time. Because he he'll bring so and that relationship through the years has only grown. And and as you said, he doesn't he doesn't really supply knives to anybody else right now except for me and for PVK. So it's really great. Now that I'm back on the East Coast, he comes up to the shop probably about once a month with a knife delivery, and he brings about 10 knives. And he lets me buy about seven of them, and then he usually keeps, like, three or four, and he can't part with them.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:16:01]:
And I'm, oh, okay. That's fine. But yeah. No. Chris Chris is great, and he does things which nobody else does, which I love. He he tries things that no other knife maker would even you know, with all due respect, they wouldn't have the cajones to grind any of this stuff. And as as you've seen, he does the best Chris blade on the market is is ground by twenty nine nines. No questions asked.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:16:24]:
Like, there's three different ones. There's the short wave, there's the medium wave, and there's the long wave Chris.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:30]:
Okay. I think I saw the short wave super tight. I mean, I don't know how in the world anyone could grind that. Super tight curves on that crisp. I saw Panuti. I saw, the the Campulan, and thank you. I always wondered if that was a sharpened Yeah. Horn up there.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:49]:
Gununting, Pura, all these, like, you know, and and those aren't all I mean, Gununting's are pretty common. People know that name, but these are not all common blades. Well, I could see, like, it does take some, a bit of bravery because you don't know if you're gonna sell something that looks like the pompillon, but oh my gosh. I I I just I'm totally enamored with those knives, and I'm really excited, to see that they're still being made because, like I said, I don't see them post on Instagram much, if at all, anymore. But good to see that they're still there and that you are the exclusive dealer. What what other okay. You mentioned, Morphew, customs. Yes.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:32]:
How does that relationship still work? I mean, I know, Microtech has blown up since your brother first started, and, I I'm sure that they have a lot of, deliveries. I'm just looking at those now. A lot of, knives to deliver. There's that that Chris.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:17:49]:
Yep. I mean, so MicroTech, shrouded in shadows. No. Be being a Microtech dealer is, is a pleasure. It's fun. It's stressful. It's all those things, all all in one. I mean, that's that's true about the the job in general, But for Microtech, it's, it's it's a lot.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:18:13]:
You know? It's it's a constant flow of knives. It's it's for me, it's trying to choose which knives. I think, you know, as you know, there's there's colors, there's blade shapes, there's styles, there's sizes, there's OTFs, there's side I mean, it's it's trying to know what I think is going to sell, looking at looking at the market and trying to get as much in as possible while keeping it, you know, diverse a diverse selection. You know, sometimes you go deep on a skew. Sometimes you go shallow and you go wide. Right? Okay. You know, depending on the week, depending on the months, you know, you try to try to vary the color options. The the custom department has evolved so much over the years, the Marfion customs, because now we have the Marpheone Select, we have the Signature Series, so we're seeing essentially what used to be a we're gonna get into the weeds of things here.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:19:00]:
What used to be a Dash 16, which was a Damascus, Ultratech UTX 70, whatever, Dash 16 was a Damascus Microtech production model, is now a Signature Series and is now a Marfion Select, which is a great evolution of that. So now we have this new sort of diamond logo with an m and an s behind it, and we're seeing the zero blade play. For instance, just saw their premiere with a Marcheone select. We had the blue BakerForge Damascus, Tondo and Double Edge, zero blade plays. So that that was really neat, to see the the evolution of that.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:37]:
So with the zero blade play, I didn't get a chance to experience it. I think there was only one at blade show last year, and it and it was in, D Ring's pocket the whole time, I think. I was like, I was thinking about that. But, how is it?

Jeremiah Burbank [00:19:52]:
It's great. I love it. I've got one right here. So I I'm a huge, this is the ZVP Tanto, which is the new Ultratech Tanto. Honto? Tanto? Alright. Next time. I I love this this elongated fuller and the two tone on this tactical model, personally. I just I really like how that looks.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:20:15]:
I'm a huge, you know, all all black knives kinda kinda guy. We've got the wonderful ball clip, which is a milled clip, and this this is the zero blade play. It is a %. You know? It's it's blade playlist. You know? What whatever the the plural of of that is. And what's nice is so this so the new the new Ultratext, the previous models had all been laser logoed, and then that's white on black. This is actually deep laser engraved and then anodized. So it's a really nice tactical feel or tactile feel there.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:20:53]:
So I think that that's a small thing, but as a super microtech nerd, I think it's a great improvement, on the overall design. It keeps it clean, so there's less sort of billboarding, which people are less of a fan, but you still have that sort of iconic claw logo. It's just been anodized. So it's black on black.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:10]:
One of the coolest logos in the business as far as I'm concerned. I love that logo.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:21:14]:
It's pretty neat. That's it's pretty neat.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:17]:
That's that's amazing. I wonder why more companies, I don't try their hand at the playlist, out the front. It must be a lot of research and development, I guess.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:21:29]:
I would I would imagine so. I I mean, there's there's really only right? There's the original. There's the there's the there's the goat, which is the the hawk knives deadlock. Right? That was the that was the first one. It's you know, I I still carry a deadlock all the time. It's a it's a huge I have a a model c prototype that that Gavin gave me. I love it. I love my my deadlock.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:21:51]:
And and now Microtech has entered the zero blade play game. And exactly like you said, I think the the initial investment in that technology and figuring that out is incredible. Yeah. You know, it it's just it's a lot and, you know, I'll be frank in a in a strange way. I I love the zero blade play. I love it on my deadlock. I don't know that it's a huge I don't know if you look at the the knife market as

Bob DeMarco [00:22:19]:
a whole. I don't know if

Jeremiah Burbank [00:22:20]:
that's something that people in general are looking for. I think that's like 25% of the OTF market is like, oh my gosh. I don't want any blade play. Totally reasonable. Let's go after them and get that zero blade play. But I don't know that we're gonna be seeing a whole lot of other companies go after it just because it's Microtech. Like, they're they're they're about it. Like, Microtech is is the the original, like, let's bring production OTS to the to the world.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:22:47]:
So it's gonna be something that they're gonna they're gonna come after hard.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:50]:
Yeah. Yeah. And, I don't know if if this tracks, but for me, OTFs are oftentimes I mean, they are now legal in my state that have been since '22, I guess. But for a long time, I had them kind of as toys or kind of as, I mean, you know, expensive, dangerous toys, but, you know, fun to play with. But if I really needed something, to you know, if I needed to do some hard work, which I rarely do with my knife anyway, it would be a cold steal or something that I wouldn't feel bad about

Jeremiah Burbank [00:23:24]:
There you go.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:25]:
Kinda, you know. So so that that blade play free kinda thing isn't as important to me with the OTFs. And I so I could see, like, that's probably what a larger chunk of the market, is. You know,

Jeremiah Burbank [00:23:39]:
I think so. And because exactly because at a point when you're hard or hard using our knives, like, I I don't know that a whole lot of blade playlist, it comes into it. I think it's cool as heck. Don't get me wrong. Like, that is neat because, you know, let's say I get, you know, 50 customers. Maybe five of those guys are gonna grab the blade of the knife and and oh my god. Like, is there any play in this? And the and the other guys are just gonna be like, woah. Like, this is phenomenal.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:24:08]:
Like, I could push this button and the blade fires out and I pull, you know, it's a smaller portion, but, you know, it's a portion of the market. And and I and I I look at Microtech and I say, you know, go for it. I mean, they're the OTF kings at at the end of the day. I mean, they really are, though. That's it. I mean, there are other companies that make OTFs, but, I mean, Microtech makes, like, 18 different versions and different Yeah. Styles. So, I mean, you know Will be thousands of

Bob DeMarco [00:24:36]:
speech what's the word? Thousands of units.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:24:39]:
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Like, huge amount. And and you know what? I mean, it's a totally reasonable spec because at the end of the day and I know this car analogy is so so played out, but, I mean, you have the Ferrari, the Koenigsegg, really, which is the deadlock. So, I mean, you have somebody who's like, I want a zero blade play o OTF, and I want it to be nice, and I want to be bespoke. You know, you do. You have the hawk knives deadlock. That's that's the original.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:25:07]:
It's gonna always gonna be the greatest because it set the tone for that whole portion of the market. And then you have somebody who's like, I want that, but I it's a little out of the budget, and I want an UltraTech where I can just sort of I can beat this up, and I'm not gonna worry about it, but I still care about zero blade plate. So at the same time, you have you have both ends of the market covered on that one.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:29]:
Yeah. So, I

Jeremiah Burbank [00:25:30]:
mean, the more the merrier, I guess.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:32]:
Well, before we move, away from microtech, I I gotta ask you because I saw an absolutely beautiful, Marfioni custom, amphibian on your website, and that's the amphibian is my favorite microtech. It just is. I I I love it. I loved it ever since I first saw it. I think

Jeremiah Burbank [00:25:51]:
they were making them in '96. Like, they made, like, three or four

Bob DeMarco [00:25:54]:
of them or something like that. Very few, of them back then, and then they went away for a long time, and then they came back two years ago. And, it's it it reminds me of of the Emerson Commander and, like, all of the things that I got excited about with that knife twenty five years ago came back with the, came back with the amphibian. I I liken it to a Star Wars when I was a little kid because I saw it I'm that old. I saw it as a little kid in the theater. And then when the Matrix came out, I was like, this is like this makes me feel like how I first felt when I saw Star Wars. That's the amphibian to me. And then I saw the, this Marfioni custom, and and it's, you know, it's quite expensive, but it's also incredibly beautiful.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:39]:
Are these Marfion custom knives describe them. Are they really that outstanding? Like, how are they are are they actually made by him? Tell me about those.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:26:49]:
Okay. So Marfion customs. It's everything it's everything in the knife that you want, but you can't get in the production ones. Right? So like the amphibian, I have a full carbon fiber handle. You know, it has titanium flamed accents. It has a deep hollow ground blade that's been mirror polished. It has DLC pocket clip. So it has all the trimmings of, like, an absolutely fantastic custom knife, which it is, and these are all hand ground.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:27:23]:
And that's the thing. So a standard microtech. Right? These are pretty much all machine ground. They're flat ground, you know, on a burger or some some sort of similar thing. They're not hand ground by a human. Right? Marpheme custom is indeed hand ground by human. Are they all hand ground by Tony? Pretty much. I mean, he's the knife maker.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:27:44]:
That's the deal. You know? It was him, and it was Sean for a while, and it was TJ for a while. And the three of those guys, a lineage, Marfion team were in there just grinding away. Right? And, I mean, the mirror polish on a Marfion custom, forget about it. That's it. I've seen and now to be fair, I have seen a lot of mirror polishes in in the knife game for a very long time. But to this day, I don't know that there's a better mirror polish on the market than on a market owned custom. It's, you know, it's also referred to as liquid metal by a lot of people.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:28:18]:
They call in they call and they go, I want one of those liquid metal blades. And, you know, that that's always spotted, like, throws us a little bit on, oh, right. You know, mirror polish. But there's there's nothing quite like a Marfion custom deep hollow ground with a mirror polish blade. Shoulda had one in front of me. But I mean, it it in person, it it just it blows your mind. I mean, these knives are, you know, without a doubt, some of the nicest and craziest you can get. As you were scrolling the website, the Atreus.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:28:44]:
Right? The Atreus is a Blade playlist, Marpheone custom only version, and that's the other thing. So there's a Persian amphibian. There's the, Recurve amphibian with the top swedge, the Atrius. So there are certain things in the Marpheone custom lineup that are only Marpheone customs that won't see the light of day as a production unit. Right? And the Atrius is a great example of that. Custom only, if you want one, it is what it is. It's never gonna be, oh, we'll make a production version of that. You know? So that's that's another aspect to it.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:29:16]:
So fit, finish, and also model sometimes.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:19]:
And, being, being a, a Greek mythology kinda nerd, Atreus, the the father of Menelaus and Agamemnon, the guys who started the the Trojan War. I love all of that. I love that that all of these things are named Greek gods and yeah. Oh, it's so cool. I don't know. I I think I think Microtech is a is a great company. I I remember in the mid nineties seeing some of the crazy designs that they had, with their out the sides. They had some really cool out the sides.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:51]:
The names of them all kind of escape me right now.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:29:53]:
Mhmm.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:53]:
And I just I just remember thinking, like, someday, and it took a long time. I know I have some of those, but, I just love them. But let's move on. I you had a, was after, Blade Show at Texas. You were seen cutting a steak with a big beautiful Bowie knife. Yeah. I know you sell that.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:30:17]:
Yes. So okay. So that knife, I I have it in my face. Let me grab. Hold

Bob DeMarco [00:30:24]:
on. Get my they oh, it there we go.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:30:30]:
So I've got, that's a particular that's a particular unit. That's a good story. That's this knife, which is the horse crippler, which is a massive, massive Bowie, in fact. And I and I did oh, this is the other one. Oh, that's this is the same model, dirtier. But so there, there are three versions of this. There are three in existence. So there are three prototypes, and this is designed by Elijah, Elijah Isham, extremely good friend of mine, sadly passed away.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:31:09]:
So he was originally intending on bringing the horoscope to market. There were three prototypes made, for Blade Show two thousand nineteen. There were three prototypes made, and Elijah and I ran over the weBoost to pick up the prototypes, only to find out that, the communication at the weBoost at the time hadn't trickled down. So in the end, they were sold all except for this one. This happened god. This happens to be the exact knife. This is Elisha's. This was Elisha's knife that he carried on him for many shows and beat the heck out of.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:31:56]:
And so in the later the later years, him, Nick, and myself were always searching for the other two horse cripplers. That I mean, it was just I mean, there was a certain amount of bittersweet involved in in in the whole process. So I found one of the horse cripplers, and I literally spent probably about eighteen months, totally, unabashedly badgering the heck out of this collector on a weekly basis, just just berating him in the nicest way and and asking him to sell me the knife. I was like, look. I understand this is a knife to you, but to me, it's in it's in it's imbibed to the memory of one of my best friends. You know, you have to sell me this night. So I acquired that night, and that's the one I had in Texas. So I we have we have two of the horoscopeers.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:32:55]:
I know of the location of the third one. Nick is Nick is trying to I'm pointing this way because Nick Tooprint and I are in the same warehouse. So Nick is trying to find the third horse crippler because this these knives are phenomenal. They're they're a great design by Elijah. They never they're never gonna get made and there's three of them in existence.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:12]:
Oh, man. They're never gonna get made. That is, I mean, that's the third saddest part of that story, obviously. But but I I just think it's so beautiful as a Bowie lover and collector myself. I mean, that it's got it it's got it all, including his his, like, very unique design take on a classic American knife. I mean Oh, yeah. You can see his design language in it, but not so much that it's not a Bowie. You know?

Jeremiah Burbank [00:33:42]:
The the scoops in the handle for me, like, I I see these and, like, I see that in all of Elisha's knives, and which is really neat too because, right, obviously, it's a reverse keyhole, so it's it's not actually a keyhole. The this is one solid piece of d two blade, so it's integral. But the titanium scale and the carbon fiber scale are overlay, and that's the keyhole part, which I thought was a semi genius, idea, you know, by Elijah because it it looks like a keyhole, but it's it's not a keyhole. It's an integral solid piece of d two. That might have been part of the problem is that, you know, we was like, look. We'll make this, but it's it's gonna be a solid piece of d two that big. Even from China, it's gonna be very expensive. You

Bob DeMarco [00:34:26]:
know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you sell a lot of fixed blades. I was kind of, looking through your because that's that's kind of the mode I'm in. That's my original mode. I go in and out of modes. Let me put it that way, but that's always been my my favorite, my home. Fixed blades.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:44]:
I love fixed blades. I love Bowie knives. You have one that you're selling exclusively all, that is another key pattern, isn't it? Am I thinking of,

Jeremiah Burbank [00:35:00]:
you're the Clift Bowie by Dauntless Manufacturers.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:03]:
Dauntless. Yes.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:35:06]:
So I that was yes. Texas. Oh, I did

Bob DeMarco [00:35:11]:
have my office. That's fucking cool.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:35:16]:
So, I had a bunch of these that that were sort of

Bob DeMarco [00:35:19]:
oh, there you go.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:35:20]:
I had a bunch of these that I picked up in Texas while I was carrying the horse grippler, which is a keyhole. I showed those guys, and I was super excited about this, which is the Cliff Bowie from Dauntless Manufacturing. I fell in love. I bought as many of these as I could at the show. I think this is I have, yeah, I have reasonably sized hands. I think this is a this is a phenomenal fixed blade. I I love this is the clip bow. I love this.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:35:43]:
This is a production knife. And I know I'm

Bob DeMarco [00:35:48]:
I don't know if it's

Jeremiah Burbank [00:35:48]:
a production knife. I mean, this is these are fully three d machined brass guards. This is one solid piece, seamless of g 10 with brass pins and just a beautiful, very slight hamon on that blade. This is a production knife. These guys blow me away. So I've been a huge fan of Dauntless, previously, and I just being a knife dealer, being a dude, distractions. But in Texas, I was able to check these out in person, and their work is is absolutely phenomenal. I've been getting more and more into fixed blades, obviously, and I picked up some of the Cliff Bowies.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:36:30]:
I picked up some of the, what they call, hot and ready, work knives. I can't speak highly enough of them, and I'm sold out of half of it. I need to get more. The machining is immaculate. The sheath's work is executed in a way that I haven't really seen someone else in the fixed blade game do, which is a huge thing. We talked about that, on the podcast you were on with us. She if you don't have a good sheath, why are you here? Like, you can either carry this or you can't carry this. Like, if it's a defensive Bowie or sorry.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:37:00]:
If it's a defensive fixed blade or it's a practical fixed blade, if I can't put it on my person in my waist area, you know, there's nothing to it. So the Dauntless guys are absolutely killing it. Those guys really it's a very clean, simple aesthetic, but when you put it in your hand, it makes sense. The tool makes sense.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:18]:
Yeah. They've, they've worked with some a couple of really great collaborators too. The dog bone, is that Matthew Helm? Yep. Yeah. That knife is really cool. I I interviewed them on this show years ago at this point, but got a chance to meet them at Blade Show two years ago and really had a chance to feel their knives and check them out. And you're right. They are immaculate.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:42]:
They're so well done. And, yeah, they're cool guys too. Very nice. Very nice.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:37:48]:
They're super friendly.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:50]:
But it's really cool that you got those Clif Bowies and you got them in some hands. I've I've gotten more than one email saying that I really need to get it, and I'm like, you know, you know, if I hear it from enough people, I might just have to

Jeremiah Burbank [00:38:04]:
it's on a list. Right?

Bob DeMarco [00:38:05]:
Yeah. Exactly. It's on the list, and it's an ever growing list. And I'm sure it is for you. How do you how do you figure out what you're gonna buy? I mean, some of it has to be your love, like, seeing this and loving it and picking it up. And then some of it has to be cold business minded. How do you do that?

Jeremiah Burbank [00:38:24]:
Excellent, excellent question. So it's it is a bit of both. You know, and I'll and I'll be frank with you. You know, in my case, I'm a smaller ship. I'm not the biggest ship out there. I'm not running crazy analytics and and trying to, you know, massage the margins and and and, you know, be terrified about about every wrong turn I make. You know, a large part of what makes this what it is is the passion involved. You know? I'm not I don't have a 60 person crew.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:38:57]:
I have a small crew. I have five or six guys and me. I buy what I like. You know? It I it and sometimes I, you know, sometimes I shoot myself in full with that. And you know what? I'm okay because I'm having fun, you know, and this is a family business for me. This is a lineage thing. This is passion. You know? If if I don't love it, like, I've always loved it, what am I even doing here? So, you know, yeah, I try to make decisions that are absolutely financially great for the business.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:39:24]:
But at the end of the day, I will be damn frank with you. I make decisions on things I love. Right? Like, I saw this stuff. I was like, I love this. I'm buying this. Great purchase. They did really well. Microtech, Protech, Heretic, you know, PVK sells a lot of automatics and a lot of balance.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:39:42]:
Right? Like, that's that's what it is. It's a it's a it's a passion that flows through everything that I do and everything that this brand stands for in a very serious way. We have always specialized in automatics and balisong. So for me, it's easy to do my job because those are the categories I search for, and I get distracted on other categories like awesome fixed blades. But at the end of the day, I focus on the makers that are my friends, that make good stuff, that make interesting stuff. A lot of the time, those three, it's the same person. You know? Matt Diskin, Gavin Hawk, John Gray. I mean, these people are are are makers, but they're also, like, they're part of my family.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:40:28]:
Like, I hang out with these guys all the time. I support them because, you know, it's a cult of personality, but it's also some of the coolest stuff out there. And so that that's part of what we do as a Knight community is we build these relationships and, you know, it makes sense financially a lot of the times, which is, you know, it's it's even better. So PVK is totally fueled by my ecstatic energy for knives and buying the coolest thing I have because, like, that's what I want is I want people to look in the website, like, woah. Where did this even come from? This is amazing. You know, that's my job. I get to I get to go shopping at knife shows and just and buy cool stuff all

Bob DeMarco [00:41:02]:
the time. Wow. Nice work if you can get it.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:41:06]:
You know, once in a once in a while. There's a lot of stress involved, you know, but, but, yeah, it is. It's a lot of fun.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:12]:
You were pointing to the the, your very cool t shirt, by the way. I love Oh, yeah. And I've got these in. But you just got a a little shipment of Frank Beltram's in.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:41:21]:
I did.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:22]:
Do you have any, around you?

Jeremiah Burbank [00:41:24]:
I do. I actually have, I have this one which I carry pretty regularly and it has a very custom sharpening job that, that I've done. So as part of my as part of my growth as an individual and as an adult, I am trying to teach myself how to better sharpen knives especially Okay. Especially Italians because if you're familiar with these knives, they don't come in particularly sharp. I love them to death, but they are not sharp. This is a nine inch or what we call a 23 centimeter swivel bolster bayonet, Frank Beltram in black and white horn with a slide safety. The swivel is your unlock mechanism with the blade closed. Clicks.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:42:07]:
There's a slide safety. Prevents from firing. Slide that down. Bam. And it makes that basically the like, one of the most beautiful sounds ever, I think, is that sort of that, like, push click fire, which is like the iconic movie switchblade sound of an Italian, like, cracking out. Yeah. I love that.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:28]:
And and just the iconic look. I love that. Oh, I've had I've had a number of of swivel bolster out the sides, you know, cheap tourist pieces from, you know, when Europe wasn't so gilded, and you can go over there and buy this stuff. And but my question is, those those are always a little bit cheap, but, is the are the Frank Beltrans, they they must be noticeably higher quality.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:42:56]:
Absolutely. So, you know, and and I great question. Happy to dive into this. So, we get this a lot from customers. You know? Oh, I had these knives when I was growing up. You know? I had this sort of this iconic profile of, a stiletto or, like, you know, an Italian. We we call them classic Italians, anything in that category. Right.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:43:16]:
The ones you get in Tijuana, the ones you get in Chinatown. You know, for me, it's like the ones we got in, Salisbury Beach, on the shore. So this is a horse of a totally different color. No. These are true Italian made, Switchblades. They're all steel construction, obviously, other than the, you know, natural handle scales. These are carrying the Frank b you you're not gonna see it. There's a Frank b stamp in the blade, and it says Frank b Italy.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:43:50]:
And that is that is a man's name, and that is the country where he is making these knives, in that shop. So no. These are these are totally completely different, very, very sturdy, very, very well made knives. And as I say that, would I hard use this knife? Absolutely not. No. You know, it's an Italian. It sounds cool. It looks cool.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:44:15]:
Now that I put let me say mediocre edge on this. It it will absolutely cut things, but, no, this this is not when when customers like, oh, it's, you know, need a good camping knife. You know, I was thinking about Italian stiletto. No. No. No. You're looking for a cool knife to show your friends, while you're drinking and playing poker? Yes. A %.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:44:38]:
Absolutely this one. You know, so these are 10 times better than the Tijuana ones, but still, I would I would not hard use these. These these are cool iconic movie nights. As you can see, I can't actually stop hiring that, so I'm gonna put that put that down.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:52]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I have to get one. I mean, I have to like I said, long list, but, I had to return the one that I had to my brother because, somehow, he left it at my place, and I kept it for years and years and years, and then I was I'm not mad. Yes.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:09]:
Oh my god.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:45:10]:
And so I had to give it back

Bob DeMarco [00:45:11]:
to him, and I have no, stiletto, you know, Italian style stiletto now. And that's a gaping hole in my collection.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:45:18]:
It it would only be the

Bob DeMarco [00:45:19]:
responsible thing for me to do. Bob, go ahead

Jeremiah Burbank [00:45:21]:
and fix that. I got you.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:24]:
Cool. I know where to get my Frank Beltram. I wanna mention right now, for listeners that Jeremiah has very generously, is making an offer here to to listeners and viewers. They have a rewards program, a loyalty program at PVK, and, he has is saying that if you sign up for this PVK rewards program, where you earn points through earn redeemable points through your your purchases. You know, if you sign up for that and put knife junky 20 in the, in the coupon line, you can get $20 off your first order from PVK. So it's a very generous offer and it's a way to kind of, I mean, we should all be members of of something in our lives, and I say being a member of PVK sounds like the right thing, especially for people who are listening to this show. So definitely go to PVK.com, look for the loyalty program, and sign up. And when you sign up, make your first purchase knife junky 20 in the coupon line, and you'll get $20 off.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:35]:
So, I mean, if that doesn't sweeten the deal, I can't imagine what would. Thank you so much, Jeremiah, for that. I appreciate that.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:46:42]:
Absolutely. Yeah. I'm happy to extend that to your to your viewers and your listeners. Come on over. Get something cool. You know, I appreciate appreciate you guys, you know, tuning into the knife junkie and and being part of this whole infrastructure. Right? We talked about that on Bladeology too. I mean, it's we're all family to a point.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:47:00]:
We're all we're all members of this this knife community, this industry, this hobby, and extending extending a hand forward is so important. You know? No matter what kind of knives you're collecting, you know, all knives are awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:13]:
Well, that brings me to Bladeology. I wanna talk to you about how did you get started with Bladeology and, how did you, determine I I guess I guess Nick and and Chuck are both New Englanders also. So tell me about the birth of it and what your philosophy of the show is. Absolutely. So late late two thousand eighteen,

Jeremiah Burbank [00:47:41]:
Elijah, Nick, and I were coming back from the Kentucky custom knife show, which is in, the December every year. So at this point, the three of us were basically inseparable and talking on the phone more than our spouses at the time, more than our jobs at the time. We we were just sort of the three of us bought it very quickly and swiftly. And on our way back from the show, we were just kind of joking in the car. We said, you know, we should start a podcast. And I was like, you know, a podcast should be, you know, a historical record book of of our adventures, of knives we think are cool and, you know, the the whole thing, the sort of this atmosphere that we lived in at the time, which was sort of this sort of road dog, you know, living the hard, you know, knife life. Because at the time, we were going to shows all the time. 02/2018, '2 thousand '19, we literally the three of us went to every single knife show in existence.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:48:40]:
There was not a single knife show that we missed. We were on the road probably every month or twice a month in in those two years, pre pandemic. And Blade ology just made sense because we could talk to each other all the time. We could record a podcast. I would do all the work, the naming, health and prep stuff, and everybody else could have the fun, which is still kind of how it goes now. And it and it made sense. Right? We we we got into it right before the pandemic. And during the pandemic, we were recording like crazy because we couldn't go to knife shows for almost a year and a half.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:49:16]:
So it was great. You know, we were we were instead of on the phone having these nihilistic conversations about knives, we were recording a podcast. You know? As the classic meme goes, it's another podcast. And it and it developed over the years. And post pandemic, we continue to do it, and, I sort of I grabbed it a little bit and and sort of made it more more my own and said, okay. Like, I wanna start having, I wanna start having guests, you know, which we started to do during the pandemic as well, but I really wanted to narrow down the guests exactly to the extension of everything that I'm talking about now. So I was really recording, Switchblade makers, automatic knife makers, and and Bally saw makers was was my huge focus because I still see that as a large portion of the market that is, for the most part, overlooked. You know? There's a lot of folder makers, a lot of fixed blade makers.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:50:03]:
Not many guys are diving into making, autos and ballet songs. Yeah. And over the years, that just kind of Bladeology kind of continued along that lines. You know, Elijah, unfortunately, passed. We didn't record for almost a year, maybe two years, just because it was was what it is. I we also I moved the business from Las Vegas to here, but with the loss of Elijah, it was a sort of a sensitive topic, so we put it to rest for a little while. Then Nick and I are now in the same place, NCC Knives and I, and we decided it was time to bring it back. You know, it was time to get back into podcasting, after, you know, an absence.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:50:40]:
And we did it for probably a few months. And then Chuck right? So Chuck is forty five minutes south of us, and he's always been around the shop, he says anyway, so it was a logical, you know, let's bring Chuck on, and Chuck has been a great addition. So now it's Chuck, Nick, and I, doing Bladeology. We record almost religiously these days once a week, in all different sort of we do interviews. We do just shows with us. Sometimes it's me and Chuck. Sometimes it's me and Nick. But, yeah, Bladeology continues to just be it's a it's a hugely fun extension, of what I get to do.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:51:16]:
I get to buy the knives. I get to talk about knives. I could chat podcast about knives. I was like a syndrome. Like, I don't know what's going on in this position. But, yeah, no. I I I love it. It's it's it's been fun, and it continues to we talked about this as well.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:51:30]:
It continues to be something I can look back and say, I am so happy that I was able to record that. You know, most recently, you know, and not on a somber note, you know, a good friend of mine and amazing community member, mister Crenshaw, passed away. He was a huge part of of knife rights. I interviewed him six months ago, maybe eight months ago on the podcast, and I, you know, I was so excited that I was able to do that because, you know, his family reached out to me. I reached out to them. I said, you know, I don't know if you know this existed or not, but here here's this thing that, you know, that Mike did, and it's amazing. And I was able to talk with him a little bit about his story. And it's moments like that that really, you know, they nail it home for me that I feel like I'm like, okay.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:52:16]:
Like, this is worth time. This is worth a little less sleep. This is worth some energy, to keep doing this because same thing here with what you're doing, you're recording a little bit of history, and and hopefully in the future, somebody's gonna, you know, they're gonna look back at it and say, oh, thankfully.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:32]:
Yeah. There's there there will be knife lovers in the future who can look back and have a historic record. You know, I get I get, interested in different historical periods of time, and I'll I'll do research. But in the future, they will have this this show and your show, to look back on, and they can get an inside glance at, oh, man. This is what was happening in the in the twenty twenties, man. And I yeah. I think that's a that's a I don't know. It's a privilege.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:03]:
It also must be a privilege working with, with Nick and, and, Shuprin because, I'm I'm sorry. Chuck and and, and Nick because they are man, their their work is is unbearably awesome. Like Yeah. If they, you know, I've I've experienced some of, Nick's handmade customs or, you know, his his custom knives before he started doing a lot of machining, which he's doing now. And and the stuff he's doing now, I can say is incredible quality. As a matter of fact, I have something by him on my table right now. Okay. Amazing quality.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:47]:
And then and then, and he's a smart dude. And then, Chuck, with with his, what am I trying to say? The automatic knives that are sort of like, the Victorinox knives, but even, two years before that when he made that Marlin knife

Jeremiah Burbank [00:54:04]:
Oh, yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:04]:
And, oh my god, his sculptural stuff is incredible. These guys are real, they're adepts, if if that's the right the right term. I mean, they're like, they're sages of the industry, I would have to say. And so it's really cool for you to be working with them, because, you know, they they bring an insight to the show and and person two different personalities to the show that that are are a really valuable balance, I feel.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:54:32]:
You know, you're absolutely right. Nick is right that there are two opposite ends of the spectrum. You know, I'm sort of in the middle of trying to trying to balance that. Nick is is is younger. He's excited. He's a machinist. He's a he's a custom knife maker. You know, he comes at things in such a diametrically different way than than I do or that that Chuck does, and then Chuck is the same way.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:54:53]:
Right? So Chuck's Chuck is actually not so we're all exactly ten years apart. Chuck's ten years older than I am, But, like, Chuck comes at things completely the opposite because he's a handmade knife maker. He's a classical guy. He doesn't doesn't really use CNC right now. He makes everything by hand, and, you know, I will give credit where credit is due. Chuck can make anything. So I I was just doing an interview with him in a blog post in in Texas, and we were going over that the only thing the only knife that Chuck hasn't made is the double action out the front. Right? Like, like a Microtech OTF.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:55:28]:
The only thing he hasn't made out of all the knives, gravity knives, valley songs, front flippers, thumb studs, fuller deploys, nested liner locks. I mean, everything. Chuck's made it all. He's the nightbaker's nightbaker. He can make anything you can think of. And that Marlin piece, I got outbid at, multiple times. So I was very upset about that. Then it was on Arizona, and I missed it because I wanted to buy it when I was on Arizona just to have it, like, in the office, not for sale.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:55:56]:
Like, I just for for myself. That work that he does is is totally nuts. So Chuck Chuck is like, I wish that more people knew how much crazy stuff he does because he does a lot of he does a lot of crazy stuff, that sometimes sees light of Instagram, sometimes it just gets sold. But the the process and the ideas that he comes up with, it's fantastic. And then, right, then you have Nick, everything is CNC, and it's it's laser perfect. I mean, it's every single detent is exactly the same, every Ragnarok, and now he's moving into autos. The autos are phenomenal. So I mean, no.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:56:36]:
It's, you know, it's a good group of guys on the podcast, bring different angles, and that's what it's always been about. Like, before, it was the dealer, me, the maker, Nick, and the designer, Elijah. And now it's the dealer and the maker and the other maker. But then the other two makers are very different in how they look at things, so I think I think it works well. It's been a trifecta, and it it will continue to be a trifecta moving forward.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:02]:
Do you think there's something, to New England in terms of knives? I mean, I I think Chuck is like a traditional New England knife maker in a way. I mean, that's how I view him. Yeah. What is that?

Jeremiah Burbank [00:57:16]:
So, spoiler alert, Chuck and I are working on an entire podcast about this topic. Cool. But so, whether or I should say, there is a thing called, the New England School of Knife Making. It's a very early school, and it encompasses some of the most innovative and original ideas to hit the knife industry in the early days. Right? So we're looking at the AXIS Lock. Right? I talked about this on Instagram last week. The AXIS Lock, being a bar lock, was invented in Rhode Island, by Rhode Island knife maker, you know, famously, Bill McHenry, invented that with with Jason Williams, though really the real side on the air of McHenry there, but But that was a New England invention, and he was part of the New England knife school. So there was a bunch of guys.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:58:14]:
There was George Daley. Oh, this is gonna be a moment. George Daley, Bill McHenry, JD Smith, Stephen Ozlewski. It's a moment. There there's a there's a there's a, Richard Richard Wright, who I went down to Rhode Island and interviewed, multiple times and I had on the podcast. But those are the New England guys. There's a whole school of them who sort of worked together, but not not in a collaborative way. I mean, they were all sort of doing it at the same time very early, though.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:58:49]:
I mean I mean, we're talking about, like, you know, late seventies. Like, I mean, like, before custom knife making was really sort of where it is now, and Chuck was very much later, but still part of that. He was the you know, he was part of the tail end of the New England crew, so he knows a lot of that knowledge, which is so important to have. And, yeah, we're we're doing a whole research episode, which is new for us, talking about the New England School of Knife Makers on all these guys and all of their contributions.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:18]:
Oh, man. Well, I'm glad I brought it up. I think it's fascinating. I love New England, and I love the idea of schools of thought or, like to me, it reminds me of, like, a a school of art, like, abstract expressionist. Like, they're all kinda thinking similar things and and, and feeding off of each other's innovations. They're not working collaboratively, but they're they're all kind of evolving simultaneously in the same direction. I think that's really cool. Before I let you go, Jeremiah, tell people how they can keep up with PBK, and, and then we'll remind them again of that, loyalty program.

Jeremiah Burbank [00:59:55]:
Absolutely. Yeah. Best way to do that is obviously right on the website pvk.com. Sign up for the newsletter. Put a lot of work into the newsletter. It's not just salesy, pitchy stuff. There's blog posts. There's talking about Bladeology.

Jeremiah Burbank [01:00:08]:
There's just talking about knife history. There's some sales stuff in there too, but I pride myself on the newsletter being informative. You can give us a call at the shop at that number, (702) 704-4069. And on Instagram, it's pvk.lasvegas because I can't change the name. We'll lose all the followers. That's just it.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:27]:
Cool. Well, and and don't forget, when you sign up for the loyalty program, first time, purchase, use the code knife junkie 20 for $20 off your first order. Absolutely. Jeremiah, thank you so much, man. It's been a real pleasure talking with you again, and I look forward to continuing the conversation, shaking your hand at blade show. And, well, thanks a lot, sir.

Jeremiah Burbank [01:00:49]:
Absolutely. Thanks for having me out, Bob.

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Bob DeMarco [01:01:12]:
There he goes, ladies and gentlemen. Jeremiah Burbank of of PVK. Do yourself a favor. If you want some eye candy, you're probably a knife junkie if you're here. Go to pbk.com or check them out, p b k las vegas Vegas on, Instagram. You'll see it on on the, on the lower third. It is amazing, the stuff they sell there, and, just a great operation. So definitely go check that out.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:37]:
Alright. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying, until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

Announcer [01:01:44]:
Thanks for listening to the ninth Junky 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 theknifejunkie.com/youtube. Check out some great knife photos on theknifejunkie.com/instagram, and join our Facebook group at theknifejunkie.com/facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob@theknifejunkie.com or call our twenty four 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.