Josh from Razor Edge Knives is Featured on The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 39)
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Welcome to the knife. Junkie podcast your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. There's your hosts jim person and bob the knife junkie demarco took elo knife. Junkies welcomed episode number thirty nine nine of the knife junkie podcast. I'm jim person and i'm bob the knife junkie demarco. Thanks for tuning in welcome to another episode of the knife junkie podcast. We've got an interview with josh josh from razor edge knives but first bob. We wanna talk about a couple of things in the in the news this week. I guess one of the things that you really wanted to talk about that was a spartan blades and kedar knives are going to go in together. Can a partner a new company if you will pined lynn cutlery so what's it's. What's that all about. Tell me about them. I saw that in knife news this week and i thought it was really cool because i've always admired spartan knives. I think they're all of them. All all of the fixed blades really resonate with me and a couple of their folding designs. Have i really like to but they're somewhat priced out of reach. It's a small company out of north carolina. It's too. I believe former operators that got together and started up a tactically angled knife company . I'd say like maybe seven or eight years ago and you know as i said i've admired their designs there. They all have a greek mythological theme in terms of their naming. I always wanted one but there is a little bit how to reach now. They are teaming up with k-bar and kind of well. K. bar will be taking advantage of spartan blades designs and and spartan blades will be taking advantage of k. bars manufacturing capabilities and they're gonna come up with this new line called pine land and they're going to have three levels of production at gold elite i don't know what the middle and then lebron's so basically you can get into a spartan designed knife knife on the one of three tiers of accessibility and so to me. This is exciting this is this is the way i will get into spartan knives and so i guess they're gonna keep their elite gold class. As kind of sort of a continuation or a annex of the sort of higher end stuff coming manado spartan so it'll it'll be interesting to see how a small company like spartan and a large company with a history and you know deep deep roots in the industry to see how they come together see when they come up with murray okay when when you told me about this i was intrigued because spartan blades is at southern pines north carolina grew up in fayetteville not too far from southern pines course folks in the military are familiar with the fort bragg. That's right there beside fayetteville and of course source close to southern pine so you mentioned former couple of operators of perhaps i dunno eighty second or army or something like that we'll have to find out maybe it will get them on to talk talk about that their their company at some point some that would be cool and fort bragg. That's where were they trained a lot of special forces army. I think the army and then there's a pope air force base right there so yeah so anyway a lot lot of military history right there in fatal but another thing i wanted to quickly mention bob. Uh everybody's you know kinda celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the the moon landing apollo eleven moon landing a lot of things around our hometown mm town here near washington d._c. They did some kind of a special movie that they sh- they put up in showed on the washington monument unite as actually speaking withdrew swift a guest on this show and he went down there with brought his daughters down there and he said it was really really amazing to see is this this hi indepth film that they projected on the washington honeyman socal and and you know is of the rocket taking off yeah yeah well and of course the knife tying into that of victoria knox has announced a limited edition of the tinker model to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary and interestingly distinctly limiting it to just nineteen hundred sixty nine pieces. I wonder why they did that. Bob nineteen sixty nine number ah but question i wanted to ask you real quickly before we get into the interview with josh rage. The razor edged knives . We talked about this a lot. You know a base model with you know new cover new this new that kinda take advantage of limited edition or commemorative or those kind of things your thoughts on that and how so it kind of relates to other collecting of of knives different models those those kind of things just general thoughts about this it will this example of victorian cases also a a a great example of this where every year they come out with the same models. It's like hollywood the same but different every every year that come out oh the same models but with different commemorative handle scales and different colored covers sometimes up victorinox will do a special edition in a lock doc sits there aluminum handle and it just makes them imminently collectible.

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It's kind of kind of a spider coat dip their toes in there too but they're nothing like a case or victoria knox. I mean you look at smokey. Mountain knife works for instance who has a huge stock of case knives and victoria's knives and you can go page after page after page looking at a door knocks tinker or classic or whatever it is with different colored handles different pictures different pictograms different commemorative a holiday messages this and that and case every year they come out with their christmas knives and they come out with so yeah i love and looking can at all this apollo eleven stuff right now you even forged in fire today an episode where they had to build the the knife that was taken up into space and it's actually not for use in spaces jason for use once they land if they land on some desert islander but defense or yeah yeah exactly or chopping down code rival yeah yeah yeah yeah so it's really cool to see the knife industry tie into this like amazing historic landmark well and also as we've talked about but in recent editions kind of reducing refine kind of mentality it also goes to your collecting style whether you wanna have a one brand in one model and variations of of each that kind of thing which seems to be this kind of production model if you will or different models so it's you know to each his own different tastes. Thanks for different folks yet. You know it's funny mention that it's a just different styles collecting. I'm always amazed when i see on instagram. See someone posting a picture of like these are all my paramilitary are military twos and there are you know i don't know seventeen paramilitary to sitting on the table and they're all the same knife but they'll have different blades deals different handle materials sales and . I totally respected. That's not my my thing is like kind of a touching everything. That's a little bit different. You know i i love knives that are different from the other knives but which is kind of the opposite of this but i i really. I really respect that kind of collecting. Someone just really loves that paramilitary sorry to and they're going to get every damn color get right right. I think i can't remember what episode we talked about but that's their style of collecting so that's what they wanted and makes them happy so yeah go for talk to me a little bit about josh what what are we got coming up for welcome we look forward to hearing so josh from razor edge at a so he's someone that has been on my radar for a long time because he does these absolutely stunning modifications and enhancements to production knives that people send him he we'll yeah well. I'm i'm very what became very interested in him because he thins out a a lot of hinders you see him work on a lot of hinders but he does he works on everything but he'll thin out the blades of hinderer with with these beautiful very thin hollow grinds and nothing. I need to do that because i have a couple of injuries and i love him but they are kind of wedge like so. I started looking at more working notice. You know he does everything he does. He does analyzing. He does a re grinds. He does he'll make new handles. He does at re blading even so you send him a paramilitary to for instance music. I wanna completely different blade. Let's work on it. Let's figure out what it is so here's is a guy who who left his his old line of work. You'll find out what that is and just you know slowly but surely you now now got himself into the knife game and you know i guess people will know by now. I love that i love these small ancillary businesses that support the knife industry at i just think it's interesting that people can make a living doing things to enhance other people's hobbies i think it's going so i talked to him and he's just a great guy and it was just have a we have a great chat and after speaking to him i i was fully fully committed to sending in my my spanta x._m. Eighteen gonna have him hollow. Grind it so the knife jackie podcast leads to more more expenditures. It's it's all in the name of research jim. That's there you go. I got into what i'm talking about loretto all right. Hey that interview with josh's is coming up but first. I wanna remind you that you can take managing your small business finances to the next level. You can focus on growing your biz while quickbooks online handles everything else now. We've got a special link for you where you can get fifty percent off your subscription on either quickbooks online or quickbooks looks self employed for the first six months of either purchase. Just go to the knife chunky dot com slash quick books get started with quickbooks self employed or quickbooks online online today small business owners who have a to do list that never seems to end well.

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You need quickbooks. If you're looking to simplify your business finances and your life if checkout quickbooks self employed and quickbooks online at a special discounted rate go to the knife junkie dot com slash quick books all right bob one thing before before we get into that interview. I think we be remiss. If we didn't mention we've been having website issues which has led to i don't i don't even understand it has something to do with the r._s._s. fee but our podcast is not getting out to stitcher and apple podcast all the different podcasts players over the last couple of weeks. Now we are working on it yet. Hopefully sometime soon but just it folks need to be aware it's an astronomically frustrating situation but but we have the best minds in the industry on it that's you and me and your buddy and some other minds and we will get to the bottom of this of course a until that's fixed. Hopefully that's fix this weekend. of course the podcast will be going up on youtube and then once it is remedied everything will be pushed out to all of your favorite podcasting outlets i._t. News desk so i've gotten a number of emails people saying what is this and now i have to sign in and give a password to hear the podcast you don't. It's it's a mistake. That's happening and it will be fixed. Yeah our our apologies everybody so yeah well. Hopefully we'll get that resolve soon but as bob said if you need to want to get your weekly fix of the knife chunky podcast you can listen to it on youtube. Just let's go to the knife chunky dot com slash youtube or you can just go to youtube dot com and type end the knife junkie podcast and you're able to come up at the play list of the most current issues as well well as the archive and maybe catch up on some that you you haven't heard before so thanks for bearing with us everybody hanging in there with us as we resolved to get this fixed ever watch video reviews of knives. You already have just to justify your purchase. You were a knife junkie and you've come to the right place. Josh from razor edged tonight. Thank you so much for coming on the show first of all thank you so much rodney. It's my pleasure i. I've been an observer of your work on instagram and now on youtube for quite quite some time and i think the first time i really started looking a little harder. Your work is when i saw the dr franchi video which i'm sure you're familiar with yeah yeah yup yup yeah and and i love him we had him on the show awhile back and he mentioned you again in that show and i just think it's very interesting the progress going from a blade enhancer a knife enhancer to knife maker and i just wanted to ask you. How did you get into modifying knives. How how did you get into knives in the first place. Yeah yeah well. First of all ranks really guy. He's he kind of funny because when he first contact me ended up the ad same same area code number that i've got no. Are you agreeable. He's a no no. I used to live there so he's a local guy so all but but yeah so basically i i work at a sheriff's office here in greenville about ten years and it's this starting in two thousand five and her personally years i was just a working on the road and uniform patrol and i remember you know norcal love night night shift and that kind of thing and so i found this sharpener become wife and white men. I you know i really want to get to. I don't remember exactly why i want to get it but i just wanted a sharp knife and always fascinated me and so got the spidercam shotmaker and so it was pretty funny because i remember i remember when we do have to work night. I don't know once every month or two on the the front desk taking reports when people call all in and yeah it'd be kinda dead getting around two or three in the morning so i'd sharp maker and i i just take my kitchen knives or friends kitchen then and you know i i came without you know sharpen bigger kitchen chef nine on the president's off- working but but yeah pretty fun but so that basically started off sharpening and then i then i remember like i'll how babe i've found this notch point my birthday the next year or something and i was like i found this shark ner on that. I'll do the last one i'll ever need. I've done all these research and it was a pro apec. yeah and that was was a great great system per flight home sharply got it from but but yeah so today and and started doing that and when i found out i can get an edge on on i'd just like to get a little extra income in man and did that that i started advertising craigslist got like a ten dollar website and slowly started building it from there and you know slowly started rolling the money into more more commitment than like that so in the sheriff's department you obviously carrying a knife in around that culture so when did did you make the step from from just sharpening people's knives on sharp makers are on the edge pro apex to send me your five hundred dollar hinderer and i will you know we're extending out that chunky blade so i moved from the from the edge pro apec soon wicked edge and that's still today and i.

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I just absolutely love that system. So what what happened was i ended up getting belt grinder and this is like the spare bedroom of our house and so i went back to the mask or anything you know. There'd be a cloud of abrasive racing around me wear now. That'd be grinding sperry that our house will yeah. I started with that but yes so somewhere around. I ended up getting um and enclosed trailer because i was thinking hey i want to see this mobile sharpening thing you know the other guys cow sweater co started basically yeah yeah yeah you're right and so i'm gonna try that turned out at workout workout so good but but i i think that was somewhere around two thousand eleven or so and and i remember when i had this is like an eight by sixteen enclosed trailer and i had all my queant in there. I had used some no well. Grinder plans plan scrum u._s._a. Knife maker by seventy two and so what you know i remember the first the first night i think that i re- ground was fighter coz or a guy in on the houston another country and so but he he's several i remember before that i was like oh man tom crying. He's the man like i've got to learn how to do that and so i was just take the plunge and and just you know started started learning how to run the so when you really ground into your first production blade. was when yours did you. Did you kind of cut your teeth on something cheap of your own basically before you yeah i think that's practice a little bit and i wanna say. I don't think i started off like free. Handing i think i'd build yet and you know the table like piece of angle iron and and then we'll fix the blazes that but but yeah it definitely learning cross you know doing freehand grinding but every maker read like oh yeah you you've got learn how to do cream grinding so you start re grinding these blades and and then i started noticing you start relating them and to me it's now. It's different now. It's a different place. Don't get me wrong. You're at like. I'm thinking of the related spy toco paramilitary to that you did somewhat recently that i think it was like a re curved tanto had this really cool like humpbacks wedging edge and and it was just a really wicked looking blade and then it was on a para to handle and i'm like i don't get it like i mean i don't get. I get what you did. What you did was beautiful. I don't get the instinct to take a pair of to just change it. I don't know man i honestly i just have you know i get customers from all over the place with all sorts of ideas and it's really cool make the media just to be able to try to make that happen for him and i'm not like super creative individual by myself so as i found it very helpful. That's you know people. Send me pictures and say hey can. You do this and i'm like yeah. That's awesome okay so so yeah i mean basically started off doing grunt programs and stuff and where we moved into other various mas and and and point fifteen when i finally click launched its whichever doing this whole time and at that point i ended up upgrading shopping opening right now which is qualified already from forty shopping from so nice so you can have all the space. You need to get your stuff in there. Yeah allah the crab but i really think the habit so you say you're not creative. You're not a very creative person but you look at the work you do and first of all it seems like you have a handle like a very excellent handle on pretty much all processes of of enhancing a knife. He not only have the grinder chops but everything else the the coding of the blades. you analyze to yeah yeah. He ended is the bronze i tried collect thing and it's just you know it's kind of finicky especially for the high voltage colors and then customers don't expect when you know get finger oils on it it changes colors and that's actually one of the qualities of of energizing tight colored anodyne titanium that i like like because it's sort of analogous to high carbon steel patino which i'm all for you know oh yeah.

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I love it so i mean i would. I would want that but yeah i i i find your your work really creative and and like i said especially yeah yeah especially what you did with that without para to even no it was not for me the blair house but just not on that handle but really what you're saying is and this is a theme i keep coming back to and i don't know if it's because of my my my own livelihood involved in production which is all collaboration producer the . Your strength is in finding the the best people at that job to do the thing and and produce the vision and with you. It seems to be the same thing these are. You're not just taking orders from people and you're not just doing exactly thing. You're going back and forth and kind of arriving at a design yeah yeah. That's true yeah. I mean that is one of the tracker acker thing to me is is the creativity aspect of it. I mean i don't you know really do myself like our likes to be that way but i i. That's a very attractive to me to you know have trying to switch over in cinci more production and actually doing my own thing is says the fact hey you're not gonna design this and just make it so i mean obviously still accepting input and that kind of things pretty cool so so you're doing cad design which is manned will yeah it's i. It really has been trying to you know about about a year ago. I guess i i started started yet. Man i really i really wanna learn coming out at once. They're making stuff and so all the research of research on different programs and try and draft i and different tuning programs. I remember who it was but a friend of mine churches. Hey yeah you you need to just three innings man's just right off the bat. Don't mess with yourself because you can learn to front and you can still generate any calls from that yeah and so i was like okay and reading up oh sixteen and just really started for myself into that and and turns out for differ call fans there's a lot of great youtube videos online and i finally just within the last month figured out how to do the last it's part of what i needed to do to design mound folder foley in the county and simulate those canadian closing yeah so it's it so often i i love. What are your inspirations. You're now. You're designing knives on cad. That's that's pretty sophisticated but josh you must have a lot of knives coming through your hands it. Does that help you in any way in your design process of your own work yeah yeah it really does because you know i get what i like what i don't like and and so so you know. I've always been really about really about function. You know the the way that an. I feel operate definitely before the way to look but it's also got to look at and and i don't know just kind of you want. The perfect blend between the two so when i'm like when i'm making this fix played for instance did a play for hey. What do you guys think about this. Any idea changes. I should make 'cause now the great time i because in the prototype stage right so i get these different design inputs and leave everybody but but then when i did if i had three credits in classes acid and i got that in yesterday i think and so i really feel men how ergonomic handle how does it feel that is cool. It's amazing it because you can look at it and get an intuitive idea of how it's gonna feel right but that that's still not the real deal so to have it printed out in plastic nick. That's that's great. Yeah i mean it's just one of the vantage of living in the agent technology that we we have you know and so you know that's that's kind of the thing i really whatever whatever advantages i see in different designs my my main focus. Their thing that i absolutely love to do is . I really am working for cisco. They're making them . I feel like it send you had made reference to earlier earlier. Just learning the different aspects of a folder you know that's how come slow income through a lot of different trials and errors and you know it started adopter. Hey you make defense stronger.

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i saw you video where somebody drilled out the the whole detained and make the faucet deeper in there and and you know just slowly start learning making mistakes and i've had to replace a lot of knives but i never never wanna leave anybody hanging on something that i made a mistake. Aren't you know so. You've had to replace a lot of knives. I'm sorry to write to that but that's that's the big fear like i would imagine that's the big fear yeah i have. I mean i have out but it's one of those things where it's like. If it's something that i don't feel comfortable working on then i'll be like turn it down but yeah i mean. I'm not saying like alive live. It's still semi rare but in the course of the last eight years you know as i don't know i probably request ten or something and and and and so it's one of those things where it's like i do limit myself on the work that i do for for people and say you know i limit myself to like a seven hundred dollar all of them it and make it very clear upfront like hey. You know i am freehand. Grinding this could something could happen is pretty rare that happens but but you know once in a while it does and i wanna make sure that i can afford to replace it or you. If anything were to happen you know right right. Let me ask you this question and this is something that has come up when speaking with the and speaking with jeff blau veld he learned the hard way about customizing custom knives is that i think you would ever do if someone sent you. You know i have a i have a handmade peter resent hebron. Can you take a little off the back or whatever but that. I don't know i mean that's one of those things. The different people have different viewpoints on it and for me. That's not a problem and i tried to approach from the aspect of okay well. I'm moving into this arena the production knives and what i want somebody to mess with my cousins customer and the truth is is that i i don't care after they purchased it. There's there's something that doesn't fit their handwriting. They want changed on it. I'm totally good with somebody. You know. Mahdi mine is so if a customer comes to me you know a lot of times if it's something where it's a warranty issue or a rock issue than my first recommendations to certainly contact the maker but if it's something there's there's a lot of guys that are the hacking get holder to make her now or maker is over in another country and i don't l. comfortable sending my nice out and so you know they just they built that record with on the corner of white meat into work so there's some pretty rare custom but it's an interesting another interesting concept that does make me think of that has been raised in conversations. I've had recently is the idea yeah of designing to sell by looks on the internet because the chances are great that like where i live there are no knife shops. That's just not not not happening where i live. and i think there are a lot of big cities that are the same way and big suburban areas that are the same way and if you're a knife enthusiast and there's a knife you have the hots for you pretty much have to buy it unless you're in and then resell it if you don't like it or whatever if you're in maybe a pass around group something like that . What do you think of that concept designing yeah a knife to look good on the internet. Yeah that's . I think that that's a really valid point. I mean you have like you said. We're in a super technological age. I mean you know it just with all the social media and everything else it if it if you can't if you take this a terrible photo or som- or the knife itself you know doesn't look good and what's bad i mean people definitely aren't going to buy it so you know it's one of those things where the attention to detail i mean i feel i generally attention to detail that somebody a and their knives you know is gonna probably transfer for transfer into the pictures that they take you know and that's just not a hard fast through. I mean you know you you may have just doesn't like mrs cameras and and you know that may not be the thing and they might make nice so not hard stroke no no but usually i think i agree with you. People who are spending a lot out of time the blood sweat and tears on these labors of love that they're selling. You know i would imagine it's it's not the easiest road a ho you. They're gonna take the time to make the knife look good in the pictures and the only time i noticed just now that we're having conversation. The only time i noticed that it's not is when they're shop pictures and i love that too. It's just like it's like you're are there. You the dust in the air etc yeah that's true and that's one of the things that i'm really . I don't know i'm kind of wanting the focus on and just recently is trying to just let my customers ekonomi little more more stories and videos and that kind of thing and and chop tours and you know all that kind of stuff on on my instagram.

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Try to bring people on the jury because hunt and i i love it yeah and you know when you think about it you walk down the street and you see a construction site and you almost always see at least one man standing there observing making sure about doing everything correctly people love well men in general men in many accurately but i think you know like my mom would would really be in. She loves forest fire. She'd love to watch these kind of videos any creative earth's. There's gonna love that yeah see how the sausage is made and also i gotta say when when i'm watching people grind and i have very very very limited personal experience in grinding hang on on my home sears a belt grinder. It's nervous about it on. I started on the craftsman forty two. That's what i have. That's awesome michelle. You ed if i feel like if i can learn how to grind well on that some day when i get to buy seventy two. I'll be be michelangelo. Yeah you're right man it. You learn how to grind on that. You're gonna be. You're gonna be amazing what you which over it's like. It's it's kinda like dragging a piece of metal on the ground while you're driving seventy miles is an hour you will not no you're right so tell me a little bit about your process and now i'm talking about the knife kevin hanson okay so you've had correspondences with people. Yes i want to do x y and z and you agree on you agree on the strategy or the concept and then the knife arrives live set what goes down yes so basically i try to. I try to streamline every you know. I'm just a one man show when my wife helps me on with the social media side of things but but as far as the worst you know pre one minute show. I gotta try to optimize my mind. Nine is much as possible and so basically it starts out. Is you know when something off to send me something. Normally i'll get some sort of contact i especially when it's more of a major mod and but then i just direct to that the male and nicer page of a website scott had had this thing on their job as google docs and so they just click on it and and i wanna you've ever used the have you ever used the google talk before they have yeah. It's super it's very convenient for businesses basically as soon as they put all the formation that takes over in mid it. Nobody has to print any forms off automatic takes all that info and implicit into stretching for me so i have awesome have all of my orders on in a spreadsheet i know what coming in i know what what's gone out just trying to stay super organized with that so after i get a nice in so basically changed something in that row and i said hey i've got it and i emailed the heck out your nice and then i'll confirm whatever that the estimate was and the quote whatever i told them and just kind of confirmed that with them and after confirmed basically i've got a turnaround town where i just put it in a certain you know in a line your whatever thought my shop dependent upon whatever it is and and then i get soon as i as soon as their next up line kinda like i cruiser. What are your favorite knives to work on like a brand wise man . I don't know i would probably say that. Probably my all time saver is hinder. I should because you know there's a lot you can do to them and i really love probably grinding is probably my favorite favorite thing to do so the hinders. You said that low saber grind line six delay. Give you work with yeah. They give me a lot of work with over the years i have to x._m. Twenty four hours there jen ford's before they came out with the tri way pivot and then. I have a gen for a x._m. Eighteen and i. I love them dearly. I grew up in ohio and rekindles from ohio. That's that's only a minor part of why liked him so much but that's that's my justification for never getting rid the i very hard time letting go of nut and but the one thing about these is as i have kind of moved more in my my personal tastes i've moved more or a thinner blade you know it really kind of cut better and i though though though to admit it i do not have any type of adventurous life where i need a a hinderer at all. It's just a luxury item. Yeah and you know you might wanna check out the they they have traditionally ground ground there belaid very they're very thick their outlet somewhere somewhere around thirty thirty five thousand right here at the shoulders of edge at around twenty five degrees that are really thick and ground out to sleep and i was actually pretty impressed with dale team had an exclusive run some hinders and felt like their genetic with the switch pledge on the back and play a little different but they're actually the ones that i've handled within like they're impressively fend for hinder really yeah.

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We'll check johnson. Oh wow that's great another five hundred dollar item so do you have a collection of knives yourself. Like what would you like think. That's actually is is pretty funny because i worry so many collectors. I don't i don't i. I don't have the collection so my last night that i i the last night that i had sold off may not as thicke months ago just a sheer garage neon and also assure ago right right right yeah they are in their by their actions amazing but i i basically sold that if find this folders undoing so obviously they didn't fund it but just put money towards it so i find that super i've been tae just be able to look at knives that that i have been impressed with actualized shero or her grim mo- these knives i can check. I can check a lot of things on them. You know with the cowboys alfred that kind of thing and just check the how do they have the lock bar the lock bar said at the tension on it you know when you have it as fifty percents and you wanted this fully to think agent agent and it turns out that shares are around two pounds takes about compounds to disengage so that's what i'm going for on my own folders. It is trying to replicate that action for it's sort of like how we reverse engineer u._f._o.'s right. I mean if you believe in that so you don't have a collection. Obviously you must have a knife of your own and i'm curious and i guess since you're a former law enforcement officer. I'm gonna guess you have a bench me. No i did hear a previous podcast where he had said that no the i actually have had have have had a couple of bench made in the past but but no i- i- surprisingly enough what i actually my first for my first you know nice it quote unquote now is that i got was kershaw blurred and carried with me so but what area right now is a it's just my own own the prototype for for corruption on the name of the night but i'm making so it's just the credit for that and it's like i went out. I went like out on the limits like crazy. I i don't know like a modified ponta karen bit you know i like a re curved modified fide tanto yeah. You're crazy so in your daily knife us will kind of asks. What kind of tasks six are you doing with this. I mean i'm talking about. I'm talking about the night that you made that. You're carrying right so mainly mainly. I'm just like cutting open boxes or packages. It is or you know. It really varies depending on what i need. I had a piece of on this on this particular relate. I had . I did the l. c. Code 'cause i was testing testing one of those out no one else shutting down and so i had a coded and and so i had to you you know that kind of corrugated plastic regime that you could on like like an animal house aren't that kind of translucent green right yeah yeah so i had had a piece of that and it was like really dirty and it sounds like you know our i had to like cut some also fit inside the trailer or whatever and so so. I just you know crew and i mean like c._f._c. And everything else amazing for blade. Everything held up amazing but yeah. I mean just random stuff like that or i bet doesn't come up too often but you know a lot of times. I'll just be out . We've got a little bit of property so i'll be out on like real field. They wouldn't hit clay and walk around there and you know hack some. I won't take the hacker branch down that you know might be half an inch thick or something like that but yeah so i basically you know that that kind of tells me thirty from us. Is the offense really shut up right generate hot thought you know that kind anything so that's what i was going to get at like the since this is a prototype something new you're you're kind of. You haven't had an opportunity to do a lot of testing acting of stuff but right now that you're carrying around. Are you happy with it. Are you getting good information about how to continue forward with the project one thing i've learned not to doing work or planning on doing this on the project but not the clip i i use these salted mango girl bolsters thousands you know i was going all out so i did dat and it turns out you don't want that on a liner so hacking a branch with it and and i miss them at the branch hit that volta right you know right where the liner before the gated docked chip so yeah i mean you know that kind of stuff happens but the ones that are making are going to have you know my car sales the kind of thing so but yeah i mean i learned i gotta learn.

40:33 - 45:00

you know started. How how how to lock were how hold up although i'm gonna that'd be doing that will feel uncertain on these other so the first one that i'm going to be make when you're going to be my own and i'll be able to ringer so so you're saying you're gonna put the steel inserts because it's what it's gonna be a titanium frame lock yeah titanium not attentive liner lock but yeah but you're gonna put steel. That's interesting. I don't know if i've ever seen that eh the steel interface on a titanium liner lock but i don't know it's pretty rare the reason why a lot of people don't do that because you do have to have thicker per liner so i'm using i ninety south from around in there and there. There are a couple of knives do it. There's a i don't remember which shared route model that is that they have one like that and but yeah i mean it's it's doable. i had the one time where i had a k. two ferrets buttercup and and yeah it is thick frame mom and so my customers like hey can you put coconut fibre from shea trine coconut fibre stales on this and turn it into a line of rock and roll like you not yeah. Let's do it so it turns out the squares where the tail for square in career you know you could make that work and it actually turned out really nice of you. That's cool i i i never liked the shape of the blade of that knife right right but but the the wavy has sort of a wavy cut out for the liner lock if i'm remembering correctly for the for the frame lock. Is that right the leafs yeah. I think you're poker right. is kind of pretty yeah yeah. It's you know in that blade shaped is not you're not alone. His other people have had me mad that blade shape. It kind of doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it persian amurri yeah so so. Where do you see razor razer edge and its razor not razors. I'm sure you get a lot of that yeah. Where do you see razor. Razor edged knife knives going from here like in ten years. What wh- what do you hope to achieve yeah. I well you know i basically. I don't know i talked. I talked with my wife. you know i don't know i guess it was last year sometime middle of the year just really wanting to move into production. you know i feel like i'm not getting enough time with my family and in that kind of thing and so it's like yeah you know. I think that's a smart smart. Move forward twenty years down the road retirement and everything and you you don't want to be a position where you have to be in the shop couldn't in the man hours to be able to bring income in jimmy offer the main our to them but it's not gonna be labor insensitive right now and the sanctions c._n._c. You're not gonna thing but so a really wanting to move. I think that's really smart business news. you know from my family seasonal lifestyle trying to so in ten years i'm really wanting to to be into doing production runs two hundred blades at a time and being able to so yeah kind of that hinder emerson's model where you're doing the production thing and doing you know then then you can do the customs on the side and kind of have fun with it and mess around around but what i don't wanna get into what i'm really trying to stay away from it. It's really hard coming from a from a background is as i'm starting to macy's racing having people ask change my not who can do that and and you know. I'm not gonna be like i'm not gonna. I know i'm not going to do this but you know i'm just trying to find a kind of shy away from that and just my my goal for basically make something with it up for sound here. It is what it is. That's all i really respect that mode of. I want to just for a little context. I went to art school and to me. I respect that that model and and i totally respect the custom knife model to it's just not what i would choose if i were if i were making a living making knives i think i would probably temperamentally the more apt to do what you're doing and are what you aim to and but you know i think the cad your decision to start designing on cad has already started started you on that path.

45:01 - 50:05

Obviously i mean because now you speak a universal language with all people who manufacture all people have computer c._n._c.'s beneficial. How do you feel about this in the last five years upsurge of really the high end manufacturing from china o._e._m. Manufacturing would you be would you do o._e._m. Manufacturing also like to stick to that kind of small batch production in chris reeve emerson hinder kinda model i don't know i i can't say that talking about doing like a collaborative. Eh we or drop or or or riyadh or you know one of those kind of ride yeah i can't. I can't say that so that i'd be opposed saddam at all. I you know i just i'm not sure you know it's just one of those things that you'd have to wait at the time which you know which model it is what what you design that kind of thing but yeah. I wouldn't say that that i'm opposed to that but my goal my my what i really really want to do is be able to get my own c._n._c. and run everything in house. I can never really really strict quality control because that's one of the frustrating things that you know come across just in the last segment two year. Whatever is you run into the expressway since where something doesn't get machine dry or or you know there's a a delay in estimated delivery time and or or when you get back when they gotta be corrected and you know that kind of thing and it's just you know the good thing is is that is basically i'm. I'm handling all i set up a critical area so you know all the final fit and finish glade shape or blade grind. Were the pivot area the lockup all this critical things. You know so so yeah i would. I would walk to be able to get into somehow figuring out how to do my own in larger numbers but i think that's i've been i've been paying attention attention to the knife market itself but also how all of these small businesses or ventures have cropped up around in support. I mean i am a sucker for art by my carter scales for for my you know for all mahindra's you can't see but yeah i of a i'm a sucker for this this aftermarket sort of concept and it you know it's it's sort of a scaled down version of someone who who buys a corvette in then you know takes it to the shop and has this and that done to it. You know just to make it yours. Make it exactly how you want it. People are spending. I'm spending a lot of money on knives. I hope my wife's likes not listening and i should say over the years. I've spent a lot of money on nights and i'm going to realize that maybe if i handled them all i wouldn't have bought many of them because now i'm seeing the ones that i have the ones that i'm tweaking and then i'm getting sort of aftermarket pieces for for are the ones that i'm carrying all the time so anyway my my point is. I think it's encouraging to hear you know your your story. You're you're. You're someone who ah has a company. That is a supporting company. If you know what i mean of the industry you're making people's collections elections better and all that and now you're you're. You're moving your progressing to making your own work and i don't know i think it's cool yeah yeah. It's really colin and i'm super thankful for all the support that i've had over the years. Just you know everybody let me work on is and being able to you know learn as i go along. I mean you know they don't make college for this but at the same time you know i know right but yeah yeah just being able to just pay attention to the details and kind of making it how how customers light but yeah i i love my car is she's got other food. I i really love me too in the look and how it it also patina so how can people get contact with you. How can people find more of your work to look at you know. How can people find out more about you. Yeah thank thank rockin. I so i dunno i there's two main routes i guess in one of them them is graham and issues that razor edge not and then the other one is i just probably been a week or two ago. I just got learn subforum blake forums so that's that's pretty that's cool and yeah and so just being able to you know one of those two routes i would say are the best way to kind of fall to work. I also just like resigned last week launch day newsletter where basically whoever is on that list whenever i. Why do you know go to drop like one of the next really really things that i wanted to ask is.

50:05 - 55:15

I'm i wanna make a batch of one hundred nose clips for the parents. Hugh parents three is on . I wanna make do one hundred hundred batch of those and then so the people in my newsletter we'll get you know basically first notification nation on that those clips the sound like they're going to sell like hotcakes whenever i try and get an aftermarket clip on one of the big purveyors boom. They're gone immediately immediately. Yeah i hope so man you know. I'm really wanting to be able to i've only been to blade show and that was . She got to go this year. No we did not okay yeah. It was it was a bitter weekend for me or i really wanted to go to but but i'm hoping to go next year here and so kind of one of my goals for that is . It's not only have nights for sale but also to have these other things like like how you know some aftermarket things in the clip. Was that kind of thing just you know. I think that there's there's a market for that and people like that. Especially designed really good like a really good clinton fits. It fits economically good and is better whatever the the off. The shelf clip is that they put yeah well. We got josh. It seems like nothing about you and your work is off the shelf. Which is why i wanted to talk to you. i really admire the work. You're doing and i was gonna wait. 'til we were off air to tell you but now. I'm sending you one of these hinders. I'll probably end up getting all three but i'll start with one but i. I really admired the work what you're doing. I think it's beautiful and i think your wife does a great job with instagram photos. She's the one who does them because you know that's half of what reels you in so thank you thank you yeah yeah yeah. I'm i'm really thankful to her and thank you and that's been able to do it. I work from home. I'm actually getting ready to put a . You know they tend to my game . I'm gonna try to get more stories like i was saying and i'm gonna do a video just kind of me. You know. This is what it's going to work every day. Walk into my shop to get a get a little. That's that's great. I hope everybody watches that because that's kind of you know. That's what everyone likes to see. They like to see how the sausage made especially when it's not sausage josh thanks so much for coming on the knife junkie podcast and we'll talk to you. I think i have a question or maybe you just have a comment. Give us a call. All it's seven two four four six four four eight seven. We'll answer your question on an upcoming episode of the knife junkie podcast that number again seven two four four four six six four four eight seven bobby another pretty good interview there with josh really liked hearing his his story and what kind hanno this question is coming. key thought key takeaway. Would you really enjoy from your conversation with yet again. I've met another like very cool person in in the knife world so that was great to meet him just because but i've been admiring his work for so long it was great to talk to him and and for me it was really interesting to hear his his slow evolution out of his old job you know working for the government and the sheriff's sheriff's department and then slowly acquiring tools and skills at the same time time so that he made a transition out of obviously out of a job he didn't want to be doing into a job. He does want to be doing and to me. That's that's inspirational because that's a a path also on except a you know in a different state of aren't we all on that i know of work work is listening but you know i think that's i think it's normal everybody wants to you know that old si- saying if you do something you love. You'll never work a day in your life so if you i think that's everybody's dream is to get to what they really enjoy doing so they don't feel like they're working. That's exactly right but can yet sustain a a livelihood for themselves and their family yeah and be surrounded by knives all the time to which just an extra bonus and now he's at this stage where he's just about to start making folders you know he's just about to start making knives and he's on the cusp of something new and exciting in to me. That's that sort of energy is contagious . all right that is going to pretty much wrap it up but i wanna give you a chance to plug next week. Show what what can we look forward to who also next week will be the speaking with ian karski of c._m._f. Metalworks he's a niche relatively new knife maker who's just making outstanding league league gorgeous and complex and oh hassles some of the pictures on instagram while yet he's making some beautiful folders now he was he cut his teeth in in jeff blau tough knives in his shop in pennsylvania learned a lot from him and you know these are now out to guys whose whose design work and who's knives i i i admire incredibly so it's cool to see one great knife maker coming from another like great knife maker just get better and better all the time out for bob the knife junkie demarco.

55:15 - 56:13

I'm jammed the knife new person to thank you for listening to the nypd chunky podcast cash and again. We hope to get our r. S. problems fixed soon but if you can't find it in your podcast player by golly just over to youtube and you'll be able to get your weekly weekly fix of the knife jackie podcast. Thanks for listening everybody. Thanks for listening to the ninth junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show please rate review review the podcast dot com for show notes for today's episode additional resources and to listen to past episodes visit our website the knife junkie dot com. You can also watch our latest videos on youtube. The the ninety dot com slash youtube kick out some great night photos on the night junkie dot com slash instagram and join our facebook group but the knife junkie dot com slash facebook doc and if you have a question or comment email them to bob at the knife jokey dot com or call our twenty four seven listener line at seven two four four six six four four seven and you may hear your comment or question answered on upcoming episode of the knife junkie podcast.