Announcer 0:03
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your hosts Jim Person and Bob The Knife Junkie DeMarco.

Jim Person 0:16
Hello Knife Junkie and welcome to episode number 87. It's the midweek supplemental show where Bob and I chat knives, knife news, talk about his collection videos all kinds of knife related stuff. Welcome to the podcast. I'm Jim Person. And I'm Bob DeMarco. Welcome to the podcast. Sorry about all that rambling I did there Bob. I was just so excited to get into the show. I I didn't do our normal intro. But anyway, we've got a lot to talk about. kind of want to talk about some video stuff collection videos. Also knife life news segment this week, some knife related news that we want to talk about. Also, you finally have an update on your less George VCEP that you're getting from or got from Singapore. You finally got that You're going to talk about that as well as the, the experience of buying that as well. So I think that should be someone interesting. So another jam packed show this week.

Bob DeMarco 1:09
Yeah, yeah, Indeed, indeed. Well, so I'll get into it. Straight away. I wanted to talk a minute about collection videos on YouTube. They're very, very popular. And as you know, Jim, I recently did a I've done two of the three projected Cold Steel collection videos that I'm doing. The first one was my folders. That came out a couple weeks ago. Second was my fixed blades, neck knives and belt knives. And then the third will be tomahawks, sword canes, machetes and swords like the other cool. The other cool stuff. Yeah, the Warhammer category. Yeah, all the stuff that they make that's, you know, sort of beyond the pale for most knife companies but is just their bread and butter. Those have been very popular. I put those out. I mean, that People have been asking me to make a cold steel collection video for a little while. So I guess I wasn't surprised but it took me a while to work up to it. But I was that I don't know cuz it's like you gotta you gotta well because I have them spread out I have them some of them in Bug Out Bag something you know my car by the bed and the dresser here there. So you have to bring them all together and of course I don't want to leave any out and and I did. I left out my my little key ring Cold Steel recon one. But anyway, so So I did that video. I did those two videos and they were they're quite popular. And then Jimmy slash one of my favorite YouTubers. I actually got started watching him because he's really into big cold steals. And he's really into entry demo and he has a he has a sprawling collection of custom and ademco and then just a sprawling collection in general. So in doing my videos, I was starting to feel like Geez, this is this is getting out of hand. You know I have a lot And and how do I how am I supposed to justify all of these knives now? And you know that's kind of the that's sort of the thing the the collectors guilt that creeps up on me every once in a while and and then I tuned into Jimmy slashes collection via he he recently has been doing his State of the collection series kind of doing the same thing. And oh my gosh, his collection is intense. He's his collection. Some of his knives he just leaves in the box. He's got so many. And so this started to make me feel like I think I'm okay.

Jim Person 3:37
I need to get some more knives.

Bob DeMarco 3:39
Yeah, I can fit mine pretty much all in this case.

Jim Person 3:41
What's your problem, Bob? Come on, man.

Bob DeMarco 3:44
It's time to catch up. Jimmy slash I love you. I'd love to have you on the show. I reached out to him on Instagram slid into his DMs and I haven't heard back from him. So I'm trying to figure out another way to reach out to him. Anyone knows he has his email let me know. But what a great question. He has and his his collection videos are fun. Everyone's collection videos are fun, Jim. So I'm going to do you know how I did this collection selection the daily videos over the past summer and fall. Yeah, well, I think I'm going to do I stopped kind of four fifths of the way through, there were some more knives and I and then I sort of lost steam on that and was working on some other projects. And now I've been picking back up on the videos but I'm more into the little bit longer form. So I'm thinking I'm going to do a collection video of all of my folders and not including the cold steel folders, all of my kind of non Cold Steel sort of premium things and just do one big video, have it as a catalog and then start start moving some because getting this new visa which I'm going to talk about in a while, has, has got me leaning more towards those kind of

Jim Person 4:55
Alright, so not gonna finish up the the daily collections selection videos where you took one knife at a time but move more toward a specialized collection of videos.

Bob DeMarco 5:07
Well I wouldn't like to say I'm not going to finish that because I feel like I kind of need to play but right now my my video ambitions I don't have much time for it but my video ambitions are more in the in the slightly longer form. So but we'll see

Unknown Speaker 5:23
see where that goes. If you have a suggestion for something you'd like to see on The Knife Junkie, his YouTube channel which is at The Knife Junkie dot com slash YouTube, give us a call at 724-466-4487 724-466-4487 let Bob know what type of video or videos you would like to see on the Knife Junkie YouTube channel

Announcer 5:45
you're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast and now here's The Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News

Bob DeMarco 5:51
A favorite fixed blade knife company bark river knives is coming out with a new Japanese inspired knife hot on the the heels of their Shinigami knife which came out last year. That was a nine inch sort of upswept tanto blade for the outdoors, which is kind of a funny combination but what a you know, bark river knives, they make exceptional outdoor knives and so they put that in the sort of Japanese format and had this incredibly successful nine inch Shinigami. Now they have a super small version of that a 3.7 inch upswept small Japanese style work knife looks kind of like a tanto a traditional tanto called the Kitsune a and Kitsune a incidentally means Fox. And this is a great great looking little knife and so, so what I think is cool and interesting. When they take knives down into this smaller format. This is more like an EDC format 3.7 inches, it's almost four inches so it's it's a smaller fixed blade, something that Carry on you every day. I like when they come down into this format that they switch to CPM 154, nice stainless steel. I love 154 whether it's cm or CPM, it's great for sharpening it stays nice and sharp. And you know, it has great corrosion resistance. It's a great steel, it's a great, great steel. It kind of people kind of look sideways at it sometimes because it's, it's a great steel, but it's not the greatest, you know, it's not, it's not your m 390, or your 20 cv. But 154 to me is the most realistic working steel so they have that in this. And of course, as usual, it's got that beautiful bark river knives, convex grind, and it'll come in a variety of handle and bolster materials. Beautiful, beautiful knife. I'd love to get one of these.

Jim Person 7:49
So a couple of makers, manufacturers that we, you know, regularly talk about but it doesn't seem like we've talked about them too much in the last couple of weeks, weeks Mark river that you just talked about, but also bokor and then still steel wheel that we'll get to in a minute so interesting that some knives are constantly in the news somewhat in the news every you know, every you know, just funny how it works out

Bob DeMarco 8:14
well this time of year to you know everyone's release right and right and many of the companies are getting lots of publicity through the knife purveyor videos that you're seeing on YouTube this time of year at the SHOT Show and whatnot. So anyway, I wanted to talk a little bit about steel will they have they have two new knives Well, they have a number of new knives coming out that are just really cool looking and I know recently they've come out with to me seemed a little bit run of the mill and a little bit deadish so I've been I've been talking a little bit of smack about steel will recently but they're 2020 releases are gorgeous. And two of them I want to I want to talk about one of them is the screamer which is a funny name to me. When I was a kid screamer meant something. So this is a three flipper and it's kind of in the mode of the cut jack. It's got a similar handle but a little bit more stylized, it looks a little bit more ergonomic and it's got this beautiful super functional yet aesthetically, you know, challenging and pleasing blade. It's got a subtle harpoon shape on the front to drop point with that with a harpoon. And it's got this really nice looking opening hold that kind of looks like an angry eye to me. But this thing, it's it's D two, it's kind of in the in their their D two line of things, but it's a G 10 handle and Backspacer and though it looks very stylish, when it comes down to the blade and the blade profile, it looks all utility. So yeah, this is the screamer it's definitely one I want to check out. The other one I really want to check out is called the Scylla. And actually it's got to be there. There are two main reasons I want to check it out. I am a longtime lover of the Odyssey. Homer's Odyssey and Silla was was one of the beasts you know celyn character this character this was the Odysseus had a choice. He could he could steer the boat close to care of this was which was a giant Whirlpool monster or close to the cliffs near sillas cave and so it was this giant six headed monster with long necks and and huge teeth and she would shoot her her head out of the her heads out of a cave and grab men off the ship. So silho is just a nasty nasty monster and the new steel will Scylla is a really cool looking sort of looks like the screamer elongated, but the cool part about it is that it has thumb studs that that allow you to wave it out. So it has an elongated Tang that looks kind of like a friction folder. But there are thumb studs at the end of it and it is a locking knife and those thumb studs at the end of that long Tang helped cam out the blade like So it's a, it's a brand new take on the wave feature. It's called the Scylla, which is just cool. And it's a beautiful looking blade in my 3.7 sort of preferred blade area, you know, in terms of size. So I'm really looking forward to those two releases from steel will.

Jim Person 11:17
Sounds good. Well, you know, I think your history teachers would be proud of you, you're probably have to touch base with them and play some excerpts from the podcast to let them know how you've taken their history lessons and teachings with you throughout your life.

Bob DeMarco 11:30
Well you know, and you know what, Jim, it's like, at a certain point, I was tired of reading these stories my daughters liked and since they also like, stories about heroes and monsters, I was like, Hey, I could I could get them into the Odyssey. I just have to have to save them, you know, bring the language to their level and, and so I got back into it that way.

Jim Person 11:49
Alright, what's next another knife you wanna talk about

Bob DeMarco 11:51
next is the bokor Burnley flipper. Lucas Burnley is a you know knife maker of renown that everyone knows and and Boker really his first boker collaboration, I think it was the first. The quakin really sent him into the stratosphere. Lots of people have that knife. It's beautiful, simple and functional. And he's made a number of knives with them and see CRKT and I'm sure other knife makers, as well as his own custom shop. And as I've spoken about on this podcast in the past, he did something called the Burnley 365 project a few years ago, which I attempted to emulate and failed at, but it was a new and new and cool knife design every day drawn in his notebook for 365 days. And so this new Limited Edition bokor Burnley flipper called the 2028 Afex which is a cool name or collection 2028 afex limited to 500 serial numbered pieces is from that is a design from that Burnley 365 project and it's a beautiful 3 point nine inch you know I love those nearly four inch blades 3.9 inch drop drop point blade with on either side these fillers that act as opening holes and inlaid carbon marble carbon fiber just beautifully sculpted titanium handle. It's It looks like a winner to me. So yeah m 390 steel, sort of a neutral neutral handle grip and it comes with a nylon sheath. Yes, you can pop it on your belt a venture thing but you know poker makes a lot of knives and a lot of very attractive knives but I generally kind of don't gravitate towards buying their knives but this one definitely looks like something I'd like to have.

Jim Person 13:38
Sounds like a possible plan.

Bob DeMarco 13:41
Yeah, yeah. Possible plan.

Jim Person 13:44
Are they already open for purchase or something I imagined they would go quick. You know, if it's a five only 500 run.

Bob DeMarco 13:51
That's exactly not only it Not only that, but they will be pricey, you know, and elusive. And so, but it is an attractive looking And who knows maybe maybe that design trickles down stream and it goes into their more you know into the bokor plus line or something that is more affordable. Speaking of affordable

Jim Person 14:10
transitioning from that to benchmade

Bob DeMarco 14:14
speaking of affordable I just have to mention that benchmade is doing another proper gold class and it now I'm not sure what the price is but the last time the price was to me outrageous but this I gotta say is a beautiful looking proper. I do I generally am not a fan of the gold class. As you know I'm not a fan of too many different patterns materials next to each other on a knife. I call it the the Mr. furley effect Mr. furley from Three's Company. He always had these crazy leisure suits with clashing patterns and to me you have Damascus next to mocha tie Next, you know next to carbon fiber and it's like all these different patterns. It's dizzying on the but for some reason this this new proper This class proper looks good to me. And maybe it's because the hardware the screws are 24 karat gold plated and, and it's got Maroon linen. micarta and to me I have no maroon linen mycarta but you know, I love my kartha and I love Maroon so to me that's beautiful. And then it's got this gold golden silver sold mocha tie, bolster. So and then and then it goes into this crazy damn steel. The moon in pattern neck is munion is one of Oden's Raven ravens, so it's like, you know, so anyway, it all looks beautiful together where ordinarily I'd say this is the Mr. furley effect, but but it is gorgeous. And but I'm sure I won't be paying the several hundreds of dollars, they're going to be asking for it.

Jim Person 15:45
Well, gold and Maroon sounds nice. I don't have a picture of it right in front of me, but that that part sounds pretty

Bob DeMarco 15:52
well, I would say if you're a benchmade Gold class collector, this is definitely This is one you would want

Announcer 15:58
and now that we're caught up with knife life news. Let's hear more of The Knife Junkie podcast.

Jim Person 16:04
All right back on the Knife Junkie podcast kind of wrap up there of some of the knife life news if you want to find more news in the knife industry you can go to The Knife Junkie comm slash news The Knife Junkie comm slash news we aggregate feeds from lots of different places where you can catch some up to about 20 different stories at a time curated right there on our web page at The Knife junkie.com slash news. So next segment, if you will next topic bomb that we want to kind of talk about or get you to talk about is is really two part it's the less George VCEP that you got from Singapore. So before you start talking about the knife, how you love it or how you hated whatever. I want to talk about the buying experience because you got this from Singapore. We've heard you talk about this for a couple of weeks. you wondered if you'd ever get it would it really come through kind of walk us through the experience of buying something from from overseas, if you will.

Bob DeMarco 16:57
Okay, well, just right from the start. I have to say My my trepidation in in this buying experience had nothing to do with the seller he was awesome responsive quick you know everything you want out of a out of someone you're buying a knife from online This was on blade forums. You know he sent me the tracking and everything. My misgiving was knowing that this awesome beautiful knife that I just spent you know a pretty penny on. This is the this is a generation one less George V SAP with stonewashed titanium handle that is absolutely gorgeous. And a black CTS xHp blade, you know, PVD coated blade with an incredible incredible mirror polish that the that the previous owner put on this, my trepidation was that this knife was going to be going through many different hands and X ray machines. And, you know, I was worried that that the less virtuous of the custom customs agents or or maybe The Knife Junkie who's an actual junkie sees this on an X ray machine in some airport between here in Singapore and decides it's got to come home with him. So, in in this buying experience, or actually in looking at other ads this guy had put up for, for selling knives. He had mentioned that he was in Singapore and that it takes 12 days Be patient. I was like 12 days, that's not so bad, I can do that. So I bought the knife and he very, you know, responded very quickly with a tracking number for Singapore Air. And so I started tracking its progress. And the progress was slow, going from airport, kind of in the in in Asia. And then I got this the mysterious but the last the last day to timestamp for travel was it said reached its destination country. And that was that I remember that was on the 28th and I was like okay, so that means it's somewhere in America.

Jim Person 18:57
Okay, the 28th of January. Yes,

Bob DeMarco 18:59
yes. 20th of January. And so I thought, wow, okay, so it's, it's in the States, I hope whoever takes over and starts sending me information. And of course they didn't. And so I just sort of was was patient and sort of like trying to be Zen about it like, Hey, man, it's just money. And, you know, I'll wait several weeks before I email the guy back and see if he if he knows anything, you know, I'm pretty I'm pretty cool that way, I guess. But anyway, 12 days later, the thing shows up. So it was actually 12 days in the states to a day and it arrives at my door. Of course, I wasn't at home, so I had to go to the post office the next day to pick it up. So I breathed the sigh of relief and, and just grateful that the thing arrived. But I also had to, you know, had to make myself Remember, you know, most people along the way are just doing their jobs, right? Well, they're just doing their jobs and they're just moving packages. They probably don't have the time where with all or the or the moral latitude to open up packages to see if there's anything you want. So I had to relax myself I remember just relaxing right and the breath Yeah, trust but verify. And so yeah, take a deep breath the thing arrived and oh my gosh, this has been a Grail for me for a long time. And now I know why. I mean it wasn't just how beautiful it looks because it's a beautiful design. And few years back, I picked up the pro tech rockeye auto which is a an affordable version of this knife basically. But this is so beautifully constructed. And this was it's cool to know this is one of the first examples of a midtech Les George was one of the first guys with this with the VCEP to make a midtech knife. So this went through his hands he sharpened it and all the rest and it is beautiful and it is I have to be 100% honest it is a more it is a similar but more pleasing experience to open and close and to have to this knife as my Sebenza and I love my....

Jim Person 21:07
So just describe the night for me.

Bob DeMarco 21:09
Well, it's got a long, longesh neutral handle neutral meaning there's only one finger choil and it's right at the front and then it's got a downward guard. All sculpted in this titanium the titanium is flat with beautiful chamfers and then the blade itself is a swedge drop point with a long thumb ramp that does not curve upward like an Emerson thumb ramp, but extends straight and flat off the spine of the handle about I don't know, half an inch, three quarters of an inch with with nice with six nice, big jimps, big scallops for your thumb. It's very grippy but does not in any way tear up your thumb. Perfect jimping

Jim Person 21:58
and why was this Such a grale night for you, but what was it about it? What is it about it?

Bob DeMarco 22:04
Well, originally it was the look. Everything about this knife is beautiful to me. All the proportions, all the lines, everything about it. And it's also simple and utilitarian. And once I got it in hand in the form of the rockeye auto from Pro tech, I realized really that it feels as good in hand as it looks. And then I always wanted a Les George version of it to have the original because there were so many people when this first came out, that gushed about it on YouTube, they call it the sebenza killer. Is this the sebenza killer? You know, is this the knife that finally dethrones the greatest? And, you know, of course, there's no definitive answer to that it's all subjective, but to me, this knife hits every spot, visually, the way it feels when you open and close it the way it feels when you grip it and use it and yeah This This knife is way, way up there,

Jim Person 23:02
right do that open one more time for us.

Bob DeMarco 23:06
That's open and then it's got this beautiful hydraulic they call it an a hydraulic field that's sort of like you get a little bit of very smooth resistance when you close it due to the My favorite pivot system, which is phosphor bronze washers just get that nice strong grippy feel I love it

Jim Person 23:28
well look for a video on the Knife Junkie YouTube channel soon that Knife junkie.com slash YouTube and be sure to subscribe and click the little bell notification so that you don't miss any of the Knife Junkie his videos go to The Knife Junkie dot com slash Y T subscribe,

Announcer 23:44
follow The Knife Junkie on Instagram at The Knife junkie.com slash Instagram.

Bob DeMarco 23:48
So one last thing, Jim. I just wanted to I just wanted to tell you that last weekend I got the opportunity to go to my barber shop and teach show some barbers A little bit about sharpening blades. And one of our first interview guests on the show, good friend of Kurt Zepeda is transitioning over that way. He's been barbering a couple of times a week just on the weekends. And he wants to make that his encore career someday. And he's been going he's been doing this at the barber shop that I've been going to for a few years, which is full of really very talented barbers. It's the coolest blade. You know, they all have giant beards and lots of tattoos, but they're cutting the hairs of senators and business magnates it's kind of neat. But anyway, you get a wicked haircut there I went there to show them how to sort of strap knives and and show them what I know about sharpening scissors and once I got there I realized these guys man they live by their blades. Their blades happened to be hinged chisel cut chisel edge blades that you know that cut hair, but these guys knew a lot and and I was it ended up Just me kind of showing them how I sharpen knives and blades and what they can do to kind of maintain their, their shears in their razor blades. But it was a very interesting experience we've had, you know, we had super steel Steve on and he's another man who lives by his blades. He's a chef, you know. And so he has real life experience with the performance of different steals and different edges and different blades and different, you know, and how it, how it works for him in his career. And here I'm surrounded by barbers this past weekend. And it's a totally different kind of blade. You know, the scissors I just don't think of them often. But they all had their sweet Japanese and German shears that costs the same amount as a Hinderer, you know? And we were we were just waxing poetic about steals and edges and blades and that kind of thing. It was really such a cool experience.

Jim Person 25:52
Did they were they able to teach you some things as well?

Bob DeMarco 25:55
Yes, they were. Yes, they were indeed. You know, I got to seize up close. get to see some of their shares and some of the most impressive ones were hollow ground on the inside it was so cool I I have a couple of pair of barber shears one of them has got to be 50 years old and they're just gnarled up and the other is a cheap pair that I got a few years back you know so so some of the some of the shares these guys have ridges man they're gorgeous and they haven't sharpened they have a guy who comes by and puts beautiful edges on them I was inspecting their their edges and realized they don't they don't have stand to learn much from me but

Jim Person 26:33
it was just kind of cool experience to talk knives and sharpening Yeah, well and like said they like super steel Steve that you mentioned which was Episode Number 80 of the Knife Junkie podcast if you want to hear that you missed it The Knife Junkie dot com slash eight zero like I said he and they barbers live by their their knives, their shares their scissors and razors. Right, right. You get a haircut while you're there.

Bob DeMarco 26:59
I didn't. But a missed opportunity. I will be I will be going back for one. Yeah. And they do great beard trims do and you ever get a straight razor shave Jim?

Jim Person 27:09
No, I have not. I mean I used to use I used to use a an actual razor when I shave but I'd never got one at the barbershop now.

Bob DeMarco 27:17
So sometime it's definitely worth the the experience. It's, as you know, right now in the winter, I have a beard but when it comes off in the spring, which I do every year, I'm going to go there and we're going to have them take it off because I love a straight razor shave. But I haven't had one at this place yet. So look forward to that

Jim Person 27:35
something on the bucket list. Yep. All right. Hey, I think that's gonna about wrap it up for us here on this week's episode of The Knife Junkie podcast. If you want to visit our friends at knife magazine. com you can see the list of upcoming knife shows and things that you want to visit. Don't forget blade show is coming up this summer and I just saw an email. what this past week or so about dates that tickets were going to go on sale so stay tuned lots of stuff going to be happening at blade this year.

Bob DeMarco 28:05
Well we're going to be there Jim and we're going to be wandering around meeting all the people in person that we've talked to on this podcast and and meeting others. I'm so looking forward to it. Because everyone I've met on this show has just been cool in their own way. And we've had great conversations. And it's been such a great experience for me. I look forward to actually shaking their hands and looking at their knives in person and, and, you know, I'm going to have to buy one at least one knife while I'm there.

Jim Person 28:31
Now there you heard it, folks. At least one. Start saving your shekels. Yeah, that's right. All right. That's it for this week the midweek Episode Number 87 of the Knife Junkie podcast we so much appreciate you listening. And if you are not subscribed yet and you happen to have been referred this podcast from a friend or you just found us please it means the world to us if you would subscribe. Leave us a rating and a review. Let us know what you like what you don't like give us some criticism, some feedback. We'd love for you to subscribe and rate and review the podcast so for Bob The Knife Junkie DeMarco I'm Jim the knife newbie person. Thanks for listening

Announcer 29:08
thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast If you enjoyed the show please rate and review it review the podcast calm for show notes for today's episode additional resources and to listen to past episodes visit our website The Knife Junkie calm you can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at The Knife Junkie comm slash YouTube check out some great night photos on The Knife Junkie comm slash Instagram and join our Facebook group but The Knife Junkie calm slash Facebook and if you have a question or comment email them to Bob at The Knife Junkie calm or call our 24 seven listener line at 724-466-4487 and you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie podcast