Knives With The Best Bang For The Buck Under $60 - The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 369)
Copyright 2022, Bob Demarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

[0:00] Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast, the place for blade lovers to learn about knives and hear from the makers, reviewers and manufacturers that make the knife world go round. I'm Bob DiMarco and
coming up we're going to take a look at a new CRKT in knife life news. We will take a look at a couple of new Bowies I have and then best bang for your buck under 60 bucks. Welcome to the,
Knife Junkie podcast, your wiggly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the Knife Junkie DiMarco.
Welcome back to the show. My favorite comment from this past week came from Red Asterchan, who was commenting on a short I did, a YouTube short I did, on the Black Mule Bowie. He says,
Also, he says bark river and three CR in the same vid you rock Bob Well, of course, I love hearing that I rock so I'll never never not love that but also.

[1:04] It kind of this comment embodies the spirit of the knife junkie channel in general and I guess it's apparent because it's in the name junkie. I like it all,
from the super expensive bark river knives that shining mountain Bowie to its It's $25 analog from Rough Ride or the Black Neal Bowie.
I love them both and they were both appearing in the same video. And basically I was saying, if you can't afford, can't find or don't want to get a Bark River Shining Mountain Bowie,
but you like the shape and you're just a little bit fascinated, spend 25 bucks and you get a three CR blade that you can bang on all day long.
And I did more of that this past weekend, which you'll see, you'll hear detailed and you can read in the newsletter.
But I took a bunch of these blades out and thumped on them in the backyard on an epic, beautiful afternoon that I had all to myself.

[1:59] But anyway, all that being said, thank you RedAstroChan for your comment. Thanks everyone, one and all, for watching the videos on YouTube and commenting and being a part of the channel. It's greatly appreciated.
Now I think it's time for a pocket check. Today's carry was both one of my favorite EDCs these days. I gotta use the other hand because I really butchered this finger.

[2:27] One of my favorite EDCs these days and it's also an ESK, a perfect emotional support knife because it has such great fidget factor here.
But this is the Kaiser Begleiter XL. first came out as an exclusive to White Mountain Knives when it was in the tan. I believe it was Canvas micarta.

[2:51] Or maybe linen like this. So that was the initial run. It sold out pretty quickly and people were loving that knife. A four inch Kaiser button lock, the glider, I felt like a fool for missing out on.
Finally they came back out with this red one in addition to tan and a couple of G10 flavors over on White Mountain Knives and now it is a staple in the in the Kaiser lineup.
So I guess they started as an exclusive.
I think that's a cool way to do it.
Roll it out exclusively for one company, White Mountain Knives, and then eventually release it to all the purveyors.
Great knife by the way. This is 154 cm. full height, almost a full height flat grind. Beautiful swedge up front. I love the shape of
this blade. I generally tend to be kind of lukewarm about most drop points. This one is excellent. I just used this for something. I should have cleaned it. Sorry about that. But just really stellar
action on this thing. Whether you are using that awesome low profile flipper tab or flicking it it with the thumb or the middle finger. Just a great knife and large and capable, no doubt.

[4:14] Also on me today, I had the Jack Wolf knives, cyborg Jack, the new cyborg Jack. This thing is awesome. And, you know, at first when it came out, it's like, oh, that handle, it's so, you know, it's so scandalously angular.
And, God, man, it is really comfortable. That's one thing I got to keep coming back to with the Jack Wolf knives is the ergonomics are outstanding on all of them.
And a few of them a an absolute highlight. blades. This knife being one of them, I would say the gun stock jack and the canine jack.
Three knives where the ergonomics are shining stars. Not just something you use to hold onto that you're not really thinking about because you're thinking about the blade. You're.

[5:02] Thinking about the ergonomics on these just because it almost feels better to have it in your hand than not. So really cool design and turns out to be a very useful ergonomic,
design as well as unique. I like this this little swoop here. It's very subtle but there's,
a swoop where the thumb rests naturally there and man what a great knife this is. So double micarta as I'm looking at it. Actually it's about to be triple micarta because on my waistband,
in the three o'clock position in my waistband was the knife that I'm just not without anymore these days. This is the hog tooth knife ruffian and I'm going to show it to you in the sheets because the sheet is awesome. Part of the reason why I can carry it all the time. This.

[5:48] Is about on the outer limits of what I can comfortably carry in the waistband for a fixed blade that I have carried larger but just not consistently because I'm fussing with it all day. This is about as large as I can go without having to fuss. And what is this?
This is a, I keep forgetting, four and a half inch blade.
154 cm hollow ground. You got an acid stone wash on it. This is a custom. Now, I often will call things that are handmade custom and oftentimes they are, but this one is
custom to me. I was in his shop and he's like, and I saw a couple of blanks for this model,
his ruffian laying around. I'm like, God, I love this thing. I think I'll order one for my birthday.
So we looked through his G10 and his liners and I selected those.

[6:41] Whereas my other custom hog tooth, I'm not talking about the big build, but the one that the tanto that was one that he had already made and I loved and selected.
But this one was soup to nuts, a custom knife, incredibly sharp, incredibly ergonomic and just awesome. I attempted one video this past week which I might post where I tried to
do a comma cut with this, a C cut, in a small watermelon that's on top of a little 4x4. So when I say attempt I did it, I slashed it but it didn't stay there.
It dropped and the whole thing cracked open so I couldn't really show off the power of that that kind of cut that I was trying to do. Anyway this thing is,
insanely sharp. On the day I was doing a bunch of wood processing to test out my budget bowie knives. I took that out and used it for feather sticking because I started a fire and it was burning papers and all that stuff. And like its cousin, the Tonto, the hog tooth Tonto,
this thing is so sharp it may just
Curly cues that that stayed on the board on the piece of wood with zero effort amazing knife and Yeah, love that thing carry it all the time and then lastly I I did have an esk on me today for emotional support I had the baby,
Rhino by off-grid knives. I love showing this thing off people love this thing.

[8:09] But what a great knife to use to because.

[8:13] They maintain the thickness of the original much larger Rhino and even though this is a three finger knife that fatness in handle the width of the handle,
really gives you good control over this knife. Also they put a row of jimping on the downslope forward downslope of the of the blade and I love it there that's,
really awesome I actually think it would be good on the big big model too but,
But that jimping there and the width of the handle plus the ergonomics, the profile of the handle make this a super steady in hand small, small blade.
This was featured last week in the tiny knives episode.
So this is what I had on me today. The Beglider XL by Kaiser, the Cyborg Jack by Jack Wolf Knives, the Ruffian by Hogtooth Knives and the Baby Rhino by Off-Grid Knives.
You know, do I need them all?
So I had them. Luckily I wasn't under knifed today. Now what did you carry? Let me know. Drop it in the comments below. I always love to hear what you guys are carrying.

[9:20] It's funny, I'll get some comments that are just knives. And that's the international language. You can just say Crooked River. And I'm like, man, I know all about you and I love you. So drop it in the comments below.
Below. All right, next up I want to talk about the Gentlemen Junkie Knife Giveaway tomorrow night on Thursday Night Knives at 10 p.m. Eastern, right here, Eastern Standard Time and right here on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch. This is what we're giving away. What an awesome, beautiful knife.
This is the Max Ace. I love Max Ace, I'll tell you why in a sec. This is the Max Ace Balance K.

[9:59] This is a knife that was donated to the channel by our good friend Dave, This Old Sword Blade reviews go check out his channel for just amazing stuff and now he's he's going heavy into the into the custom fixed blades and he's got some serious eye candy on his channel so please go check him out.

[10:15] But this balance k is an awesome knife it this is their k 110 steel it's analogous to d2 steel and contoured and sculpted g10 with amazing liner lock action which i can even do with this nasty,
Cut up finger hair.
What I love about this company is that you can have this knife, you can purchase this knife for less than $100. Or if you really like this design, you can get a titanium version that's like super sculpted with super steel blade and titanium frame lock.

[10:53] I really like how Maxase has these unique designs and they dress them to the nines and then they will also take them down to G10 and K110. This is a great work knife and I think it's extremely stylish. It's got a full height flat grind.
I think it's going to cut for years and years because it feels like paper thin. it feels paper thin, you're going to be able to sharpen all the way up that sharpening notch,
and get years of life out of this knife. So this is the Gentleman Junkie Knife Giveaway this month.
Be sure to go over to Patreon and check us out. We have three levels of support, you know, and the top level of support, you're a Gentleman Junkie, there's Traditional Junkie, and there is
Tactical Junkie. At the Gentleman Junkie level, you get entered into automatically into a monthly knife giveaway. It's always fun. All right, lastly, I want to bring this up. I wanted to make a video of it, but we've had the flu in the house and a lot of things getting in the way of making a video.

[11:58] So I want to feature this here. This is a letter from the great and powerful Ben Belkin of Jack Wolf Knives. He sent this to my daughters in response to the unboxing videos I've had.
I've unboxed, done a bunch of unboxing videos of the Jack Wolf knives and every time my daughters are present, can we have the sticker?
Please, can I have the sticker? And I'm like, no, that's part of the whole package. You know, Jack Wolf knives packaging is an experience and you take away the sticker in removing part of the experience.
And so I kept saying no. And people were saying I was being a stingy old fart and a curmudgeon and I had to let them have these stickers.
What are you going to do with this sticker old man? It's like it's none of your business what I'm gonna do. So I'm leaving it where it belongs in the tube. So Ben Gentlemen that he is,
Reached out to my girls with this Bob DiMarco attention daughters from jack wolf knives,
Check this out. He sent a whole bunch. He sent two of each sticker.

[13:04] Some of them half of them have already been harvested out. But look at this. This is this is cool. Dear Bob's daughters I hope you enjoy these stickers. Now you can be cool like your dad. Sincerely, Uncle Ben, Jack Wolf Knives.

[13:18] I love that. Ben, thank you so much. My girls were so thrilled, A, to get a letter in the mail this day and age. And then B, I said, look at the return address.
I'm like, it says, do not bend. You know what these are? And they freaked. So they are going to be making you something in return and it will be back in the mail, headed towards you.
But thank you so much. Now I don't have to hear it from them.
And I really appreciate it. It also looks like it might be some clues in here as to what's next.
So I'm very much looking forward to that.
Ben, thank you so much, not only for your amazing knives and jack-wolf knives, but also for taking the extra time to make the day of a couple of little girls over here in Virginia.
Alrighty, sir. And one and all, still to come on the Knife Junkie Podcast. We're going to take a look at a couple of new knives, one from CRKT that looks really cool, one named after my dog and then we're going to do the state of collection and then of course.

[14:18] Bang for your buck under 60 bucks right here on the Knife Junkie Podcast. If you're a knife junkie you're always in the market for a new knife and we've got you covered. For the latest weekly knife
deals be sure to visit theknifejunkie.com slash knives through our special affiliate relationships we bring you weekly knife specials on your favorite knives help support the show and save money on a
new knife. Shop at theknifejunkie.com slash knives. That's theknifejunkie.com slash knives.
You're listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast and now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News.
Columbia River Knife and Tool, CRKT, some call it Cricket, came out a couple years ago, started a series of knives called Forged by War and they are knives designed by veterans of the United States
armed forces, combat vets who have interest in knives, obviously. Some of them knife makers,
some of them designers, and have designed, they have started a line of knives from these, these.

[15:25] Veterans. And this one, this new one is cool because it's a large folder and it's got VEF serrations and it looks built for speed. It's also cool because it's called the Taco Viper.
And I just, I love it. I love the name Taco Viper. And I knew it had to be some sort of inside joke, and we'll get to that in a second.
But this is a 4.2 inch blade. It's D2.
Coated, it's 4-1, wait, what is this steel? I need to look it up. I can never remember. It's 1.4116 steel, and I know Cold Steel has used that on some of their budget knives. That's an entry-level stainless steel.
In this case coated, goes into this really nice GRN handle. I love the shape of that handle. And it's a big, big knife.

[16:17] Taco Viper. Taco Viper is an inside joke. The gentleman who designed this. So, okay, before I get to that, this guy Antonio Rodriguez, the designer of this, is the son of Michael Rodriguez,
who is also a vet and designed two knives for CRT's Forged by War lineup.
So this is kind of a cool thing too. Father and then son, and he's designing this cool knife.
So, built for combat, built for this kind of hard, hard use. And Taco Viper, finally.
So he was a member of the 82nd Airborne and they would have Taco Tuesdays and then these snakes would come in and kind of clean up the leftovers. So they called them Taco Vipers.
And that's what this is named after. And I love it. sure it's a really cool story when told by Antonio himself.

[17:13] But cool story, cool background, and man, that's a hell of a cool knife. I love the gear pattern, the gear pattern jimping on top, on the top of the spine of the blade and at the back.
And I love the VEF serrations. Usually you see them larger and in threes, in this case, they're a little bit smaller and there are four of them. Just looks like a wicked knife.

[17:34] Again, as something I say about CRKT all the time, this also looks like it would be a great knife in higher end materials, you know?
Maybe they could take a cue from MaxAce and do both. I think CRKT, I don't know, they seem to have a lot of capacity. So it'd be cool to see high end.
They were dabbling, they were flirting with it for a while, the high end knives, but they went a little too close to the sun,
because their high end knives were ridiculously expensive not the kind of price people want to pay for a CRKT at least right away. You know, you gotta wine me and dine me a little bit, get me warmed up before I'm gonna pay that much. But who knows,
a $200 version of this in titanium and M390 made in the United States, that'd be cool.
Anyway, just a thought. All right, next up, speaking of cool, this DAW at this next knife is named after our dog, Argus. We have a dog. He's an awesome dog. His name is Argus, but we call him
Margot, which just kind of rolls off the tongue easier. But Argus is his birth name, the name on his certificate. I don't think he had one. But anyway, named after Odysseus's dog, the
most loyal dog, you know, the quintessential loyal dog who waits around for 20 years for his master to return from first the sack of Troy and then 10 years of mishaps put on him,
by Poseidon trying to get home.
And then he sees his master walk through the door.

[19:01] Disguised by a god, Athena disguises him as an old wretch, but still the dog Argus recognizes him, stands up on his pile of filth, wags his tail once, and collapses in a heap of bones and skin.
I love that story and so that's why we named our dog Argus and that is the long setup for this new knife from Fox from their black sable line, that's their budget line, but man this thing is beautiful.
From Russian designer Grigory Matveev. I'm not sure how to pronounce Russian.

[19:39] This thing is beautiful. It has a just north of 3.5 inch blade which is, you know, now we're talking my love language here and it's got like, it's got this
drop point that is definitely kind of, what do you want to say, kind of Warren cliffy but very pointy and pokey while keeping that point low down for utility cuts. So it looks
like it's an all-arounder type blade. Comes in G10 in this beautiful olive wood and I don't know what the cost is but no doubt it will be on the more affordable side of things due to the line
that it's coming out in but I just I have to say I think it's a beautiful knife and there is a there is a a sort of design language that you can see from different cultures and to me this looks like a Russian knife it just does and and I don't know if I would think that if I didn't know.

[20:42] The designer's name but it just looks beautiful I love the lines of it so anyway the new Argus folder appealing in so many ways on the way from Fox, the black label, a black sable label.
Alright, still to come on the Knife Junkie Podcast, we're going to take a look at the state of the collection.
There are a couple of knives on loan that are really cool and then one that I got that I now own because it has tasted my blood.
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And now that we're caught up with knife life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.
One of the knives I was dumping on this past weekend to see, you know, because here's how it works with me. If it's something that's affordable to me, I will take it out and,
I don't want to say abuse it, but use it harder. Slam it into wood and that kind of thing.

[22:05] If it's a little bit more expensive and probably because it's got better materials and technically might be more capable, I'm a little more iffy about taking them out and pumping on them.
Anyway, this one falls in the former category and I've been wanting this knife for years and years. This is the Raider Bowie, the SP10 by Ontario Knife and Tool. And I'm glad I waited because,
I think in the time that I first spotted this and now, I think they have upgraded the sheath.

[22:37] This sheath is pretty nice for a nylon sheath. It has a very, very stout plastic lining that I cannot squeeze and yeah I can't really squeeze it and make it touch the blade.
It's a very stout inner lining, a very nice Cordura style.

[22:56] Outer with a, what's this called? A molly loop system here so you can attach it to your molly gear. You also have a belt loop here. And then you have two retention straps which I appreciate actually.
You have this one here that is, that can be removed and can also be.

[23:17] Adjusted. You can make it wider. Say you wrap your your handle in tape. Some people like to wrap it an athletic tape or something like that or say you even change the handle out, you can make a,
bigger strap which is kind of cool. And then you have this strap which I really like because.

[23:35] I'm a fan of this kind of retention, the strap that goes over the guard more than the one that goes around the handle. And this one you can switch from place to place. So naturally you're going to want this on the spine side of the blade so that it doesn't cut as you remove it.
But if you choose to orient your blade in the other direction, you can slide this over and have it on the spine side with the knife oriented in the opposite direction. All right. Enough about this beautiful sheet. It really is beautiful. And I got to say, I like the white stitching.
It's like it looks like my seats and, you know, my Lamborghini, you know, with the stitching.

[24:14] OK, so here is the knife. Oh, my God, this thing is beautiful. It's beautiful.
And in case, in case there's any doubt, I do not drive a Lamborghini.
So as you can see, I have taken this out. I have thumped on it, meaning I've batoned this through a bunch of hardened kiln dried wood.
And it did beautifully. It has a saber grind. So it's a flat grind that comes halfway up the blade.
So it was a nice sort of wedge like action and not so much up here for it to get hung up on.

[24:50] And then this coating feels a bit like black traction coating, but I think it is not as good.
It has begun to smooth and then even come off here a little bit, you can see the blade steel through the coating. Now the tops, I think, will last a little bit longer, but tops are more expensive knives.
Anyway, this is a 1095 blade steel. I love 1095, it is tough, it gets sharp, it's easy to sharpen.

[25:22] It's just a great all-around blade steel but being high carbon it is prone to rust so so a coated blade is is the way to go. I do look forward to kind of just through use,
removing some of this coating. I've seen other people's knives if you look at Scabs Ontario or,
Nut and Fancy's SP10 they're all you know all of the coating much of the coating is worn away and and it just looks cool.
You have a traditional sort of raider style blade.
You see that in the V44 Bark River. You see it in the Western 49 or the Western Bowie say by Cold Steel.
It's this style of very curved clip with a widening towards the tip belly.
This is a take on the Marine Corps knife that was used a lot in the South Pacific, was it?
You have a big swedge and a thinly ground swedge, which is pretty devastating. You don't need this to be sharp to be able to do some gouging and break bones and tear with this kind of a swedge.

[26:43] Down here, if you're using this in combat, down here you have a really nice oval guard that extends not only north and south but east and west.
So that if you are thrusting or if you have... it just gives you a little extra garbage on the sides here.
It's very nice. And then a thick rubber handle.
Handle is in cross section it's curved on the bottom and kind of flat on the top. So you always know which way it's oriented and it's not going to twist in your hand. I mean I was chopping down,
trying to with one blow chop through some wood and I wasn't successful at any point but it never,
turned in my hand. It had a very firm grip and then the the rubber is kind of grippy and rubbery.
You got this great little bird's beak on the back. Just an awesome knife. Just a great, great knife.

[27:42] In terms of the rest of my Bowies, I would consider this, even though it's kind of set up like a fighter, to me it's a little too heavy for that and the handle is a little thick for that.
But what a great outdoor outdoors knife this would be a great survival knife to have on you.

[28:00] All right, so that is the SP-10 that will show up later. Also, to show off, these are two knives on loan from Skookum Danger. Thank you so much Skookum Danger. These things are,
phenomenally beautiful. So these are the work of two gentlemen who have been on the show somewhat recently. They are designed by James Williams. These are the Hira Zucuri Japanese fighting knives,
a 5.75 inch and a 9 inch designed by James Williams and these are produced by Winkler Knives.

[28:45] And we had Daniel Winkler on recently. Two great guys working together making these incredible knives. Okay, so what are these? These are traditional Japanese style fighting knives.

[28:59] I want to call them Tantos, but they're not. They're heroes of curry. So they both come in these really beautiful molded leather sheets. They are hard. You are not squeezing these and touching.
I mean, I guess you could really power that close, but they're lined with felt.

[29:21] It must be felt. They're lined very soft. They make no noise when removed, and that is by design. That is the sound they make. Listen.

[29:34] Now that's right up to a microphone, but if you're sneaking up on someone and you pull that out, it's not going to be... it's not going to be heard. And that's what these are for. I mean, I mean, these are fighting knives.
Fighting knives. I mean, okay, so and then here's the big one.
This is black leather, beautiful. These sheaves are amazing, by the way. I'm surprised, no, you don't see more of this.

[29:58] Wow, look at this thing, oh my gosh. So you see on the Micarta handles, they have Xs milled into the sides, into the flats of the handle.
Those are for gription, and of course, the shape is evocative of the wrap.
Traditional Sukamaki wrap on a traditional Japanese knife or sword.

[30:19] And the same thing for the jimping on the side. You have this big gear jimping on the sides at the top and the, the dorsal and pectoral sides of the handle.
And they look like the cord wrap, but also they just give you all of that grip you want.
These knives have no guard, but are definitely point oriented, thrusting oriented knives and I asked James Williams when he was on the show.

[30:45] You know, why on such a thrusty knife do you not have any guard? And he said, it's the handle design and the blade design.
You know, the design of the knife does not necessitate it.
Just look at the tip of this. If you're watching, you'll see that this curved blade is just long and very, very thin and comes to an extremely acute point.
But when you pop it on its top, you can see it's reinforced well all the way to the tip. This is not, you know, one I would want to drop on the floor tip first, but it has a very well reinforced tip and it is extremely sharp.
And then down on the handle you have all of this gripping, be it that jimping or these X's. And then the shape of the handle swells a little bit towards the
So it gives you great purchase. Also it's designed to nestle into the palm of the hand as well.
Or in a reverse grip you have all of this wonderful jimping up top. jumping up top. So this this knife does not these knives this big one is kind of hard for me to maneuver. I'll use the small one.

[31:59] These knives are just do not need much. They do not need the guard. They have this super powerful blade. This one, this five and a half inches even more stout seems to me. CRKT makes a version for,
about 125 bucks, I believe, of the Hiro Zakuri. They look, I think it's a size in between these two.

[32:22] But it looks very much like these and I believe it's black coated. Obviously it's not the same kind of knife. These are $500 Winkler made knives and but if you like that shape, you like the spirit
of these knives, you can get it in the CRKT Hirozakuri. But also they make all these other James Williams knives that can be had like the Hisatsu. That's the one I have. I love that knife,
and then all the different sizes of that and then the little folders. So a lot of James Williams knives out there and James Williams designs but if you want the most premium you seek these out.
Now these are sold out on the you know they're sold out so you have to find it on the secondary at this point and I'm just holding this five and a half inch in my hand right now and man it feels
amazing. It really feels amazing. I talk about this a lot about how the pommel needs a good landing spot for the thumb on a knife that's going to be used for fighting. That is perfect.
You got two big jimps up there and a crown, something to wrap your thumb around. This knife is amazing.

[33:30] Thank you so much Skookum Danger for exposing me to these. I've gawked at them from afar for a long time and it's amazing to have them in hand. I will be doing my videos and then,
I will get them back to you post-haste. I wouldn't want these gone for long if they they were mine. Oh, the micarta on the other one is really nice black, but I love this.
This looks so cool in the burlap micarta.

[33:56] It just somehow seems to fit the theme of the knife. I don't know how. This thing is amazing. And these sheaths also outstanding.

[34:07] Okay, lastly, this one is on loan from Jock of Jock's Knives. I forgot to mention that earlier in my notes, but yes, this is a beautiful knife. You know, Jock of Jock's Knives,
following him on Instagram for beautiful pictures. He's over in the UK and he will,
buy knives and then I'll check them out and then I'll send them over to him. He,
has them drop shipped to me and I always love it when I see a box from Emerson because I always know. Well I didn't order it A and B it's like some cool surprise for me to check out. This is the Ski and Doo. I think that's how it's,
pronounced. And it looks like Sigeon Dub basically, Sigeon Dub.
It's a small knife that small Scottish sock knife, I think is how you might describe it. But you know, when you see men in kilts,
and they have the knife at the top of their tall sock. This is a version of that. And it's set up for neck carry that this beautiful sheath here of leather with the embossed Emerson logo on it. Very nice.
And then here is the blade. So you have this beautiful sort of...

[35:28] What do you call this? Knotwork? Gaelic knotwork? Or something that's sort of... pattern... I don't know. I feel like I've seen it on tattoos and intuitively I know that that's sort of.

[35:42] Scottish, but I just don't know why. But it looks very evocative of that. You've got this cool jimping all the way down the spine and of course with this hole and these two holes you are set,
up to do some sort of cool leather cord wrap or if this were mine I would do a leather cord wrap or you could do flattened paracord or round paracord you just have to make sure that it.

[36:09] It fits in the sheath. This is a friction fit I was wondering if it had a magnet in it like sometimes you see neck knives from bark river knives they'll put a magnet in there so if it's hanging upside
down. It's not relying completely on friction. This one relies completely on friction. Very,
very nice knife. If this were mine, I think it'd be worth trying out taking off the chain,
and just having this be a back pocket knife or a front pocket knife. Depending where you are, you don't want to necessarily present a knife to the world on your backside that they could just,
pull right out and thrust into your back. But I do really like this this thing. I love Emerson knives as you know and then these quirky little side projects. The little knives and all that kind of stuff. I just love this. You can tell goes in deeper but I'm not going to be the one who,
who does that. That's for Jack to do. Very, very nice knife. Thank you Jack for letting me check this out it's greatly appreciated. Alright so let's get to the the main thrust here and,
And that is best bang for your buck under 60 bucks.

[37:24] This knife, the Rough Rider Black Mule Bowie, you have seen right here a bunch of times in the past couple of weeks. I got this, as you know I've been in a bowie phase and I bought a couple of $100 bowies and I was like,
I can't just be in a bowie phase and just spending a lot of money.
So what else is there? And I looked up, I went on to see, on to Smokey Mountain Knife Works and found the Black Mule Bowie And then I did a bunch of online research, meaning watched all of the Donnie Be All Day videos and Pistol Pete videos and,
and Choir Boys videos on this and was convinced and I got it.
And man, this is about the best 25 bucks you can spend on a fixed blade.
It is full tang. I know that from watching Pistol Pete's video. He took the handle off and the tang goes all the way down.
You've got this rubber grip that really absorbs energy and shock because this is the kind of knife you're not going to be shy about slamming into stuff. This is a 3 CR 13 blade. That's right. 3 CR 13.
I gotta say, perfectly ground. Really, really, really nicely ground. Symmetrical on both sides. just the main bevels, but the edge.

[38:50] And I don't know, but they, he treated the, the living daylights out of this thing. And whatever they did, they did right.
Because with, this is three CR 13 MOV.
And I think I'm making a faulty assumption that it's five worse than eight CR. I just think it's different. Less chromium, does that make it tougher? I don't know.

[39:12] But this thing is, came very sharp. became paper slice and sharp and has done a lot of duty and with wood, it's slammed through a lot of wood and batoning and just kind of trying to dull it.
And it is still paper slice and sharp. This thing is really...

[39:31] Really bang for your buck. Nine inch bowie. Looks great and I gotta tell you, and I'm telling you right now, it performs awesome. It does. If I had the guts to do what I was doing to this to my Bark River knife, I'd be able to tell you how much, how it compares.
But like I said, I spent a lot of money on that knife and I don't want to damage it. And I'm afraid. And I'm sure it can handle it. But I'm sure I can replace this for 25 bucks if this one doesn't.

[40:01] You know do all this the dumb stuff. I wanted to whereas that shining mountain bowie. I can't replace so.

[40:07] There you go first up black mule bowie highly recommend it Next up bang for your buck. This is one that we see a million different iterations of now,
but this is the original flavor this is the the QSP Penguin and it can be had for 32 bucks in this very appealing dress.
This is D2 blade steel, very, very nicely flat ground, comes to a great and very sharp edge.
Again, a very, I'm saying very a lot, again, a consistent edge on both sides, just evenly ground on both sides and very nicely done. This one has the denim micarta.
Love this denim micarta.

[40:51] Reminds me of the denim a train engineer wears. And you've got a steel liner lock in there.
Deep terry pocket clip. Very, very nice. It's got the button screws. I'm not sure if they changed that on the more recent iterations.

[41:06] Yes, like actually I think I can be because I have one over there, but I didn't check. And that blade length is in most people's wheelhouse just under 3.25 inches.

[41:23] Oh, that's right. Wait, sorry. I'm terrible at measuring one, two, three. Yeah, it's about three and a quarter inches. It's not that I'm terrible at measuring. I get stage fright with any sort of math in front of y'all. So you're like, Bob, that's not math. That's simple counting. Yes. Well,
keep it to yourself. Nice jumping on top. Really great terrorist thumb studs for 32 bucks. The QSP penguin is very, very hard to beat for an everyday carry utility knife.
Plus that shape, you know, that sheep's foot shape is so good for utility and, you know, pull cuts and all that kind of, those kind of cuts where you want that point low.
And it's kind of non-threatening looking, you know.

[42:08] And now it's coming in a million different flavors. So larger and smaller than this.
And like I said you just can get it in any way you want it.
QSP Pen. All right, next up is the DTS knives. This is the HK5.
This is a $32 knife. I'll show it in the sheath because the sheath is sumptuous.
It is a beautiful, thick grain leather sheath with that white stitching.
It feels good in the hand. I'd love to have a leather jacket made of this leather And it would take like a lifetime to break in because it's so thick, but it would be the coolest ever.

[42:50] But okay, so this sheet is awesome, even with the dangler and I'm not a dangler kind of guy, but I had this on my belt, just tooling around this past weekend because I wanted to try this one out again.
I had used it once before, before I did my closeup review on it, but I wanted to do more.
And what I used this for yesterday, This is a beautifully Scandi ground 1066, 1085 or something.

[43:19] It's a high carbon steel. I just can't read it. Sonny, can you read this for me? Scandi ground blade, this thing, I used it to carve the handle of a baton.
I was using a piece of hardwood to baton the other hardwood and it was just, you know, kind of shred in the hand or just uncomfortable on the hand.
And yes, I could have used gloves, but I chose to take this out and carve a nice round handle for me to grip on the baton. And this is so wickedly sharp.
BPS, it's a father and son team out of Ukraine making these knives. You can buy them on.

[43:56] You can get them from the website, but you can also get them on Amazon. Really comfortable ergonomic handle.

[44:04] A 90 degree spine, which is not very comfortable when you're putting your thumb there ungloved, but that 90 degree spine is for throwing sparks and stuff like that.

[44:15] The unfinished handle is very comfortable, but now that I've done some... I've shown it off and all that, I think I'm going to stain it.
Do it, make it maroon or something, just give it a nice color. For 37 or 32 bucks, this thing is a tremendous outdoor knife. It has not dulled through a bunch of carving. It feels like it
hasn't dulled anyway. I haven't really tested, but it's still like carving like nothing. And,
and I have full confidence in this knife as a, you know, I've been thinking recently I need to get a Mora,
but with this, I'm not a real woods crafty guy and this covers me and covers my Mora front, I believe.
All right, next up in best bang for the buck here, I could have so many more Cold Steels, I only have two in this list, but this one is the SRK.
This is a classic and really deserves to be on this menu here. Now I looked up last night what the cost of this one is, thinking it was going to be around 40 bucks.
This is the SK5 version. That's the, you know, the less...

[45:31] It's the entry level steel version. SK5 is a carbon steel. They have this nicely coated.
But you can get this in their 3V for much more. And I think there are some other intermediate steels that you can...
That... That they made the SRK and that are still available. But mostly it's this, the low end or the high end.
I believe that there is a San Mai in the middle, that's what it is.

[45:56] But this is a classic 6 inch clip point knife. They've been making this for years and years. And SRK stands for Survival Rescue Knife. It's just a great...
A great knife to have on you. Like whenever but if something goes wrong and you have this you are sight Because it's a do-everything knife if you need it to be defensive It can be defensive if you need it to baton through wood,
It is more than capable of doing that though. It is somewhat thin,
Or not somewhat thin but somewhat short.

[46:30] That was it's inches. Yeah.

[46:33] If you need it to be defensive it's got a zero ground swedge and and excellent, you know.
It's basically like a dagger at the point. So this thing is definitely a do-all knife.
You've got the Coke bottle shaped handle of Grivory. So very grippy handle.
Also, you know, it's never my first choice. I'd always prefer wood or bone or some cool material, you know, even stacked leather on a fixed blade handle.
But these rubberized handles are great for actual work because they absorb so much shock.
It can be rattling to have a wooden handle bowie that you're chopping or even just a machete that you're chopping into wood and it starts to rattle the hand.
So to have this, uh, Grivory is great not only for grip, but for that shock absorption.
You got a nice, uh, single Quillion here, single Quillion guard. So you're not going to slide up on a thrust, but you have all the clearance to put your thumb back here to do the kind of work you're probably going to be doing with this SRK.
So this one can be had for 37 bucks. That's high carbon SK 5 carbon V. I'm sorry. This is carbon V not SK 5.

[47:49] I think SK 5 is a blade steel they used a while ago. So check this one out. It's a great one just to have. You know, I always talk about the K bar as being like that that fixed blade knife you need to have if you're not a fixed blade guy.
If not the K-Bar, definitely the SRK.

[48:06] Next up in bang for your buck is the Kubi Flash. Man, Kubi knives, you could put any number of Kubis on this list, but this is the one that has really proven Kubi to me.
I got this one because I wanted to try out the brand and or something larger from the brand.
I had a smaller, the smaller Vagamon, Vagrant. I can't remember what it's called, Vagrant, I believe.
And I wanted something bigger. So I loved this blade shape, this sort of bellied wharncliffe, nice point with the swedge. I like the black coating on the blade and then the satin flats.

[48:45] I like the shape of the handle, the overall shape and the size. It's a 3.8 inch blade and silky smooth action. So of all the Kuvi's, I chose this one for my big one just because I found it to be fetching.
But it's way more than just good looking. I've been carrying this thing, well, on and off.
Wherever I'm going where I might lose my knife, I hate to say it, this is one that I will carry because, or primarily this is the one I will carry because at 40 bucks, at 40 bucks,
this thing is a luxury item because it's so inexpensive, but man, it behaves like a knife way out of its weight class.
Just in terms of its smoothness, in terms of its grind. It's super thin and that's D2.
And man, I don't need much more than that.
So it's very slicey.
You get massive utility out of this. You also get good weapon ability out of that if that's what you're looking for. In the reverse grip, it's very, very comfortable.
Great place to put your thumb, great shape for thumb control up there.

[49:57] And stellar action, you got flat screws and a loop over clip. This is the knife, the one knife I brought with me to Blade Show this year because I had to fly and I was worried about losing knives on the way, let's just say.
So I figured if this is what it is, this is what it is.

[50:18] So very happy with this knife and could probably say straight across the board, to Kube knives in general.
Okay, next up in bang for your buck under 60, do you like big knives? Oh, I love big knives. And I love Cold Steel's big knives, but some of them are too expensive.
If you're just going to get one and you just want one because you want to experience a big one, I would get the Luzon.

[50:43] Now, the Luzon has a few things that you might, you know, it's got grivery handle scales.
What very nice grivery handle scales with great ergonomics. If you if you look at it from this aspect you can see how each segment of that bamboo or rattan
look sculpting it scoops in. So you get you got great grip on this thing. This is the six inch version it also comes in a four inch version and it flips like a,
dream versus a big knife. It's got a really stout liner lock with great great lockup but also a secondary lock which on this knife I use.
Look at the reach you have. This I have used a lot outside just banging around. You can see, well, this knife is kept in the kitchen.
This is our kitchen large folder and it's in that little box we have where we put messages or keep pencils and all that kind of thing. This is there too.
So this gets pulled out a lot just randomly to open things. I love seeing my petite beautiful wife pull this out to open up a package.
That warms the cockles of my heart.

[51:58] But it's also, the reason that it can be $40 at this large form factor is that the materials are inexpensive. It's grivery, look at that clip.
That clip actually works great.
Going back to the old school when they did the molded clips out of grivery. But also that blade is 8CR13MOV.
And I hear the sighs, I see the heads dropping.

[52:25] But cold steel, they are nothing if they aren't great heat treaters. And they always got the most out of AUS8A, and they get the best out of AUS10 now.
They have some 8 CR13 MOV knives. I have two of them. This one, then.

[52:42] I can't remember what the other one is, but they work amazingly. They get a lot out of their inexpensive steels.
So if you like big folders and you want bank for your buck For $40 you cannot beat the Luzon XL.
You can also get the four inch for like 35 bucks or something like that.
Okay, next up. This is on so many people's best of lists and it's on mine too. This is the Civivi Praxis. Now I'm a late comer to the Praxis.
I've only had this knife for, I don't know, probably less than a year.
But I remember when it came out, I loved the shape of it.
But I don't know if you remember this, in the very beginning, Savigi did all these gold liners and blue liners. They made them look cheap.
And I thought that this was a cool looking design. It looked to me like a barang, one of my favorite short swords.
But I didn't like the gold lining so I just never got it. And then time moved on, they made more models, my interest moved on and that kind of thing.

[53:46] But for years they've been making the Civivi Praxis now in all different sort of shapes, not shapes but materials. And so I finally got one. I love this wood,
this rosewood I think that is, and coated blade. It is just so beautiful. But why is this on the the list because you have a nice, what is this, three and three quarters inch blade.
So a nice long blade with a flat grind, but a very thin flat grind. So you get huge utility out of it. You've got a point center line point and a big swedge.
So you have nice thrusting ability if you have to thrust this into something. Great jumping, very ergonomic handle, even with wood, which is relatively slick and untextured.
The ergonomics of this lock in. So this thing is just a great knife and probably my favorite Sabuti, probably.
All right, that is the Praxis. Again, this is another case where you could just look at the brand and say, pretty much anything from this brand is gonna be righteous and good for you.
Kinda like this next one. This is the Petrified Fish Victor. The Petrified Fish Victor at 45 bucks is an absolute stunner.
I remember coming across this. I was looking for the beluga. I was gonna buy myself a beluga.
And in my search, I saw this.

[55:15] And I thought, man, that's one of the best looking Bowie blades I've ever seen. You know, there's the... It's like the Buck 110 and there's the Recon 1 and there's the...
There are the Buck Fix blades and the K-Bar. There are certain clip point blades that just look emblematic. And this is one of them to me. I think they just designed the hell out of that. I just think it is a beautiful bowie.
And then it's dressed up in this incredible, incredibly brilliant and vibrant denim micarta.
And that's K110, I believe.
K110 steel and just incredible action. This knife for 45 bucks feels like an absolute steal.
Really, I'm serious.

[56:04] When people say that, I start to think you're not serious. You're kind of lying and I'm not lying. Believe me, trust me.
You have this really cool pocket milled out of the backside for spidey flicking. I'm like falling back in love with this as I hold it and talk about it.

[56:22] This was this one got a lot of play for me this summer. One day that super shiny clip.
It does advertise that you've got a knife on you, but it gives you lots of clearance, comes in through the top and has flattened out screws.
So petrified fish, everything I've touched by them, I'm super impressed by.
But that Victor has all the impressive build of the other petrified fishes. But the absolute beauty of a perfect bowie.
Also, not for nothing. It has excellent ergonomics. Speaking of bowies, my car bowie.

[56:56] The Shrade SPSCHF 45 rolls right off the tongue. So they call it the Leroy in the sheet that kind of bothers me.

[57:07] Here it is This was one of the ones I thumped on this past weekend and it proved itself awesome it did you know, I was trying to wedge through a.

[57:19] Naughty not K and O TTY a piece of wood and I,
I think it may have been the the black mule was a little too wedge-like so I pulled that out and put this in and the thinness of this and this is a hollow
grind this is 8cr13mov and this plowed right through it this did a really good job and I think in this case it was that really thin edge and the thin hollow ground bevel and then the overall somewhat thin blade stock it just it,
powered through it, did a really good job.
Some things about this knife stick in my craw. The sheath is a little, I don't know, overbuilt. I've mentioned how I don't like the belt loop, but here the fact that they just don't have Shrade on their straight. It's kind of like, I don't know, just make it parallel with the spine.
But whatever, that is absolutely nothing. I like this titanium nitrate coating is wearing nicely.

[58:24] And yeah, I call this my car Bowie because I've been keeping it in my car.
I saw this video that just made me feel like someday you might need a Bowie in your car, whether it's to escape and get yourself home,
and have a capable tool with you or if you get, or whether you're, you know,
hijacked and you need to, you know, scare someone off with it or use it.

[58:51] It's my car Bowie, come what may. And this thing is only 53 bucks. And it's a nine and a half inch blade, super capable.
And I gotta say, it's a looker too. It's a good looking knife.
Again, it has that rubberized handle, which is a great idea for any sort of budget knife, Bowie or whatever knife you're gonna use outdoors and be slamming into wood with.
It really, really ends up helping out, even if you have gloves on. And then last up, I won't wax too poetic about this
I did earlier. Next up for 56 bucks, the most expensive knife in this lineup. This is the Ontario Knife and Tool SP10 Raider Bowie or Marine Raider Bowie some people call it. It's outstanding.
1095 steel or 1075. I think it's come in both but I'm not sure what this one is actually. Very sharp, that's what I mangled my finger with accidentally of course and just highly, highly capable.

[59:55] Probably if you can afford it, it's probably worth twice the cost of the Rough Rider Bowie just because you have a tougher steel and a thinner grind and overall better fit and finish.
On the black mule bowie, the handle is starting to loosen up, I might just take it off and do a new handle build on that one.
At 25 bucks, I don't mind.

[1:00:27] Alright, so that is my list of top bang for your buck under 60 bucks. I've been thinking about this because I've been having such fun going outside and going to the stump.
I got to figure out what this stump is, the proving stump, and slamming these knives into it and seeing what they can do. And at 25 bucks, I'm like, if it breaks, I'll get another one.
I like the way it looks.
And that's the beauty of a budget knife. Alright everybody, thanks for coming with me down this road. It's been a pleasure.
Be sure to download the podcast to your favorite podcast apps as they are listed next to my face.
And also be sure to join us tomorrow night for Thursday Night Knives where we will doing the Gentleman Junkie Knife Giveaway.
So those patrons who are Gentleman Junkies will be looking to win, where did I put it? The Max Ace Balance K.

[1:01:22] Alright ladies and gentlemen, for Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DiMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer. Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie Podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review at ReviewThePodcast.com.
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[1:02:12] Music.