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Announcer [00:00:03]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:16]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast. I'm your host, Bob DeMarco. On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with Matt Carlson of Rib Splitter Knife Works. I first discovered Matt's work on Instagram a few years back when I was ravenous for Pecal style fixed blades and seeking out everything in the format that I could find. The ribsplitter scythe and the draug pikal models really caught my eye. Eventually, I was lucky enough to land a Draug, but the refined road warrior vibe of the knives and the increasingly exotic profiles and blade shapes convinced me that when it comes to knife making, Matt is no one trick pony. We'll meet Matt and talk about his brand of self defense fixies. But first, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, hit the notification bell, and download the show to your favorite podcast app.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:03]:
And as always, if you'd like to help support the show, you can do so on Patreon. Quickest way to do that is to head on over to the knifejunkie.com/patreon and check out what we're all about over there. Again, it's the knifejunkie.com/patreon.

Announcer [00:01:20]:
If you search Google for the best knife podcast, the answer is the knife junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:28]:
Matt, welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, sir.

Matt Carlson [00:01:31]:
Thank you, Bob. I appreciate it. What an intro for such a like me. Like I told you before we started, Phil, you've got 100 established awesome nightmakers that you've interviewed and, one full magnum, which would be me. So, I'm very honored to be on your show. I definitely feel like I'm sitting in great company beyond this. So thank you. Thank you very much for having me here.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:00]:
Oh, pleasure is mine. The honor is mine. Yeah. So I'm I'm holding a knife of yours in my in my hands right now. And as I said, this really came along at the right time. I was, I I have a background in Filipino Cali, and I I I love all forms of knife fighting. And I came across libre fighting and the the beauty of the pikal style and that's when I, found your stuff and, you were already there and you already had a real developed style at that point and a number of different models. How did you get into Pakal style knives? We'll find out about how you got into knives and how you make them, but first, I'm interested in that.

Matt Carlson [00:02:41]:
You know, it's it always made sense to me the the earliest time I can think of that I was thinking about the call style knives was actually just thinking about animal claws. I was like, well, you know, you look at the claw of a tiger, how's it shaped? How does it work? Right? It's a it's a piercing and a dragging effect. And I was like, well, that makes sense. You know, as in I, It always felt more natural to hold something in some simple, speak in, Libre vernacular. So, in a side grip, you know, with the thumb cap point down edge in, and that always just seemed the most familiar to me from, like, a self defense standpoint. So that was really it. I remember seeing movies and pictures and stuff, and, you know, they'll have the knife and I'll grab a I'll grab a knife so I can show you. But, you know, they would have the knife, and they would have it, point down, thumb capped, and then they would have the blade out.

Matt Carlson [00:03:41]:
And I was like, but wait. What if and it's like, I'm not the first person to follow this. Obviously, I was like, why don't you turn the edge in? That way, when you, you know, you go out and you pierce and you pull back, you're cutting. It just seemed, you know, self explanatory to me. And so that kind of fostered my, hunt for an affordable fixed blade. So I didn't start carrying a fixed blade knife, besides like a Mora. You know, everybody has Mora or 5 Mora's. And, you know, I always had a companion with me.

Matt Carlson [00:04:18]:
And my first fixed blade that I bought was actually from a guy in Pennsylvania, and he's no longer in business. A little small guy. So I received the I received the knife in the mail, and I look at it. It's awesome. You know? I'm stoked. You know? Whenever you get whenever you get a knife in the mail, it's a good day. And I look at it. I was like, you know what? I could make that.

Matt Carlson [00:04:43]:
And, you know, I I spent whatever for it. It wasn't expensive night. It was Jeep wrapped. So, you know, Neil Hargan, so we looked at it. And I was like, you know, it's something I'd like to try. So I made a Saxx for my dad's birthday, like, 3 or 4 years ago, and it looked like, hamburger dog crap. Right? It was it was rough. And ever since the word, but, man, I was bitten.

Matt Carlson [00:05:13]:
I was bitten. And I knew and then I started finding out about, Ed Calderon and people like that, Craig with Chivworks, seeing their stuff, and just being really inspired, you know, inspired and was really stoked to find a community out there that was into these knives in the way that I looked into them too. I was never really into the buffs or the, the cold steels or stuff like that. When I say cold steels, I'm more like a general pocket knife. I don't know. You know? There's some cool cold steels. I'm taking the wrong decision. It's totally awesome cold steels.

Matt Carlson [00:05:49]:
But I don't know. I was always just into different knives. Fantasy knives. Grew up reading Tolkien, watching all the crude EB movies, you know, reading a lot of Conan. And, so I tried to take all that, swish it together, and make a knife out of it. And that's kind of the the very beginnings of the ribs to the knife works.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:14]:
Yeah. I noticed the Conan theme in in both your t shirt that you sell on your website. I think it says something like Sumerian steel or something. And then your line, this you can trust. Yes. Absolutely.

Matt Carlson [00:06:26]:
That's right. A few people would a few people would call the reference. Yeah. So that's one thing. I'm kinda like a a knife art hoarder. If I could have a 100 different t shirts and a 100 different stickers with a 100 different designs and have them in holographic and eggshell and I mean, it's all big sticker guy. So I try not to go around to all these awesome artists and be like, I need a design from you and I need a design from you. You know what I mean? So I got these shirts.

Matt Carlson [00:07:00]:
So I'm wearing one of the shirts. I thought it would be fitting. It's actually the only one I have left in large. And there's a guy on Instagram, Sawblade 666. I don't remember his first name. Forgive me. Awesome artist. And I'm very thankful to have, some bizarre on the back of his shirt.

Matt Carlson [00:07:18]:
And so I ordered some shirts. Right? And I was like, dude, these are gonna fly off the shelf. They're not gonna go to stand still. They're gonna be on in in 30 seconds. And I still have some to this day. And I'm you know what I mean? So it's one of those things. It's like, well, maybe not everybody thinks putting theirs as cool as I do, but, that's okay. There's something wrong with that.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:38]:
There there there are many of us. We we are there are plenty of us out there who who love Conan, especially, the the riddle of steel and then and then just, you know, even though the way the the whole sword is made in the beginning is, you know, pretty bogus with the pouring the steel, and it's still thrilling. And he quenches it in the snow, you know, and Yeah.

Matt Carlson [00:07:59]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:00]:
The riddle of steel. So you're you're talking about the kind of knives you're drawn to and not necessarily your average EDC pocket pocket knife, but, fixed blades. No doubt for their utility. You were talking about Mora, but then as you discovered, more of the more of the, universal style. I mean, don't get me wrong. Ed Calderon thinks that Moras are some of the best fighting knives out there, but

Matt Carlson [00:08:26]:
still got a ton of them. Love

Bob DeMarco [00:08:28]:
them. You you evolved into making this kind of thing and these sort of exotic shapes. And now you're doing, you know, you've gone you've gone beyond this. But tell me, before we go beyond the Piccal, tell tell me about the different, models, you've made and and what they mean. First of all, what does draug mean?

Matt Carlson [00:08:47]:
Okay. I'm very glad you asked this. So a lot of people have thought that I has I have misspelled draugr, which is actually not the case, Ain't No Fault of Their Own. Job was kind of an Easter egg that I threw out there and nobody has actually ever asked you to manage. To be honest with you, Bobby, as a quick aside, the hardest thing about making knives is coming up with the name for the knife. Taking pictures of the knife. Those things, it's just me out to know when. When I come out with a a design, God what a little bit of what what's left what's left out there that I can call it? I mean I I honestly debated just being like this is number 1, 2, 3, 4, etcetera, and never giving any of the names because it stressed me out because I'd cheer over a 100 different names And then, you know, you know, how many demons and drawls and wraiths and and vipers and, you know, stuff is out there.

Matt Carlson [00:09:49]:
And they're all cool names. Don't get me wrong. But I digress. That's that's my own tism showing there. Back to your original question. What does tismic this mean?

Bob DeMarco [00:10:02]:
What does draug mean?

Matt Carlson [00:10:04]:
Ah, yes. Okay. Yes. So Draug is Sindarin for wolf. So Sindarin is a Tolkien invented language. And one day, I was sitting in my little room with all my books, and I was like, okay. I got this cool map here. Now I gotta name it.

Matt Carlson [00:10:22]:
And I'm like, hello. So I grabbed my, my Middle Earth Companion, and I'm looking through the words. So it shows all the words real and imaginary that's all being used in all this. I just look in there's names for rivers and mountains and trees. God, there's a lot of trees in here. I'm looking. And I just happened to, be going through the d's, and I saw a drug, and it was Cinderella for a wolf. I was like, that's cool.

Matt Carlson [00:10:48]:
And I said, I've never heard I've heard Draugger, but I've never heard Draug before. So I said, that's it.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:53]:
I looked it up, when I first got the knife, and I remember reading something like the closest thing I found was Russian for zombie or something like that. Yeah.

Matt Carlson [00:11:03]:
And that's where everybody gets stronger. You know, anybody that plays Skyrim, the drawers of the undead in Skyrim. So, I'm a big Skyrim fan too. So I told like I said, I totally get it. But I was hoping one day somebody would be like, hey, is that Tolkien? And I was like, yeah. You did kudos for me, but that's okay. So now you've popped the

Bob DeMarco [00:11:23]:
sequence. Well, that's awesome. Right here on our show.

Matt Carlson [00:11:26]:
That's right. That's a first.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:27]:
You have one called the Scythe. Right?

Matt Carlson [00:11:30]:
Mhmm.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:30]:
I I think that's the first one I saw, and I wanna I wanna ask you about the shape. Okay. So here here, the drug, has the, has the, tip down edge in typical Pecal setup. And it's got the the, blade aligned with the knuckles and the tip reaching out just a little bit. With the site, the tip reaches out at a at a more drastic angle.

Matt Carlson [00:11:54]:
It's higher. Yeah. It's higher.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:56]:
Tell me about that, the, the purpose of that.

Matt Carlson [00:12:00]:
So on KV let me see. I've got actually I got my box here. I don't have any sites, but I actually do have a drug that for anybody that's looking, this thing has been on the Internet for, like, a long time. Wish somebody to die. Cool. So to get to the point geometry, I'll start off with saying a little bit of history, if I may. The first side. So my dad helps, He's got a 220, so he has a glass competitor.

Matt Carlson [00:12:36]:
He used to use it for whatever he wants, except for when I cut out knives. So any one day, he cuts out the snap. He's like, hey, dude, look at this. Look at this shape. You know, look at it. And it looks like that like a leaf with a stem or something. I'm like, oh, it's it's something. It's not nothing.

Matt Carlson [00:13:01]:
You know, I didn't want to hurt his skin. But I looked at it and he said, you know what though? If I just take it, so it just, me, okay, for reference. So It was flat across the handle. And then just imagine that this bell is filled in. So it was pretty much just straight across it. So like your typical basic EDC belly knife. I was like, well, if I take this flat knife and I set this on the rear wheel of my belt sander, I was like, well, I could turn that into a reverse engine. So I took it and held it on the grinder for a few seconds and gave it, the the sweep of the reverse engine.

Matt Carlson [00:13:49]:
Now looked at it and was like, you know what? I think we got something here. So I'm thinking that back to dad. He was mad. He said, you grabbed out my blank. I was like, it's not. You're not out at any great loss here

Bob DeMarco [00:14:00]:
with the

Matt Carlson [00:14:00]:
loss of that blank. And, so that was the original first site. And, that really gained traction. And I'm just so thankful, if there's one theme that I can carry through here or if there's equipment that somebody can take home, it's, gratitude. For you, Bob, for having me on the on the podcast. And for everybody, I'm just so thankful that I even get an opportunity to make times. So many people start out making knives. There's so many laugh couples out there and guys that are working hard, trying their best and they just don't make it.

Matt Carlson [00:14:38]:
And thank God, it's been able to keep going and people have enjoyed what I've made and continue to to support the company. And I look 100% and just full of gratitude for every single person who's ever just gave an encouraging word. Of course, spot an eye. So I always hold on with that gratitude from day 1. So there's that. But onto the sites. So I may decide, and like this is a draw. So like you say, in regards to the point, pretty much in line with the knuckles.

Matt Carlson [00:15:13]:
So when you reach out if you were to reach out the further you have to reach out to penetrate something, you know, if you grab your anyone in your calls, the further you reach out, that point starts going down. Right? So that was basically the only thought behind it was, how do I keep the points up without having to flex my wrist the further I go out? So the gen 2 site addressed that issue. With flexing that point up, my hope was to have a further reach the further I keep getting the reverse. The further I go out, instead of it starting to curve down, that point will stay up for just a little bit longer. And it looks I'm trying to pull it too. But that's my first question.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:03]:
I also, in my personal opinion, think it looks really cool. That weird because it's an arresting it's visually arresting, and then you and then when you realize what it's all about, it's all about business. But but when you hold this in your hand, if you if you do any shadow boxing with it and you jab with it, with with that point, you you don't have to torque your wrist in a weird way. It just lands Yeah. You know, right right where it's going. I I don't know about the scythe itself, but but I have a few pickles that have that sort of angle.

Matt Carlson [00:16:33]:
Yeah. If you've had one, you you understand experience.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:36]:
Yeah. Yeah. But the the look of yours is is something else. It's something alright. I wanna talk about how you make the blades, and then I also wanna talk about the handles separately because they're both very, refined in your style. And and Thank you. Yeah. You're you're welcome.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:55]:
Let's talk about the blades first. How do you how do you make these?

Matt Carlson [00:16:59]:
So, in regards to the metal I use, everything is a 100% in house so I have to be able to heat treat myself. So I stick to the high carbon steels 295, 284, 1520, you know, 5160. The first probably the first 100, 150 knives were all cut out with a harbor freight, angle grinder 1 at a time. Made a lot of knives out of saw blades, and it still do. Some people some people get caught up in or like to delve further into the metallurgy and they're just like, woah. If it's not 52100 or if it's not Metro v or if it's not this, that, or the other, why are you even bothering with it? Right? Well, back to Ed. I saw a video when I just started making knives, and I saw a video that he posted just as an example to people. If you guys are sitting in the airport arguing, this one dude pulls out the biggest flathead screwdriver I've ever seen in my life and turns around and chunks it into this dude's sternum.

Matt Carlson [00:18:07]:
And I'm talking about one of them big fry ball flatheads, you know, that you only use for, like, frying stuff. So then I was like, if they can do that with a flathead screwdriver, does it really matter if, you know, I have a needle point or maybe a little bit wider point or if it's if somebody god forbid, Bobby, god forbid you ever have to stick something like this into somebody, because you're you're you love them as a normal danger. Are they gonna be like, oh, 284? Not effective against me. I rebuke I rebuke that attack. No. They're not going to. So, I find that as long as I can key treat it and it passes my tests for hardness, we're good to go over gamma. So, yeah, I did a lot of angle grinding to cutting.

Matt Carlson [00:18:54]:
Started out with a harder freight, 1 by 30 bolt sander, which is slow and terrible. And I remember I still have some of my first 24 grid, won by 30 buses. I was like, I mean, I paid, like, $5 a piece for them, and I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna recover from this. Like, I I spent $50 on bills, and it was out of a big deal. So, I like to keep those boomers close because it's, making that business. But, yeah, it's it's all built in house. I've got, a Majestic 3 burner forge out there now. I ran with, a single burner eBay, Amazon special for my first well, up until about maybe 6 months ago when I finally decided to splurge and buy this, majestic forge, which is just so nice, especially because I mean, like you said, like the Chris, which I have here, which I think you need now either.

Matt Carlson [00:19:59]:
That's just the sidekick.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:01]:
I think you might be right.

Matt Carlson [00:20:03]:
Settle law there. Oh, the sidekick's gonna look so red. I'm not this red in person puns. But, man, the 3 burner makes it so much easier for heat treating bigger blades. I had to do the whole in and out. In and out. Yeah. Trying to get the heat even to slow some blades.

Matt Carlson [00:20:20]:
So that was big. So that's the metal.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:25]:
Well, but before you move on from the metal, I wanna I'm gonna put the the, my jog up as close as I can here. Yes. Focus is that texture, you see that a lot on

Matt Carlson [00:20:37]:
the surface. Too.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:38]:
Yeah. What what is that? Is that heat treat scale or some tell me about that? I love the look. I'm sorry to to interrupt you, but in the beginning, I I said road warrior aesthetic, and that's kinda what I was thinking.

Matt Carlson [00:20:50]:
I love it.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:51]:
I mean, be because they are, like, very, like, in profile and in treatment. And the way they feel, they're very refined, but that that surface treatment has a ruggedness.

Matt Carlson [00:21:02]:
What is It does. And I just wanna say that, the original Mad Max and the Grim Warrior were some of my all time favorite movies. So so that happened. So it's funny. I'm surprised nobody's ever asked that before. That is a so for any of the nightmakers out there, I didn't invent it. I found it on the Internet. So to get the texture like what you show I need to slap it.

Matt Carlson [00:21:28]:
Slap that in the box. So what you do is you take gun blue and mix it with mustard, regular old yellow mustard. Mix it into a paste. Now this it doesn't really work on 51.60, but 1095, 1084 for sure. It really it really sets a fit. I never could get it to take on 5,160, but that's usually a pretty, corrosion resistant metal. So I wasted a lot of time trying to force that patina. But anyhoo, you mix the gun blue and the mustard into a paste.

Matt Carlson [00:22:07]:
You smear it on the knife after you clean it with acid to soak it in bleach overnight. You pull it out, that's what you got. Clean it off with a water brush, you're good to go. And I love it. That is great. I love it. Yeah. It's it's super simple.

Matt Carlson [00:22:23]:
It's you'll never get the same result twice. And in terms of style, I wanted something that said, carry me please, you know, use me, don't don't just take me out and put me on a bare skin road and take a picture of me and put me back up. My Bob, which I don't have, it's over in the kitchen. But, Bobby, this thing is beat up from the feet up. It's all no. I don't. It is my personal combat installation. It doesn't get used on anything.

Matt Carlson [00:22:56]:
But, I'm a utility worker, so it's been I've been in waterly coals with it. I've been finding coals with it. I've been mowing with it. I've been jumping in the pool with it. It doesn't matter. Get it out, dry it off, you know, oil it if you need to. But I definitely wanted them to look rugged and kind of the the the juxtaposition between, like, an acrylic scale, and a texture. So this Tom to actually sold to one of my buddies in California.

Matt Carlson [00:23:28]:
But you you know, you've got your acrylic handle and the textured blade, which I left the gold. The gold is just tempered colors left on the on the metal. So when after I finish these, if I take it and I clean it off with a wire brush or like a Scotch Brite wheel, get the metal clean, and then you put it into the oven to temper, and you're left with that, straw bronze color, which I just think is is really pretty. So I'm leaving on some place just I don't know. Oh, but what I was gonna say was I I like the acrylic handles was I want this to look like something that you pull from abroad of, you know, some kind of loot that you found, some kind of magical quality. I don't know.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:20]:
It's like finding the sword in the tomb and smacking off all the all the old corrosion and, like, yeah. This is my sword.

Matt Carlson [00:24:27]:
Yeah. That that's that's the the vibe that I will people to get. And, you know, and also this, as as another, interesting fact, this is actually the first time that I've shown your face ever as an administrative efforts. There's no pictures of me on the site. You know, people that know me can find me obviously. But I I thought it would be cool to not that anybody cares because that was the whole thing. That's the whole reason why I never showed myself in face, on the camera was I never wanted it to be about me. I wanted it to be about the knives.

Matt Carlson [00:25:08]:
You know? Good, bad, or indifferent. Sometimes, that page is turning to. And my opinion is on x, y, z, organized and then political blah blah blah blah. It's like Yeah. That's not what I wanted. You know? Nobody cares about my opinion.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:21]:
Well, that's that's why, I'm convinced you know, I I have my own very strong opinions as as we all do, but I'm also aware that people come here so they don't have to hear about that. You know? Right. Chen chances are if they're coming to this channel, we're in in a similar universe anyway, and it doesn't matter. And and and even if we aren't, it still doesn't matter because we're here to talk about knives. And, yeah, I'm I'm with you on that. Like Yeah. Like, it just just like, just because you're a good actor doesn't mean what you have to say, when the camera's not rolling, about politics means anything. Same thing with knifemakers.

Matt Carlson [00:25:59]:
Right. Across the board. Across the board. Yeah. I I I want people to come to the page and just be stoked and see some of the cool stuff that I mean, it's all organic. I never know what I wish, Bob. I wish people would just all get on there and be like, man. Sure.

Matt Carlson [00:26:17]:
We should make some tacos or, man, sure wanna see the drawstring back in the it's it's it's fishy. It's fishy is what it is. I throw the lure out there and I hope somebody's on the other side that wants to receive the product that I, you know, could offer. So

Bob DeMarco [00:26:37]:
Let me ask you this.

Matt Carlson [00:26:39]:
Mhmm.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:40]:
When it comes to, first of all, I'm loving the bigger knives. I love the exotic shapes. The Chris, as I mentioned before, we'll talk about the Chris. I definitely wanna talk about the Chris.

Matt Carlson [00:26:50]:
But,

Bob DeMarco [00:26:52]:
the fact that you are making weapons, and beautiful ones. Like, look at the handles. We still need I'd like to hear about your philosophy on on ergonomics and handles because they're so beautiful. But but what I'm what I'm getting at here is, you make weapons largely, even though I happen to find that Pakal knives are great, just all around utility carry knives.

Matt Carlson [00:27:19]:
But You make a good box opener.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:20]:
But, generally, you you make weapons. But but you don't present as a as a violent psychopath. You make Yeah. You make tools for good people to protect themselves and their loved ones is probably That's

Matt Carlson [00:27:32]:
true.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:33]:
Okay. So so the the fact that you make weapons, where does that come from? And not just like EDCs or Stingers or whatever.

Matt Carlson [00:27:41]:
Oh, for sure. You know, growing up, in the country, you know, you've got everybody's always been an iPhone for the remedial tasks or the house or the farm or whatever. Everybody's always got guns, you know, for obvious reasons. So and then, you know, growing up as a Bob, playing a lot of video games, watching a lot of movies, reading a lot of reading a lot of books, comics, you know, it just weapons always fascinated me, and I always thought they were really cool. I remember I had a, know. It was like 2 and a half inches, but it was like an encyclopedia on all of the, firearms that were made from and this was like an old book. Well, it was like early 2000 to, you know, whatever, mid 1800s or whatever. And I just gone through, and I'd look at him and be like, oh, that was cool.

Matt Carlson [00:28:35]:
That was not. I remember going to gun shows, and there was a creepy dude with long hair who was always in the corner of the gun show, and he was the dude that was selling the dragon statues and the wizard t shirts and the claymores and all that cheap, hot metal stuff that your parents said that's crap. We don't need that. You know, the claymores. So I've met every conceivable knights, templar, Braveheart, claymores, dragon statue, wizard chi'e, fireballs from the back of the dragon t shirt. I mean, I had it all, man. I was hooked up with that stuff. So when when you grow up in the country and, we didn't have neighbors, So it there wasn't anything to do or for you to do.

Matt Carlson [00:29:25]:
You just kinda sat and imagined stuff. So, you know, I'm always drawing knives and drawing swords and drawing shields. And I remember I drew my school as a castle one time and, like, people invading and attacking the castle and stuff. That was no. She probably shouldn't be doing this. You know, whatever. But I don't know. That's just it's always one of the guys did.

Matt Carlson [00:29:49]:
I've always been fascinated with them. I have a very, very healthy respect for all weapons, be it in knife, sword, axe, gun, whatever, cannon. You definitely have to come from a place of respect, when dealing with anything. Unfortunately to say, I haven't really cut myself. I've cut myself probably 2 or 3 times. You know, kickbacks or a belt will break or something like that. But, I always try to keep that in mind that, you know, you're dealing with the dangerous stuff. Yeah.

Matt Carlson [00:30:24]:
So I'm very thankful to say that I've made a lot of knives and. So

Bob DeMarco [00:30:30]:
the the weapons, the whole top topic of weapons as you're talking. You know, I think about this a lot, but it just occurred to me it's also just a, a leveling, a playing field level leveler. You know? You feel like, okay. With this on me, I feel a little bit more confident in this neighborhood,

Matt Carlson [00:30:50]:
or whatever. It's like Absolutely.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:52]:
You know, giving giving the giving the the cat his claws. Speaking of which, okay, bring out that Chris, please. You're you're I wanna talk about the the evolution of your shapes. Yeah. So, you know, pick all early on and then and then and then started started to see some clip points and some other, knives, but the crisp

Matt Carlson [00:31:13]:
oh, what is this? That is So don't hate me, Bobby. Don't hate me, but the Chris was really pushed by my dad because he's a big he's a Chris dude. You went to Chris, you go to dad. He was like, oh, you gotta mix Chris. You gotta mix Chris. Okay. And, anyhoo, I mean, I'm not I'm a fan now. I am a fan.

Matt Carlson [00:31:38]:
They always just look hard to make, to be honest with you. And and to be perfectly honest, they are hard to make. They're a lot harder to make, compared to, like, your regular EDC knives. So here here, I'll look you in the super secret. So each of the divots fits up perfectly with 1 of the wheels on that 2 by 72 grinder. The the only hard part in terms of making this for me is actually grinding the bevels. And it's the same thing with making a Kripal style knife. If I were to take a 2 inch belt and try and grind these bevels, I would dig constantly, you know, because the belts don't flex.

Matt Carlson [00:32:25]:
Even the flexi ones at 2 inches wide, they're not gonna flex enough to give a smooth profile. So, So I ended up, cutting a lot of the 2 by 72 belts in half. And let me tell you, if you wanna make a dangerous, tool in the garage, get your razor knife out and try to cut some belts in half and see if that don't snag something. So, I'm actually a big fan of 1 by 72 belts. It's the same thing. I put the dog here. If I took a 2 inch belt and tried to grind that, it it's not gonna work. So, with the, I use and especially with balls, 1 by 72 belt.

Matt Carlson [00:33:09]:
But, also, I would work this off the side of the belt. That way I don't have, as much surface area of the belt hitting the blade at any one time, so I can get smoother bevels. So but no. I I'm a I'm a fan of the place. There was a run. I think I did I've seen her 12 of them. I'm sure that the EDC fabs, I think the laser around 4 inches or so, and I did the texture.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:39]:
With the little blue handles. I I saw those on your Yeah. On your feet. You put that away too soon. I wanna talk about it, but I also wanna talk about the handle. Of course. The handle of the Chris, but just talk about handles in general. They all look, really comfortable, and, you know, we can all look at something like a knife handle and tell whether it's gonna be ergonomic.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:04]:
This this, Draug handle is very comfortable, but, beautiful materials and a real smoothness that that's a nice contrast, in surface texture to the blade.

Matt Carlson [00:34:17]:
Yeah. You know, it's the same thing. Carrying a knife is the same thing as carrying a gun. My opinion is that if it's not comfortable, you're not gonna carry it. So the blade handle has to be ergonomic and comfortable to to to wield. If this thing is rough or I have a personal vendetta against blocky handles in some cases. It's fine. It's fine.

Matt Carlson [00:34:48]:
I don't mind. But me personally, what I like to, to see like, I'll just take the draw for example. The, pommel hook is actually a little bit swelled from the rest of the blade, because I want a good, fun purchase on the hollow rim. I don't want my hand to be crowded. I don't want any wiggle room in in the handle. I am a big fan of the pinky groom. Let me see if I can have anything I I don't have anything right here. But, you know, you get on the the Instagram.

Matt Carlson [00:35:28]:
You can see that right here. Groove right here. Right? Yep. I'm a big fan of hitting that pinky down away from the cutting edge. So but this this is one of my fighters. Really crazy name, right? So here we are. My hand fits perfectly firmly in there. There's no sliding.

Matt Carlson [00:35:53]:
It's it's it's all just to keep your hand from sliding over the break the blade. That's one of the main reasons why, I love the reverse edge knife, in the side grip is that thumb cap is so strong. And then especially if you give yourself, like this eagle's head hobble hook that really lets you just crush it right there between your thumb and your pointer finger. She just it it's just the best feeling grip for me. And the same thing, you know, you know, on the Chris, I think the puddle hooks look cool. I think a decent belly isn't required. Mhmm. A decent belly because it is not required.

Matt Carlson [00:36:38]:
I make a lot of blades that don't have a big belly.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:40]:
You're talking about the palms well of the handle. Right? The palms well?

Matt Carlson [00:36:43]:
Yeah. Yeah. The belly here. I guess it's. I've got it in the club, but, but I personally like a belly to my eyes. But, of course, Gary, again, you got the. You've got any limitation for your, your pointer finger. And that's just the most secure method I've found for making handles.

Matt Carlson [00:37:04]:
I wanna show you this other. Whatchamacallit?

Bob DeMarco [00:37:09]:
Are these all acrylic? Are these all acrylic handles?

Matt Carlson [00:37:13]:
So, you know, you've got the black g ten there. I've got some I've got a lot of I don't know. I go in I go in cycles. My favorite if if somebody were to say, Matt, what's your favorite handle to make? I just and so I come from, like, a custom car customer cycle back then. So think a big big daddy analog. Right? You know, gas. It was 55 straight axles and stuff like that. So I really just love the crazy colors that pop.

Matt Carlson [00:37:43]:
So my favorite personally is probably the acrylics just because of how pretty they are. I think the most practical. Are they the grippiest in the world? But, man, they sure are pretty, and I love looking at them.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:57]:
And if the ergonomics are there and your grip is tight, it it You're

Matt Carlson [00:38:00]:
good to go.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:01]:
Hey. Have you seen this stuff Fordite?

Matt Carlson [00:38:04]:
Yes. So I ordered my belts through TrueGrip, and they're actually having a big Fordite sale. Have you had any experience with it?

Bob DeMarco [00:38:12]:
I I have, never used it, or I have I don't have any knives with Fordite on. And if if anyone's curious, Fordite is a material that's basically harvested from the, rooms that they that they spray paint cars and factories, and, you know, all of that paint drains into, you know, some sort of receptacle and it it doesn't mix. It just sort of swirls around and it dries into this hard, you know, material, plastic, basically. Mhmm. And, people, they sell it as Fordite, which is funny. I guess Ford Motor Company must must have been the first. And it looks cool. It's it's and there's no 2, slabs the same.

Matt Carlson [00:38:57]:
Is that true? No. I I wanna get my hand on it. I actually won some true stone scales from Maker Material Supply. I think on Instagram, I was scrolling through it. They're like, hey, first person to say whatever gets it. So I said, And they said, okay. You win it. And so the true stuff, which is, like, recall instituted, so I'm sure it's some sort of epoxy or enamel or like, you know, 2 part epoxy that then mix together with the stone.

Matt Carlson [00:39:29]:
Turns out really cool. Brittle, very brittle. So you gotta be careful when you're doing it. But I just love any hand with the pops for sure. And in terms of grip, I have so if somebody scrolls way back, don't put too far back. We'll see if this is really ugly than that. But if you go back in good ways, I've got more than enough testing videos where I had this whole rolled up corrugated cardboard thing with, like, 3 moving blankets wrapped around it, and I would static them, you know, just just show that, you know, that they would penetrate. I covered my hands with oil, covered my hands with water.

Matt Carlson [00:40:06]:
I've never had any problem tripping. Now I'm not nobody's attacking me until I need to disarm me or anything like that, but I've never had a grip problem from acrylics, from wood, from g ten. You know what I mean? Yeah. If somebody is coming for my knife, I guarantee you, you will not get it out of my hand. It ended with not slip. Right? You almost see that. It could be made out of whatever. It does not matter.

Matt Carlson [00:40:33]:
But big baby acrylics, I love the wood too. Wood takes a little bit longer for me to work down. And then, of course, you've got the g tens, which are awesome as well. I got one here, one of the skaters. This is teaching. This is a Dimalux, which is like a laminated wood in red and black, and it polishes up just like acrylic. Really like that stuff.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:57]:
Oh, that's, I I know that show show us all your models since you're pulling them out. I know that one's kind of like a a clip point scanner, I think.

Matt Carlson [00:41:05]:
Yep. Just a clip point scanner. This is, it's basic, but it works. Right? Clip point scanner, that's exactly

Bob DeMarco [00:41:15]:
Wait. Wait. Hold it up. Hold it up so we can see it.

Matt Carlson [00:41:16]:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I've seen it a 1000 times. I'm like, no. I see it. So it's got it's got a pretty decent polish.

Matt Carlson [00:41:26]:
I could have done a little bit better. But it's a skinner. It has a little bit of texture to it. Just a little bit, which I don't know if you can catch it on the. There is a little bit of texture, which I thought was a school. It was just it was just just enough to make an accent. We've got the draw here in Maple, which is what I've been showing, working on. Let me let me just do this to make sure.

Matt Carlson [00:41:53]:
Maybe yeah. It's a little bigger. I should've done that when we started. But the droid with copper cans, the slide has been polished.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:04]:
Nice swedge on that one.

Matt Carlson [00:42:06]:
Yeah. I, like I say, Bob, nobody tells me what to make. I wish sometimes people would just tell me, but they want but so I just make whatever. I make what pops into my head. You know? Like like this machete here that I mean

Bob DeMarco [00:42:23]:
That's cool.

Matt Carlson [00:42:23]:
I was like, I want to make a chopper. It's 360 thick. I really like, what the guys are doing, the poly guys. They make something that kinda looks like this. There's this way cooler, I'm sure, so go buy those, not mine. But it's got a hookah bolo handles, 16 inch pins, which I thought were really cool. They're a big pain in the butt to do. All in one of the Oh, you mean to see the mess.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:49]:
The the 4 on the pommel and up front?

Matt Carlson [00:42:52]:
Yeah. Yeah. I got 4 16 inch wings. I got an apron in the middle. But if you wanna see a mess, come out and watch me bleed handles. It is I can't say I am doing handles.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:02]:
Well, you do you do like, you do like a Sunday drop. Right? Is that something you're still doing? Yeah. And and I love those videos where you show everything off and and you hold each one in your hand. And, those videos are are really good. They're they're a little zen. You know, you can just kinda zone out and watch them.

Matt Carlson [00:43:21]:
It's because I mute all the dog barking. The kid's crying.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:25]:
But it's great to see the, just how something fits in hand. You know?

Matt Carlson [00:43:30]:
Yeah. Well, and that's exactly why I did it. I wanted people to you know, pictures pictures, do so much, but video, just going over. What does it look like in the shade? Does it look like in the light? How does it fit in your hand? Does it fit is it ergonomic in, both grip stocks? You know, stuff like that. And I would have to say, I can't think of any knife that I've made off the top of my head that isn't, you can be comfortable in a hammer or side grip. So let's take your take the fighter for example. You're hammer grip, you're good to go. You reverse it as your side grip, you're good to go.

Matt Carlson [00:44:11]:
You're not gonna hold every knife in being in side script, obviously. You're not gonna hold every knife and hammers it. But I wanted the the option to be there. Oh, man. What else do we got? So this is just a different this is I think it's called lava flow acrylic scales. It's a really dark blue with some, like, a matte red. And I'm sorry, guys. My canvas my canvas joke.

Matt Carlson [00:44:35]:
You got a cool look. You look a little better than I do. But just kind of a different variation on the fighter. Not really big difference, let's say, but in terms of blade shape.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:46]:
You know, I know a lot of a lot of people, myself included, are daily carriers of knives of about this size. Show show us the sheaths and and and how Oh, yeah.

Matt Carlson [00:44:57]:
For sure.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:58]:
How you have them set up for daily carry.

Matt Carlson [00:45:01]:
Here's a ton to, in the DynaLux. The way I personally carry is horizontally, like, noon 30 across the belt with a belt loop, with an IWB belt or make your own leather strap. I offered I offered belt loops for a while, and people were like, hey. Take her to leave it. I offered flips for a while. They were like, hey. Take it or leave it. So I do I listed how to come.

Matt Carlson [00:45:29]:
It's like this. These sheets obviously, so they accept any type of flip, strap, whatever, MOLLE stuff. You can attach it, you know, you can attach it anyway you won't carry any label. I've carried things like these static line, you know, through the through the bottom of the piece of air cord in pocket that looks great. You get you, like, a disc, discreet carry concepts clipped and run it up to just about below the pommel. So that in waistband Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:03]:
That's that's what I have. Yep. I mean, this is a That's

Matt Carlson [00:46:06]:
a sweet

Bob DeMarco [00:46:06]:
cherry like, clip and yep. Right in the waistband.

Matt Carlson [00:46:10]:
I carry horizontally across my belt line because it's miserable for me. I'm always moving all over the place, so it has to stay out of the way. It has to ride comfortably, conceal. It it conceal is really good. Concealment isn't a big problem for me because I'm going to go anywhere. But in a lot of cases, this is really cool because you can carry anything you want basically in terms of the day. So it's really good. So I don't have to worry about considering that, but it never shows.

Matt Carlson [00:46:40]:
We've never had anybody say anything. And the garment clear to draw is really fast. I do wanna mention Oh, okay. Occasionally, there'll be slow access. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:46:51]:
Let's see that.

Matt Carlson [00:46:51]:
A little bit more time. So this is like a little baby hawk, 8th inch metal, which nobody really makes. And that's what the hell would it be? Nice. Nobody, makes these fox in 8 inch, that I do because I'm weird, really, like, really fast. You're not gonna be knocking down any, pitch trees with it?

Bob DeMarco [00:47:15]:
Right. Right. This is not a this is not a breaching tool. This is a fighting tool.

Matt Carlson [00:47:20]:
Correct. And I make I make quarter inch ones too. I mean, if you wanna go hack your neighbors over down there, you go get quarter inch ones. But if you're just talking organic medium, this is the ticket.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:29]:
That's the Not recommended, by the way. Not recommended.

Matt Carlson [00:47:32]:
I would never recommend that. Only that.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:34]:
The bird's beak on that tomahawk is pretty cool because it's very, it's very much like a large knife. That is cool.

Matt Carlson [00:47:44]:
Yeah. And that's, definitely this one is decent. I would even if I were to go back and do this, again, I would even maybe accentuate it a little bit more. Because the only the only grip concern you're gonna have with, like, a with a an actor. An actor is just sitting at the end of it. So you definitely you wanna talk about problems. Oh, you wanna talk about me? Or somebody maybe probably wants to. There's a problem for you.

Matt Carlson [00:48:13]:
So this is the Shoska looking, short sword. And I was like, how egregious can I make a follow hook? And so that is what

Bob DeMarco [00:48:25]:
That is that is very much in keeping with, well, it looks like the pommel of a Filipino sword.

Matt Carlson [00:48:32]:
That Yeah. Exactly. Just like some of the stuff you've got hanging on your wall behind you.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:36]:
Yeah. I I'm a big fan of that kind of hook because It's

Matt Carlson [00:48:39]:
exactly like you're going for.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:41]:
Swinging that thing around, it's gonna it's gonna stay caught in the hand.

Matt Carlson [00:48:45]:
It really will. It's it's a good grip. I do have a little bit of a swell here at the there's no camera. There we go. A little bit of a swell there just to prevent slippage off that way. But man, with a swell like that, I mean, I was out hooking a lot of stuff with this before I put it up for sale. I was gonna chuck you. I'm gonna chuck you.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:08]:
Well, okay. Let let me you you sort of alluded to this before, but let me ask you, about the business, aspect of knife making. And, I know it's not an easy road to hoe. I've I've heard that from a lot of people. But from your perspective, tell me about the business of having a small knife company.

Matt Carlson [00:49:35]:
So like I say, I couldn't express my gratitude enough, to everybody that has bought a product from the knife works. I mean, people are quite literally the lifeblood of the company. I've sold maybe 5 or 6 knives to 2 people around here. The rest has been a 100% any of this. So that's been never would have guessed that in a 1000 years. But I started out, with the idea that I wanted to make handmade tools for the working class. Right? So what that means to me is there are there's a 100 different knife makers out there making $500 knives. And you know what? They're kick ass, and they are meticulous, and they're pristine, and they're beautiful.

Matt Carlson [00:50:28]:
And I would never want to leave my house because it was $500, And there's nothing wrong with that. It's, you know, that's the beauty of capitalism. Right? You can it's worth whatever somebody's willing to pay for. But I wanted to make a fixed blade that somebody working in 9 to 5 can afford and use and train with and get efficient with, without busting the bank because I could never afford any of those. I always wanted a tracker game name. Right? I was like, oh, that's it. That's the the magnum opus. I'm like, you know what? $13.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:07]:
Yeah. He makes those things with files. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Like, there's

Matt Carlson [00:51:12]:
You know what? And that's awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:14]:
Yeah. There's no way. You know?

Matt Carlson [00:51:16]:
It's so hard to you on a file. I've done file names before, but any of you can even tell me about this.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:21]:
Yeah.

Matt Carlson [00:51:23]:
Is the value there? I don't know. I've never handled one. Doesn't matter. It's not my knife. They're beautiful knives, and he seems like a really awesome guy. He and his wife, and they seem to do really well for himself. So I'm thumbs up. I'm 2 thumbs up for people being able to sell their product for more than I sell my products for.

Matt Carlson [00:51:41]:
I think that's awesome and I'm glad to see it. So that's who I curtail my product to. These guys all have a personality. They are not perfect. There are things that I could deal with, well, really truly that I could make that better or I could do that better. But I try my darnedest and I hope that people realize in terms of the business, I will never make if I were to charge $10 an hour for me working on that, I would never I would never be able to make any money. I don't make anybody off my time. I make 0 money off my time.

Matt Carlson [00:52:22]:
And I do that purposefully so that hopefully people realize and lean into the fact that I'm making it for people like me that that they can't afford 2, 3, $400 a night, but they still want something to protect themselves or use at their job. They want a they want a quality fixed blade, with a lifetime warranty. I mean, I'll fix anything. I probably only had 2 or 3 people come, like, blow out of hand or something. 1 new ran it, fell off his full door and ran it over and, you know, tore off the wood or something like this. No worries. You know, I can I can work it down and see if I can salvage it probably with the new airlock? It's it's $11 of wood. It's fine.

Matt Carlson [00:53:08]:
Don't worry about it.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:09]:
The the the one thing you're missing, if if if I may interrupt, is that all those things you mentioned you could get at Walmart from a knife. The thing you can't get is the pride of ownership of having a handmade knife and having something that's, 100% unique. I have a pretty big, an embarrassingly large collection of knives and only in the last, like, since I've been doing this interview show the last 5 years have I started getting custom handmade knives from people and they mean so much more to me, than than most of my other production knives, just because

Matt Carlson [00:53:44]:
to hear.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:45]:
Well and I've also I've had a chance to talk with people. Like, I'm talking with you. Like, when was the last time, you had an uninterrupted hour long conversation with someone? It doesn't happen that often, unfortunately.

Matt Carlson [00:53:56]:
That's true. That is absolutely true.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:58]:
And then and then it's imposs it's, like, nearly impossible not to fall in love with that person's knives and be like, ah, now I really like, and that's not that's not every time, but the point is, you know, you you could be making a knife that a guy's gonna be using or a or a woman is gonna be using for the next 50 years and they give to their kids, and and it it's gonna come to them totally unique and totally capable and, you know, character. All the character built into that, you can't get from Gerber.

Matt Carlson [00:54:29]:
That's the rub, Bobby. That's the rub right there. It's, like I said, no two knives are unique. I have fiddled with each of these knives and put them in my hands and rolling around and said, does this fit? I've I've ran my thumb along each of these edges a 1000 times as I'm sharply doing, you know every response that I'm missing. They are truly handmade from I mean I don't know any I don't know how I can make them any more handmade and some of them are very wild because they're handmade. You know? And if you get what I'm saying. You know? But there's a lot of evidence you took. I hope that people see that reflected in the product and realize that that each of these blades means something to me that I was working on each of them.

Matt Carlson [00:55:24]:
They they all have a special spot in my heart. It's just so stupid when people send me pictures of, Nashville about 2, 3 years ago, and I'm like, oh my god. Oh. Yeah. You know? But but I'm so excited because people are so keen. And, just just another to the gratitude. I never thought I could do this. I'm the most uncreated person you'll meet, Bobby.

Matt Carlson [00:55:47]:
But I think I think God's given me this gift to use. And so it would be it would be a waste of the fire, and then we just formed it and not keep going. I I I will keep doing this even when there's no money. I was doing it when there was no money. If people stopped buying my knives today and I never sold them, I would have a man support of knives in my closet, which I already kinda have a pretty big, you know, collection. I can't not do it anymore. I can't not make knives anymore. So I guess I got the bug.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:23]:
You just said I'm I'm the least creative guy, and then you turned around and said, I can't stop making knives. It it something's not

Matt Carlson [00:56:29]:
Well, I didn't say that a bit I didn't I didn't say that you're beautiful, but I said it was the Obviously, you're

Bob DeMarco [00:56:35]:
obviously, you're creative, but the the other thing is that, a sign, I think, what I've found in my life is that a sign of an artist is someone, you know, who looks at their at their work, you know, past work no matter how old or how new and they're like, I I always meant to, you know, make that blue or take the edge off of this or or whatever it is. You're always critical of your work and whatever you're working on at the moment is the latest and greatest. Whatever you've just finished is embarrassing or or yeah. Yeah. That was good. But

Matt Carlson [00:57:06]:
Exactly. When you made your YouTube video and included my job in There's another guy, Dave.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:22]:
This old sword.

Matt Carlson [00:57:23]:
Old broken sword? Yeah. He just guesses some shit. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not good with Dave. He actually got a draw too, with Goldene. You know, those are the guys for it, and they're beautiful, and they work. And I I sure hope you guys don't like them.

Matt Carlson [00:57:39]:
But to see my own product on on the YouTube stream, And I was like, oh, I hope he doesn't you know? It's just you know? When you look at it through the through the maker's eyes, I'm just like, oh god. I hope they like it. Oh, yeah. It freaks me out. It it legitimately every every time I send out a knife, I'm like, oh, is it? And I've I've never, I'm very thankful and fortunate that that I have not ever had anybody come back and look, you're not sucks. It's ugly or whatever. You know, I've received critiques. I love critiques.

Matt Carlson [00:58:13]:
I I fully encourage anybody that buys 9th and me to see something that I can fix or something they don't totally agree with or would not change. Please tell me. Because how will I know? If nobody tells me, and if everybody goes to me to stink up my butt, I don't know what to do differently. And I definitely don't wanna go down and have made 200 drugs, and then somebody's like, well, you know what? If you make that palm of hook, quarter inch shorter, it would be a lot better than anybody's. Yeah. We'll show them palm of hook or something. You know? But it will. Gee.

Matt Carlson [00:58:44]:
Thanks. I appreciate that, guys. You know? So I'm all for the I'm all for the positive criticism or whatever they call that.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:53]:
Constructive criticism. Yeah.

Matt Carlson [00:58:54]:
Constructive criticism. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:55]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Carlson [00:58:56]:
Talk and smack nicely.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:57]:
So talk and smack nicely. So as we wrap here, what what do you want, Rib Splitter and Knife Works? How do you envision it down the road, in its full maturity?

Matt Carlson [00:59:10]:
Well, full maturity. I'll tell you one thing I really like, Molly. I'm still in my little 10 by 10 shed, and it's 10 by 10. It's I can take, like, a step over and reach everything for the little while I get it. I'd like to get a little bit bigger spot to do this one day. If I can look back in 5 years, I've come talk to you and I'm still doing this, and the knives are still selling, that's good enough for me. I when I started making knives, I had no misconceptions about thinking I was gonna make it big. I didn't even think I was going I I had no sensei that I was even going to sell a night.

Matt Carlson [00:59:51]:
So everything everything that happens is icing on the cake. It's awesome. I'm thankful for every day I can get up to make nice. And I hope that every day I earn the opportunity to continue to serve people. So I just wanna keep doing what I'm doing. I don't wanna be, get a, water jet order for 35100 blanks and 35 100 precut handles and 35 100 precut sheets, and I suck them all together and ship them out. And, you know, I just wanna keep making these by hand. I wanna keep making whatever comes possibly in my head or or waltzed city.

Matt Carlson [01:00:34]:
And if if I could keep doing this long enough to to pass this down to my kid and teach him a trade, or something, you know, you can do. Because this isn't obviously my first this is not my full time job. Just the ability to to make knives that people want as soon as for me. I'm not hard to please.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:57]:
Yeah. Well, alright. We're not hard to please either. Just, keep making cool knives, and we'll buy them.

Matt Carlson [01:01:03]:
I'll try.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:04]:
Matt, thank you so much. Matt, Carlson of Ribs Plitter Knife Works, thank you so much for coming on the Knife Junkie podcast. It was great to finally meet you. We tried to do this a couple of times, and I'm glad it finally worked, man. It was really nice meeting you.

Matt Carlson [01:01:17]:
My pleasure, Bobby. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

Announcer [01:01:20]:
The Shockwave tactical torch is your ultimate self defense companion, featuring a powerful LED bulb that lasts 100000 hours, a super sharp crenulated bezel, and built in stun gun delivering 4,500,000 volts. Don't settle for ordinary. Choose the Shockwave tactical torch, the knife junkie.com/shockwave.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:40]:
There he goes, ladies and gentlemen. Matt Carlson of Rib Splitter Knife Works. Go check him out. Rib splitter knife works,

Bob DeMarco [01:01:48]:
knife works on Instagram or the website. There is, he always seems to have, like we mentioned before, a Sunday drop and, frequently there's a video leading up to it where you can see what what the new knives are. Really, really awesome. Go check them out. And be sure to check out Thursday Night Knives on Thursday, 10 PM Eastern Standard Time here on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch, and, of course, the midweek supplemental on Wednesdays. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, Don't take dull for an answer.

Announcer [01:02:20]:
Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review at review the podcast.com. For show notes for today's episode, additional resources, and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, the knifejunkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at the knifejunkie.com/youtube. Check out some great knife photos on the knife junkie.com/instagram, and join our Facebook group at the knifejunkie.com/facebook. And if you have a question or comment, email them to Bob, or call our 247 listener line at 724-466-4487. And you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie podcast.