The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2025, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcribe Your Podcasts and Videos: https://theknifejunkie.com/magic (affiliate link)

Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, the November 2025 Gentleman Junkie Giveaway knife. We'll take a close look at one of my favorite backyard bruisers. And then my favorite esk. That's emotional support knife. I'm Bob demarco. This is the Knife Junkie Pod.

Announcer [00:00:18]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast. Your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the knife junkie DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:31]:
Welcome back the show. It's great to have you here. One of my favorite comments from this past week was from requisite and pace 73. 92. I'm sure I just butchered your name. Sorry about that sir, but it was about the kukri and he says nobody knows what the C is for anymore and that's that little notch right above the handle of the kukri. We talked about that a bit last week. I've asked the Gurkhas that I worked with, I've asked kukri salesman in Kathmandu and I've asked the Gurkha Training center in Pokhara, but no one knows definitively.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:05]:
It's possibly a stress relief, possibly religious. Definitely not to stop blood dripping because it doesn't work. I tried it with a Gurkha captain. The only thing people agree on is the purpose has been lost to time. How cool. Thank you so much for that comment. I don't have any of that experience and obviously you've, you've got a host of it. I think it's really cool to to hear your input on it.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:30]:
This is what I got. A lot of people commented on that little notch because I stated I didn't know what it was for. Also, one More comment from JR Bailey 3208 about the notch. He says the notch in the kukri is called the cho or cauti. It is a blood or SAP stopper from reaching the grip and hand. It is also a cultural aspect symbolizing a cow's hoof. Cows being sacred in Hindu in Hindu religion. Cheers.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:59]:
From the oil patch in central Wyoming. Thank you so much, junior. I appreciate that too. Especially the cows hoof bit. I have heard that before and your comment sort of dislodged an old memory. I remember hearing about that and to me that seems like, to me that seems like the most legit explanation for that notch in the shape of it. It doesn't really trap blades like a Spanish notch though. I like to think that that could be a reason also.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:33]:
Anyway, I love mystery. There's a lot. There are few things in the world these days that contain true mystery and that seems to be one of them. Something that's been lost to time. All right, after all that bloating, let us now get to a pocket Check.

Announcer [00:02:50]:
What'S in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:56]:
Check of knives in my front right pocket. I have been carrying with some regularity over the past week this beautiful knife from pyrotech. This is called the Tsunami and it is a beautiful, beautiful knife. To me. This is the 940 that I always wanted. It's got a really cool blade. It reminds, it's, it's, let's just say it's evocative of both the 940 and a straight razor. This little notch here on the back of the blade does that for me.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:28]:
Incredibly wickedly sharp S 90v blade and it's surprisingly sharp given the somewhat obtuse nature of the, of the blade. It's not obtuse but it's, it's at about a 20 degree angle and man, it is so sharp and you know, 20 CV just, I mean s 90 volts just keeps cutting and cutting and cutting. I, I have a lot of experience with it now with Jack wolf knives. This is an interesting knife in that the blade handles come off. They're on there with extremely strong magnets. I will not embarrass myself trying to pull them off here. But these scales come off just by pulling them hard. And it is a pretty cool way of adjusting or taking the knife apart or in, in this case you may want to replace the Omega springs just in case they break.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:27]:
They do send hardware and Omega springs in this whole package. This knife is really, really cool. I don't know much about pyrotech. One of the comments from last week when I showed this off was from a good friend of the show who does a lot of diving, has done years and years of diving and made friends with an octopus. I was talking about how my wife is obsessed with octopus octopi. Octopi and has, you know, books and documentaries and stuff and is convinced they're from another planet. And a lot of evidence kind of points in that direction. The weird thing about octopuses is that they don't have generational teaching.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:13]:
So each new octopus learns all this stuff from scratch. But to watch them camouflage themselves both with color and texture is pretty astounding. Anyway, that's long way around to say I really like this pyrotech knife. Pyrotech sent this to me and kind of out of the blue. And I'm totally impressed. I think this week I'll be shooting a close up video of it. All right. Also in my front right pocket was the first version of the Jack Wolf knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:46]:
Midnight Jack. This thing is just so awesome. The stout, stoutness of the spring on these first production runs is really impressive. I mean they're still very that they still have a great walk and talk and a very strong pull. But I feel like the earlier models were, were even stronger. So I had this on me today. I needed a straight edged knife. I love this knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:15]:
This is back on the first run. Like I said, triple fluted bolsters. It is a Barlow. You can tell by that one third bolster. And it's got this really nice canvas micarta. Love that knife. I use this to cut out shipping labels from my pirate ship. Pirate.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:34]:
Lots of pirates. In this episode. My fixed blade knife carry today. Excuse me, I think I might be coming down with something. Was the McNasty by Fisher Blades. Now I've seen the new McNasty FS standing for full size. The large version of this has come out. I've seen some of our favorite trusted voices showing this knife off and showing the new McNasty off and that definitely inspired me to carry the McNasty today.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:07]:
I love this thing. I love an EDC dagger. Like everybody else, I'm no fool. And the new one, the big one looks really cool. I love the shape of the handle. This is the perfect shape pommel for capping with the thumb. You've got an angle here and an angle here for full thumb wrappage. If you're using this thing in reverse grip, hopefully you don't have to, but there it is.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:36]:
And this sheath, I've learned how to use the. The little notch here at the front of that. The handle is what locks it in. So it does take a bit of training to get this out quickly. You can't just pull it straight out easily. You do have to angle it a little or push off with the thumb and that's a bit of a safety feature. Last up, my emotional support knife, which is the main topic of conversation today. So this will not appear there though this has done a lot of duty recently is the Espada.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:08]:
I love the XL Espada from cold steel. I'm not even going to try and get the whole thing in frame here, but it's such a. Just a great knife. I ate a true modern Nevaja. The Nevaja, the Spanish fighting knife that was created and adopted widely In Spain in the 17th century when. Or 18th and 17th and 18th century, when swords were no longer permissible to carry. To settle your beefs for the average citizen, they started carrying these giant folding knives. And the Colt Cold Steel has done a great job in pulling this beautiful historical knife into the fold.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:51]:
I love this thing. This is an older one. Oh, eight on this one. I remember I bought two at the time. One for me and one for my brother, and he's like, oh, surprise, I got you one. So we had a. We had a funny little. Little exchange there, but that's what I had on me today.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:08]:
My ESK was the XL folding spot up from Cold Steel. I had the McNasty from Fisher Blades right here in the waistband. I also had two knives in my front right pocket because my phone goes in my left. I wish we didn't have to carry around phones, but someday we'll have a chip embedded. And I'll say, I wish we didn't have chips embedded in our brains. I also had the pyrotech Tsunami. What were you guys carrying, guys and gals? Let me know. Drop that in the comments below.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:41]:
I just wanted to let people know that there has been some demand for the knife junkie Zippo. I ordered some more, but apparently I didn't order enough, so I will go back order more. But the Zippo. Awesome. We all know the wind. The windproof lighter. This one, I've put my own insert in here that has the double jets that I have to refill. I like the.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:05]:
The butane better when I'm smoking cigars, and that's what I use this for. But it will ship to you with the. With the. With the windproof wick. I cannot fill them up and send them to you, so you'll have to buy your own Zippo fluid. But I am astounded. I'm gonna put this under the knife cam for a sec. I'm gonna.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:24]:
I'm astounded at how detailed they were able to print my logo on here with those. All those tiny lines behind the heart. They do a beautiful job. I love Zippos. As a matter of fact, I just recently unearthed a trove of old lighters from high school when I was smoking cigarettes. But I was only smoking them because I loved lighters. I'd light one up and be like, throw it out. But at least I got to light it.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:54]:
And I found a couple of old Zippos in there too, so they're great keepsakes and heirlooms. Next up, I want to mention our Gentleman Junkie giveaway knife for November of 2025. That's right. If you're just listening, I paused dramatically to show that it is a TKAL knives agent 001. This one in fact with the black and blue striated G10. But these new, this new run will be dropping November 1st from TKL knives and they are now being machined by the great and powerful Nick Chuprin of NCC Knives up in New Hampshire. He does such a beautiful job and it's no wonder because his extremely sought after folders are really, really amazing knives. He does a, a bit of machining for Tkel and other fixed blade knife companies and he does it so, so incredibly well.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:57]:
I just want to point out the chamfering on that jimping and the, and the terracing on the bevels here. Such a beautiful upgrade to the original Agent 001s, which are amazing. I mean my usual carry is an agent 001 from the first run. Here is another one. You'll be able to get it with this Badger Claw Outfitters sheet which I really love. I've been dropping this one in the pocket quite a bit. Even without a clip it works great. And then this is featuring the new battle lock GFN grips.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:37]:
Gfn. I don't like that so much. That's what I thought. Anyway, that's how I whined about it and then I got one in hand and not only does it feel great, but the colors are super intense and they have literally thousands of colors that they can make this GFN in. It's the same, same glass filled reinforced nylon maker for the bodies of certain SIG models and FN USA models. So really, really high, high impact gfn. So definitely, definitely check this out. This will be the gentleman junkie giveaway knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:16]:
This one right here, the blue one for November of 2025. How do I become a gentleman junkie? You say? Well, join us on Patreon or right below, right here, join us on the channel on YouTube. Become a member. When you become a member on YouTube you are an immediate gentleman junkie. When you go to Patreon you have to choose that tier. We'll probably, we might do away with the other tiers eventually. But anyway, you can scan the QR code on the screen right here or you and you can save 12% if you sign up for a whole year. Again it's thenifejunkie.com patreon thenifejunkie.com Patreon want.

Advertisement Announcer [00:14:02]:
To sell your custom knives Online with Launch Cart you can easily create your own e commerce store, no coding required. Launch Cart is designed for knife makers like you with built in tools to showcase your craftsmanship, manage orders and grow your brand. It's fast, flexible and even includes low cost payment processing to help you keep more of your profits. Start your online knife store today at the knife junkie.com launch and turn your passion into a business.

Announcer [00:14:33]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:36]:
And now here's the Knife Junkie with the Knife Life News. All right, first up in Knife Life News is from K Bar. This is a new folder folded flipper from them called the Mark 25. Now this is a followup from their first folding flipper from 2018 people and that was the Mark 98. Anyway, this one I think is really pretty. I like this pretty in a tactical way of course. You've got a 3.75 inch DT drop point blade with a fuller really, really good looking blade. I'm just kind of checking it out on screen right now.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:18]:
But that fuller is sort of evocative of the classic K bar USMC combat knife. And then it has a really nicely shaped handle. I've never held one of these, but I could just tell by looking at it it's very, very comfortable. GFN scales there. So glass filled reinforced, not glass filled nylon scales. This is a liner lock, a very stout deep carry wire clip on this one. I am looking forward to checking this out. I, I, I, I intend on picking this one up because I love the way it looks.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:54]:
Let's just face it, I don't need any more super robust folding flippers. But I love the way this one looks and you can tell that you can just kind of nestle your flipping thumb or middle finger in that fuller and flip that thing out. This is available now, 86 bucks is the MSRP so you can probably find it cheaper elsewhere. Next up is from Benchmade. Now this one is a successor. This is called the successor and it's a successor to the proper, their first slip joint knife. This one is very much more premium, let's say 2.56 inches of M390 steel on this drop point blade. A very sleek and beautiful design.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:44]:
I have to say they learned a bit since the proper. I think this one looks more proper. You've got a nail neck in that blade, a sleek arcing handle. It's all aluminum so you have gold or blue anodized aluminum scales there with an aluminum bolster. Now this one comes with a leather slip With a clip. Interesting thing about this is that you can take the clip off of your leather slip and attach it to the knife itself. So the knife does not technically ship with a clip, but you can take the clip off the slip and put it on the knife itself. So this thing looks cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:27]:
I really like that sleek and slender blade and I think probably because it looks somewhat tactical, but it's not tactical at all. It is a slip joint. It's kind of a gentlemanly looking knife. This one is available now at 2.28 ounces for $250 MSRP.250. All right, last up in Knife Life News is from Copus Designs. This is the knife that got me very interested in the Pikal style of knife in general, which I have a sprawling collection of at this point. Should probably do an update show one of these days. But this is from Copus Designs and Ed's manifesto.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:11]:
That's Ed Calderon, Ed Calderon's company. This collaboration has expanded the the knife. If you're watching right now, the knife at the very south of the screen is the original knife except for the new handle color, but that's the original blade. They now have a bunch of updates. Here you've got the one with the thumb swale and then the thumb swale with serrations, which is already sold out by the buy. I checked it out. These are GFN handled knives. 154cm blade steel at 2.5 inches in blade length, 1.2 ounces and 1.95 ounces with the sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:55]:
The sheath does have a little hook on it, so you can draw it from your pocket without a clip and have the the sheath remain in your pocket and then you can go to town. These are defensive blades that were inspired by the fruit knife, the small curved fruit knife that Ed Calderon's mother carried in Mexico back in the day when he was a kid and he actually witnessed her defend the family from a mugging with the fruit knife she was always carrying around. She was carrying it around? Yeah, for defensive that defense in that case. But she was really carrying it around because it was her work knife. And he learned how well that style of curved small knife works, how easy it is to conceal on your person. And so he has made a career, among many other things from that knife design. And he's got that knife design across a bunch of different companies and he's a super cool guy. I'm sure you know who Ed Calderon is, but seek him out either on the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:02]:
We had a great conversation with him years back. But he, he has his own podcast and he, he's been on everyone's podcast. So he's very out there kind of guy. These are available now. 125 to 142 bucks. All right, we are going to get to the rest of the show. Coming up, we have I'm going to talk about a backyard bruiser knife because I didn't get anything new this week. I'm going to talk about some, some an excellent knife I've used recently to great effect.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:36]:
But also we're going to talk about some of my favorite emotional support knives. These are emotional support knives, Esk. I've carried a lot recently. But before we do, let us get to the first tool.

Announcer [00:20:52]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. Here's some cool knife history with the knife junkies' "The First Tool".

Bob DeMarco [00:20:58]:
All right, first up. Not first up in the first tool. We're going to talk about the buck 110 hunting. Boulder people, listen. It's 1963 and America is changing fast. The space race is on. Muscle cars roar down the highways and hunters across the country still rely on fixed blades.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:23]:
Sturdy, sure, but a pain to carry day to day. Out of that moment came a revolution in daily use knives, the Buck 110 hunting folder or folding hunter. Before the Buck 110, folding knives were convenient but not exactly trustworthy. They could be closed under stress or hard use. And most weren't strong enough for real field work. But Al Buck had an idea. Take the reliability of a fixed blade and make it fold without compromise. It took much design and engineering, but when the Buck 110 launched in 1964, it changed everything.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:07]:
The knife was solid brass, steel and wood. No plastic, no gimmicks. It had a clip point blade of high carbon stainless steel, but most importantly, a rock solid lockback mechanism. And when that blade opened, it locked with authority. A sound that's as satisfying today as it was 60 years ago. Hunters trusted it, ranchers carried it, soldiers tucked it into their packs. And soon the buck 110 wasn't just a knife, it was the knife. The Buck knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:44]:
In fact, it became so popular that it sparked an entire wave of copycats. Every company wanted to sell their version of the Folding Hunter, but the Buck name engraved right there on the blade tang stood apart. It was tough, dependable and proudly made in the usa. You could spot one by its brass bolsters or by the worn leather sheath on a well used belt. Many of those knives have outlived their owners. Still sharp, still functional, passed down as family heirlooms. There's even a bit of irony here. The buck 110 was meant to modernize knife carry, but it became a classic almost instantly.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:28]:
Today, whether you're buying A brand new 110 from Post Falls, Idaho, this is somewhat brand new. Or carrying your grandfathers from the 70s, the buck 110 is more than brass, steel and wood. It's a piece of American knife history. The knife that proved a folder can be as tough as any fit. And that's why the buck 110 folding hunter doesn't just cut. It defines an era. Now let's get to the state of the collection. Knife themed shirts, hoodies, mugs, water bottles and more.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:03]:
Thenifejunkie.com shop.

Announcer [00:24:05]:
You know you're a knife junkie if you love your knives more than your spouse.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:10]:
Right here, people. Right here. Speaking of classic knives, I had this all weekend long with me. I did a bit of outdoor fall cleanup. I've been sort of neglecting the backyard because the front yard was on display. We've got a bit of our, our, what do you call it, the Halloween decorations and that kind of stuff out. And sometimes when time is tight, I mow the front yard but not the back just because people can't see the back because of our fence. But this weekend we did.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:46]:
I did a whole bunch of backyard cleanup and this is what I used. I used the SP10 Raider Bowie by Ontario Knife and Tool. And I just wanted to show it off because every time I use this knife, I'm incredibly impressed by it. The coating, as you can see, has worn off because I use this as a wood batoner. Not only was I cleaning up the back, but I was also burning a bunch of stuff and I always baton these nasty logs I've had stocked up. They they're really hard and, and kind of old and seasoned wood and they are a pain in the butt to baton through. But I use this 1095 blade to span those, span those logs and knock them in half and well, that's what it does to the blade. And this is one of the few coated blades I have that is this well used.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:44]:
And so I kind of proudly show it off. I really, really love this knife. I kind of wish Ontario Knife and Tool didn't go out of business and then sell the Blue Ridge knives and then move their most of their production overseas. It is hard to find these right now. Hopefully they come back in full force at some point. I wanted to show off this Handle. This solid and thick rubberized handle is really, really great for absorbing the shock of batoning this knife through hard wood. However, it is so grippy that it's sometimes uncomfortable to the naked hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:21]:
So I have wrapped it in that baseball tape just to keep it from crushing my hands. My. My relatively soft and suburban hands, I must admit. But that tape does a great job on this knife. And if you look at the knife right now, it has a beautiful Marine Raider Bowie profile. And I. I'm absolutely smitten with this knife. Every time I pull it out to use it, I love it more and more.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:51]:
I do plan on seeking out other SP knives from the spec. Plus, that's what SP stands for. Light up. I think at this point, ebay is probably my best choice. When the news in 2023 came out that they were selling the Blue Ridge knives, it's just breaks the heart. All of the other SP knives sold out super fast, and so they're harder and harder to find. But I do intend to hit up ebay to see what I can find on the used secondary market. So does anyone here have a.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:27]:
AN ONTARIO KNIVES SP10 Raider Bowie? I'd be interested and I'd also like to find out, you know, what you think of it. Do you love it as much as I do? Probably so. And by the way, this is one of those good knives to kind of do this with. You just kind of hold it up and twist it a little bit in the light. It's got such a cool bow. All right, we're going to get to my most carried esk. Esk, if you're new to the show, stands for emotional support knife. But first, I want to show off some cool merch that Jim just came up with.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:07]:
My other hobby, the strop. So not only do I collect, I strop and I do, almost to the point of diminishing returns. So be careful how much you strop. You might create such a polished edge that you can't even cut with it. It's so damn sharp. I know, I know. It's a. It's a.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:29]:
An enigma wrapped in a mystery. But anyway, you can get this really cool logo and maximum emblazoned on a tote bag, a backpack. You can get it on a hat, you can get it on a mouse pad, a hot drink holder called a cup or a. A T shirt or a apron, whatever it is, that's your pleasure. Now that it's getting cool again outside, I'm outside using the Blackstone griddle a lot. Any excuse to Use the griddle and cook outside. So if you're like me or you like your grill. Kind of suck at grilling, but I do love having a.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:09]:
A an apron on. So go to the knife junkie.com/shop and check out all the different stuff we have on our 25 pages of merch. Now go check that out. You'll be happy you did. If you want their traditional knife junkie logo, you got to go way back to the beginning when we first started putting out merchandise. All right, let's get to emotional support knives. What's an emotional support knife, Bob? Well, it could be anything. Actually, it started as fidgety knives like this, where you can just open them and close them and open them and close them.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:46]:
I'm gonna fiddle with this for a second. Sorry, guys. I feel like this is falling down, and I want to make sure you hear these dulcet towns. Okay, Open, close. Open, close. That was my first sort of version of emotional support knife, and a lot of that came from writing at work and needing something to fidget with and. But it's changed my emotional support knife now, as you'll see from this list, is more what can I defend home and hearth with? Or more importantly, what can I defend myself with on the go? So these emotional support knives, all but one I pretty much don't carry on my person, but I usually have in my personal EDC backpack. First up is no stranger to the show recently.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:34]:
It's my beloved and newest favorite Bowie knife. This is my Hog Tooth Knives fighting Bowie. This one is an homage to the Bagwell Hells Bells style of Bowie. Already starting to get a little munged up here on the handle, but that's okay. That's why I had Matt Chase of Hog Tooth Knives make this in monosteel and not his preferred Damascus, because I did not want this to be precious to me. Yes, it is precious. I paid a pretty penny for it, and it took a while to get, and it is a fine, fine knife, but I wanted this knife to be more of a go to fighting knife if need be. Of course, I don't have a go to because I don't get a knife fights.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:22]:
But in this imaginary world in my head, I thought, I want a Bowie. That that is a dedicated fighting knife, but that isn't so precious, like with all the fancy, fancy materials that I would be afraid to use it. So this is W2 blade steel, the beautiful hormone across not only the primary edge, but also the back edge. I told him I wanted this with a sharpened Swedge to which he obliged in spades. It's, it's nice and sharp for that obtuse angle. And then I wanted a coffin shaped handle and he gave me this beautiful handle with a ringed gidgee wood from Australia. And then the guard, I wanted that sort of devil's horn style guard with the accompanying Spanish knot. And when you have that Spanish notch and a guard like this, you want the guard to be a little bit taller than the notch so you can apply pressure and leverage on a blade that may get trapped in there.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:25]:
That hasn't happened yet. But if I get in the knife duel, this is the one I'm going to bring with me and I'm, I will also bring my sub hilt folder or a sub hilt fighter also from Hog 2 sheath knives which I rarely carry as an esk because it does have those precious materials. And let's face it, I'm, I have a lot of safe means here. But before I put this away, look at this beautiful sheath he made. Really, really dark brown leather, beautifully tooled. And then he turned that belt stud from wrought iron and brass. Beautiful, beautiful sheath, beautiful knife. This one not only brings emotional support for its capabilities, but also for its pure beauty.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:15]:
Next up, the only folder on this list, because I've been carrying it a lot because it's new ish to me, is the Mayhem from Cold Steel. This one is the Mayhem and I got the Snaggletooth MF on there. Fits absolutely perfectly. This is custom, not custom made for me, but this model of the Snaggletooth is made to fit the Mayhem Mayhem only. This was a knife I put off buying for a long time. But I'm really glad I finally got it. It is beautiful. You've got AUS 10 on this version.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:54]:
They do. They did make a special version with S35en, but that's a 6 inch clip point blade. A bit of a swashbuckler with that full belly. The whole thing is belly and then you've got that really dramatic swedge. These three notches on the top are not jimping for the thumb I don't think because that's a 90 degree spine, you can definitely throw sparks with it. And those three little notches are great for trapping the ferro rod and, and throwing sparks with though I can't imagine this being anyone's primary camping knife or survival knife. I mean it could be, could be used. It's very, very tough with that Atlas lock which is sort of a, an a riff on the shark lock.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:46]:
I know it's got some differences, but definitely inspired by the Demko Shark lock and a Great and big G10 handle here. You can choke all the way up here. You can come back here or you can go to the back and get some serious reach with that 6 inch blade. That's about 10 inches of reach here with this knife. So you can see why this has ridden in my pocket but more frequently in my backpack front pocket. As an emotional support knife. It gives me that emotional support to know that if any huge task comes up with the knife, I could handle it with this and it'll stay locked shut. All right, next up.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:33]:
This is one I've had for quite a while, but I've been falling back in love with. And that is the partisan, the number two knife from Station 9. Station 9 has a bunch of models of a knives but also self defense implements. And they number each one, which I think is cool. This is the number two called the Partisan and it's inspired by the knives that French soldiers carried into the trenches in World War I. Oftentimes modified chef's knives, modified butcher knives, kitchen knives. This one modified with a swedge making it easier to thrust. This is 1095 blade steel, super, super tough and springy.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:24]:
The way this is heat treated and I'm not saying that from personal experience, but I've seen a lot of people use and abuse these. Chief among them Volwest and Tony Lopez, the two guys involved in Station 9. I've seen them put their partisans through hell and they just keep coming back for more. This is one of the original ones with that stonewash coated 1095 blade steel and then also beautiful canvas micarta handle scales. Now they're out with a new run of these. These went away for a while, but there's a new run and I just got a sneak peek at that because my good buddy Jock from Jocks knives had one sent to me before. I'm going to send it along to him. And that's got a green G10 handle scale and it does not have or handle scales I should say.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:16]:
And it does not have this belt, what are we going to call that slip thing on the sheath. But the sheath is the same shape. Everything about it is pretty much the same except for the handle scales and the with that. And this leather sheath belt holder thing is great. Especially if you like to carry your belts under or carry your sheaths under the belt. And that's how I like to do it. So that works out really great. Just like Jeremiah Johnson carried his knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:52]:
That's the Station nine number two hardens it. Next up is a knife from one of my absolute favorite people out there in the world and also one of my favorite knife makers and also one of my favorite knives. This is from TEL Knives. This is the Outrider. The Outrider, which is the updated version of the Sapper. You'll know you, you have a sapper when you see that engraved line, not engraved, but laser etched line going down the blade for poking around in the sand for landmines. This is the updated version of that. Because there aren't too many landmine hunters or sappers out there, they have sort of rebranded this as the Outrider.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:44]:
This is based on the, the collaboration design between Emory Morgenstern. That's his, that's his maker's mark right there. He's an IDF soldier who is a specialist in eod, so explosive Ordinance Disposal. And so that's why it was the original version of this was called the Sapper and Tim renamed this knife the Outrider because Emory is also an outrider. He's a badass and he's a. After October 7th, two years ago, he moved back to Israel and has been fighting the good fight over there. And this is his knife design with him. I really love this.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:30]:
You know, you can tell it's got that center line point, the swedge. It's like a clip point and a kukri put together. So a recurve clip point. I don't know what you want to call it, but just a great blade shape. A lot of people use this as their prime outdoors knife. Tim has learned this would make an awesome camp knife. I bet to me it looks like an awesome fighting knife. You've got a great handle, you've got a finger guard, but also a finger choil that you could ride up and do your close up tasks at the camp or whatever.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:05]:
Nice bird's beak pommel and a rounded pommel. That pommel was originally rounded for this purpose right here to nestle in the palm. When you're poking around in the sand, you want to know exactly where that point is. And you get feedback through that curved pommel into the palm of your hand, all the way up your forearm. So beautiful design. I think these are on offer currently. You know, TKL knives, they're semi custom, semi meaning they do batches of knives and you have to kind of catch them when they're releasing the knives you want. And I believe that the Outrider is a, is a currently available knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:49]:
If you want one you can go to the knife junkie.com teak hell. And we have a coupon code there. Knife junkie in the coupon, a little, little bar there. You save 10 off your purchase, I get a little kickback and Tim gets a sale. So it we all win here. Made in the USA, of course. And that this one is 80 CRBT. And I have to thank Tim.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:15]:
He gave this one to me and he'd given me a number of knives in my day and I really appreciate that. But this one especially, I always wanted one of these. And when I saw him at Blade show, he knew that. He's like, here, take this. I was like, oh, I couldn't possibly. Okay, thanks. You know, I don't want to be rude. All right, next up.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:36]:
This is probably, I think this is the smallest one in the line. But this one's been getting a bit of carry especially since my most recent interview with James Williams. This is the HZ6 from CRKT. Look at that. I mean there's one purpose for this knife. You can just tell by looking at it. The, the, the HZ6 is based on a traditional Japanese fighting knife. And this style is a shrunk down version of something that was a bit of a short sword and, but also a smaller tanto.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:21]:
This also comes in a 4 inch version, the HZ4 or from CRKT or you can go to James Williams Design and see if they have. They sell out like hotcakes right quick. But he does some of these with other makers and they are so fun. They're, they're, you know, more custom and more refined than the CRKT. But the CRKTs are awesome, I gotta say. I have an old Hisatsu also from James Williams and CRKT does an especially great job with these James Williams knives. But I'm showing this the spine of the blade right now. You can see that full length swedge and you can see how stout the blade remains right up to the tip.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:07]:
This is definitely a thrusting knife. You're going to have no trouble getting into whatever you're trying to get into with this thing. You've got that traditional style handle with sort of a symbolic representation of the Tsukamaki wrap you'll see on a traditional Japanese knife. And then you have incredible jimping on the top, which is also part of that Tsukamaki design. But it gives you jimping all the way up and down the spine and the belly of this handle. So even though it has no guard, which is there on purpose, so it doesn't snag up on anything. If you're carrying this concealed but need to draw it to use it and the jimping your the fat of your hands and your fingers will sink into that jimping and really keep you on that handle. Also I love that this thing has a pommel.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:04]:
Has pommel. Gyms Williams Design 2927 is the model of this. If this is too much for you at that 6 inch blade length, check out the HZ4 which came out recently. Here's the sheet and I have a discreet Carry Concepts style clip on it. This one by the way makes a great sweatpants or running shorts or round the house pajama knife, I'll put it that way. Next up, this is a classic. I mean this is one of this has been an ESK for many years, but it's been back in heavy rotation. This is the Praether War Bowie by Tops Knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:49]:
I just featured this recently on another podcast or no no in my collection selection videos. I love this knife. Everyone's a huge fan of this knife. This was back by popular demand. I know it went away for a while. I was lucky to get one before they put this on hiatus, but they got such a hue and cry about it being gone that they came back out with it. Just a beautiful bowie knife. That's a 7 inch blade, 1095 blade steel with that high traction black coating there.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:25]:
Real long swedge, which I say this every time. I wish that were sharper came with an option for it but the swedge is thick enough that that's not even they don't even intend that to be sharpened. Very, very sharp. I've seen this being used by outdoorsmen as a great outdoors knife, batoning with it and all that. But to me this is a trident. Well, it's not tried and true by me. This is a born and bred fighting knife. You've got sort of a French profile with the blade being a lot wider and broader than the tapered portion of the handle and that acts as the guard widens out towards the pommel in sort of a coffin handle shape which we're which resists centrifugal force.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:17]:
If you're swinging this and slashing and hacking and chopping. Just a beautiful, beautiful knife and it instills me with confidence and that's a huge part of what an ESK is supposed to do. Like I said, whether it's the fidgety thing to dispel excess energy or it's the just in case I want to make sure I have a knife that I can go to war with on me at the time. And that's what my esks have been lately. This is the Praether War Bowie wearing one of the best Kydex sheaves I've ever made, which I'm happy about because they send that in one of those kind of lame spec ops or whatever they call them. Nylon sheaves. I just don't like them. Not.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:06]:
Not befitting such an awesome knife. Anyway. Next up. This was one that I put off buying for a long time and then finally pulled the trigger on. I love this knife. It's probably my favorite Ka Bar knife. I'm being 100% honest and I'm barring all sentimental attachment to my other K bars which have a lot more sentimental value to me than this. But I really, really love this one.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:32]:
This is the Doghead K Bar and this was design and designed and intended for those who love using their K bars for camping and out outdoorsy bushcrafting of stuff. To me it's still just an awesome version of a fighting knife. But the what they did to make this more outdoors friendly is make it a, a, an asymmetrical guard. So the top guard for the thumb is very small. So if you want to use it in a saber grip and, and push your thumb against the guard and still have something to view, something to push against there. But if you want to use this for close in kind of carving chores and that kind of thing and you want your thumb on the back of the blade, you don't have a huge thumb side guard to or dorsal guard to, to put your thumb over it works really great for that. Also the guard is much thicker and the four finger guard extends considerably. You've got that stacked leather handle which I'm an absolute sucker for.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:40]:
I love it. I, I love it. I'm a huge fan of stacked leather in general, but Ka bar does a superlative job with that. And then the, the butt cap here is thicker than the usual Ka bar and it extends into sort of a teardrop shape and you can use this to hammer in tent stakes or whatever you might use your pommel for in a hammering sort of fashion. So these are all the reasons why they consider this sort of their bushcraft knife. But like I said to me, this is still a combat knife. It's just a different iteration of it comes with the usual great leather Ka Bar basic Ka Bar sheath. But I mean you don't need more than this.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:25]:
This thing is awesome. And yeah, this has gone in my backpack and done Esk duty A lot since I've gotten it. I just. I don't know, man. Something about this has an extreme charm. It's got these. The unsharpened swedge that you're finding now on all the modern K bars. I do have a K bar that was released in the early 90s, maybe 1990, and it was a reissue of the 1941 or 1942 design with that sharpened swedge.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:02]:
I love that too. It'd be cool if they came out with a dog head with a sharpened swedge, but they're not doing the sharpened Swedes at all these days, so that won't happen. Doghead. I love it. All right, next up, this one is from Spartan Blades. This is the Les George Raider Dagger. They call it the Spartan George Raider Dagger for short, but here it is. This is a modern full tang.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:30]:
Full tang to the point where the, the tang even extends to the very length of both guards. But this is a modern full tang version of the Raider Dagger which saw some production and some use at the beginning of World War II. It was quickly phased out for the M3 trench knife which had a. A half sharpened back edge. These were known to be very delicate and the tips would break off, so guys would break it off before the fact and then sharpen the front into a sort of a chisel, the front tip into a sort of chisel. They also had these very brittle aluminum handles that had another. They were aluminum alloy and I can't remember what the secondary metal was in it, but that metal would start to flake as it oxidized and the handles would crumble and the blades would break it. It was just kind of a.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:30]:
A misstep in manufacturing because at the beginning of our involvement, all being the United States involvement In World War II, materials were going to a lot of other places than knives and compromise really showed in the, in the knife itself. I'm holding it on the side. You can see the beautiful swelled a palm swell handle. So contouring is just beautiful no matter how you turn this knife. And you've got jimping all the way around. So really great grip on this knife. And these GRN handles are nicely knurled. You get great grip.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:10]:
It's an outstanding thrusting knife. And of course you've got a bit of belly, not too much, but you could still use this in a slash, but all day long. This is a rusting knife for those sort of chores that a Marine raider might find themselves being pressed into. Also has a great Kydex. This is not Kydex. A a great thermomolded plastic sheath that it. It does not seem like any extra even though it is a pancake style sheath. But it also has a lot of different lashing options.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:50]:
I have it with the. This one of these sort of cheap clips on here and this one also works great as an around the house gym shorts or sweatpants or pajamas knife. And yes, I'm always, always armed, does not matter. Don't always have a gun on me, but I'm always armed with a knife. It doesn't matter what I'm doing or where I am unless I'm at the airport in which case I've forgotten to disarm myself. And they've taken. That has happened. So.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:19]:
All right, penultimate in this list is the Black Bear classic. The cold steel classic classic cold steel version of a classic knife. The Loveless Sub hilt Fighter. This is one of my favorite knives period in my collection. I love this. I took so long to get one of these. So long that for years and years and years they haven't had this leather sheath. I had to find it on ebay and I did and there it is.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:52]:
And it is fantastic. I love this. This one is in a 440 stainless steel. I think it's 440C. It's been ages since cold steel has used 440 blade steel. That just goes to show how old this one is. Someone kept it in their basement which is apparent from the smell on the sheath which is basically all but gone away. And it's got this gorgeous polished G10 handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:21]:
Look at the palm swell on there. This thing is so comfortable in hand and you've got the dual edges. Very, very sharp, long slender clip point blade. Those are hollow ground bevels. So you have quad hollow ground bevels. And then the Ricasso is crowned. So you have a nice rounded off Ricasso. Really, really awesome aluminum double quillian guard and aluminum sub hilt here.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:53]:
The fit and finish of this is awesome. Like I said, it was obviously in someone from the box and the sheath obviously in someone's basement for a long time nothing has separated. Everything is still fully flush in those handle materials. These are complex builds. If you look at this, you've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 pieces here and then seven with the, with the lanyard hole. And then you have so like 12 pieces all together including the pins. Pretty complicated handles on some hilt fighters and none of that has separated. It's just beautifully manufactured in Taiwan.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:35]:
Here's the leather sheath with the D guard and the Dangler belt loop here and then you've got a really nice Arkansas Whetstone in that in that pouch there on the front. If you love the Black Bear Classic, I do suggest you get one. Whether you get the the one with the new modern sheath which to me does not fit the whole look of the blade, but you might not be as concerned about that. I can't recommend this thing more. It is an impressive knife and beautiful to look at and really just feels great in hand. If you're someone who likes to practice your knife skills in the air, this, this one is great. I do do recommend it. I'm a huge sucker for the Loveless designs, especially the the sub hilt fighter and the New York Special.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:30]:
I think it was called the New York Special and then the shoot knife, all three of them super cool. Bob Loveless design. Bob Loveless was one of the original members of the or formative founders of the American Bladesmith Society along with a couple of other people. Yeah, chief among them, Bill Bagwell. He was a part of that scene too. All right, last up, my most. One of my most carried esks recently has been this beast. This Speaking of Marine Raider Bowies, this is the work tough gear V44X.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:10]:
This is in the K329 steel, which I'm told is a really, really awesome steel. I'm not sure about that, but I do know it has lived up to the limited abuse I've given it. I've pounded this through endless logs in the backyard. Maybe not endless, but many, many logs in the backyard. I've also used it for sapling removal and we have these fast growing sumac trees here and it's done a beautiful job on that. It's just a great excuse to have an awesome raider style Bowie on you. Designed by Reese of well Regulated. You can see his incredible collection of vintage Marine Raider Bowies.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:56]:
He's a former Marine on Instagram if you go to well underscore Regulated and he's been on the show here recently talking about this design and others. He's. He's got a pocket version of this, a 4 inch bladed version of this knife that's kind of. Well, he's had a number of customs made of it and we're hoping to see Work Tough Gear release it sometime soon. I know that they have plans to do so, but we just haven't seen it yet. A great handle, G10 contoured. You got a bit of a palm swell there. Fits great in hand all the way back here to chop.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:39]:
You've got this kind of straight back for recoil and then this hook here to keep it in hand. Excellent knurling on the handle itself and a beautiful orange liners. You can see also here it's chamfered where the thumb goes, but you have a, a very sharp 90 degree spine for throwing sparks and other and other for shaving off bits of fatwood or whatever you're going to use that spine for. But very nice sharpened spine. Great chamfered choil here and a nice finger guard. This thing is the perfect representation of a modern Marine Raider Bowie designed by a modern Marine, former Marine, but I guess once a Marine, always a Marine. All right, guys, thank you so much for joining me on my Esk journey. I use Journey with a little bit of irony.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:36]:
But. But do you have an Esk? Do you have an emotional support knife? You carry a knife that you're most likely not going to use, but you use it to bring your, bring your mood, stabilize your mood because it's a fidgeter, or stabilize your mood because it's something that you could defend your life with even, even though you know that that will probably not come up hopefully. Let me know. Drop it in the comments below. I'd love to know what your esk is and maybe we'll mention it next week in our next midweek supplemental of the Night Junkie podcast. All right, for Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take Dull for an answer.

Announcer [01:00:19]:
Thanks for listening to the ninth Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review at reviewthepodcast.com for show notes for today's episode, additional resources and to listen to past episodes, Visit our website thenifejunkie.com youm can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at the knifejunkie.com/YouTube