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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. Call the Listener Line at 724-466-4487; Visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2024, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcript

Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, I get a new old trench knife, a camp axe from your recommendations, and we're gonna take a look at my teakal knives collection so far. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie podcast.

Announcer [00:00:15]:
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 [00:00:28]:
Welcome back to the show. It's great to be back from our holiday break. My favorite comment from this past week, and I've been reading them all and answering them all. I've I've been, Slack of late, and now I'm back on the, back on track with the comments. So, very happy to be back with you all in the comment section. But this one comes from John Bowles 508 on the T.Kell knives agent 001, my collaboration design with T.Kell knives. He says, love the pancake sheet folds on both sides. Better mounting options.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:00]:
And I'll put in paren here, as as compared to the older teakal sheets where there was only mounting options on one side. Love the bird's beak pommel. It will make for quick deployment and solid grip. I would be glad to have such aggressive jimping under my thumb so close to that back edge. This looks perfect for forward or reverse grip, edge in or out, all styles. Nice job, Bob. Well, thank you, John Bowles. That put wind in my sails, and I don't mean to pump up my own, my own venture here, but man alive, I saw that and, made me feel great.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:34]:
But I've been loving all the comments, this week and the past couple of weeks. They've been awesome. Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to put comments and put your comments in the videos. I really appreciate it. Alright. That said, let's get to a pocket check.

Announcer [00:01:52]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:59]:
Alright. In my front right right pocket, it's been hard to kick this one out. This is my latest Emerson acquisition. It is the PTAC. This is the redux of the Persian, a very, very popular and and old school design by, Ernest Emerson and Emerson Knives. This was a very, very popular and hard to get one for many, many years. I'm so glad they came back with the Persian. They now call it the PTAC, and that suits me just fine.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:31]:
And I love the size of this thing. It's just a hair over 4 inches in blade length. And I'm not generally a Persian fan, so much of that, swept up blade. But I have a few in my collection including the, the Talwar by Cold Steel and the Persian by Spyderco. I love both of those knives, and so I'm a little picky with oh, and also the Herman knives, Ishtar. I'm a little bit picky with my Persians, but this is definitely one that passed the test. When I saw it, I jumped on it. Thanks to Scab and ChoirboysCutlery, he alerted me to this, not personally, but I saw one of his, saw one of his shorts where he mentioned he wanted to see it, wanted to get it, and so I jumped on it.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:18]:
I love this knife. It's been, in my pocket for a solid month, with with other knives coming in and out, but, man, so great to have it. Emerson, and this is definitely, I should should say a new Emerson. This is definitely on my Emerson no sell list. I've only gotten rid of 1 Emerson in the past, 1 or 2 Emersons in the past few years, and it ain't gonna happen again. So, very happy to have that. Another unique blade shape on me today, I have the Rosecraft Blades, o Ocoee Kayak. I'm not really sure how to pronounce that, but the kayak with that beautiful candy apple bone, so nice.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:58]:
I put that little leather fob on there, I think it looks, great, and it also keeps it oriented north to south in my pocket. Just clipped my nails, so it's kinda hard to pull this one out, but, I really love the downward blade on this. It's sort of a modified sheep's foot, but it's canted downward at an angle and it really accelerates the cutting. The ergonomics of this fits, it fits perfectly in hand. And if you blew this up, say by 10% and your entire hand were bracketed by the pommel and the bolster here, it would still fit perfectly. It just so happens it's smaller and, this part of the pommel accommodates my pinky, like so. Alright. Had that in the in the, front left pocket next to my phone.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:50]:
Also on me today, I had the Regiment Blades LoViz. I love this thing. This is an Al Salviti design. You saw it kind of, well, I'll be frank, ripped off in the kernel, but the Regiment Blades Lo Vis is the original and it is awesome. I love this knife. If you look at Al Salvidi's channel, he has sharpened the back edge of his. That swedge is very, very, slender, so it would be a pretty easy job and something I might do here in the future. But this is a really comfortable knife to wear in that, appendix.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:32]:
Excuse me, in that appendix position because if this is your belt line, it sort of, just curves under your belly. And, with the holidays, my belly has grown. So, it's not sticking straight up and poking into your belly, it rides off to the side. And it's so easy and intuitive to grab. And, Al recommends putting the back hand on on the back Your your empty hand on the back of your live hand as you thrust. And I asked him if that was to get more power and actually said, no. It's to keep your other hand out of the way. Because a lot of times, people have, you know, tend to stab themselves.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:11]:
So put it on the back, you do get extra power, but you also get that live hand out of the way. So interesting philosophy of of, deployment and I've been, I've been doing that. He also sent a trainer, to me to to train with. I haven't used that as much, I've actually been using the live blade just to draw. And since I have that backhand there, I'm not so worried. But remember, when doing anything like this, training a draw or something like that, slow is fast or, yeah, slow is smooth, smooth is fast, Meaning start off slowly and eventually you'll get, you know, you'll get quick like you wanna be. Okay, last on me for emotional support today, my ESK, my emotional support knife was the primitive wicket by Knives by Nuge. Such a great little neck knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:04]:
I I got it from him at blade show, this past year and, you know, got it just kinda thinking I wanted to get a knife from him and I love the, Jute wrap, but this has ended up being one of my favorite knives of the year, one of my favorite knives from last year. I carry it quite a bit, and I put it on and forget it's there until I need it. And, oftentimes, neck knives aren't like that. Oftentimes, you put you get a neck knife because you think it's cool and you like it, but then you put it on and it's just kind of swinging around and dangling, and maybe it just hangs just a little heavy. Not the case in this one. And I like to I like to say that this one also, feels fine next to your naked flesh. I don't need to have a shirt in between my skin and and that. Not in the lineup, but I wanted to mention this, right here, my cadet from, Victorinox.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:06]:
I was going through some old clothing in my closet, gotta be in my bonnet to purge, and I found my old cadet in, the pocket of a blazer I was getting rid of, an old nineties velvet blazer. And you say, why would you get rid of a velvet blazer? That sounds cool. Well, it was cool, but the cut is so nineties, I just couldn't couldn't do it anymore. So it's going off to someone who wants to dress retro. But it was so exciting to find this, knife. Since losing it, I got a new one, but now I have 2 and it's really cool to have this old one back in pocket. Not having been used in several years, it has lost some of its snap, but I'm gonna flush out those back springs with oil and it'll be back back to perfect. So that's what I had on me.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:58]:
Let me know what you had on you. Always love to find that out. It gives me inspiration and also lets me know what classy ladies and gentlemen we have watching this show. So drop in the comments below what you're carrying, and, I'd love to find out. Another thing I'd love is if you go over to Patreon and check out what we have to offer for support. Every month, we do a a gentleman junkie giveaway. Now you're saying, what's a gentleman junkie? I'll tell you. That's our top tier of support.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:27]:
We have gentleman junkie, we have tactical junkie, we have traditional junkie. And those are different, financial, what do you wanna call it, obligations. It's not an obligation, you can do it if you want. And, we give away knives on Thursday nights, the 3rd Thursday of every month, to a lucky gentleman junkie. So go over there, check out what we have to offer, like interview exclusives, etcetera, and, well, we'd appreciate it greatly. You can scan the QR code right there on your screen, or you can go to the knifejunkie.com/patreon. Again, that's the knifejunkie.com /patreon. 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 a built in stun gun delivering 4,500,000 volts.

Advertisement Announcer [00:10:18]:
Don't settle for ordinary. Choose the shockwave tactical torch, the knife junkie.com/shockwave.

Announcer [00:10:25]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast, and now here's the knife junkie with the knife life news.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:31]:
So being January of 2025, if you're not listening to this when this drops, a lot of new knives have been announced and I'm gonna go through the some of them, pretty quickly. But I just wanted to mention upfront the Buck of the Month. Every month Buck puts out a special version of one of their classic knives. In this case, it's the 110. It's about as classic as it gets for Buck. People say Buck knife and this is what they think of. But not this iteration. This iteration is something special.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:01]:
So this one has rich light scales, and it's got sort of, a a, the appearance of, well, I'll quote Ben Schwartz, of an old book, the spine of an old book or the inside cover of an old book. It's a tan and black, very variation. And, as it's shaped, you get all of these different patterns emerging from it. It also looks kinda damastasy to me, or marbled. So this is a single or barehead bolster design, so it doesn't have that rear bolster. And you can also see the pin. That's that's, I think, what the term barehead actually, refers to. But they don't polish the bolster in such a way that it hides that pin.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:47]:
And then as you look, towards the back lock, it terminates in that rich light. Rich light? What's rich light again? You ask. Well, rich light is like a paper micarta. Stacked paper compressed under high pressure and heat, and, you get a very, very tough and durable handle material. This one is in S35VN. That's another, marker of a buck of the month. They put a special steel on it. They've been using a lot of, what do you call it, MagnaCut recently.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:17]:
They've gone back to S35VN, but of course with that Paul Boss heat treat, it's gonna be killer. They only made 750 of these, so jump on it if you're a Buck fan. They are available now. Alright. Coming up from CRKT, not a company we mention often, but I've been mentioning them a lot recently because of my recent acquisition of the HZ, 6, that awesome, Japanese style, Williams blade. So they have a number of new knives coming out and most of them are beautiful collaborations or or many of the top ones that they're really talking about are collaborations. This top one is the Walker blade lock. Michael Walker, the guy who, who pioneered the liner lock, He lives up in Taos, New Mexico making masterpieces.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:08]:
Well, this is an older knife that he had with CRKT, and it's being revamped, this with that, blade mounted lock right there on the thumb stud. You can kinda see how the thumb stud has a sort of slot mechanism around it. That is the USP of this particular knife. So excited to see something from Michael Walker. Next, from Brian Tighe, from up in Canada. Brian Tighe, t I g h e. All of his, blade and knife names are, takes on the word tie. So this one is the Twist Tie Compact.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:47]:
A beautiful out the front made by Hogue. This is another thing that, CRKT has been doing in the past couple of years. They have been reaching out to companies like Hogue and Topps and, others to to make some of the knives that they're putting out under their label. So a beautiful out the front here, with a carbon fiber chassis and aluminum slide. So so it's gonna be super duper light. MagnaCut blade, double edged here at 2.67 inches. So a very cool one. Going down, a classic collaboration from CRKT with Alan Folts.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:26]:
This is the minimalist now with a 3 inch, Nessmuk blade. Really cool and man, it looks very, very useful. Love that recurve. Love that, Nessmuk blade shape. This is, one that is inspiring me. I might have to get one of these, but I say that every time they come out with a new minimalist. I am plum out of minimalists, actually. I tend to give them away and haven't had one in, in quite a while, so this might be the next minimalist for me.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:56]:
Now going down, I mentioned tops before. This is one that's being produced by tops knives. It's the Kasseloft. It is a very slender and nearly 4 inch, burden trout design, in 1095 blade steel and that sort of which is a signature steel for TOPS knives, and also signature, that tan canvas micarta handle. So very light and slim. This looks to me like it'd make a great, out on the town steak knife. But it is a bird and trout, so you can skin your your birds and gut your fish with it. You can tell what a huntsman I am.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:34]:
But this one looks cool at 4 point, 2.4 ounces from TOPS Knives. Now going down, another sort of regular, collaborator with CRKT, TJ Schwartz. Awesome dude, making really, really cool knives. This is a kiridashi inspired knife out of d two steel with that upswept edge and that, pointy point right there. Very nice looking thing. So this one is called the straight. Very good looking knife and very much looks like a TJ Schwartz. Now going down, I mentioned before the HZ 6, a knife I've been, really, into a lot, carrying in my bag, carrying around the house, ever since I got it.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:16]:
This is the James Williams HZ 4. Obviously, it's a smaller version. Now, it's closer to 5 inches than 4 inches but, they're they're not calling it the HZ 4.76. Coated SK 5 in that very, very traditional Japanese look. The handle that emulates, sort of samurai, handle with the, tsukemaki wrap and such. And then that very, very traditional pointy and upswept, tanto or wake and blade. Very excited to see this. I think I'm gonna be sticking with my 6.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:52]:
It's just perfect, but happy that this will get in the hands of people who want a shorter version of that. Now, moving down, the very, very, very, very signature flagship folder model, series from CRKT, the M16 series now has a crossbar lot. So this'll be cool to see. This is the Kit Carson, brainchild, Kit Carson designed, knife that is just, they've made millions of these things over the years. I've had several of them, so I've, as has my wife, and I've given them away as as gifts. They come in 3.11 inch, 3.57 and 4 inch models, different blade shapes, etcetera. It'll be exciting, to check this out with a crossbar lock. Alright, moving down.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:39]:
Another collaboration. The next 2 actually are from Richard Rogers, very, very talented knife designer and maker. This top one is interesting. It's another kiridashi inspired, knife, but this one a small fixed blade version and here's the USP, all titanium, including the edge. So that'll be an interesting one and no doubt super super light. Moving down, the viento is a, cleaver inspired folder from him. Upswept 2.3 inches and, well, D2 blade steel and an interesting, selection. Last up, from a long time collaborator with CRKT, that's Lucas Burnley, we have the Squid now with the button lock.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:27]:
I used to have a Squid, frame lock, very cool and charming little knife, I gotta say. Whether you drop it in the pocket or clip it to the back, you're gonna like that knife. So excited to see that comin' out in G10 and micarta. All right. Next up, from Benchmade. They have a couple, couple of cool things comin' out here. I'll breeze through these, because, most of them are coming out later in the year, and what we're gonna see here are, artist renders, if you will. But the first one is the 491 flipper.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:03]:
And it's rare to see a, Benchmade flipper with a axis lock, but this one will be coming out. Aluminum 2.8 inches of 20 CV steel in that spear point. Look for this one in August. Next, they have a very interesting looking, you can obviously tell that this is an an artist render, but this is a, the 315 slip joint. This will be coming out in October. 2.56 inches of MagnaCut. Now I'm not sure how this is going to be deployed, if it's like a double detent with a, front flipper because I don't see a nail neck here. But it will be a slip joint and it will come with a leather clipped slip, for the pocket.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:44]:
Again, that one's in October. Moving down from there, this one, is sort of a gimme. I can't believe they haven't done this, already, but this is the fixed blade version of the Bugout. Interesting thing about this one is that that it's smaller than its standard model. It'll come, with a, 2.99 inch, blade and I'm not sure what it what they're gonna go with, blade steel wise. Look for this one in September. Now this is the most exciting to me pulling the bedlam out of the archives. They're coming back with a mini bedlam, 3.45 inches, of Persian shaped s ninety v.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:25]:
This thing is really cool. I I had a Bedlam on long time loan for a while, and, it is an impressive, impressive knife. I had the bigger one. It's pretty cool, though. Another Persian I wouldn't mind having in the collection. This one is coming out in March. Now a little bit of editorializing. I think the handle looks very, 2010 to 2012, and I'm talking about the treatment of that double layer, g ten.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:55]:
The tan and the black, I like, but all of the sculpting on it, something about it. It smacks of shielded knives from, I don't know, like 2013 or something like that. Anyway, very cool, and I don't mean to be, that doesn't mean to be a diss, it's just the the first impression I got. Moving down, another bug out. They're gonna be coming out with a number of bug outs that this year, but this is the bolstered bug out. So you have an aluminum bolster there with rich light, beautiful, maroon rich light there. This is gonna be super light. Expect this one in March.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:34]:
I think this is 2.5, 2.5 ounces. So it'll be a very light knife, especially for a bolstered one. Coming down from there, we have the mini and, the mini barrage and the barrage in rich light. Again, you have that beautiful maroon rich light. I love it, next to that black blade. Look for that one in s 30 v in March of 2025. And lastly, the Crooked River, probably my favorite, folder from Benchmade. I really regret getting rid of mine.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:10]:
They will be coming out with this one in MagnaCut, and it'll have this really nice looking, copper esque aluminum bolster. The the bolster will be aluminum but that that copper shape, a black canvas micarta, looks like a pretty fatweave canvas micarta with the black MagnaCut blade. Look for that one. I'm not even sure whether when they're gonna release that one. Not sure if they are sure. But lots of, interesting offerings from Benchmade, especially for fans out there who want a deep cut or or a, a a new version of a classic night. Last up, I wanted to talk about this news. This was strange to me, or bittersweet, I don't know.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:58]:
Jens Anzo is leaving Giant House, and or Giant Mouse. And to me, he's half of Giant Mouse, but, actually, he's 1 third because we never really think of Jim Wirth, who's the CEO, unless there's big news and then you hear his name. But, Jen Zanzo, is leaving GiantMouse, and I just I'm going to read a couple of, things that were that were said by them. 1st, from CEO Jim Worth, he says, we're grateful for everything Gens has brought to GiantMouse over the past 9 years. As we move forward, Jesper and I are focused on shaping the future of GiantMouse, while Gens will be able to dedicate himself fully to Anzo of Denmark. We're confident this step will allow both brands to expand in new ways and achieve the unique goals we each hold for our respective visions. Now, if that's not a CEO speaking diplomatically, I don't know what is. And then Enzo says himself, we're proud of what we built together.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:59]:
We can't wait to see what the future holds for both brands. This isn't goodbye. It's simply the next step forward for all of us. Actually, that was Jim Worth also. Anzu himself says, cofounding GiantMouse with Jim and Jesper and collaborating with Jesper on knife designs has been an amazing experience. I'm very proud of what we built together over the years. GiantMouse has become a brand that represents quality, innovation, and a strong connection with its community. I'm honored to have been part of its journey.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:30]:
So, I I'm con I'm assuming it's an amicable split, but the picture that I've seen that they put up on, on knife news, he's walking away with his head hanging. I I don't know what that means or if it's just, you know, to show that, we're all sort of bittersweet about it. But, yeah, weird news and sad to see Enzo go. Alright. That's that for knife news. Sorry. For life knife news, be sure to check out knife news. That's where I get a lot of these stories.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:01]:
And Schwartz, I always mention him, what a great writer that guy is. He can talk over and over about a, thumb disc and make it sound interesting. Alright. Still to come, we're gonna check out the state of the collection. I am gonna show 5 new products off, new to me, that I've gotten, that I'm really excited about. But I wanted to remind you that you can, you can like, you can comment, you can subscribe, you can download the, download this show to your favorite podcast app, and, listen to the show whilst on the go. It is a a good thing to do, so you can listen to these golden tones. Maybe they can soothe you when you're in traffic.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:39]:
I know I need something to soothe me, that's for damn sure. Alright. Coming up, the state of the collection,

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Announcer [00:25:59]:
And now that we're caught up with knife life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:05]:
G good. G good. This is the 1917 trench trench knife that I got for my brother for Christmas. Thank you so much, Vic. This thing, I'm gonna set it down so you can see the whole thing. This is just a wicked, wicked blade, and it also rounds out my collection of trench knives. It's not It's a it's a slim slim collection. I want it to grow and grow, but these have always been my 2 favorite.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:34]:
This, 1918 or Yeah, 1918, I've always loved that knuckle duster, the knuckle. You can, you know, individual holes for each finger. This one is maybe a little more practical as you can fit a large gloved hand in here, at least I can. I have medium sized hands, that I can sometimes jam in small gloves, so small to medium sized hands and, so I could wear giant gloves with this. But, even you out there with the big, meat hooks, you could get your hand in this, incredible knife, handle here. I love the walnut, handle. It is, kinda squared up, not squared off, it's rounded here but it's flat and rectangular so it's not gonna turn in your hand. And then you have this, what I'm assuming is stamped, maybe it's cast, I'm not sure.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:26]:
Maybe it is cast, actually. Knuckle duster here, d ring with those with those pyramids on it. And then this, illegal, according to the Geneva Convention, triangular blade, which mythically, it's triangular in cross section if you're just listening. But, mythically, you can't sew up these wounds. That's why it's illegal. Now I have heard that that is, poppycock or maybe just mythology. But either way, it just creates a a horrible, horrible, nasty hole. Of course, this is not really intended for, slicing, at all, but I surmise that if you hit someone hard with one of the corners of this blade, you could split something open.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:07]:
But, I think the intention of this knife as a thruster with that very stout triangular cross section is to get through thick leather and wool in in a in a trench fight. So very, very nasty. Also has a, a really awesome leather and metal sheath here, and hangs on a traditional style belt. This is new old stock, meaning, it was never issued. This one was not issued. It's been bangin' around for over a 100 years though. And now, it's in my collection where it will stay until it is passed on to my girls. All right.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:49]:
Next up, I got this fixed blade. I've been really looking forward to this ever since its first release. This is the Steadfast designed by Cal Richardson, and it's a beautiful combat field knife, combat utility knife. You know, you can just look right at it and know that, yeah, though it is a field knife, it's definitely optimized, again, for thrusting and, slashing and deep cutting. It is a thinner blade stock, than the last, version of this, Work Tuff Gear Steadfast. Work Tuff Gear is a great brand, and I I think I'm getting somewhat hooked on them. And luckily, they're hard to get. You have to be kinda Johnny on the spot with their drops.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:35]:
Know when they're coming out. Pay attention, and and you can you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it. That's how I got the V44 Expo, that's how I got the Steadfast. I watch Choirboys Cutlery, Scab is always mentioning when they have drops, and, The Last Huntsman, I I got, that's how I got the word on this one. But beautiful long swedge. This is s This is k 329. I'm not sure about that steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:05]:
I know people love it. I'm not sure why, though. I I assume it's tough. They put it on a lot of their large outdoor knives. I've got the, ivory liners and the black g ten, nice grooving in the handle, and just a beautiful design, super ergonomic, and, also great in a reverse grip. You get the, the peaked peaked handle here, or you can tap with the thumb. I just love that blade shape. It reminds me a little bit of the v set, I gotta say, the the awesome legendary Les George folder.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:41]:
One thing about the shees, Work Tuff Gear shees to me are hit or miss. I mean, they all retain beautifully, but they're kinda it's kinda like the state of Texas here. There's a lot of real estate and, a lot of extra on the outsides of the grommets and they retain almost too well. For me, I really have to push off with the thumb and tug to get it out, so if it's on the belt or in the waistband, it's gonna be a little bit more difficult to draw. So I think I will probably, either convince my brother to make a leather sheath for this, but probably more likely, I will make myself a new kind of sheath for this that draws a little more easily. Because, you know, you never know when you're gonna need to pull it out in a in a fight. That, of course, is a joke. But here, this is my new, council tools, Hudson Bay pack ax, or camp ax, I mean.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:39]:
This is a a hatchet, not the ax. They make a bigger version of this. But this is that, very signature Hudson Bay ax shape. So when you see the shape that looks like that with the, sort of steeply descending beard in a straight line, and a relatively straight top, that's called the Hudson Bay pattern. This one has a nice, tail end too that you can use as a hammer pull. Say you're, putting in, stakes for your tent or something, that'll work well. It's a it's an extended, rear end there, and we all like extended rear ends. And then this really it comes quite sharp and it's got a really nice finish to it.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:25]:
It looks like it's straight out of the forge. Very nice, ash handle here, haft, and it feels great in hand. I have not used this yet, and it won't get much use, except around the fire pit, family fire pit, until this spring when I resolve to actually go camping. It's been many years, it's been many years, probably approaching 30 years since I've gone camping. This was a recommendation from one of you out there when I was asking for a nice, light, but effective and somewhat short camp hatchet. Made in the USA, this is the Council Tool Hudson Bay Camp Axe. I love this thing. Thank you.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:08]:
My daughter's got this for me for Christmas. Next is from Shieldin' Knives. Shieldin' and use my right thumb to flip that open. This is the REV. Now, Shieldin' Knives made this, did a beautiful job in doing so, but what it is is a collaboration between Auxiliary Manufacturing, this is an original design from them, a, fixed blade custom, and then DC Blades, that's their logo, that's their logo there, but you can also see it says AM in there too to signify the collaboration with Auxiliary Manufacturing. But DC Blades, you know, Tier 1 gear reviews, Justin and Old Squirrel Knives, that's DC Blades, that group, they came along to, they came along to Michael Jarvis of Auxiliary Manufacturing, said, We love the Rev. We think it would make an awesome folder. Can we do so? And turn it into a everyday carry holding pickle.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:09]:
And they said yes, and boom, this is what you got. So it's a three way collaboration between auxiliary manufacturing, DC blades, and then Shieldon who manufactured it. This thumb stud, they send along. It's like a a, you can either put it on or not. I've chose to put it on. I have a difficulty with the front flipping, in general these days, and that, detent is quite stout. So for me, the preferred, method is the, the thumb stud there. So, but I can use my forefinger too to flip it open.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:46]:
Only on the right hand though, so I'm not gonna try and embarrass myself with the left. Also, a cool little, note, you see the signature spine treatment there that you'll see on auxiliary manufacturing, some auxiliary manufacturing knives. Beautifully done in Ultum and black, and I'm not sure oh, 14c28n blade steel. Really, really nice knife. No. 154cm. My bad. 154cm.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:13]:
You can see it right there on the flipper tab. Alright. Lastly, in new knives, I got the gorgeous Jack Wolf Knives after hours jack. This is the second release of the after hours jack, which is a larger and locking version of the midnight jack. So you have a really compelling, machine satined, s 90v sheepsfoot blade with a downward tilting straight edge. So nice. And then you have your 4 different handle options as usual. This time, there's a blue jean micarta, like a denim micarta, 2 different, carbon fibers, and this is one of them, this really fantastic, dark matter red.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:03]:
It is so beautiful next to that blasted and acid bolster there. And then there's also a gorgeous faux tortoise shell. So I just, will be releasing, let's see, if you're watching this the day it drops, or listening to this the day it drops, I have put out a, on Friday 17th, when this knife drops, you'll see a a close-up video of this on my channel, where I wax poetic about it and show it off with the older version of this and then the other 2 slipjoint, Midnight Jacks. Gorgeous night. Thank you, Ben, for sending this to me. My appreciation is infinite. Alright. Coming up, we're gonna take a look at my collection of Teakal knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:53]:
If you listened, this week, dropped an interview with Tim Kell where we talk all about, bringing manufacturing back to America. Not that it's all left, but bolstering and making more prominent the manufacturing here in the States. A lot of knife designers such as myself or many of them out there, their one option is to go to, China to have their awesome knives manufactured. And I wanted to talk to Tim, who's managed to become quite successful, in the States, what it was like making knives here. We're gonna get to that in a minute. We'll take a look at the teakal knives in a minute. But first, I wanna show you this t shirt that Jim just created. It is so cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:41]:
I'm a modern philosopher with a knife. I cut through nonsense like butter. And I gotta say, I love it on this maroon fabric here, maroon cotton, but you can get it in a number of different, colors and fabrics. Well, not fabrics, just colors. Go to the knifejunkie.com/shop and check out the growing roster of really, really cool t shirts that Jim has designed. And then there's other stuff like coffee mugs and, and lots lots more. Just go to the knifejunkie.com/shop. So if you remember, moments ago, I was talking about, Tim Kell and how successful he's been in manufacturing knives here, so I wanna show off some of my T Kell knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:23]:
One little caveat to what I was saying about bringing manufacturing back here, we do discuss how very difficult and cost prohibitive it is to do folders. It's a different different subject. It's a different animal. But we're talking here about fixed blades. So let's check these out. So we'll start with the ringed ones, and this is the first one I ever got from Pimp. This is the Guardian. Now, this is not originally a ringed knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:55]:
I'll talk about that in just a second. What it is is a 3 triple edged, modified sheepsfoot, and it is wicked. And you look at that bevel, and you're like, what is up with that bevel? It's so shallow and so oblique. Well, this is for nothing but self defense. This is nothing but self defense here. You're not cutting the cheese. Wrong expression. You're not slicing anything with this.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:25]:
You are stabbing, gouging, tearing, gashing with this. It creates big, nasty holes and, horrifying, sort of wounds. And I I hate to be so on the nose about it, but that's what this is for. Let's just be let's just be honest about it. I, of course, had never used it like that. I I am a collector. I don't intend to ever use it like that, but if you're someone whose job, sends you into danger, this could be a very good option. Triple edge here.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:57]:
So starting about, 1 third of the way down that swedge, you can see it's sharp and then that front, the chisel point is sharp and then that full edge is sharp. If you have any doubts about the efficacy of this blade, you can see Tim in an older video, going to town on, several pieces of meat wrapped in Saran wrap and then denim, and and how, grievous, this works. Grievously this works. Now the ring, originally, this blade, or this handle is, just follow the purple. That's what the contours of this handle are. But for this knife and this handle platform and several others, Tim offers a sentry grip. That's what he's calling it, a sentry grip. And that's basically, you get a ring at the end, very robust g ten.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:56]:
So you get the handle here. You get the handle grip shape with a ring integrated into the g ten. So you can see when you're looking at it from this dorsal view here, how it comes down and forms the ring. And it's only on one side. And they only make this in green or black, all black or all green g ten, because that is the most robust g ten they have. Something about the swirly colored g tens, they are very, very strong. But for this use case, they just prefer to go with the all green or all black, for for strength's sake. Now for me, in my hands, my hands fit well within, that ring.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:42]:
Oftentimes, I like a ring as a, an extended bolster or not a bolster, a pommel here. But here I find that it's really good for actually gripping and ripping, just pulling it out of the sheath and, and using it. That's kind of how, teakal knives has sort of resuscitated my faith in in the ring because, grabbing it, it's so easy to grab it with that ring. Not that I'm doing flippy flippy koramity stuff with this one, but it is a great way to pull the knife out and use it. So this is the Guardian from Tecal Knives and there are also smaller versions of this like the Night Guard, that use that same modified sheepsfoot shape with the triple edge. It's just thinner and smaller and maybe more pocketable and maybe more easy to carry. Alright, next up. Now this is the one that really got its hooks in me and, I carry this all the time.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:46]:
This was the inspiration for one of the inspirations for the, agent double o one design in in peri envelope in the size. This is the Night Stalker. Definitely one of their most popular, if not their most popular all time knife here. And, it is this one is in AEBL. This was the first run they ever did of a stainless steel. You put my logo in there very nicely. Thank you, sir. And this has that gorgeous green and black Burl G10.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:21]:
Now this is the first time I saw this. They this is kind of an invention of Teekal Knives and his, g ten distributor, doing it kinda swirly like that in layers. And it it creates sort of a a burl, a burl look to it, and I really love it. Most of my handles are in this style of g ten. Again, you can use this without the ring or it's sized in such a way that you can. I never ever put my pinky through a ring, but I always, put my forefinger in the ring. And this is, I carry this oriented on my belt with a DCC horizontal clip, used often for holsters of, gun holsters. I have it like this so I can pull it out with my, forefinger and have it, initially in this defensive reverse grip.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:17]:
If you need to change it around, you just change it around. You know, for normal cutting, which is what I almost always do. But I practice drawing it using the ring. This is the Night Stalker and a relative, I'll show you here, is the MR1. Now the MR1, within the sheep looks almost exactly the same, was a request from a marine unit, out west, California, I believe, who wanted a, tall style knife with a ring. And they went through a number of different designs, and then and then Tim had the, the eureka moment where he looked at the Night Stalker and realized if he sharpened it on the other edge, it would make for a great pickle. And I gotta say, he's absolutely right about that. You get that that outward point orientation that you want in a Pakal, and you want that because, I'm gonna go to this camera here, when you punch with this, if you use a back fist with this, it puts the tip where you wanna go without having to kinda tweak your wrist to get it to get it, in in the place.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:26]:
So you you look at it down the line here, you can see the tip, instead of being here, is forward. And bam, it puts it right where you want it. Being a pickle knife, that means its primary use is tip down and edge in, taking advantage of that caveman motion that happens when you're full of adrenaline and just trying to defend yourself. Frequently, I have heard, anyway. I haven't had this personal experience, but, talked to a lot of different people. And, apparently, when you're flooded with, adrenaline and trying to defend yourself with a knife or even with your fists, oftentimes, you go back to the most basic motions. That's why I love a hammer fist, when I'm practicing empty hand or training empty hand. It's it's, it's very, very intuitive, and the Bacal style knife takes advantage of that.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:18]:
This one, again, in that swirly burl style grip, this is their, what do they call this? Gray man gray man style grip. The gray man is the man who blends in, blends into the, into the background, so no one no one knows that he can kick ass. No one knows that he's a survivalist. He's just a gray man. He looks like everyone else. He doesn't carry a tactical backpack. He carries just a regular backpack. So, anyway, the gray man.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:47]:
However, I have heard that if you're being followed and you, the the people following you are most likely looking for a gray man, so you should always carry some sort of a fluorescent, some bright orange hat or a or a bright yellow windbreaker, and then throw that on, once once you've, evaded their their glance for a minute, and you might just walk right by them. Now I heard that from the CIA guy that I follow, whose name I always forget, but he's an awesome dude on YouTube. So I don't know that from my own experience, but if you're walking around like a gray man, make sure you have something that's the opposite that you can, throw on you if you're being followed. We're not looking for a guy in a bright orange hat. We're looking for a dude with a beard, a gray beard. Alright. I just want to say that you can if you like tikkaal knives, we have an affiliate link, that we just we just, got from tikkaal knives. You can go to the knifejunkie.com/tikkaal.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:52]:
That's the pretty link, and, order knives that way. And, if you use the coupon code Bob Demarco, all caps, all one word, you can save 10% on your purchase. So that works for everybody. Works for Teekal Knives because they get an order. It works for me because it's an affiliate link, and it works for you because you get 10% off, using the coupon code Bob DeMarco. So thought I'd throw that in there, if you're interested, because these are my favorites. I love these knives. My favorite production custom or custom production knives out there.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:31]:
So definitely check it out if you're interested. Next up is a ringed knife. This is the last of my ringed knife. This one, a collaboration with the great and powerful Jared Mead of Mead's Knives. This is the very cool FLN. This is a karambit, as you can see, and a really nicely done karambit. Now this this is from the first run, and in the first run, this was, this was offered like this, single edge, double edge where this back swedge was sharpened, and ringless, so like this. And then you could buy a sentry grip to put on there to make it ringed if you wanted to switch back and forth.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:17]:
So very, very interesting. On the 2nd run, there are gonna be some changes that, I'm I don't think I can mention, but if you're if you're a gentleman junkie on the extra interview extras, he mentions it, but I think I have to keep this under my hat until it comes out. But there are some changes that look that seem cosmetic but are very practical in in helping the sheath, retain better. This was one, one little issue with this. I had to tweak the sheath to make it retain better. Karambit sheaves are just a pain in the butt, I think, because the opening has to be super wide to accommodate the curve, and then it's difficult to make it, to make it retain real well. But Teekal Knives is known for the their sheaves, how they just pop off with the thumb, and so they have worked on it and have a solution, and I've seen it and it looks great, and it looks like it's gonna work great, and there's gonna be a change to the blade geometry, and, you're gonna love it. But anyway, a great karambit.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:24]:
I'm hot and cold with karambits, especially folding karambits, but this one, I absolutely love. The ring is in the perfect place. I can make a totally solid fist without having to, like, alter my grip at all. And I'm not gonna do it on screen, but it flips really, really nicely. If you're a karambit flipper, you don't have to be. You don't even have to carry a karambit or use a karambit in its traditional, reverse grip. You could hold this thing like this, and it would be a most wicked self defense knife. Like a punch dagger, similar to the regiment, where you can just push forward without having to reorient your wrist.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:04]:
Or as a slasher, it's it's a wicked hawkbill set at a a really, really advantageous angle to your fist. So this FLN, of course, with the purple grips I love purple. It's such a beautiful color. Purple and maroon, I guess, are my favorite handle color. But this thing is awesome. And here's Jared's logo, the Neves Knives logo. Very nicely done. Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:30]:
Out of the rings and into the combatant. Now this is the the combatant. This is the first iteration of the combatant, which is just a great, great small, EDC fixed blade. But as the name implies, you could also press it into a, tactical, purpose here. This is the first one. You see that sharp ground swedge there coming to an abrupt end about halfway down the blade. And just a really nice effective drop point. This is 80 CRV 2, which is quite a tough and robust, carbon steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:08]:
I have it in this sheath with the VCC clip for, for appendix carry or 3 o'clock. The waistband carry, and then you have the handle. So, they work on different handle platforms. So you'll see this handle, for instance, with a number of different blades. I'm gonna show you another one here. Or like, you saw with the Night Stalker and the MR1. Same handle, different blades. And that's what we also see, with the Agent series that I collaborated with, Tim on.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:42]:
So this one has a great handle. I love it. Part of the the main selling proposition, unique selling proposition of decal knives is the short handle. The short handle and the slender sheet just makes it melt in, when you're discreetly carrying this, say, horizontally on your belt. And I love the small handle, I gotta say, for my hands. But some people don't like it. He is going to be releasing a handle extension that is very nice. You can see this.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:16]:
I think you can see it on his channel. It's not up on the website yet. But it extends the, extends this by about a finger, and much like the Guardian grip, you don't need a new blade tang. It just extends beyond the blade tang and sandwiches at the back. So if that's your your thing, you'll be happy to see that. This was very sharp and very, very useful, but there was a couple of things he wanted to change. He wanted to make it a a little better for thrusting. So this is the combatant 2.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:53]:
I don't know if he's calling it the 2, but this is now the combatant. And, you can see what it looks like, next to next to the original. It has less of a belly. The point is a little lower down, and it's got a long swedge going all the way up to the jimping, which is also. Same exact handle. And here I have the grayman burl and the woodland burl. And, and this is a little more slender behind the edge too. It's slicier, even though it's got the same blade stock.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:26]:
Look at that. You can see some of the fine finishing there. Some of the chamfering around the, guard has changed, has been upgraded. So a true upgrade all around as far as I'm concerned. Not that I don't like this original combatant. It's got sentimental value too because he put my logo on it. But I do like this new blade shape a bit better. And I also like that it's, thinner and slicier.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:53]:
So on the same handle platform, see that? That's how the thieves work, man. I love that. Is this gorgeous wharncliffe. This is the Adversary. So same handle, different blade. There's a thumbswail there with nice, 4 big Jimps that really, really, you know, thumb nestles in there, and then you've got that true wharncliffe, meaning a, a nonstop slope from the ricasso down to the tip, an uninterrupted slope, I should say. And then, again, just like the new combatant, you've got really nice chamfering and a thinner, slicer blade, and just outstanding. I've been carrying these 2 all winter season long.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:41]:
It I gotta say, I I've always gone for the DCC clips, but I'm loving for this purpose. I love the the clip that it ships with. It's just a another sort of holster clip, holds it horizontally on the belt. I just slide my belt buckle over, to the to the first belt loop, and clip this over, and it is so melt It just melts right in. A thin sweater or a chamoishirt or whatever, just a shirt will will totally hide and cover this. Again, you could get that extended grip for this, when it's when it's available, but I love the small handle because I can get a full, mostly 4 finger grip on it, and it hides very, very easily. So, there it is. That's the sort of combatant family of knives, or the combatant platform, adversary, blade, and the updated blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:39]:
Alright. Last and certainly not least in terms of, handle platforms is the agent series. The Agent series started with a sketch a drawing. It was a drawing, not a sketch, that I drafted. I didn't draw it. I drafted it up and I sent it to, Tim Kell. I thought this would be a great t Kell Knives knife. He loved it.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:02]:
Thought the handle needed some tweaking and he did amazing tweaking. We kinda went back and forth on the handle, and then he figured out a way, to draw the blade. But I'm gonna start with the 3. The agent double o three, I just got. He just sent this to me, before Christmas and what a Christmas it was because look at this, man. Beautiful denim micarta. This is the handle platform here. So this is the handle we came up with together.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:27]:
I sent him something more extreme bird's beak and he he made it so comfortable, with these, with these thumb with these, with this center swale here and, changing this from a more abrupt curve to a nice swoopy curve, and then adding the, glass breaker on the back. Man, it is so good. And I was worried, I was like, I don't know about the glass breaker, is that gonna harass the thumb when you're using the thumb there? Because I wanted I wanted jimping there, 3 jimps there and 3 jimps there, and so naturally, your thumb is gonna go over that and it does not. It feels just fine. Feels great. By the way, the these 3 jimps are for my ladies, my 2 daughters and my wife, and this is for father, son, and the holy spirit up on top. So, that's just my thing there. So this one, the agent double o three, has the Night Stalker blade on it.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:30]:
So our, our agent handle, but with the night stalker blade. And I absolutely love it. It's a great, great combination. So this one again in denim micarta, this is the only micarta I have in a teak fell knife. Next is the agent double o 2. We're gonna go going in descending order, as you can tell. And this one has, a sort of guardian style, blade. A modified wharncliffe or modified sheepsfoot, I guess we'll call it modified sheepsfoot, with that straight edge and, a really, really robust point.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:09]:
This one I was enjoying talking about this summer because I used it, for a job we were doing at our, pool. My wife is on the pool board, so I had to help, install this weird flooring stuff, and it required a lot of sort of, impromptu hammering. And I was using the butt of this a lot for for, hammering these pieces together. They were a very stout plastic, and this didn't shatter it. It it worked worked perfectly. But that blade, thick and robust, comes down to a nice point and is very, very sharp and slicey. So I I love it with this, wharncliffe or sheepsfoot blade on that platform, but the one that started it all. I have 2 versions I only need to show.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:57]:
1 is the agent double 0 1. This knife was inspired by me from, by, by the Loveless Subhilt Fighter, kind of double edged clip point, long, slender double edged clip point, but also sort of a bayonet. I love the bayonet grind where you have room to come up and put your thumb. This is the one that our comment of the week was talking about, that nice jimping there. If even if you have a big long thumb, you could back it up and bury it in that jimping, and it's not gonna slide forward if you have a proper grip. This with that beautiful purple burl handle, this is, you know, just about my favorite carry knife, and I carry it using the Discrete Carry Concepts clip that, it rides horizontal horizontally, this way, so when I grip it, it's in a reverse grip. And then if I need it for a regular cutting chores, which I never use this for, I would just turn it in my hand. But, really, this knife was designed This handle was kinda designed for reverse grip.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:05]:
You got a great place to put your thumb, you have a great way to snag it with that bird's beak, and, then you have that double edge, which you can use to great effect in a pulling or a slashing or a thrusting motion. This does come single edge, but you can order it single edge if that is, a, your druthers, or you have you're required by law in your jurisdiction to have a single edge knife. You can have that. I used to have one. I gave it to my dad for Christmas. So there you have it, the Agent series. And if you're wondering, yes, I have 2 of them. And I have this one set up for a 3 o'clock carry, which, goes in the waistband and carries very nicely in that in that way too.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:49]:
So there they are. Those are the Agent knives that I have. And these are the tikka knives that I have and, man, this is not it. I want the I want the, mercenary, that's a larger one, and I want the sappers so badly. That's also a larger one that he collaborated with Emory Morgenstern on, who's a, an IDF soldier and an American also and a, a combatives instructor. Cool guy. He's been on this show before, so you can check that out. Thank you very much for watching this show and and for checking out the, all the teakal knives I have in my collection.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:28]:
Remember, if you wanna get one of these knives, they there is a bit of a wait because they are custom batches, but each batch, he already has the material for. So you're never gonna it's never gonna be like a one of those situations, where you order a knife and then you don't ever get it. You just have to wait a little bit. But good things are worth waiting for. User affiliate link, the knifejockey.com/tkel, and, that hooks me up. And then to hook you up, you can put in Bob Demarco, all caps, one word, in the, coupon code section, and that will get you 10% off your purchase. So why not check it out? Alright, guys. Thanks for watching.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:10]:
For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying, until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

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