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.
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Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, a new product from Snaggletooth Tactical, a modded out RAT one that is out of this world, and we're gonna take a look at my very complete off grid knives folder collection. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie podcast.

Announcer [00:00:17]:
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 to the show. One of my favorite comments from this past week on the on the the, Jess interview we had, JVF, an old friend of the show, and patron says, great show, great talking, great simple knives done with love. A well done job for a well done job. Thanks. And JVF is one of our, gentlemen junkies from France, and he really liked Jess Hoffman's knives. Jess Hoffman of Jay Hoffman Knives does these beautiful outdoor knives. If you haven't seen it, check out the, interview. It's the last one we put up.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:08]:
Second comment was from Berg knife seven five eight. He says, I've been following Jess for a year or so. His knife maker tips are very welcome and helpful. I hope he is at Blade Show Atlanta. I'd love to get one of his knives. Well, Berg Knife, you are in luck. He will be there. I look forward to shaking his hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:28]:
What a nice guy and what cool knives. And, he's he's one of these guys who started as a hobbyist and has accomplished a lot in a short period of time. And, I can't wait to check out his knives in person and meet him in person. Alright. Thank you one and all for watching over the past few weeks, and for leaving comments. I love them. I cherish them as I love and cherish you. Be sure to check us out as we come out with some new knife videos coming out because I just got two boxes, like, moments ago.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:03]:
Didn't have a chance to get it onto this show, and I can't wait to show you what came. Something from, Dirk Pinkerton. I haven't opened it yet. I know it's got some exclusives in there, and then also from Cas Iberia. So stick around. Alright. Coming up, the state of the sorry. A pocket check.

Announcer [00:02:26]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:32]:
It's been a minute. I feel like I've lived a life since last we spoke. Here I had, today, I was on a road trip, with my daughter. We went to a a volleyball tournament. Yes. As I like to say, teenage girl volleyball tournaments are the loudest places on Earth. And, though I have not been in combat, I'm sure this is a close second. But a road trip it was.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:57]:
So in my pocket was the Microtech SOCOM Elite. My one of my favorite favorite favorite all time and most carried knives in my collection. This one is from 2012, and I just think this was a golden era for their Tanto designs. I love that Tanto, with that, drop point clip point swedge thing going on. What a beautiful design and this thing has cut everything, because this is for many years, almost twelve years now or almost ten years now, has been my, road trip knife. Now I did not get this new. I got this from a gent out in California, I think in 2014 or 2015, but, it was my first knife with that with a glass breaker, and that's why it's my official road trip knife. It became so, back then and and now it's like, you know, good luck.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:55]:
Also my first knife with bearings, first knife with s 35 b n, first knife with carbon fiber. This was a big first for me. Love this knife, and it's cut everything, including waffles at Waffle House, which I think may have made my daughter sick. But it was our first time at Waffle House. We don't have that in our part of Virginia and, I loved it. I had a delicious meal with some very friendly service. Also, I felt very safe because we all know, that the Waffle House employees know how to throw down when they need to. Next up on me in my front right pocket, I had the beautiful Jack Wolf Knives Little Bro Jack and this is from the first run of Little Bros.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:40]:
This was their second knife release, I believe. Or no. Third knife release. And, this is from that run. They did a a run later, and I have one of those with the blue kurinite. But this was way early and they had some manufacturing issues with this. Some people sent it back, I did not this it had a little bit of blade wrap so that means the, the blade would hit the, spring and it caused a little bit of a little bit of damage there. I pretty much sharpened it out, and I just love this thing ever since.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:17]:
It's it's about the size of a number 15 boy's knife from GEC and it is of the same lineage. It's that sleeve board, sleeve board pattern with the clip point. I love that knife. Thirdly on me, another one I love, the MR one on me. This is the Tikal knives MR one, standing for Marine Raider unit one. And, this is yep. It's the Night Stalker just sharpened on the back to make a really great Piccal style knife. So this is literally the blade blank to the, Night Stalker, and the, bevel has been put on the top with the edge on the top and, gives you that awesome pickle action.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:07]:
So you can, come down with it and pull out, come down, pull out, come down, pull out, much like a cat's claw. I know a lot of people say the karambit is like a cat's claw, but cats don't don't do this. They do this. You know, they they stab in and pull out as opposed to thrust upwards. So, I love this MR one. I love Teacal Knives as you know, and, you know, we also have a, a coupon code with them where when you put Bob DeMarco, all caps, one word, you save 10% off your purchase. I get a little bump back and they get a sale so everyone wins. It's a win win win.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:49]:
I should be a marketer. Alright. Last up, for emotional support on me, I had the awesome, the old I've had this thing forever, over twenty five years, I think under thirty, but I've had this, cold steel, Trail Master Bowie, for a long, long time, and this was part of my road, road trip kit. This is probably my most traveled with knife. Used to before I got this years and years and years ago, I used to travel with the, Cold Steel Tanto. And then for a short period of time, I put the SOG in there, the SOG Super Bowie, but this is the one I always travel with because it's my most tried and true blade, period, in my collection. The most because I've put it through the most, hardship, I guess I should say, and I know that it'll it'll go the, distance. This is a very old one and if you think it looks a little thin, that's because you're right.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:50]:
It's been sharpened so many times. I've removed a lot of metal off of this knife because I've dulled it many times. And so, when I hold this next to my father's kind of unmolested Trailmaster, they are different. His is a broader blade, but I still I still love this thing. Still in my top five all time favorite knives. So that's what I had on me today. Of course, I was not carrying this Trailmaster. It was in my bag, which was right next to me, but I had the Trailmaster, yes, with the leather sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:24]:
That goes to show how old this thing is. And I also had the, on my body, the m r one from Teekal Knives. A fantastic fighting knife and it does fit in shape. I had the beautiful walk and talk of the little bro and then of course my one of my all time favorite holders, the Microtech SOCOM Elite. Alright. We are going to get to the, state, to knife life news. I keep wanting to go to the state of the collection for some reason, which is weird, but, knife life news, we're gonna get to that in a second. But first, I wanna ask you to like, comment, subscribe, all that usual stuff.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:06]:
Also, download the show to your favorite podcast app. That way, you can listen to these dulcet tones whilst on the go. Also, you can help support the show by sharing it around. That's a good way. And, if you have a little extra scratch, go on over to Patreon, see what we have to offer there. Yes. We have the third Thursday of the month giveaway. We give away a knife every third Thursday of the month, a really nice one.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:33]:
We also give away knives on other Thursdays, but we save the best for the patrons, Gentleman Junkie patrons. You can scan the QR code on your screen or go to the knifejunkie.com/patreon and check out the things you get by helping out this show. Again, that's the knifejunkie.com/patreon. The shockwave tactical torch is your ultimate self defense companion, featuring a powerful LED bulb that lasts one hundred thousand hours, a super sharp crenulated bezel, and a built in stun gun delivering 4,500,000 volts. Don't settle for ordinary. Choose the Shockwave tactical torch, the knifejunkie.com/shockwave. You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast, and now here's the knife junkie with the knife life news. First up, zero tolerance is back.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:25]:
And I know they've been kinda back here and there in dribs and drabs, but this one is, takes the cake. It's the two zero three, again, named after a caliber, a rifle caliber. The two zero three or the zero two zero three by ZT is a large heavy duty folder. Look at that. That is a beautiful knife. And you know what what's even better, besides the fact that they're going back to their sort of classic format of large, very heavy duty tactical folders. That's four inches of CPM m four. And, if you don't like m four, you're a commie.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:03]:
Let's just put it that way. A beautiful drop point with sort of, kind of a harpoon. If not a harpoon, it's, you could say it's a sweep that leads to a nice, thumb thumb swale there. And then right behind that is a thumb ramp, nicely jumped. You've got, thumb studs on this. And then of course, since it is m four, it is coated, so that the rust stays at bay. But I gotta say, before we move to the handle, look at how beautiful that blade is. It is it's got a descending and, ever so deep belly with a sweep that I love.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:44]:
It's got a really nice point. Ben Schwartz of knife news was talking about how this would be great for all sorts of tasks and camping, and I'm thinking it would be great for a fight. And I'm I'm just kind of saying that tongue in cheek, but look at the point of that. I mean, this is a rusting blade. If ever I saw a single edge, thrusting blade, you have, you know, m four is a semi stainless cool steel. That's why it's coated. You have two thick slabs of OD Green g 10 with stainless steel liners with weight reduction. And then, part of the star of the show, the other star of the show, the star of the handle, you might say, is the DuraLok.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:30]:
I absolutely love the ambidextrous DuraLok. It is on my Iridium and my Iridium is my favorite Axis style. I'm throwing up the scare quotes. Axis style ambidextrous bar lock, bar none. Even I like it even better than the Able Lock from Hogue. It is just so good, so smooth, and here you have an iteration of that. Different buttons. It's more of a a slab that you slide back, but it's the same concept under the hood.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:02]:
Really nice sort of arced angular handle here. So both arc and angular. And then you have, a a somewhat standard z t, what do you call that? Ambidextrous pocket clip. So what a beautiful knife. I really am looking forward to getting this. It is available now. However, it is sold out at kniveship free, and that's the only place I checked before here. But it is available now out on the market.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:30]:
I've seen a number of people showing it off and, it it, I like the Pedovitz jib. Let's put it that way. Second up, another one I really like called the Civivi triptych, and a triptych is a three paneled painting, paneled in the center, two on the sides. In the old days, when they're religious, they would fold in, and there's some, you know, it's open to interpretation why it's the triptych. You can open it in three ways, the thumb stud, the flipper, or the button lock, or I look at this and I see a a a nice compound grind. You have a really thin hollow grind on the main cutting edge. You have a much stouter flat, bevel on the front leading to the tip of this beautiful drop point, but you also have a pretty dramatic swedge. So it's also a a, a triple compound grind here.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:26]:
I think it is beautiful. It is, you know, I don't wax poetic about drop points too often, but this is a really, really good looking one. That's three inches of 14 c 28 n blade steel and you have a number of different handle materials on this one. You have g 10 like you see here on this sort of blonde g 10. It also comes in, all black with a black blade and black g 10, but it also comes with a beautiful damasteel blade, with a blue we have right there. Blue micarta, which is gorgeous. I mean, that ultramarine blue, looks very saturated. It's got four lightning holes, lateening holes on the handle, which go all the way through.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:13]:
So you can see the backside of the clip. Really cool. And then there's also a wood, handled version of this. This one will be available next month, and I'm recording this in May, 2025, so I suspect sometime shortly after Blade Show, this thing will be available. One quick note about this, I usually don't go for the Civivi, Damasteel versions, but that one just looks beautiful with that blue, handle. So check it out. Alright. Next up, this is also, we're going back now to the Kai side of things.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:53]:
This is a new Kershaw, version of the Bel Air. Now the Bel Air came out two years ago and caused quite a stir because it was made in The USA. It's sort of a premium Kershaw, something we haven't seen much of, except for the Launch Series. The Launch Series sort of, reinvigorated The USA premium, models from Kershaw. Of course, they still do a bunch of foreign made, less expensive models, which are also great. Let's face it. They're awesome. But The USA, Bel Air was quite a popular model.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:30]:
Well, they came out with a new one with this absolutely gorgeous clip point blade. I love the look of that clip point blade. So premium EDC from Kershaw, that's three inches of MagnaCut, and it has the working finish on it so that's sort of a a stonewash. It's a thumb stud or, DuraLok opener. So you can see as you, move east on the on the knife, you've got a DuraLok on the handle there and you've got a beautifully, rendered, canvas micarta handle that's OD green and, a deep carrier reversible pocket clip. I mean, this is I wish I wish it weren't just three paltry inches of MagnaCut. It'd be awesome at or larger. I'd be all over this all day long, but that's good.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:22]:
I don't have to spend the $1.60 to get this, because it is kind of out of my, everyday carry range. I like three and a half at least to four inches of blade length And if this were larger, I would it would be a moral imperative. It's USA made. You gotta do it. This is available now, so go check it out. And I do believe, Kniveship Free does still have that in stock. Alright, last up in knife life news, we have the We I close I close I close I'll say that, hopefully I I got it in one of those too. This is a beautiful new in house design and some of the versions of this hearken back to the very early days of We.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:09]:
In 2011, I think, is when we kind of, broke broke out. But, if you're looking at the screen right now, you'll see those three holes in the blade And then that sort of a relief channel cut in there. Very old school. We, and I like it a lot. So this is a 3.79 inches harpoon clip point, quite an up sweep on that clip point. Some people like, like it. Some people don't. In terms of their clip points, some people like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:41]:
Like the Bel Air we were just looking at that has a very low descending clip, straight clip with a low tip. This one is not that. This has a higher tip with an up sweep and, a rather dramatic harpoon clip. This is a, you know, beautiful in house design from them. It kinda goes without saying, we does spectacular work and, whether it's an, an OEM design or one of their in house, always beautiful. This does have a tie frame lock and a sculpted right only titanium pocket clip. The one that Jim just put up on screen is the one that really reminds me of early, Wii. You've got the, the two tone blade with the satin flat and the, blackened, swedge and bevel, and then you have sort of a similar treatment on the handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:36]:
So it's kind of a legacy look here. I think it's really beautiful, but it this comes in, a number of different colorways to use the term. You have the two tone like you see here. You have three versions of plain Jane where it's like a a satin and a a shinier handle, a, a, stonewash in a sort of more muted handle, and then an all black, and then of course, you have the fancy pants version, that you saw up there before with the beautiful pivot and, the, Fafnir Damasteel blade. That's the Fafnir pattern by Damasteel. So beautiful stuff coming from we in Civivi with the triptych and the, and the kite flows. And then kinda similar, you have the Kershaw and the ZT, also a high and a low, with the two zero three and the Bel Air. So lots of great stuff happening.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:32]:
I can't wait to see all of these at Blade Show in two weeks, and I can't wait to see you guys or a week and a half as you're listening. And I can't wait to see you. If you're there, please walk up and say hi. If you recognize me, I'd love to meet you. Let me know what your handle is on YouTube. I might recognize it. Probably will. And, I would love to, I'd love to meet you.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:56]:
And, I also just wanna remind you, about the newsletter. I've been off the wagon a couple of weeks here because of a lot of stuff happening in May,cember, but I will be back on the ball with it. And, that is a great way to keep up with stuff that's happening here. You get some interesting articles. You get some beautiful pictures, and, you we get to have your contact info in case in in case we get shut down. Because, you know, we're always getting shadow banned. But, it's a good way to keep in touch, so keep that in mind. Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:33]:
Coming up. I got two cool things to show you in the state of the collection.

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Bob DeMarco [00:22:10]:
Alright. I wanna show you something cool from Rob Pena of Snaggletooth Tactical. He just sent this to me. Yeah. You're looking at a six inch TiLite, but you see something a little extra and there it is. That is the Snaggletooth MF four, the TiLite six. Now there's also one for the TiLite four. These are pocket openers, and they really work well.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:38]:
Now you're looking at this and you're saying, what about the top quillion, Bob? We know that that can open it up, also off the pants. And, yeah, it can, but also it's it's shying away. It should be hooked forward like you see here. And then also that jimping is murder on the jeans pockets. You can do it a couple of times, but after a few times, you're gonna start ruining your garment. So here we have a snaggletooth tactical MF that fits beautifully over the thumb stud of the, Hilite six. And I'm gonna open it like that, but really, what you've got here is something, that kind of perfects the design. Now I always said that I wish the Tilete had the Quillians reversed.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:29]:
I feel like this one should be this one, and this one should be this one. In other words, the top one should be pointing away with, a place to put the thing, put the thumb and, vice versa down on the bottom. But I think when this came out, they were dealing with, Emerson, copyright issues with the way. So they did not do that. But now you have a way to wave it open flawlessly without having to press it and and grind it and saw your, pocket with the jimping hair. So, it also gives you a really nice, swell there. This creates a swell for your thumb to really lock into something you don't get, ordinarily with the Tilete. You do have to put the thumb back here or you can put the thumb forward, but you don't have a place to push against until now.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:25]:
So that is the snaggletooth MF, for the TiLite and the so this is the TiLite six. There's also one for the TiLite four right here. My TiLite four has an issue, and I couldn't remove the thumb stud, in time to to put this on, but, it comes with a screwdriver there so you can, take off the thumb stud and then put on the Snaggletooth MF. So a very cool new device, a new mod from Rob Pena of Snaggletooth Tactical. And, there it is for your tie light. Now he sent me something else. He's like, you've gotta check this guy out. He is a master at modding the rat one.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:13]:
And I thought, oh, that's interesting. I don't think I've seen that. And he sent it to me, and this thing is beautiful. Now it's from k mods. K mods is his handle on Facebook, and his name is Hans Klein. Hans Klein, nice Irish boy, Hans Klein. And, K mods, here it is. This thing is beautiful.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:40]:
Now, Rob, machines out backspacers or has machined out backspacers for Hans Klein in the past. And, so this was a gift to, to Rob from Hans, and it's on loan to me. But look at how beautiful this is. So let's start from the blade. He does this awesome etching. Here we have, a bronze, second amendment. So you you can just sort of see there, two a, and you can see it like an m four or an AR, like a short barreled AR there, and they can see something that looks like, a Randall number 14 attack, creating the a. You see the stars and stripes, beautifully etched and in relief on the blade and then bronzed.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:33]:
And then on the other side, you see seventeen seventy six ks mods. The o is a scope. And then look at this handle. The handle is incredible. Now, you can see there's some g 10, but atop the g 10 is, metal steel, I guess, from ammo cans. So this has, ammo cans and then this is some sort of an explosive can. So that's what makes up the handle scales. Absolutely beautiful.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:09]:
And then around the pivot, you have a, what is this? What caliber? A 44 Hornady, 44, caliber, 44 caliber, shell is the, the pivot ring and then all along the thumb stud you have or the, pocket clip, sorry. You have a 38 special, a 7.62, and a 44 Remington mag, in descending order of of, largeness, and it just looks so badass. And then, of course, we have a brass skull crusher backspacer here. This thing is modded out as it could possibly be and so cool. Obviously, gun themed. And then that is a '38 special shell on the end of this pocket fob. So I wish this were mine. It is not, but Rob sent this to me to check out and I love this.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:11]:
This is the coolest RAT one I have ever seen and it still feels great in hand, it's still wicked sharp, and, you know, it's always a great knife, but in this dress, it just can't be beaten. Super cool. So that's k mods. I'm gonna look to get, mister Klein, mister Hans Klein on the show. I'm gonna reach out to him. He does incredible work, and this is his, this is his thing, his contribution to the knife world. So I look forward to talking to him about that. Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:46]:
That's it for the state of the collection, though I did receive boxes I have yet to open, and I can't wait to show those off next week. But we are going to get to my off grid knives folder collection. But first, I wanna show you this beautiful this these are like, Jim has has crossed over, about, a boundary here. He is now making stuff like Van Gogh stuff. He is now designing merch, just channeling Van Gogh. Look at this. It looks like starry night except with knives. So let's call it starry knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:22]:
Why not? Starry knife. These beautiful, this beautiful design. You can get it on an apron. You can get it on t shirts, hats, mugs, whatever your fancy. Theknifejunkie.com/shop. Look at these look at these beautiful knives, swirling around. That's what it's called. He says, yes, indeed.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:43]:
Starry knife. It is beautiful. I love it. If you've ever seen starry night, I think starry night is it's either in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or it's in the Stedgelijk Museum. I can't pronounce it, in, Holland, in Amsterdam, Amsterdam. Sorry about the language. Go check it out. But if you can't, go to your local art museum.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:08]:
They will have at least one Van Gogh, and it is transformative. Go check it out. And if you want a transformative t shirt as a knife fan and a knife junkie, go to the knifejunkie.com/shop and check out Starry Knife. Alright. Let's get to these awesome off grid knives. Off grid knives, you know, I know and love off grid knives for many years now, and I have an almost complete collection of the folders. Almost. There are a couple of versions, couple of v threes here and there that I don't have, but I have pretty much all of them.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:46]:
And I'm gonna start with the most recent release, and I've been carrying this knife all the time. This is the Stinger XL. It even has schmutz on it. This came with me on my trip this weekend and, apparently, I didn't clean it after using it, but I cut a something greasy with it. I think it was a hamburger. But this is the latest release. Now this is the Stinger drop point. They're both drop points, but the original Stinger was more of a spear point because of the grind.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:20]:
When you look at it, it's got a medial ridge and, two kind of equal bevels, top and bottom with a bayonet grind. Bayonet meaning you've got a little, less of a bevel on top because there's a place to put your thumb. And this is probably the most oblique grind in the off grid lineup. But as you can see from the spine, it's still wicked thin and incredibly sharp. And, the folders from off grid knives are bar none my absolute favorite, cardboard knives. If you have a lot of cardboard to cut up, get an off grid folder, doesn't matter which one, they all zip through. This one is the same blade profile as, the spear point, but it's a full flat grind. So the point is in the same place, but it's got a different, different bevel and is incredibly sharp and shears through anything.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:18]:
Now one, last thing I wanna add, I forgot to add this in my show notes, but this is the Stinger EDC. So it's much smaller, much smaller knife at about three inches in blade length. Is that right? Must be three. Must be three. Yep. Three inches in blade length. EDC, this thing is still a full thick thickness in the handle. It melts in the hand and it has a full lot, row of jimping, so you can really reach forward with your thumb and still engage that jimping.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:52]:
And I do believe that the popularity of the, Stinger EDC small version is what led, to the creation of the larger full flat ground version as these full flat brines, man alive, that they slice all day long. So Carrie, sends me these knives and I cherish them, but I always end up giving the black ones away. I think I've no. I don't always give the black ones away. Lately, I have been, because they'll send me a coyote and a black version and I love these coyote with the gray bladed, versions. So that's what you're seeing here, my full Stinger collection. Minus one, but you'll see that one in a minute. It belongs to a different, category.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:39]:
Alright. Next up, let me close these beauties up. Something I really like about, off grid knives is that they on the side of largeness, with with their folders, and I love that. Kerry's a a big dude and he's got big hands, so he designs big knives. And I like four inch bladed knives. This next one is not four inches and has never seen a large version, unlike most other designs. But this is the Raptor. I have this in a black version, and this one is relatively un well, I guess I can't say that.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:18]:
You can see some schmutz on the blade, but I've used the black one much better. Now you're looking at this and you're thinking, oh, how different, how unique. You think that he just designed this knife to look different and weird, but actually, this is probably the most functional small knife I've ever had, because it is a recurve panto, but the recurve is not on the main edge. It's on that forward edge, and this thing is amazing. It's amazing for shearing through all sorts of material, and you will be surprised when you get one because you should, but you will be surprised at how great a recurve on the front part of a tanto is, almost better than the back part. Because, and the reason I say that is because we do a lot of chores where we do this with the knife. We use put our finger down on the blade and we drag it across materials. Well, I'll tell you, that recurve upfront really grabs the materials, feeds it into the tip, and you get incredible, pull cuts with this knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:32]:
I I I'm gonna be 100% honest. I think it's ugly. I do think it's an ugly duckling, but what makes, it it it kinda makes up for it in spades with how useful it is. So not my favorite knife to look at, but one of my favorite knives to use. This is d two blade steel, whereas the the stingers that I was just showing you are, one, one fifty four centimeters of blade steel. So kind of more on their, upper end. D two, as we all know now, is nothing to sniff at. It fell out of vogue, but man, we all know d two is a great blade steel, has great edge, holding capabilities, and is pretty pretty damn tough.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:18]:
It's proving to be one of the tougher steels out there actually, surprisingly. Alright, next up, this is one that's out of print. You can't get this one anymore, I don't believe, unless you look on the secondary market. Again, you can see use on this knife. I really use the hell out of my off grid knives because they're so good. This is the Black Stallion. The Black Stallion. A very beautiful wharncliffe blade, and yet it's a true wharncliffe because it's got a continuous curve from about the end of where the thumb can reach to the to the tip.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:54]:
Oftentimes we'll, we will use knives like this because they're so good at, this sort of draw cut, this sort of pull cut like this because the tip is way down low. But I'll have you know that that tip down low with that straight edge is also great for defensive capabilities, defensive uses. And we've learned that from Michael Janich and the Yojimbo, because as you slash through something with that low tip and the straight edge, it almost, you know, when incorporated with the curve of your swipe and, the angles, in your elbow and shoulder, it will feed material into that tip. So it makes for a great slasher. Though we look at this and we think, yeah, it's a it's a really nice utility blade. And that it is. I've never used it for the, former, only for the latter. This has a really nice golf ball style dimpling in the g 10.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:55]:
Really nice grip. Pretty soft, but but you can sink all the flesh into that all the flesh of your hand into that, pattern and really get a great purchase. Now this was back in the day before, Carrie took on board the flush screws in the inset clip. This has an inset clip but with some pretty proud screws, but, beautiful thing about a smallish company like OffGrid Knives who has their knives, manufactured by Bestech, and then formerly we, but also, some, a a manufacturer in Taiwan, is that he can make changes as he hears they're needed. And so, when he hears, yeah, those kind of screws kinda mess up my pants. Well, he's small enough and nimble enough to make changes and that they have done with their many versions. Okay. Next up is the rapid fire.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:59]:
Now the rapid fire is it's they're they are not the only assisted openers in my collection, but they're they're the only ones I carry. I love these. Here it is. Here is this is not the original. I do not have the original rapid fire that has the, back country recurve blade, but I have a number of others. I'll show them right here. This is the stinger version so you can, you can see the lineage with the original stinger blade there. So the rapid fire originally came out in a recurve blade and then he re released the rapid fire, in a version two with the stinger blade and where where are they? Okay.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:44]:
And with the viper blade, that beautiful center line drop point or clip point, tanto, and also the wharncliffe. The wharncliffe came in two different versions and, I really like this one. This lives in my car door with that bright, orange g 10 and those wicked teeth, on that true wharncliffe blade. Again, true wharncliffe meaning a continuous descent from the thumb ramp down to the tip and, really, really nice ergonomics on this. Plus, it's got a glass breaker. So these three knives, what's the blade steel on these? Kryo D2 on these. Whoops, I just stabbed my leather. Okay.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:34]:
Well, that's alright. But but these things fire like the strong they fire like stronger than MicroTech out the sides. And and that's why I really love these knives. Well, the ergonomics are great. They fit great in hand. Even though they have those two finger partition, swells there, they feel great in hand. The blades are nice and thin and incredibly sharp and, yeah. They're just they're just great versions of these blades in an awesome, assisted opener.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:11]:
This is the the one assisted opener, like I said, that I don't bristle at. And and this one in particular, I love because it's always with me because I'm always in my car. Look at that thing. Look at those teeth. So a great, this rescue version, you know, obviously, the wharncliffe is good to get under a seat, under a car, seat belt because you have that curved surface there. You can kind of slide under and then do your cutting. So that is the rapid fire. Only missing one blade shape from the rapid fire, but one day we will rectify it.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:49]:
Alright, next up, this is a beauty, this is the Viper V2 and so we just saw the Viper blade on the Rapid Fire. This one is slightly thicker, little bit more stout, but still incredibly thin and slicey like all off grid knives are. And, this one has a 14, one fifty four centimeters, crucible blade. You've got, two types of jimping on the spine. You've got that traditional file work jimping and then you have the straight across the top jimping. So really, really great and no matter how far your thumb, I mean, if your thumb can reach to the end of this, you're a freak. You've got a full length, jimped spine there. You can reach your finger all the way forward to use that centerline tip.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:43]:
That's something I love about an Americanized tanto like this is that instead of having the tip at the spine, at the height of the spine, it's in the center and then you have that clipped off version. So when you look at it from this aspect, it almost, you know, it almost looks like a Gladius or something like that. So a centerline point for utility, also for defense. These knives are always taking defense in mind. But as I mentioned, this is the v two version of this viper and, so the v one version, I had black I've given all of the, all of the alternate versions of these, away as we go through this. So I had a black on black but this coyote, and gray version here, you can see it's a little stained. I use this one a lot. It has a really nice, filler tab there for the off side of the clip.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:40]:
Now you can see at this point by the v two of the viper, he changed the blade shape a little bit, but also he used those flattened screws incorporated incorporated the flattened screws in the inset, pocket clip. So it's not gonna menace your jeans. You're not gonna mess up your jeans at all. On bearings, super smooth flipper action. Love this knife, the Viper V2. Now most of these are available right now, except for this next one. Well, the Black Stallion is also not available, but this next one is not available in this version, this is the Cleaver v2, now there's the v3 and that one looks even cooler, but this one, as you can see, has gotten a lot of use. It's a a great cleaver style EDC size, so that's, three and a quarter inches there of d two blade steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:44]:
A very, very dramatic swedge on this cleaver blade. Ordinarily, I don't go for cleaver style knives because they don't have points. But with that incredible swedge on the tip and that relatively, a shallow point there, if you need to, you could stab this into something. Now I've used this to stab into cardboard and then and then pull you know, so you have your cardboard here. But if you needed to in a self defense situation, I would I would trust this more than I would most other cleaver style blades. Unlike the v three, which is damn sweet, you gotta check it out on their website. This one has a finger choil, so you can come right up on it and use it. The v3 version has the edge coming right up to the flipper, so it's almost like having a choil.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:39]:
It may as well be. You're not, but you're getting more cutting edge and a little bit more of a sweet, a little bit more of a belly to that kind of noise. This one, like I mentioned has gotten a lot of use now on this one, on the V2, he had already moved to the inset screws, but does not offer this is more of a budget offering, does not give you a filler tab. I would say there are three tiers to the off grid knives. You've seen the first two. There's like a, you know, the the lowest end, which is what you're looking at. Super high quality, by the way. No no no issues whatsoever in, you know, there's no rattle, no side to side play, no play at all.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:25]:
I mean, any play at all, the this day and age, you know, it's a a substandard company, but this stuff is so nice made by Bestech or Taiwan. These things are great. But so three tiers kind of, you've seen a bunch of mid and you've seen kind of the, the lower budget, and then we're gonna show us a couple of high budget ones here in a minute. All right. Next up. This is the very, very first knife from Awkward Knives that caught my eye when they first came out, and I'm not sure if this was their first design. I know that this is the v two version of this beauty. This is the Rhino, and, this thing is so cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:06]:
It's got that steep descending clip point similar to that Kershaw we saw earlier. Similar to almost reminds me a little bit of of a Winkler kind of, kind of looks a little bit like a Winkler. Anyway, 154 centimeters blade steel here, 4.6 inches on this cliff point blade, a really, really nice, saber ground blade. You've got a a really, engaging thumb ramp here with, jimping. Now the new version of this has jimping on the downward side, which I appreciate, which we see here on the baby rhino. You see that downward, jimping on the on the downslope of the clip? Well, you get that now on the new version of this knife. I remember my brother, my dad, after he heard my first interview with Terry Oricice of, Off Grid Knives, my dad was so impressed. He bought me an Off Grid knife, he bought my brother one.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:11]:
He got my brother the Rhino and he got me the Backcountry. And I was so psyched with the Backcountry fixed blade, but I also wanted the Rhino and I was jealous of my brother. Can you believe that? Not envious, Patel. So here it is. Same thickness now. Same, handle thickness, between the this micro version, the baby version, and the large version. Maybe a little bit thinner on this, but my point in saying that is when you make such a small version of a knife, that's like three and a half or three fingers, you wanna keep the handle thick so that you have a good purchase and can use this. We have three of these in the house.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:52]:
I have this one and the all black one, and my wife also, has a version of this knife. She loves it. This is the baby Rhino, gorgeous clip point blade, and then the adult Rhino, the regular Rhino, the Rhino v two. Check out the Rhino v three, which is in the works, and then the Rhino v two and a half, which has the jumping up here. Or maybe that's the the Rhino three that's coming out. But, anyway, go to the website. You'll be able to check it out. We we do, we do have a, affiliate link with them.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:29]:
So if you wanna buy one of these things, buy it through us, actually. That would be great. It helps the channel. And, you go to the, theknifejunkie.com/offgrid. If you like any of these knives or any of the fixed blade knives, you buy it using that link and he gets a sale and I get a little, I get a little, kickback or whatever. I guess that's not the right word. That's the wrong word to use, Bob. But, you know what I mean.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:55]:
It helps us all. So that's the baby rhino and the regular. Next up, this one, started life as an EDC that came in. That wicked clip point blade. I absolutely love this blade shape. And, you can see this one's gotten a lot of use too. And then after much, request, many requests from myself, and I'm sure many, many others who love this three point two and two point five inch D2 folder, was g 10, handles, we said, give us a big one. And so he did, and here it is.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:32]:
This is the large Cayman or the Cayman XL. They came in XXL is the big, fixed blade, which lives in my dresser. So if I'm ever getting dressed and someone jumps me, they're done for it. So this is the four inch one fifty four centimeters blade steel. Right. One four. I'm sorry. 14 c 28 n.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:55]:
So this has a four inch 14 c 28 n blade here with that dramatic, what looks to me like a Confederate Bowie with that, real dramatic, swept clip, but with a relatively low point and almost a straight edge. I have a couple of, era, Confederate bowies that my brother has got me at antique shows, and they kinda resemble this. But I think when Carey was designing this, he was thinking of the crocodilian animal called the caiman, and so kind of gave it a snout that looks a lot like the caiman. And I believe he's been down to the Pantanal in Brazil where it came in run wild or slither wild eating capybara and other kind of things competing with jaguar and I think they left a big impression on him and so he designed this knife after that beautiful crocodilian animal. Basically a dinosaur. Let's face it people. We live with dinosaurs all around us. Birds, crocodiles, alligators.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:04]:
So I love the big version of this. This knife has gotten a lot of carry and a lot of use too because I love the dramatic swashbuckling blade. I love the way it looks, but, actually, it's also incredibly useful. If you're a guy who likes the look of a Bowie or a clip point or a gal, but you like the utility of a wharncliffe and that, nearly flat edge and that very low point, this is a great knife for you. So that is the Cayman and the Cayman XL. Alright, next up, this is one of the premium premium premium, Elite. They call them Elite. This is from the Elite line.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:48]:
Now this one is the Scorpion and this is the Scorpion v two. And the Scorpion v two, these were made by WeKnife. Now they're up to the Scorpion v three, and I believe it's Bestech who's making them. Looks almost exactly the same. There are some changes, of course, with the pocket screws and and other things. I think the profile of the blade is slightly sleeker if I'm not mistaken. But this thing is pure luxury. This is, oh, yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:26]:
Okay. Back then, it was s 35 v n. Now I believe this comes in MagnaCut. It also went through a run of m three ninety. This is an older, version of this knife as I mentioned, but super duper smooth on bearings. Just a luxury tactical holder here. Really nice, blackwash titanium, frame lock handle here with the inset, what do you call that? Carbon fiber. Jimping, as the day is long all over it and, also great in reverse grip.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:04]:
Now, funny I had this out, I was carrying this today. This these two knives always kinda reminded me of one another just a little bit. I mean, there's no that when you look at them side by side, there's not that much of a similarity, but something about the handle here always kind of reminded me of the SOCOM Elite, by Microtech and it always had a comforting feel to it. It's just, it just feels great. Even though it's angular feels great in hand and just has a great shape. This knife is awesome. I haven't carried this in a little while, but having it in hand right now is encouraging me, inspiring me to, pick this up and start carrying it again. Again, a luxury tactical knife from off grid knives is the scorpions.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:54]:
Go check out they're in, the V three right now. Next up is the enforcer and the Enforcer XL. That's the XL. This is a limited edition with that red dawn G10. So you've got black G10 with red running through it. It's got a diamond texture to it, so very grippy texture. This is the original. This is the Enforcer, coming in at 3.25 inches D2 and then this one is 154 centimeters, the, the large one, but this this knife is awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:35]:
It feels so good in hand even in this small, 3.25 inches perfect EDC, size. Great drop shuddiness on the kvt bearings on this. Really, really nice modified sheepsfoot, we'll call it. Since, Kerry designs true wharn clips, I do have to call this a modified sheepsfoot because it comes to an angle here and that drops down to that edge, to that tip. Plus, the edge has a slight belly on it. This is a liner lock, beautifully made. And then this thing, the enforcer was my car knife for a long time. The regular black version, but it has a incredible, noggin knocker slash glass breaker on the back.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:27]:
Look at that thing. Coming up about a half inch or about three eighths of an inch off the back end there. Really full grip on this. This is indeed a wicked blade. Kind of, really worthy of the name enforcer. You could see some guy going around collecting, breaking kneecaps, and threatening people carrying this. Not that that's what it's for. It's for camping.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:54]:
It's for outdoor use, but, yeah, really, the enforcer. This thing is incredible. I love tactical sheep foots. I love tactical wharncliffe and this embodies that all day long. Now the last knife here is sort of related. It's sort of an upscale, Uptown Girl version and here we have the original, Black Mamba. This is not the original, this is the V2 Black Mamba. So you can see the DNA between the Enforcer and the Black Mamba.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:30]:
So the Black Mamba V2 was a smaller one at about three inches in blade blade length, right? Three inches? Make sure make sure. Yep. About three inches in blade length here. This one is a luxury model though. So you've got this beautifully golf ball dimpled, titanium here, black washed. So all the peaks are white or, you know, bright, but the the valleys are black. So it's got a beautiful look to it. Titanium frame lock with M390 blade steel, with that gorgeous old school file work jimping.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:06]:
And, this is just a great, great knife here. And then, last year, so in 2024, knowing what he had, he did a v three version of the Black Mamba and created a large version of it. I should have kept the black one, but I couldn't resist this beautifully gold anodized titanium. And then this one, as you can see if you're looking on screen, has CPM MagnaCut. Also it does that double jimping that we saw in, earlier in the, stinger, not the stinger, in the, viper. So you see the file work on the side, but then you have traditional notch jimping on the top. So your your hand just locks into this thing. It is big.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:55]:
That is a four inch MagnaCut, gray wash blade, and that is a large five inch titanium handle, but it's nice and thin and nice and light. This thing is incredibly, easy to carry and, part of the Elite lineup here. It's hard for me to pick a favorite, but in this very moment, I gotta say I think this is my favorite. Of all of the ones we looked at, this last one is my favorite. Ask me tomorrow, I'll say something else. I've been carrying, the new Stinger XL oh, wrong one. Been carrying the new, Stinger Drop Point a whole lot and love this knife too, but something very, very, very compelling about this MagnaCut and Titanium, Black Mamba three. The large one.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:47]:
Alright, guys. Thank you. Thank you for watching, guys and gals. I'm gonna assume there are some gals out there. Thank you for watching this, Off Grid Knives folder collection, edition of the Knife Junkie podcast midweek sup supplemental. If you like any of these knives, I urge you to got to buy them. Support Gary O'Rifice, and also you can help support the Knife Junkie podcast through the affiliate links. Just go to the knifejunkie.com/offgrid and buy yourself an amazing and very reasonably priced.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:21]:
You're gonna be shocked how reasonably priced these are. Tactical folding knife. But just saying tactical, does not get across how thin and slicey all these blades are. These are outstanding knives for every sort of use, so go check them out. Also, check us out on Thursday night knives. If you're watching this the day it drops tomorrow night, e, 10PM Eastern Standard Time on YouTube and Twitch. It is great. It's, when we all let our hair down, we have a big long knife centered conversation for two hours.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:57]:
And, pretty much every weekend due to the, generosity of, Dave of OG blade reviews, we give away a knife. So, he gives me all these knives. I give them away to you. And then, if you're a patron and a gentleman junkie patron, you are entered into to win a a special knife on the third Thursday of every month. Alright. 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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