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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Announcer[00:00:03]:
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 [00:00:16]:
Welcome to the knife junkie podcast. I'm your host, Bob DeMarco. On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with Roger Pearson of Savage Creature Defense Tools. Mister Pearson's work is relatively new to me, having recently been recommended by a listener who knows my taste. But it seems from his refined designs and impeccable execution, Roger is not new to knife make. As his company moniker implies, his knives are intended for practical self defense for the GFO scenario, an ugly usage at best, but the blades themselves are quite beautiful. We'll meet Roger and find out what drives him to make his Japanese inspired implements of chaos. But first, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, hit the notification bell, and download the show to your favorite podcast app.

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Bob DeMarco [00:01:44]:
Roger, welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, sir.

Roger Pearson [00:01:47]:
What's up, man? How are you doing?

Bob DeMarco [00:01:49]:
I'm doing great. It's nice to see you. Nice to meet you. I've been, viewing your knives for about maybe two months, maybe three months on Instagram, and I absolutely love them. They're right up my alley. I love EDC defensive fixed blades, and that seems to be what you're making. When did you get started? Is this something you've been doing a while? What's up?

Roger Pearson [00:02:12]:
It's been only a few years, to be honest. I think I dropped my first set of knives out there in 2022, September '20 '2. I remember it was my birthday that month, and it was I was exciting because it was, like, my first drop. You know? I'm pretty sure that's it's only been a few years. But, I mean, I've spent a lot of time doing it every minute.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:35]:
How did you how did you get into it? Have you all have you always been a knife guy?

Roger Pearson [00:02:39]:
Or I've always been a knife guy. It started when John Rambo hit the big screen, you know, back in the eighties. And, I I wanted I really wanted to make knives when I was a kid. I used to take my grandfather's butter knives and put them on his grinder and got in lots of trouble. But, tattooing was my other game. That's what I ended up life took me down that path. I was a professional tattoo artist for, like, twenty six years, but I've always been into it. I was like, you know what? Screw it, man.

Roger Pearson [00:03:08]:
Like, tattooing kinda got mundane for me. I wasn't in love with it anymore. But I basically flipped the script overnight, closed my tattoo shop, moved to Ohio a little bit later afterwards, you know, and here we are.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:21]:
No kidding. You are not the first guy we've spoken to who's a tattoo artist either.

Roger Pearson [00:03:25]:
There's a lot of us in the scene. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:28]:
Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's like marines, former marines, and and tattoo artists. Yeah. What do you think it is that that draws people like you to the to the craft of making knives?

Roger Pearson [00:03:40]:
Well, I would say from the tattooer's perspective, I mean, we if you're a tattoo artist and you're a dude, you're drawing knots. You're drawing them for tattoos, you know, hearts and daggers, hearts and roses, just knives, just knives. I got one on my forearm right there. Like, there's a lot of knife tattoos. It's a it's a thing. You know? Knives and skulls. And, you know, so I've always been drawing stuff. You know? So, you know, I think every tattooer is in that same rail if they're a guy and a lot of women too love that kind of stuff.

Roger Pearson [00:04:11]:
So it it kinda makes sense. You know? I've also known tattoo machine builders that were also knife makers, which was pretty cool. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:04:22]:
Yeah. It's interesting that you say guys. You also mentioned girls because there there are plenty of women out there who like knives. We've had a couple of them on

Roger Pearson [00:04:29]:
this show. A couple of really awesome female knife like Jen Lindt. You ever heard of her?

Bob DeMarco [00:04:34]:
Yeah. She's been on the show. Yeah. She's awesome.

Roger Pearson [00:04:37]:
She's young, dude. She I think she's in her early twenties or something. Yeah. You know? That's awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:43]:
But but there is definitely something, I think, in the, in the male makeup that draws us to knives.

Roger Pearson [00:04:50]:
It's the testosterone, man. You know? Yeah. I'm really big on it. Like, function is always key, of course, the most important thing, but I really love the art aspect of knife making too because, I mean, it's a tool as long as it does its job. It's intended person person's well made. You know? He treats good. Outside of that, it's like, how cool can you make it look? You know? You know, some people are into really, like, simple stuff where they just see it as a tool. That's all it is.

Roger Pearson [00:05:20]:
It doesn't need to look any type of way, and I respect that. But then there's also us that are like, check this out. You know? Yeah. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:05:28]:
Well, okay. We're gonna we're gonna take a look at your dives in a second and talk more about them. But I'm I'm interested now, knowing that you're a tattoo artist, and, obviously, tattoo artists are drawing all the time, not just for work, but just because you're an artist at heart. What what are the kind of things you draw? What kind of art do you make or did you make outside of tattooing and knife

Roger Pearson [00:05:51]:
Man, I did so much. It's hard to narrow that down, to be honest. But, like, I love to draw. I like dark stuff, like, you know, kinda macabre shit. You know? Sorry about the s. But, so I would draw, like, really kinda gothicky looking knives and stuff. Like, maybe, like, a a severed hand with long fingernails and nasty, like, really elegant dagger, that kind of stuff. Okay.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:16]:
Alright. Well, I grew up drawing and, you know, I'm I'm I'm an artist of of sorts myself, and I used to draw, barbarians. I was really into, like, romance and style stuff. These elaborate swords with kilts and gems and stuff like that.

Roger Pearson [00:06:31]:
Awesome. My man, I one of my favorite old artists is Boris Vallejo. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:06:35]:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:06:36]:
Boris, dude. And Frank Frazetta

Bob DeMarco [00:06:38]:
Yep.

Roger Pearson [00:06:39]:
Bing come up. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:06:40]:
Both of them. I mean, how cool would it be to have an original of either one of those guys work? Yeah. Yeah. Hanging in your studio. Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:06:47]:
Right. Is my he's my main on those two, but both of it's just nobody does it like that. Yeah. Right.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:54]:
It it doesn't seem like that kind of stuff gets made too much anymore at all.

Roger Pearson [00:06:59]:
I mean, no. It's sad, but it that's true. And now everything's digital anyway. So it's like those guys, you know, they laid it down for real. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:07:09]:
Yeah. So just, from looking at your Instagram page and also just kinda glancing behind you, I know that you're influenced by, Japanese work and, and that kinda thing. How does that play into and we're we're actually now Jim brought up your page, so we're seeing some of your work here. But how does the Japanese influence, how are you influenced

Roger Pearson [00:07:35]:
by that stuff? That also goes back to tattooing, because Japanese tattooing is really big in the tattoo industry. They have a whole culture on it in Japan. You know? Like, traditional Japanese stuff. There's a lot of tradition going on. Like, their culture is rich, you know? So, like, when you're in the the tattoo culture, like, there's tons of Japanese art. So, you you know, when you're drawing a piece for somebody, and they're like, hey. I want this demon what's in whatever, and then you start researching that, and you start learning more shit, and then that turns you on. So Japanese culture in general to me is pretty awesome.

Roger Pearson [00:08:14]:
I just finished this piece today if you wanna check it out real quick.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:17]:
Yes.

Roger Pearson [00:08:17]:
Pretty Japanese inspired. This is called Kusanagi, and, it's about a quarter inch thick. This is one of my favorite pieces actually that I make. It's just, you know That is cute. Put this try to get this I call this a Stormlands finish that I do. It's just a little bit of science, you know, super cool plate.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:42]:
Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Don't put it away. Hold it back up. Let's see this. So, obviously, you look at the at the tsukamaki, wrap in that handle that we can see the obvious, Japanese influence there.

Roger Pearson [00:08:56]:
Yeah. So that that that in itself is you know, it's a whole thing, a part of their culture, and it just looks so beautiful. And, like, my whole thing is I like my blades to kinda have an archaic vibe, like the steel itself. Uh-huh. But I like it to have a beautiful handle so you have both things. You know? I love opposite things, like crunchy and soft food. Love it. Sweet and sour.

Roger Pearson [00:09:21]:
So, you know, like, I like the contrast of having kind of a mean looking blade, but with a a beautiful handle. And Japanese tsukamaki is is a art on itself. You know? Yeah. Makes your fingers hurt.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:36]:
So oh, the actual wrapping of it makes

Roger Pearson [00:09:38]:
Oh, doing it? Yeah. Like, my hands are they're probably puffy right now. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:09:43]:
Yeah. I could see that a little bit. So hold it back up. I'm interested in the finish you put on this blade. And and just, if you're listening, the knife we're looking at has a tsukamaki wrap and, with the race skin under the the the lace. But, also, we see an upswept, Japanese style I don't know. What do you call that? A Kwaiken style blade? What is that?

Roger Pearson [00:10:06]:
No. Kwaikens are usually kinda straight. I don't know what to call this, man, but it it's just I feel like I wanted it to be good for slashing, maybe chopping, and punctures. So, I mean, it's got, like, that forward swoop. You know? So slash, it's gonna pull into that belly, and

Bob DeMarco [00:10:21]:
Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:10:21]:
The barbecue's gonna taste great.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:24]:
No doubt. Okay. So what is the finish you put on that?

Roger Pearson [00:10:29]:
It's a a little secret.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:32]:
Oh, okay. What do you what do you call it? You say

Roger Pearson [00:10:35]:
I call it Stormlands. The Stormlands finish. But I do a whole I I do a bunch of different kind of stuff, and a lot of it is just, like, acid work. You know? Like different layer in this and that. Just, you know, I've almost caught a few things on fire playing with that. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:10:54]:
Well, so that that ancient art of wrapping a handle like that, to me, it's one of my favorite grips.

Roger Pearson [00:11:01]:
Oh, so grippy. You can't go wrong.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:03]:
Yeah. I love the way it looks. And then when you actually get it in hand, it's got these alternating peaks and valleys that really

Roger Pearson [00:11:10]:
Yeah. Your fingers really lock in. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:11:13]:
Yeah. So how how did you learn that?

Roger Pearson [00:11:16]:
I watched I'm a visual learner. So, like, I just basically I watched a simple I I couldn't even send you the links, I don't know, a video on YouTube, and then I just got some stuff out and started doing it until I got good at it. My fingers have biceps now. Pretty cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:35]:
So you clamp it down and you do the the wrap full on, while it's isolated, I would imagine.

Roger Pearson [00:11:43]:
Some people, like most people, put it in a blade vise that, you know, rotates. So you do one side, get it tight, and, you know, fixed up, and then you flip it over and do the other side. I didn't have a I didn't have a blade vise when I started doing it, so I literally just hold it with both of my hands. It it gets really painful, but I tried it in a blade vice, and I just couldn't get it as clean. I'm too used to doing it my way, so I'll suffer through it. You know? But I do a lot of that. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:13]:
Alright. So so how did you come up with the design for this knife, and how do you in general, how do you design your work?

Roger Pearson [00:12:20]:
Well, I just think about, like, what what's its what's its function? You know? Like, is it gonna be a stabber? You know? Like this. I just finished this today for your podcast. This is the Titan. This is one of my, most popular knife models, but this one is the first one with the full double edge I did today. So, you know, this is a a stabber. You know? You're not out there trying to slice. You know? So with this right here, you know, you could slice your your Thanksgiving ham with that thing or your annoying neighbor. You know? But, but then some of the stuff that I do, like, I like, like, Japanese stuff, so I'll do, I love this one.

Roger Pearson [00:13:06]:
I love, like, straight tanto style blades, like, you know, your traditional kinda tanto knife. This thing I just did too. It's got a similar finish. Wow. This one's chiseled brown.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:20]:
So it's double beveled, but chiseled ground. Right? Oh, no.

Roger Pearson [00:13:23]:
No. I bevel. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:24]:
It's a full on oh, man.

Roger Pearson [00:13:26]:
That's All the way. And then the sheath is, like, some padex sheath with some leather work on it. Nothing crazy, but pretty cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:33]:
Alright. Alright. So hold up the blade. Yeah. That that sheath is pretty. It that sheath is elaborate and beautiful. Oftentimes, we'll see kydex with a with a leather wrap around it, but this is kydex with, leather, leather accents.

Roger Pearson [00:13:48]:
It's got the logo on there, which is my dog's face, which my dog is Creature. That's his name. Like, you know, when I was trying to decide when I wanted to name the the company, at first, it was gonna be Creature Customs, and I'm like, but he has done some terrible things, man. He's killed some animals that we were trying to nurse back to health and stuff. So one day, I was just like, dude, you're a savage creature, like, yelling at him. I was like, that's it. I'm just gonna call it that. Use his face as the logo.

Roger Pearson [00:14:18]:
You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:14:19]:
He's a little French bulldog, though. Right?

Roger Pearson [00:14:21]:
Yeah. He's the he's awesome. And and

Bob DeMarco [00:14:23]:
they are, like, the cutest, friendliest dogs ever. So You can't be mad at them. It's a great contrast. Again, you Right.

Roger Pearson [00:14:30]:
I call it like, alright. If we had, like, Game of Thrones house words, our house would be small but mighty. You know? Because he's a tough little dude, man. He's not a

Bob DeMarco [00:14:40]:
Shrinking violet.

Roger Pearson [00:14:41]:
He he's awesome. He he's just kinda fearless, man. One time I saw him out by the fence, and he's shaking around a piece of rope. I get out there. It's a freaking big ass black snake.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:50]:
Oh my god.

Roger Pearson [00:14:51]:
Yeah. He's killed out an owl. He's killed some possums, and we were trying to, like, help these animals.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:56]:
Killed an owl?

Roger Pearson [00:14:57]:
Yeah. We found an owl. He was kinda, like, acting. We're middle of the day back down in Florida. So we brought it in to help it and see if a a place could come and get it. Creature freaking crushed its head, man, right in his biscuit.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:11]:
Oh my goodness. I was

Roger Pearson [00:15:12]:
like, I can't believe you just did this. And he's looking at you like, it was so. You know, it's like, god.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:19]:
Well, he he he got some wisdom out of it. You know?

Roger Pearson [00:15:22]:
He's killed so much stuff. And lizards, the Florida lizards. You know about them? There's little lizards that run around Florida everywhere. They're like little brown anoles that sit on the fence. He's killed so many of those, man. Like, he'll just bite them and break their back and leave them there. It's like, come on, dude. But yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:40]:
Pull pull up the the double edged one. I I'm not done with that one yet. So so this now now when I'm looking at this, it's got the traditional wrap again with the with the white and black ray scan. That looks really cool.

Roger Pearson [00:15:53]:
Yeah. I like that too.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:55]:
But but in profile, it looks somewhat like a, you know, a spear point drop point, but, really, it's a double edged fighter.

Roger Pearson [00:16:04]:
It's basically a dagger with a, asymmetrical handle. You know? You can hold it any way, though. You know? You can no matter how you hold this knife, it means business. I prefer this grip with the Titan. Normally, the Titans are a full belly and, like, a swedge that's sharp up here, so it can be, like, utilitarian. Yeah. Because I try to apply that too for people that they just want a cool knife at work. You know? Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:16:30]:
But, this is one of my favorite. This is one of my my bigger or most, what's the word, popular models, I guess. You know? This one, the Masako, which we'll get to the Masako. The Masako is hands down everybody's favorite, it seems.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:46]:
I think I might know which one that is, but don't don't do it yet. I don't wanna I don't wanna breeze over these knives yet. But I'm interested, to know why or how did you arrive at, fighting knives, tactical knives. These are just so you know, like, these are my favorite kinds of knives. This I have a giant, you know, pretty healthy collection, we'll say, and that's what I like to collect the most, fighting knives and, especially, you know, ones that I can carry on a daily basis. Right. How how did you arrive at that style of knife that I make?

Roger Pearson [00:17:25]:
I've always been into, you know, as a boy, a kid growing up, you're into, like, nunchucks and switchblades and throwing stars, and that's all we know what all that stuff's for, you know? And it's like but later, you know, I found Lieberman knife fighting. And I'm no expert at that by any means, but I dabble. And, just that whole business, and it's like, you know, I like fixed blades. I don't really do folders. And, you know, I like other stuff too. Like, you know, I just I'm a city guy, so, like, the whole bush crafting part, like, I just never really got too much into that Mhmm. Because I've never lived that life, really. You know? I'm West Palm Beach, Florida rat.

Roger Pearson [00:18:06]:
You know? Okay. I do like to make weird shit like this one. Oh. I call this one the Hobbit Slayer. I was gonna say the project that I did for fun.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:16]:
I was gonna say this looks like something an elf would carry. Exactly.

Roger Pearson [00:18:20]:
And it but it has, like, aluminum hammered scales with the sukamaki, and that's cobra skin underneath.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:28]:
No way.

Roger Pearson [00:18:29]:
But, you know, this was, like, something to do for fun. Like, if I could sit around doing, like, silly stuff like this all day, I'd be, like, pretty happy. You know? But it's still good and functional. It's got that bow on the blade. Pretty sweet. You know? This is the this is the ten year old boy in me right here.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:47]:
Yeah. Exactly. And, you know, we all, all all us grown men have the 10 year old boy still living healthy. So one could justify that as a brisket knife or a barbecue knife you mentioned

Roger Pearson [00:18:59]:
before. You could slice the meat up with this thing. It's the balance on it, the way it moves. It's it's worthy of Legalos, man. You know? It feels really good in the hand. Like, the way everything flows like this is just it works. It works good. I like it.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:21]:
How do you design stuff? Since I know you're an artist, you're a you're a tattoo artist, but, also, you know, to be a tattoo artist, a, you've gotta be really good with a pencil. Right.

Roger Pearson [00:19:32]:
Yeah. Hand draw.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:33]:
Gonna use one of those giant one of those machines to actually draw accurately on someone's moving skin. I mean, that that still blows me away. But so tell me about your your design process. How do you go about actually coming up with what you're gonna make?

Roger Pearson [00:19:48]:
Well, alright. So, I mean, it depends. Like, some stuff's easy, like, straight blades or, like, like, this would be a Quakken. You know? Like, something like this, it's it's a design that's been around forever. So I'm like, I'm gonna make this. But then some stuff, you know, I'm like like, the Masako, for instance. I I was like, I kinda wanted, like, a a curved dagger style blade, but with a neutral handle. So no matter how it's in your hand, it's ready to go in any grip.

Roger Pearson [00:20:15]:
And, it took off really good, that one did. But, you know, I try to just think about the function of it and apply that to the mechanics, you know, like and then some stuff is, like, kinda just like, that big knife I just showed you is pure fantasy. Like, I just draw a sketch of it on paper or on a iPad on a sketchbook or whatever. Yeah. And then, I transfer that into the the or the the profile I could draw I draw it on a piece of steel, cut it out, and away we go. Some stuff I plan, some stuff I do not plan at all, to be honest. Like, I mean, I'll plan, like, the function of the design, but, like, sometimes you just kinda, like, I wanna make, like, this weird elven knife, and this is how I want it to look. So you get to sketching on you know, you make a sketch of it, and then try to just build it from there.

Roger Pearson [00:21:09]:
You decide, okay. What am I gonna do with the handle? I think I wanna do this. You know? And you kinda create that scribbles on paper and then transferred into the the final thing. Sometimes things go great. Sometimes they go terrible, and sometimes they turn into something totally different, and it works out anyway. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:21:29]:
That's that's like the the the the work of art talking back and telling you what it wants to be.

Roger Pearson [00:21:34]:
Yeah. Sometimes you just let it make itself. If it's something that you're just making to make, really, you know, sometimes, like, some stuff I really plan out, like like, the this is has a job. You know? Like, it's specific job. Yeah. But, you know, like, some stuff, you don't wanna always be doing that. You wanna just make art. You know? So you try to make functional art, dangerous functional art.

Roger Pearson [00:21:57]:
And I always like my stuff to kinda have a dark, like, a dark aesthetic, you know? Like, no bubblegum and lollipops over here, You know? Like, we I want I want my stuff to look like an if a Nazgul did Libra fighting, that's what he would use. You something like that. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:22:16]:
So how how did you learn how to make knives?

Roger Pearson [00:22:22]:
I watched some videos on YouTube, just a couple. And, man, really, I'm the kind of person that I'll just look into material wise what's good and worth using or whatever. They kinda read up and learn about the steel or whatever, and then, I just kinda do it. I'm a jump in the deep end kinda dude, like, without looking for rocks kinda guy. Like, you know, I've thought about doing this for, I don't know, like, I'm about to be 49, so, like, a long time. Mhmm. And, you know, you kinda plan a lot as you go through life. You're like, oh, what if I was doing this? And you kinda just create stuff in your head and on it goes.

Roger Pearson [00:23:03]:
But I really just I'm a hands on person. I gotta just if I can watch it and then do it, I can do it. You know? Like so I just jump I just skip all the stuff in the front and just jump into doing it. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:23:17]:
So when you have that kind of process, that's kind of the that's kinda how I generally tend to be. But when you have that kind of process, what well, there are obviously there's some, like, serious science that goes into into knife making. It's

Roger Pearson [00:23:32]:
Way more than you'd think too.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:34]:
Yeah. So so was what was the trial and error period like for you? Like, say, for instance, for heat treat and that kind of thing.

Roger Pearson [00:23:43]:
Heat treat, that's a tricky one to get, you know, and, like, I just made a bunch of stuff and kinda did my thing and would beat the hell out of them. I didn't really have any other way of doing things, but then I found ADC RV two steel, which that's my go to steel I like to use. It's pretty well rounded for basically anything. And, the heat treat's decently forgiving. You know? Like, so I stuck to just using that a lot to get it down. You know? And now I'm I'm quite confident on it. You know? Like, that's all I really use. So I think we're good on that front.

Roger Pearson [00:24:23]:
You know, I've used some other stuff too, like $10.84, and I've done a couple other things too, but the a d c r v two is where my comfort zone is. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:24:33]:
Yeah. I I would imagine, like, part like, the biggest part is probably knowing how to heat treat it. But, also, it seems like some steels I mean, I know some steels are more forgiving on your on your tools too, you know,

Roger Pearson [00:24:47]:
in your

Bob DeMarco [00:24:47]:
bolts and that kinda thing.

Roger Pearson [00:24:48]:
Yeah. You wanna use steel for the the job that it's intended for kinda thing. You know what I mean? Like, you don't wanna make a big bush crafting knife out of some weak steel, you know, or, like, something that's gonna be wet all the time. You don't really want it. I mean, you can use carbon steel and, like, really ultra keep track of maintenance in your blade. Cool. But, you know, if I was a saltwater fisherman down in Florida, I'm using the stainless blade probably. Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:25:15]:
You know, like, because it's always gonna be wet with saltwater. So, yeah, you always wanna use steel for, like, the purpose. You know? I just that's why I use ADC v the ADC RV two because it's pretty well rounded for stuff like this. You know? It's strong. It's holds an edge really nice. You know? And the heat treat is not too crazy. You know? Like, some stuff I don't have an oven. I use a forge.

Roger Pearson [00:25:44]:
So, you know, like, you're gonna do some high end stainless steel. You really need an oven for that. The times and temps and everything need to be, like, you know?

Bob DeMarco [00:25:55]:
So do you use the forge for other parts of the process besides the heat treat? Or

Roger Pearson [00:25:59]:
No. I just use it for the heat treating process. I I, I cut my profiles out on a band saw, you know, and then profile them and heat treat them like that. New oven is probably my, that's my next upgrade. You know, I really wanna step it up. Because I would love to work with other steels. Like, a lot of a lot of people love stainless steel. You know? Magna cut.

Roger Pearson [00:26:24]:
Magna cut. Magna cut. I think they just like to say magna but, okay, let's get some MagnaCut. You know? Like, whatever you need. But, you know, that stuff needs that. And then there's, like, the cryo temper process with a lot of those stainless steels. It's like, I don't have the setup for that, so I stick just to good old carbon.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:45]:
So you mentioned Libra knife fighting before. Tell us what that's all about and how it influenced your work.

Roger Pearson [00:26:52]:
Well, Libra is, an edge weapon system developed by Scott Babb in 02/2004. And, a lot of it is you kinda can make Libra your own thing, you know? Like, there's there's, you know, fundamentals to the system, and then you kinda it's Libre and freedom fighting kind of, you know. Like, you you create whatever works for you, and I like that. And, you know, making knives that are, you know, for protecting yourself, it's probably a good idea to know how to use it, you know, to understand even how to make a knife for that job. And if you don't do that job Yeah. Can you really understand the design or whatever for what you're making if you don't involve yourself in such things. Right? Yeah. So, I mean, there's that.

Roger Pearson [00:27:46]:
And plus, it's it's good exercise. You know? And, you you you're good. You're good at if you're in a situation, you know, you have one up on most of the people around you, like, you can protect yourself, somebody else. You know? It's lots of it's good to be able to defend yourself in this world, in this climate, especially. So, you know, I like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:12]:
Yeah. I like, I I like watching Scott Babb's videos, on Instagram. He's always got some pretty interesting kinda, through lines or, like, lessons that he locks onto. But one one thing that always kinda pops out to me is that it's very pickle heavy, tip down, edge edge in, and it and it really, you know, I I I trained a lot in Cali, and there's Cali is awesome. I love it. But there's the self perfection side where you're doing a lot of intricate kinda stuff that you would never use in a real knife fight. And then there's the self yeah. Then there's the self preservation side that's more to the point.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:53]:
It seems like, Libre is all self preservation. There's not much of that of of any fanciness, and it deals a lot with kinda gross motor motion and that kind of

Roger Pearson [00:29:02]:
thing. Sure. And a lot a lot of thing I like about it is the close quarter concepts, you know, like, with being trapped on a wall or, you know, in multiple, assailants. You know? Like, it's it's all in there. You know? Like, and a lot it's just combos mostly. You know? I mean, like, you know, if you have any kind of basic boxing skills, you can be on the good road to learn a a good Libra. You know, what works for you. You know? Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:29:32]:
Things like that. I mean, I'm not an expert on it by any means, man. I I I dabble in it while I can. It's kind of a stress relieving to do. You know? Like, it's like, and even boxing a bob, you know, like, it makes you feel better. You kinda, like, you know, we're guys. We need to, like, exert ourselves a little bit, man. You know? So Libra's a great way to do that and be able to handle business if need be.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:59]:
Well, I know that you make a number of Pakal style knives or at least curved double edge that look like they'd be great in a reverse grip. Is that what the Masako is?

Roger Pearson [00:30:09]:
That's the thing about the Masako. It's all things. I think that's why people like it, because this is it. This is actually I don't have a full size Masako here to show you, but I have my favorite one. So this is it. This is Masako Hachi. There's three sizes. There's a this is the middle size, and there's a smaller one and a larger one.

Roger Pearson [00:30:30]:
This one's my favorite, though. It's the Masako Hachi, which is Masako eight. And, you know, I prefer it like this, you know, because the tip is along with your knuckles, it gives you a little more distance. You know? Like, where it turned like this, you got less dis like, if you're trying to do eye spikes, you're not really getting it. But turned over, you know, and even, like, you could still remove obstacles, things like that. I mean, you know, you're good to go. With the Masako, no matter how you hold it, it's good to go. You know? Like, it's my favorite.

Roger Pearson [00:31:08]:
And it ended up being most everybody else's favorite too, so I feel like, alright. Cool. I did that one. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:31:13]:
So hold it up. Let let us, just hold it still for a sec. Let's take a look at this. This thing's beautiful. This is probably my most admired, blade on your channel. I mean, we're not or on your, Instagram feed. I'm always looking at this. I saw one that you did, like, a a purple ray skin under that tsukemaki wrap, and it was just gorgeous.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:33]:
Now on this one, I'm seeing on the handle, you're doing two kinds of different wraps. The one where it's flat and

Roger Pearson [00:31:40]:
then the one where It has, like it's just flat wrap kinda, and then the middle is or, you know, like, folded and then back to the thing. I thought that'd be a cool contrast in the wrap, and it also kinda gives you a little swell in the middle.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:56]:
You know? Yes. You can

Roger Pearson [00:31:58]:
kinda you can feel it. And then I also have the nodes from the stingrays. Yeah. They're kinda bigger there. So those stick out a little more so you can kinda feel that little swell, like a little like, almost pregnant belly on it. So, you know, you know, it's a neutral handle. So, you know, with that node, you can feel, like, you know where the tip is, you know, like, you're gonna feel it as well. I mean, that's the whole point of the node or, like, a Manuki.

Roger Pearson [00:32:25]:
I like using Manuki and stuff too, you know, for that purpose, and it looks great.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:31]:
That's the little, the little medallion under under the wrap. Right?

Roger Pearson [00:32:37]:
Yeah. It's little ornamental piece, which Manuki means ornament. You know? And, you know, sometimes, like, on something like this, I did this just to be fun and fancy. I put it on both sides, but, you know, this is a straight blade, so it's kinda however you have it. You're gonna go.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:55]:
You got that Turkish knot as sort of a guard there.

Roger Pearson [00:32:58]:
Yeah. Listen. I hate those knots. Like, I don't know what's wrong with me. I have my I'll be honest. I have my wife do my my Turk head knots, guys. My wife does my Turks knots, like, so don't give me the credit. It's all her.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:15]:
It looks awesome. Hold hold that up again. So this is the one that has that, elaborate sheath to it too. Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:33:21]:
It had this little leather one here.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:24]:
Oh, man.

Roger Pearson [00:33:25]:
Pretty fun.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:26]:
Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:33:27]:
This guy's like, hey. Did you ship my knife? I'm like, no. I'm gonna put her show on this podcast. You got way to pay. You know? But, yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:34]:
Well, I thank him for that, and, thanks for thanks for keeping it around to show us.

Roger Pearson [00:33:39]:
Oh, for sure. I got a I got a few others.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:42]:
Let's see.

Roger Pearson [00:33:43]:
This is the this right here is the Titan v two. Oh. So, I mean, this one has scales on it, but often they're you know, this is the v one. That's the v two.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:56]:
Okay. So if you're just listening, the Titan v one is, is a spear point double edge spear point asymmetrical handle, so it's got a guard on one side, essentially. And then the second one,

Roger Pearson [00:34:07]:
the

Bob DeMarco [00:34:07]:
second one Same handle. Is a recurve okay. Same handle. It's a it's a recurve, dramatic recurve clip point with a sharpened looks like a sharpened swedge there. Right? Yeah. And a thumb swell. Wow. That is beautiful.

Roger Pearson [00:34:22]:
So this one's cool. You can grip it a lot of different ways, you know. You even kind of voodoo grip it, but, this is a this is a cool knife. I like these two. I love doing these. They feel really good even in that recurve is definitely mean.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:38]:
Yes.

Roger Pearson [00:34:39]:
That's also where my this one and the two titans and the Masako are probably much of are my favorites that I may you know? And, also, you can like, I make sure that this little curve with a guard or whatever you wanna call it is here, like, so you can hold it with the edge down. Yeah. And it has that little

Bob DeMarco [00:35:00]:
Peak there.

Roger Pearson [00:35:01]:
Lock it in, going nowhere.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:03]:
So it's got a great peak pommel to to cap Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:35:06]:
It fits right in your thumb, like, no matter how you hold it. It's kinda center lined on the handle. So if you got it like this or like that, it's locked in there. It's going nowhere. I really at least.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:22]:
Looking at this one now, I'm not sure if I like that or the Masako. No. That one is pretty sweet.

Roger Pearson [00:35:28]:
It is. I like it.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:29]:
So it's somewhat rare that you use scales. This looks like g 10 or maybe Polycom.

Roger Pearson [00:35:34]:
G 10. Yeah. I'll tell you, man. It's just so messy, dude. You know? Like and I hate to sound like a, but I work in a small space. I don't have a huge elaborate shop. I have basically the size of a one car garage. It's a freestanding building behind my house.

Roger Pearson [00:35:53]:
And I've done my best to make it awesome in there, but, man, there's so much dust and g 10. It's not the best stuff. I mean, I wear a respirator and stuff, but Yeah. It makes its way every damn wear. So and plus, I really like doing the handle rest, but I do do scales, everyone. It's not it doesn't have to be super machi wrap. You know? Because people ask me, I'm, dude, do you do scales? I'm like, yeah. Just if I'm doing you know, if you want to.

Roger Pearson [00:36:21]:
You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:36:23]:
If you wanna be toylist like that, sure.

Roger Pearson [00:36:25]:
No. Yeah. Oh, and then this one here, this is the smallest of the Masako series.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:32]:
Oh, okay. Hold this up next to the other one. And, okay. So an interesting thing about this one is that, you know, when I first saw this on your on your page, I was like, oh, cool. A Pekal style knife. But, really, it's not in in a sense because, I always think of a curved handle. This has that straight

Roger Pearson [00:36:54]:
Yeah. Like an Elbia, you know, which is a great design.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:58]:
Yeah.

Roger Pearson [00:36:59]:
But I'm a big fan of neutral handles. So, I mean, if it's in your hand, you're good. You know? Like, no matter how you have it. You know? There's one that's a little bit bigger than this one. So there's three sizes, which the big one was the first one I made. That was the original design. And then I was like, okay. I wanna make more little EDC friendly version, And this one's called the Masako Ohime.

Roger Pearson [00:37:22]:
Okay. And then this is the Masako Hachi.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:25]:
I mean, in a way, they're in a way, they're similar to, like, what are they called? The Middle Eastern blades that are that have straight handles but curved double leg.

Roger Pearson [00:37:36]:
I love upswept blades like that. Like, that's my my personal just it just looks mean, man. You know? Like, I love Persian style blade. So that's that was a big part of making this. It's like I wanted, like, a Persian style blade, but pointy with a neutral handle. And, I mean, I went through a couple of models in the early days trying to get to this. You know what I mean? Like, I made a couple of models in the past, and this is what I was searching for. I just hadn't nailed it yet, and then Masako was born.

Roger Pearson [00:38:12]:
Masako was like, like the Edo period for feudal Japan. You know? She was, like, the first female shogun. She's a really highly respected figure back then. You know? And then Ohime is, like, the Masako's eldest daughter. It means eldest daughter or whatever. So, like, alright. We'll just call it that. And then the the Hachi was born, which the Masako Hachi, I'll be honest, was born out of a a mistake kinda.

Roger Pearson [00:38:45]:
Like, I was I was grinding a regular Masako, the full size one, and I messed the tip up really bad. So I was like, okay. So I wonder how this would be just a little shorter on the blade, but with the full size handle like the Ohima has a smaller handle. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Like they have the same blade, but a smaller handle, and this one has the full size version's handle. And this is what was born. It ended up being my favorites.

Roger Pearson [00:39:10]:
Like, this is what I've been wanting the whole time. Here we are.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:15]:
So how how did how did this grow for you? I mean, you you explained a little bit how it started. You moved to Ohio. You were you just wanted to change change of scenery, change of pace. Tattoos had kinda run its course for you, and you wanted to get into knife making. But how did it happen that you are actually able to make a go of it? How how how how did it happen that you were well received, and were you well received at first?

Roger Pearson [00:39:45]:
The ninth community has been extremely kind to me. Yeah. Like, it kinda just went. You know? Like, I I started doing it, and I was still tattooing when I first started. You know, I owned a tattoo shop in Palm Beach, so it's kinda like I had to do both. You know? And, but I can come and go as a play with a little private studio. Like, you had to have an appointment. So I could kinda make my own schedule and, you know, I'd spent every bit of my off time doing this.

Roger Pearson [00:40:13]:
And then when the time came to, like, we wanted to move, it was like, you know what? I'm shutting down the shop. We're gonna move, and I'm just gonna do this. Because it was bringing in money right away. Like, it was instant. You know? And it's like, some of those old ones, I kinda feel bad now. But, you know, I just I spent a lot of time doing this, a lot of time. And, basically, every bit of my time, especially in the past two years, I've been doing it full time, like, without any other income. But moving to Ohio is a big part of that because, you know, I have my two I have two French bulldogs.

Roger Pearson [00:40:52]:
One's baby chaos. One is the creature. And, we love them. It's like so I wanted to I don't wanna leave and go to work. You know? So I we made it to where, like, we moved here, and the cost of living here is had a gorily less than Palm Beach County, Florida. So, you know, it was a no brainer. So I came up here. My daughter lives nearby, so it was kinda

Bob DeMarco [00:41:20]:
Oh, nice.

Roger Pearson [00:41:21]:
Big part of that. And, you know, in this place, we moved in here because, man, I was working on my back porch back home. It was so hot. So hot. So with this place, it came with an external garage, like a detached garage in the back. Boom. And, you know, I was working off a two by 42 grinder and a buddy of mine, I'll leave him nameless, but, he really helped me out. We made a knife together.

Roger Pearson [00:41:48]:
I went to his shop and did some stuff. We did a little collaboration together, and he he he'd given me a drill press, and a couple of other tools, and, like, I learned a lot of stuff at his shop. And that kind of from that point on, I was like, okay. So now I've seen it, and his shop is a knife maker's dream. It's freaking awesome. But, so, you know, once I got to experience that, it was, the snowball got thrown. You know? So I was like, okay. Now I have to spend every second figuring this out.

Roger Pearson [00:42:22]:
You know? And then, you know, we did a collaboration and, you know, he helped me raise some money to get a good grinder. And, last year, I got a a an awesome two by 72 Beaumont Cam GTX and I've been busting my butt since then.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:39]:
Is this guy and I'm not gonna ask for a name, but is he an Ohio knife maker?

Roger Pearson [00:42:43]:
No. No. I'm not. No. He's down south. Okay. But, he really helped me out. He did.

Roger Pearson [00:42:50]:
And I wish I could say his name or whatever, but, you know, but once I got that grinder, man, it was just a I could do so much other stuff. You know? So and it refined everything, and I really took a boost right there. I feel like, you know, your tools are important. You gotta have good tools.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:09]:
Yeah. It sounds like you had a Craftsman forty two by two or something like that.

Roger Pearson [00:43:14]:
Yeah. It was like a buck tool two by 42. It was started on a little one by 30 until I fried that thing. You know? And then I went up, and, like, I couldn't afford a good grinder at the time, but I had went to his shop, played around with his Beaumont. So when I got back, I was like, after doing that, I have to upgrade somehow. So I bought the two by 42. I was like, this is at least a little better. Right? So I, you know, I started playing with that.

Roger Pearson [00:43:39]:
And then, like, six I don't know. Several months later, I was up here, and I got the the new one and set up I got the workshop too. I'm not out in the sun in Florida. You know? The battle here is the wintertime. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:55]:
Well, okay. So this this this raises an interesting question to me, which is, obviously, when you upgrade your tools, you kinda upgrade the whole experience. Your your, your skills increase. It's probably more enjoyable to do the work.

Roger Pearson [00:44:12]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:13]:
But but, you know, there's also the issue of not waiting to start making knives, for instance, or any other thing that you wanna make because you don't have the perfect tool set. How do you balance that?

Roger Pearson [00:44:27]:
Well, like I said before, I'm a jump in it kinda guy. I didn't really have any plan. You know? Like, I just wanted to do it. I didn't I hadn't planned on not tattooing anymore. Like, that was my that's my career. That's I've done that for twenty six straight years. Like but, you know, people always are so afraid to up and switch their game. You know? Like, oh, I wish I could do this with my life.

Roger Pearson [00:44:50]:
You know? They've done something their whole damn life, and now they it's stale. So they wanna, you know, they want a new career, whatever. They never do it because they're scared it's not gonna work out. And not to get cliche or anything, a long time ago, I heard the quote, everything you ever wanted is just on the other side of fear, and it's like, so just do some shit. Jump in. Like, I switched overnight. I literally, within the same week, closed the tattoo shop, moved to Ohio, and went full time, like, in that week. Like, I didn't tattoo anymore once I left Florida.

Roger Pearson [00:45:24]:
And it was only, like, a week's worth of time. It was wild, man. And and I've been that's that was two years ago. Not crazy long ago, but I've been fully supporting me and my wife and our, you know, our stuff for two years straight doing this without a problem, you know.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:39]:
Well, you mentioned your wife, she does your jerk heads knot.

Roger Pearson [00:45:43]:
Yeah. She hates doing them too, but she's way more patient.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:46]:
So, I know a lot of I've spoken to a lot of knife makers who, mentioned their wives. Either their wives are a part of the business or their support is invaluable in making a change like that. Would you say that was the case?

Roger Pearson [00:46:02]:
Yeah, dude. She's, yeah, like, her her even just being here, she's awesome. You know what I mean? She's freaking awesome. And, you know, she's never doubted me or been like, are you sure you wanna do this? She's like, fuck yeah, babe. Let's do it. You know? And it's like, yeah. Herbie in there, she I'd she I think she just trusts me, man. She knows I grew up rough.

Roger Pearson [00:46:27]:
You know? So I've had to fend for myself my whole life. But I've done all I've done some fun stuff in life. I've released a a album in music stores and a metal band I used to play in. Like, I got to tour. Done some stuff. You know? So I think she just trusts that I'm not gonna let us crash and burn, man. You know? So, you know, I think she just she backs it. It's about it.

Roger Pearson [00:46:49]:
It's awesome. And she stays home and watches the boys. Like, we have, like, a stay at home mom, dad works kinda thing. Only dad works right out back. And, I love that, dude. I love that I don't. I never leave my house. And the only time I leave my house is to go to the post office to ship orders, go to the vape store, or, just the gas station down the street.

Roger Pearson [00:47:12]:
Outside of that, I don't leave. I get my groceries delivered. You know? I like my house. I like what I do, and I love her being around. Like, some people can't spend every minute of their life with their wife. A lot of people can't. Like, that is definitely not the case over here, and I feel incredibly blessed on that front. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:47:30]:
Come on, man.

Roger Pearson [00:47:31]:
Between that and the knife community being so welcoming, it's that's really what did it. You know? It's like

Bob DeMarco [00:47:37]:
I just say every everything about what you just said sounds incredibly blessed. And and and then also getting the the toolage from from someone who's, you know, made their bones already in in knife making is so important. I've heard that so many times from different makers. I I love seeing these patterns emerge. Like, everyone seems to say, like, maybe there's one or two bad apples every once in a while, but on the whole, it's unlike any other industry because people are

Roger Pearson [00:48:07]:
so really cool place, man. I've met some really awesome people

Bob DeMarco [00:48:13]:
in

Roger Pearson [00:48:13]:
the knife community. You know? I've also met some d bags, but you're gonna have that everywhere. But it's been really, people are just pretty cool. I mean, if you're you know, most of the time, you're cool to somebody, they're cool to you, but they've been very welcoming of me into the mix. Like, I've never had any problems at all. You know? Like, I love I love it. That's a big part of what I like too, which, you know, discovering all of that, it made it even more appealing. You know? It's like, you know, now you're getting input and different criticisms from different people.

Roger Pearson [00:48:50]:
And, you know, like like, meeting my guy to help me out. He reached out to me, you know, just I followed him. I love his work. You know? So it's kinda like, all of a sudden, he messaged me and he was like, hey. I wanna help you out. And I'm like, sweet. You know? So

Bob DeMarco [00:49:08]:
Well, I wanna I wanna ask you about advice you'd give new knife makers. But before I get to that, do you have any other knives in front of you

Roger Pearson [00:49:15]:
that you Yeah. I got a few, my dude. I I got ready. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:49:17]:
This is

Roger Pearson [00:49:18]:
another one I like. This is the Hemlock Mini. It's a lot like the Titan v two, but there's a bigger version of it. It's a slender more slender design, but it has the same concept.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:30]:
This is like the Titan v two meets your your Elven knife.

Roger Pearson [00:49:35]:
Yeah. It's like just a kind of a slimmer model. Like, here's them next to each other. Different handle. You know? Yeah. Like, I like this this would I made this, I've only made one other one of these. Actually, I haven't even finished it yet, but, like, a guy saw this when I made this for myself. And, you know, it's a good little utilitarian tool.

Roger Pearson [00:49:55]:
I use it a lot. You know? It's got the recurve too and

Bob DeMarco [00:49:58]:
Is that double edged as well?

Roger Pearson [00:50:00]:
This one's not. I because I made it for I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to maybe, like, working it out to be a double edged and for somebody else, but I got this strictly so I could carry it around and use it in whatever circumstances, whether it be, hey. Can you cut the string off my shoe or y'all get the heft off me? You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:50:18]:
Right. Right.

Roger Pearson [00:50:19]:
So then there's that. And then this is a new one. This one's called peregrine. It kinda looks like a falcon. That's just the only reason. I love falcons. They're the raddest bird on the planet.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:29]:
Yeah. They're like the fastest animal.

Roger Pearson [00:50:31]:
Dude, they get, like, 240 miles an hour.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:34]:
Jeez, man.

Roger Pearson [00:50:35]:
Like a little missile with beeping claws. You know? Yeah. But this one's cool. It's also got some utilitarian bobs. You can get in and, you know, cut some wire, whatever you gotta do. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:50:46]:
But, also, that looks like a double edge.

Roger Pearson [00:50:48]:
Yeah. This one's double edge. I just made these. This is the last one I have left. I gotta send it out tomorrow. But, I saved it to show it on here. Pretty cool little blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:58]:
So how do you get your logo in there? Is that acid etched? Or

Roger Pearson [00:51:02]:
Yeah. It's electro etched, which that is, I don't know if you can see it.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:08]:
It looks deep. Yeah. I mean, it looks like it's it's

Roger Pearson [00:51:12]:
in relief there. Yeah. It's it's, I I take I take, vinyl tape, and I draw it on each blade. I do it by hand, and then I use an electro etcher with, like, a salt and water, like, an etchant. You know? It's like electricity. Put a clip on, zap it a little bit. And then, I do all that before I do the finish. So, like, when you do the finish, it gets, like, a little darker and I see this bigger one better.

Roger Pearson [00:51:40]:
Oh, yeah. And that that symbol, that's what I used to sign all my paintings and art with, you know, when I was in art, like, doing that kind of art. You know? So I just I was like, yo. It's something else destined to do this. Like, my little thing even looks like a maker's mark. Let's go.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:57]:
It's cool. Yeah. Yeah. It's an it's a nice looking symbol, man. So the peregrine this is a peregrine is a brand new model for you?

Roger Pearson [00:52:05]:
Yeah. It was kind of I did one in the beginning, and, I found the template for it, like, in like, wadded up somewhere in a drawer. And, I was like, you know, I'm gonna rego on this, and I I gave it a little bit of a makeover. But, yeah, I just recently I was like so I I made these just for, you know, for fun of it. I made four of them. They're just, like, the handles, it's like hemp underneath the wrap. I like it. A little less extravagant, but, you know, I price them accordingly.

Roger Pearson [00:52:39]:
And, you know, it's a really comfortable knife, and it's very center line tip.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:45]:
Yep. You know? Yes. Did you did you have another knife you were about to pull out?

Roger Pearson [00:52:53]:
I have, I guess that's it, man. That's 10 of them. Oh, I have this I showed you this guy now.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:00]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Tell us about this little guy.

Roger Pearson [00:53:03]:
This is my, this is like everybody has to have some kind of Quaken model, right, or KKN, whatever. Like, you know, if you're gonna make knives or you're not gonna make such a classic Japanese knife, you know, come on, dude. So this one is called Kabuki, and this isn't what it normally looks like. There's some on my Instagram. This one was like, I wanna do this with a Kabuki. You know what I mean? And I did, like, OD green scales with black pins with the super mopey and race skin in the middle, little red thing. All the kabukis get that little red good fortune piece on it. And then on the sheath, I'll do, like, red finishing washers so it, like, it's snazzy.

Roger Pearson [00:53:45]:
Kinda how this has, like, the OD green ones. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so everything looks fun.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:51]:
So are most of your sheets just, straight up kydex?

Roger Pearson [00:53:55]:
Yeah. Or I'll just do, like, the leather beds over there. I don't I don't I'm not into leather work yet. I I wouldn't mind getting into that down the road, but, man, I need more space before I get into that.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:07]:
That's a whole other skill to learn and

Roger Pearson [00:54:10]:
It is. It's a whole different it's that that's what I mean. It's like it's just I can't do it right now. It's not even important enough to do right now. You know what I mean? But I I will get into it because I'd love to do some nice I like art, man. And, like, when you're talking about leather work, like and even knife making, once you get past the function, the duty of the blade or the sheath, Once you get to that point and it's rock solid, everything else is the art part, you know, even the creation of it in general. But, like, I love to make, like, knives look I like to play with the finishes and do, like the whole aesthetics part, I'll be honest, is my favorite part, you know, of the process. Like, some of the process, I can't stand.

Roger Pearson [00:54:51]:
I hate cutting blanks, which I thought about getting, like, all my main stuff water jetted from now on, but and then just doing side projects by hand with the cutting. And I hate doing, like, your everyday just Kydex sheet over. You know what I mean? Like, they're all this this is basically how, like, my every you know, it's I put I use strictly DCC. Yeah. Holler DTC, buddy.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:14]:
I mean, that that looks like a beautiful sheet, but I I I hear you. I've made Hidex cheese for, you know, knives in my collection before, and it is a serious buzzkill, man. It's monotonous, man. I freaking hate it. And and half well, for me, obviously, I don't make my living doing it, but half the time, they're amazing, and half the time, they suck. So

Roger Pearson [00:55:34]:
Yeah. It's like sometimes, like, you're just having a good day and but, dude, like, I let this was super fun to do, this one. You know? And I have made dang. I should've brought one of those up here. I've made some, like, really fun chest rigs and stuff. Like, I have a bastinelli, Asana Lips. You know? And I have a I made a big chest rig for it. Like, so and it has, like, a pouch with a tourniquet in it and stuff like that, a flashlight.

Roger Pearson [00:56:00]:
The flashlight mounts on, so it faces forward, so you're, like, hands free flashlight, the big knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:05]:
That's the one, the the a Socalypse or whatever. That's it looks like a Sachs. Right? It's it looks sort

Roger Pearson [00:56:10]:
of Yeah. It's got, like, the, wharncliffe kinda thing. It's a badass knife, man.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:14]:
I love that. I I love his stuff. And as a matter of fact, before you mentioned something about functional deadly art, and it made me think of Bastinelli because that

Roger Pearson [00:56:22]:
Yeah. But he's my favorite, what do you call it? Factory knives, I guess. I got a ton of bassinelli stuff. Like, I have a pretty pretty vast collection of knives, man. Every time I get a new one, I'm like, I try to justify it by, like, research and development. I'm Yeah. It's all, like, hard to plan. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:56:41]:
I'm doing I'm doing it for the podcast. That's that's my excuse.

Roger Pearson [00:56:45]:
So, like, Bastinelli stuff, I have a ton. I probably have more, like, from each maker that I have at his my collection of his stuff is probably the biggest. It's just universally great. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:56:57]:
Like It is beautiful. It feels great in hand. And he you know, you you watch Bastian on his on his, channel and his Instagram page, you know he knows what he's doing too. Like, he's very skilled.

Roger Pearson [00:57:09]:
Yeah. So

Bob DeMarco [00:57:10]:
it's not just looking cool. It's functional.

Roger Pearson [00:57:13]:
Which the function is the most important part, but I other than that, you're making a wall hanger. And, dude, if you wanna make wall hangers, cool. You know? But I wanna make something that looks freaking cool and does its job too. You know? Like, it's like because both is the ultimate, hey. Fuck. Yeah. You know?

Bob DeMarco [00:57:33]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Alright. Before we wrap here, I wanna ask you what kind of advice you would give new knifemakers, whether they're someone like you who's coming off a different career and wants to make a go at something that they love or they're just starting out and they think maybe they have a a facility for it. What what would you recommend? What would you advise?

Roger Pearson [00:57:54]:
Well, firstly, I'd say if you really wanna do something, do it. You know what I mean? There's nobody holding you back on anything but yourself, but also research what you're doing, like and pay attention to, like, what other people say, like, other makers. Like, when you're reading post on Facebook or forums or whatever, like, pay attention to what people say and who said it, you know, so you can judge whether or not you wanna use that information or whatever. You know what I mean? And, you know, like, you could kinda tell, like, oh, some these people like this, these people like, there's your collector, there's your user, and then there's your in betweener. I'm an in betweener because I like to collect stuff for the sake of having it. And I like to I have my users that I you I'll beat up. You know? Yeah. So I think what I wanted to do, and I think this is why I did pretty good right away is, I try to cater to both of those people simultaneously.

Roger Pearson [00:58:48]:
You know? You know, like, some people, they'll buy a knife like this, and it'll sit in their safe, and they'll take it out and take pictures of it. And it's like, that's great. I do that too. You know? But then there's the guys that they're gonna take it to work, and they're gonna they're gonna beat the hell out of it. So it needs to be a quality piece, but you can also appeal to people that are just looking for functional piece of art. You know? So I try to, like, throw all that in the bag. You know what I mean? Like, I cater to to all of the buyers. You hear what I mean? But but, you know, for advice, I would just say, like, pay attention to what people are into, you know, and then learn the steals.

Roger Pearson [00:59:27]:
You know? Like, don't just you know, you gotta create something that's not gonna break. It's gonna be hard. It's gonna hold the edge, you know, things like that. The science, metallurgy, or metallurgy, however you say that. Like, read into that. It's really complicated, but, you know, like, just use steels and, that you can heat treat properly without, like, ten eighty four. A lot of beginners use ten eighty four, and it's like that you can't really mess up ten eighty four. It's just it's almost impossible, I feel like.

Roger Pearson [00:59:56]:
You know? But, you know, just start there and work your way out. You know what I mean? And just do it. A lot of things, practice grinding. Like, you can go get some, paint sticks from wall or Home Depot or something and practice beveling. You know, make a profile and make, like, 10 of them in a row and just get the the art of the bevel down and then, you know, sharpen it. I had a learning curve on sharpening knives, man. It it took me a second to get that down. I don't know why, but now it's good.

Roger Pearson [01:00:30]:
I shave all the arm my hair off my arm in one swipe, but it's like it took me, like, a it's like, what are you doing wrong? So I'd go out there and just be like, alright. But I got it. I'm good. Well, it took me a second, but some things are easy to come to do and some things are takes a second to get past the curve, you know, but new knife makers just practice.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:54]:
Yeah. Get past that curve.

Roger Pearson [01:00:57]:
Yeah. You gotta get to a comfort zone. And once you get to that comfort zone, then you have to kinda push yourself out of that comfort zone, keep on trucking. So I'm always trying to do new stuff. Like, I would love to make, like

Bob DeMarco [01:01:09]:
Oh, okay. We're we're don't talk about that because that's a question I'm gonna ask you in our exclusive Patreon, interview I wanna ask about aspirational blades. Roger Pearson, thank you so much. Roger Pearson of Savage Creature Defense Tools. Really appreciate you. I love your work. I think it's beautiful. And, yeah, man.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:30]:
Thank you so much for coming on this call.

Roger Pearson [01:01:31]:
You so much, man. I I I thank you for having me, dude. It was an honor. I wouldn't expect it. I'm glad this guy makes knives. I appreciate shout out, you know, like, the exposure. You know? I appreciate I saw you had Sean Old from Gross Motor Gear too, which I love Sean. He makes awesome stuff.

Roger Pearson [01:01:47]:
Kick ass piano player. I don't know if you know that. But

Bob DeMarco [01:01:50]:
I did not know that. Man, I I have two of his knives in there. They are so beautiful.

Roger Pearson [01:01:55]:
Oh, I have I have the Mushi the Moo Mushi mini, and I have the, the wraith. Oh, yeah. That wraith is one of my favorite blades I own. I don't even carry it now because I don't wanna lose it, which is kinda dumb, but I just love that knife. The way it's it's got kind of a neutral handle, but with this cap on the end and just a freaking giant thorn. But, you know, like, it's one of my favorite blades. It's probably my favorite straight blade that I carry or that I have. Yeah.

Roger Pearson [01:02:25]:
I love Sean's stuff. Good guy too. Good guy.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:28]:
As are you, sir. Thank you so much, Roger. It's been a pleasure.

Advertisement Announcer [01:02:31]:
Knife themed shirts, hoodies, mugs, water bottles, and more, Theknifejunkie.com/shop.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:38]:
There it goes, ladies and gentlemen. Roger Pearson of Savage Creature Defense Tools, where function meets art, you might say. Beautiful defensive blades, but, of course, you can use them for everything. I do. You don't have to, you don't have to have a defensive knife just sit in the cabinet. You can take it out with you and use it to cut that string off your collar. Alright, everybody. Thanks for joining us.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:01]:
Be sure to join us on Thursday night knives for a live conversation and, of course, the Wednesday for the midweek supplemental. For Jim, working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time. Don't take dull for an answer.

Announcer [01:03:15]:
Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review at reviewthepodcast.com. For show notes for today's episode, additional resources, and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, theknifejunkie.com. You can also watch our latest videos on YouTube at theknifejunkie.com/youtube.