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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 Bob DeMarco. On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with Shayne Gables, the Edgy American on YouTube. And now the man behind edgy american blades. Within the last year, Shane has taken his love for knives, heat treated steel and slicey blade geometry all the way to its logical conclusion. Now spending his days making knives, learning through trial and error and the tutelage of one of my absolute favorite custom knife makers. In speaking with Shayne about his budding passion on the making side of knives, I predict that we'll see a lot more of his work in the coming years, which so far seems to have all the ingredients a true knife junkie is looking for. We'll catch up with Shayne, but first, be sure to, like, comment, subscribe, hit the notification bell, and comment on the show.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:03]:
Also share it with a friend. That's one of the best ways you can help the show. If you want to help the show monetarily, you can go to theknifejunkie.com patreon or scan that QR code right there on the screen again. That's theknifejunkie.com patreon.

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Bob DeMarco [00:01:31]:
Shayne, welcome back to the Knife Junkie podcast. Good to see you, my friend.

Shayne Gables [00:01:35]:
Good to see you Bob. Glad to be back.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:37]:
Well, I saw you most recently in June 2024 at blade show. Just in passing actually. You were spreading the word about the american blade work slip joint, which I ran over. I got one of the last two, I believe. How was your blade show this year, sir?

Shayne Gables [00:01:53]:
It was really good. I had a really good time. I didn't go there with the intentions of purchasing anything. And then I left with, with my abw slippy and my ab, I failed my abw button lock. As you can see, my, my fingers are bandaged up so I'm not in my flipping shape at this minute. But uh, yeah, had a great time and as always, it was really more about the people. But uh, really I didn't get to spend my normal 2 hours with Bob DeMarco this year. So that was a little disappointing.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:26]:
That was disappointing. It's usually over a couple of beers and uh, and kind of do the rundown of the show. What you've seen. So this time, I presume you were doing a lot of looking at materials more than usual. Let's talk about this edgy american is now making blades.

Shayne Gables [00:02:45]:
Yes, sir. And when you say, I was looking at materials, I did do a lot of material shopping. However, what I spent the majority of my time doing was looking at things knife makers do to hide mistakes. It's almost unhealthy when you realize. When you start realizing why things are the way they are, and it's because of either. It's either there to hide a mistake or it's there to keep you from having to do a lot of extra work to finish it. Now, that doesn't mean I have anything wrong or have anything against those processes, but I learned a lot looking at other people's work.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:26]:
What do you mean? The first thing I thought of was the f four Phantom, the United States air superiority fighter in the Vietnam era. That thing looks like it does, which is very cool due to a whole bunch of mistakes. The wings going up this way and then that way, and there are a whole bunch of. They just strapped some super powerful engines on it and sort of overrode a lot of design mistakes along the way. What is. What are you talking about in terms of knife makers? And what did you see?

Shayne Gables [00:03:56]:
Well, you know, when I first started making knives, I started practicing on mild steel, and I ran into issues with, you know, imperfections in my grind. Anyway, you know, I had issues, as anybody would, learning how to grind, and I was getting some advice on how to hide those issues. So then when I started looking at Blade show and I realized how many 500, 700, $800 knives, you know, that they did these processes on, and I realized that that's so that they don't have to have perfect grinds, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it really opened my eyes and gave me the confidence to move forward because I at least had my head. Well, if I can't get a perfect bevel, I can do this, you know? But now that's not. Not good enough. You know, I won't accept that. Now, if I do an acid, acid stonewash, now, it's because I want to, not because I want to hide a janky bubble.

Shayne Gables [00:04:58]:
Because it will hide a janky bubble.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:00]:
Because it'll eat away at. At the line a little bit.

Shayne Gables [00:05:04]:
It eats away at the line a little bit. Plus, it eats away at those ridges that cause the. The reflections that make a facet and a bevel. That's what exposes it, is the way it reflects light. You look at it, you know, two parts of the bevel are reflecting light differently. Like, something's not right here, and that takes that away. Now, like I said, I'm not bad mouth on acid, stonewash. I think it looks good on some knives, and I still do it.

Shayne Gables [00:05:30]:
But the difference is, now I'm doing it on a good bevel. You know, I'm not doing it to hide anything.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:36]:
Right? Years ago, I was talking with Ken vehicite of blackrock knives, who. A part of his aesthetic is that rock patterning in the blade itself. But there was a period of time where everyone was like, oh, that's just because you can't grind well. And he was like, okay, let me post every stage of making this knife. This is an aesthetic choice that happens towards the end. But here. Here are my perfect grinds before I get there, right? So to justify kind of his aesthetic, he had to show everyone that he can actually do it. That would be like an abstract painter, you know, making sure that everyone knows that he can actually draw a legit portrait.

Shayne Gables [00:06:14]:
Right? You're exactly right. And that's why I say, you know, I mean, I still do some acid, stonewash. I think it looks great on some knives. But, you know, I feel a lot better now that I'm not doing it to hide something.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:27]:
Take us to the moment, Shane, where you. Where you decided it's time to put steel to grinder and start doing this myself. How did that decision get made?

Shayne Gables [00:06:36]:
All right. I had sent you a picture of a really ugly knife I made years ago, and I'd been practicing and talking about making knives for a while, but what really motivated me, and some people aren't going to like this, but what really motivated me and lit a fire under me was that six inches. I'll wait and ask you if you want me to say the name brand. But a little six inch fixed blade out of China, that was $247. And I wasn't. I don't think people understand that. I'm not mad about the price. If you think the knife is worth that, then pay it and own it.

Shayne Gables [00:07:15]:
I do have an issue with normalizing a chinese product costing that much. You know, normalizing a mass produced, machine stamped product out of China, being more expensive than something that has been made here in the United States by a real, you know, by a person, by hand. And I thought, I can. I can beat that, and I'm going to prove it. That's. That's what motivated me.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:45]:
Interesting. So you're talking about a fixed blade knife. That. That was the first in a line of folders, you know, after many, many folders from that brand, presumably that brand went to the same manufacturer and said, okay, we're doing a fixed blade now, and it sort of incurred the same price as the. As the folders. And. And to you, the fact that that all happened in China and it was a fixed blade knife, it could have been done here.

Shayne Gables [00:08:16]:
Absolutely.

Announcer [00:08:17]:
It could have been that here.

Shayne Gables [00:08:19]:
People will tell you it can't be done here, but it can, and it is being done here. I don't want to get into the weeds on that and start some controversy, but there are knives that people we know own. You may own one or one or more of them that work 100% made at New Jersey, still bear. They may have been assembled in an office somewhere. But that's not what I. That's not what I want to talk about. I just want. I just want to make sure everybody knows that it can be done here.

Shayne Gables [00:08:49]:
It is being done here. However, you might not be able to have it done here and make the profit margin that you're seeking to make, but at that price, it most certainly could be done here and still make. Still make decent money.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:05]:
So, you know, it's. I wasn't thinking we were going to go here now, but let's do it since we're here. It's funny talking about, well, the profits that you need to keep a business alive and running in the United States. And if you're having your manufacturing done in China, I would imagine that's due to numbers. You're selling numbers. And so to be profitable and to be able to make the next run and to stay in business, you know, is it. Is it a luxury to say, I'm not going to use China?

Shayne Gables [00:09:41]:
Probably, yes. And, you know, I've talked to several guys. I've got plenty of friends, you know, that have YouTube channels and designing knives. And I get it, you know, because I can't. I can't tell somebody, hey, you can do that here without telling them that you're going to have to do a little something. You know, you may have to assemble it and Qc it. But, uh, you know, the thing is just the, you know, the. It's the money slash politics of it.

Shayne Gables [00:10:14]:
You know, Walmart just proved. Walmart just released a crossbar lock knife with a d two blade for $10. What that tells you is, is that that's. They're making money on that knife. So it costs even less than that to make a knife in China. Yeah. You know, the chinese government and the chinese knife industry works a little different than it does here. You know, if you've got an idea and you can convince some government official that it can make money, they'll give you the machinery, or they'll give you access to the machinery.

Shayne Gables [00:10:47]:
You know, the machine that is stamping your scales or your liners today may have been stamping the base plate for a desk lamp 4 hours ago. You know, everything, everything's common use. You know, everything is shared. And I guess technically, from a production standpoint, it is a superior idea other than the fact that nobody, nobody below that level is ever gonna benefit from it. Nobody's ever gonna better themselves, you know, the whole american way thing. But, yeah, I mean, so we can't compete with that price because we've got employees that we would like to give raises someday and maybe supply them with a health insurance and all this stuff. So you can't compare apples to oranges. But, yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:44]:
Well, later I'd like to get back into youtubers designing knives and, and, you know, the freedom and other things associated with it. I have plenty of them. I love them. These are our brother nerds who put their effort in, but there's a lot that goes into that. I want to talk about that, but what I really want to talk about are edgy american blades. Hold something up. Show us something that. And let's talk about that moment.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:13]:
You made the decision and then you started actually grinding. I interrupted you as you began.

Shayne Gables [00:12:18]:
I know you're my, my first design and one of the first knives I finished, um, I just tried to go as you know.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:26]:
Hmm.

Shayne Gables [00:12:27]:
I don't want to say basic, but it's just a nine inch drop point knife. Um, you know, those are kara Knight handles that, that I actually picked up at Blade show. Now, you know, you and I have talked enough that, you know, my passion is, you know, quality steels and quality heat treats and, and good edge geometry. And, you know, I can't say that I was doing that in the beginning, but, you know, these are ground as thin as you can grind a one eight inch piece of steel. You know, it's, it's a full flat from the edge to the spine. So they're great cutters. And one thing that really pushed me into go ahead and making knives is the fact that I got very fortunate. And I just asked, I asked Brian Kim at transparent knives.

Shayne Gables [00:13:18]:
He would be willing to heat treat some knives for me, and he agreed to, so, and I know I have sold some knives that people have bought just because Brian Kim heat treated them, and I'm okay with that. So I know I'm getting quality heat treats, you know, and I'm trying to do as good a grind as possible. My refinement is getting better with every knife. So, yeah, I went from that, and then I had an idea of this. I'm very interested in, like, the overlanding and camping, you know, slash survival type stuff. So I wanted to make a. A camp cook knife, and that's when I came up with the trailhead. The thing is, when people see this, it's not a tactical knife, because, Bob, this thing is very, very thin.

Shayne Gables [00:14:10]:
I don't know if I can.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:11]:
Yeah, I can see that. I mean, it looks like a chef's knife.

Shayne Gables [00:14:14]:
Yeah, it's got. It's got flex to it. It's funny you say that, because I brought one home and we now have two kitchen knives. We have a Steve Clarie custom chef's knife. But for all the smaller work. Yeah, we're using one of these, and it does work great in the kitchen. But it was designed, or in my head, it was for, you know, camp cook task, you know, cutting up food. I would not baton with it, you know, because it's about 63 HRC CPM 154.

Shayne Gables [00:14:45]:
Little shatter, very thin. Yeah. But I'm really anxious to get feedback when people start using these more, because we've gotten so accustomed to buying knives and, you know, all we need to hear is the steel type. I would challenge that. This thing will probably have better edge retention than any S 90 volts. Any Chinese made s 90 volts you have. And this is what, 50, 60 year old CPM 150. However, old CPM 154 is the reason for that is because most people have never experienced, well, heat treated CPM 154.

Shayne Gables [00:15:30]:
They've experienced the industry standard. And that industry is set by large knife corporations. They say, hey, we're going to run CPM 1254 at 58 or 59 hRC. Because our tooling lasts this much longer. It takes these few minutes less time to do it. And a large business like that, all those pennies add up to millions of dollars at the end.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:54]:
Yeah. And if you go too high, you might have some blades getting too brittle. There'll be returns. So you want to be in a safe zone, Bob.

Shayne Gables [00:16:02]:
Right off the bat, I dropped one of these tip down from 5ft up onto the concrete. Yo, you want to guess what happened? That needle point broke off. And I knew it would. I just wanted to prove to myself. I wanted to know for sure, you know? So that's why I say that is not a hard use knife. You know, this is. This is an 8th inch. Yeah, it's an 8th inch stick, so it's a little harder use.

Shayne Gables [00:16:28]:
But I've got some short enough combat hard use knives coming that I'm making right now.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:36]:
Oh, well, I'll be excited about those. But I love the, the ones you were just showing to that. The EDC knives. 154 cm is one of my favorite blade steels. Practically speaking, I am, like many other people, I'm one of those guys who, well, if I'm spending $200, I expect this steel. If I'm spending 300, I expect this steel. But in reality, the most I probably have between my custom fixed blades and my folders is 154. Because I got a ton of Emersons, and even at the industry, kind of midline standardization, 154 is an awesome steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:12]:
And I challenge anyone to tell me they need more. Unless they are, like, scab and they're cutting sandblasting tubing all day and that kind of thing.

Shayne Gables [00:17:21]:
I thought about that broken tip, and I wanted to touch on this. Cause I love this story. This is a benchmade presidio automatic, but it's also 154 cm. I'm not exposing it all for a reason. And I thought to myself, well, what if I had that knife on me, and Lord forbid I had to use it in the worst possible situation? Do I want a knife that the tip might break off on it?

Bob DeMarco [00:17:48]:
Oh, yeah, I see it.

Shayne Gables [00:17:49]:
And the. The rest of this knife is still in Afghanistan inside the person that it broke off in. And that's when I thought about it. I thought, well, you know, if that one in a million chance that you have to use it for that, do you care if the tip broke off?

Bob DeMarco [00:18:08]:
Yeah.

Shayne Gables [00:18:09]:
Yeah. This guy didn't. And I'll never get this knife fixed. I'll always be just like this. But, you know, as a civilian and you get into that situation, you're not gonna get that knife back anyway. It's gonna be. No, it doesn't matter. But, um.

Shayne Gables [00:18:25]:
But I did want to build something, something tougher, something more hard to use, something that well. And I explain it to people. I'm building a knife that if I had to go to war, it's what I would take with it, you know, if I had to cut cardboard with it all day, maybe not. I mean, I still want it to be sharp and be able to slice, but, you know, I'm building something that I would. I would go to war with.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:48]:
I mean, speaking as a guy who has these kind of knives on the wall behind him. And I really, really love, you know, what really captures my imagination are all the cool war fighting and tactical knives and that kind of thing. But really, if you're making a knife that you want people to buy and have, it's got to be capable of doing it all. You know, it's got it because you're not going to get in fights, probably, like, most likely and everything. You got to be able to pry open a box here, open up something, a hard clamshell. One of my favorite designers, Dirk Pinkerton, is very good at doing that. He makes knives that are great EDC knives, but flex so quickly into that sort of combative, tactical role. And ultimately, that's what we need.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:36]:
Even those of us like me, who have very specific taste, you want to know that actually what you're carrying can go the distance. So when you're making these knives now, first of all, let me ask you, just so we have an idea. How many knives would you say you've made so far?

Shayne Gables [00:19:53]:
As far as made and sold, I think I'm probably right around 30.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:59]:
Okay.

Shayne Gables [00:20:00]:
But I made a lot before that, like I said, in mild steel that couldn't be heat treated. I didn't even want to, you know, have that be a possibility. I just wanted to see, you know, and improve my grinding and all that stuff. And I'll be honest, though, when I went to make knives, I'd kind of changed my mind about some stylings, and I kind of took a step back from. From what I had learned, because I changed to things, so I had to relearn them. You know, my first four knives that I shipped out, five knives that I shipped out. You know, I'm. I wish they didn't exist now.

Shayne Gables [00:20:40]:
Those guys that owned them are like, oh, no, I only bought this so that I could rub it in your face one day. Hey, remember when you were making this? So as long as they're happy with it, but I'm happy with where I'm at right now. I'm nowhere near perfect, or nor would I even call myself a truly professional knife maker. But I'm seeing advancements with every knife, and I no longer feel any shame or guilt in selling one.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:13]:
Shame or, okay, hold up. Hold up the knife, if you will. The drop point with the red, the orange kirinite handle, as I asked you this. So I want people to get an impression, because you and I have spoken on the phone. I want people to get an impression of, if you don't mind, it's a little personal, but kind of how this has worked into your current life. You are, you were. You are slash were a bit of a provocateur on YouTube in the knife community, kind of calling things out as you see it. And I think there's a general love for you.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:50]:
But I do know you ruffle some feathers, and so then you start to make knives. You got to put your money where your mouth is, and you got to learn. You got to learn yourself up good, right?

Shayne Gables [00:22:03]:
Because I know. I know there are people out there right now who would love to get their hands on one of mine, and if they look, they will find an imperfection, and they very well could, you know, bash me because of things that I've said in the past.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:16]:
But, but, but critically, what I'm getting. What I'm getting to is you're now a man in the arena. Things have shifted. Things have changed, and now you're making them. So, like, how, how does, how does all of that feed into. You are now seeing how difficult it is to get the things you demand out of the knives you're paying for. Very, very thin geometry, very, very great heat treat, excellent steels and all that at a good price point made in the United States. So how is all of that affecting you and inspiring you and pushing you or challenging you?

Shayne Gables [00:22:47]:
Well, I mean, it absolutely is because just like I said, you know, there's guys out there that I've ruffled their feathers in the past. You know, I can't. I'm trying not to allow myself to be. To get caught up in a situation where, you know, I could be called out for that. But. But mostly anytime I'm doing something to a knife, and that thought goes through my head, and I think, well, this will be okay. I try to instantly remind myself, no, it won't. Nothing is ever okay.

Shayne Gables [00:23:21]:
But the. I may motivate. And I think back on, well, what, what would Steve do? You know, Steve. Steve Kalari. You know, what would Steve do? You know, that I think Steve wouldn't even sell this knife. So keep working. You know, and, you know, he's been a big influence on me. You know, as far as, you know, american.

Shayne Gables [00:23:44]:
Not just american manufacturing, but, you know, just trying to. Trying to sell the best product that not only that he can make, but probably that anybody can make. You know, I walked around and looked at kitchen knives, at blade show for a thought. This makes no sense. You know, that this is a Steve's or what, 280 or something like that, right around $300. But, yeah, that's that. That's the one thing I always try to keep in my head, is, you know, would Steve approve of this? You know, if not, then I keep working. But, you know, the one thing that helped me more than anything, Bob, is not learning how to grind.

Shayne Gables [00:24:33]:
Well, my biggest hurdle and my biggest advancement was when I learned to. How to fix a bad grind, because I had a bunch of them. I had hundreds of dollars worth of heat treated steel that I had scrapped. Threw it in a pile because the grind was no good. And I did it just like we do sharpening. I simply. I picked them up, and I drew lines down them with a sharpie from the spine to the edge. And I approached the grinder, and every time I touch it, I'd look and see what this angle is touching here, and now it's touching here.

Shayne Gables [00:25:09]:
So when I got that angle, and at first, it looks horrible, because now, you know, you've got this multifaceted bevel that's not flat. You just have to trust the process until that. Until that new angle and that new grind line you've created starts growing. You know, once it hits the spine and the edge both, it's a perfect, flat grind. You know, I saved all those knives. Every single one of them, I got to take out of that scrap pile and make them right. You know, just learning how to fix my mistakes was huge. And now I approach the grinder with 100% confidence.

Shayne Gables [00:25:50]:
Now, I don't care if I walk up and stick it to it, and I'm way off. That's all right. I know what to do.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:55]:
So, Shane, have you always been a creative person? I mean, a huge part of being a creative person and taking on a new process or learning something new is that it's just a new process that you're learning. Like, if you're a creative person, you've got that core, and you just have to learn a new skill set and that kind of thing. Are you someone who always needs to be doing something creatively? Do you have a history of this?

Shayne Gables [00:26:22]:
Yes. I was a tattoo artist for several years, and because of health problems, I couldn't do that anymore. And I never realized how important it was to me until I didn't have it. And I had the worst six to eight years of my life. You know, mentally, my mental health just fell apart. I was laying in bed rotting, you know, and I didn't realize that it was because I wasn't creating anything. And so this has been huge for me. You know, it hasn't been easy.

Shayne Gables [00:27:00]:
You know, you and I have talked about my health conditions in the past, and I'm pretty healthy right now. But, you know, I nearly, you know, I had cancer. I nearly died of COVID I had a quadruple bypass. I had a heart attack after that, I had MRSA in my bloodstream. Nearly died from that. And because of all that, I ended up, you know, being disabled. And I was telling you before we started recording, I had to change my lifestyle even more. I mean, being on a disability checks hard enough, but I told myself that I was going to take three to $400 a month of that and put it towards making that.

Shayne Gables [00:27:41]:
Learning how to make knives, you know, and acquiring the things that I need to make knives. And I've joked with guys in my chat about the fact that I was living off of fried bologna sandwiches and ramen noodles. And it wasn't a joke. It was the truth, because it's all I could afford and be able to make knives at the same time. So, you know, now that that was my short term goal in knife making, was to stop financing it myself, you know, stop spending this little check that I get on to be able to make knives. And I've accomplished that already.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:19]:
So it's paying for itself now.

Shayne Gables [00:28:21]:
Very quickly. It's paying for itself. I won't say, you know, that I'm in the black because, you know, I haven't even gone back and. And looked at everything I spent. But, you know, when you're on a fixed income, you live month to month anyway, so if you survive the month, you just kind of forget about all that in the past. So that's what I was doing. You know, I made it to the end of the month. I'm good.

Shayne Gables [00:28:44]:
But, you know, and at the end of this past month, I had a little money left over, you know, so that was a first.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:53]:
Well, speaking as someone in a creative world who for many years lived month to month, it's very stressful. And. And sometimes it really. It really forces you to think, like, why am I doing this? This is such a bad choice. Am I even good at this? Am I even good enough at this to suffer like I'm suffering for it? And oftentimes I came up with no, years later, I guess I've come up with, yes, it's worked out. But being a creative type and then knowing that you require it to kind of get along with some semblance of stability mentally is tricky, because oftentimes you're like, do I? You know, I've heard so many stories about great movie directors or great knife makers, whatever. And there's a moment where they throw themselves entirely into it and leave behind all the doubt and all the like. Well, I have a day job and I'm doing this.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:51]:
I don't know what I'm getting at, but it's not easy. So what, what is your day like now? Are you getting up and making knives all day?

Shayne Gables [00:30:00]:
No, but there's a reason for that. You know, because of my ongoing health issues, I can't handle the heat, so I can't work during the day. Typically, I sleep during the day. I get up around four or 05:00 p.m. and then after dinner I'll head to the shop. I haven't been to bed yet. I worked all night last night. I came home, took a shower, and was getting ready for this.

Shayne Gables [00:30:28]:
So I work anywhere from eight, nine pm till four or 05:00 in the morning at night. But I am on a schedule. I'm just not on everybody else's schedule.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:41]:
Yeah, yeah.

Shayne Gables [00:30:42]:
That may change when the weather changes, but I just couldn't get anything done. I could work for an hour and I'd get dizzy and know, be having to grab things to keep from falling down. The heat was just, uh. I couldn't do it.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:56]:
Yeah. And when you're dealing with sharp metal objects and spinning abrasives and that kind of thing. Yeah. You don't want to have to worry about your, your balance.

Shayne Gables [00:31:05]:
Absolutely not.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:06]:
So you're on the night shift. You've got the day night reversal. That's, that's, I got to say, like, um, maybe not for long, extended periods of time, but for creative bursts. I have found that in my life, my younger life, to be really effective, especially when you're like, I'm up, the world is sleeping, and I'm here and I'm creating this. You feel? It's, I don't know, it's a, it's a, it's a good feeling, especially when you come out of it with something useful like a knife. So tell me about your process, soup to nuts, how you make these knives.

Shayne Gables [00:31:41]:
Okay. I simply, I buy bar stock from pops knife supply, alpha knife supply. You know, I have an idea. The idea is usually bounce around my head for a couple of weeks before I get to this point. But what I have an idea for design. I sit down with a sharpie and a set of, you know, a straight edge and a set of french curves, and, uh, and I draw it out on the knife, and then I don't like it, so I wipe it off with alcohol. And I just keep drawing it on there with a sharpie until I get what's in my head onto steel. I cut that one out with a four and a half inch angle grinder and cut off wheels, which is the worst way to do it, but it's all I have.

Shayne Gables [00:32:26]:
So I cut that one out, and if I'm truly happy with it, then I'll take the rest of my bar stock and I just lay it. That's why there's blue paint on my hands. I'll lay it on the next piece of bar, stop, and spray paint over it, and then the next one is spray paint over it, you know, so that I've got. Until I run out of steel and. Yeah, and then, so then from there, you know, I try to get them all cut out and then get my a. My pinholes drilled. If I'm gonna do any jimping, I try to get the jimping done, and then they're in a box and they're off to California to be heat treated. Then that way, when they come back, I have.

Shayne Gables [00:33:15]:
Then I have to grind my bevels, install my scales, and, you know, by far the lengthiest part is just the touch up, you know, the final finishing of the knife. I actually have an extra step, too, that most people would consider unnecessary. But when I get done with them, I ship them to Ohio to a friend of mine, Kyle, who owns clinging work, knife sharpening. He's also a t's prof. Affiliate, and he sharpens my knives for me. I can sharpen a knife. You know that. No, no doubt about that.

Shayne Gables [00:33:57]:
I can make a knife sharp. But Kyle has been a really good friend to me in some really hard times. And I wanted Kyle to be a part of something. And, you know, so, you know, hopefully as this grows, he'll be able to make a little money, too. But I also thought about it, and I say I can sharpen a knife. I cannot sharpen a knife like Kyle does. Um, and, and I, you know, I have to find something to set myself apart because, you know, like we were just talking about. This is just a nine inch drop point.

Shayne Gables [00:34:29]:
You know, plenty of people have done this. So what, what. What makes mine different? Well, you know, using better steels and a better heat treat. But there are people who have done that, too. But the, the lat. The last thing I want is for somebody to open that knife and not have that feeling of. And it's the sharpest thing I've ever touched.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:50]:
Yeah.

Shayne Gables [00:34:51]:
I want them to have that feeling. I want to think man, you know, this is sharper than any knife I've ever experienced. So I include that step at a financial detriment. But, you know, I don't. There's. You know, there's no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have been able to do this without Kyle.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:10]:
So that is a cost you could legitimately pass on to the. To the customer. But what I was going to say is that. And. And the Brian Kim heat treat, I mean, those together with your grind, your vision and design, that. I mean, that does set you apart.

Shayne Gables [00:35:28]:
Do you want me to break it down to the dollars?

Bob DeMarco [00:35:31]:
Yeah, sure.

Shayne Gables [00:35:32]:
Let us take even a stick of. I just bought a stick of crew wherever that I got two knives out of, and that was $200. That's a $100 for.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:46]:
That's the bar. The bar of steel was $200.

Shayne Gables [00:35:49]:
Right. So for one knife, it was a $100. We're gonna do one knife, $100 in the steel. Now, granted, I make some out of nitro v, so, you know, that can come down. You automatically have to add $40, because that's shipping one way to California, the heat treat, and then shipping it back. So now I'm at $140. Average set of scales cost $20. So I'm at $160.

Shayne Gables [00:36:18]:
I'm going to go through about four belts, which puts me at a $190. This is one knife. And then when I get done, I ship it to Kyle. So we're at 200, and then with Kyle sharpening and Kyle shipping it to the customer, you're talking about, we're at 242 50 on a $300 knife that I spent hours on. So that's. That was my profit margin on. That is about $50.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:52]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, it seems like you're earning your bones right now. I mean, it seems like that you got to do that for a while. But while you're doing that, you know, some of the cost of you learning is getting passed along to the customer, too. In a good way. In the way we were talking about. I have this Dan Hank tattoo that every time he sees it, he's like, oh, my God. I can't believe I did that.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:16]:
I used to suck. Let me fix it. And I'm like, no, it's an original. It's like having an early Picasso. I'm not gonna. But it's the. But it's the same thing with a. With one of these knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:26]:
You know, you're selling it.

Shayne Gables [00:37:27]:
When I. When I think about that price, though. Yeah, this was $240.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:32]:
Yeah, well, this is what I was getting at this was machine made in another country, right? Isn't that.

Shayne Gables [00:37:40]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's. That's Taiwan. No, Seci City.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:44]:
Seci city.

Shayne Gables [00:37:45]:
Yeah, that's the. Enough, too. So it's made in Seki City and $240. And it's smaller.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:51]:
And, you know, actually, while you have that. That knife out, I know you're a huge fan of that. I remember when you got it shortly after you gave me the s 110 volts, Manix, lightweight. So at that point, when you gave me that knife and when you got that knife, I don't think you were making them has your. I could see this happening with me as a cope. But have any of your feelings on what you expect out of a knife changed now that you're making them? You're like, oh, this is hard. Maybe I don't like good geometry.

Shayne Gables [00:38:23]:
And I'll know.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:25]:
Of course not.

Shayne Gables [00:38:25]:
Absolutely not. As far as geometry, heat treating, that stuff goes, I think if anything, I would be more lenient, in all honesty, just because I understand what, you know, what is required to reach perfection and that every minute that you're working, working on that knife, you're losing money. You know, I'd be afraid to guess what I'm making. An hour, maybe $5 an hour.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:52]:
Sometimes it's helpful not to do the math.

Shayne Gables [00:38:55]:
Yeah, yeah. But I'm happy. I'm happy right now doing it. And they will go up as, you know, as they get. As they get better and better, they'll go up. But one thing I have learned is it's strange. I can come out with a knife design and make it nitro v because I love nitro v. Good heat treated nitro v is excellent.

Shayne Gables [00:39:15]:
But, like, I just posted a thing on Instagram about my I. The goon is what I call it. And without even, you know, testing the waters, I put, you know, that I had that the goon is going back in production in m four. So I. I went on a case, you know, AKC and iks. I ordered them four with no orders. You know, I spent $400 on m four, but because I posted that it's coming in m four, there was instantly some buzz. Yeah.

Shayne Gables [00:39:54]:
Oh. So I know that majority of, you know, my viewers from my channel, you know, we had to have something in common that left a long time ago.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:03]:
Right.

Shayne Gables [00:40:03]:
So a lot of those guys do, are passionate about super steel. So, you know, I'm going to lean more in towards maybe on the first run of everything, I might do it nitro v. You know, at a lower cost, and, you know, see. See how well received it is.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:20]:
But, yeah, get the hang of it yourself, right?

Shayne Gables [00:40:23]:
You know, I'd love to do some k 390 right now, but it's even more expensive than.

Announcer [00:40:26]:
Oh, yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:28]:
Being a shallow guy, I love the way k 390 looks when it patinas. But. So it's interesting that you're saying this, because really, you're. I mean, at once, you're learning, okay, when you're making knives at scale, like. Like Spyderco or a giant company like that, there are some compromises you have to make if you're going to be making, you know, 15,000, you know, of this knife. So maybe that's on the heat treat or on the grinding or something. So. So doing this yourself is kind of showing you that maybe some of the things, some of the criticisms you have at making knives at scale are maybe not as founded, but what I'm getting at is, as someone who's had a YouTube channel, you've had a chance to build up a community.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:19]:
You have friends. You can kind of see the currents of things. How do you think that helps you in figuring out? I mean, because you mentioned m four, and everyone jumped on it. You probably knew beforehand. Everyone loves m four.

Shayne Gables [00:41:33]:
Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, I agree with that 100%. And like I said, I've got to know these guys really well. And just the fact that they've, you know, hung around through my shenanigans and the, you know, the horrible YouTube channel that I run, you know, they had to. We have to share some passion. But I might be backing up a little bit. But there is one other thing that has changed. Bob Lockev.

Shayne Gables [00:41:59]:
This knife, you know, made in Japan, is technically perfect. And what I mean by that, you might not like the blade steel, you might not like the handle material, but the handles fit it perfectly. It all bolts up perfect. It's clean. I may never be able to achieve the level of perfection that some of these companies that these machines are making. But the one thing that has changed is that as much as I love this, this now feels soulless to me. I would rather spend this same money on a knife from apex alchemy or a knife from Steve Kolari or any small maker, because, like, this was just made by a machine, you know, is everything to tolerance and perk, sure, but it's just soulless.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:53]:
Shane, I totally know what you mean. And we talk. That comes up here a bit, like, I'll get a knife sent to me by Civivi. And for that first sort of, you know, tempestuous weekend. I'm all, you know, I'm all about this knife. And then, yeah, it evaporates quickly, oftentimes for me. And again, we're talking about my taste, but there's also a scale. Then there's like, say, my Les George VSep, which was one of those early, mid tech knives, which, incidentally, is kind of what you're saying.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:25]:
We're getting back to. If you want to make an America, you're going to have to do some of the work. That has a lot more soul than, say, a civivi. And then I go to a handmade custom knife that's totally handmade, fixed blade. That's pretty much what I have on the custom end. And that's where the soul resides. Yeah, that's where the differences are.

Shayne Gables [00:43:42]:
I don't think I had ever experienced a true high end, handmade folder. I met two guys this year at Blade show that both do that. Now, one of them may, 1 of them may have some machinery or access to machinery. I can't speak 100% for edgy blade works, but experiencing Scott's stuff, and you can feel Scott steels in that knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:12]:
Yes. And I know which one you're talking about, that cool shaped blade.

Shayne Gables [00:44:16]:
I don't care for the blade shape, but I respect that knife more than any riot, any. Any Chris Reeves, for that matter. And then I met Donnie Bless, who I was telling you about. And I find out that this guy's making these knives inside his home. And I've watched these. These clips from on Instagram with a piece of titanium sitting there, rubbing it across a piece of sandpaper to eventually it'll be enough, right, to get it to spec, you know? You know, he has very tight tolerances, and that's how he's doing it. And, man, no, they're not cheap, you know? And to a lot of people, you can't convince them that it's worth the money. But to me it is, because I know what that guy.

Shayne Gables [00:44:58]:
I know what the work that guy put in to make that thing happen. And it's. That almost seems unrealistic that when you hold that final product and he says, yeah, man, I made this in my basement, you know, and all I've got is, you know, yeah, I've got a nice grinder, but I don't have a meal. I don't have a lathe, I don't have a CNC, you know, I cut this out with a grinder, and then, you know, shaped it until it was perfect. That's mind blowing to me.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:29]:
So this is one of those areas where it's. It's kinda kind of, is it tool making? Is it art? Is it, you know, obviously, you come out of it with a. With a working tool, but, you know, there aren't that many tools out there that people labor over so much. I mean, you know, I'm sure the wrench community might take exception to that, but it seems like a lot of work going into it, and it takes special people to understand the work that goes into it. Do you foresee yourself running up against that in the future where you're charging whatever you're going to be charging? And people are like, well, it's just a knife, you know, but you're like, yeah, but look at the grind. Consider the heat treat. Look at the steel.

Shayne Gables [00:46:17]:
I don't. I don't think so. Simply because I don't think it's a conversation I can win. You know, if I show somebody my knife and I tell them how much it is, they immediately, you know, question. Or you can see it in their faces, they think it's too much. I don't. I don't believe I'll ever convince them otherwise, because either you have a passion for what I have a passion for and can appreciate what. What I've done, or you just don't.

Shayne Gables [00:46:47]:
Because, Bob, this community and the knife, the entire worldwide knife community, you know, if you include everybody that's ever on the knife, 99.5% of them don't know what an HRC is. Don't care. They're buying. You know, the number one selling knife on military bases right now is still the Gerber paraffin throw away.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:12]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shayne Gables [00:47:14]:
But they're okay with it. They'll pay $10. They'll use it till it won't cut anymore, which is very quickly. And throw it in the garden and throw it away. Exactly. I'm not going to win a conversation with those people. However, I don't ever plan on being at Randall level pricing, either. You know, I still want to make knives that if you need to use it, you're not going to be squeamish about using it because you.

Shayne Gables [00:47:36]:
You paid so much money.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:37]:
Right.

Shayne Gables [00:47:38]:
You know, um, you know, I've already made some knives and am making some knives that are, you know, creeping up, getting close to $400. But, you know, with those, you have to consider the size and the steel that they want. You know, if you want Rex 121, you can get it, but you're probably talking about a $200 piece of steel before you ever start.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:02]:
Yeah, I kind of see your knives, if you don't mind my saying. I could see your knives going the route of, like, an Alex Steingraber. Like, I have one of his knives, a shark. I bought it used, and it was not inexpensive, but it's thin, it's slicey as hell. It's crew wear, and I love using it. It's not one that I'm like, oh, this is an expensive custom knife. I'm going to put this in the drawer, and I have plenty of those. But I could see yours being the type that you'll happily pay the money for, but also happily put through its paces and not necessarily put in a box on the wall.

Shayne Gables [00:48:36]:
Well, I'll say this to even be mentioned in a sentence with Alex Steingraver's name. Alex and I have a weird past because I did not like Alex when I was first introduced to him, and probably because we're too much alive. I was like, man, this guy's abrasive. He's kind of an asshole. He just says whatever he's thinking. I don't think I like him.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:55]:
Kind of like me.

Shayne Gables [00:48:56]:
Yeah. And. And we joked about it on Instagram. Like, I would comment and tell him, you know, how impressed I am with this product, and be like, but I'm still not sure if I like you or not. Finally, the answer was that one day, and he's like, man, just. Just come on over to the dark side. It's all good. And now I love him to death.

Shayne Gables [00:49:13]:
And, you know, he. He. You know, just the fact that he likes and sometimes comments on my post of my knives that I feel. I know this is cringy, but I feel a little starstruck.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:26]:
Yeah, no, I got you.

Shayne Gables [00:49:27]:
There are a few makers out there, like Alex and Steve and Brian Kim at transparent knives. You know that. You know, I. Knife wise, I don't know anything about their personal lives, but as far as knife knife making, heat treating goes, I idolize those guys because the. Simply because they wouldn't accept that industry standard that Kershaw set. Yeah. You know, Kershaw said 14 c at 59. Well, now.

Shayne Gables [00:49:54]:
Now all your heat treat, your large heat treating companies. That's what they're heat treating. Yes. If you send your knife in who don't understand this, they don't put your knife in a little oven and heat treat it to what you want. It goes in there with a thousand other knives. So you're getting what Kershaw settled for. And that sucks. You know, in my opinion, if you care about that, then that sucks.

Shayne Gables [00:50:16]:
But you know, that. That's why I wanted more than anything to have some knives he treated by Brian and some by Steve and some by Alex. And Alex keeps telling me, you don't have time. But I don't know that I could sell it if he did it, though. You know what I mean? I think I keep it.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:33]:
So here's a, here's a, here's a brag. I've made a few knives. And. And before Alex blew up or whatever, I mean, after I interviewed him, he offered to. He was still doing it for another night. So I have a couple of aegls, and they're shit, but they're. But they're, you know, the best thing about them is that he treated them. I want to.

Shayne Gables [00:50:55]:
Why do you say they're shit?

Bob DeMarco [00:50:57]:
Well, I shouldn't say that because they're. They look cool and. And maybe they cut. All right, but, you know, I. They are not the product of a lot of work.

Shayne Gables [00:51:08]:
So let me ask you this, then.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:09]:
Yeah.

Shayne Gables [00:51:10]:
So what you're saying is they're imperfect. I would rather have your imperfect knife he treated by Alex Stein grabber than a beautiful, perfect looking knife with a subpar heat treat that was spit out of the machine. So don't. Don't. What I'm getting at is, you know, there's no reason to discount something that you made if you made it and it cuts. I'd rather have that than anything that a machine cut out. Well, I mean, a lot of, you know, american blade works, you know, those knives. These knives are nearly 100% made in a CNC machine.

Shayne Gables [00:51:49]:
You know, I get it because that's what he has to do. You know, these knife makers that start out making knives and then eventually end up having to have them made somewhere else, I get that, too, because if the business grows to a point that you have to do that, even if you have to go to a place I don't want you to go, I still have more respect because you made something up to the point that you could no longer do it. So I think there's kind of levels in that. You know, you said we were going to speak on the youtuber design, and I'm not bad mouthing anybody, Bob, but I just don't understand where the pride comes from and the fact that you. You chose the route that required you to do nothing. Marketing and shipping. But.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:44]:
But in all fairness, it's not nothing to design a great knife. The design is the. Speaking. As someone who designed a knife that had and that Tim Kell is now making, which to me, you know, he's one of my favorites. And that's a huge honor to me. I don't feel like that was nothing. You know, I drew I hundred percent.

Shayne Gables [00:53:04]:
But I just meant as far as the production of it goes, and I mean, you still went with, you still went with an american maker. You know, the, the easier and the more profitable route. You know, you could have had, you could have drew that knife on a piece of paper and faxed it to China and had it made and sold it for the same thing you're selling for now and doubled your profit margin. That's what I'm talking about is it's just that, that fast, that fast track to anything that makes money. You know, I've even got a couple of smaller channels now, I'm not going to mention any names until it happens, but one of them you've interviewed, and he's upset that he can't have something made in the United States. I'm like, yes, you can. You absolutely can. You send me the design.

Shayne Gables [00:53:52]:
I'll make one. I'll send it back to you. You market it. And I don't care if you sell one or ten or 100, I'll make those knives for you and I'll, I'll cut you in on it just like china does. It's not gonna be a folder, but, you know, I'm willing to help to help those guys, too. Now, if it comes to that, and that starts happening, in all honesty, a lot like ten k, you know, I will have to start having them water jaded, but, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:19]:
Oh, no, I, you know, if you're going to do anything at, at scale or anything repeatable. Yeah, you got it.

Shayne Gables [00:54:25]:
No, two, no, two of the models that I make, there have never been two that were identical.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:32]:
Well, yeah, so I always, I always think like this since my, my background is in fine arts and painting, I always think like, would Rembrandt have used a, you know, a 4k camera? Absolutely. He was using the highest tech materials he had at his, at his behest, at his fingertips at the time. Oil paint. Wow. That was a huge thing at the time. Oil paint. Well, he'd be all over digital photography, probably.

Shayne Gables [00:54:59]:
Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:59]:
And so you got it. You kind of got to keep up with the time. We're going to wrap here in a second, but before we do, I want to make mention of Jed Hornby, one of my favorite custom knife makers. I have one of his knife, the necromance, which is just so cool. I would love it if he made more of them and made them in different sizes and all that, but I love knowing I have one of the few necromances out there. Tell me about how Jed Hornbeak is helped.

Shayne Gables [00:55:26]:
I don't actually know, nor have I ever talked to Jed Hornbeak. Jed Hornbeak is helping Billy Ford at Apep's alchemy. However, that has turned into knowledge that Jed Hornbeek has shared with Billy. Billy has shared with me. Um, you know, I have all the respect in the world for Jet Hornbeak and what he does, you know, and I definitely. That's who, that's the kind of guy I consider a knife maker is, you know, and I understand his knives cost him what they did. Jet Hornbeak would not ship out one of my knives. I understand that, you know, he would probably tell me not to, but he has reached a level of perfection and refinement that I hope to one day reach.

Shayne Gables [00:56:12]:
But, Bob, when I started this, all I really wanted to do was make Esee quality knives, se quality finishing, but with better steels and better grinds. And in all honesty, that's not a huge goal because, you know, they're not very refined. So that was, you know, I never wanted to make, you know, like something, you know, those, those big fancy buoys you've got with the, you know, the brass guards. And I don't have any interest in. I just, I just, there's no passion in it for me, so I know I wouldn't do it well, but, yeah, Jed is, uh, Jed's more. More, more Billy's people than mine.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:51]:
All right. I think maybe I crossed those signals in my mind, but I know that you and I have talked about him when talking about custom, custom fixed blades. And, and I, again, he's another maker where. Don't take this the wrong way, but it's obvious you're not up to Jed Hornbeak level yet. But kind of like an Alex Steingraber. He's the kind of knife maker I could see you turning into as you, as you progress, like making a lot of really exclusive, not, not exclusive in terms of difficult to get because they're so expensive and you only make a couple of them. But, like, very refined designs for cutting and with performance in mind.

Shayne Gables [00:57:33]:
What's the odd thing is, Bob, probably the most refined knife I've made. I only made one of. And I'll be honest, it was because of a. It was because I messed something up. So I had to reshape it. That's the only knife I have available right now, and it's a shame that it's not getting any attention because, um, you know, this thing came out really, really good. And, uh, I'd love to. I'd love for somebody to own it.

Shayne Gables [00:58:00]:
I don't think I'm going to make batches of these because it's got very little attention. But, um, you know, it's nice to make something, even though it started out as an accident.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:12]:
Yeah.

Shayne Gables [00:58:13]:
And. And. And be impressed with your own work and really happy with how it turned out. But, yeah, I don't think the brat's gonna hang around very long. Just hasn't got a whole lot of attention. I did want to explain my fingers, though.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:26]:
Okay.

Shayne Gables [00:58:27]:
A couple of things about my knife making that you might find is if you watch me on instagram every now and then, I'll post a video of myself grinding. I don't have any feeling in the tips of my fingers. And if I touch something hot, by the time it registers in my brain, but that's hot, it's way too late. There's no skin on the tips of these fingers. I burnt the skin off of them. So I know I'm gonna have to change some things to keep from burning myself. But you'll also notice when I'm grinding that the belt is running backwards. The first.

Shayne Gables [00:58:59]:
The first person that noticed, and it blew my mind that he noticed it tells me how smart he is, was Donnie. Bless. As soon as I post the video, he messaged like, dude, why is your belt running backwards? Mm hmm. Well, because when most people grind, you push that blade up to the platen and you're feeling for flush. You want to be able to feel when your bevel is flush so that you can get a good, clean grind. I can't feel that. I run my belt backwards so that I can see the spark pattern. And if I have a.

Shayne Gables [00:59:30]:
A perfect. A perfect spark pattern all the way across the belt. And the fuller and thicker that spark pattern is, I know I'm making a clean pass. So I have to run my belt backwards, which means all the metal dust ends up landing on top of my head. When I come home, it's crusted. And, yeah, I run it backwards so that I can see the spark pattern. Now, the result, you know, the result is still a great grind. You know, that thing's as perfectly flat as it gets.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:01]:
It's just a very dangerous way of doing it because it could grab it and throw it right in your face. So please wear a shield and put a hat on.

Shayne Gables [01:00:09]:
Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:10]:
All right, so we got a wrap here. We're gonna. We're gonna talk a little more for the Patreon members, and we'll get to that. But before. Before we do, I just want to ask you where, because I've been making a lot of assumptions. Where do you want to see edgy american blades? How do you want to see it grow? What's the ultimate goal here?

Shayne Gables [01:00:29]:
You know, honestly, Bob, I haven't set a long term goal. If it stayed the way it is right now, I'd be very glad. I know that's not a good business mindset, but, yeah, I just. I just want it to keep going. I would like to get to a point where I have a model, a design that is popular enough that I can. I can have them water jetted, make 50 of a time that are all exactly the same, you know, which also aids in your. Your scale making, your sheath making, if they're all the same. So that's my next goal, is to get to a point to where I can have my shaping done via water jet.

Shayne Gables [01:01:12]:
I don't know that maybe that's a lack of self confidence. I don't know how much bigger. I don't know how much bigger it could get. I don't know.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:20]:
Well, as you master the craft, no doubt your. Your ambitions will evolve, you know, and. And you'll know as you get better. But I'm looking forward to watching this grow and watching your process and keep posting. And I got to get one of your knives on the channel here at. On the channel, in my case. That's what I mean.

Shayne Gables [01:01:43]:
Like, I got you. There is one thing I'd like to share.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:46]:
Yeah.

Shayne Gables [01:01:46]:
I learned very quickly from the. On the business side of this. It didn't take me long before I was having to backtrack through DM's, trying to remember, what did that guy want? So my new process right now is this knife and the goon. I'm pinning them in my Instagram, and the order process is, just go to my Instagram. The knife you want, just claim it. You don't have to pay anything. I don't want paid until the knife's done, but claim it in there so that I have a record of who all said they wanted one, because I didn't expect it. I expected two or three knives in that first month, and it was way more than that, and I lost track very quickly.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:29]:
Wow.

Shayne Gables [01:02:30]:
Okay. If you're interested enough, you see a knife on my Instagram, if it's pen and you know, I put in there, you know that there, it's open for orders. Those orders don't mean you need to pay anything. If you want one and you have the intentions of buying it, just claim one so that when I get them made, I can contact you by, hey, you know this is going to be done in two or three days. You still want it? That's how.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:55]:
All right, well, check him out on Instagram. Edgy american blades. Edgy american blades. And. And that's where you can order. Shayne, thank you so much for coming back on and talking about this. This part. And I know you'll be back on the.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:08]:
And we'll talk about this more as things progress. But it's really exciting to see you, like I said, putting your money where your mouth is and making these thin, slicey super steel blades.

Shayne Gables [01:03:18]:
Love it. Thank you, sir.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:19]:
Alrighty, man. Thanks. Take care.

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Bob DeMarco [01:03:43]:
There he goes, ladies and gentlemen, Shane Gables, the edgy American. Check out edgy american blades on Instagram and get that runt. Is that what he called that model? That beautiful little red handled wharncliffe? One of his best ever. Let's get that in someone's belt. All right. Be sure to join us for a for the Wednesday midweek supplemental and a great Thursday night knives this week. And then, of course, following next week Sunday for another great interview. Thanks for watching the Knife Junkie podcast for Jim working his magic behind the switcher.

Bob DeMarco [01:04:14]:
I'm Bob DeMarco saying, until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

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Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review@reviewthepodcast.com. for show notes for today's episode, additional resources and to listen to past episodes, visit our website, thenifejunkie.com. you can also watch our latest videos on YouTube@thenifejunkie.com. youTube. Check out some great knife photos on theknifejunkie.com Instagram and join our Facebook group@thenifejunkie.com. facebook and if you have a question or comment, email them to bob knifejunkie.com or call our 24/7 listener line at 724-466-4487 and you may hear your comment or question answered on an upcoming episode of the Knife Junkie podcast.