The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
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Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, the new one from Jack Wolf Knives. I get another new old cold steel, and these EDC fixed blades deserve more attention. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie podcast.

Announcer [00:00:15]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the Knife Junkie DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:28]:
Welcome back to the show. I had a couple of favorite comments from this past week's episode. First one from our old friend, Nick Martino. Nick, thank you so much for this awesome comment, and this is just an excerpt of it. He says, thank you, Bob and Jim. Another fantastic video with six exclamation points, throughout. That's how he does it. I love it.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:48]:
I know sometimes I don't comment, but I do try and always watch your content. And I just wanted to take a second to say thank you. The way you guys actually produce and orient them is very satisfying and gratifying to watch while somehow consistently get getting better in terms of video and audio quality. So seriously, hats off to whoever has a hand in that. Well, that would be Jim. Don't care what anyone says. This is literally how it would be if Hollywood started producing knife YouTube. Nick Martino, you made my day with that comment.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:21]:
Thank you so much. And, you know, we love doing this, and, Jim always has, newer and better ways of doing this show. And, I credit him with with all of the production, flair, genius, and beauty. So thank you, Jim, and thank you so much, Nick Martino. Always great to hear from you, but especially when it's like that with, I think I counted 24 exclamation points. Thank you, sir. Next was from JC Owens z q six, f d, and he says, good stream, brother. One correction, though.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:57]:
Things did not stop for a thousand years. And I was talking about the the mid age the medieval times or middle ages because we talked about that giant Polish broadsword that was found. He said, people just thought that because of survivor bias. We now have plenty of evidence that that proves the dark ages were not dark at all. That one thousand years was actually a time where great strides were made in art, philosophy, fashion, and more. We just had less, stuff left over to prove it before. That's very interesting. And, I know when we talk about the dark ages where or that period of time, we're often talking about Western Europe.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:32]:
And, yeah, there, it did get pretty dark, but the rest of the world was still happening, still existing. A lot of things happened in the Muslim world and, and elsewhere. So thank you so much, JC, for that, and, I appreciate you all watching and commenting. I know you all loved this show last week because I think we have a lot of double edged fighter fans here. So thanks for watching, thanks for listening, and thanks for commenting. Alright. That said, let's get to a pocket check.

Announcer [00:03:02]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of

Bob DeMarco [00:03:09]:
knives. In my front right pocket today, I had the awesome Rick Hinderer knives XM 24. This is a, I believe, first or second generation. It's definitely not a third. Third generation Hinderers came out with the Tri Way Pivot, and this is old school, but I love this thing nonetheless. This took me forever to find. I've had it, I'd say, a good eight or nine years at this point, and it was used when I got it. I love the shape of the Hinderer Bowies, especially the longer XM 24.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:43]:
That extra, half inch really allows the shape to express itself, kinda like that in cars. Think of a Ferrari Daytona with that long, 12 cylinder engine up front. It just makes that car beautiful. And I think it has to do with the elegance of the of the length and the lines, and I would say that that is definitely the case in this. It is wearing an RC Blade Works scale, aftermarket scale with linen micarta and a, an inlay here that still, after ten years or so, is flawless. That inlay is a burlap micarta, sackcloth. Let's be biblical and call it sack. Really awesome knife, super sharp, a little bit thick behind the edge.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:28]:
I've thought of having this reground a few times, but just kinda never pulled the trigger. I don't really need that to be a, hollow ground blade, but it would look cool and I would enjoy cutting stuff with it, I bet. So that was front right pocket. I also had in my front right pocket in a slip, the beautiful Great Eastern cutlery viper. That's the number 47. I'm gonna show you right how that awesome walk and talk works because I'm gonna show you up close now just how beautiful it is. Look at that purple jig bone. They call it flum jig bone.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:07]:
It's got a really nice shield on it, a sort of shield shaped shield, I'm not sure what they call that. But this is one of the few Great Eastern cutleries with the, lanyard tube. Look at that beautiful color right there, near the bolster. Just a beautiful knife. This was the GEC model way back in the, I don't know, 2012 or something that got me really stirred up about the company and about, swaybacks and wharncliffe's in general. This one is from 2020, and it's a factory second because there is a little crack, right somewhere. I can't remember where it is. Oh, right here.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:48]:
Just a little tiny crack. And, so could not be sold as a regular, so it it was given to me, actually, I believe. And, so I love this thing, by, by, the owner of traditional pocket no, no. No. I'm sorry. By the owner of oh my goodness. I'll stop right there, and if I think about it, I'll jump in. It'll be at 02:00, so you'll have to be around for the livestream when I wake up and say, it was okay.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:21]:
Next up, my fixed blade knife today was the beautiful ruffian from Hogtooth Knives. Look at that beauty. I love this thing. This is one I carry a lot in the winter, when I have Stoudert clothes on and, because it's on the big end of what I like the EDC, that's a nearly five inch blade. It's 4.75 inches. Hollow ground, one fifty four centimeters, super sharp, beautifully heat treated, and really, really excellent jimping on this, hand filed. Now he's laser etching, he being Matt Chase of Hogsmeade Knives, is now laser etching his jimping, which is also awesome. But the file did a great job.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:06]:
Now this one I got for my 50 birthday. 50 birthday, I happened to be, in Massachusetts with my family visiting my sister and we went to visit Matt Chase and, I saw a couple of these blanks laying there and I got to pick out my piece of, natural tan canvas micarta and my blue liners. And, few about a month later, he sent it to me. Just a beautiful thing. Also, great sheaths. Aren't those awesome sheaths? This one also now comes in a pocket carry model that's, we'll say three and a half for me, but if you've got big mitts, it's like a three finger version of this. You just hang a little lanyard on it, put it in your front pocket, and it's a great little EDC fixed pocket carry. Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:54]:
Last up, my, emotional support knife was the Dragotac. The big Dragotac was my ESK today. Bastinelli knives, big Dragotac. This is an earlier one. That's d two blade steel and a flat scale. Now the the new scales are rounded, and they use m three ninety on these now. Made by Lionsteel. I believe I got this one, on the secondary market.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:22]:
Made in Italy. Absolutely beautiful with that deep carry pocket clip. The roto block, I never use. As a matter of fact, I had to tighten it down because sometimes it would just sort of naturally engage without my tie. So this is what I had on me today. What were you carrying? Do let me know. I had the Hinderer XM 24. I had the big Dragotac as my ESK, I had the Hogtooth Ruffian, and the GEC, that's Great Eastern Cutlery, number 47, also in the front right pocket.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:55]:
Alright, coming up, let's check out some knife life news.

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Announcer [00:09:19]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. And now here's the knife junkie with the knife life news.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:26]:
Alright. First up in knife life news, we have man, it's a constant stream of we branded, we and cevivis, and they're always sweet. First one is from we knife. This is the we winsome. The We Winsome. I'm gonna say We Winsome. This is an in house design, and, much unlike the name, it is a little bit menacing, and I do like that about it. This is a 3.75 inch m three ninety blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:53]:
Look at that. Look at this as beautiful. The one thing I don't appreciate is there is no finger guard, so you could slide up onto that blade. That slightly reduces the menace factor, but I'll I'll keep I'll keep going on. Beautiful slender drop point blade with a long swedge all the way up the back of that blade, which I find extremely fetching. This is a front flipper and a thumb stud, flipper or thumb stud opening blade. And I don't have any confirmation of this, but it looks like that thumb stud is also, a, blade brace, much like the, XM 24. You see how the XM 24, the the thumb stud nestles in right into the, into the handle as like a, as a stop pin, basically.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:43]:
That's kinda what this looks like to me. So really nice looking blade, 3.75 inches, titanium frame lock, as you would come to expect. Really nice lines on that as well, and it has a very large, beautiful inlay on both sides. The version you're looking at right now is the Damasteel model. That that's a Fafnir pattern Damasteel, time and and this one has a timeascus inlay, which is kinda trippy and cool. It reminds me of those, light shows they would have at those psychedelic concerts in the sixties. The others are a little more plain, as you would expect, and come with different various carbon fiber inlays and such. I like this black one the best, I think, that's up on screen.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:29]:
But you can go to knife news and click through and check out all of the different versions of this on the WE website. Quite nice. 4.73 ounces, and I think that might vary. I would imagine the timascus version is slightly heavier because the inlay is in carbon fiber. It's timascus. But these will be available at the March 2025, so check that out if it is your druthers. Alright. Next up, one I really like, from Topps Knives, that's the Frog Market Special.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:03]:
It's a Vietnamese chef's knife, a a knife that fishmongers in the markets in Vietnam use, this pattern. And, they had great success with their original, version of it, 5.25 inches, and then they blew it up to 7.5 inches, so a big legit sort of kitchen knife. And now they've shrunk that little beauty down to this beautiful 3.25 inch EDC or neck knife version. I feel like I have to get this. Maybe I will, maybe I won't, but I really like the look of this as a neck knife. So that's, 1.3 ounces as you see it on this gents hand. Add the sheath, it's 2.7 ounces. It's a Kydex pancake sheath, meaning you have grommets on both sides, meaning it's optimized for neck carry if you want.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:55]:
You've got the usual ten ninety five, blade steel here with a Cerakote and hand canvas micarta. So a beautiful knife. This thing is available now. I hope one of you gets it and shares it with me, because I'd like to check it out. Jeez, that was that was just the hard sell right there. Anyone who wants to loan me a knife, I'm open. I'm open to check it out. Next up is from Savivi.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:24]:
This is a cool one, a little bit different from what they're used to, but, a veteran designer for Savivi, Polish phenom Ostop Hell, has a new one out with them. It's called the Cibus, c I b u s. Cibus, Cibus. I'm not exactly sure how you pronounce it. But a beautiful western style chef's knife here with that drop point and center line, point. This is 7.87 inches, so close to eight inches of, 14 c 28 and a great blade steel for a kitchen knife, seeing as it keeps a great edge, but also is fantastically stain resistant. And, unless you have a high carbon, high carbon blade and you want it to patina like some of mine, or, you know, a sabatier or something, you want very stainless, and this is very stainless. You've got a full tang here.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:20]:
That orange g 10 is the only color, to have it in as we speak, but a really nice, blade. Also, a crowned spine on that sucker, so quite beautiful. This also will be available at the March. Alright. Lastly, in, Nightlife news, we have one from Jason Knight. You know Jason Knight, Kukri Forging Phenom, also Forged in Fire Judge a while back, many seasons now. They've been around for so long. But a great dude.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:51]:
He's been on this show, a great, forger of knives, makes beautiful stuff. But he also has a company called Knight Elements where he takes his love for certain, smaller designs, some of those kind of OSS style designs and others, and brings them to market through manufacturers. This latest one is an XL version of his very stupendously popular Hummingbird. The Hummingbird model looks pretty much exactly like what you see on screen, except it was a bit smaller. This one, the XL that you're looking at, has a 2.84 inch AUS pen blade. So the XL model is 2.84. That's that tells you how small the hummingbird is itself, aptly named. Hummingbirds are small and light.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:38]:
Well, this one is just kind of like, the the big cousin. And, so it's adding point four inches, so almost a half inch of cutting edge on that Aus 10 recurve blade, which he calls a, shark clip point, I believe. Really nice looking, blade there. Handles are g 10, and they appear to be contoured, but also very nicely knurled and checkered, with a faux bolster. Very cool looking. Comes with a black injection molded sheath, and, well, the Kickstarter is live. So if you're interested in this, you can go to Kickstarter or again, that's a nice shot right there actually with the two, the original Hummingbird, which like I said, just sold like gangbusters, and then the XL there. But you can go to Kickstarter and check it out.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:28]:
You can go to knife news. There's a link through there, and check it out and become a supporter. Get yourself, a Knight Elements Hummingbird XL. Alright. Still to come on the Knife Junkie podcast, the state of the collection, I'm gonna show off, a Cold Steel I just got. I'm gonna show off a Jack Wolf knife that's new and just so fine. But I wanna remind you to check out our newsletter. You're like, a newsletter? Why would I want a newsletter? I tune in to this show so I don't have to read.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:59]:
Well, this is a good read, and it's a weekly read pretty much, and, it is a a it's a it's a thought, it's an expression, it's a it's a little pithy maxim about something, knife related I'm thinking of. It's it also has cool pictures. It it has cool pictures, and that's what people really tune into it for. But the reason you wanna get the newsletter, even if you don't open it, but I highly recommend you do, is that if something happens, if we go dark here, because the powers that be, the man is closing us down, I can still get in touch with you and, tell you all the important knife stuff you need to know. So sign up, for the newsletter at theknifejunkie.com/newsletter.

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Bob DeMarco [00:18:13]:
I like that. I like that liner, pretty cool. Plus Launchkart is an American company, unlike its most, its biggest competitor, let's say, that we all know and we all hear advertising on podcast. So check out Launchkart, that's what we use and it rocks. Alright, first up is the brand new one from Jack Wolf Knives. Now, I've been talking about them coming out with one of these for a long time, because this knife has been one of my favorite for a long time. I'll start with this. This is the Venom Jack.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:46]:
It is a slip joint with that beautiful downward, angled, wharncliffe blade with the trapper handle. I've always this has been one of my favorites, and especially the one on top. I mean, when the pattern was first introduced, but this one down here on the bottom, I fell in love with it, carried it, religiously. But then when this second one came out, the the colorway, just the look of this was so beautiful with that dark wash blade, the dark washed and tumbled, titanium bolsters, and then that, dark matter red carbon fiber. It just knocked me off my feet. And then they came out with this. I knew, I was hoping, hope against hope, that they would come out with a folding, a flipping locking version of the Venom. Well, they did.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:34]:
It's the Diamondback Jack, and here it is. And I, again, got the most cool, colorway, if you ask me. That really fine weave canvas, or, I'm sorry, linen micarta. It is a green, sort of an olive drab next to the dark tumbled, acid washed, titanium bolsters here and then a bronzed clip with a stonewashed s nine EV blade. To me, it looks like a piece of World War two kit. Like, if they, during World War two issued really swanky sort of, folding knives for the troops, it would look a lot like this, I would imagine. And it's just I think it's beautiful. I just absolutely love it.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:19]:
Also, this is my first jack wolf knife with a tumbled finish. I I have a lot I have a a number of them with the darker blades, either full on black or, you know, DLC coated or acid tumbled like this. And then I have a lot of grinder satin, but I've oh, and a lot of hand rubbed satin, but I haven't had the tumbled finish, and I love it. It works so great on this, design. And then the, the the, what do you call those things? The pulls, the machined the machined pulls there, actually act as, great middle finger flick, points. So you can either, I'm gonna use this hand here, you can either bury the, the meat of the thumb in that little fuller to flip it open, or you can get your fingernail in there, and it just works great. I'm a huge fan of these Jack Wolf knives. They are so good, and, I don't run mine through the paces too much.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:24]:
I mean, the most work I do with these is cut, heavy cardboard. I've done that quite a bit with my Jack Wolf knives, and they are built stout and ready, and they do great on that. But if you wanna see someone, you know, cut a little more hardly, harsher, do a harder job with these, check out Scav's video with one of these. He really puts it through its paces. These are great knives. They look great, and they're just built beautifully. They also are just so fine to look at. So I'm very excited about this Diamondback Jack, and I have to say thank you to Ben who sent me this.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:02]:
It is just beautiful. Alright. 3.25 inches by the way, and it does come with a filler tab, on the blade, three and a quarter inches on the blade. And if you wanna remove that pocket clip, you can. It also comes with a bronze filler tab to fill that in if if you're more of a pocket slip guy. But for me, this rides beautifully in the back left pocket next to my bandana. That's where all of the Jack Wolf knives go that have, clips and flippers. Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:33]:
And close these up, and as I do, you'll get to soak up the amazing walk and talk of these Venom jacks. This one here, possibly my favorite of the slip joints, to have come out so far. Not just the pattern, but this exact way. Alright, next up, this knife has been out and around for a long time, but I finally finally got around to getting it, and that is the 12 inch Magnum Tanto, or the Magnum Tanto 12 from Cold Steel Knives. I'm gonna put this under the under the cam here. It is something else. I am so happy to have this. So if you follow this show at all, you know that the original cold steel panto with the six inch blade, was my very first fancy knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:21]:
I bought it for myself when I was like a junior in high school, and it's been next to my bed ever since, still is, in the drawer next to my bed. And, I've always had a soft spot for the American Tanto, for cold steel, for this knife in general, or for this line in general, and I always, always fantasized about getting the 12 inch, 12 inch bladed version and finally finally did it. I don't know what it was. Someone put a video out, or it just happened upon a video with this, and I thought, oh, oh, oh my. I'm always kind of chiding myself for having a bunch of really big Bowie knives and a couple of really big drop points and stuff, but I don't have any big tanto's. Shame on me. So I decided I should fix that. Beautiful v g 10 Sanmai blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:14]:
You can see the Sanmai line, right just north of that, of the edge. That is where the, the the jacket, which I think is four, a 400 series steel where it jackets the VG 10 and comes around, but that hardened VG 10 is where the edge is. This thing is amazingly sharp. You've got really nice aluminum, bolster and card here and then a noggin knocker back here. You've got that KrayX handle, so very, grippy handle. Now I've had mine I I always wondered what would happen with this sort of rubberized grip, but I've had my Trailmaster, my Tanto, and several other, cold steel knives with that grippy rubberized handle for so long. They don't degrade. They just kinda remain grippy and, at least they haven't degraded yet over twenty five years, so And thirty for the Tanto.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:16]:
Yeah, this thing, so sharp. So I did a test last night. I'll spare you, the embarrassment now, but, in case I mess it up. But I held up a piece of paper, let it drop, and swiped it in half, and, you know, I've done that with other knives, but with this, it glided through in in such a way it was like the the scene in The Bodyguard that everyone reminded me of recently, where where Kevin Costner drops a silk scarf and it just just cuts over the over his samurai blade, and, Whitney Houston is forever impressed, and then forever sings that awful song. But this, I love it, I'm so thrilled with it. The one thing I'm not thrilled with is that the sheath doesn't quite lock in the way I want it to lock. Like, when I hold it upside down and shake it, it comes out. So, the sheath is a little bit, little bit of a lemon, but I think I can pretty easily fix that.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:15]:
So I'm gonna do that. I'm not sending it back, because the blade is so perfect, and I've had issues where I've sent back, and then I get, the thing I get back is not as good. I know, I know. I should be, I should be making a bad review and and raising a stink, but I just I'm I'm keeping this. I love it. I had one other thing I wanted to say. What was oh, oh, it's so light. This thing, like, if if I do any sort of and I don't wanna hit my computer or anything else, but if I do any sort of, Carrenza, that's shadow boxing with a knife, basically, it feels so light and quick in hand even though it's a 12 inch blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:58]:
So this thing is awesome. This thing is awesome. It's making me want the the 12 inch Warcraft Kanto, which I think is heavier and stout in a different way. I know it's got a wider blade, and it comes in forty thirty four or three v. I don't need three v. I'm not pounding it through logs. I'll get the $40.34, or less, and, have another 12 inch tanto. Alright, love this thing.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:25]:
You know I've been on a little cold steel tear lately, and, this is really scratching the itch. Alright, before we get to our main topic of conversation, which is, really awesome EDC fixed blades, by custom makers that need more attention, especially by me, check out this. We have I Collect Knives, What's Your Superpower? Another another gym design, that you can go and check out and get on an apron. It's almost grilling season, or if you ask my daughter, it's already summer because we have, like, a 60 degree day today. It's time to get that apron for grilling, or in my case, griddling season. You can get a water bottle, you can get a teddy bear, you can get a hat, you can get a shirt, and a whole host of different things, with this cool logo on it. I collect knives. What's your superpower? Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:19]:
Let's talk about let's talk about small fixed blade knives by custom makers that deserve more attention. The first one that jumped to mind when I thought of this topic was this one. This is from 1558, knife company. This is, master bladesmith Josh Fisher's, sort of, mid tech company, if you will. It's not mid tech. He makes everything himself, but, well, I guess he has the blanks water jetted. But we're talking about a man who who makes incredible Master Smith style forged knives. And then for, you know, knives that you're not getting on a a book for, He's got a lot of really cool, well, he's got three really cool small fixed blade models.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:07]:
This one, to me, just takes the cake, though. It is the Revere, or if you're from Boston, it's the Revere. Right? Isn't that how they'd say it? It is a beautiful recurve blade of, ten ninety five blade steel, and I love the the dark tumbled look of it. It's nice and thin. This makes a great everyday carry fixed blade knife. And I don't carry it enough, I realized. I I I I'm not sure why. It could be because, the sheath is a little tight, or it could be that the sheath is a little tight because I don't carry it enough.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:45]:
But I do have that DCC clip on it, so I take it seriously as a as a berry blade. It's got a nice Coke bottle cross section when you when you look at the handle here, and a nice, flare out at the pommel. Incredible ergonomics, really beautiful. This man, Josh Fisher, has a daughter who, is I think at this point, she's like 16 or so. She's a teenage, teenager. She got her, she got her journeyman Smith's, certification the same time, Matt Chase got his at the same Blade show. I I think that's awesome. I think, I love that.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:27]:
Something about that just tickles me. I mean, just because, you know, Matt Chase has been making knives for thirty years and, she was raised by a master smith and boom, she's like 15 years old and getting her her journeyman smith. So I'm sure she's well on her way to getting her master smith certification. They also, I was just looking on the website today, they have a really cool recurve tanto that is for hunting. It it I swear, it it's a beautiful design. A, it looks pretty gnarly, and, b, very much, sold as something as a piece of outdoor kit. It's not mall ninja recurve tanto. It's it's legit.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:12]:
And then there is another hunting model that looks similar to this without the recurve. But this is a huge, this was my blade show twenty twenty two, I don't know, I've shown this off to everyone. I really love this knife. You'll be seeing it more, kinda going through this and discovering some of the things that I need to carry more. I get a lot of knives and I'm given a lot of knives, and my attention is everywhere. That's why I go by the moniker junkie. You know, it's not the knife focused guy. It's not the knife professor, but he's great too.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:50]:
It's more, you know, oh my god. I love that. Something's shining. Alright. Next up is from Josh Mason and Bright for War Knives. Now he came up recently. Someone was asking me on Thursday night knives for a recommendation of someone who could wrap a knife of his, and I said, I don't know if he still does this anymore, but he wrapped a knife for me. I'm not showing it tonight.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:13]:
He wrapped my, my Copus Designs Elvia for me. But, this is one of his models, and he has since I've gotten this, man, he is doing such cool stuff. He does some of this small stuff, but he also does bigger, just beautifully ground, impeccably made, Japanese inspired knives, and they all have these really cool Ito wraps on them. This one, you can see that gray skin underneath and then the wrap and then this Turkish knot here, I think they call that. And the blade itself is a Quaken. It's ten ninety five blade steel. I did something stupid with it. I I tried to force a patina on it.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:55]:
It didn't look so good, and then I tried to remove it, and I didn't remove it all. You can see it, kind of in some light, but I also removed a good portion of this laser etching, which is gorgeous, like some sort of a Japanese flower there. But when he makes these, he zero grinds them and then just takes the edge off just a little bit, the relief edge, the cutting edge, just a titch. So it's super, super sharp, extremely thin behind the edge, but he knocks off just a little bit, there at the cutting edge to make it, you know, a little bit more robust. Josh Mason, bright borer. This Quakin rides really nicely around the neck. That's my preferred carry for this one, I gotta say. It's definitely a great neck knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:45]:
The sheath is a little wide, or at least when you look at it, you're like, are you sure that's a good neck knife? That sheath is a little wide, but actually, it's perfect. It's it's very light and and it's got a nice, I don't know, wideness to it, let's call it surface area, so it's not swinging around under under your shirt so much. So a great knife, but if you don't like neck knives, I know a lot of people don't, you put a DCC clip on this and pop it in your pocket. You'll you'll be the talk of the town with this here. Did I put it down? Okay. It has a nice snap tube. This next one, I also got at Blade Show. I believe it was 2023, maybe.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:28]:
And this was given to me off the neck of the great and powerful Murray Carter of Carter Custom Cutlery. This was his carry knife, and then he just gave it to me. Out of appreciation, he had come on the podcast and, thought I was doing great stuff for knife world, and he also was referencing a biblical, sort of precept of passing things along, at the right time to the right people or something like that, not to minimize it. I just don't remember exactly what he said, but because I was blown away that he was giving me this, frankly. This is one made by him. Now if you don't know, Murray Carter is a seventeenth generation Yoshimoto, bladesmith from so he learned and in Japan and became a town's, bladesmith, seventeenth generation. And he was the first white guy or non Japanese guy to hold that position. He's also an ABS master smith, so this guy, Murray Carter, knows what he's doing.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:36]:
Now he's got Carter Custom Cutlery. That's those three c's up there near the in the Ricasso. And, he has, an he the the model there, the business model, is he brings in, smiths, who are not as accomplished as he, and he, kinda raises them up in his shop, and they make, their own versions of his models of knife. This is called the neck knife, but they have numerous other, models of knives, and then various smiths working under him do their versions of those models. And so they get to basically sell a knife under Carter, Carter Custom Cutlery, but also they put their own maker's mark on it. I think it's such a cool business model. I think it's such a cool way to run a company. But look at that steel.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:27]:
Oh my goodness, that is just so beautiful. So you can see, they all have that CCC, Carter Custom Cutlery, but this has his name on it, Carter Mastersmith. And so if I were working for him, it would say DeMarco, total loser t l. No, I'm just kidding. It would say DeMarco whatever my, whatever, you know, Burning Man Smith or just DeMarco. But Carter Mastersmith, so this comes right from him. It's got a really beautiful carbon fiber weave. It's got a four layer handle scale, so you got gray, gray g 10 and then, red, carbon fiber and then black g 10 and then red carbon fiber again on both sides.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:15]:
It's just a stunner. So beautiful. I never carry this knife, and I really should. This this definitely falls into the category of something that deserves more attention, not just from the wider knife world, but from me. I own it. I should carry it, but it's so special that, I don't know, I just don't carry it much, if ever. I carry it around the house occasionally. It's like a special event knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:44]:
It was made to be used. I know it was, and Murray Carter wore it, so I guess I should carry it too. Great sheath, by the way. No other options for mounting. This is a neck knife, period. You can see that the grommets are solid rivets. And you better believe I am not making a sheet for that. I'm not gonna be scratching up that beautiful knife, but go go to Arizona Custom Knives or wherever, or his website, Carter Custom Colored, and check that out.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:13]:
You'll see what a generous gift that was indeed. Next one, this one I got on the secondary market and there are others from this maker that, he does weekly drops. There there's a Chris that he makes that I just have to get one of these days. But this is from Rib Splitter Knives. Rib Splitter Knives, that's Matt Carlson. He's the maker. And this thing is called the drog. I know I always say it like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:40]:
Forgive me. The drog, drog is a Russian word for zombie, I believe he said. But in his sort of rustic style, I really caught on to him with his, pikal style knives. He's got some really fantastic pikal style knives, and, this is one of them. I just think it's so beautiful. All out weapon. This is not something you're using for anything else, I gotta say. A really nicely contoured, handle, so comfortable in hand, nice and thin.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:12]:
It's got that, sort of ancient look. He has a really cool process for aging, the steel on his knives. Listen to our podcast to find out what that is. Also because I can't remember exactly. He does some cool stuff, a combination of weird materials, to get it to look like that, look like an artifact. There's his maker's mark. He's a really cool guy, Matt Carlson, and comes up with some really, really nice designs. Every one is unique, though he has lines, like the Drog looks like this, and then he's got a Drog two, and he's got, several other models that are consistent but different every time.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:55]:
And same with the larger fixed blade knives. He has more, less what do we wanna say? Less self defense oriented knives out there, but they all, you know, they could all be pressed into combat for sure. Also great sheath, really excellent sheath on this one. And like, like I like or appreciate on this style knife, it's got a little bit of a throat so that when you're resheathing it, you're not poking into the poking into the spare tire. So very nicely done on the sheath. And, again, like I said, I got this on the second, hand market. I'm not sure if this is the clip that he ships his knives with, but the clip has worked out great too. That's the Draug from Rib Splitter Knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:42]:
Next up is from Ron Steele Design. Ron Steele Design does a lot of really impeccably made knives. This one is the prime, and this was the first Prime he ever did double edged because I asked for it. And, he did a great job on it. It's it's so nice. It's so sharp. And the the Prime looks basically like this, except minus the double edge, and is a really compelling drop point blade. And I just don't find myself, finding drop point blades all that compelling too often, but I loved it so much, I had to have it, but I had to have it double edged.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:25]:
I believe it was well, it was Justin, I think, of tier one. Yeah. It was. Justin of tier one, before he was Justin of DC blades, the design phenom, sent me his prime and his Bowie, both from Ron Steele, to check out. They were both so cool. And going against type, I decided for the drop point instead of the Bowie, but I would have been equally happy with either. This one has a really nice deep maroon handle, that's a linen micarta, punctuated by gray and black g 10 spacers and, just a really refined grip. 80 CRV two, I believe, is the blade steel on this, and he did this really interesting acid treatment to it that sort of eats away at the blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:20]:
There there has been zero rust on this, so I'm not sure what he then coated it with. But really, really excellent, very thinly ground, very sharp, and, you know, now he does, I wish he did this I wish he was doing this when I got this knife, but he also, sends them with little fob beads or lanyard beads, made up of the same material that he makes the handle out of. And I think that's a really, really classy and cool touch. I like Milan. The jimping works great on this. A great, great double edged, knife, but just a great custom fixed blade knife that deserves more attention. I think Ron Steele in general deserves more attention. He's a great knife maker.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:09]:
Next up, from Polite But Dangerous Tools, that's Sam Curtis. You also might know Ethan Curtis of of, of, Venere Knives. I I I just messed that up. But you might know his brother, Ethan Curtis. He he's also a knifemaker, also making cool stuff. This is the, double edged this is the dagger, wrap dagger. I believe most of his knives are wrapped, this one, with the lace and the jute. I'm sorry.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:42]:
I was trying to remember what that material is. I love jute, and there it is under the wrap. This is my only, knife wrapped this way. Did a great job on the wrap here. Nice and super thin, is the blade. And so with that wrap, it's very grippy and the handle is broad, but it still fits the hand really nicely. Double edged dagger with a rock pattern. So all of Sam's knives kind of have this ancient feel to them, this this look, that that makes them look old.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:16]:
It's that rock pattern thing in the blade, but also the whatever the treatment is on the, on the blade on the steel itself, makes them look old. He's got a number of different models, and he's now making a tomahawk that's pretty cool looking. And each one is is unique. Even though he has models that he repeats, each one is unique. Kydex wrapped in leather, Some of them have little runes carved into them or, more than runes, they'll have little, survival instructions, for lack of a better term. And, it's overall a very unique and cool look. Yeah. So, he and his brother Ethan started out together, and then they, they started their own individual knife companies.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:10]:
So very cool. Two cool dudes, great guys, and they both have, law enforcement y and military like backgrounds. And so, it's interesting to see two brothers making, knives. Alright. Next up. Now this is, from a gent that I met at the Texas Custom Knife Show, and, he does a lot of cool stuff too. Very American, knives, lots of bowies. And, this one is the Mini Scalper.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:43]:
I got this because my knife budget was nearly blown, and it was pretty much all I could afford from him at the time. But I've fallen in love with this knife like you wouldn't believe. This is the Mini Scalper from three ten Forge. Mike Cahill is the maker. He is also, I believe, a, a preacher, a young man, younger than I am by far, and he also got me into pipe smoking. Thank you, Mike. He didn't actively, but I was like, See, young men can smoke pipes and look cool and enjoy them, and I like smoking stuff. I just like smoking.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:21]:
I like cigars. I used to love cigarettes, but I had to give those up and pipes. And I, but I always thought, but isn't Piper an older guy? And I'm not an older guy. Then I looked at him, and I'm like, I'm way older than he is. So thanks for giving me permission, tacit permission, to smoke pipes. There you see Cahill, you see his name there, three ten forge and then Cahill. But this these mini scalpers are awesome. A really thin piece of ten ninety five blade steel here.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:52]:
This is a dark cherry wood, very comfortable in the hand. This makes an outstanding, everyday carry blade. If you like sort of a an older look, like a a brute to forge look, I mean, he has a lot of forged knives. These are not forged, as you can tell. I mean, you might be able to tell. Not forged out like his big bowies. But if you like this sort of old look, this sort of, what's the word? I keep you relic relic sort of look, this is a great one. It rides so comfortably on the belt with this very light, but beautifully made leather sheet sewn together with sinew, and it has this, belt loop here.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:43]:
It just rides on the blade on the belt really nicely. I like to carry this one up front, you know, that front scout style, and, it's a great EDC. This is so sharp. I mean, you can see it's like a sixteenth of an inch thin. It's very thin, and then it's got a zero ground, edge, basically, with a little bit knocked off at the very, very edge. But, I mean, it is screaming sharp. It's irresponsibly sharp, but also rides really easy, very light, and has an old school look, which I just love. Check out three ten forge, and and by the way, it also looks nice in the sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:20]:
It's a nice overall package. But check him out. Like I said, three ten forge, follow him on Instagram. You can follow all these guys on Instagram. That's where I find that's where I found many of them, there or at Blade Show. But I yeah. One of these days, I'm gonna hire him to make I'm gonna commission a larger style knife from him. Okay.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:43]:
Next up is from Brent Smith. Brent, great guy who, I first knew on Thursday night knives, he would comment, and then I met him in person at blade show twenty twenty one, I think it was. And he had started making knives, and now he's got an awesome company, Baldman Knife and Tool. And he gifted the channel two knives, one of which I gave away. The other, I very generously kept for myself. This is so cool. This is his thicker clipper tanto. Now he does a thicker he does a clipper style, blade, it's called, and that's a drop point.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:19]:
And then he does the thicker clipper, which is the thick version of that, and then he does the tanto versions. And man, talk about an extremely useful knife. This is so stout and sturdy and ready to go, but very hollow ground and very thin behind the edge, so it's slicey as all get out. And then you have an extreme American style panto, almost looks like a chisel. That front, front edge is so steeply, inclined. I dare say that I know that this was not intended to be so, but this could be a really great self defense knife because you have that secondary point. It's so extreme. It it would, it would do it would do a lot of damage.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:06]:
But, the penetration is also excellent because it's got a wedge like front that's flat ground and razor sharp, and then a second you know, that the primary tip. So this thing would be great for that, but you're not using it for that, neither am I. This is a great all around work knife. Feels awesome in hand. It's got sort of an octagonal cross section, to the handle because the handle is broad enough and chamfered enough that it and the blade stock is wide enough that it turns out it's sort of octagonal. So any grip you grab it in, it's comfortable. I have used this to scrape glass. This is great for that purpose.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:48]:
You ever have, old stickers on your car you need to scrape off or something like that? This is awesome for that. But also, I do know that friends of Brent, use this in construction and all sorts of other things. He's got a brand new design out that is really cool. It's it's very different from this. It's larger. Can't remember what he calls it, but it's got a really nice descending, descending edge drop point that looks like it's ready for work all day long. Really cool knife. Great chimping on this.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:20]:
Bald Man knife and tool deserves more attention in general, but I'll say this thicker clipper tanto is the one I have the most experience with, and it is it is great. We gave the other one away, for a Gentleman Junkie knife giveaway. And if you're not familiar, the Gentleman Junkie is the high tier of support on Patreon, and every month, we do a, a giveaway. And that was an, an extra special giveaway that month. You can go to the knifejunkie.com/patreon to check out all of the details. Alright. Penultimate in our, selection here is from, Chris Stroop and Stroop Knives. This is his SD one, and I don't see much about the SD one, maybe because it's sort of specialized.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:07]:
Maybe there aren't too many people who like push daggers. I love push daggers, and late show 2023, my main mission was finding a push dagger, a great custom push dagger, and I found it in the Syhere SD1 from Stroop Knives. This has an incredibly comfortable handle. I have decided that with, push daggers, I like it where the where the knife protrudes between the forefinger and the middle finger, not the middle finger and the ring finger. I have a couple like that and those are fine too, but this to me, I like the control, the feeling of control with this. This, I believe, is 80 CR V two, and, it has an extremely comfortable handle. Now they they have changed up, they've modernized a bit, but when I first talked to Chris, had him on the show a couple of times, they were hand making all the blades and then machine making, the handles. So all the handles, all the ergonomics are exactly the same, but then your rock pattern on top will vary from knife to knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:16]:
This one has an excellent sheath that I prefer, sort of appendix carry. You can see that it's got that double DCC clip that looks a lot like a well, it's a gun clip, basically, gun holster clip. But I like it riding in the in the waistband right up front, kind of at a tilt like this, and then the handle itself kinda comes over the belt line like this. So it's a very comfortable, push dagger to carry. Sometimes if they're pointed, north to south, it's not as comfortable, it jabs in here and there. But this is really awesome. I I have another one from him, that I've used. This one I have not used, thankfully.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:03]:
This is used for one thing and one thing only. But the others, the other one I have, the reek, I can't remember what it's called. But, that knife is pretty awesome. And I know that his work is really stout and ready to go. He's a former army man, and he currently trains his kids. You can see, if you follow him on Instagram, you can see him training his kids in in, various shooting, engagements, and it's pretty cool. But this this SD one, if you like push daggers, I highly recommend this. It is awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:43]:
It's not the sliceiest knife on the block, but that's not what it's for. The SD one from SKOOG knives. One I have to carry more. All right, lastly, this one deserves more attention in general, and I'm gonna give it right here. This is from Knives by Nooj. This is the Primitive XL. The Primitive XL, I've talked about this quite a bit, because I just got it. I really, really love it.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:11]:
The Primitive in general is a cool knife, and I have the primitive wicket, which is a smaller, version of this. But the handle wrapped in jute, that's kind of what tells you it's a primitive, and also the ScandiGround blade. He has a number of knives similar to this. He's an outdoorsman, he being, Tom Nugent and the knives by Nugent. Tom Nugent is an outdoorsman. He makes great, outdoors camping, hunting style knives. Most of them have regular sort of traditional g 10 or micarta scales, but I love these primitive ones with the jute twine wrap. They're so comfortable, and they remain nice and thin.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:55]:
They're really nice to to grip. I like the feel of the Jute. Even on the small one I have when it's against my naked skin, like in the summertime, under my t shirt, it just feels good. It feels better than textured g 10, in my opinion. Plus, it's much thinner. 80 c r v two, again, a great blade steel. You've got a 90 degree spine on this. It throws sparks, really well.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:23]:
I did a in my close-up video of this, I started a little fire right here on my desk, throwing sparks with this in some fat wood and a ferro rod. And now, Tom has perfected his ambidextrous sheath. And like many of these ambidextrous sheaths, he's got the, Velcro soft side of the Velcro there so it doesn't rattle around, when when in there. He's got a a fully mounted DCC style, clip there and totally ambidextrous. So, as the name implies, goes in equally well both ways. This is very comfortable in the jeans. I really like this in a front jeans pocket. That's where these, ambidextrous sheaths really shine, I believe.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:11]:
You can also carry them in the waistband, but I really like them in the front pocket. The heat treat is great on these and and how do I know that? Well, because I've used my primitive wicket, the smaller version, like, so much, just noodling around outside, especially when I'm starting fires. I am a pyro at heart, and, it works great. I've I've, powered through a lot of kind of knotty and nasty wood, kiln dried wood, and it holds up great. And, this one needs more attention. Knives by Nooj needs more attention. They were just at Blade Show, Texas. So check them out.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:56]:
You can check out all of these makers on Instagram. It's what I highly recommend, not only just for good eye candy, but to keep an eye on these great makers and find out what they're doing. Also, most of them sell stuff through Instagram or on Instagram, so that's a great place to meet up with these guys. Alright. Be sure to join us on Sunday, this coming Sunday for episode five seventy nine of the Knife Jacket podcast when I speak to Mike, from Northern Knives. He's awesome. He's a great dude. Northern Knives up there in Anchorage, Alaska is not only a great knife shop, but they make knives, and they have a whole bunch of other, great services, based around the blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:40]:
So do check that out. Alright. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco urging you. Don't take dull for an answer.

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