The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
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Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, a very special gentleman junkie giveaway knife. I get a cold steel I said I'd never get. And these are the knives, the fixed blade knives that should be in every collection. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie podcast.

Announcer [00:00:18]:
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 [00:00:32]:
Welcome back to the show. One of my favorite comments this past week was from my good friend Dave of OG Blade Reviews who says top notch interview with a no, no nonsense maker and practitioner, Bob Kudos. And he was talking about Cash Haggard from Revenant Core who specializes in making weapons for NPE non permissive environments. So G10 knives and that kind of thing. Great conversation and well, I'm, I'm glad OG enjoyed it. He's one of the greatest knife combatives practitioners I know. So that's, that's a cool thing. Next was from our friend Trent Costello who said I think I'm turning into a knife junkie because when you guys videos hits, I'm like, yes, all caps.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:17]:
Yes. So Trent, I'm glad, I'm glad we broke through and now I know you, you join us a lot on Thursday night knives and in the comments. So thank you very much. That puts wind in my sails. Every new knife junkie feels like one of the fam. All right, that said, let's get to a pocket.

Announcer [00:01:37]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:44]:
All right. In my front right pocket today. I've been carrying this one a lot since I got it last week. This is the BBMW from North Mountain Knives. It's a Dwayne Dwire design. You know Dwayne DWI from strider knives fame. That's why this looks so much like a strider. The handle is a handle that we've seen in custom striders in the past.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:07]:
But that blade is all, is all strider all day long. That beautiful tanto profile. I really love this knife. It's very sharp and did some shipping. Well, that wasn't today actually. But I've cut out labels and stuff with that tip. It's very sharp tip and the whole knife, the knife on the whole feels very strong, very robust. It's got these thick slabs of, of non weight relieved titanium with a really stout lockup unlike the striders I have had.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:42]:
This does have a steel lock bar interface there, but it's Got this SLD magic steel. It's a, a San Mai style steel and it's really cool. It's got that natural Hamon line where the two steels meet. And if you look at it on the spine you can see the three different layers of steel there. So very cool. Great knife. I'm really going to enjoy having this and just kind of breaking it in. I have a feeling this is going to be one of my everyday carries for quite some time.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:13]:
And when I return to like my real strider and my hinderers and, and microtechs and you know that tier, I really, really like this knife. All right, next up in my front right pocket, right next to that beautiful North Mountain blade was this. Yes, this is a Kevin Dudy Duty's daggers. His company is now called Do Leather or something. I can't remember the name of his company he started, but this is before then. But he's always made really, really beautiful slips. I love that color green. But this is the QSP Hedgehog.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:49]:
One of the few cleaver style blades in my collection that I really, really like and keep coming back to. And it's great in pocket, nice and thin, nice and light. Beautiful jig titanium with the foam faux bolsters and with the double flute there. Kind of wish, I mean if I were to picnits I would say you already have the branded logo on the pivot. The branded pivot. Why put the logo there? I'm not crazy about the logo there but anyway not a huge deal of course. This is an M390. This was a special run on traditional pocket knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:28]:
So really nice blade steel, super duper thin on the, on the behind the edge geometry. Very thin, very, very nice. I should. Well, I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole. Okay, Next up is Pinkerton knives. Matador. I love this one. This is a very, very comfortable knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:49]:
He does great sheets and that's a huge part of fixed blade knives which you will see later. But Dirk Pinkerton, just one of my absolute favorite knife makers and designers out there. I'm especially fond of the knives he makes by hand, this being one of them. I named it the Matador and this was unnamed when I bought it. But it feels so good next to the skin in the summer. This is just a very comfortable riding knife. Very smooth contoured micarta handle. You can tell it's Micarta from that little patch there.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:22]:
It's kind of like a G Carta style material except it's polished, it's less Soft feeling than G Carta. Beautiful double edged S30V blade. And I've been, I've always been hot on Dirk Pinkerton's knives, but been carrying them a lot recently. Trying to figure out what knife we're gonna use for the 50, 000 subscriber giveaway. When this channel reaches 50, 000 subscribers, Dirk Pinkerton will be giving me a custom made knife of our choice. So if you have any. Our choice meaning mine and your choice and Dirk will make whatever we decide in his, you know, catalog of fixed blade knives. So, so let me know if you know Dirk Pinkerton, tell me what, what blades you'd like to see, what knife you would like to see him make.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:13]:
Custom or giveaway to everyone after we hit 50,000 subscribers. And if you don't know his blades, just look them up on the knife junkie channel because I've got a bunch of them. All right, last up my ESK today was the Partisan by Station nine knives. I love this thing, it's really cool. I, I have a drawer to the right of the drawer I'm always in for my fixed blade knife cabinet and it contains this and other Station 9 knives and the Marketa Cortata very tactical drawer. And I hadn't opened it in a quick minute, so I did this morning and I saw this and, and I grabbed it, threw it in my backpack and man, I love this knife and I love the testing videos I've seen of it. It's a super tough 1095 blade. I say super tough because I've seen it.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:09]:
I don't want to say abused, but I've seen this baton through multiple logs and I've seen it do all sorts of other stuff on Station 9 videos and other people's videos. So it's a super tough, super robust kitchen knife, if you will, repurposed kitchen knife a La World War I when French, French guys were running to the front and grabbing whatever they could for their knives. And this was typical of the kind of knife they would bring a sort of kitchen knife with a swedge ground in or some other modification to make it ready for the trenches. And so I think it's a really great useful knife, but also an interesting historical perspective for the design. All right, this is what I had on me today. What did you have on you? I had the partisan from Station 9. Wicked Deadly Kitchen knife by the way. Here's the sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:04]:
Got a cool sort of tuck it under the belt way to carry it. Really like it. I had the Matador from Dirk Pinkerton knives. There's his maker's mark. I had the QSP hedgehog in a Kevin Duty made slip, beautiful green slip, and one that's been hard to get out of my pocket. The only thing that's been kicking this out recently is the bison from Concept. I got these within a day of one another. It was the BBMN from North Mountain Blades.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:39]:
All right, let me know what you're carrying, drop it in the comments below. And as you do, I will show you the Gentleman Junkie knife giveaway knife for August of 2025, the month I turn another year old. Okay. This is made by Shane. You know Shane Gables. He's the man behind edgy American blades. First, I'll show you this gorgeous sheath made by 1931 Leatherworks. If you come to Thursday Night knives, you will recognize that logo because it is also his avatar on YouTube and he comments quite a bit towards the end of the show.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:16]:
So this beautiful leather sheath contains this incredible clip point bowie. Custom clip point Bowie, super thin, super light at four and a quarter inches and with G10, nice thin blade, stock super sharp. And the funny thing about it is Shane does not like clip point blades. And it's always been a bone of contention between the two of us. A friendly bone of contention, of course. So when he told me he wanted to make a giveaway knife, he started making knives. Only, I don't know, a year and a half ago. A year ago.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:51]:
And I've seen a number of his pieces. He gave me one and he took it back to tweak it. I can't wait to get that one back. It's called the Junkie. He decided, I want to give you a knife for the show and it's going to be a clip point because it's something we debate. It's a. It's a difference we have. And he's building bridges here, people building bridges with us Bowie lovers.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:14]:
So really nice, very comfortable. Full four finger grip, but nice and small. I could see if this were mine, which unfortunately it is not. I'm giving it away to a patron, but maybe there is another one in the future. This were mine, I would build a Kydex sheath for it and keep it in the waistband. It's so nice and thin and the handle is short. Big enough for four fingers, but short and round. Short enough and round enough that it doesn't bother the spare tire, which is slowly deflating the spare tire only through consistency.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:48]:
Lesson I learned right here on the Knife Junkie podcast. So this is what we're going to be giving away. It does have a belt loop, this leather sheath by the way. And if your belt is too thin, you can, you can snap it like that. So really, really cool package. Become a gentleman junkie. You can go to the knife junkie.com Patreon I'll tell you about that in a minute. But I'll tell you something else you get from Patreon.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:14]:
No matter whether you're a gentleman junkie, a traditional junkie or a tactical junkie, you get knife notes. And if you don't know what knife notes are, you have been missing out. So this is a regular feature that Jim started, oh I'd say three weeks ago and they have been a raging success. So it's a regular segment that he puts down here on Patreon where he breaks down, he talks about bowie knife, he talked about kukri, we Talked about the M3 trench knife and and also just different variations of knives. This is all about understanding grinds and it's got a really great breakdown of your different grinds and the types of blades they're on and how they cut and what their purpose and history are. So really cool tidbit here that you can just go on to Patreon and see. I mean this isn't just a tidbit, it's a full on bulleted informational guide on grinds. So that's another thing you get at Patreon on the Knife Junkie Patreon channel.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:26]:
So the quickest way to get one is to scan the QR code on your screen or go to the knife junkie.com patreon that's thenifejunkie.com patreon adventure delivered your monthly subscription for hand picked outdoor survival, EDC and other cool gear from our expert team of outdoor professionals. Thenif junkie.com battlebox you're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. And now here's the Knife junkie with the Knife Life news. First up in Knife Life news from Rose Craft Blades they have a new jack knife out. This is their bread and butter in my, in my opinion this is their really what they were known for from the very start with a really well made modern slip joint knives. This is a 2.7 inch D2 as usual they use D2 and it is great D2 clip point blade. Sort of a slender to me I see sort of a California clip point or the kind of clip point you see on a case trapper. Just a little pointier, a little more aggro in the point.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:32]:
But Beautiful clip point blade. It's got some modern touches again, like the slender profile, but also that swedge up front. It's got a nail neck and so that's a two handed opener right there obviously. But it's also got this really friendly and comfortable looking trapper style handle, sort of trapper style. It's a little different at the pommel area, a little rounded off, but who doesn't like that in a pocket knife? Two cover materials, you've got that beautiful Bora Bora blue. Bora Bora blue bone. So that's a quadruple alliteration. And the canvas micarta in green.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:13]:
They both have the bombshield, the Rosecraft bomb shield in there. Really beautiful. Available now. And if you don't know, these are incredibly robust blades. I've seen the whole Scab series where he took one. He's taken two different Rosecraft slip joints and used them on a daily basis until they fail or need to be sharpened. So very, very tough blades. You know, he's always cutting like Kevlar fire hose and Teflon coated this and that.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:45]:
So great tests there. Great knife in Rose craft blade. Buffalo River Jack. All right, next up is the Gerber Strong Arm. Now the Strong Arm is widely viewed as one of the few Gerber blades that are worth it. Two knife junkie types and that sounds snobby but you know, Gerbers had taken a lot of shots because it's made a lot of, taken a lot of missteps. But the Strong Arm has been a combat oriented, very strong knife that was first released during Global War on terror, I'd say circa 2012. And very, very, very strong blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:30]:
Very sharp. This one. They have the Strong arm tan. They've kind of friendlied up the design, made it a little more sleek with a sleeker drop point, 4.1 inches and a handle that was a little less on the tail end and created the strong arm tamp. Well, now it's out in Magnacut. So this more utilitarian version of the original is now wearing Magnacut. And we all know that Magnacut makes everything but better. Diamond texture.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:03]:
GFN handle that's class. Reinforced nylon with full tang and a striking surface at the pommel. You can see it's sort of shiny at the tail end. Multi mount Molle compatible sheath. Looks very, very nice and very low profile compared to the regular strongarm. Comes in at 4.8 ounces. It's made in the USA, people. This by all accounts is a great knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:29]:
And it's available now. So I, I have a couple of Gerbers that I don't really want. I got a couple that I really love, like some of the older ones. But this is one I would definitely, you know, I would, I would be interested in this night. All right, last up, I want to talk about a big news story from this past week, past two weeks, the the Walmart stabbing in Traverse City, Michigan. A individual human being called Bradford James Gill, G I L L E stabbed 11 people in the Traverse City, Michigan, Walmart with a buck 110 or something that looks exactly like a buck 110. So presumably it's a buck 110. And you know, that's neither here nor there.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:17]:
It's just that they mentioned the knife in particular, did Clay Alders in this article. There, there's a picture of it, the Grim Tool, two in serious condition, two in fair condition. And you know, my heart goes out to them and thank God no one died from this. But what a terrifying thing to be attacked with a knife when you're just trying to buy your ramen and some motor oil or what have you. But a former Marine, Derek Perry, armed with a pistol, kept this scumbag at bay until the police came. I kept him subdued along with the help of two other people. But again, former Marines, man, Marines forged some really incredible characters. We've talked to a lot of them here on this show.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:04]:
They're now a lot of them make knives. And here's this guy just keeping the peace even though he's not in active service. And I really appreciate it and I love those stories. A good guy with a gun. Someday there will be a good guy with a knife. That'll happen probably. But good guy with a gun saves the day. So thank you very much to Marine veteran Derek Perry.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:29]:
All right, coming up, we're going to take a look at a knife that I said I wouldn't get. And it is a cold steel. Crazy about that. But I ended up getting it and I love it. I do. We'll get to that in just a second. Just want to remind you about our newsletter comes out regularly and it has a host of information. That's where I write down stuff, show some pictures of knives I have and, and just kind of tee up the week.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:58]:
So check that out. The knife junkie.com/newsletter. Also, if you never come to Thursday Night Knives or if you've stopped for whatever crazy reason, join us on Thursday night knives at 10pm Eastern Standard Time. It's a great opportunity for us to get Together and talk knives. All right, coming up, the state of the collection. Knife themed shirts, hoodies, mugs, water bottles and more. The knife junkie.com shop.

Announcer [00:19:27]:
Ever strap a knife again? Even though it gets no real use? Face up to what you are, you're a knife junkie.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:35]:
First up, here it is. Yes indeed, the frenzy. Now this is the reason I got. This is thanks to two. Two different, two different people, just people in general on Thursday night. Knives telling me I need to get this. And one guy in particular, Terminator Joe.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:55]:
I saw a video he did recently of these and I know Terminator loves his cold steels. I believe he's also a former Marine and so I took his advice and I bought the Mayhem. Others have mentioned it. Just get it. Okay, I will. And I did. And I love it. I don't know why I waited this long.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:15]:
I know why I always call it a ham fisted design. And it is. I ain't a comic bookie, isn't it? But there's appeal in that. I. I don't know what took me so long to see the appeal in that. But this is a big knife. 6 inches of Aus 10. It has come out in S35VN from time to time, special limited editions.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:40]:
But I got the regular one. I got it on Amazon and yeah, it's a little bit more than I've ever paid for a cold steel folder. I think or right about it was 200 bucks. I'll just come out and say it. Usually it's been like 260, you know, it's coming down. But it's still pretty expensive for a cold steel and it's also pretty expensive for AUS10 which is a good steel and they of course heat treat it wonderfully. And I know that from other Austin knives I have of theirs. I haven't really used this one yet, but still you expect for that money s 35 yen or cts x xhp like they have on some other more expensive models.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:23]:
Anyway, great, great knife. This I'm still a little spurious with. I gotta, I gotta get a little more used to this Atlas lock. But it's very strong by all indications, if you believe the press. Anyway, it's very, very strong and so that's good. And you can fidget with it, which is also kind of fun. So there it is. Big, giant, stupid like crazy.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:51]:
Wicked sharp, almost 2 inches broad. And very, very, very slicey and sharp and nasty. So this is the Cold Steel Mayhem. You'll hear more as my love affair, as the honeymoon goes on next up, from auxiliary manufacturing, their first production knife. This is one of two of their first production knives. It's the pocket Bowie, one of their most famous models. That's when I say they, I mean Michael Jarvis and his wife. Auxiliary manufacturing it is.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:25]:
Michael Jarvis. His wife helps out a lot. I met her a couple of times at Blade show. But anyway, they had Miguron make a production version of this, and they did a beautiful job. It's 14C 28 and saber ground recurve, small 3 inch bowie blade with a nice sweep swept. What do you call it? Swedge there. But still that, due to the recurve and the. And the depth of the swedge, the point is still in the center line.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:56]:
It lines up with the pins. Now this one above is the custom version that I got Thanksgiving time, 2023. He really went with a great maker here. Meguron did an awesome job of turning this into a. A great production version of this knife. The handle's a little skosh smaller on the, on the production, but it's very, very comfortable. I get a three and a half finger grip on that Coffin handle. Coffin shape handle knife there.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:30]:
That's the Deadhead symbol there. Not Deadhead like Grateful Dead, but Deadhead is a line of knives, his production line of knives. Now, I said two. This comes in black with. With black G10, and then it also comes in two folding versions. So titanium frame lock versions of this or titanium bolster lock version. Gorgeous, gorgeous knives. I had a chance to experience them at Blade show and I.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:00]:
I really, really love. All right, that's what I've got to show you. Really happy with what I've gotten this past week. It's very nice. I. I was in the little dry spell, which is fine. Got plenty of knives to keep me busy, and that sort of turned around recently. All right, before we get to the fixed blade knives that should be in every collection, I got to show you a new design from Jim.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:23]:
And this one made me laugh. Folding is my cardio, and yeah, indeed, folding is my cardio as well. And thank God for fidgety knives. So this is a design that you can get on T shirts, hoodies, women's T shirts, men's T shirts, hoodies, baseball caps, coffee mugs, aprons, a whole host of stuff, just like you can. All of the different logos and. And funny, witty maxims that Jim has come up with for. For T shirts and products. It is awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:56]:
I love it. And this is one of my favorites. Actually. Folding is my cardio, especially considering the struggle I Feel as I become a man of, I'm, well, a man of a certain age and trying to lose weight. Well, this is one way to do it and a great justification. All right, so here we are. USMC K Bar is the first so knives that we should have in our collection. This of course is a continuation from the folders.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:25]:
This is the fixed blade edition. And I just want to make this caveat up front. I'm not saying every collection needs every one of these, but if you're someone with a folder collection and you start thinking you need a fixed blade, this is a great place to start. These are some of the best knives of their category and some of them, like the USMC KA Bar or in this case the Doghead K Bar, really are moral imperatives. Like everyone should have this particular knife. The KA Bar. It is a great place to start. It's got a great history in this country in two different ways.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:06]:
First of all, it's a clip point blade. It's a, it's a, a bowie essentially. But also it is our military's fighting knife. Fighting utility knife for 80 years now, pretty much. And I just love it. This one has a stick tang. They do make one now I'm seeing with a full tag, which is kind of interesting. But mostly they're the stacked leather and sort of plastic handled.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:34]:
The 1095 blade steel 1095 CRO van, very, very tough steel. So they took the combat utility knife, the USMC K Bar and turned it into this sort of utility knife in the dog head, shortening the quillians, making them a little thicker and then giving you this pounding surface in the back. So every collection, I, I, I would say that this is the first one you should get and that's why I'm mentioning it first. But all these others are so great. Next up, the buck 119. This beauty is the sort of knife that led to the KA Bar design. A lot of American soldiers were bringing knives like this, though not this knife, to World War II. Just clip point hunting knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:30]:
Do all hunting. Hunting knives that could skin animals but also do all sorts of camp chores and are just great. Do all knives. But also, if you think like me, this would also make a pretty good fighting knife. I think the 120 is the same knife except a couple inches longer. So that's probably an even better fighter. You got a hollow ground 420 HC blade. But if fighting is not your purpose, which probably it isn't, this would also be just a great fixed blade knife to have.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:03]:
But 420 HC a la buck. Nicely heat treated. This has a zero ground swedge which to me is why. That's why I kind of mentioned fighting. But I guess it might have a skinning utility as well. I'm not sure. Tell me in the comments. Got this thick plastic handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:23]:
Thick that goes all the way to the sides of the guard. And the grip I used to think was too much. Now it's perfect. I love it. I love the way it feels. And then the bolster, it looks good. I'm sorry. This is a bolster on the pommel there.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:40]:
It looks really good. It functions really well. It's super sharp. It's been around a long time. It's not that expensive. I remember ogling these in our hardware store growing up. They had a case and a buck display case and I would just linger at this. I always thought it looked like a.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:59]:
Well, it looks like a Daniel Boone knife. It did to me as a kid. So great knife. Great leather sheath. High quality leather with a plastic insert and then this cool snapping throat retention buck 119. Okay, the next is more of a category. I'm going to be inserting four more categories in here between specific knives and this category is neck knife. A lot of people aren't crazy about neck knives, but I am.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:29]:
I don't carry them that often but when I do it's been this one for a long time now. This is the primitive wicket by Knives by Nuge. And then this is another example if you, if you don't want to spend a good deal of money on a fantastic custom knife, you just want something quick, usable and awesome. Quick and cheap and usable and awesome. You can get a mini tack or something like this. Cold steel has a whole bunch of neck knives. A whole bunch of them. This is one of my very favorites though.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:05]:
3 1/2 inch Bowie blade, AUS 8. Really great sub hilt, 3 finger sub hilt handle and great sheath. Tucks away under the shirt. Pretty light. This is though it has a big footprint. It is pretty light. I just don't like it next to my skin because this G10 bow G10 here is very grippy but a great, great knife. So neck knives are great for.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:34]:
For another reason especially this is evident in the mini tack. But you can take this sheath and you can alter it to fit on your belt. Especially scout style. Well actually scout style or vertical just by putting in zip ties through here or paracord and just strapping it on your belt. Super light, very small, easily, easily obtained with that grippy handle. And the sub hilt and it's to hand quickly. So great small, useful fixed blade knives. This one you can start a fire with.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:10]:
It's got a great Scandi Edge 10 I mean ADC RV2. So just good to go for all sorts of chores. And so light hangs, hangs on your chest. Don't even feel it. This one is nothing. So definitely neck knives I would have to put on here. All right, next up is a specific knife. This is the Mora knife companion or Mora kniv.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:39]:
Not sure exactly how they pronounce it, but mora. The Mora companion. I have a couple of moras. I have the old red handled one. I have the stainless steel one which I'm not crazy about. I mean I haven't really used it actually much but I don't like the sheath on that one. But in any case this, this one has gotten a lot of use and it's a great knife. Now I would say it's light duty.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:06]:
I've seen tests done on it like the hammer test, the hammer and nail test and this steel doesn't fare super well. But you know, you probably don't need to hammer this through a nail in your day to day. If you did it could do it. It would just take a chip out of it. But that's not really what this is for. This is great for carving wood, for making fire sticks for any sort of chore around the house. I've had this clipped on my, even on my gym shorts. Just chilling at the house and you know, doing, doing chores and stuff.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:46]:
It's got a great drop sheath. You just, you can just drop it right in while you're working. You don't really have to look at it. You can just sort of feel where it is and it just pressure fits. It's really light, it's really inexpensive. It's like me cut myself on camera. This can be had for just slightly over 20 bucks. I believe used to be in the teens, but now I believe it's in the like 25 or something like that.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:18]:
But more knives are incredibly useful. You can get a bunch of them and you can throw one in your tackle box, throw one in your truck and you know you're going to have a super useful knife that's also not very threatening, especially if you get it in one of the cute colors that you can get it. All right, next up is a category type and now I'm talking about daggers. Everyone needs a dagger, every household. Now you don't necessarily have to get the Spartan George Raider which for a spartan knife is quite inexpensive. But look at that beauty. Designed by Les George, a former Marine yet again and a EOD expert. Outstanding knife maker and designer with an, with a real love for daggers.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:11]:
And this one is based on the Marine Raider Dagger which was short lived due to, due to its very delicate specs and the state of materials during the startup of of the war. So they were usually very cheaply built and just didn't last very long. So much so that Marines would kind of proactively break the tip off with a pair of pliers and sharpen it like a chisel at the front because they knew it was going to break off anyway. But this is a much more robust build. 1095. This is made in conjunction with. I think Ka Bar had something to do with this. Correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:59]:
A beautiful commando style handle that bulges no matter how you turn it. So you always have nice palm swell and a great grip with the knurling and the checkering and the jimping. But if you want something a little smaller, a little more subtle and you're just not willing to go the double edged route because. Because it's illegal where you are, get a spyderco perfo. I'm sorry, a civivi Perfo SPO also has a cool dagger by the by and it also is single edged. Now this one I had made double edged by Klingenberg Sharpening and Kyle Kunley did an amazing job. But it comes single edge. So maybe you like the symmetry and the penetrating potential of a dagger shape, but are conscious of your knife laws and don't want to, you know, run afoul of the law.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:57]:
Get yourself a civivi. It's really, really great. And this has lived up to a lot of torture testing which you can see on YouTube. So this 14C 28 and blade steel is a really good, well, heat treated steel and in this case in a great, great blade. Also I like the sheath even though a lot of people don't like it. But all in all, a dagger should be in your collection. Sometimes it, it could be like a historical dagger like the Fairbairn Sykes on the wall. That's one category I don't talk about here is historical blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:38]:
All right, I need to take care of this blood here. That, that just goes to show you that the knives on this show are real. Okay, next up is the. Is another specific knife you should have and that is the Sog SEAL Pup. This knife has been, yes, used by Navy seals and preferred by Navy seals and is cheap. But I, I'm not calling the Navy seals cheesy obviously, but, but to say, oh, the Navy seals like this, yeah, it's like that's how people sell products. But really this was made for them and used by them immensely. Bought at PXS and yeah, so.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:22]:
And at one point I think it was standard issue before the srk. But don't quote me on that. Really, really beautiful double peaked Mac v SOG style Bowie blade. In this case AUS 8. First they were AUS 6. I think you can get the SOG seal pup plus it's called in S35VN and that's got like continuous jimping on the entire back of the blade, which I'm not crazy about. I know it's used for notching, but I don't notch. Really nice handle with a thumb rest here and a finger guard but not too much.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:58]:
It's not going to get in the way. Finger wells that, that fit my hand well, especially in the saber grip when my fingers are splayed out a little bit like that, a someone with big meat hooks could definitely grab this in a hammer grip and their, their fingers will sink into those wells nicely. Really, really great blade. This has been riding in my bag for years and years, my EDC bag. And there have been a number of times where I've been alone at work on the weekend and put this in my belt just because there's no security there, you know, I'm just, you know, so I've stashed this in my belt and it's done duty with me at work sometimes. This right here, great lanyard to just wrap around the hand like this and hold like that. Got some ranger bands on there to increase the grip. SOG Seal Puppy.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:54]:
All right, next up is a very loose category and I'm calling this fighter. This is the fighter category. And to me you differentiate the fighter from the dagger in that it's asymmetrical. But to me a fighter has to have at least a partially sharpened back edge. In this case it's fully double edged. But no, it's not a dagger. You can especially see when you turn it upside down like that. You can see the asymmetry of it.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:22]:
This main bevel is a much is bigger and at less steep and angle than the top and then it's got like a drop and an asymmetrical tip. Really, really nice knife. This is the Zabo Express. Can't believe I haven't carried this in so long or just had it out and about I tried carrying this, it was just a little bit bigger for me at about five and a half inch blade length. Really nice micarta handle and all the rest. But double edged and asymmetrical, not a dagger. Another one we were talking about, Dirk Pinkerton. You know, there are all sorts of fighters.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:06]:
There's the famous sub hilt fighter which I have a few of. But also there's a fighter like this for instance. Totally asymmetrical. You got that upswept blade but two very sharp edges. So this is a knife intended for fighting self. It's almost more like fighting, you know, something you would have if you were someone who relied on your knife to survive this. And I don't mean survive in the woods. This is a combination of a Middle Eastern Kanjar and a Hell's Bells Bowie by Bill Bagwell.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:44]:
I'm. I'm talking in terms of inspiration. It is also a Dirk Pinkerton knife. And here's a great opportunity to plug 50,000 subscribers. When we get that, he's going to make us a custom knife for giveaway. It could be this. We haven't decided on a model, so if you like the Razorback, let me know. I do, I love it.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:05]:
All right, so fighters. So that's a category of knife asymmetrical, double edged or at least partially double edged fighting knives. They need to be in every collection. But that's less, you know, less necessary than say the Moronite. It's something to aspire to, I guess. All right, next up is the cold steel srk and it's this knife in particular. This definitely is used by Navy seals and often this is like a very, very well loved knife in that realm, but also in basically everywhere. Everyone loves the SRK.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:46]:
It can be had in 3V for, you know, over 150 bucks. I'm not sure how much, like maybe 250 actually and, or you can get it in. This is carbon 5. This is pretty old. This one was made in the USA. So this one's from 2006. I remember because that's the year my wife went abroad and started opened up a this before we were married. She opened up a branch of her office in London and so I made her a bugout bag and she smuggled this into the country, kept it there, smuggled it back out.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:24]:
Never really been used. But super awesome knife is the SRK. It's a 6 inch clip point blade. No matter what steel you get, it's going to be nice and tough because cold, cold steel does such a great job with their heat treat. SRK stands for survival rescue knife. And this one has a zero ground swedge which I love. If you haven't caught on to that yet. Great grippy handle, nice and big and also has that palm swell there.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:00]:
So a really nice profile. That's the cold steel srk. This is one that everyone should get. This a KA bar, you know, this or a KA bar kind of. Or both. Both preferably, of course. All right, next up category, the small self defense blade. We've got three examples here.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:23]:
First is the Beckwith Covert. This is a nice one. This is by the Fisher Fisher Knight. Fisher blades sits deep in the pocket on this extended DCC pocket clip. And that's where the pocket goes through. All that sticks out is that. And it's easy to grab using the pommel there. And it's got grippy G10, a really sharp and well designed three and a quarter inch Tanto blade, downward angle so that it really takes advantage of any sort of pressure, cutting or momentum.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:03]:
And then the tip is center line and it's also very, very sharp. This is such a great self defense everyday self defense knife. The Beckwith Covert there. Next up is the Elvia from Copus designs. This one I had wrapped by Josh Mason, right For war knives that Sukamaki wrap. But really that's the star. It's that Picol style knife. You can get this design knife with the tip down, optimized for the tip down and the edge in for self defense.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:37]:
Just think you're a tiger basically can be had in a lot of different ways. But this is sort of a formalization of the trend of taking Victorinox fruit knives and bending them like I have and turning them into Pikal self defense knives. This sort of codified it with the injection molded handle already bent into shape with that finger groove and for the forefinger and the hook style fruit blade set at an angle or optimized for back fisting and for tearing and ripping. So great small self defense knife. This has an Ulti clip on it, but you can also just drop it in the pocket without the clip and then use that hook to extract the blade from the sheath on the inside seam of your pocket. Sort of like a fixed blade wave. All right, lastly in this category of small self defense knives is the push dagger. This is the stroop SD1 stroop knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:47]:
Really, really knocked it out of the park with this. This was the year I was looking for. I was at blade show looking specifically for a push dagger. And this is what I Ended up getting, getting very, very comfortable in the hand though it has a bit of a wide neck here. It seems comfortable. More comfortable than if it were in the middle of the, of the hand somehow because this is set up for finger on top and then the rest of the three fingers on bottom. Really, really nice. Great little sheath.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:24]:
This one just I have in the belt. I don't have it horizontally as this mounted DCC pocket clip would, would imply. It actually goes under my belt. And then I put this over the belt or the seam of my belt. So push dagger pocket. Self defense and. And pal style knife. Some great small self defense knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:48]:
No matter what style you choose. Maybe it's just a paring knife or something that looks just like a paring knife. If you have it there for self defense, it's nice and small. You can carry it every day. Then if you need it, heaven forbid you'll have it. All right, next up is a specific knife, but it's two specific knives. It's more of a specific platform. And that's the tkal knives combatant or the tkal knives adversary.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:21]:
Same platform, different different blade. Now I would say get them both, but you know, that's just my inclination. Great handle on these. And if it's too small for you, because decal knives really goes for small handles to maximize concealability. If this is too small for you for your giant hands. He does make, he being Tim Kell makes an extended handle. So it's G10 that looks just like this. And at the end it sandwiches together and creates a longer grip.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:57]:
Very, very great. Very good idea for these knives because they do have a small profile. Great blade. This is the redesign of the combatant. So the drop point blade redesigned and made pointier. And then here we have the wharncliffe in the adversary. A really nice thumb swale there that does great machining. I mean this machining is incredible.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:24]:
Thumb swales and, and thumb jimping. Really, really awesome. Two great knives. You choose. But they go really well on the belt. So this rides just right up front on my belt. I have it set up for standard draw. So like this up front on my belt.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:44]:
Standard draw and then the same for the adversary. They're just great knives if you want to get used to carrying fixed blade knife. This is a great, great knife to start that with. It's nice and small but super potent. So that is the tel knives adversary or combat. All right, last up or second to last is a category and it is the tanto. You want a tanto first? I'LL start with this. This was the one that started my entire knife collection in the 80s.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:19]:
This is the cold steel tanto. This was their first big, big knife. They did well. This was their first night. They came out with this and the push daggers. First you got brass. This was one of the originals. OG's Tanto by Cold Steel, Ventura, California.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:37]:
Made in Japan. And those typewriter letters. Really, really nice knife saved up for it. It's got that Americanized tanto tip that you see on cold steel tantos. Lynn Thompson of Cold Steel is the guy who really, he invented it or at very, very least popularized it. But I'm pretty sure he's the guy who did it. I think that's kind of his claim, and I think most people accept that. Next up is the Tomashi E.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:11]:
This designed by the great Bob Terzuola. This is also a tanto. This is a more traditional style Japanese tanto with that upswept blade and no real difference in surface from the flat to the hollow there. This has a nice swedge on it for piercing and it's got a great setup jimping up here on the blade, also jimping back on the handle. If you're gonna handle this in a saber grip, this one has really well seasoned, dark green G10. And what is it, 14C 28N blade steel or no nitro V blade steel. I'm sorry. Really, really nice.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:57]:
The, the main USP of the Tanto is puncturing. You can get through tight spots. You can get through tough materials with those acute tips and with the cold steel, with the brute force force of that triangular flat ground tip. So. But there are no slouches when it comes to cutting either. They're great knives. I, I'm surprised that they aren't used more often in the outdoors. Tell me why Americanized tantos aren't used more in the outdoors.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:27]:
But there is everything from super expensive, which I'm not saying this is, but there's a whole spectrum of tantos out there on the market, both in blade design and in cost, that you can, can and should indulge in. But this last one takes precedence. And it is the large bowie knife, but it's not a category. I'm going to get specific. I'm going to tell you it's the cold steel trail master. This knife has been with me for well over 25 years, could even be 30 years. I, I have to really pinpoint my mind when I got this, but it's been through a lot, both voluntarily for fun and then also on A couple of camping trips. One in particular.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:16]:
This is way back when it made me feel secure running through the woods with no flashlight. When we got when me and a former girlfriend got lost around Lake George in upstate New York and I swear we were being followed out. I. I think I might be making that up as I go. I've been saying that for a while, but I think maybe I've been listening to too many Bigfoot stories. But I was spooked as hell being in the woods with no flashlight. Like an idiot I had this but no flashlight. Anyway, nice thick 516 of an inch blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:57]:
Nice slender profile on this bowie with a zero ground swedge makes this a great fighting knife. It's got a coffin style handle. This is one that I've often thought if, if I really had to defend myself like this really might be it. I love this. It swings great. It's nice and light though. Not light. Lively in hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:20]:
Brass guard. This is an old one of course as I mentioned, carbon V steel, but it comes in 3V. It comes in 304034 I believe. And it can. It is just a life saving knife. I love this knife. In later years, more recent years, it's been used a lot to baton wood. All that said, like I think large bowie is the way to go.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:45]:
You can get an SP10 still probably from Ontario knives or any other, any other great bowie knife out there. Cold steel's got a lot of. So pick your poison but definitely get a large bowie. And I highly, highly recommend the cold steel trail. All right, thank you, thank you for joining me on this journey through the realm of knives. You should have fixed blade knives you should have in your collection. Now as I said, you start with one and you go from there. Or you start with a couple maybe if your budget allows more a knife, very inexpensive.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:28]:
So check these out. You'll be glad you did, especially if you're a folder exclusive guy. All right. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DiMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an azzy.

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