The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
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Announcer [00:00:03]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast. Your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob The Knife Junkie DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:16]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:18]:
I'm Bob DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:19]:
On this edition of the show, I'm speaking with my friend Tomas. Alas, of the Tactical Tavern. Tomas is a knife tube and knifegram phenom. From his on point product reviews of knives and other EDC gear to his masterful demonstrations of his martial arts prowess, Tomas has galvanized a broad sector of the online knife enthusiast community and has helped steer the conversation towards better gear and training. Another run of his collaboration with TKEL Knives is about to drop, so I can't wait to talk about that. But so much more. We'll talk to Tomas about all this stuff, but first, be sure to like, comment, subscribe. Hit the notification bell.

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Bob DeMarco [00:01:42]:
Tomas, always a pleasure sir. Thanks for coming back on the show.

Tomas Alas [00:01:46]:
Thank you so much for having me. I am beyond excited and I know my family's watching. So. Hello family. Wherever you're watching from.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:52]:
Hello family. It's, it's awesome. You raised an awesome guy. Tomas is the best and we love him dearly. Tomas, welcome to the show. Let's. Let's get, let's start right with the brass tacks. Let's, let's talk about the agent 007 because as we record this, it's about to drop.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:11]:
Like next week. It is, it's coming out.

Tomas Alas [00:02:14]:
So we're excited, we're trying something new. So based on feedback, I really wanted to experiment with the steel. So we're having a limited run of S35VN come out on the ontos. And in addition to that, again, kind of limited, we're going to do some pre orders on the ADCR V2s. But to me, something that really is special is the Samurai Wrap editions from Bastinelli Growing up in knives, I've always admired Bastinelli's work, his lines. And he was generous enough to work with us on these samurai wrap 007s. I mean just. Oh man.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:55]:
Positively beautiful. Let me just interrupt you real quick and say that I saw that this was a new wrap. You've had auxiliary manufacturing. Mike Jarvis, he does beautiful work too. I saw this one and I have a maroon wrapped diagnostic, not diagnostic anomaly from, from Bastion. And I was like, what? Who did this? Like I knew it wasn't Mike Jarvis's. It's just a different style. Nice.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:23]:
Nice to, to bag Bastinelli here.

Tomas Alas [00:03:26]:
Incredible. So I love Jarvis's work because it's a flat wrap, it's a little untraditional, but it's beautiful because it's so slim. So if you want something ultra concealed carrying, that's the one to go to. With the genuine race skin, this is kind of the inverse of that where it has that traction on the inside, but it has that traditional, traditional wrap and your fingers just melt. No matter if they're big, small, however you hold it, this thing just. Oh, the snap cuts on this. Unbelievable. So beautiful.

Tomas Alas [00:03:55]:
Very limited. November 21st, that's the date that they're going live. So November 21st of this November. Okay.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:04]:
That's a Friday I believe, right?

Tomas Alas [00:04:06]:
Yes. On tkownives.com some people were like, well they're gonna be on Bastion site. No, no TKL knives. They're coming at you, coming in hot.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:14]:
Very cool. Well, so not only do you have the Bastinelli Tsukamaki wrap on this and by the way, he does a mean Tsukamaki wrap and, and I'm a big fan of that because as you were mentioning, it's either your fingers or the fat of your palm. They're, they're always sinking into one of those valleys, you know, and it's just such a great grip.

Tomas Alas [00:04:37]:
It is. You understand why it's been used for centuries with the samurai because it's like no matter how you grip it, there's traction points all throughout and it accommodates any grip that you go into. The other thing is he does an epoxy seal on this. So it's not like, oh, if I get, you know, organic materials on it, is it going to corrode? No, you just like brush it off because it's just sealed perfectly. So they're beautiful. Custom leather sheath. That's been my everyday carry since the moment I got it. Stunning.

Tomas Alas [00:05:06]:
Nice.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:06]:
So as a, as a brother of the Agent series, I recently got my new Agent 001s, which recently went up with the Battle lock scales. And I have. I've. This is my first time experiencing the battle lock. And then I got a whole bunch of knives from him with. With Battle Lock. I love that frn. And I never thought I'd say that.

Tomas Alas [00:05:29]:
Oh, man. I know some people love it. And some people are like, that's so aggressive. And in my videos, I jokingly tell them, I'm like, well, then you need to work out your hands some more. But, yeah, it's offensive. I'm like, all right, Joe, it's a joke. But what I told people is if it's too aggressive for you, you can just take some sandpaper and sand it off just a little bit if you want to wear it appendix close to your body. That way it's not going to, you know, create any weird red spots that you have to explain later.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:56]:
Yeah. And also the. The beauty of the Battle Lock is the color saturation is intense. I never thought desert tan or olive drab could look so vivid.

Tomas Alas [00:06:09]:
It does. And. And it really does an incredible job at locking your hands into. It feels like ray skin. It's like synthetic ray skin, in my opinion. Beautiful. Yeah. Well done.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:18]:
All right, so before we move on from the 007, tell me, tell us all a little bit about what you were thinking about for the design going into this. That very aggressive and slender Tonto. It's beautiful to the eye, but tell us about the functionality of it.

Tomas Alas [00:06:35]:
Yes, sir. So first off, we have. There would be no agent series without Bob DiMarco. So thank you to you and Tkel for working on basically the frame of it. Right. And he approached me with a Tanto. He goes, hey, would you be interested in doing something? I go, we need to do a Tanto. There has to be a Tanto series.

Tomas Alas [00:06:53]:
But all the other ones, like, full credit to Lynn Thompson. He's popularized the Americanized tanto. Right. With a very obtuse Yokote. I wanted something very key, and there's multiple thoughts that went into this. First off, I love the idea of an everyday carry scalpel. Not 90% of the time, you're not going to be slinging around and taking out bad guys, although maybe some of you guys will be doing that. But I love the functionality of such a detailed cutting tip.

Tomas Alas [00:07:19]:
I think when you go to an everyday carry knife, majority of your work has to do with that first third of your knife majority. Right. Opening a package, opening up a letter. And so I measured the angle for myself onto the table and that's this angle here. So when you press flat onto a surface, that's that angle so you get full contact there. You have that aggressive, detailed point for medical work. I'm an Eagle Scout, so I've always been fascinated by medical. Going into EMT training and I was like, man, if I ever have to do like tracheotomy or something or dig out a splinter, I want my tool to be sharp enough to be able to do that.

Tomas Alas [00:08:00]:
Additionally, training in original Hirona Screema, we have a lot of thrusting or cities and I was like, man, if I can have someone that, if I just handed them to it and they could be effective with this tool, it's, it's going to do the work for you. It requires minimal resistance and yes, you get the beautiful pressure cuts of like.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:20]:
A straight edge, but it has a.

Tomas Alas [00:08:22]:
Slight gentle curve to it. So if you're doing any good thing or passing strikes, it's going to kind of slice and eat into it. So, yeah, all around. Quite a versatile tool. Although some people might look at it and think, oh, that's just, that's a tactical knife right there. No, it's actually a pretty versatile everyday carry tool, if you know how to use it.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:42]:
Yeah, oh, snap. Yeah, absolutely. And, and you know, I don't mean to overstate this, but it is beautiful to look at too. And, and you know, I call myself shallow for noticing that, but it, it is just, it's a beautiful knife, man.

Tomas Alas [00:08:57]:
I'm, I'm a huge fan of the.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:59]:
Design of that knife. And you were talking about that first third. You've seen the 004, I think you might have one, maybe the puukko, a little puko. That is like the tip of a knife, right? It, it is a, it's another one in the series. And, and it has, you know, a very utilitarian point. It's, it's under that 3 inch threshold for legality purposes. What is the blade length on this one?

Tomas Alas [00:09:28]:
This one's coming in at right about 3.7. 3.7. And I wanted that so that way when you extend your finger, you're met with that flat part of the blade. So super close up, it actually transitions from that slight hollow grind on the top to a flat. So when you're doing that extended cutting, maybe, you know, your kid asks you to cut out, you know, a flower for their art project, you, you don't have scissors, you can get that comfortable. Because I hate when you're using a knife, especially for like woodworking and it has like all that sharp, like, you know, swedge on there. It's not practical. Yeah, so this has that full extinct for the majority of people.

Tomas Alas [00:10:06]:
I mean, I know you got some meat hands guys out there with extra, extra large gloves, but. Well, then it conceals better. But for a normal person, you're going to have just that little bit of tip sticking out for your detailed cutting wood.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:21]:
So beautiful and beautiful. I'm sorry, go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna say, I.

Tomas Alas [00:10:25]:
Mean, truthfully, yes, of course. This is a personal protection tool. With that in mind, I did measure the average distance between the rib cage on a, you know, anatomy, physiology. So that way even if you did have to plunge it in to that target, it would still go in more than likely and split them. So we tested it on the ballistic dummy with an A plus.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:45]:
Pass. Yeah, that was one of my favorite videos of the season.

Tomas Alas [00:10:47]:
Yeah, I remember that.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:49]:
I think that was the Texas Custom Knife show. You went to town on one of those things?

Tomas Alas [00:10:53]:
Yes, sir.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:55]:
Yeah. So no conversation about an agent series or any decal knife would be complete without mentioning how. I mean, from the very start, Tim and his company is outstanding. He's a great guy, his family's awesome. But now, now he's got Nick Chuprin and NCC Knives doing a lion's share of the machining. And it's astounding.

Tomas Alas [00:11:20]:
And shout out to Tim too for being so communicative. I'm sure you experienced it too with this. You're double of one. Like any minute changes. He's always listening to the, the end user and they're like, hey, man, we'd love to see this change or what? He's so on it. And Nick, especially on yours, what I really love is this subtle line here for that back cut. Now. Oh man, he was able to nail it.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:46]:
But, but, but what impresses me even more is the. It's some of the creature comforts you get out of these.

Tomas Alas [00:11:53]:
Now.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:54]:
All of the chamfering on the, on the corners, on the edges, everything except for the main edge, everything has a nice feel to it in hand. Whereas the first ones, which were also great. I mean, I'm not. Certainly not bad, nothing those. But, you know, things, as they progress, they become more refined. If, if you're going in the right direction, then this one is really.

Tomas Alas [00:12:16]:
That it doesn't. And I'd like to answer something. I've gotten questions. People are like, well, why does it have ridges on there? Like you can, you can hear it. And if you think of like a santuku with, like, the dimples on a kitchen knife, it relieves that pressure so there's less contact surface area. That's exactly what this does on the Agent series with Nick trippin behind the machines on there. There's so much less drag that even on those more tough materials, fibrous materials, it zips right through and you'll. You'll go like, did I even hit it? Oh, you went through it.

Tomas Alas [00:12:47]:
It's just. It's like the Hatanza horde.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:50]:
Yeah. Yeah, that's a. That's a really, really good point. It's not. I mean, yes, it's. It's pleasing to the eye, but it's a lot more than that. There's a purpose behind it. They're not just showing that you can.

Tomas Alas [00:13:02]:
Do it or terrace.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:03]:
It really does have a.

Tomas Alas [00:13:05]:
A use. Exactly. And. And the weight reduction, too. So it just has that little bit of handle heaviness to it. So the recovery is so much faster. It's quite a deceptive line, especially with the milling work. It's.

Tomas Alas [00:13:20]:
It's phenomenal machining. World class, world class.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:23]:
So I want to move on a little bit. I mean, I see you doing the. The. The moves, the knife moves. Tell us what your martial art is, what you've trained, you know, most in, and primarily your knife art.

Tomas Alas [00:13:37]:
Absolutely. So my base is in kaji kembo under Professor Rick Williams. So that's a mix, if you've not heard of it, it's a mix of karate, judo, jiu jitsu, tempo, and Chinese kickboxing all together. So I got my black belt in that, which was an incredible experience. Very brutal. It's not for everyone. You know, there's a motto that we have where you don't go home till there's blood on the mat. And I was, you know, training that since I was five.

Tomas Alas [00:14:06]:
So shout out to my family for getting me involved in that. And they're like, yeah, this is great. This is character development. Maybe that's why I messed up a little bit, I don't know. But it's a. It's a beautiful art. It teaches you a lot of respect because, granted, you have those skills, but it teaches you how to control those skills and deescalate so you never have to use them. And that is a true testament to a martial artist.

Tomas Alas [00:14:30]:
So from there, one day, we had a demo. We had, like, a seminar, and this, you know, this older Filipino guy comes in, and I'm like, huh? The blades are no match for my kung fu. And I was like, he goes like, throw something. And I was like, okay. So I did like a faint and a kick. And I got cut Bob 37 times before I. It was just. And I went, what is this power you wield? And he goes, this is fma.

Tomas Alas [00:14:59]:
Your kicks are just, you know, that's nothing. Your punches, nothing. You go. When you have a knife you can slow, it doesn't require that brute. That brute force. And that was Grandmaster Michael Heron under the hero lineage, specifically largomato. It's a beautiful system. It's battle tested from World War II.

Tomas Alas [00:15:19]:
And so that's what I've been training in for about nine years now. Nine years now. And graduated the system and recently became a guru because I'm teaching.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:28]:
All right, a couple of things here. First of all, I used to do my. The first martial art I got really serious in was kenpo, American Kenpo karate. And it was a sort of unorthodox version of it from a great place.

Tomas Alas [00:15:42]:
In Philly called Marshall Posture.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:44]:
They did their whole take on it. It was great. And while I was there, that's when I heard of kaju kembo.

Tomas Alas [00:15:49]:
And I was like, yeah, again, like, what is this witchcraft?

Bob DeMarco [00:15:52]:
But it. But very. At the time, anyway, difficult to find on the East Coast. Like, it was kind of this magical thing I heard about on the West Coast. So you mentioned largo mono. Now, moving on, describe what that means.

Tomas Alas [00:16:07]:
So largo basically meaning like distance, long range, hands, you're furthest from the opponent. So we have drills where you can, like, measure off. You can't touch each other's hands, basically, when you measure off with the sword. And typically you're using a longer stick to simulate a sword around, like 36 inches. Oh, okay. And it. It really teaches you body mechanics and the arc principle. When someone is striking at you, there's a tip on that arc where they're at the furthest point, and it's a diminishing return where it gets slower and slower.

Tomas Alas [00:16:40]:
And we operate within inches and angles where you'll consider it a win if it brushes past your shirt. And I say it, you mean the sword will brush past your shirt, but you can still cleanly cut their neck, head, shoulder, hand all day. It's beautiful because it really teaches you range management. But the original, her own system has a complete curriculum for those quarto media ranges where you get closer and closer with the cadita de moto. Like a lot of templates that you can use, which allows you to play with different systems like serrata, you know, even like Winchung. They're kind of like, well, how did you do this? You're like, well, I just consider my forearm that outward block. Right. Well, now stick pointing up.

Tomas Alas [00:17:25]:
That's my hand here. Boom. And you're in. So it's a complete system and it's blown my mind with the complexity of it, but the simplicity of how it's delivered took me a while.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:38]:
And the Serrata is the exact opposite. That's like real close. They use much shorter sticks. You're. You're talking about 36 inch stick sticks.

Tomas Alas [00:17:47]:
That is.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:47]:
That's about 7 inches longer than your standard Kali stick. So I mean, that, that is really a. I mean, learning to fight out there is a real benefit. You know, you have standoff range.

Tomas Alas [00:18:00]:
It. It is. And it gives you the ability to work with a longer sword. But we also train with how to use that longer sword in short range, which is kind of like. How does that work? Well, there's a lot of like, push cuts you can do. I'm getting ready to do some seminars, so we'll have to. We'll have to have you out there and maybe even do a joint video exploring some of the different Filipino martial arts. Because it is beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Tomas Alas [00:18:25]:
And allowed me to explore training with a variety of different people.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:29]:
Well, by comparison, I know how to walk, so you could maybe show me.

Tomas Alas [00:18:32]:
How to jog, you know, like.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:35]:
So for those who don't study Filipino martial arts or any martial art, but are interested in the applied lessons learned, what are some of the attributes from Filipino. Let's talk about Filipino martial arts that. That apply to life in general or just movement or.

Tomas Alas [00:18:57]:
Or what have you. Absolutely. My favorite quote comes from grandmaster Michael Huron, and he goes, mma will take you to the ground. FMA will put you in the ground. What does that mean? Right. And you know, he's gotten flagged for that. I think it's really about respecting life. At the end of the day, it's knowing that you have these skills to protect your loved ones, your wife, your daughter, your family.

Tomas Alas [00:19:27]:
Granted, it's so cool. You can go, blah, blah, blah. I can go cut up all this stuff. That's awesome. But you can also use a flashlight, you can use an impact device because you know how to make whatever you can grab lethal. And I think the beautiful benefit about SMA is that there's a lot of patterns that you can use, and it's that same movement that you can do with a variety of things. It doesn't just have to be a knife or a sword. Um, I was recently training with James Keating and he weaponized the bandana.

Tomas Alas [00:19:55]:
Yeah, okay. And took me out with a bandana and I was wrapped up like a spider had me wrapped up in their web. It was nuts. So I love the traditional martial arts, the Kenpo, the Taekwondo. I think FMA gives you the ability to flow with that and bridge the gap between how you implement those bases. It's a. It's a very lethal system.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:20]:
I think there's a great interplay between self perfection and self preservation in Filipino martial arts as well, because you learn a lot of great drills that teach you a lot of great attributes like distance management and speed and accuracy and all these things. And they come into play. Those attributes come into play in actual self preservation. But in the meantime, you have these drills that perfect your movement and, and those attributes. I think it's a nice. I'm sure most martial arts have that. But in Filipino martial arts, where the stakes are so high, if you're actually using a blade, it really gets across, that development of those attributes.

Tomas Alas [00:21:06]:
I think you said it extremely well because you have a stick. We'll take a stick, for example, going 90 miles an hour, coming at you, a delivery. Most punches are not going to go that fast, so it will literally slow down as you're conceptualizing it. And you have that line familiarization. Not to. Kelly Warden talks about that, those drills, that line familiarization. I didn't understand it at first and now I get it. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's an angle one, boom.

Tomas Alas [00:21:34]:
Outside, block, break, hit versus you're, you're just. You're there when you're boxing. Right. And it's like you're used to that same speed. That stick is moving 10 times faster, so you better get the heck out of the way. So it really enhances your capabilities for sure. Otherwise you, you have big booze on the side of your sticks.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:52]:
Yeah. And sometimes you hit yourself with the stick. That's happened to me so many times. Bang. Hit yourself. Yeah. The whole world here. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:03]:
So you just mentioned master at arms James Keating. Tell us about. Well, tell us all about it. How did you get. How did you get involved in. In his world?

Tomas Alas [00:22:14]:
Yeah. I mean, what a blessing. So he, he actually commented on one of my videos, one of my YouTube videos. And I went, I've heard this name before. My instructor, one of my instructors, Brian Everett, who got me really introduced with Oge, was like, you really gotta come. He talks, he's just like masculine. Six, five, cowboy. Really gotta come check them out.

Tomas Alas [00:22:35]:
And I'm like, yes, sir. Like, I'll book the plane ticket. I'm on the way. Um, so I went to one of his seminars and I was just blown away by master arm James Keating. His skill level and proficiency with movement, the only thing I can describe it is like learning sword and knife fighting is equivalent to learning music from Mozart. It is incredible the way that he moves. It's like the win. And he's like in his 70s.

Tomas Alas [00:23:03]:
Okay. And I wouldn't want to fight him. Right. I mean he tagged me multiple times. He incorporates many different skill sets from many different arts and codifies them. And I think that's really what makes it so exceptional is that he's not relying on just this is the system that I know. No, he takes from everything and adapts it to you as an individual and really just highlights your strengths and then fixes your weaknesses. And he's like, here's, here's how we can fix that.

Tomas Alas [00:23:32]:
Thanks.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:33]:
So he first came on my radar with as a Bowie knife fighter. I know that, I know that that is just a tool and a skill set in his giant box. But, but tell me about his where this comes from.

Tomas Alas [00:23:50]:
The study of the Bowie knife, it that Americana. There's a lot of history with the Bowie knife and it dates back a long time, but it is truly America's blade shape. And I really can't thank him enough for the abc, the American Blade Craft System. And he, he really pioneered blade fighting in like the early 90s when no one was really 80s 90s writing for tactical Knives Knife magazine. And I think that like back then those magazines were what we do now with the you videos, you know, and, and, and he has DVDs out there. But I think he was really ahead of his time by brandishing these skill sets that no one else was really talking about and putting together a system where people could train those back cuts, those. That, that saber fighting style in a 13 inch Bowie knife. It's exceptional.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:44]:
So, okay, I mentioned back cuts a lot.

Tomas Alas [00:24:47]:
I'm a, I'm a Bowie knife fanatic.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:49]:
And I say Bowie. I'm from up north. I'm a Yank. So that's how I say it. But tell us, show us what a. That's a Bobby Reigns, right?

Tomas Alas [00:24:58]:
Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:58]:
Very good.

Tomas Alas [00:24:59]:
Yeah. This is a trainer that he gifted me. So shout out Bobby Reigns. I have a custom coming from him that I'm beyond excited about. So the back cut refers. So we have the primary edge. Right. Typically has some curve to it because it adapted from Saber Fighting you know, calvary, sabers.

Tomas Alas [00:25:15]:
But then on the top here we have this kind of clip point that is most often sharpened, at least in my opinion. Should be sharpened. Yes. Not razor, razor sharp, because you want it to really rip and tear in the most brutal and beautiful way. So the back cut is not utilizing the primary edge like a snap cut. It's inverting it here so you have almost like a pacal shape with like, if you think, I mean, I know this isn't a pecan you must throw, it's a crab. It. I got it.

Tomas Alas [00:25:46]:
But you really have that bite. When this will slide on a cut, the tip of this will dig and it will fillet and rip open your target like nothing else. Plus you also have the weight behind it. So that back cut is very deceptive, especially when you come in to the blind spots. Um, it is a very fast, quick tool for disabilated attackers.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:12]:
So when I think of the back cut, I think of a Floretti or a Redondo. It's. It's kind of in the same family, but maybe the opposite approach. Um, and, and I know a lot of people, when they see Redondo's or Florettis, they think it's just that, a flourish, but it's not. There's an actual purpose behind it. So how important is the back cut to this sort of American knife fighting?

Tomas Alas [00:26:38]:
That's beautiful that you asked that, because I'm currently working on a documentary of bastard arms, James Keating. And I asked him something very similar and he goes, well, let's find out. He's very deep, bravado, voice. And so he goes, I'm not gonna back cut the entire time. I'm gonna fight someone. I'm going to set it up with a fake cut through, and it's right there when you need it. And I'm like, oh, that makes sense. Because if you keep going back cuts, back cuts.

Tomas Alas [00:27:06]:
Well, now you're exposing yourself, you're giving flame. You don't want to do that. Yeah. So it's right here when you need it, and it'll set you up. I consider it like a tool in the toolbox. It's good to know. And if you can perfect it, it's going to be your best friend.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:21]:
So how much of your Filipino knife fighting knowledge came into play with learning this American blade combatives?

Tomas Alas [00:27:32]:
You know, I think it really enhanced both sides. I came in with some general understanding of lines and, and blade movement, because in Filipino martial arts, we have the Abenico, right. Which is the fan fanning motion. But it's not so much a fan as it is an extension of your body. So I will say that having some Filipino martial arts background helped, but it's not necessary. I could teach anyone how to do a back cut in less than, you know, five minutes. And Keating talks about this. He goes, these are tribal principles that if you're going into war, we're doing bare minimum basic training so you can come back the next day and get the next lesson.

Tomas Alas [00:28:12]:
And that's really what that backhead is. It's going to be an effective, a dominant way to win a fight. Come back tomorrow for the next lesson. We're going to cover something else then. So.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:22]:
So I also have a fascination with the use of the, of the swedge as the primary edge. The primary fighting edge. I've heard it called Mountain Man. Yeah, I've, I've heard it called the Randall fighting method. I know the Randall knives.

Tomas Alas [00:28:37]:
In World War II, they were kind.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:39]:
Of taught to use the swedge as.

Tomas Alas [00:28:41]:
The primary edge and do the old.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:43]:
Heave ho once you have it in there. Did you get any, any lessons on that?

Tomas Alas [00:28:48]:
Any familiarity with that? Absolutely. So if you have your freshly sharpened edge here, you definitely don't want to be clacking that into a helmet or someone's, you know, gauntlet if they're wearing armor or a barrel of a rifle. However, the back edge of this blade is going to be a big, heavy, sharp, excuse me, non sharp chunk of steel, which is going to be great for parrying, except you have that top third that sharpen. So if you have that incoming attack, you can parry it and then hit. However, if you fight with the primary edge, it still gives you that ability to do those pulling cuts and then you can lacerate on the way out. So personally, I like the edge down method because it allows you to flip out and get out of the way of those incoming attacks like this. But that's not to say that maybe you pick up your weapon in a, in the heat of the battle or you're caught off guard.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:40]:
Yeah.

Tomas Alas [00:29:40]:
You do like a roof block and you don't want to chip your blade. Yeah. Then you can crash down with the back edge. So I think if you practice with it, when that moment happens, you're gonna know exactly what to do. You're just gonna go into a flow. It's not gonna matter. Oh, wait, excuse me, sir. Can you reverse that attack? I have to actually reorient my blade.

Tomas Alas [00:29:58]:
Thank you.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:59]:
It's like the old Jim Carrey bit no, attack me like this.

Tomas Alas [00:30:02]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you would. This side. Okay. Thank you. Cool, Here we go. So I think it's just again, tools in your toolbox and getting familiar with your tools, which is why I play with knives so often, because no matter how I pick it up, I'm going to be ready to go. Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:17]:
So any indication from James Keating or from you yourself, from your, your study of, of Bowie knives? There are, there are a lot of different styles of Bowie in terms of their profile. What you have there, that Bobby Rains Rainmaker or the Hell's Bells Bowie, for instance, long slender fighting Bowies with a fully sharpened clip. That seems to be a great recipe for a knife fighting knife.

Tomas Alas [00:30:42]:
But look at that.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:44]:
Two of them, two of my favorite design. But what about other styles of Bowie? What, what about something more broad? I mean, can all of these be.

Tomas Alas [00:30:57]:
Used, in other words? So one of my. If someone asked me, like, what's the deadliest knife you own? Without a doubt it would be this one. And this is the CRADA from James ke and it is a more spear point esque, driven, designed on purpose. So that way when you aim it at someone, it disappears. The depth perception disappears. You don't know how long. Yeah, that is. So I would say that the buoy comes from classic chef's knives and farm working tools that adapted into a more combat driven, thicker style.

Tomas Alas [00:31:35]:
But this is more of what I would consider an Arkansas toothpick style brewing a little bit more symmetrical, if you will. And then we have that deep Spanish notch here and guard with a sharpened back. So characteristics of a buoy, I think. Yes, you can have those traditional clip points, you can have it be spear point, Arkansas style. But realistically, there's nothing new on the Busan. Everything's been done. You look at European swords, this could be a European mini rapier, right? Yeah. But realistically I think it's how you apply it.

Tomas Alas [00:32:11]:
And if it wins the fight, then I'll call it whatever you want to call it.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:15]:
Yeah, that. Okay, so this knife is gorgeous. We recently had Jeff Schaefer on the show. He, he makes these for, for Mr. Keating at the moment. So I see the hole there right south of the Spanish Notch, that fits those other quillians, right?

Tomas Alas [00:32:32]:
The Quillians that I have over in my shelf there. So they tie in and they give you an extra cross, which is like similar to the Crassada. And this way when an oncoming weapon comes in, you can really just twist it, lock it and drive it back into the opponent. It is beautiful. It gives you much more hand protection to protect those beautiful digits.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:55]:
Oh, that thing is beautiful. Tell us about the Spanish notch.

Tomas Alas [00:32:59]:
So this Spanish notch here is designed to catch blades. So we have this guard here. So if a blade came in, you can trap with just a slight twist and lock the blade. Not necessarily to disarm it, although that's certainly an applicable thing. But you can also twist your blade back onto their arm, which is pretty cool. So we can redirect that force. The Spanish notch here basically aids in that because it gives you another area for it to get caught in and twist out. Okay.

Tomas Alas [00:33:28]:
Again, this can be applied with the back cut flow. Learning how to twist and manipulate the blades. Catch. Is that something I'm gonna go for in a fight? Not necessarily, unless the person's extremely unskilled. But it's just nice to have that extra comfort that if you get into a bind, you have additional leverage, pop their blade out and it's gonna go on or back into there.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:52]:
So a lot of the stuff we're talking about right now would be optimized in a dueling situation. And we looked at the agent 007 before, so that. That very well might be your answer. But to the, to the. To the person out there who carries a knife for self defense, does not get in duels, cannot carry a crusada.

Tomas Alas [00:34:14]:
What.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:14]:
What kind of knives do you recommend? And I know that's a sticky kind of question because you're not a lawyer and you're also not trying to tell people to carry stuff, but people carry stuff. So what do you think is the most intuitive kind of knife to carry?

Tomas Alas [00:34:31]:
So I have a theory about this. And I was talking to someone recently and they go like, what is the best self defense knife? And I said, well, what do you do for work? I work behind a desk. You know, I'm like a. Aaa And I'm like, okay. The other guy that I was talking with, he goes like, well, I'm on a construction site, so I'm like hammer and I'm pulling nails and I'm like, great. So. So for you, that might be the Milwaukee fastback, right? Where you pull it out. It's those replaceable blades.

Tomas Alas [00:34:58]:
For the person with the desk, it might be like the CRKT CEO or something, or an ocaso blade solstice something. Right. For me, it's something that you're gonna actually carry every day. It's maybe it's not a giant croissanta that you're gonna strap to your back. You know, go through the urban jungle looking for a fight. For me, it's something you're gonna have that repetition of pulling it out and using it every day. It might be a Benchmade, right? You know, the bug out. For me, it's something you're going to have on you every day that you have that muscle memory of the point.

Tomas Alas [00:35:30]:
Open and close, open and close. If you can keep it sharp, that's a good thing. I love wave features. That's something I look for, which is a click to point feature for a pocket knife. Or like the high desert blade works. We have the bramp opening, so as you go to deploy it from the pocket, it'll catch and open that for you getting it into position. But again, if you're going to carry it every day and practice drawing it, I think that's going to be a much more effective tool than something that. I only carry this for self defense.

Tomas Alas [00:36:00]:
I go, okay, let's. Let's do a draw test and see how fast you can get it out. Ready? Three, two, one. Okay. How about. You're still fumbling with it. Well, the Spyderco needs to get broken in. It's.

Tomas Alas [00:36:10]:
It's stiff though. Just. You never practice with it. You just think, I'm going to keep it sharp and ready. No, if you never practice with it, it's not going to be there when you need it.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:19]:
So this is, this is a huge conundrum for me because I have a big collection and I love to change it up on a nearly daily basis. I'll get in a rut and.

Tomas Alas [00:36:32]:
Or the opposite of a rut.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:33]:
I'll get happy about a knife and carry it for a week in a row.

Tomas Alas [00:36:37]:
But.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:37]:
But I'm constantly rotating. Um, then again, I'm constantly playing with knives, but still, you know, so for me, that's a, that's sometimes an issue. I'm like, I'm not, I'm not carrying this every day.

Tomas Alas [00:36:49]:
I. I set myself up with systems. So I know in my left pocket I carry something that's going to be more utilitarian but still functional. So today I think I just got back in from the shop. It's the Yojimbo set up for lefty carry. Beautiful working blade shape that I know I'm going to be able to pop open a box with or, you know, carve open an apple, but I have that repetitive motion. And then on the right side, I'll carry something typically larger. And today we have the Gin holding, but maybe it's Nespada or a Voyager or something.

Tomas Alas [00:37:27]:
But I know generally area restrictions not included is going to be a larger folder that I can legally carry. And then on the front we have a fixed blade. I love fixed blades. I think that's probably going to be your best bet if you carry something solely for personal protection. Again, being able to access it with both hands is going to be important. So that's why I like front, you know, appendix whatnot. But again, you have to use your blade if you're unfamiliar with it and you're like fumbling around with it. It's not going to do you any good if you can't get it into the fight.

Tomas Alas [00:38:02]:
And the first place.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:03]:
Dude, if my face is flush with jealousy, that gin did it, man. I love the gin. I love the fixed blade gin. I've never, I've never hefted one of these folders, but it's just, it's like one of the most beautiful knives out there. Let's show this off for a sec.

Tomas Alas [00:38:23]:
Yeah. So after this we'll, we'll talk and I'll send it to you so you can review it and check it out. Thanks, man. So this is from Turner CNC and it is the gin folding knife. It has an aluminum handle, this one is topoed, but it's really a Persian style fighting blade that has an S curve which gives you extra bite. Now some people looking at this are gonna go, okay, great. It's a swirly blade. So what? Well, so what is.

Tomas Alas [00:38:50]:
Okay, it has a flat grind here, or seemed like a hollow grind transitions to a flat grind and then on the top it has another hollow grind. So it's like triple ground that then goes back to a flat grind towards the tip. So.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:07]:
And it, it, it, it's, it, it evokes the pesh cobs, it evokes the Yatagan, all those beautiful Turkish and yeah, Middle Eastern style blades. Yeah. So I've, I've loved the fixed blade.

Tomas Alas [00:39:22]:
For a long time.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:23]:
And then when I saw he was making a folding version of this, I was like, yes, it, you know, I have all of the large cold steels. I love them so much. But I've, I've thought so many times, why aren't other makers doing these giant knives? And maybe there's not so much of a market for them or maybe they just are all, all need to like put on their big boy pants.

Tomas Alas [00:39:47]:
But I'll tell you what, Turner CNC has some cojones to pull this off.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:52]:
What is that, a five and a half inch blade or a six inch?

Tomas Alas [00:39:55]:
It Is it is.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:55]:
So I took the espada.

Tomas Alas [00:39:58]:
Okay, I'll grab the naraja. Right. That's a pretty big, big nasty blade. I mean, you look at this. That's pretty. That's a pretty nice little comparison right there.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:09]:
Yep.

Tomas Alas [00:40:10]:
You know what I'm saying? So you definitely have tons of reach, tons of distance. But it's deceptive how light and fast it is. Everyone that I've handed this to, they've been like, it weighs nothing. And that's the magic of it. It's. It's, you know, fully hollowed out super fast. You still back cut with it because of this. Even though it's unsharpened.

Tomas Alas [00:40:30]:
I don't even. I wouldn't want to get touched with that. Comes a wand in your head. It's. I have not taken it out of my pocket since I've got it. Oh my gosh.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:42]:
I, I totally. I 100% have to get one of those. It's moral imperative. We'll work.

Tomas Alas [00:40:50]:
We'll work on that. I got you. I got you.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:52]:
So this begs the question, out of historical knives, you know, what are your favorite knives in general? We talked about bowies, we've talked about Filipinos. I mean, they've got some of the most incredible blade profiles out there. Now we have the gin DJ I N N like the, like the Middle Eastern demon. What is your favorite style of knife throughout history?

Tomas Alas [00:41:18]:
My favorite style, man, it recently like, if you ask me right now off the top, I have to say a buoy knife. To me it just. You get the beauty of a saber. You get some of like the, the Filipino aspect of it because they had like the bolos. It is just such a versatile tool. And I think that's really what it comes down to is something that can be a tool. I love katanas, wakazashi. But am I gonna go hack down a tree with that? No, I'm not going to.

Tomas Alas [00:41:47]:
I'm not gonna be able to like start a fire with that. Try to pull a ferro rod off of it. You know, it's like as beautiful but kind of challenging. That's just so. It's either it's a toss up between that and a dagger.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:01]:
Oh, that's one of Jen Jed Lint. Jen Lint.

Tomas Alas [00:42:06]:
I'm sorry, I forgot her last name all of a sudden. That is so beautiful. So I mean, if we're going into combat, I mean this thing, I don't care. It's taking out wizards, man. This.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:19]:
Yeah, that her work is so stunning, man.

Tomas Alas [00:42:23]:
That is just Beautiful. Exceptional. So a dagger is pretty awesome. I love the mythicalness behind it, too. You know, like, typically, it wasn't a wand. It was a dagger, ceremonial dagger. So it has a lot of cool spiritual attributes to it. But if we're going to the combat, man, I'm taking a bowie knife and a Bible.

Tomas Alas [00:42:40]:
Let's go.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:41]:
A bowie knife in a Bible. Amen, man. So second Catholic edition. In my. In my. You had a karambit out before, and this is something I was recently.

Tomas Alas [00:42:53]:
I recently had Paulo Rubio on the show.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:57]:
He's.

Tomas Alas [00:42:57]:
He's a great dude.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:58]:
And karambitz came up, and there's this idea that a karambit is kind of a. A magical pass. You know, you've never fought with a knife before. You've never trained with a knife, but if you have a karambit, that's like the ultimate. What are your feelings on Karbit? It's a.

Tomas Alas [00:43:16]:
It's a complicated issue. I think if you can deploy your karambit and get it into the fight, it's a vicious weapon. I wouldn't want to close the distance on someone. I think it's like an actuation of your body mechanic. So if you can throw a jab, you can stab. If you can throw a hook, you can slash. Is it the most? Like, am I going to hand this to someone who's untrained and say, like, all right, you're on my team for the apocalypse. Like, let's go.

Tomas Alas [00:43:44]:
Probably not. But as a working tool, I think it's exceptional because you turn it around and you have that, you know, that forward leading tip that has a lot of pressure to it. I think if you. So here's the thing. I've trained with some Brazilian jiu jitsu guys, and I'm like, hey, man, I love this chokehold. I love this triangle choke. And I have, unbeknownst to them, pulled out a karamba trainer, and I just, you know, did one of these flail extensions and just pulled it across their back, and they're like, yo, what's that? What's that? Feels weird.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:14]:
What's that?

Tomas Alas [00:44:14]:
And I go, you have no more back, right? You're gonna limp. And they're like, doing Brazilian jiu jitsu. I said, nah, man. This is a combat art. So I got combat tools. Like, what's up? They're like, oh, man. So I think in a close quarter environment, amazing. If you have any background in boxing, it's gonna be a great, formidable tool for that.

Tomas Alas [00:44:35]:
Wind chun especially as well. Some of the trapping, exceptional. But is it the end all be all for combat tools? No, but I love them and I think they're very versatile. So.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:47]:
Okay. Another recent thing that has taken a similar mantle is pacal style knives which is kind of the karambit in reverse. So and that's another thing like a magic elixir. Oh. All you gotta know is how to, you know, back fist. So what would you say to someone who, who preaches that?

Tomas Alas [00:45:11]:
I would say similar to the back cut being more of an expert's move, you're having steel coming back towards your body. You have to be very comfortable with alignment and getting your body out of there. I say the same thing with the Bacal knife. You have the tip down and the edge facing the user. I think the Bacal is a versatile tool for everyday carry. Lot of people misunderstand it. I would consider this more of an expert's tool because although it uses fine gross motor skills, in the heat of the moment you have your trapping hand out there, you go to stab and you punt back. Oh yeah, I don't know.

Tomas Alas [00:45:54]:
But, and here's the last thing, you look at this as an animalistic nature. Tigers have their claws that bring you in. They don't have them facing out the foot away.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:06]:
Right.

Tomas Alas [00:46:06]:
It's that karambit. Get away. Go, go. The expert's knife. The call. Come on in baby, you're mine. So I feel that it gives you a lot of back muscle leverage to torque J cut out. It's very effective, very sinister.

Tomas Alas [00:46:25]:
But that would require a little bit more trading in my opinion. Interesting.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:30]:
So my, my thought was the reverse, my thought was that a karambit because it does not emulate nature because it's unlike the, the pacal which is more.

Tomas Alas [00:46:41]:
Like a tiger's claw as you were mentioning. You know, like that would take less.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:47]:
Less training to just kind of pound it and pull it.

Tomas Alas [00:46:49]:
Pound it and pull it. But you know, I, I, I don't know.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:53]:
I don't know. I, I haven't, thank the Lord. I haven't been in that situation. But that, and then, and then the third in if we're going to be ranking these is that sort of S curve Black Talon 2 or civilian from.

Tomas Alas [00:47:10]:
Spyderco, that, that sort of model where.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:13]:
You, you can't fail, you know?

Tomas Alas [00:47:15]:
Yeah. Right. Yes. So I think this is actually like one of those tools that I would hand to just about anyone for ripping and slashing. Like hold one to your chest and go crazy because it's going to be effective. Right. I mean this knife respectfully scares the crap out of me. And I've got to test it on ballistic dummies before.

Tomas Alas [00:47:37]:
Nasty. This will destroy just about anything. But I love it as a tool for cutting ropes. Oh my gosh. Opening thing. Oh my gosh. This is such a great tool. But it scares the crap out of me.

Tomas Alas [00:47:49]:
BOB. Yeah, it really was.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:50]:
Yeah. No, that's a, that's a, that is.

Tomas Alas [00:47:52]:
A terrifying knife right there. Black talent again. I think it really comes down to what can you get out in time? Because it's kind of tricky to deploy a pacal knife unless you do like a classic Emerson opening where it comes out but then is it in the call position? Right. No, it's more of like a forward grip. So you have to really train deploying it and then rolling it into your hand in order to accentuate and bring out what it's best known for. The karambit. Again, you also have to practice deploying it. Maybe it's a two hand, maybe it's the Bramp.

Tomas Alas [00:48:24]:
And now you're ready to go. Yeah. Black Talon. It's just there.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:30]:
I, I, I'm, I'm oftentimes when I'm pressure testing myself against the BOB Dummy folders like and, and I've been drawing folders for a long time.

Tomas Alas [00:48:42]:
Even wavable folders.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:44]:
There's still a moment where you have to reposition your hand and to get it just right. And that's why I keep coming back to fixed blades. Fixed blades. If you really want to draw something that you're going to defend yourself with.

Tomas Alas [00:48:59]:
I gotta, I gotta shout out. Auxiliary manufacturing. He just did the Carl Jr. And this has been a steady part of my everyday carry. When it's not an agent line, it's this one. It's so small, very concealable. Great. Should beat up towards the top.

Tomas Alas [00:49:18]:
99 bucks.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:20]:
So it's made by Miguron too. They did a beautiful job on the, on the pocket Bowie.

Tomas Alas [00:49:25]:
I keep that on my backpack like a big old nerd. But yeah, I agree. Fixed blades are where it's at mate. Once you get over that hurdle of like how am I going to carry this? Yeah. And you get comfortable and you have that position to get it out either hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:42]:
So you, you told us that you're coming out with a, you're working on a James Keating documentary. Tell us a little bit about the Tactical Tavern in general and what your plans are for the future.

Tomas Alas [00:49:54]:
Yes. So recently I've had some incredible opportunities to go and train with Kelly Warden. Nazi Kelly Warden as well who trained and he's good friends With James Keating. So we have two that are in the works. I know it's taking some time, but trust me, it's going to be so worth it. The hardest part about it is that everything he says is like gold. Like you want to keep it in. It's hard to like cut out stuff.

Tomas Alas [00:50:16]:
Oh, this story's so good. Yeah. So we have a James Keating documentary that is going to be coming out very soon. We have a datu Kelly Warden documentary that's also in the works. You have to spend a week, you know, and I think right now I'm really blessed with that ability to be able to travel and train and, and really accentuate these skills that I've been learning. Something I also have to show here is the galaxy process legacy knife from Kelly Warden. Look at this.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:48]:
So that's Remy Prasas.

Tomas Alas [00:50:50]:
Is that, is that what. Yes.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:54]:
And so this is designed.

Tomas Alas [00:50:55]:
It was first made for Remy Prices and then he was like, well, this is a really cool design. And so Kelly Warden took it and goes, you know what, I'm gonna make this into something really special. And holy smokes is look at the blade finish. Wow. Whoa.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:10]:
So wait, wait, wait, before you resheed that, that's a pretty unique design on the spine.

Tomas Alas [00:51:15]:
Is that for trapping those two peaks there? Yeah.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:19]:
So it almost to be kind of.

Tomas Alas [00:51:20]:
Looks like a fit face that we were talking about. How it almost looks like a head. Yeah. Or face. But it realistically you have pressure here. You have different abilities to hook, trap. I'm still exploring. I don't know.

Tomas Alas [00:51:36]:
I mean it's gorgeous. But yes, I imagine there are very sinister capabilities to that as well. So.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:44]:
Yeah, it seems, it seems like something you could in a. On a half beat, retain a wrist width or something. Yes, exactly. So Kelly Warden, the name is familiar to me, but honestly, I don't remember who he is. Who is he again?

Tomas Alas [00:51:58]:
Dr. Kelly Warden is a master of masters. He really broke out of. Instead of just doing. I'm going to do karate, which back in the 80s was very taboo to like explore other dojos and cross train. He did that. He's like, no. Okay, that's great.

Tomas Alas [00:52:16]:
I'm gonna go train over here and study folking on martial arts. Well, okay, that's great. I'm gonna go study winchung over here. Oh, and I would consider him a master of movement. He. He can teach you how to do an art just because of that line. Familiarization of like. Okay, is this an outward block? Is this a karambit slash? Is it a pacal Stab, it's movement.

Tomas Alas [00:52:39]:
No one owns movement. And he has just innate way of just bringing it all together. And he designed like the defense wrench, the safety wrench. That's cool. TSA approved, by the way.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:51]:
Oh, excellent.

Tomas Alas [00:52:53]:
And it's really great for measuring your nuts and bolts and keeping people in check. It's an attitude adjustment. Yeah. So he's incredible being able to train with him too and understand like the staff. We studied the staff quite extensively because it unlocks motion. You do an inward block, right? Check block. Well, what's the difference with doing that with the staff? It's just teaching you how to use your hips, your body, your torque. We got some really good stuff coming out on the Tactical Tavern.

Tomas Alas [00:53:24]:
Stay tuned. I'm excited to share it.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:26]:
Man. I'm excited to hear that. To watch those especially, I gotta say, James Keating, I've known about him for a long time. Seems some of his videos I used to think like, look at this guy. He's like, he's built like me. He's got. He's like tall and thin, but he's a badass. Maybe I could someday, you know, he's.

Tomas Alas [00:53:44]:
One of those kind of aspirational guys. I look forward to checking that out.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:49]:
We. We only have a few minutes here left. But let me ask you just in terms of like the more pedestrian knife scene, what are some of the knives that are out?

Tomas Alas [00:53:59]:
You.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:00]:
You just mentioned the auxiliary manufacturing. Carl Jr. Made by Miguran. That's awesome. But what are some of the other knives that are out and about or coming out that you're excited about?

Tomas Alas [00:54:11]:
Something I'm really excited about is coming from Tenable. They're working with Eric Pinkerton and they're coming out with a really budget friendly line of Bacall knives. If they're not out already. I think they're going to be out very soon. Super stoked for that. There's also a couple of bastidellas that I got to see that are just so gorgeous. The lines that he does, exceptional. And cjrb, we have something in the works as well.

Tomas Alas [00:54:38]:
Oh, really?

Bob DeMarco [00:54:39]:
Can you spill as much as you can spill?

Tomas Alas [00:54:43]:
It's going to be sharp. Damn. All right.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:46]:
Does it fold or is it fixed?

Tomas Alas [00:54:48]:
It's going to fold. It's going to be a budget. Budget folder that's good for personal protection.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:53]:
How cool. Cjrb, I love them. Can I ask you lock type? Because. And I'll. I'll say what. I'll say why. I think they do one of the best button locks that I've experienced. I like the way they pocket the.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:08]:
The plunge lock.

Tomas Alas [00:55:09]:
I do too. I feel much more secure with that than compared to most other companies. But this is not a button lock. All right. Okay. Oh, man.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:18]:
We would, but I cannot wait. I cannot wait.

Tomas Alas [00:55:22]:
So you.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:22]:
You held up a Bastinelli a few moments ago. Can you just show that off and.

Tomas Alas [00:55:27]:
Tell us what all that is is the mood. Ooh, that is beautiful. It is gorgeous. It's. It's a Spanish navaja, inspired. So, like, similar to the espada with that upswept Spanish buoy, perfectly placed jimping as well again as a tool for everyday carry. But then we have that really beautiful extraction point. Yeah, that's pretty.

Tomas Alas [00:55:52]:
It's pretty sexy blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:54]:
I need more Bastinelli knives in my life. And that. That might just be the next one.

Tomas Alas [00:55:58]:
That is just beautiful. I was. That trip that I went on for a week trading in Washington. This was one of the blades that I brought. The only fixed blade I brought was this one to carry a test that I trusted it. Trusted it with my life. So there it is. Well, right on, Right on.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:17]:
Okay, last question here. Tell us who you're watching on YouTube right now. And I'm asking you this because I've fallen off a little bit. I mean, I've got certain. You and Rolando and a few others I. I always tune into, but, you know, time is limited. Who are some of the knife tubers.

Tomas Alas [00:56:38]:
You'Re into these days? So there's this guy named Alex. I think it starts with a G. I could be wrong. I think it's outdoor 55. He does an incredible job at testing some knives. Amazing. Of course, there's. What's.

Tomas Alas [00:56:54]:
That guy's doing? Metal complex.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:55]:
He's always doing stuff.

Tomas Alas [00:56:57]:
You know, I'll check out him when I can, but I also try not to get trapped into doing what everyone else is doing. So usually when I'm on YouTube, I'm watching, you know, other things. Other stuff. You know, stuff to take my mind off of all the. All right. But, yeah, I would definitely say, check out outdoor. I know Jason Fleming straight edge knives. Oh, yeah.

Tomas Alas [00:57:19]:
He's awesome. I like that guy. And of course, when I can inquire boy cutlery.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:26]:
Oh, yeah, he's. He's got a. He's got a big place in my heart.

Tomas Alas [00:57:31]:
I love that guy. Oh, he's awesome.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:33]:
He's gonna be on here next week, actually.

Tomas Alas [00:57:36]:
Scab.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:36]:
Yeah.

Tomas Alas [00:57:37]:
Oh, let's go. Ab.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:38]:
Scab.

Tomas Alas [00:57:38]:
You're not.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:40]:
Yeah, he and I. He and I were born in the same year, and I feel like we have some of the. Some of the same. We share some of the same cultural bookmarks, and.

Tomas Alas [00:57:53]:
Yeah, I love that dude. Yeah, he's awesome. He's in a real one.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:56]:
All right, so tell everyone how they can catch up with you and when and where they can check out the James Keating, the Kelly Warden documentaries that are coming out.

Tomas Alas [00:58:06]:
Yes.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:06]:
Which I can't wait for, because you know what you're doing, too. It's not like you're a total noob walking in and saying, show me how to you. You're starting from a very accelerated position.

Tomas Alas [00:58:17]:
I appreciate you saying that, but on camera, I look like a total new when I'm working with him. Okay. And I am okay with that because I'm learning. Yeah. But I was humbled. Okay. By their skills. Both of them keed, especially with the backup flows, the.

Tomas Alas [00:58:33]:
The tagging, and I'm like, okay, timeout, timeout. How'd you do that? What did I do? Let.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:38]:
Let's.

Tomas Alas [00:58:39]:
Let's move ourselves. And I'm like, wow, fast. I have segments coming out on the Tactical Tavern YouTube channel. Some. Some clips before the main one comes out. We're trying to coordinate something special with a certain deadline. So let's see. We can get that to happen.

Tomas Alas [00:58:54]:
Excellent. And then the Kelly Warden one will be after that. But again, we got the experiment with his silent fighter, which is, like, one of the best training dummies. Like, imagine the Bob, but on steroid with arms. Oh, okay. It's awesome. And he's still making them by hand. Just like the knives that he's doing, he's making them in his shop by hand.

Tomas Alas [00:59:14]:
So I'll. I'll just say this. The best thing about this document, about these documentaries is that I sat down and I interviewed the students and to hear their stories and the emotion that they bring to them, it. It goes beyond martial arts. It's just a true way of living, and it's just so much respect and love and admiration for these individuals that are historic legends, living legends in the martial arts. So Tactical Tavern, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, MySpace. Not on my space, but he just quit today. Yeah, that's it.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:49]:
Tomas, thank you so much, man. So much fun talking to you. Always great. Always bumping into you at Blade show and such. But, man, I'm. I'm so glad that you are out there capturing this kind of stuff, especially with li. These living legends who are, you know, later in their years, and we need to preserve their knowledge. I know they've done great to do that too.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:11]:
But I'm. I'm so glad you're out there taking care of it.

Tomas Alas [01:00:14]:
So I appreciate it, man. I appreciate you. And I love watching your videos, too. About the month of my family, when we came, we get together, we'll watch, we'll put it on the big screen at Thursday night. Knives, let's go.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:24]:
Right on, man. All right. Well, you take care, man. Thanks for coming on.

Tomas Alas [01:00:29]:
Yes, sir.

Announcer [01:00:29]:
You know you're a knife junkie. If you're as happy as a kid on Christmas morning when that new knife arrives in the mail.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:36]:
There he goes, ladies and gentlemen, Tomas, Alas, of the Tactical Tavern. I mean, he said it all. He is the man. And I love his work. I love the videos he puts out. And also, you are gonna love his agent 007.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:50]:
So be sure to check that out.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:52]:
When it drops on 21st November, 2025. There will be more runs down the road, don't worry. But for now, check that out. And by the way, Bastinelli rap, you better. You better get on that one fast.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:06]:
All right.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:06]:
For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

Announcer [01:01:12]:
Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review@reviewthepodcast.com. for show notes for today's episode, additional resources, and to listen to past episodes, Visit our website thenifejunkie.com you can also watch our latest videos on y YouTube@the knifejunkie.com YouTube.