WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast. Your weekly dose of knife

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news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your

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host, Bob The Knife Junkie DeMarco.

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Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast. I'm Bob DeMarco. On

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this edition of the show, I'm welcoming back Ric Valdez of

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Ocaso Knives. I first met Ric shortly after he started

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Ocaso Knives following his many years in the E suite at Cold

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Steel. His new company was to become a lifestyle brand,

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making refined everyday carry knives for the discerning

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modern gentleman and lady. For that matter,

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Ocaso Knives has made its name on its classy and cultivated

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image, on the know how, garnered from Rick's experience in the knife

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industry and on the creative company it keeps boasting

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regular collaborations with some of the knife world's most acclaimed makers

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and designers. A lot has happened with Ocaso Knives since it

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first opened its doors. We'll catch up with Ric and find out

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what's new and exciting from the brand. But first be sure to like, comment,

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patreon that's thenifejunkie.com patreon Want

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business. Ric, welcome back to the show. How you doing Bob?

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I'm doing great. It's good to see you. It's good to see you too man.

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This is awesome. And as always, it was great to see you

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at the Ocaso booth at Blade show this year. How did that

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go? It went good. It went good. I don't know if you

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noticed but the first time you saw the Ocasa booth It

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was a 10 by 10 booth. And then when you came by

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just a few months ago at Blade Atlanta, it's It was a 10 by

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20 booth, a little different. So things have

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Changed things. Things are going great. But the show itself

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was pretty good and it went well for, for Ocaso. You

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had a regular. It looked like the kind of booth I wanted to get

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behind the scenes and just sit down and drink a little whiskey and smoke

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a cigar. It looked like a little men's lounge back there.

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Exactly. It's, it's become a destination

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for some where they know they can come and hang out, sit, sit on those

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leather couches. There's leather chairs and at

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times we'll, we'll have, you know, some, some nice high grade tequila to sip

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on. Some people have brought by. Yes. Some whiskey

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and, and some other, you know, type of drinks and

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it's been great. And that's exactly what it is. That's what exactly it's meant to

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be. And, and yeah, so yeah, definitely next time

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when you do stop by, come on in and have a seat. I will. I'm

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going to come around, going to come around the back and, and cool my heels

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for a minute. You're with. So before we get in,

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I want to ask you another question about blade show. How important is it for

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a company of your size? I'm curious about this from

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companies of all different sizes. How important is it to

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go to a blade show and other shows like that? Well, for me it's extremely

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important. This is the opportunity where I get to engage

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with a lot of the end consumers and this is where I'm talking

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to them and they're coming out to me and sharing their

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experience and what they think. And it's been,

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this is my third time and it's unbelievable

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to me and I'm grateful to see that, that I have some people coming

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back, coming back. I have some people coming to the booth carrying

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Ocaso product, you know, and you know, they're getting it out there somewhere,

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which, which is awesome. But it's important to me to see, you know,

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and hang out with everybody else, with all the brands, with the

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customers and, and to show that I'm still around

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doing what I'm doing. And it, I'm also

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getting recognized. It's, it's wonderful to hear that people are saying,

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hey, I was looking for gentleman's night and people are recommending Okaso

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knives. They're stopping by because they recognize it as

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a gentleman's brand that I'm offering gentleman's products.

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So it's, it's, it's really important for me. Absolutely, really important because of

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the engaging with the end consumer, talking to the other brands

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at this point, the Company's about two years, nine months old. And

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I have these great relationship with all these other knife makers

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and knife owners and building these relationships. I think I did touch

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upon that point when I first started that that was happening, taking place. And

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now here we are. I don't know when we did our first session two years

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ago, but these relationships and these, these

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connections have continued up to this point and it's just been wonderful.

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So I'm going to say it one more time for a company like me. And

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I believe if you do it the right way and you utilize

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Blade show, that platform, you know how I think

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it should be going out, hanging out more than just selling your product,

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engaging with people. It's very important. Well, you weren't new

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at all to Blade show, right? Well, well,

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I, you know, when I was sitting, as you mentioned before, I did work for

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another company sitting in the, in the, in the C suite. I didn't attend Blade

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Show. I didn't do that at all. And so this is, this is the

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first time with, with my company that I, I've gone to

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Blade show and looking back at it now, you

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know, my previous role, maybe I should have, you know, there was a lot to

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learn, but yeah, I didn't. So I was nervous the first,

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first show, you know, in my little 10 by 10 booth, I was really nervous

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and it went well. And it continues to go so well. Well,

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we, we sort of tipped our hat a little bit to the

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Ocaso style. But let's talk about that. How

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did, how did you come to a

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gentleman's brand? Or I mean, if I know that this is

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your branding, it is a gentleman's brand, but it's, it's

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also just like kind of a cultivated brand. Like because,

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you know, my wife sometimes carries a solstice in

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her purse and it's like, it's refined and it's, it goes with

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her. So it's not just, obviously it's not just men, but

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gentlemen. The gentleman style brand as a sort of generic

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term. How did that come about for you? Well, for me,

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I struggled finding,

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finding the right piece a lot of times to go with

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the situation with the outfit. That outfit, you know, I'd

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sit in front of my, my wallet caddy and I had had the wallet, had

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the watch, I had the pen, I had other things, but I never really had

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that elegant, cool looking gentleman style knife

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and they existed out there. This category has been around for a lot,

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lot and a long time. And

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so I struggle with that. And so now I'M also finding that a lot

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of other people, a lot of individuals, not just gentlemen, but like you said, there's

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women out there too, that, that's trouble finding that

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great looking premium material pocket knife or

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everyday carry accessory. And so

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I'm actually becoming more and more obsessed with trying to solve that problem

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for myself and everyone else that's out there. And

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I, I do love hearing that it, it is taking place in terms of

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me solving the problem. I get emails, I get

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DMed a lot, I get texts saying, you know, I, I

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found the ultimate jalamas knife that I can wear in the boardroom. There's

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lawyers that are wearing it, there's doctors, engineers, the business

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professionals, the executives, the knife

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aficionados, you know, the collectors that just have all kinds of

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size and all range in terms of knives, but they were

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just missing this particular piece or they had a piece similar to this,

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but it wasn't of material.

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Prem material. It didn't have that elegant look to it.

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So that's what it was. It was ultimately. That's a great question because I solved

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the problem that I had and that was wanting to create

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a knife that I enjoyed carrying for a situation, for an

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occasion that was matching to everything else. You know,

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it's not, I, I shouldn't say it's as simple as that, but that's what it

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is and that's what it is. So. And then I'm not just a category,

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I'm an entire lifestyle brand. So everything that we make

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has to stick to that script and it's working. And I

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really, really enjoy what we've done up to this point. And I have

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so many, so many, so many other ideas. Oh

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great. So many other things that I want to do and

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at. I'll get there, you know, I'll get

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there. But I've pumped the brakes. I stalled a little because starting the

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business, I've learned that it's not about speed, it's about direction.

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And I know I came out the gate freaking just fast, man. I'm like,

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holy smokes. And so I had to slow down, you know, I had to slow

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down because it. A lot of a human being

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didn't have all that bandwidth. Yeah. You know, to take on so many projects and

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this and that and you just on and up. But anyway,

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I have a lot more coming. How, how would you. Well, let

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me tell you how I would define a gentleman's knife. And then I want to

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hear what you think. To me, a couple of things that come across

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and a couple. And one Way in particular, that Ocaso

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knives bucks against one of these things I

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really appreciate. But what I think of is I'll use the

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Solstice as an example. Clean lines,

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very, very clean lines is a big part of it.

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Slender, easy to carry in light garments, you

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know, like suit pants, that kind of thing. And, and, and

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inherently beautiful to look at. Like, you can find those

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qualities and slip joints, you can find them in modern folders and that kind of

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thing. But one thing that Ocaso does that I really

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appreciate, it does all of those things, but it makes also a

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very, very robust folder. It's not just

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even the super featherweight carbon fiber versions. They're

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very, very robust. They're not just clean

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and slender, but they'll go

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the distance. Yeah, absolutely. And of

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course, a lot of that comes from, you know, where, you know, cold steel in

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my previous role. And then Andrew Demko, I mean, Andrew Demko is like, he's a

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designer on, on the Solstice. And, and their motto is, you know,

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performance. You know, it's got to be a knife that performs

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and. Enough said. Right. So was there a way to

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apply that to this type of knife? The slim knife?

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Yeah, you know, Andrew wouldn't have wanted any other way.

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It can't just be a good looking knife. It has to be a knife that

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can perform. And it does. I mean, I've got Solstices sitting

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in our warehouse at two and a half, three years old

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now, and they're still, they're still running. And they're still. We, we run

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them hard. We run them hard. And, you know, I'm sure

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that, you know, there's other torture tests that we can do. Remember I left that?

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Yeah, I left, I left that. But in terms of what a knife

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can do, you know, sitting in the warehouse cutting boxes, prying

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this and that, I mean, they, they work. They truly work. So

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more than just answering. So how do you define a gentleman's knife

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generically? I think you hit it on all the points. Lightweight,

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I think lightweight, but also very. It's got to be cool

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looking and good looking. And so that's why we've taken the

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Solstice on the titanium scales. We've added color,

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we've added engraving. And the reason for that, because, you know, you

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can apply a knife to different occasions or different situations

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to, you know, matching whatever outfit that you, that you have on.

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So you hit it on, on every point. Another

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thing too is I liked pens. You know, Andrew knew I was a very pen,

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you know, big pen collector. So Very pen like and slim.

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And a lot of people said, well, it looks like this knife looks like that

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knife, you know. Well, you know what? You know, I've been carrying

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a slim knife for a long time and this was actually the first one,

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you know, cold steel. This was back, what, 2004.

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And so Lynn, always out. Lynn Thompson always out fit me,

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outfitted me with a lot of cold steel knives. But this, I believe, was the

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first night that I bought right away when Len introduced it to the lineup.

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Why? Because I was drawn to that sleek, slim style knife.

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So I've always been into it. I mean, this is over 20

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years old, so that's what I would add to.

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Very, very slim and sleek and pen like. So

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have you always been into, for lack of a better term,

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gentlemanly stuff or have you always been a knife

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guy or both? That's also another great question.

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I've always been into gentleman stuff,

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but because I've been in the knife industry, I've worked

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that in, I've had to bring that in and then that's the right, that's

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the reason why I built Ocaso the way I built it, because of my

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lifestyle, which again, I believe there's a lot of, lot of

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individuals out there that live this certain lifestyle too, from what

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I'm hearing, from what I'm seeing. So, yeah,

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absolutely. Oh, man, it just occurs to me and you know, I'm not,

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I'm not a branding expert, I'm certainly not a marketer, but when

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I was a kid in the 80s, I used to look at

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GQ magazine because, you know, I thought when I grow up, I'm going to be

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the most gentlemanly gentleman out there. Going to shave with a straight razor

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every day and do all the things that Ocaso

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knives in gq. Maybe that's the, maybe

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that's the next advertising place. Absolutely. Coming

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soon, gq, GQ and other places. You know, I,

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I was, I had a subscription to GQ when I was, you know,

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very young. Very young. And I kept those

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magazines for the longest time. I don't know why, you know,

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but absolutely.

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It's just, it's been wonderful. What's, what's happened to

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Castle up to this point and, and all

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those. And Bob, I don't have to sit here and make

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something for everyone out there. You know, know, if you don't like, you don't like

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what I'm doing, that's fine. You know, there's plenty of other categories,

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other brands, other knives are out there and it's all great too, right?

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I'm just making what I enjoy and, and,

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and having it relate to a lot of people out there in my situation,

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into my world too. And it does, it does.

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So how do you find,

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just since we're on this topic, I want branding.

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Like, you know, it's pretty important that you

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get out there and that you get yourself and your company known

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for a certain thing in your experience

252
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through, you know, across all your knife world experience. How important

253
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is branding to selling something as elemental as a knife?

254
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Look, I get asked this question a lot and I will

255
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answer like this. I'm not making a knife. I'm building a brand.

256
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Okay? That's what it is. Because when you're building a brand,

257
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there's a story behind it, all right? And then when

258
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there's a story in the brand that you truly believe in, that

259
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I believe in, it will be felt, it will be seen, it

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will be hurt. And then guess what? It's going to be supported.

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And that's what's happening with Locomo is being supported by all these

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wonderful people out there, all these customers, all these repeat customers.

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And, and I, I gotta continue to do my best to

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help them and, you know, to continue to produce,

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you know, products or items, you know, for the pocket,

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you know, for the suit jacket, for the desk and for the home.

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Because, because I'm enjoying it, you know. And yeah,

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branding is important. And there's this thing that I read a while ago that,

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you know, when I'm out there, and here's another reason why Blade show or other

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trade shows of that platform is important. Because

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I want to engage with these people. I want them to see who, who

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I am because my smile is my logo, right?

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And you know, the way I make them feel,

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you know, after they interact with me is my brand and my

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trademark, you know, so all that, it

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goes a long way. You know, that personality, it's just, it's. I

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want them to see it's genuine. I'm not out there. I'm doing what I love.

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You know, I mentioned this before. I'm doing what I love with the one I

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love and that's my wife. My wife Tisa.

280
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That's pretty amazing what you said. Just in terms of how you make

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people feel is your brand. And man, that,

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that's, that's important. That's everyone's personal brand. You know, you've

283
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heard that expression, everyone's got a personal brand, whether you like it

284
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or not. And, and ultimately, yes, it's how you, how you

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leave people feeling

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afterward. And you ad blade show definitely are working

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the scene and you're, you're not just planted

288
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behind the, behind your counter, you're walking

289
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around, you're engaging. That's something that I think is so important,

290
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especially for knife makers who are maybe newer and

291
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starting out going to blade show, because it's such a solitary

292
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activity, making the knives, especially if you're, you know, making it by

293
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hand in a shop. But you do have to get out there and press the

294
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flesh and, and be a part of the community you're trying to sell to.

295
00:18:28.950 --> 00:18:32.710
That is right. Absolutely. You gotta be part of the community. And to

296
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be accepted by the community, you know, validates a lot of things.

297
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Um, and so, and I love doing that. You know, I love

298
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just, you know, a lot of times, okay, if there's, if there's no one walking

299
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up and down the aisle, okay, here's my opportunity to maybe sit down. Okay. But

300
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then some companies, I sit right back up, whether they walk by the booth or

301
00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:54.280
not. But I, I'm, I'm ready. I'm ready to talk to anybody and

302
00:18:54.280 --> 00:18:58.040
everybody. Um, and a lot of times it's back to back, back to back, back

303
00:18:58.040 --> 00:19:01.800
to back. And I love that. And, and, and, and here's another thing

304
00:19:01.800 --> 00:19:05.040
too. When you go to blade shows, other trade shows, there's so much that

305
00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:09.360
take away from that. Right. And it's either gaining

306
00:19:09.360 --> 00:19:13.080
some more course customers, but also some

307
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more support. Some more collaborations. Yeah, because I'm pulling into

308
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collaborations and working with other companies. You've seen the

309
00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:23.880
partnership with, with Andrew Demko. I was

310
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designing with Andrew and there's, I've always been talking to him. You got to

311
00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.720
become a partner. Let's, let's take this to the next level. Let's have you be

312
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.290
part of this. And then that was the huge announcement at Bleed Atlanta,

313
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Right. Where he's now a partner. And we have a

314
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Ocaso dental knife being produced by him out of

315
00:19:41.770 --> 00:19:45.330
Pennsylvania coming in a few months. We're really excited about

316
00:19:45.330 --> 00:19:48.930
that. I formed a great relationship with

317
00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:52.290
Connor Tour. Oh, another, another SoCal

318
00:19:52.450 --> 00:19:56.050
guy that's just three and a half, four hours down down the highway.

319
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I've gone down to see him a couple times and there's something in the works.

320
00:19:59.530 --> 00:20:03.040
There's. And you know, we'll be announcing something here very

321
00:20:03.040 --> 00:20:06.840
soon. But he's a great guy. He's very young. He's

322
00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:10.840
really just intelligent, smart. What he's done in terms of his

323
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brand, I think it's great. And then the

324
00:20:14.760 --> 00:20:18.600
big idea design guys I love working with them. You know,

325
00:20:18.600 --> 00:20:20.920
there's a little collaboration on a pen that I have

326
00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:26.360
and then just on and on. I mean, there's other things in the works that

327
00:20:27.370 --> 00:20:31.210
again, you have to really watch what you take

328
00:20:31.210 --> 00:20:34.170
on. Right. Because you always want to make sure that

329
00:20:35.210 --> 00:20:38.170
things don't get a little out of hand because then

330
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things start unraveling. And one thing that, what I don't want to unravel

331
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is continue to run this company where

332
00:20:46.250 --> 00:20:49.290
I can continue to service the customer the best that I can.

333
00:20:50.650 --> 00:20:54.180
I try to, you know, answer the emails as quickly as possible,

334
00:20:54.420 --> 00:20:58.220
answer all the phones. People are blown away that they'll, you know, they're calling

335
00:20:58.220 --> 00:21:02.060
on a Saturday afternoon and I'm picking up and I'm, I'm helping them

336
00:21:02.060 --> 00:21:05.820
with their, with their question of the request that I'm, I'm replying to

337
00:21:05.820 --> 00:21:09.660
their emails on a Sunday night, on a Friday night, just this. So

338
00:21:09.660 --> 00:21:12.660
anyway, it's just you have to be careful because there's all sides of the business

339
00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:15.140
that needs attending to. So

340
00:21:16.020 --> 00:21:19.620
collaboration in any creative field is totally

341
00:21:19.620 --> 00:21:22.510
essential. I know it is. In, in my field.

342
00:21:23.870 --> 00:21:27.630
What's it like working with so many collaborators? I mean,

343
00:21:27.630 --> 00:21:30.350
you have Andrew Demko, Mike Wallace, Kurt

344
00:21:32.590 --> 00:21:36.350
Wes Crawford, David Seaton, and then everyone you just named

345
00:21:36.430 --> 00:21:40.150
Connor Tor. You're getting more involved with Andrew

346
00:21:40.150 --> 00:21:43.670
Demko. What's that like? Having so many different

347
00:21:43.670 --> 00:21:47.080
creative balls in. The air like that? Tra. It's hard.

348
00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:50.920
It's hard. And, you know, I do feel bad because there's others,

349
00:21:51.320 --> 00:21:55.160
you know, on hold right now because there is so much.

350
00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:59.160
And I remember when I first started the company and I did

351
00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:02.800
touch upon this before, that it's, it's not about speed, it's about

352
00:22:02.800 --> 00:22:06.440
direction and focusing on making

353
00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:09.960
sure everything is right. You're going down the right

354
00:22:09.960 --> 00:22:13.800
path. And one thing that I mentioned when I first started is

355
00:22:14.430 --> 00:22:17.910
bite off more than you can chew and chew like hell. And that was the

356
00:22:17.910 --> 00:22:21.670
Len Thompson thing. And I think he was able to do that. He's

357
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very successful. So when he sold the company

358
00:22:25.630 --> 00:22:29.270
and then I started my company, I was still riding off a

359
00:22:29.270 --> 00:22:32.750
high off of cold steel and what I did close to 20 years over there.

360
00:22:33.150 --> 00:22:35.870
So I think that's why I started the company the way I did.

361
00:22:37.470 --> 00:22:40.880
But, you know, he had, he had

362
00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:44.560
resources, he had people, he had teams and, and, and

363
00:22:44.560 --> 00:22:48.280
all this other stuff. And I didn't. Right. It wasn't fair

364
00:22:48.280 --> 00:22:51.800
for me to say. So I realize now, and I take that back,

365
00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:54.040
that no, for me,

366
00:22:55.720 --> 00:22:59.320
I, I couldn't bite off more than I can chew. And true like hell. Okay.

367
00:22:59.560 --> 00:23:03.360
Because then you're not giving everything the attention that it needs, Everyone the attention

368
00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:07.060
that it needs. And so it's hard.

369
00:23:07.460 --> 00:23:10.500
It's hard. But you know, you just got to focus, you got to manage, you

370
00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:13.700
got to prioritize and stay into it and be honest,

371
00:23:14.180 --> 00:23:17.940
you know, be honest with, with some of these people, we got to

372
00:23:17.940 --> 00:23:21.780
hold off or we gotta wait or this and that. So. But

373
00:23:21.780 --> 00:23:25.540
it's, it's hard, but it's, it's, it's manageable if you stay focused. And you

374
00:23:25.540 --> 00:23:29.220
know that you don't, you don't take on too many things on your plate. Yeah.

375
00:23:29.540 --> 00:23:32.990
Well, you just alluded to new something

376
00:23:33.310 --> 00:23:37.030
happening with Andrew Demko. Can you tell us at

377
00:23:37.030 --> 00:23:40.830
all anything about that? Yeah, absolutely. I feel bad because I

378
00:23:40.830 --> 00:23:44.670
don't have the actual prototype here. The prototype was sent off because I'm

379
00:23:44.670 --> 00:23:48.390
working on other things with the knife and

380
00:23:48.390 --> 00:23:52.230
this particular part of the project needed the sample. So I don't have

381
00:23:52.230 --> 00:23:55.070
the sample. But it's an American made folding knife.

382
00:23:55.790 --> 00:23:59.470
Magnacut high grade titanium scales. With the

383
00:23:59.470 --> 00:24:02.950
shark lock. With the shark lock and no, no fin on it.

384
00:24:02.950 --> 00:24:06.790
So it's going to have some of his elements and definitely the old castle elements

385
00:24:06.870 --> 00:24:10.590
in the branding on it. You know, the diamond pivot, the wraparound deep carry pocket

386
00:24:10.590 --> 00:24:14.350
clip. And it was pretty, pretty sweet. I

387
00:24:14.350 --> 00:24:18.110
mean the prototype I had at Blade

388
00:24:18.110 --> 00:24:21.870
show was the first time I had held it

389
00:24:21.870 --> 00:24:25.680
in my hand and seen it in person. And he. And it

390
00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:29.400
was handmade by Andrew. Wow, that's incredible. And he did such

391
00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:32.560
a great job and showing off to everybody. Everyone liked it and loved it,

392
00:24:33.120 --> 00:24:36.880
so. But what's in the works right now is the actual. I think

393
00:24:37.040 --> 00:24:40.880
he's already cut out the titanium scales. The parts

394
00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:44.400
are being finalized right now. But that's what it is.

395
00:24:44.800 --> 00:24:48.640
It's, it's, it's an actual knife category. It's

396
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.430
the first of many. So a shark lock without the,

397
00:24:52.430 --> 00:24:56.070
the fin, that's the disengaging. Right,

398
00:24:56.790 --> 00:25:00.230
Interesting. So now I'm thinking of it like very low

399
00:25:00.230 --> 00:25:04.070
profile with Jimping, maybe that you engage it. I don't

400
00:25:04.070 --> 00:25:07.710
know. We'll find out, I guess, huh? Yeah, it's out there. I mean, if

401
00:25:07.710 --> 00:25:10.950
you, if you Google Blade Show, Demko

402
00:25:11.430 --> 00:25:14.710
Ocaso partnership, I'm sure it'll come up because there was a lot of

403
00:25:15.270 --> 00:25:18.610
individuals that did filming, that did

404
00:25:18.610 --> 00:25:22.130
interviews. It's out there, so you'll see it. Okay,

405
00:25:22.530 --> 00:25:25.890
so I feel bad again. I don't have it. Oh, man. No, no, it's being

406
00:25:25.890 --> 00:25:29.450
used right now. That's exciting. And it will, it'll garner even

407
00:25:29.450 --> 00:25:33.130
more interest. So let's, let's take a look at some

408
00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:36.650
of your knives. I know you've got some in front of you and I know

409
00:25:36.650 --> 00:25:40.210
you have something very exciting that's brand new out. Let's start with

410
00:25:40.210 --> 00:25:43.090
that. All right. You were talking about the Lucent. Yeah.

411
00:25:43.990 --> 00:25:47.550
Okay, so the Lucent, which is our automatic

412
00:25:47.550 --> 00:25:47.990
knife,

413
00:25:51.110 --> 00:25:54.150
it's a Solstice inspired body frame.

414
00:25:54.950 --> 00:25:58.590
And let's see. So here it is, a high

415
00:25:58.590 --> 00:26:02.230
grade aluminum scale. And it's got that

416
00:26:02.230 --> 00:26:05.950
wraparound deep carry pocket clip. And then it's

417
00:26:05.950 --> 00:26:09.590
got the diamond icons, which is not a pivot, but it's in there. Right, right.

418
00:26:09.590 --> 00:26:13.110
You see that? Yeah. And

419
00:26:13.110 --> 00:26:16.790
it's a harpoon because everyone loves the

420
00:26:16.790 --> 00:26:19.430
harpoon on the Solstice M390.

421
00:26:20.710 --> 00:26:23.910
And this, the OEM is best tech.

422
00:26:25.189 --> 00:26:29.030
Yeah. Sweet. I love best tech knives. They do such a

423
00:26:29.030 --> 00:26:32.430
great job. Of course we have the, we have The Cali legal

424
00:26:32.430 --> 00:26:36.040
1.9 inches. One point. That's a, that,

425
00:26:36.040 --> 00:26:39.600
that's a cute. The Cali legal one is sweet.

426
00:26:39.600 --> 00:26:43.200
So like a sweet little knife. Kind of ridiculous knife

427
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:46.960
laws you got out there, but you know, hey, that, that's the water you're

428
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:50.640
swimming in. Hold up that the large Lucent for a

429
00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:54.240
second. Let's take a look at that blade. Wow,

430
00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:58.480
that is really cool. Now I've seen a, I've seen,

431
00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:02.240
I saw this on Melissa backwoods. I saw

432
00:27:02.860 --> 00:27:06.540
she had one of these. She did. And she also had the black

433
00:27:06.540 --> 00:27:10.060
versions as well. So the, the

434
00:27:10.060 --> 00:27:13.820
Lucent Silver has dropped a few

435
00:27:13.820 --> 00:27:17.020
left on the site. And, and

436
00:27:17.420 --> 00:27:21.260
the black versions are going to be available about two to three weeks.

437
00:27:22.780 --> 00:27:26.620
They're on the way. Ashley, the black versions that she, that you saw in

438
00:27:26.620 --> 00:27:30.460
her videos. Right. So what is, what has the reception been from

439
00:27:30.460 --> 00:27:34.300
your regular fans about this? They like it.

440
00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:38.180
It's just amazing to see. I've been waiting

441
00:27:38.180 --> 00:27:41.820
for this for a long time. Boom. I mean the, the launch,

442
00:27:42.460 --> 00:27:45.660
I, I fight. You know, I'm not one that.

443
00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:51.020
This is the first time where I announce, okay, it's coming, it's coming on this

444
00:27:51.020 --> 00:27:54.740
day at this time. I know that exists out there. A

445
00:27:54.740 --> 00:27:58.490
drop, right. And a lot of people are successful. You know,

446
00:27:58.490 --> 00:28:01.530
my experience is you bring the shipment in and you fill your wagon up and

447
00:28:01.530 --> 00:28:05.250
then you sell. But you know, we decided to try it. Say, hey,

448
00:28:05.250 --> 00:28:08.970
okay, these are coming in gonna be on this day and around this

449
00:28:08.970 --> 00:28:11.850
time. And we loaded up so I was put on a Schedule, right. It's like

450
00:28:11.850 --> 00:28:15.210
when, okay, let's put these on now. But no, we did it this way and

451
00:28:15.210 --> 00:28:18.330
it was, it was great. It was neat. It's like, okay, now I see why,

452
00:28:18.330 --> 00:28:21.890
why everyone does this. It takes this approach because it's pretty darn neat.

453
00:28:23.550 --> 00:28:27.190
So it went really well. And, and I,

454
00:28:27.190 --> 00:28:30.470
I don't know what it did, but in terms of having an

455
00:28:30.470 --> 00:28:34.110
OTF in the lineup now, I mean, there's

456
00:28:34.270 --> 00:28:38.110
our followers shot up, our catalog request went up,

457
00:28:39.230 --> 00:28:42.510
Everything just went up. I think this is a,

458
00:28:42.830 --> 00:28:46.510
a nice category for me to have, but then also have it

459
00:28:46.510 --> 00:28:50.350
relate to it being, you know, a gentleman. A more slimmer,

460
00:28:50.350 --> 00:28:54.020
sleek, slim style knife. Yeah. Because kind

461
00:28:54.020 --> 00:28:57.660
of classically we think of automatic knives.

462
00:28:57.660 --> 00:29:01.380
We think of out the

463
00:29:01.380 --> 00:29:05.220
side Italian stilettos that hoodlums in the

464
00:29:05.220 --> 00:29:08.940
50s carried. Or we think of very tactical, you know,

465
00:29:09.020 --> 00:29:12.820
microtech kind of knives that are awesome, don't get me wrong, I

466
00:29:12.820 --> 00:29:16.570
love them, but they are not necessarily right for the boardroom.

467
00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:20.680
But this scratches that it, that is right. You

468
00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:23.640
know, I just like, I wonder said, oh shit, I'm going to come out with

469
00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:26.960
a little gentleman style otf. And here it is.

470
00:29:29.120 --> 00:29:32.879
And you know, this particular diamond pattern milling

471
00:29:32.879 --> 00:29:36.720
on, on the, on the handle is just, just the start. I wanted it

472
00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:40.480
to match my favorite pen. This is my Mont Blanc. Kind of matches this,

473
00:29:43.210 --> 00:29:47.050
but little bit of a departure, but I

474
00:29:47.050 --> 00:29:50.490
still like it. But I have other designs already in the works right now

475
00:29:51.370 --> 00:29:55.130
because I want to keep going on this, on this category. Well,

476
00:29:55.130 --> 00:29:58.970
other out the front or other automatic knives? Oh, yeah. Oh

477
00:29:58.970 --> 00:30:02.810
yeah, absolutely. Have you always been a automatic kind of

478
00:30:02.810 --> 00:30:06.610
guy? So you just said like the little stiletto, the Italian stiletto.

479
00:30:06.610 --> 00:30:09.790
Right. So that's another one that I've had, I think. Oh, it's right here.

480
00:30:11.950 --> 00:30:15.750
Look at this guy right here. Oh, I

481
00:30:15.750 --> 00:30:19.390
think I've had this. I got this when I was 12 or 13 years old.

482
00:30:19.710 --> 00:30:23.550
That's awesome. This is really, really old. I don't, I don't want to

483
00:30:23.550 --> 00:30:27.350
say how old it is because I might date myself. So old I am. But

484
00:30:27.350 --> 00:30:30.870
I mean. Yeah, here you go. Exactly what you swing

485
00:30:30.870 --> 00:30:34.670
guard stiletto from the old days and now your new thing. How cool is that?

486
00:30:35.490 --> 00:30:39.290
But I got this in Mexico. He gives. You know,

487
00:30:39.290 --> 00:30:42.970
I was born in Texas and you can go across the border to go shopping

488
00:30:42.970 --> 00:30:46.730
and do, do things like that. And as a little kid, you

489
00:30:46.730 --> 00:30:50.490
know, I bought this because you can just walk up, buy it. My mom

490
00:30:50.490 --> 00:30:52.970
caught it that I had it and she kept it for years and years and

491
00:30:52.970 --> 00:30:55.930
years. And I didn't get it back until I, I was older, I think a

492
00:30:55.930 --> 00:30:58.690
teenager. But I still have it in my life.

493
00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:03.900
Look at that. Two important pieces. Oh yeah, and they look similar

494
00:31:03.980 --> 00:31:06.620
too. Yeah, they do. Beautiful.

495
00:31:07.740 --> 00:31:11.340
I, I, I, I want to backtrack. I want to talk another minute about

496
00:31:11.420 --> 00:31:15.180
the project with Andrew Demko. And you know,

497
00:31:15.180 --> 00:31:19.020
you mentioned that these lucents are made by Bestech, one of my favorite

498
00:31:19.980 --> 00:31:23.660
OEMs, period. I also like the stuff that they offer

499
00:31:23.660 --> 00:31:26.220
under their own shingle. I like bestech a lot. But

500
00:31:27.780 --> 00:31:30.820
so you oem your, some of your knives

501
00:31:31.140 --> 00:31:34.660
overseas or most of your knives overseas and now you're starting

502
00:31:35.460 --> 00:31:38.740
to manufacture here with this knife.

503
00:31:39.620 --> 00:31:43.380
What kind of differences do you see? I mean, I know there must be

504
00:31:43.380 --> 00:31:46.420
many in vats, but what

505
00:31:46.580 --> 00:31:50.140
impression has having knives in the

506
00:31:50.140 --> 00:31:52.500
works in the States had on you?

507
00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:00.080
I guess the, the biggest thing for me is communication. I mean, Andrew and I

508
00:32:00.080 --> 00:32:03.520
will, will talk two, three times a day going back and forth and

509
00:32:03.520 --> 00:32:07.360
resolve an issue or go over a topic or discuss something

510
00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:11.800
in relation to the project right away. But for the

511
00:32:11.800 --> 00:32:15.400
most part, would you, when you're working with a factory

512
00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:19.020
overseas, they've all been good. And it's been like this, you know,

513
00:32:19.020 --> 00:32:22.700
it's, it's a day delay, right, where you send an

514
00:32:22.700 --> 00:32:26.500
email, you gotta wait till the next day. But a lot

515
00:32:26.500 --> 00:32:30.060
of times for me to shorten it, I'll stay up till freaking midnight, send an

516
00:32:30.060 --> 00:32:33.660
email, start talking to them because it's their morning there. But that's,

517
00:32:33.660 --> 00:32:37.180
that's been the biggest difference. Other than that the process is all the same,

518
00:32:37.180 --> 00:32:40.740
right. You know, you gotta go through the steps in terms of designs, the lead

519
00:32:40.740 --> 00:32:44.500
times and this, this and this and that. Some people will

520
00:32:44.500 --> 00:32:47.780
carry material and have all the material in place.

521
00:32:48.570 --> 00:32:52.250
So lead time on, on delivery can be shorter versus

522
00:32:53.290 --> 00:32:56.850
someone that doesn't have that model in place. You know, some of the bigger

523
00:32:56.850 --> 00:33:00.690
factories will have all that. Okay, well, we got that steel, we got that material,

524
00:33:00.690 --> 00:33:04.490
we got that. So, so minor

525
00:33:04.490 --> 00:33:08.290
differences, Minor differences. But yeah, it's not keeping all your eggs

526
00:33:08.290 --> 00:33:10.810
in one basket. I got Taiwan, I've got Italy.

527
00:33:12.090 --> 00:33:15.910
The OEM that are brought on board is best tech there is a project with

528
00:33:15.910 --> 00:33:19.550
Reate. You know, they kind of got put on hold. So you know,

529
00:33:19.550 --> 00:33:23.270
we're just, we were right there ready to pull the triggers. And that

530
00:33:23.270 --> 00:33:26.990
designer is actually Mac Kelsey from Big Idea Design. Oh,

531
00:33:26.990 --> 00:33:30.709
nice. So Matt Kelsey is the, the designer on

532
00:33:30.709 --> 00:33:34.430
the lookout. Their fixed, their first fixed blade knife that came out. So I

533
00:33:34.430 --> 00:33:38.150
have a project that's right there, you know, getting ready to go

534
00:33:38.150 --> 00:33:41.230
start moving forward again. You know, just, just had to get past the

535
00:33:41.470 --> 00:33:45.070
tariff situation first. But things are going to start moving forward

536
00:33:45.070 --> 00:33:48.790
again. But yeah, it's been

537
00:33:48.790 --> 00:33:52.430
great working with everybody. Everyone's been really professional. Everyone knows what they're

538
00:33:52.430 --> 00:33:56.110
doing. And I'm gauging with these factories

539
00:33:56.590 --> 00:34:00.310
because of the experience. So I think I might be

540
00:34:00.310 --> 00:34:04.030
able to share that. Okay. There is a big difference. If I was working with

541
00:34:04.030 --> 00:34:07.850
someone that maybe didn't have a lot of experience, which I don't know, I did

542
00:34:07.850 --> 00:34:11.650
some research first. Okay, that's, that's Vet Best

543
00:34:11.650 --> 00:34:14.930
tech. That's Vet Re. But they already had a huge name,

544
00:34:15.730 --> 00:34:19.530
so. And then they're working in line with some of the giants out there in

545
00:34:19.530 --> 00:34:23.370
terms of service and communication. Yeah, well, I mean

546
00:34:23.370 --> 00:34:27.210
that's, that's also gotta be kind of exciting figuring out

547
00:34:27.210 --> 00:34:30.290
new OEMs, new companies that you're working with. And

548
00:34:30.850 --> 00:34:34.010
so some, some you produce in Italy. What, what's that about?

549
00:34:34.570 --> 00:34:38.330
So Italy is the Damascus

550
00:34:38.810 --> 00:34:39.530
Solstice,

551
00:34:42.970 --> 00:34:46.570
which I guess here's an update. So there's a.

552
00:34:48.090 --> 00:34:51.370
In our lineup is the Damascus fat carbon

553
00:34:52.410 --> 00:34:56.130
frame lock, but it's being upgraded and changed

554
00:34:56.130 --> 00:34:57.770
and we're moving over to

555
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:03.120
Damasteel. So this is Damasteel

556
00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:06.840
and it's going to be fat carbon liner lock on both

557
00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:10.560
sides. So the one that's in the lineup currently is

558
00:35:10.560 --> 00:35:14.320
a frame lot, but now we're going with the Damasteel. And this is

559
00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:17.800
the Bifrost pattern. So you'll see these probably November,

560
00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:21.400
December of this year. So this is Italy right here. This is the

561
00:35:21.400 --> 00:35:25.000
Symphony knife. Hey, it's Symphony knife. Wait, I'm

562
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:28.790
confused. You said the liner lock on both sides.

563
00:35:28.790 --> 00:35:32.550
What does that mean? So I went from a frame lock because the

564
00:35:32.550 --> 00:35:36.070
currently what you have, if you look at the website, the Damascus

565
00:35:36.470 --> 00:35:40.310
Solstice, it's a, it's a titanium frame lock.

566
00:35:41.989 --> 00:35:45.830
But what we want to do, making this upgrade to a different steel,

567
00:35:46.790 --> 00:35:50.430
we went with a liner liner lock. I got you. I got you too. We,

568
00:35:50.430 --> 00:35:53.430
we want the beauty because that carbon is so cool looking

569
00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:58.640
and on the current model it's. It looks fat carbon on one side

570
00:35:58.640 --> 00:36:02.440
and frame lock. Nothing wrong because it's a high grade titanium. But this we want

571
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:05.960
a beauty on both sides. Yeah, beauty here, we want a beauty

572
00:36:05.960 --> 00:36:09.759
here. We want it. Some nice damasteel bifrost with

573
00:36:09.759 --> 00:36:13.400
some nice etching. Shine. Shine to it. Oh, that looks

574
00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:16.640
nice. Yeah. Can see. Yeah. In person. This is great.

575
00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:21.290
So we've Got that coming out of edit out of Italy. Italy, okay.

576
00:36:23.610 --> 00:36:26.730
Does that, I mean, do you choose a company

577
00:36:27.370 --> 00:36:31.090
they like the company in Italy because of the work they've done in the past

578
00:36:31.090 --> 00:36:34.250
or because of their access to the

579
00:36:34.250 --> 00:36:38.050
materials. I don't get why, why you would have some of the solstices

580
00:36:38.050 --> 00:36:41.570
made somewhere and then some of them made elsewhere. Because

581
00:36:41.570 --> 00:36:45.210
remember, I think they didn't mention some companies are better at

582
00:36:45.210 --> 00:36:48.820
certain things. Fixed blade knives, liner lops, frame lops. Yes,

583
00:36:48.820 --> 00:36:52.580
materials. You know, fat carbon, I think has built a great

584
00:36:52.580 --> 00:36:56.220
relationship with a lot of factories in Italy now. And I really want

585
00:36:56.220 --> 00:37:00.020
fat carbon that elegant looking on the Solstice. Okay,

586
00:37:00.100 --> 00:37:03.940
so. So you got.

587
00:37:03.940 --> 00:37:07.740
Yes, the Solstice being made in Taiwan, Bob. And then. Yes,

588
00:37:07.740 --> 00:37:11.500
I've got some nice pieces coming out of Italy. And let me

589
00:37:11.500 --> 00:37:15.180
say this too. In 2026, guess what? You're going to see a Solstice

590
00:37:15.180 --> 00:37:18.690
version coming out of Japan. Oh, cool. Yeah.

591
00:37:18.930 --> 00:37:22.770
So with Japanese freaking Damascus steel and

592
00:37:23.250 --> 00:37:27.010
nice elegant. Well, I don't know if I want to

593
00:37:27.010 --> 00:37:29.570
see too much more now, but now we've got some nice looking

594
00:37:30.530 --> 00:37:33.170
classic Japanese solstice

595
00:37:34.370 --> 00:37:38.090
category being built coming out of Japan. Very cool. So Solstice

596
00:37:38.090 --> 00:37:39.650
is definitely your flagship.

597
00:37:41.970 --> 00:37:44.250
What else do you have on the table in front of us that you could

598
00:37:44.250 --> 00:37:47.970
show us? So of course we got the

599
00:37:47.970 --> 00:37:51.650
wallet, right? Oh yeah, we got the wallet. But we've got

600
00:37:51.650 --> 00:37:54.770
that slip joint that's coming out of Italy

601
00:37:56.370 --> 00:38:00.090
and this is also in production right now. And this is going to

602
00:38:00.090 --> 00:38:03.890
be N390 high grade titanium

603
00:38:04.610 --> 00:38:08.370
with the diamond pivot. And what I've done with this one, Bob,

604
00:38:09.730 --> 00:38:13.210
is it also comes with that wraparound deal deep carry

605
00:38:13.210 --> 00:38:17.050
pocket clip. But in the packaging you can take that

606
00:38:17.050 --> 00:38:20.730
clip off and slip on this cover. Nice.

607
00:38:20.810 --> 00:38:24.530
Okay, so now this becomes a

608
00:38:24.530 --> 00:38:27.050
slip joint that can live at the bottom of the pocket

609
00:38:28.970 --> 00:38:32.490
or fit perfectly in the Ocaso wallet. Just like that.

610
00:38:33.370 --> 00:38:37.050
That is sweet. So that, that's the Ocaso wallet with your slip

611
00:38:37.050 --> 00:38:40.750
joint. What's the slip joint name? That's the slip joint. And

612
00:38:40.750 --> 00:38:44.070
this is the big idea design collaboration pen.

613
00:38:44.150 --> 00:38:47.350
Nice. So it's got the

614
00:38:47.510 --> 00:38:51.190
Ocaso logo on

615
00:38:51.190 --> 00:38:54.870
there right here and it's their pen. And it

616
00:38:54.870 --> 00:38:58.230
just happened to be, you know, I was using this pen

617
00:38:58.550 --> 00:39:00.790
because it fits perfectly into that wallet.

618
00:39:02.150 --> 00:39:04.960
And so when they saw that, they said, let's do something.

619
00:39:06.080 --> 00:39:09.920
So that's, that's one thing that I have

620
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:14.560
on the desk. I do have another thing I can show you. Yeah, let's see.

621
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:19.160
So this would be Coming out of this is

622
00:39:19.160 --> 00:39:22.920
one of the talks, one of the projects maybe coming out of the factory with

623
00:39:22.920 --> 00:39:26.640
tour knives. You know, we had our desk knife. Yes, right.

624
00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:31.040
And everyone enjoyed it. But

625
00:39:31.360 --> 00:39:35.120
there will be finally a fixed blade version

626
00:39:35.120 --> 00:39:38.640
of it. Oh, that's great. And we know tour knives

627
00:39:38.640 --> 00:39:42.400
is they, they make folders and fixed blades, but they make a lot of

628
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:46.120
great fixed blades. Yeah, they're. They do a really good job.

629
00:39:46.120 --> 00:39:49.280
So I said, well, hey, you know, I really want to get this project back

630
00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:53.120
on board. You know, can you guys do something with this? They said, yeah,

631
00:39:53.120 --> 00:39:56.680
we have another design that we went back and forth

632
00:39:56.680 --> 00:39:59.330
that, that we finalized on that would be

633
00:40:00.530 --> 00:40:03.650
in the works. So there's two models. I don't know how many skews out of

634
00:40:03.650 --> 00:40:07.370
that. That's still to be determined. But that's what I have.

635
00:40:07.370 --> 00:40:11.170
And, and this is just such a great lightweight. Yeah. And I'm going

636
00:40:11.170 --> 00:40:14.410
to be telling everybody that. Now this is something that you could wear in your

637
00:40:14.410 --> 00:40:18.250
suit jacket. You know, hey, gentlemen or hey, individual or hey,

638
00:40:18.250 --> 00:40:21.970
professionals. You know, it's, it's okay to carry a fixed blade now. Yeah, now in

639
00:40:21.970 --> 00:40:25.010
the office. Yes. Yes, it is. I've been, I've been

640
00:40:25.010 --> 00:40:28.570
acclimatizing my office for about 15 years to

641
00:40:28.570 --> 00:40:32.010
fix blade carry and I'm almost there. But. But

642
00:40:32.010 --> 00:40:35.330
yeah, I mean that's a huge trend right now. And

643
00:40:35.490 --> 00:40:39.010
maybe trend isn't even giving it proper due because

644
00:40:39.010 --> 00:40:42.810
trends always kind of go, this one seems like one to

645
00:40:42.810 --> 00:40:46.650
stay. It's like people have figured out, yes, we can carry fixed blades without

646
00:40:46.650 --> 00:40:50.490
having a Crocodile Dundee knife on the belt. It can, it can

647
00:40:50.490 --> 00:40:53.840
be in our front pocket like we're already used to with,

648
00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:57.800
with modern folders. But you can have fixed blades. And

649
00:40:57.800 --> 00:41:01.120
I love to see that Ocaso is, is

650
00:41:01.200 --> 00:41:04.800
occupying that space because it's fertile ground.

651
00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:08.400
And it also seems like right up your alley. And

652
00:41:08.640 --> 00:41:11.960
that's a mistake I made when I think when we talked last is that, that

653
00:41:11.960 --> 00:41:14.880
I wanted to just kind of be in the pocket on the desk at the

654
00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:18.320
home. And I said, I don't know if I'll be making any fixed blades.

655
00:41:19.210 --> 00:41:22.330
And so here. What was I thinking saying that? Right. And

656
00:41:24.010 --> 00:41:27.770
we're able to do it, you know, a nice gentleman. This can be

657
00:41:27.770 --> 00:41:31.490
very good looking. I don't know what materials exactly, but if this thing just

658
00:41:31.490 --> 00:41:34.490
looks sweet, you know, cool looking and it's,

659
00:41:35.210 --> 00:41:38.970
you know. Yeah. So you gotta watch what you say, you know, just

660
00:41:38.970 --> 00:41:42.770
be careful, don't. But here I coming out with fixed lane, pal. I

661
00:41:42.770 --> 00:41:46.470
love it. Actually hold, hold that Tor prototype up

662
00:41:46.470 --> 00:41:50.190
next to the desk knives and remind people of

663
00:41:50.190 --> 00:41:53.750
the desk knives and, and that whole design.

664
00:41:55.510 --> 00:41:59.270
So the desk knife came. It's a, it's a,

665
00:41:59.430 --> 00:42:02.550
it's a piece. It's a very cool,

666
00:42:03.110 --> 00:42:06.230
elegant piece that sits on your desk

667
00:42:06.790 --> 00:42:09.630
shelf table. Because a lot of people say, oh, I don't have a desk. I

668
00:42:09.630 --> 00:42:12.560
know you have a table. Why it's messy. Well, I know you have a shell,

669
00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:17.600
so that sits there and looks cool. So I have an appreciation for

670
00:42:17.600 --> 00:42:21.360
cool things sitting on the desk or the aired it. Right. You know,

671
00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:24.480
I have a, I feel like I have a really cool descape here,

672
00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:29.280
and this is one thing that sits on there, but it's two pieces that comes

673
00:42:29.280 --> 00:42:33.080
apart held by magnets. And then once, once you

674
00:42:33.080 --> 00:42:36.520
take it apart, it becomes the ideal thickness for a letter

675
00:42:36.520 --> 00:42:40.010
opener, a package opener, a box cutter or

676
00:42:40.010 --> 00:42:43.450
whatever. And it's, it's, it comes in two different

677
00:42:43.530 --> 00:42:47.090
pieces. Then you can also just do some

678
00:42:47.090 --> 00:42:50.930
snipping. You know, they're like, they can be scissors. Yeah. But that wasn't the

679
00:42:50.930 --> 00:42:54.370
main thing. It was just a cool little piece that you could take apart if

680
00:42:54.370 --> 00:42:57.810
you're lefty or righty. Enjoy cutting open your letters or your

681
00:42:57.810 --> 00:43:00.970
boxes. And this is a Wes Crawford collaboration.

682
00:43:02.820 --> 00:43:06.100
And it comes Wharncliffe and

683
00:43:06.820 --> 00:43:10.300
another legend. Of the knife world. Yeah,

684
00:43:10.300 --> 00:43:13.420
he's, he's been doing this for a long time and he's a great guy to

685
00:43:13.420 --> 00:43:17.220
work with too. So that's, that's what that is. And a

686
00:43:17.220 --> 00:43:20.900
lot of people say, I wish there was a fixed blade version of

687
00:43:20.900 --> 00:43:24.740
it. Well, there is. Coming soon. Let's see that out of the sheath.

688
00:43:24.740 --> 00:43:28.510
If you, if you wouldn't mind again. Well,

689
00:43:28.510 --> 00:43:32.310
that's a beauty. I like the

690
00:43:32.310 --> 00:43:35.990
sort of lattice pattern in the handle. It's really, really

691
00:43:35.990 --> 00:43:39.670
cool. So just looking at this and

692
00:43:39.670 --> 00:43:43.390
thinking about gentlemanly knives and I think, how, how do you feel

693
00:43:43.470 --> 00:43:47.310
about natural materials, about bone, stag

694
00:43:47.630 --> 00:43:50.510
wood, that kind of stuff? Nothing wrong with it.

695
00:43:51.550 --> 00:43:55.230
You know, I, I see it lending itself

696
00:43:55.230 --> 00:43:57.790
to more of an outdoor hunting, traditional

697
00:43:59.200 --> 00:44:02.960
product piece. I do

698
00:44:02.960 --> 00:44:06.560
have a, an old.

699
00:44:09.120 --> 00:44:12.680
I think it's a, it's a stag handle Bowie that Lynn

700
00:44:12.680 --> 00:44:16.480
Thompson gave me. And it, it looks great, right?

701
00:44:16.720 --> 00:44:20.080
It looks really great. But they're, they're,

702
00:44:20.880 --> 00:44:24.410
they're fine. I mean, when. What. Why Laskin? Why Bob? Oh, I'm,

703
00:44:25.370 --> 00:44:28.570
I'm only asking because I love them and I love them on

704
00:44:28.970 --> 00:44:32.490
modern knots. So this with

705
00:44:32.810 --> 00:44:36.290
bone or stag or something. That's just selfish, purely

706
00:44:36.290 --> 00:44:40.130
selfish self interest. Well, it could be. It

707
00:44:40.130 --> 00:44:43.090
could, you know, you know, down the road. You know, I didn't think I was

708
00:44:43.090 --> 00:44:46.850
going to do any camo on the solstice, but, you know, out comes this

709
00:44:46.850 --> 00:44:50.530
grunge camo that's very popular right now, you know,

710
00:44:51.330 --> 00:44:54.930
that I'm doing for a specific

711
00:44:54.930 --> 00:44:58.450
group of retailers. Right. So these, these guys are outdoor

712
00:44:58.450 --> 00:45:02.210
guys, gun guys. And I did some, some grunge camo.

713
00:45:02.770 --> 00:45:05.650
Oh, cool. I'm not sure I know what grunge camo is.

714
00:45:06.290 --> 00:45:09.850
Yeah, it's the. Supposedly it's a hit Cool. Camel looking

715
00:45:09.850 --> 00:45:13.330
that's. That exists nowadays. That's out there on, on streetwear,

716
00:45:13.330 --> 00:45:17.180
sportswear, gym wear. It's. It goes away

717
00:45:17.180 --> 00:45:20.300
from the mossy oak, the traditional style

718
00:45:20.620 --> 00:45:24.260
camel that's out there, it gets,

719
00:45:24.260 --> 00:45:28.060
it's more hip, it's more cool. So I built, you know, a

720
00:45:28.060 --> 00:45:31.779
lot of these for this trade show that's built with

721
00:45:31.779 --> 00:45:35.460
these members. And so, I

722
00:45:35.460 --> 00:45:39.020
mean, look, I mean, there's camel on it. We did

723
00:45:39.020 --> 00:45:42.870
the topo, right? I mean, there's,

724
00:45:43.030 --> 00:45:46.830
there's an outdoorsman or a weekend seeker, you know, in

725
00:45:46.830 --> 00:45:50.590
every person out there. So we Way of Knife

726
00:45:50.590 --> 00:45:54.350
sent me this and they say, what about this? And I didn't, I

727
00:45:54.350 --> 00:45:58.110
didn't think it'd work, but this, the sample they sent me. And I work with

728
00:45:58.110 --> 00:46:01.830
Way of Knife out of Michigan. Yeah,

729
00:46:01.830 --> 00:46:05.270
a lot. They do a lot of the work, the anodizing. And this sat on

730
00:46:05.270 --> 00:46:08.690
my desk for a while and it just, I grew to like it.

731
00:46:09.570 --> 00:46:12.530
I added to the lineup and it's been, it's been doing really well.

732
00:46:13.810 --> 00:46:17.090
So that's not, that's not a bad idea, Bob. And so when you ask me

733
00:46:17.090 --> 00:46:20.290
about why so many factories. Well, look, you've got

734
00:46:20.450 --> 00:46:23.970
Taiwan that can do the titanium, high grade. You got the

735
00:46:23.970 --> 00:46:27.690
Italians that can do the, the fat carbon. You got the

736
00:46:27.690 --> 00:46:31.330
Japanese that can do the nice classical. Okay, the wood.

737
00:46:31.330 --> 00:46:35.010
Yeah, dark wood. Look, you know, is there a factory that

738
00:46:35.010 --> 00:46:38.650
can do the jig or the bone? You know, to be

739
00:46:38.650 --> 00:46:42.330
determined. You know, we'll see. Possibilities are

740
00:46:42.330 --> 00:46:46.170
endless, Rick. Yeah, I mean, and I'm telling

741
00:46:46.170 --> 00:46:49.330
you too, I have. Sometimes it hurts my, my brain that I have so many

742
00:46:49.330 --> 00:46:53.010
ideas. It's like, oh, gosh. Well, okay, so what,

743
00:46:53.010 --> 00:46:56.090
what are some of the. Let us in the door a little bit. What are

744
00:46:56.090 --> 00:46:59.790
some of the, the high flying ideas that you're not

745
00:46:59.790 --> 00:47:02.710
even close to yet? Just

746
00:47:03.430 --> 00:47:07.030
many more designs, okay. Many more freaking

747
00:47:07.030 --> 00:47:10.150
designs that, that I want to come out with.

748
00:47:10.870 --> 00:47:14.550
I touched upon this when we first talked before. I mean, there's

749
00:47:16.710 --> 00:47:20.390
I would love, because I like watches. I would love to add a nice

750
00:47:20.950 --> 00:47:23.990
cool watch that matches the knives.

751
00:47:24.870 --> 00:47:28.690
I love Pension. I love Mont Blanc. So maybe a

752
00:47:28.690 --> 00:47:32.210
nice, you know, pen added to the

753
00:47:32.210 --> 00:47:36.050
lineup. When I, when I

754
00:47:36.050 --> 00:47:39.650
open up my first showroom, I want it to be a destination. I want it

755
00:47:39.650 --> 00:47:42.890
to be a men's lounge. I want you to be able to come in

756
00:47:43.530 --> 00:47:47.210
and of course, the main focus is going to be knives,

757
00:47:47.290 --> 00:47:50.170
whatever, but there's going to be all these other little things that you can enjoy.

758
00:47:50.730 --> 00:47:54.160
Maybe some apparel, maybe some bags.

759
00:47:54.720 --> 00:47:57.680
You know, I have, I have. I don't know why,

760
00:47:58.640 --> 00:48:02.160
you know, I have a shitload of bags that I don't even use, but I

761
00:48:02.160 --> 00:48:05.880
just, I see a bag that I like, you know, leather bags, this

762
00:48:05.880 --> 00:48:09.600
and that, and so things like that, Bob. But

763
00:48:09.600 --> 00:48:13.200
that's just, that's just down the road, right? Yeah, well, that's, that's

764
00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:17.640
a lucky position for someone like yourself to be in. Someone who owns

765
00:48:17.640 --> 00:48:20.400
a great knife company but also has interest in

766
00:48:21.990 --> 00:48:25.510
adjacent items. You know, knife guys

767
00:48:25.990 --> 00:48:29.750
love watches on the whole, love pens on the whole. And then there

768
00:48:29.750 --> 00:48:33.590
are all these other kind of, you know, things that guys like us get

769
00:48:33.590 --> 00:48:36.710
into. You know, some people love leather and,

770
00:48:37.350 --> 00:48:40.990
and those kind of things. So, I mean, it's a great position to, to have

771
00:48:40.990 --> 00:48:44.230
put yourself in where you can fill out and create

772
00:48:45.270 --> 00:48:49.030
all these things that are your interest. Because you also know that, that

773
00:48:49.030 --> 00:48:52.770
most, that many knife people, knife collectors, are also interested in

774
00:48:52.770 --> 00:48:56.490
these kind of things. Yeah. And again, it's all, it's all,

775
00:48:58.090 --> 00:49:01.810
you know, it's all the very gentleman like type stuff. Right. You

776
00:49:01.810 --> 00:49:05.530
know, if you will. And, and, and guess what happens too, is that,

777
00:49:05.690 --> 00:49:09.370
that here I am creating this brand and talking to these maybe business

778
00:49:09.370 --> 00:49:12.810
professionals that didn't know that you could carry a knife.

779
00:49:13.530 --> 00:49:17.260
Right. Well, you can, you can carry an ocaso. You know, you have all

780
00:49:17.260 --> 00:49:20.660
these other individuals that didn't know that this community

781
00:49:20.660 --> 00:49:24.460
existed, but now they do. Right. And so, and

782
00:49:24.460 --> 00:49:27.580
there's other companies already doing it. You know, they're making the watches and the pens

783
00:49:27.580 --> 00:49:30.940
and they're reaching out to those communities, and I get it. And that's happening. But

784
00:49:30.940 --> 00:49:33.380
yeah, an overlap of community is definitely taking place.

785
00:49:35.140 --> 00:49:38.780
So it's, it's something down the road. All.

786
00:49:38.780 --> 00:49:42.460
It's, it's on the list to do. But just down the road, what's, you know,

787
00:49:42.460 --> 00:49:45.820
I'm up to two employees now, too, right. Before I had zero, just my wife

788
00:49:45.820 --> 00:49:49.580
and I. So now there's two employees. So there's another sign

789
00:49:49.580 --> 00:49:53.100
that there's growth there right. Going in the right direction.

790
00:49:53.580 --> 00:49:57.420
And a lot of times, even with these guys, we're still

791
00:49:57.420 --> 00:50:01.180
clamped, we're still backed up and we still can't keep up. I'm,

792
00:50:01.180 --> 00:50:04.380
I'm impressed that you do keep up with just two people because,

793
00:50:04.860 --> 00:50:08.660
you know, you're every, it seems like you guys are everywhere. So

794
00:50:08.660 --> 00:50:12.270
I think you're, you've got good. I'm not going to

795
00:50:12.270 --> 00:50:15.630
pretend to know the term, but I guess it's market penetration. Like you guys are

796
00:50:15.630 --> 00:50:17.150
in there. You're a force already.

797
00:50:19.630 --> 00:50:23.270
Who in the knife world, in the

798
00:50:23.270 --> 00:50:26.749
knife game, who is kind of doing something similar?

799
00:50:27.230 --> 00:50:31.070
Are there any other lifestyle brands that

800
00:50:31.070 --> 00:50:34.510
are knifey or knife centric

801
00:50:34.670 --> 00:50:38.480
that you can think of? I know there's a lot of knife brands

802
00:50:38.480 --> 00:50:41.800
that have a category that's very similar to

803
00:50:42.280 --> 00:50:44.840
what we're doing. But

804
00:50:46.520 --> 00:50:49.920
I mean I like, I like William Henry. You know, they,

805
00:50:49.920 --> 00:50:53.440
they're, I think really focus on these high end,

806
00:50:53.440 --> 00:50:56.680
premium, great looking knives. Think,

807
00:50:58.280 --> 00:51:01.970
you know, and a couple other ones too. So.

808
00:51:01.970 --> 00:51:05.130
But I mean I try not at this point in time, I try to just

809
00:51:05.130 --> 00:51:08.890
stay focused and you know, they say don't, don't, don't worry what everyone else is

810
00:51:08.890 --> 00:51:12.690
doing. Yeah, just doing this. Just focus on what you're doing. But before getting

811
00:51:12.690 --> 00:51:16.530
this started, it was, I really like Chris Reeve knives. I mean. Yeah, well,

812
00:51:16.530 --> 00:51:20.050
you got him too, right? So. Yeah, I guess he's on the brain and

813
00:51:20.050 --> 00:51:23.330
William Henry. So. Yeah. And, and,

814
00:51:23.650 --> 00:51:27.090
and they both make really fine

815
00:51:27.090 --> 00:51:30.850
knives for sure. But I can't think like I, and

816
00:51:30.850 --> 00:51:34.650
I am someone who is obsessed with what everyone's doing because I, I don't, I'm

817
00:51:34.650 --> 00:51:38.410
not, I don't have my own company. I don't have to keep my

818
00:51:38.410 --> 00:51:42.170
vision limited. And I, But I'm still not. No one's coming to mind who

819
00:51:42.170 --> 00:51:45.890
does what Ocaso does. And I guess I, I just wanted to get from

820
00:51:45.890 --> 00:51:49.450
your perspective, see if what, you know, your

821
00:51:49.450 --> 00:51:52.250
competition was in, in a more specific,

822
00:51:53.130 --> 00:51:55.790
in the specific realm of gentleman

823
00:51:56.270 --> 00:51:59.790
lifestyle. And I think that that's pretty,

824
00:51:59.790 --> 00:52:02.910
that's a pretty great spot to be in because

825
00:52:03.390 --> 00:52:06.590
I think it's needed. So Bob,

826
00:52:07.390 --> 00:52:10.510
this makes this whole entire

827
00:52:10.990 --> 00:52:14.830
show for me right now, what you just said. A lot of times

828
00:52:14.830 --> 00:52:18.670
if, if, if I would have came out and answered that, well, I'm the only

829
00:52:18.670 --> 00:52:22.060
one, you know, it doesn't come off right. Um, a lot of times,

830
00:52:22.620 --> 00:52:26.180
you know, I will say to my wife, like, you know, I'm starting to see

831
00:52:26.180 --> 00:52:29.780
a little bit more of this a Little bit more of that. And it, you

832
00:52:29.780 --> 00:52:32.100
know, I think she's doing it to kind of keep me humble. She says, get

833
00:52:32.100 --> 00:52:35.420
old yourself or be quiet. You know, but

834
00:52:35.740 --> 00:52:39.500
for you to now say it. You know, I appreciate that because

835
00:52:39.900 --> 00:52:43.620
sometimes in my, in my elevator pitch, I will say I'm one of the few

836
00:52:43.620 --> 00:52:46.830
brands that really cater to a

837
00:52:46.830 --> 00:52:50.310
gentleman's premium, elegant looking pocket knife.

838
00:52:50.710 --> 00:52:54.470
Okay. So I also heard

839
00:52:54.950 --> 00:52:58.670
just today from another huge influencer out

840
00:52:58.670 --> 00:53:01.590
there, he said, I'm starting to see a lot more gentleman's item.

841
00:53:02.790 --> 00:53:06.510
So when I hear that someone else is saying it. Okay, that's

842
00:53:06.510 --> 00:53:08.870
great. And so.

843
00:53:10.150 --> 00:53:13.870
Okay. And that's why I want to stick to this group and,

844
00:53:13.940 --> 00:53:17.540
and keep going. And then just really just. Yeah, I'm not

845
00:53:17.540 --> 00:53:20.580
gonna make everything for anybody out there.

846
00:53:21.300 --> 00:53:25.060
So I just keep doing what I'm doing. And because I know

847
00:53:25.060 --> 00:53:28.580
it's solving the problem that maybe a lot of people have out there,

848
00:53:29.380 --> 00:53:33.100
you know, I'm gonna be grateful for that. Yeah.

849
00:53:33.100 --> 00:53:35.300
So they get it. There's a lot of people that get it. And I'm glad

850
00:53:35.300 --> 00:53:38.660
you get it. I'm glad you see it. So thank you for recognizing. Oh, yeah,

851
00:53:38.660 --> 00:53:42.260
of course. You know, back in my more

852
00:53:42.260 --> 00:53:45.900
metrosexual days, if you'll forgive the expression,

853
00:53:45.900 --> 00:53:49.660
but back when I was a little cooler and younger and lived in New York.

854
00:53:49.660 --> 00:53:53.260
City and you're still cool. Oh, thanks, man. I appreciate

855
00:53:53.260 --> 00:53:56.940
it. Before I was a middle aged father,

856
00:53:57.580 --> 00:54:01.300
I, you know, I always, always

857
00:54:01.300 --> 00:54:05.020
loved knives, but I was kind of in a very different kind of

858
00:54:05.420 --> 00:54:08.260
place. Place in my life and in a, in a different.

859
00:54:10.740 --> 00:54:14.260
I guess what I'm trying to say is ocaso would have come in very handy

860
00:54:14.420 --> 00:54:18.260
in the early 2000s for me because, you know, I was

861
00:54:18.580 --> 00:54:22.380
going to. I had a cool job with a, you know, I had to dress

862
00:54:22.380 --> 00:54:26.220
nice and everything like that and. But I still loved knives and I

863
00:54:26.220 --> 00:54:29.620
thought it was cool that I was the person I was, but still liked knives,

864
00:54:29.620 --> 00:54:33.390
you know, and so especially in the knife world, which

865
00:54:34.030 --> 00:54:37.630
can tend to be not that much, but it can tend to be a little

866
00:54:37.630 --> 00:54:41.310
macho in terms of like, you know, this is your high speed, low drag,

867
00:54:41.310 --> 00:54:45.150
tactical, you know, fighting knife. And that's the kind of stuff I love,

868
00:54:45.150 --> 00:54:48.870
believe me. But it's not always appropriate. But knives are

869
00:54:48.870 --> 00:54:52.430
always appropriate. Yes, yes,

870
00:54:52.510 --> 00:54:56.190
yes. I think that's awesome. That's, it's great to hear

871
00:54:56.190 --> 00:54:59.810
that. And, but you're right, it's like now. And that's another thing

872
00:54:59.810 --> 00:55:03.250
too. Once someone who wasn't into

873
00:55:03.250 --> 00:55:06.650
knives and didn't carry A knife. Once they start carrying a knife, guess what?

874
00:55:06.970 --> 00:55:10.330
They leave the house without the knife, and now they're freaking out. Right. It just

875
00:55:10.330 --> 00:55:13.930
becomes this little part of your. Your wardrobe, part of your

876
00:55:14.570 --> 00:55:17.930
routine of, like, putting on your watch and your pen and your wallet.

877
00:55:19.050 --> 00:55:22.410
And that happens to me, too. Even if I go on a freaking walk,

878
00:55:22.730 --> 00:55:26.000
I have to have a knife in my pocket because. Because if I don't, I

879
00:55:26.000 --> 00:55:29.200
just. I feel weird. I feel off. It's just on us.

880
00:55:30.160 --> 00:55:33.680
Just is. Yeah. It's like walking out the door without your pants.

881
00:55:35.440 --> 00:55:39.040
So it's like. It's like the dream you have where you wake up or

882
00:55:39.040 --> 00:55:42.440
you're on stage playing piano with no pants. You're like, I don't play

883
00:55:42.440 --> 00:55:46.280
piano. Why am I not wearing. It's the same thing. Walking

884
00:55:46.280 --> 00:55:49.960
out without a knife. All right, so you mentioned you. It's

885
00:55:49.960 --> 00:55:53.700
you, your wife, two employees. But as you move forward,

886
00:55:53.700 --> 00:55:57.540
like, if you could. If you could see in a crystal ball right

887
00:55:57.540 --> 00:56:01.300
now, 20 years in the future, or however far you're going to take

888
00:56:01.300 --> 00:56:03.700
Ocaso, how do you see it expanding?

889
00:56:05.300 --> 00:56:09.060
So another thing that I've learned is to

890
00:56:09.700 --> 00:56:13.060
kind of try to do things and set up things a little differently

891
00:56:13.540 --> 00:56:16.740
from what I experienced in terms of running a company.

892
00:56:18.450 --> 00:56:22.050
I've got to be able to create a business where I can step away

893
00:56:22.050 --> 00:56:25.810
and the business continues to be successful. It continues to

894
00:56:25.810 --> 00:56:29.450
run. Because if that doesn't take place, then all I'm doing is just creating

895
00:56:29.450 --> 00:56:33.210
another job for myself. So in order for me

896
00:56:33.210 --> 00:56:36.930
to do that, I have to pay attention to the people I bring on board

897
00:56:37.410 --> 00:56:40.210
and make sure it's a team that I'm creating.

898
00:56:41.250 --> 00:56:45.060
It's going to be a very focused team. I don't want

899
00:56:45.060 --> 00:56:48.380
to say that. And a lot of people say. Say this, and there's nothing wrong

900
00:56:48.380 --> 00:56:51.220
with it. Where we're all going to run this company like a family.

901
00:56:52.100 --> 00:56:55.940
Well, no, we're going to run like a team. Because when you. When you have

902
00:56:55.940 --> 00:56:59.140
that team approach, there's competitors, there's competition.

903
00:57:00.820 --> 00:57:04.460
Nothing wrong with family. But then you feel like, okay, we're all safe. You

904
00:57:04.460 --> 00:57:08.140
know, we're all comfortable. No, because sometimes business is

905
00:57:08.140 --> 00:57:11.630
more. Actually, those. A lot of the business is war. Right.

906
00:57:11.790 --> 00:57:15.070
So that's. That's what I want to do. So, first of all, I have that

907
00:57:15.070 --> 00:57:18.830
mindset right now that as I continue to.

908
00:57:18.830 --> 00:57:22.590
To grow and build this company, it's like I've got to fire

909
00:57:22.590 --> 00:57:25.630
myself in certain positions so I can pull myself

910
00:57:26.270 --> 00:57:30.030
in more strategic roles. Right. I've got to go out there, continue

911
00:57:30.030 --> 00:57:33.670
to grow the brand and to create all these, these

912
00:57:33.670 --> 00:57:37.510
opportunities, these collaborations, these partnerships so

913
00:57:37.510 --> 00:57:41.190
I can continue to feed the brand so it grows. And I

914
00:57:41.190 --> 00:57:44.670
think one reason why we're growing is because, yeah, I had a

915
00:57:44.670 --> 00:57:48.470
Rolodex before, right. And so we're already global, so I'm already

916
00:57:48.470 --> 00:57:52.270
on the international waters out there with some of

917
00:57:52.270 --> 00:57:55.150
the connections that have. So I've got some big

918
00:57:55.310 --> 00:57:59.150
distributors out there all over the world right now that have helped us out. Right.

919
00:57:59.470 --> 00:58:02.970
There's still a lot of, you know, know, opportunities here that I want to engage

920
00:58:02.970 --> 00:58:06.530
in here, but, you know, there's enough going on right now that's keeping us

921
00:58:06.530 --> 00:58:10.290
busy. Yeah, well, I, I think that, so 20 years, you

922
00:58:10.290 --> 00:58:14.090
know, I'm no longer, you know. Yes. I, I

923
00:58:14.090 --> 00:58:17.810
see myself as a business operator, not an owner yet, but, you know,

924
00:58:17.810 --> 00:58:21.490
down the road in a few years as an owner where I can step away

925
00:58:21.730 --> 00:58:25.570
because the worst thing an owner can say is, like, I can't leave because

926
00:58:25.570 --> 00:58:29.380
nothing gets done. Yeah. Yeah. Bad. That's freaking bad. You want to

927
00:58:29.380 --> 00:58:32.900
be able that you can step away and they can, and that the continuation of

928
00:58:32.900 --> 00:58:36.740
success is still taking place without you, and you have reliable people,

929
00:58:37.140 --> 00:58:40.820
reliable team, reliable individuals that you can trust running the company.

930
00:58:41.460 --> 00:58:44.660
I love that you said make a team and not a family

931
00:58:46.020 --> 00:58:49.860
ever, Anywhere I've ever worked. Whenever they start using the F word, oh, we're a

932
00:58:49.860 --> 00:58:53.140
family. I'm like, oh, what do you want from me that you're training me for?

933
00:58:53.690 --> 00:58:57.450
You know, and, and you can't get rid of family. You can

934
00:58:58.090 --> 00:59:01.850
fire employees, you know, so I love that you say team.

935
00:59:03.930 --> 00:59:07.210
Yeah. So. Well, anyway, that's, that's my insight. I,

936
00:59:07.610 --> 00:59:11.450
I, I can't wait to see the team you build. I think what you're doing

937
00:59:11.450 --> 00:59:15.170
is awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much for

938
00:59:15.170 --> 00:59:18.730
coming on the podcast again and talking about it. I think this stuff is

939
00:59:18.730 --> 00:59:22.160
awesome, and I'm really excited to, to check out the Lucent

940
00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:25.960
and also to, to see that this, well, all the

941
00:59:25.960 --> 00:59:29.720
projects you mentioned, but especially this Demko collaboration coming

942
00:59:29.720 --> 00:59:33.440
out of pa it's, it's awesome what you're doing, and best

943
00:59:33.440 --> 00:59:37.160
of luck to you over the next year. Thank you so much. It

944
00:59:37.160 --> 00:59:40.920
was, it was great, you know, talking to you. It was great seeing a blade

945
00:59:40.920 --> 00:59:44.560
show, too, man. You were just everywhere. And everywhere I

946
00:59:44.560 --> 00:59:48.370
went, you were there, and, you know, you know so many

947
00:59:48.370 --> 00:59:52.130
people, it's just like, there's Bob again. How you doing, Bob? You know, so, you

948
00:59:52.130 --> 00:59:55.930
know, you're, the things that you say and coming from you, that means a

949
00:59:55.930 --> 00:59:59.530
lot. And it goes a lot because you're in tune with the industry, the

950
00:59:59.530 --> 01:00:03.370
market, with communities out there. So thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

951
01:00:03.450 --> 01:00:07.210
Oh, my pleasure. All right, Rick, we'll talk soon. Take care, sir.

952
01:00:07.450 --> 01:00:08.410
You too. Thank you.

953
01:00:08.810 --> 01:00:22.200
There

954
01:00:22.200 --> 01:00:25.760
he goes. Ladies and gentlemen, Ric Valdez of Ocaso Knives. And remember,

955
01:00:26.640 --> 01:00:29.360
build a team for work. Leave the family at home.

956
01:00:30.400 --> 01:00:34.080
I wish everyone would do that. Great sage advice from

957
01:00:34.320 --> 01:00:38.040
the head of Ocaso Knives. Be sure to join us next

958
01:00:38.040 --> 01:00:41.640
Sunday for another engaging interview with a luminary of the

959
01:00:41.640 --> 01:00:45.000
knife world. For Jim working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob

960
01:00:45.000 --> 01:00:48.640
DiMarco saying until next time, don't take dull for an

961
01:00:48.640 --> 01:00:52.400
answer. Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie podcast. If you enjoyed

962
01:00:52.400 --> 01:00:55.840
the show, please rate and review@reviewthepodcast.com.

963
01:00:56.080 --> 01:00:59.920
for show notes for today's episode, additional resources and to listen to past

964
01:00:59.920 --> 01:01:03.760
episodes, Visit our website, thenifejunkie.com you can

965
01:01:03.760 --> 01:01:07.210
also watch our latest videos on YouTube at the knife knifejunkie.com

966
01:01:07.530 --> 01:01:08.250
YouTube.