Welcome to the Knife Junkie Podcast. Your weekly dose of knife
news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your
host, Bob The Knife Junkie DeMarco.
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast. I'm Bob DeMarco. On this
edition of the show, I'm speaking with my friend Tomas. Alas, of the
Tactical Tavern. Tomas is a knife tube and
knifegram phenom. From his on point product
reviews of knives and other EDC gear to his
masterful demonstrations of his martial arts prowess,
Tomas has galvanized a broad sector of the online knife
enthusiast community and has helped steer the conversation towards better
gear and training. Another run of his collaboration with
TKEL Knives is about to drop, so I can't wait to talk about
that. But so much more. We'll talk to Tomas about all
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Theknifejunkie.com/Battlebox
Tomas, always a pleasure sir. Thanks for coming back on the show.
Thank you so much for having me. I am beyond excited and I know my
family's watching. So. Hello family. Wherever you're watching from. Hello
family. It's, it's awesome. You raised an awesome guy.
Tomas is the best and we love him dearly.
Tomas, welcome to the show. Let's. Let's get,
let's start right with the brass tacks. Let's, let's talk about the agent
007 because as we record this, it's about to drop.
Like next week. It is, it's coming out. So we're
excited, we're trying something new. So based on feedback,
I really wanted to experiment with the steel. So we're having a limited run
of S35VN come out on the
ontos. And in addition to that, again, kind of
limited, we're going to do some pre orders on the ADCR V2s.
But to me, something that really is special is
the Samurai Wrap editions from Bastinelli
Growing up in knives, I've always admired Bastinelli's work, his
lines. And he was generous enough to work with us
on these samurai wrap 007s. I mean just.
Oh man. Positively beautiful. Let me just interrupt you real quick and
say that I saw that this was a new wrap. You've had
auxiliary manufacturing. Mike Jarvis, he does beautiful work too.
I saw this one and I have a maroon wrapped
diagnostic, not diagnostic anomaly from,
from Bastion. And I was like, what? Who did this? Like I knew
it wasn't Mike Jarvis's. It's just a different style.
Nice. Nice to, to bag Bastinelli here.
Incredible. So I love Jarvis's work because it's a flat wrap, it's a little
untraditional, but it's beautiful because it's so slim. So if you want something ultra
concealed carrying, that's the one to go to. With the genuine race skin,
this is kind of the inverse of that where it has that traction on the
inside, but it has that traditional, traditional wrap and
your fingers just melt. No matter if they're big,
small, however you hold it, this thing just. Oh, the
snap cuts on this. Unbelievable. So
beautiful. Very limited. November 21st,
that's the date that they're going live. So November 21st of this
November. Okay. That's a Friday I believe, right?
Yes. On tkownives.com some people were like, well they're gonna be on Bastion
site. No, no TKL knives. They're coming at you, coming in hot.
Very cool. Well, so not only do you have
the Bastinelli Tsukamaki wrap on this and by the way, he
does a mean Tsukamaki wrap and, and I'm a big fan of that
because as you were mentioning, it's either your
fingers or the fat of your palm. They're, they're always sinking into
one of those valleys, you know, and it's just such a great grip.
It is. You understand why it's been used for centuries with the samurai
because it's like no matter how you grip it, there's traction points all
throughout and it accommodates any grip that you go into.
The other thing is he does an epoxy seal on this. So it's not
like, oh, if I get, you know, organic materials on it, is it going to
corrode? No, you just like brush it off because it's just sealed
perfectly. So they're beautiful. Custom leather sheath.
That's been my everyday carry since the moment I got it. Stunning. Nice.
So as a, as a brother of the Agent series,
I recently got my new Agent 001s, which
recently went up with the Battle lock scales. And I have.
I've. This is my first time experiencing the battle lock. And then I got a
whole bunch of knives from him with. With Battle Lock. I love
that frn. And I never thought I'd say that. Oh, man.
I know some people love it. And some people are like, that's so aggressive. And
in my videos, I jokingly tell them, I'm like, well, then you need to work
out your hands some more. But,
yeah, it's offensive. I'm like, all right, Joe, it's a joke. But what I told
people is if it's too aggressive for you, you can just take some sandpaper and
sand it off just a little bit if you want to wear it appendix
close to your body. That way it's not going to, you know, create any weird
red spots that you have to explain later. Yeah.
And also the. The beauty of the Battle Lock is the color
saturation is intense. I never thought
desert tan or olive drab could look so vivid.
It does. And. And it really does an incredible job at locking your hands into.
It feels like ray skin. It's like synthetic ray skin, in my opinion.
Beautiful. Yeah. Well done. All right, so before we move on from the
007, tell me, tell us all a little bit about what
you were thinking about for the design going into this. That
very aggressive and slender Tonto.
It's beautiful to the eye, but tell us about the functionality of it.
Yes, sir. So first off, we have. There would be no agent series
without Bob DiMarco. So thank you to you and Tkel for
working on basically the frame of it. Right.
And he approached me with a Tanto. He goes, hey, would you be interested in
doing something? I go, we need to do a Tanto. There has to be a
Tanto series. But all the other ones, like, full credit to Lynn
Thompson. He's popularized the Americanized tanto. Right. With a very
obtuse Yokote. I wanted something very key,
and there's multiple thoughts that went into this. First off, I love the idea of
an everyday carry scalpel. Not 90% of the time, you're not
going to be slinging around and taking out bad guys, although maybe some of you
guys will be doing that. But I love the functionality of such a
detailed cutting tip. I think when you go to an everyday carry knife,
majority of your work has to do with that first third of your knife
majority. Right. Opening a package, opening up a letter. And so
I measured the angle for myself onto the table and
that's this angle here. So when you press flat onto a surface,
that's that angle so you get full contact there. You have that aggressive,
detailed point for medical work. I'm an Eagle
Scout, so I've always been fascinated by medical.
Going into EMT training and I was like, man, if I ever
have to do like tracheotomy or something or dig out a splinter, I want
my tool to be sharp enough to be able to do that.
Additionally, training in original Hirona Screema,
we have a lot of thrusting or cities and I was like, man,
if I can have someone that, if I just handed them to it and they
could be effective with this tool, it's, it's going to do the work for you.
It requires minimal resistance and yes, you get the
beautiful pressure cuts of like. A straight edge, but it has a. Slight
gentle curve to it. So if you're doing any good thing or passing
strikes, it's going to kind of slice and eat into it.
So, yeah, all around. Quite a versatile tool.
Although some people might look at it and think, oh, that's just, that's a tactical
knife right there. No, it's actually a pretty versatile everyday carry tool,
if you know how to use it. Yeah, oh, snap. Yeah,
absolutely. And, and you know, I don't mean to overstate this, but it is
beautiful to look at too. And, and you know, I call myself
shallow for noticing that, but it, it is just, it's a beautiful
knife, man. I'm, I'm a huge fan of the. Design
of that knife. And you were talking about that first
third. You've seen the 004, I think
you might have one, maybe the puukko, a little
puko. That is like the tip of a knife, right?
It, it is a, it's another one in the series.
And, and it has, you know, a very utilitarian point.
It's, it's under that 3 inch threshold for legality
purposes. What is the blade length on this one? This
one's coming in at right about 3.7. 3.7. And I
wanted that so that way when you extend your finger, you're met with that
flat part of the blade. So super close up, it actually
transitions from that slight hollow grind on the top to a
flat. So when you're doing that extended cutting,
maybe, you know, your kid asks you to cut out, you know, a flower for
their art project, you, you don't have scissors, you can get that
comfortable. Because I hate when you're using a knife, especially for like
woodworking and it has like all that sharp, like, you know, swedge on there. It's
not practical. Yeah, so this has that full extinct
for the majority of people. I mean, I know you got some meat
hands guys out there with extra, extra large gloves, but. Well, then
it conceals better. But for a normal
person, you're going to have just that little bit of tip sticking out
for your detailed cutting wood. So beautiful and beautiful. I'm
sorry, go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna say, I. Mean, truthfully, yes, of course.
This is a personal protection tool. With that in mind, I did measure
the average distance between the rib cage on a, you know, anatomy,
physiology. So that way even if you did have to plunge it in
to that target, it would still go in more than likely and split
them. So we tested it on the ballistic dummy with an A plus.
Pass. Yeah, that was one of my favorite videos of the season. Yeah, I remember
that. I think that was the Texas Custom Knife show.
You went to town on one of those things? Yes, sir. Yeah.
So no conversation about an agent series or any
decal knife would be complete without mentioning how.
I mean, from the very start, Tim and his
company is outstanding. He's a great guy, his family's awesome.
But now, now he's got Nick Chuprin and NCC Knives
doing a lion's share of the machining. And it's
astounding. And shout out to Tim too for being so
communicative. I'm sure you experienced it too with this. You're
double of one. Like any minute changes. He's always listening
to the, the end user and they're like, hey, man, we'd love to see this
change or what? He's so on it. And
Nick, especially on yours, what I really love is this subtle line
here for that back cut. Now. Oh
man, he was able to nail it. But, but, but what
impresses me even more is the. It's
some of the creature comforts you get out of these. Now. All of
the chamfering on the, on the corners, on the edges, everything except
for the main edge, everything has a nice feel to it
in hand. Whereas the first ones, which were also great. I mean, I'm not.
Certainly not bad, nothing those. But, you know, things, as they
progress, they become more refined. If, if you're going in the right
direction, then this one is really. That it
doesn't. And I'd like to answer something. I've gotten questions. People are like, well, why
does it have ridges on there? Like you can, you can hear it. And if
you think of like a santuku with, like, the dimples on a kitchen knife, it
relieves that pressure so there's less contact surface area. That's
exactly what this does on the Agent series with Nick trippin behind
the machines on there. There's so much less drag that
even on those more tough materials, fibrous materials,
it zips right through and you'll. You'll go like, did I even hit it?
Oh, you went through it. It's just. It's like the Hatanza horde.
Yeah. Yeah, that's a. That's a really, really good point. It's not. I mean,
yes, it's. It's pleasing to the eye, but
it's a lot more than that. There's a purpose behind it. They're not just showing
that you can. Do it or terrace. It really does have a.
A use. Exactly. And. And the weight reduction, too. So it
just has that little bit of handle heaviness to it. So the recovery is so
much faster. It's quite a deceptive line,
especially with the milling work. It's.
It's phenomenal machining. World class, world class. So I
want to move on a little bit. I mean, I see you doing the.
The. The moves, the knife moves. Tell us what your martial
art is, what you've trained, you know, most in, and
primarily your knife art. Absolutely. So my base is in
kaji kembo under Professor Rick Williams. So that's a
mix, if you've not heard of it, it's a mix of karate, judo, jiu jitsu,
tempo, and Chinese kickboxing all together.
So I got my black belt in that, which was an incredible
experience. Very brutal. It's not for everyone.
You know, there's a motto that we have where you don't go home till there's
blood on the mat. And I was, you know, training
that since I was five. So shout out to my family for getting me involved
in that. And they're like, yeah, this is great. This is character development.
Maybe that's why I messed up a little bit, I don't know. But it's a.
It's a beautiful art. It teaches you a lot of respect because, granted, you
have those skills, but it teaches you how to control those skills and
deescalate so you never have to use them. And that is a
true testament to a martial artist. So from there,
one day, we had a demo. We had, like, a seminar, and
this, you know, this older Filipino guy comes in, and I'm like, huh?
The blades are no match for my kung fu. And
I was like, he goes like, throw something. And I was like, okay. So I
did like a faint and a kick. And I got cut Bob
37 times before I. It was just. And
I went, what is this power you wield? And he goes,
this is fma. Your kicks are just, you know,
that's nothing. Your punches, nothing. You go. When you have a knife
you can slow, it doesn't require that brute. That brute force.
And that was Grandmaster Michael Heron under the hero
lineage, specifically largomato. It's a beautiful
system. It's battle tested from World War II. And
so that's what I've been training in for about nine years now. Nine years now.
And graduated the system and recently became a guru because I'm
teaching. All right, a couple of things here. First of all, I used to do
my. The first martial art I got really serious in was
kenpo, American Kenpo karate. And it was a sort of
unorthodox version of it from a great place. In Philly called
Marshall Posture. They did their whole take on it. It was great.
And while I was there, that's when I heard of kaju kembo. And I was
like, yeah, again, like, what is this witchcraft? But it. But very.
At the time, anyway, difficult to find on the East Coast. Like, it
was kind of this magical thing I heard about on the West Coast.
So you mentioned largo mono. Now, moving on, describe
what that means. So largo basically meaning like distance,
long range, hands, you're furthest from the opponent. So we
have drills where you can, like, measure off. You can't touch each other's
hands, basically, when you measure off with the sword. And typically you're
using a longer stick to simulate a sword around, like 36
inches. Oh, okay. And it. It really teaches you body
mechanics and the arc principle. When someone
is striking at you, there's a tip on that arc where they're at
the furthest point, and it's a diminishing return where it gets slower and
slower. And we operate within inches and
angles where you'll consider it a win if it brushes past your
shirt. And I say it, you mean the sword will brush past your shirt, but
you can still cleanly cut their neck, head, shoulder, hand
all day. It's beautiful because it really teaches you
range management. But the original, her own system has
a complete curriculum for those quarto
media ranges where you get closer and closer with the cadita de
moto. Like a lot of templates that you can use,
which allows you to play with different systems like serrata,
you know, even like Winchung. They're kind of like, well, how did you do this?
You're like, well, I just consider my forearm that outward block. Right.
Well, now stick pointing up. That's my hand here. Boom. And you're in.
So it's a complete system and it's blown my mind
with the complexity of it, but the simplicity of how
it's delivered took me a while. And the Serrata is
the exact opposite. That's like real close. They use much shorter sticks.
You're. You're talking about 36 inch stick sticks. That is.
That's about 7 inches longer than your standard Kali
stick. So I mean, that, that is really a.
I mean, learning to fight out there is a real benefit. You know, you have
standoff range. It. It is. And it gives you the
ability to work with a longer sword. But we
also train with how to use that longer sword in short range,
which is kind of like. How does that work? Well, there's a lot of like,
push cuts you can do. I'm getting ready to do some
seminars, so we'll have to. We'll have to have you out there and maybe even
do a joint video exploring some of the different Filipino martial arts. Because
it is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. And allowed me to
explore training with a variety of different people. Well, by comparison, I
know how to walk, so you could maybe show me. How to jog, you know,
like. So for those who don't
study Filipino martial arts or any martial art,
but are interested in the applied
lessons learned, what are some of the attributes from
Filipino. Let's talk about Filipino martial arts that.
That apply to life in general or just
movement or. Or what have you. Absolutely. My
favorite quote comes from grandmaster Michael Huron, and he goes,
mma will take you to the ground. FMA
will put you in the ground. What does
that mean? Right. And you know, he's gotten flagged for that.
I think it's really about respecting life. At the end of the day, it's
knowing that you have these skills to protect your
loved ones, your wife, your daughter, your family.
Granted, it's so cool. You can go, blah, blah, blah. I can go cut up
all this stuff. That's awesome. But you can also use a flashlight, you can use
an impact device because you know how to make whatever you can
grab lethal. And I think the beautiful benefit about SMA
is that there's a lot of patterns that you can use,
and it's that same movement that you can do with a variety of things. It
doesn't just have to be a knife or a sword. Um, I
was recently training with James Keating and he weaponized the bandana.
Yeah, okay. And took me out with a bandana and I was
wrapped up like a spider had me wrapped up in their web. It was nuts.
So I love the traditional martial arts, the
Kenpo, the Taekwondo. I think FMA gives
you the ability to flow with that and bridge the gap
between how you implement those bases.
It's a. It's a very lethal system. I think there's a great
interplay between self perfection and self preservation
in Filipino martial arts as well, because you learn a lot of great
drills that teach you a lot of great attributes like
distance management and speed and
accuracy and all these things. And they come into play.
Those attributes come into play in actual self preservation. But in the
meantime, you have these drills that perfect your movement and,
and those attributes. I think it's a nice. I'm sure most martial
arts have that. But in Filipino martial arts, where
the stakes are so high, if you're actually using a blade,
it really gets across, that development of those attributes.
I think you said it extremely well because you have a stick.
We'll take a stick, for example, going 90 miles an
hour, coming at you, a delivery. Most punches
are not going to go that fast, so it will literally slow down
as you're conceptualizing it. And you have that line familiarization.
Not to. Kelly Warden talks about that, those drills, that line
familiarization. I didn't understand it at first and now I get it. I'm
like, oh, yeah, that's an angle one, boom. Outside, block, break, hit
versus you're, you're just. You're there when you're boxing. Right. And it's like you're
used to that same speed. That stick is moving 10 times faster,
so you better get the heck out of the way. So it really enhances your
capabilities for sure. Otherwise you, you have big
booze on the side of your sticks. Yeah. And sometimes you hit yourself with
the stick. That's happened to me so many times. Bang. Hit yourself.
Yeah. The whole world here.
Yeah. So you just mentioned master at arms James
Keating. Tell us about. Well, tell us all about it. How
did you get. How did you get involved in. In his world?
Yeah. I mean, what a blessing. So he, he actually commented on one
of my videos, one of my YouTube videos. And I went, I've heard this name
before. My instructor, one of my instructors, Brian Everett,
who got me really introduced with Oge, was like, you really
gotta come. He talks, he's just like masculine. Six, five,
cowboy. Really gotta come check them out. And I'm like, yes, sir.
Like, I'll book the plane ticket. I'm on the way. Um, so I went to
one of his seminars and I was just blown away by
master arm James Keating. His skill level and
proficiency with movement, the only thing I can describe it
is like learning sword and knife fighting is equivalent to
learning music from Mozart. It is
incredible the way that he moves. It's like the win.
And he's like in his 70s. Okay. And I wouldn't want to fight him. Right.
I mean he tagged me multiple times. He
incorporates many different skill sets from many different arts
and codifies them. And I think that's really what makes it
so exceptional is that he's not relying on just this is the system that I
know. No, he takes from everything and adapts it to
you as an individual and really just highlights your strengths and
then fixes your weaknesses. And he's like, here's, here's how we can fix that.
Thanks. So he first came on my radar with
as a Bowie knife fighter. I know that, I know that that is just
a tool and a skill set in his giant box.
But, but tell me about his
where this comes from. The study of the Bowie knife, it that
Americana. There's a lot of history with the Bowie knife
and it dates back a long time, but it is truly America's blade shape.
And I really can't thank him enough for the abc,
the American Blade Craft System. And he, he really
pioneered blade fighting in like the early 90s when no one
was really 80s 90s writing for tactical Knives
Knife magazine. And I think that like back then
those magazines were what we do now with the you videos,
you know, and, and, and he has DVDs out there. But I
think he was really ahead of his time by
brandishing these skill sets that no one else was really talking about
and putting together a system where people could train those back cuts, those.
That, that saber fighting style in a 13 inch
Bowie knife. It's exceptional. So, okay,
I mentioned back cuts a lot. I'm a, I'm a Bowie knife fanatic. And I
say Bowie. I'm from up north. I'm a Yank. So that's how I say it.
But tell us, show us what a.
That's a Bobby Reigns, right? Yeah. Very good. Yeah. This is a trainer
that he gifted me. So shout out Bobby Reigns. I have a custom coming from
him that I'm beyond excited about. So the back cut
refers. So we have the primary edge. Right. Typically has some curve to it
because it adapted from Saber Fighting you know, calvary, sabers.
But then on the top here we have this kind of clip point that is
most often sharpened, at least in my opinion. Should be sharpened.
Yes. Not razor, razor sharp, because you want it to
really rip and tear in the most brutal and beautiful way.
So the back cut is not utilizing the primary edge
like a snap cut. It's inverting it here
so you have almost like a pacal shape with like,
if you think, I mean, I know this isn't a pecan you must throw, it's
a crab. It. I got it. But you really have that bite.
When this will slide on a cut, the tip of this will
dig and it will fillet and rip open
your target like nothing else. Plus you also have the weight behind
it. So that back cut is very deceptive, especially when you come in to
the blind spots. Um, it is a very fast,
quick tool for disabilated attackers. So
when I think of the back cut, I
think of a Floretti or a Redondo. It's. It's kind of in the
same family, but maybe the opposite approach. Um, and,
and I know a lot of people, when they see Redondo's or Florettis, they think
it's just that, a flourish, but it's not. There's an actual
purpose behind it. So how important is the
back cut to this sort of American knife fighting? That's
beautiful that you asked that, because I'm currently working on a documentary
of bastard arms, James Keating. And I asked him
something very similar and he goes, well, let's find out.
He's very deep, bravado, voice. And so he goes,
I'm not gonna back cut the entire time. I'm gonna fight someone.
I'm going to set it up with a fake cut through, and it's right
there when you need it. And I'm like, oh, that makes sense. Because if you
keep going back cuts, back cuts. Well, now you're exposing yourself, you're giving flame.
You don't want to do that. Yeah. So it's right here when you need it,
and it'll set you up. I consider it like a tool in the toolbox. It's
good to know. And if you can perfect it, it's going to be your
best friend. So how much of your
Filipino knife fighting knowledge came into
play with learning this American
blade combatives? You know, I think it really
enhanced both sides. I came in with some general understanding
of lines and, and blade movement, because in
Filipino martial arts, we have the Abenico, right. Which is the fan fanning
motion. But it's not so much a fan as it
is an extension of your body.
So I will say that having some Filipino martial arts background helped,
but it's not necessary. I could teach anyone how to do a
back cut in less than, you know, five minutes. And Keating talks about this. He
goes, these are tribal principles that if you're going into war, we're
doing bare minimum basic training so you can come back the next day and get
the next lesson. And that's really what that backhead is. It's going to be an
effective, a dominant way to win a fight.
Come back tomorrow for the next lesson. We're going to cover something else then. So.
So I also have a fascination with the use of the, of the
swedge as the primary edge. The primary
fighting edge. I've heard it called Mountain Man.
Yeah, I've, I've heard it called the Randall fighting method. I know the Randall knives.
In World War II, they were kind. Of taught to use the swedge as. The
primary edge and do the old. Heave ho once you have it in there.
Did you get any, any lessons on that? Any
familiarity with that? Absolutely. So if you have your
freshly sharpened edge here, you definitely don't want to be clacking that
into a helmet or someone's, you know, gauntlet if they're wearing
armor or a barrel of a rifle. However, the back
edge of this blade is going to be a big, heavy, sharp,
excuse me, non sharp chunk of steel, which is going to be great for
parrying, except you have that top third that sharpen. So if you have
that incoming attack, you can parry it and then hit.
However, if you fight with the primary edge, it still gives you that ability to
do those pulling cuts and then you can lacerate on the
way out. So personally, I like the edge down method because
it allows you to flip out and get out of the way of those incoming
attacks like this. But that's not to say that maybe
you pick up your weapon in a, in the heat of the battle or you're
caught off guard. Yeah. You do like a roof block and you don't want to
chip your blade. Yeah. Then you can crash down with the back edge. So I
think if you practice with it, when that moment
happens, you're gonna know exactly what to do. You're just gonna go into a flow.
It's not gonna matter. Oh, wait, excuse me, sir. Can you reverse that attack?
I have to actually reorient my blade. Thank you. It's like the old Jim
Carrey bit no, attack me like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you would. This
side. Okay. Thank you. Cool, Here we go. So I think it's just again, tools
in your toolbox and getting familiar with your tools, which is why I play
with knives so often, because no matter how I pick it up,
I'm going to be ready to go. Yeah. So any indication
from James Keating or from you yourself, from your, your study
of, of Bowie knives? There are, there are a lot of different
styles of Bowie in terms of their profile. What you
have there, that Bobby Rains Rainmaker or the Hell's
Bells Bowie, for instance, long slender fighting Bowies with a
fully sharpened clip. That seems to be a great recipe for
a knife fighting knife. But look at that. Two
of them, two of my favorite design. But
what about other styles of Bowie? What, what about
something more broad? I mean, can all of these be. Used, in other words?
So one of my. If someone asked me, like, what's the deadliest knife
you own? Without a doubt it would be this one. And
this is the CRADA from James ke and it
is a more spear point esque, driven,
designed on purpose. So that way when you aim it at someone, it
disappears. The depth perception disappears. You don't know how long.
Yeah, that is. So I would say that
the buoy comes from classic chef's knives and farm
working tools that adapted into a more combat driven,
thicker style. But this is more of what I would consider an
Arkansas toothpick style brewing a little bit more symmetrical, if you
will. And then we have that deep Spanish notch here
and guard with a sharpened back.
So characteristics of a buoy, I think. Yes, you can have
those traditional clip points, you can have it be
spear point, Arkansas style. But
realistically, there's nothing new on the Busan. Everything's been
done. You look at European swords, this could be a European mini rapier, right?
Yeah. But realistically I think it's how you apply it.
And if it wins the fight, then I'll call it whatever you want to call
it. Yeah, that. Okay, so this knife is gorgeous. We
recently had Jeff Schaefer on the show. He, he makes
these for, for Mr. Keating at the moment.
So I see the hole there right south of the Spanish
Notch, that fits those other quillians, right? The
Quillians that I have over in my shelf there. So they tie in and they
give you an extra cross, which is like similar to the Crassada.
And this way when an oncoming weapon comes in,
you can really just twist it, lock it and drive it back into
the opponent. It is beautiful. It gives you much more hand protection
to protect those beautiful digits.
Oh, that thing is beautiful. Tell us about the Spanish notch.
So this Spanish notch here is designed to catch blades. So we have this
guard here. So if a blade came in, you can trap
with just a slight twist and lock the blade. Not necessarily
to disarm it, although that's certainly an applicable thing. But you can
also twist your blade back onto their arm, which is
pretty cool. So we can redirect that force. The Spanish notch here basically
aids in that because it gives you another area for it to get caught
in and twist out. Okay. Again, this can be
applied with the back cut flow. Learning how to twist and
manipulate the blades. Catch. Is that something I'm gonna go
for in a fight? Not necessarily, unless the person's extremely
unskilled. But it's just nice to have that extra comfort that if you get into
a bind, you have additional leverage,
pop their blade out and it's gonna go on or back into there.
So a lot of the stuff we're talking about right now would be
optimized in a dueling situation. And we
looked at the agent 007 before, so that. That very well might be your
answer. But to the, to the. To the person out there who
carries a knife for self defense, does not get in duels,
cannot carry a crusada. What. What kind of
knives do you recommend? And I know that's a sticky
kind of question because you're not a lawyer and you're also
not trying to tell people to carry stuff, but people carry stuff.
So what do you think is the most intuitive kind
of knife to carry? So I have a theory about this.
And I was talking to someone recently and they go like, what is the best
self defense knife? And I said, well, what do you do for work?
I work behind a desk. You know, I'm like a. Aaa And I'm like, okay.
The other guy that I was talking with, he goes like, well, I'm on a
construction site, so I'm like hammer and I'm pulling nails and I'm like, great. So.
So for you, that might be the Milwaukee fastback, right? Where you
pull it out. It's those replaceable blades. For the person with the desk,
it might be like the CRKT CEO or something, or an ocaso
blade solstice something. Right. For me, it's something that
you're gonna actually carry every day. It's maybe
it's not a giant croissanta that you're gonna strap to your back. You know, go
through the urban jungle looking for a fight. For me, it's something you're gonna
have that repetition of pulling it out and using it every day. It
might be a Benchmade, right? You know, the bug out.
For me, it's something you're going to have on you every day that you have
that muscle memory of the point. Open and close, open and close.
If you can keep it sharp, that's a good thing. I love wave
features. That's something I look for, which is a click to point feature for a
pocket knife. Or like the high desert blade works. We have the bramp
opening, so as you go to deploy it from the pocket, it'll
catch and open that for you getting it into position.
But again, if you're going to carry it every day and practice drawing
it, I think that's going to be a much more effective tool than something that.
I only carry this for self defense. I go, okay, let's.
Let's do a draw test and see how fast you can get it out. Ready?
Three, two, one. Okay. How about. You're still fumbling with it. Well,
the Spyderco needs to get broken in. It's. It's stiff though.
Just. You never practice with it. You just think, I'm going to keep it sharp
and ready. No, if you never practice with it, it's not going to be there
when you need it. So this is, this is a huge
conundrum for me because I have a big
collection and I love to change it up on a nearly
daily basis. I'll get in a rut and. Or the opposite of a rut.
I'll get happy about a knife and carry it for a week in a row.
But. But I'm constantly rotating. Um, then again, I'm
constantly playing with knives, but still, you know, so for me,
that's a, that's sometimes an issue. I'm like, I'm not, I'm not carrying this every
day. I. I set myself up with systems.
So I know in my left pocket I carry something that's going to be more
utilitarian but still functional. So today I think
I just got back in from the shop. It's the Yojimbo
set up for lefty carry. Beautiful working blade
shape that I know I'm going to be able to pop open a box with
or, you know, carve open an apple, but I have that
repetitive motion. And then on the right side, I'll carry something typically larger.
And today we have the Gin
holding, but maybe it's Nespada or a Voyager or something.
But I know generally
area restrictions not included is going to be a larger folder
that I can legally carry. And then on the front we have a fixed
blade. I love fixed blades. I think that's probably going to be your best bet
if you carry something solely for personal protection.
Again, being able to access it with both hands is going to be important.
So that's why I like front, you know, appendix whatnot.
But again, you have to use your blade if you're unfamiliar with
it and you're like fumbling around with it. It's not going to do you any
good if you can't get it into the fight. And the first place. Dude,
if my face is flush with jealousy, that gin did it,
man. I love the gin. I love the fixed
blade gin. I've never, I've never hefted one of these
folders, but it's just, it's like one of the most
beautiful knives out there. Let's show this off for a sec.
Yeah. So after this we'll, we'll talk and I'll send it to you so you
can review it and check it out. Thanks, man. So this
is from Turner CNC and it is the gin folding knife.
It has an aluminum handle, this one is topoed, but it's
really a Persian style fighting blade that has an S curve which
gives you extra bite. Now some people looking at this are gonna go, okay, great.
It's a swirly blade. So what? Well, so what
is. Okay, it has a flat grind here,
or seemed like a hollow grind transitions to a flat grind and
then on the top it has another hollow grind.
So it's like triple ground that then goes back to a flat grind towards the
tip. So. And it, it, it,
it's, it, it evokes the pesh cobs,
it evokes the Yatagan, all those beautiful
Turkish and yeah, Middle Eastern style blades.
Yeah. So I've, I've loved the fixed blade. For a long time. And then when
I saw he was making a folding version of this, I was like,
yes, it, you know, I have all of the large cold
steels. I love them so much. But I've, I've thought
so many times, why aren't other makers doing these
giant knives? And maybe there's not so much of a market for them or
maybe they just are all, all need to like put on
their big boy pants. But I'll tell you what, Turner
CNC has some cojones to pull this off. What is that, a five and a
half inch blade or a six inch? It Is it is. So I took the
espada. Okay, I'll grab the
naraja. Right. That's a pretty big, big nasty blade.
I mean, you look at this. That's pretty. That's a pretty nice little
comparison right there. Yep. You know what I'm saying? So you definitely have tons
of reach, tons of distance. But it's deceptive how light and
fast it is. Everyone that I've handed this to, they've been like, it weighs
nothing. And that's the magic of it. It's. It's, you know, fully
hollowed out super fast. You still back
cut with it because of this. Even though it's unsharpened. I don't
even. I wouldn't want to get touched with that. Comes a wand in your
head. It's.
I have not taken it out of my pocket since I've got it. Oh my
gosh. I, I totally. I
100% have to get one of those. It's moral imperative.
We'll work. We'll work on that. I got you. I got you. So
this begs the question, out of historical knives,
you know, what are your favorite knives in general? We talked about bowies,
we've talked about Filipinos. I mean, they've got some of the most
incredible blade profiles out there. Now
we have the gin DJ I N N like the, like the
Middle Eastern demon. What is your favorite
style of knife throughout history? My favorite style,
man, it recently like, if you ask me right now off the top, I have
to say a buoy knife. To me it just. You get the beauty of
a saber. You get some of like the, the Filipino
aspect of it because they had like the bolos. It is just such a
versatile tool. And I think that's really what it comes down to
is something that can be a tool. I love katanas,
wakazashi. But am I gonna go hack down a tree with
that? No, I'm not going to. I'm not gonna be able to like start a
fire with that. Try to pull a ferro rod off of it. You know, it's
like as beautiful but kind of challenging. That's
just so. It's either it's a toss up between that
and a dagger. Oh, that's one of Jen
Jed Lint. Jen Lint. I'm sorry, I forgot her last name all of a sudden.
That is so beautiful. So I mean, if
we're going into combat, I mean this thing, I don't care. It's
taking out wizards, man. This.
Yeah, that her work is so stunning, man.
That is just Beautiful. Exceptional. So a dagger is pretty
awesome. I love the mythicalness behind it, too. You know, like,
typically, it wasn't a wand. It was a dagger, ceremonial dagger. So it
has a lot of cool spiritual attributes to it. But if we're going to the
combat, man, I'm taking a bowie knife and a Bible. Let's go.
A bowie knife in a Bible. Amen, man.
So second Catholic edition. In my. In my.
You had a karambit out before, and this is something I was recently.
I recently had Paulo Rubio on the show.
He's. He's a great dude. And
karambitz came up, and there's this idea that
a karambit is kind of a. A magical pass.
You know, you've never fought with a knife before. You've never trained with a knife,
but if you have a karambit, that's like the ultimate. What are your feelings on
Karbit? It's a. It's a complicated issue. I think if
you can deploy your karambit and get it into the fight, it's a
vicious weapon. I wouldn't want to close the distance on someone.
I think it's like an actuation of your body mechanic. So
if you can throw a jab, you can stab. If you can throw a
hook, you can slash. Is it the
most? Like, am I going to hand this to someone who's untrained and say, like,
all right, you're on my team for the apocalypse. Like, let's go. Probably
not. But as a working tool, I think it's exceptional because you
turn it around and you have that, you know, that forward leading
tip that has a lot of pressure to it. I think if you.
So here's the thing. I've trained with some Brazilian jiu jitsu guys, and I'm like,
hey, man, I love this chokehold. I love this triangle choke. And
I have, unbeknownst to them, pulled out a karamba trainer, and
I just, you know, did one of these flail extensions and just
pulled it across their back, and they're like, yo, what's that? What's that? Feels weird.
What's that? And I go, you have no more back, right? You're gonna
limp. And they're like, doing Brazilian jiu jitsu. I
said, nah, man. This is a combat art. So I got combat tools. Like, what's
up? They're like, oh, man. So I think in a close quarter environment,
amazing. If you have any background in boxing, it's gonna
be a great, formidable tool for that. Wind chun especially
as well. Some of the trapping, exceptional. But is it the
end all be all for combat tools? No, but
I love them and I think they're very versatile. So.
Okay. Another recent thing that has
taken a similar mantle is pacal style knives
which is kind of the karambit in reverse. So
and that's another thing like a magic elixir. Oh. All you gotta know is
how to, you know, back fist. So
what would you say to someone who, who preaches that?
I would say similar to the back cut being more of an expert's move,
you're having steel coming back towards your body.
You have to be very comfortable with alignment and getting
your body out of there. I say the same thing with the
Bacal knife. You have the tip down and the edge
facing the user. I think the Bacal
is a versatile tool for everyday carry. Lot of people
misunderstand it. I would consider this more of an
expert's tool because although
it uses fine gross motor skills, in the heat of
the moment you have your trapping hand out there, you go to stab and you
punt back. Oh yeah, I don't know. But, and here's the last thing, you
look at this as an animalistic nature.
Tigers have their claws that bring you in.
They don't have them facing out the foot away. Right. It's that
karambit. Get away. Go, go. The expert's
knife. The call. Come on in baby, you're mine.
So I feel that it gives you a lot of back
muscle leverage to torque J cut out.
It's very effective, very sinister. But that would
require a little bit more trading in my opinion. Interesting.
So my, my thought was the reverse, my thought was
that a karambit because it does not emulate nature
because it's unlike the, the pacal which is more. Like a
tiger's claw as you were mentioning. You know,
like that would take less. Less training to just kind of pound it and
pull it. Pound it and pull it. But you know, I,
I, I don't know. I don't know. I, I haven't, thank the Lord. I haven't
been in that situation. But that, and then, and then the
third in if we're going to be ranking these is that
sort of S curve Black Talon 2
or civilian from. Spyderco, that, that
sort of model where. You, you can't fail, you know?
Yeah. Right. Yes. So I think this is actually like one
of those tools that I would hand to just about anyone for
ripping and slashing. Like hold one to your chest and go crazy because it's
going to be effective. Right. I mean this knife
respectfully scares the crap out of me. And I've got to test it on ballistic
dummies before. Nasty. This will
destroy just about anything. But I love it as a tool for cutting
ropes. Oh my gosh. Opening thing. Oh my gosh. This
is such a great tool. But it scares the crap out of me. BOB.
Yeah, it really was. Yeah. No, that's a, that's a, that is. A
terrifying knife right there. Black talent
again. I think it really comes down to what can you get out in time?
Because it's kind of tricky to deploy a pacal knife unless you do like a
classic Emerson opening where it comes out but then is it in
the call position? Right. No, it's more of like a forward grip. So you have
to really train deploying it and then rolling it into your hand
in order to accentuate and bring out what it's best known for.
The karambit. Again, you also have to practice deploying it. Maybe it's a two
hand, maybe it's the Bramp. And now you're ready to go.
Yeah. Black Talon. It's just
there. I, I, I'm, I'm oftentimes when
I'm pressure testing myself against the BOB Dummy
folders like and, and I've been drawing folders for a long
time. Even wavable folders. There's still a
moment where you have to reposition your hand and
to get it just right. And that's why I keep coming back
to fixed blades. Fixed blades. If you really want to draw
something that you're going to defend yourself with. I gotta, I gotta
shout out. Auxiliary manufacturing. He just did the Carl
Jr. And this has been a steady part of my
everyday carry. When it's not an agent line,
it's this one. It's so small, very concealable. Great.
Should beat up towards the top. 99 bucks.
So it's made by Miguron too. They did a beautiful job on
the, on the pocket Bowie. I keep that on my
backpack like a big old nerd. But yeah,
I agree. Fixed blades are where it's at mate. Once you get over that hurdle
of like how am I going to carry this? Yeah. And you get comfortable and
you have that position to get it out either hand.
So you, you told us that you're coming out with a, you're working on a
James Keating documentary. Tell us a little bit
about the Tactical Tavern in general and what your plans are for
the future. Yes. So recently I've had some incredible
opportunities to go and train with Kelly Warden.
Nazi Kelly Warden as well who trained and he's good friends With James
Keating. So we have two that are in the works. I know it's taking some
time, but trust me, it's going to be so worth it. The hardest part about
it is that everything he says is like gold. Like you want to keep it
in. It's hard to like cut out stuff. Oh, this story's so good. Yeah.
So we have a James Keating documentary that is going to be coming out very
soon. We have a datu Kelly Warden documentary that's also
in the works. You have to spend a week, you know, and
I think right now I'm really blessed with that ability to be able to travel
and train and, and really accentuate these
skills that I've been learning. Something I also have to show here is
the galaxy process legacy knife
from Kelly Warden. Look at this.
So that's Remy Prasas. Is that, is that what.
Yes. And so this is designed. It was first made for Remy
Prices and then he was like, well, this is a really cool design. And so
Kelly Warden took it and goes, you know what, I'm gonna make this into something
really special. And holy smokes is look at the blade
finish. Wow. Whoa. So
wait, wait, wait, before you resheed that, that's a pretty unique design on the
spine. Is that for trapping those two peaks there?
Yeah. So it almost to be kind of. Looks like a fit face that we
were talking about. How it almost looks like a head. Yeah. Or face.
But it realistically you have pressure here.
You have different abilities to
hook, trap. I'm still exploring. I don't know. I mean
it's gorgeous. But yes, I imagine there are very sinister
capabilities to that as well. So.
Yeah, it seems, it seems like something you could in a. On a half
beat, retain a wrist width or something. Yes, exactly.
So Kelly Warden, the name is familiar to me, but honestly, I
don't remember who he is. Who is he again? Dr. Kelly
Warden is a master of masters. He
really broke out of. Instead of just doing.
I'm going to do karate, which back in the 80s was very taboo
to like explore other dojos and cross train. He did that.
He's like, no. Okay, that's great. I'm gonna go train over here and study folking
on martial arts. Well, okay, that's great. I'm gonna go study winchung over here. Oh,
and I would consider him a master of movement. He.
He can teach you how to do an art just because of that line.
Familiarization of like. Okay, is this an outward block?
Is this a karambit slash? Is it a
pacal Stab, it's movement. No
one owns movement. And he has just innate way of just
bringing it all together. And he designed like the defense wrench,
the safety wrench. That's cool. TSA approved, by the
way. Oh, excellent. And it's really great for measuring
your nuts and bolts and keeping people in check. It's
an attitude adjustment. Yeah. So he's incredible
being able to train with him too and understand like the staff. We studied
the staff quite extensively because it unlocks
motion. You do an inward block, right? Check
block. Well, what's the difference with doing that with the staff? It's just
teaching you how to use your hips, your body, your torque.
We got some really good stuff coming out on the Tactical Tavern. Stay tuned. I'm
excited to share it. Man. I'm excited to hear that. To watch
those especially, I gotta say, James Keating, I've known
about him for a long time. Seems some of his videos I used to think
like, look at this guy. He's like, he's built like me. He's got. He's like
tall and thin, but he's a badass. Maybe I could
someday, you know, he's. One of those kind of aspirational
guys. I look forward to checking that out. We. We only have a few
minutes here left. But let me ask you just in terms of like the more
pedestrian knife scene, what
are some of the knives that are out? You. You just mentioned the
auxiliary manufacturing. Carl Jr. Made by
Miguran. That's awesome. But what are some of the other knives that are out and
about or coming out that you're excited about? Something
I'm really excited about is coming from Tenable. They're working with Eric
Pinkerton and they're coming out with a really budget friendly line of Bacall
knives. If they're not out already. I think they're going to be out very soon.
Super stoked for that. There's also a couple of
bastidellas that I got to see that are just so gorgeous.
The lines that he does, exceptional. And
cjrb, we have something in the works as well.
Oh, really? Can you spill as much as you can
spill? It's going to be sharp.
Damn. All right. Does it fold or is it fixed? It's going to
fold. It's going to be a budget. Budget folder that's good for personal protection.
How cool. Cjrb, I love them. Can I ask
you lock type? Because. And I'll. I'll say what. I'll say why.
I think they do one of the best button locks that
I've experienced. I like the way they pocket
the. The plunge lock. I do too. I feel much more secure with
that than compared to most other companies. But this is not a button
lock. All right. Okay. Oh, man. We would, but
I cannot wait. I cannot wait. So you. You held up a
Bastinelli a few moments ago. Can you just show that off and. Tell us what
all that is is the mood.
Ooh, that is beautiful. It is gorgeous. It's. It's a
Spanish navaja, inspired. So, like, similar to the espada with that
upswept Spanish buoy,
perfectly placed jimping as well again as a tool for everyday
carry. But then we have that really beautiful
extraction point. Yeah, that's pretty. It's pretty sexy
blade. I need more Bastinelli knives in my life. And that.
That might just be the next one. That is just beautiful.
I was. That trip that I went on for a week trading in
Washington. This was one of the blades that I brought. The only fixed blade I
brought was this one to carry a test that I trusted it.
Trusted it with my life. So there it is. Well, right
on, Right on. Okay, last question here. Tell
us who you're watching on YouTube right
now. And I'm asking you this because I've fallen off a little bit.
I mean, I've got certain. You and Rolando and a few
others I. I always tune into, but, you
know, time is limited. Who are some of the knife
tubers. You'Re into these days? So there's this guy named
Alex. I think it starts with a G. I could be wrong. I think it's
outdoor 55. He does an incredible job at
testing some knives. Amazing.
Of course, there's. What's. That guy's doing? Metal complex.
He's always doing stuff. You know, I'll check out him when I can,
but I also try not to get trapped into doing what everyone else
is doing. So usually when I'm on YouTube, I'm watching,
you know, other things. Other stuff. You know, stuff to take my mind off of
all the. All right. But, yeah, I would definitely say, check out
outdoor. I know Jason Fleming straight edge knives.
Oh, yeah. He's awesome. I like that guy. And of course,
when I can inquire boy cutlery. Oh, yeah,
he's. He's got a. He's got a big place in my heart. I love
that guy. Oh, he's awesome. He's gonna be on here next
week, actually. Scab. Yeah. Oh, let's go. Ab. Scab.
You're not. Yeah, he and I.
He and I were born in the same year, and I feel like we have
some of the. Some of the same. We share some of the same
cultural bookmarks, and.
Yeah, I love that dude. Yeah, he's awesome. He's in a real one. All
right, so tell everyone how they can catch up with you and when
and where they can check out the James Keating, the Kelly Warden
documentaries that are coming out. Yes. Which I can't wait for, because you know what
you're doing, too. It's not like you're a total noob walking in and saying, show
me how to you. You're starting from a very
accelerated position. I appreciate you saying that,
but on camera, I look like a total new when I'm working with
him. Okay. And I am okay with that because I'm learning. Yeah. But
I was humbled. Okay. By their skills. Both of them
keed, especially with the backup flows, the. The
tagging, and I'm like, okay, timeout, timeout. How'd you do that?
What did I do? Let. Let's. Let's move ourselves. And I'm like,
wow, fast. I have segments coming out on the Tactical Tavern
YouTube channel. Some. Some clips before the main one comes out.
We're trying to coordinate something special with a certain
deadline. So let's see. We can get that to happen. Excellent. And then the Kelly
Warden one will be after that. But again, we got the experiment with his
silent fighter, which is, like, one of the best training dummies. Like,
imagine the Bob, but on steroid with arms. Oh,
okay. It's awesome. And he's still making them by hand. Just like the
knives that he's doing, he's making them in his shop by hand. So
I'll. I'll just say this. The best thing about this document,
about these documentaries is that I sat down and I interviewed the
students and to hear their
stories and the emotion that they bring to them, it. It goes beyond
martial arts. It's just a true way of living, and it's just so
much respect and love and admiration for these individuals that are historic
legends, living legends in the martial arts. So Tactical
Tavern, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, MySpace. Not on my space,
but he just quit today. Yeah, that's it.
Tomas, thank you so much, man. So much fun talking to
you. Always great. Always bumping into you at Blade show and
such. But, man, I'm. I'm so glad that you are out there
capturing this kind of stuff, especially with li. These living legends who are,
you know, later in their years, and we need to
preserve their knowledge. I know they've done great to do that too.
But I'm. I'm so glad you're out there taking care of it. So I
appreciate it, man. I appreciate you. And I love watching your videos, too. About
the month of my family, when we came, we get together, we'll watch, we'll put
it on the big screen at Thursday night. Knives, let's go. Right on,
man. All right. Well, you take care, man. Thanks for coming on.
Yes, sir. You know you're a knife junkie. If you're as happy as a kid
on Christmas morning when that new knife arrives in the mail. There he
goes, ladies and gentlemen, Tomas, Alas, of the Tactical
Tavern. I mean, he said it all. He is the man. And
I love his work. I love the videos he puts out.
And also, you are gonna love his agent 007. So
be sure to check that out. When it drops on 21st November,
2025. There will be more runs down the road, don't worry.
But for now, check that out. And by the way, Bastinelli
rap, you better. You better get on that one fast. All right. For Jim
working his magic behind the switcher, I'm Bob DeMarco saying until next time,
don't take dull for an answer. Thanks for listening to the Knife Junkie
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