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00:00:01
E82: Special guest episode!
167 Plays2 days ago
Denis brings on a secret special guest to stump Jerid! We are joined by the one and only Mareko Maumasi! Come listen in to all the goodness!
We'd love to hear from you so send in questions to the show Instagram: @the.tttpodcast
Your hosts:
Denis Tyrell of Tyrell Knifeworks:
IG: @tyrellknifeworks
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TyrellKnifeworks
Website: https://www.tyrellknifeworks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Tyrell-Knifeworks/61558767232017/
Jerid Sandoval of Echo Blades:
IG: @echo_blades
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Echo-Blades/100085394408004/
Mareko Maumasi of Maumasi Fire Arts
IG: @maumasifirearts
Website: https://maumasifirearts.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Maumasi
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Transcript
Introduction and Secret Guest Tease
00:00:15
Speaker
Yo, hello everyone. Welcome to the Triple T for Knife Makers podcast. I am Dennis Trell with Trell Knife Works. I have my sick friend, Jared Sandoval, with me.
00:00:27
Speaker
And today we have a secret guest that I haven't even told Jared about. i'm going to make him guess who it is. Hey, boys. Hey.
00:00:39
Speaker
We'll introduce him in just a second. already know who it is. What? already know who it is. No, you don't. idea All right, Jared, I'm going to give you, you can ask three questions.
00:00:51
Speaker
I can ask three questions, three questions. Try to figure it out. Oh man. I have nothing. I think there should be a new bit. We do a special guest and the other person has three guesses to try to figure it out.
00:01:05
Speaker
Calm down. That's not guesses. Questions. um Are they related to you? No, that's one down.
00:01:17
Speaker
Lies. ah No. I just heard. Hey boys.
Revealing the Mystery Guest: Mareko Malmasi
00:01:22
Speaker
Hey boys. Hey boys. Yeah. Now why you got play with me when I'm not feeling good.
00:01:31
Speaker
Come on. Buck up. Let's go. i don't know. There's a million people. Well, they make knives. Yes. Do they live in California?
00:01:42
Speaker
No, that's three questions. Okay. Okay, I'll give you five since you're sick. Okay, you've had three. Have I met them in person? Yes. You're not really narrowing it down.
00:01:53
Speaker
ah No. One more. I'm going to let the person answer. Have they been on this show before? No, this is my first time, mate.
00:02:05
Speaker
This is your first time, mate? Yeah, man. I wouldn't even know who that is.
00:02:14
Speaker
and All right, we'll let it out of the bag. It is the one and only Mareko Malmasi. Mareko,
Banter on Snacks and Illness
00:02:20
Speaker
what is up, my friend? hey Hey, boys. That's out. Hey, guys.
00:02:26
Speaker
I just couldn't see you flip your hair, that's all. Hey. When I heard you were going to be sick, I thought you were out, as in do do the show without you. So I reached out to Mareko, and we were going to do the show without you.
00:02:42
Speaker
Man, I should have let you guys do it. No, this is going to be good. Yeah, for sure. Marekko, you're not sick. How you been? Or hopefully you're not sick. I'm not sick. And I have been admiring that beard. Look at that. Thank you.
00:02:55
Speaker
Look at that thing. What kind of snacks did you leave in that thing today? Cheez-Its. Stock Cheez-Its. I got a question. Are you guys fans of the burnt Cheez-Its? What? ah The Toasty Cheez-Its, right? I don't even like Cheez-Its, so burnt ones just don't turn around. god, you're so Canadian, dude. yeah Well, then i was like this there's regular Cheez-Its
Mareko on Damascus Patterns and Live Streaming Challenges
00:03:18
Speaker
and then they have these burnt Cheez-Its.
00:03:20
Speaker
Is that a product that they actually sell? Yeah, they're like Toasty. Instead throwing them out, they're like, maybe some people like this shit. Man, and um my whole family, they ever my family likes them. Like most people I talk to, they're all about it.
00:03:32
Speaker
And I'm not a fan. I'm just about a stock Cheez-Its. So yeah, there's some Cheez-Its in here. That's all. Okay. Oh, in the beard? Yeah. Because I went to the store and apparently when you're sick, you want regular Cheez-Its.
00:03:44
Speaker
At least it wasn't Cheetos. Yeah, that's true. What's wrong with Cheetos? Cheetos are great. they They don't look so good in your beard. Oh, yeah. I have two NyQuil in my hand right now. It's going to go sleepy by. Yeah, I don't know. but We may not make it through.
00:04:03
Speaker
are you sure they're not ketamine lozenges? well Tell me where to get them. Yeah.
00:04:12
Speaker
Whoa, what a beautiful surprise. what do you What was the plan if the old Jared didn't show up? Mariko and I were to have a wonderful conversation and talk about endlessly. And here am to fuck it all up. This is good news.
00:04:28
Speaker
So besides being sick, Jared, how has your week been? Dude, my week was like, ah to be honest, I had... So I've been kind of in this lull and then i was making some schedule changes and starting to get back in the shop.
00:04:45
Speaker
And on Friday, my ah my wife actually went out and in the golf cart with me and and I golfed on Friday and I could start feeling like I was going to get sick.
00:04:57
Speaker
So. um On Saturday, i golfed again with my son. But at any rate, I was all fired up early tea time, ready to come home and ah and get in the shop. And all I did was get to to clean the shop out because we have Brent coming out. and I didn't want him to totally judge the shit out of me because the place is a level 12 disaster.
00:05:19
Speaker
But um I was all really fired up. I had some some things to finish on the backside of last week. I was going to etch some stuff and like I was just all fired up for knife making. And then by a Saturday, 12 o'clock, one o'clock, I went to sleep and I didn't wake up until Monday morning.
00:05:40
Speaker
And then I had to go to work because I'm taking off Friday and Monday. um And then, you know, as legend has it or his history has it, Jared is a level 12 bitch when he's sick.
00:05:51
Speaker
I do not do good. I'm whiny. I'm complaining. um Yeah. It's like most males, I think. I hope so. I'm not the only one, but I'll wear it loud and proud.
00:06:02
Speaker
So, ah yeah, man, I'm kind of just ah going through the the motions of, you know, again, kind of getting stifled with some some good motivation. And then, you know, life shows up and it is what it is. But I think it's all going to time out really good for cause i'm fill here and you be yeah he just still I'm feeling feeling good.
Knife Making Insights and Tools
00:06:23
Speaker
He keep me FaceTime me on the um Monday morning because he that's our our routine right now.
00:06:31
Speaker
And I was laying on the couch like I don't know, man. I was laying on the couch and I answered the FaceTime and I realized I didn't have a shirt on. So i just dropped it down to my nipple.
00:06:43
Speaker
You showed him off showing off your barbell. I showed him off. Yeah. So he told me, are you, are you all right? You feeling all right? Are you nipples out again?
00:06:54
Speaker
Well, Jared, uh, shoe, shoe, retarded flu. Okay. So, dude, that was great. That was great. I do. i I don't tip my cap to Dennis very often, but he hit me with an old school Howard reference. And, uh, yeah.
00:07:09
Speaker
Marekko, did you ever listen to Howard Stern? ah I watched... I remember when E! Entertainment channel came on. Oh, the late night? Yeah, for the first time.
00:07:20
Speaker
And I would watch it. like the the I guess the recordings. And I enjoyed that. But I've never really listened to it because I i never had anywhere to listen to it. It wasn't syndicated in my area.
00:07:31
Speaker
And I didn't listen to XM. Yeah, I think I... Yeah, I listened to it back when I was in Canada, when Toronto started to get stern and then on the radio, and then he moved to Ex-Im and I got Ex-Im for a while and and couldn't be bothered to pay for Ex-Im because it sucked, but it was the only draw.
00:07:52
Speaker
But yeah anyway. Yeah. Mariko, how you been? what What are you up to? Man, I've been trying to take some inspiration from you and and some advice from you actually and trying to do some video content lately.
00:08:06
Speaker
saw that. Yeah, I kind of re have revamped my Patreon structure as well. um kind of based around this content. i've been I've been told for many years that I should put a book together and the whole idea seems super daunting and I can sit here and pontificate and plan and or brainstorm and and have it all in my head as much as I possibly can. But at some point you just got to fucking start somewhere.
00:08:33
Speaker
and and i was And I think the anxiety around it not going perfectly smoothly, which it didn't, this first stream, just like, it seems like everything with this pattern that probably could have gone wrong, kind of basically went wrong.
00:08:46
Speaker
and But it's the the the long-term plan is, again, um with the idea of a book, is to make a book kind of like my Pattern Weld of Wednesdays I used to do. So, wow.
00:08:58
Speaker
how long ago was that? That was like six or seven years ago. i started doing these posts called pattern world of Wednesday on my Instagram. And it was so was me showing like a walkthrough of
Exploring Damascus Pattern Challenges
00:09:10
Speaker
ah like a pattern progression, the different forging progressions, but it's very, and think, especially,
00:09:17
Speaker
If you don't have experience or even if you do have experience, it can still be kind of abstract. And so the concept for the book is to put the book together um with the support of my Patreon group to kind of help me to be able to afford taking the time to film the content.
00:09:35
Speaker
And, you know, when you're filming, explaining things, Dennis, I'm sure you experienced this. Like it takes at least two to three times as long as if nobody was there and no cameras are going and you're just working by yourself in the shop.
00:09:47
Speaker
And so it takes time. And, but the idea, oh yeah, also got some inspiration or am taking some inspiration from Laren Thomas because the way he put together k Knife Steel Nerds was that he had his, or sorry, Knife Engineering, his Knife Engineering book is that,
00:10:03
Speaker
he had this a blog that he was doing and he was writing these articles and doing all this research and and with the support of his Patreon, um it it afforded him to be able to take the time to do that side work um and pay for materials and pay for machines and and all this stuff to get...
00:10:21
Speaker
photographs taken, testing done. And I was like, that's a really great way to try to approach that. So I'm trying to do that where I'm illustrating the stuff for the book. And then I'm also kind of, going to, at least in my, in my mind, I'm like, I know I'm doing a bunch of video stuff, but this is just audio. But anyways, one page, but probably the right page when you open the book at at a particular pattern, the right page will have like a pattern progression. There you go. Just like that.
00:10:50
Speaker
paisley pattern and then uh oh yeah there you go same one nice and then uh oh another oh that's the forging progression one integral forging progression um and then so pattern on one side and then written one on the other but i also want to create some companion content that can be clicked or like pull, you know, with your phone, pull up a QR code and that links to a video that shows the actual forging progression yeah so that it's not just an abstract image.
00:11:22
Speaker
You can actually see when I say forge on the bias, what that, how that's actually manipulating the material. It's going to be a while to get all that stuff put together, but I think, Oh, his microphone shit out.
00:11:36
Speaker
Yeah, I'm like, oh, that's great. That's a really good idea. I love that. And I'm muted. We missed all of Jared's gems. Yeah, so I've just been working on that. And it's it this first one, like I said, everything that seemed like it could gone but it go wrong went kind of went wrong.
00:11:54
Speaker
And I'm sure there's more that could have gone wrong. And I'm glad it didn't. um but But people will learn. from yeah The mistakes is
Legalities and Collaborations in Knife Making
00:12:02
Speaker
what people are going to learn from absolutely the most, right?
00:12:05
Speaker
and And it's hard to keep that in perspective because in my mind, I want everything to go just like smooth and perfect. and And then every time something goes sideways, I become flustered and frustrated and I'm struggling and it just seems like more stuff goes wrong.
00:12:21
Speaker
And, um, But yeah, after the first, think it was the first couple days, I was starting to get really frustrated. And was like, wait a second. Okay. Yeah. And you're doing these on live streams, which is a big difference. You don't have the ability to edit at least right away.
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah. For fuck's sakes, come right out. Yeah. You don't get to edit those. Yeah. And, uh, when Anytime I've taken a class or seen a forging demonstration or any kind of knife making demonstration, the times that I've learned the most are actually the thing when things have gone sideways. Because yeah if things go perfectly smoothly, then you're like, cool, you just got to follow these steps and everything turns out great. And even if you fall and I've forged lots of steel and even with that background of experience, stuff still goes sideways.
00:13:06
Speaker
And so the trick is trying to figure out how to kind of pivot when those things don't go the way that you're wanting to to to go or how to try to solve it. Like at one point the steel started to like come apart.
00:13:21
Speaker
And so like trying to figure out how to salvage all of those things and keep it together. And I ended up forging out a great blade and, um, when there was, there were a few points in the process where I'm like, this steel is about to become trash.
00:13:36
Speaker
um And so hopefully, even though it was frustrating for me, um i hope, I think, and I hope that people got a lot more valuable value out of me fucking up left and right, rather than everything going smooth. And so,
00:13:50
Speaker
Um, yeah. So the idea with the live streams is that I live stream to get the video content and then I'll be editing those down because even though I'm streaming for an hour and a half, I'm only doing like eight minutes of work.
00:14:05
Speaker
And so there might be some nuggets in there. got to go through everything. It's going to take some time to edit those down and process those. But, yeah. for the most part, I'm just going to tidy it up to just like the most important parts and and probably do voiceover, just talking through what I'm actually doing and, um,
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah, i'm I'm excited for it. And I appreciate the people that are already on the Patreon helping to support me and in kind of getting this going. And also their patience as I kind of stumble along the way.
00:14:36
Speaker
Things will hopefully get smoother as I become more comfortable in front of the video and doing the live stream. But also, yeah, also just not getting ahead of myself. So just to clarify right now, those live streams are only available for the the Patreon.
00:14:51
Speaker
So i'm I'm live streaming them publicly, but then I'm pulling the videos so that they're only available. the The raw live streams will be archived on the Patreon and then I'm going to be editing those videos and those are also going to be available available on the Patreon.
00:15:09
Speaker
So you're doing like a live on YouTube?
In-Depth Discussion on Damascus Techniques
00:15:11
Speaker
Is that how? Yeah, live that's the only way I can think to really do it It's like the simplest way to do it. So if you catch if you catch the live stream, you'll get to see what you're doing. But then the breakdown and the explanations and all that is strictly for the Patreon at this time.
00:15:25
Speaker
and you're going to re-edit these things and re-upload as a single video. Yeah. yeah So I'll break it down to individual videos initially um just for sake of... um space because i just have like a macbook air and it only has like 16 gigs of storage space on it yeah so i'm like how the fuck am i gonna edit all of this when when i don't have that much room get get yourself one of these i have sorry for the loudest you got an external hard drive i have one of these i have like five of these little zip drives
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah, I just saw at Costco they had they had like two terabyte drives for like 50 bucks. I'm like, Oh my god, that's exactly what this is is two terabytes. And they're like, yeah, well, when I bought it it was 80 bucks. And I have I have four of them.
00:16:13
Speaker
Two of them always plugged into my machine. The best thing. not you know that's a really good idea and i should actually probably just go get one of those because i can foresee myself trying to do this weird dance of like only pulling down certain videos or enough because i'm playing with this limitation of storage space when i should just put it once you get into i movie yeah get two because you're you and i will talk about it at some point when you get into it because movie does some weird things Oh, really? what we'll We'll have a conversation about that. Oh, no. it That sounds a little sounds a little deterring.
00:16:47
Speaker
It's not. It's not. It's just there's a cleanup phase you got to do every couple of months. Oh, OK. You'll need another drive for that. I got you. OK. But I tell you one one thing. I think the most common positive comment I get about my Damascus videos is the graphic that I put in the corner that tells people what's happening whi with what I'm doing.
00:17:12
Speaker
me make a note right here actually. um So I'll put a little graphic of okay it's here's the just like your pattern just like these patterns basically I'll put whatever I'm doing I'll put this in the corner.
00:17:24
Speaker
right Dude, but I really have to kind of highlight something. I think as ah as somebody that's
Spotlight on Makers and Community Support
00:17:29
Speaker
newer to forging, I think that's the the QR code. when you're When you're explaining something like you know you're hitting yeah the bias here, like to actually be able to go to that QR code.
00:17:40
Speaker
And if if that's what I'm if you're trying to if i'm understanding what you're describing is you're do that you'll get to a video of you actually you know rotating the billet and yeah and the fortune i think that's that's amazing content and uh value for whoever's trying to um to start because a lot of times you know people will um ah You know, that's something that that newer people, I discourage this all the time, but don't ever say shake your head. Yes. When you have no idea what the fuck is saying, right? Like, oh, okay. Yeah. Moreco saying I have to say yes. Right.
00:18:12
Speaker
Or, you know, Dennis is saying just stop and say, i don't know what you're talking about because you're the only one that's going to suffer there because they know what the fuck they're doing. Sure. So um I think that's, that's an incredible value for, for that and a great idea.
00:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, and one of the reasons i've been wanting to do that is because anytime I do those walkthroughs, people are like, well, I'm not quite sure how this becomes that. Like, what's how's that happening?
00:18:39
Speaker
And then if you can show it visually, i know that people are going to go Oh, I get it now. Because it's just like, because you're honestly from this phase to this phase, it's a kind of a jump. You don't see that manipulation. But if you can link to something that shows that manipulation, then you're like, right.
00:18:57
Speaker
Yeah. as it As a student, when somebody's teaching, like it's I always try to to understand that they're explaining. what they're doing now but they're actually thinking three steps ahead like this is just the you know to to get to this you know next point there's a couple steps of you know that you have to get through and it's kind of hard to to explain that to while the steel's hot and you're yeah just trying to hit it and go and or you can be like me and just tap the anvil 500 times and let the heat go out yeah well and i i staunchly believe in no bad questions um and
00:19:34
Speaker
the the Because the fact of any base of knowledge, you don't know until you know. That's just yeah befe the fact. You need to make the mistakes, too.
00:19:44
Speaker
Yeah. And i'll honestly, I'll be the first person to be like, what did you just say? What does that mean? i don't know what you're talking about. like i have no fear of doing that. um And I don't know if it's a a lack of ego or I'm just like, I don't give a shit or I don't know what, but I'm just...
00:20:00
Speaker
if If I want to understand something and I don't know what somebody's saying, I will ask a question for sure. and And there's plenty of stuff out there in the world that I'm just like, huh? What that mean? I'll tell i'll tell you a story. The first time that we really spend any time with you was at Maker Camp.
00:20:17
Speaker
Right. And Jared and I were, um we talked about this often, that the first time I ever saw a rotary plant in use is when you used it. yeah. I think neither one of Jared and I were like, we didn't want to ask the question, why are you using the rotary plat? What does that help? Again, it took...
00:20:36
Speaker
It took me years before I and understood the the real value of that rotary platen. And now I use it all the time. And I'm kicking myself for not asking the question back then, why are you using a rotary platen?
00:20:49
Speaker
Dude, the rotary platen is such a clutch tool for me in the shop, yeah especially for sculpting integrals. When it's like from the steel to the handle material, whatever the handle material is, it helps to keep it even. But even when I've done guards, like, and I'm, and Oh God, what did I do? One time I had like a huge gap between the space spacer.
00:21:12
Speaker
oh Oh, this is what I did. I was sculpting the, I did one of those like, Oh, what's his name? Eric Markman does these integral blades that go into a guard and then into the handle. Right.
00:21:24
Speaker
So they have like the Ricasso is like an integral bolster, but then that goes into a guard and then that goes into the handle. And so I wanted that integral Ricasso to flow through that guard and straight into the handle. So I was shaping them together without the guard using the rotary platen.
00:21:43
Speaker
to bridge that gap without any undercutting. And that's the only way that I think I could have done it unless I was like using files very carefully or sanding sticks. And even still, I probably would have messed it up.
00:21:53
Speaker
But that the the rotary platen is so, is kind of like the unsung hero. Anytime I've done guards, I do almost all my sculpting and shaping on a on a rotary platen. Like I get the float in kind of curve underneath the the lug and everything. I've never used it for that. and And now you got me curious. I use it mainly for putting the convex on the edge of the blade. Sure. Sure.
00:22:16
Speaker
And honestly, most people do. They use it for a convex or they, if with a bat with like a flat platen backing, they help to get like, especially if they're doing some sort of flat guunt grind on a buoy or a hunter.
00:22:27
Speaker
Um, They're using it to help get up to higher grits without scratch removal. Yeah. So it's all about scratch removal and keeping keeping facets and stuff like that. i use it for i mean, you guys saw me doing the the the faceted handle sculpting and I love it for sculpting faceted handles.
00:22:44
Speaker
There are some places where you got to get into a slack belt, but a lot of it is done on the rotary platen. But by having that belt, that rubber belt backing in your grinding belt, especially when you get it to higher grits where you're working with J flexes and stuff that will flex and like whatever flow around and and curve curve on you and undercut severely, that having that backing of that belt really helps to prevent that from happening in a big way.
00:23:12
Speaker
And since we're talking about the rotary platen, we should mention our sponsor, Ameribraid. And they do make the, I think, the best rotary platen on the market. So get a rotary platen for your Fastback 2x72. And if you don't have a Fastback, why not go talk to the guys in Ameribraid?
00:23:33
Speaker
And while you're there, go check out the Hyperdisk, the... Amazing tool. um Jared's got one. i really, really think I should get one, but we'll see.
00:23:44
Speaker
We'll see how the finances go. But go check out Ameribraid and tell Eric and Kevin the boys at Triple T sent you. when I was at maker camp doing that demonstration with that rotary platen, that wasn't a Marin braid rotary platen on, on the broad back machine. Yeah.
00:24:01
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I really love their, their tensioning system. Like the, it's very smart. It's a very clever set setup and it's very, very intuitive. like I got a, I got a question on the, on the, on the tensioning.
00:24:12
Speaker
yeah Um, what loose gets you what and and tight and when you when you tighten the tension on there. Like, cause I have it, whatever it came with right now. And I was, and I'm not sure what ah what tightening will get me and what loosening that that tension on there.
00:24:31
Speaker
I mean, you're adjusting the tension of that belt and that especially, i mean, I guess if whether you're running a 36 grit or 400 grit, like that affects how much give that, that rubber belt backing on the rotor platen has. And so that, that affects how, how far into uh,
00:24:51
Speaker
and into that slack area that you can actually push. So the looser it is, you can push it deeper in, you're going to get more curvature versus the tighter it is, you're going to get less curvature.
00:25:03
Speaker
i I basically run mine as tight as I can all the time. I almost never use it. um oh Actually, i have loosened them if I was like sharpening a friend's axe or or something like that, or a cleaver, where you want a lot more curvature. But other than that, I'm running my rotary platens as tight as possible. The first one I ever had was the Beaumont Metalworks one. that was that that I still use that thing from time to time.
00:25:30
Speaker
And it's like 12 years old. it's It's on its last legs. But um yeah, i have I definitely have the both the Ameribrade and the Beaumont. and But that Ameribrade one is a very nice platen.
00:25:45
Speaker
it's got I mainly use the the hard platen. Sure. But I don't use the slack portions. But it's got two slack portions, right? A small one, a large one. So really, you don't need to loosen the belt. You just go to a bigger slack area, right? Right.
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it also, i found that, um, when it comes to tensioning the, the actual belt, I'll actually rotate it. So I think the short gaps are at the top and the long gaps are towards the bottom.
00:26:11
Speaker
And that way I can open it up and I can shove really hard backward. Um, and that will help get some really nice tension on there. If we, if I ever get down there, um I would, I can show you really quick how I use it to sculpt the guard because it's, it's fucking nice. It comes out real nice.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I'm doing guards all the time. So anything like that easier would be nice. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So, Cool, cool. So what what else you got in the hopper, Marekko, when you're working on it?
00:26:49
Speaker
I'm making that knife. I got a couple knives on the workbench. One is I got to get finished by the end of the month before ah because it's a friend is giving it as a gift to another friend of his.
00:27:00
Speaker
And then I just got just normal work. um But more than anything, I'm going to be doing a lot more of this Damascus stuff, which... Honestly, like it just makes sense. And you and I have talked about this, Dennis, like it just makes sense.
00:27:13
Speaker
It's, it's what I'm like. I'm good. I'm pretty damn good at making knives, pretty damn good at sculpting handles. I'm pretty damn good at grinding blades, but what I'm exceptional at, um,
00:27:25
Speaker
is Damascus pattern design and development and reverse engineering. And the teaching of it is, is what I think you should focus on. I think that's where your, your future should be. know That's up to you, but that's what I would love to see you do.
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah. And so I've been trying to also figure out like, how do I parlay that? How do I blend my love for making Damascus with, with business? I mean, obviously you can make knives out of them, but I just want to keep making patterns.
00:27:53
Speaker
have, i have I wouldn't say hundreds of patterns. I have lots and lots of patterns. I have tons of notebooks full of patterns that I've never made. and and I think there's still a lot of new processes um that can be developed for making particular patterns.
00:28:10
Speaker
um And they don't, some of them are complex. Others are pretty straightforward. It's just a matter of taking the time to do them. But i've I've, oh, gosh. ah The business of knife making and paying or really paying bills has taken the priority.
00:28:25
Speaker
And so I've been trying to figure out, or I guess transitioning my Patreon in this way is to... be able to afford to take the time to do that extra experimentation and taking video and developing new patterns, new pattern approaches, and sharing some of the new techniques and approaches that I've pioneered, as far as I'm aware of, have pioneered. Like actually in this first video, um I've developed a new tip welding process.
00:28:54
Speaker
um And ah i was I hadn't seen anybody else do this approach, but I also don't have eyes on everything that's happening around the world.
00:29:05
Speaker
But talking to like Steve Schwarzer and j d Smith and other master smiths and people who have been very. um stay or stay up to kind of date and have seen a lot of Damascus making over the years, especially those old two old school guys.
00:29:23
Speaker
um Both of them saying they've never seen this approach. And so that was actually one of the first thing I was planning on saving it for a ah later video, but shit, like I said, shit went sideways on this pattern that I was making. so I was like, all right, well, I guess I'm going to show it now. Is that the, you call that the off square tip? Well, yeah, it's the off square tip. Well, yeah.
00:29:44
Speaker
I'm looking at your sheet here. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. um i yeah i didn't I haven't watched the whole live stream, but I'm going to get on the page. i I tip my hat to anybody who does or can because they're rough.
00:29:58
Speaker
And it's just, it's a slog. And a lot of the time in a forge and making steel is sitting around and waiting. So I've been trying to like answer questions, talk about what I'm doing, even though i'm probably not going to keep that portion of the content when i make sure ultimately i edit the videos down i'm just trying to help keep it engaging and interesting for anybody who even if it's just like three people that are watching i feel like this weird sense of uh responsibility to keeping things from being boring for anybody especially if they're going to spend their time hanging out with me basically yeah
00:30:33
Speaker
And gonna break for a sponsor here. If you don't wanna make your own Damascus and you wanna get some from ah ah great source, you gotta go check out Baker Forge and Tool.
00:30:44
Speaker
They got all the snazzy Damascus with copper and bronze and you name it. ah Go talk to Koi and the boys at Baker Forge. Use the discount code TTT10 while you're there. Load up your cart with some Gator Piss and all the varieties.
00:31:00
Speaker
And the new Gator Skin, which is back in stock, which is the nano ceramic coating, which I put on all my knives now, at least on my carbon steel knives before they they leave the shop.
00:31:13
Speaker
So yeah, go check out Baker Forge and Tool, discount code TTT10. and this brand new stuff that I know what it is and Dennis does not. And it is fantastic. And and I can't, i I really want to share this with our six people that are listening, you know maybe seven. You want to share that you know and I know yeah just that. Well, yeah, but you know, I'm not going to because it's so awesome to have something. Koi sent us a video that has two boxes, one addressed to me and one addressed to Jared. And Jared says he knows what's in them.
00:31:48
Speaker
Well, Koi loves me more. i mean, it's just, it's just that simple. ah So, uh, yeah, he wants to be in my will, not yours, that, that whole thing. So, but you know, if you guys missed out, they had, and and I hope you guys didn't, uh,
00:32:03
Speaker
But they had an amazing just like a straight shit barn door barn burner sale over Labor Day where they discounted all kinds of stuff. And I hope ah that all of our people got to take advantage of that. i mean, there were some deep, deep discounts um and they were continuing even after um Labor Day. So, um yeah, go go check them out and TTT 10 for 10 percent off your nest.
00:32:31
Speaker
Your next purchase. Use the code. You guys so rich you don't want to save money? Use the damn code.
00:32:39
Speaker
Hey, Brian, I got a question for you. on but So I've had this battle, and I won't say battle, this mental struggle. I love doing Damascus patterns like you do. yeah um But I've always, struggled those two things I've struggled with, the whole, you know, how much do you forge it at the end? But really, my my we'll get we'll get to that.
00:33:00
Speaker
But you know I've done what I think is a great Damascus pattern, but I don't, you know this is something for you to think of on content. I don't want to release a video just on the Damascus pattern. like I have done a whole Damascus pattern series. yeah sure That's on pretty basic patterns.
00:33:18
Speaker
yeah But do I just release a video on the Damascus? like How do you really show it off? How do you showcase this brilliant Damascus You know, yeah unless you turn it into a knife and then the video gets, it's like, you know, then I got to do complete knife build videos, which takes forever because now I got to build the whole knife and the guard and, you know, I'm not doing, you know, chef knives. I'm usually doing buoys or daggers or something.
00:33:47
Speaker
So, so that's question one. What would, you know, you're going to be, how do you intend to showcase, like show off the end Damascus? Yeah, so yeah, they I think they do have to be forged into blades for them to to really display how how the pattern opens up into the knife.
00:34:07
Speaker
And the considerations that go into, you know, how far do you reduce the bar down? ah to so that yeah the pattern represents in the finished blade the number of times you want it to to look like in the blade.
00:34:21
Speaker
um What happens if you only do five tiles versus even eight tiles? Like the difference in how that pattern stretches out, um really, it can be affected by that.
00:34:32
Speaker
and That's definitely something that I do plan on approaching in some of the some of the content that I'm gonna be making. um But yeah, it's I think it does have to be forged into a knife so that people, not only are you making a cool bar, but you can see what that pattern becomes.
00:34:50
Speaker
And honestly, part of it too, for me, in finish, at least forging a blade and heat treating and probably at least grinding a blade, and is so that I can have and like a nice cover photo, or as well as photo content for the book of not only is this like the recipe for how to make this pattern, but then this is a potential finished product.
00:35:12
Speaker
And then, and of course, you know, from blade shape to blade shape, or even like from a chef's knife to a buoy or even like a little hunter, it's going to present differently. And so also figuring that out and figuring out how to scale it down or scale it up, depending on how you want it to present is all part of playing this game of making steel for sure.
00:35:33
Speaker
And when it comes to how far to forge it, I think that honestly comes down to you and what you were what you want to achieve, um again, in regards to how the pattern presents in the finished piece.
00:35:46
Speaker
i For a long time, i was chasing forging a blade as close to finish, or I guess heat treating dimension as possible. So I would heat treat as forged. um But something that definitely happens is that as the pattern gets stretched out, say you accidentally account for too much material. You're like, whoa, I was planning on making a eight inch buoy. Let's make a 10 inch buoy now.
00:36:09
Speaker
But if you only have five tiles in it, that represents differently in an eight inch knife versus a 10 inch knife. Even just that that couple, I mean, I say it like it's not that much, but a couple inches is of that a lot of extra length and that's a lot of extra stretch.
00:36:23
Speaker
And that stretch distorts the pattern um sometimes in ways that are unexpected. And so I think it's about developing skills.
00:36:35
Speaker
um For maker, it's about developing skills, knowledge, and understanding so that you can make informed decisions as in regards to, do I want that tip to be really stretched because that's part of the aesthetic of the pattern?
00:36:47
Speaker
Or do I want to just forge? And that would probably then have you forging closer to maybe a heat treating dimension. So maybe a 16th of an inch out at the tip or something that like that, or an eighth of an inch, or do you dial it back, account for more material and then only forge to profile. So the stock, the blade is still maybe around a quarter of an inch thick and it feels like you're wasting a lot of material. And that's part of the reason i I hate wasting material.
00:37:13
Speaker
But at a certain point, I was, again, I was finding, I was over distorting the patterns by stretching too little material too far. And so I'm like, okay, I need to make a thoughtful choice in regards to how I actually want this pattern to present in the finished piece rather than just conserving material because sometimes it just looks like a fucking mess and it doesn't look the way you want it to look.
00:37:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's probably... you know I'd say I'm at least at the intermediate level of doing Damascus, but the the things that I've struggled with on some patterns is not taking into account yeah the the distortion of stretching it out at the end or...
00:37:54
Speaker
Jared and I did a, it was a pretty simple pattern. It was your basic basket weave, which we then split like a feather. Yep. But then I drew it out so much that you couldn't even, it ended up looking really cool, but it didn't look anything like I intended. Right.
00:38:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's something to be said for like being purposeful about the end result, right? I think in that that that ah um allows you to to have a repeatable process if you have that understanding, because if you don't, then you you luck into something cool, like somebody like I would do, right? Like if if i nine times out of 10, if I'm if I have a, you know, Damascus that I've tried to make or and I get it going into a knife, it's going be like, oh, that came out great.
00:38:36
Speaker
Can you do it again? Probably not. Right? I don't know. don't have the understanding. don't know how it happened first place. Yeah, exactly. it's It's a one of a kind, guys. Yeah. Well, and something i I remember hearing people talk, say all the time, is that like, oh, I just let the steel speak to me. And i forge I'm just like, what you're talking about is a lack of control.
00:38:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's why I was eating your pants. Yeah, it's a lack of control. And I think sometimes that plays out and you just want to experiment and twist and ladder and do all kinds of things to a bar of steel.
00:39:08
Speaker
But at the same time, like and that that can be fun in its own right, if you're especially if you're just like, I don't know what this does to a pattern. and Let's try it out. But um i I like controlled chaos. So my patterns definitely have a lot more of an organic feel to them.
00:39:24
Speaker
um But they that is all very intentional. I can do kind of the more organized geometric stuff like what Salem, like Salem st Straub is a great example of very organized, very interesting patterns, and but also very organized.
00:39:39
Speaker
I could definitely do that. um But it doesn't. it doesn't always appeal to me there are definitely incidences where like i'm all about it but most of my patterns are are i'm trying to create an organic natural one-of-a-kind kind of aesthetic that doesn't look like it was just kind of stamped out um and but again i think it just depends on a particular project and and what i'm ultimately trying to accomplish and sometimes i want that sometimes i don't
00:40:12
Speaker
Yeah, good stuff. um We should talk about where you can get some of these awesome knife making tools and supplies. You should go to Maritime Knife Supply and get all of your knife making needs handled by Mr. Lawrence Lake, whether it's abrasives, equipment, folding knife parts, thanks to yours truly, um and all kinds of stuff.
00:40:41
Speaker
um Go to Maritime Knife Supply and Lawrence will get you set up for everything that you need. He's up in Canada, but we'll ship down to the U.S. real quick.
00:40:52
Speaker
So go check him out. Maritime Knife Supply. Real quick like. Yeah. Real quick like. Yeah. And you might get a, like a candy or something super special or, know, maritime night supply branded.
00:41:05
Speaker
Yeah. Maritime night supply peppermint. Yeah. I enjoy that. I enjoy having one of those every time I put my stuff away. You know, I love Maritime Knife Supply so much that I just actually wrote a review on the shop app.
00:41:19
Speaker
It just explained my endearing support and love for for the quality and the the fast shipping that I always receive from Lawrence over at Maritime Knife Supply. So if you guys have the opportunity, take a second, give them a good review on whatever medium you're using to to get that stuff. so and ah and And thank you for the special gift there, Mr. Lake. I do appreciate it.
00:41:43
Speaker
I had a couple extra peppermint packs in mine, so it was pretty cool. nice Yeah, it was nice and spicy. I'm going to miss larence not seeing Lawrence at Maker Camp this year. That's usually our time to hang out.
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, this is the Maker Count dropout fucking episode. Oh, yeah, we'll do the dropout. I mean, would have gone. they just didn't want me. Yeah. They're like, nah, we're good. ah Yeah.
00:42:12
Speaker
No, i'll i'll be I'll be sad to not see Lauren. I'll be sad to see so a lot of people. Not to see a lot of people. Yeah. um But yeah. it's It's been a fantastic time every time we've been out there. But yeah.
00:42:25
Speaker
Not in the cards this year. Yeah, not in the cards. I definitely look forward to hopefully going back sometime in the future. But yeah, not right now. I just got too much going on. I'll tell you yesterday what's they month yeah yesterday, Parker officially enlisted in the Navy.
00:42:42
Speaker
shit. Awesome. His MEPS, which is like their, I forget what MEPS stands for, his physical and all his actual tests and all that is is Thursday, and he'll be headed out beginning of October.
00:42:58
Speaker
Oh, that quick, huh? For basic, yeah. Holy smokes, that's wild. Yeah, that's crazy. Can't believe it. so That's exciting, man. I didn't realize he was old enough to do that now.
00:43:10
Speaker
He's 20, just turned 20. Holy shit. yeah Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, it is. And that when I went to because we've been talking the recruiter for like, you know, a couple different times we've been there.
00:43:24
Speaker
And the Navy recruiters right beside the Marine recruiter. And of course, they're connected because Navy used to be part of the ah sorry, Marines used to be part of the Navy. So I did bring the the the sword the sword over for those guys to to take a look and they were they were very impressed. They loved it.
00:43:45
Speaker
Have a couple Marines review it and and give it the thumbs up. So that was cool. I did get to check out, ah well I started watching some some of the challenge videos and i was the one I'm currently watching right now was Huber's.
00:44:03
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Entertaining video. It was. Yeah. One time you start talking in the wrong direction and look back at the camera. I was i was dying. I was like, he's so simple and in kind of like through.
00:44:17
Speaker
But I don't know. It was great. Then he had like the camera was switching as he was hitting it on the on the power hammer and stuff. So oh I'm excited to check check out the rest of them. That's Martin Huber? Yeah, Martin Huber. Yeah.
00:44:28
Speaker
I got to meet him at Blade Show. And I've met him before, um but I actually got to spend some quality time with him at Blade Show this year in Atlanta. It was really cool to get to know him a bit better. And I think at the end of, we we ended up going back to trade trades place right and Over at place, at Trey's place.
00:44:44
Speaker
Yeah. um Trey Hill, Third Hill Customs. on instagram uh and we went over to trey's and by the end of one night um we were like just all sitting on spotify connected to the speaker and pulling up different songs and stuff like that yeah that was great feet feet in the pool yeah feet in the pool yeah yeah i actually spoke to trey today Oh, killer.
00:45:07
Speaker
cause He's such a good guy. You were looking for your host, huh? No, I was not. no i I sent him... Because when I had him on after Blade Show, and one of the topics we talked about is We thought it'd be funny to get all these makers together.
00:45:24
Speaker
And we're always making fun of the balisong kids to get all these makers together and actually make balisong knives and have a little ballet competition. Yeah. Like, how funny would it be to see, like, Schwerzer try to... Bally boys.
00:45:38
Speaker
Not to pick on just him, but... but i like that idea i think you'd do great i hope that our community would be cool enough to to try that stuff especially with all the the bad rap they get you know for me so i after this i sent trey the video of my battle song that i had just finished today nice so uh you got really good at swinging that thing around i saw on the on the on a youtube short or something like that yeah right does it have an edge on that thing There isn't yet, but... is It does look pokey.
00:46:11
Speaker
who Whoever buys it um will get get the option of having it sharp. but these These are deceptively hard to make. like Kudos to anyone who could make these.
00:46:23
Speaker
sure The tolerances on these are like... harder than your typical folder. That's interesting. Does it have a lock at the bottom of the, of the handle? chose not to put a lock on this one. And if you talk to some of the Balassan kids, they're like 50, 50 split, whether they like the lock or they don't.
00:46:42
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Because i mean, I'm, I'm learning as I go here, but the, the, uh, the lock will fly around and it affects how it actually works. So a lot of them don't like the lock on it.
00:46:55
Speaker
Yeah. Throws off the flippy. Throws off the flippy. It catches on their bracelets. Yeah. So I sent this to, I sent the video to Trey saying, Hey, look, nice.
00:47:06
Speaker
The gauntlet has been thrown. i have, I have a design. I have a design actually for several different folding knives. I've never made a folding knife in my, in my life. Really? Yeah, I have a design for, I have several friction folder designs, a couple folders, like a cross lock folder designs.
00:47:23
Speaker
And, and I have a balisong design, but it's ah because I'm a mushroom forager. So basically the the idea is to make like, um man, I'm afraid to say it out loud, but I got scared all of a sudden, but to make like a balisong, but more like a Leatherman.
00:47:41
Speaker
in a way, yeah but with a blade inside, a forger's blade, instead of instead of the like the pliers. But then I was looking at the state laws and trying to figure out, because balisongs are illegal in Washington state, and so too i'm trying to to I was looking at the definition, and part of the definition is that it has a locking mechanism of some sort. I'm like, okay, well, i'll just not have a locking mechanism, and it should shouldn't fit the definition.
00:48:06
Speaker
But think if it... but is it Is it illegal to own or illegal to carry? oh yeah, it's probably illegal to carry. Yeah.
00:48:18
Speaker
Because you can order them here in California and they'll ship them to you, even the sharpened ones. But sure you're not supposed to carry them around. I think they're illegal if you get caught with it. Yeah, out our stilettos are out the front. Also illegal. Same.
00:48:33
Speaker
any a Any auto is illegal in California to carry. Yeah, Washington too. No, if it's under two inches, you can carry it. You can have an auto. Oh, you're set. california You're packing two inches all the day.
00:48:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's all I got. Well, I tell them it's bigger, but, know. Well, you said folders. Well, actually we got Brent and Jared. Well, Jared's already here, but Brent bald man is coming down for coming up, coming over wherever he's coming from Florida and laugh on yeah on Thursday. And I'm taking these guys through a folder course.
00:49:08
Speaker
Oh, nice. So they're Guinea pigs for my folder course. What's Brent's Instagram handle? You said Brent bold man. you No, I'm pretty sure you've met Brent before.
00:49:19
Speaker
Yeah. I must have. But yeah, we'll be making folders. He's like, yo.
00:49:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's I'm so so stoked. It's like he's almost here already. yeah Killer. I cut out the blades. You're going to be using CPM 154.
00:49:41
Speaker
Isn't that stuff like hard? Yeah. I didn't have ABL that was thin enough and I didn't want to grind it down. So you're using CPM. Oh, I got a shit ton thin ABL. Yeah, but I wanted it done today. So like, yeah, that's true.
00:49:56
Speaker
I cut your blades out. What part of California are you guys in again? bay Area. Bay Area. East Bay. East Bay. Nice. I had a thought regarding when you were the the earlier question about the Damascus and how far to forge it.
00:50:13
Speaker
You guys have both heard me talk about the Damascus math, right? Or blade math yeah for for figuring out the amount of materials. So that's another useful simple little a mathematical equation that can help to figure out um if if you want a certain size knife, but you're only going to forge it, say, to profile, then that can help you to account for the right amount of material so that once you hit that profile, that particular size, you just stop.
00:50:41
Speaker
and it'll help to preserve the material rather than underestimating your material and then having to stretch it and accidentally or unnecessarily distort the pattern by by stretching it too far or vice versa. If you want it to have that stretch, then you account for less material and then you forge it farther.
00:50:59
Speaker
And I've even had some, like the tooling changes things too, because oh sure having the rolling mill that's only going to stretch it in one direction, um I've,
00:51:11
Speaker
oh yeah I've had to take account for that, especially over like using a press. um especially like Because i'm I'm doing the final thinning of the billet right um before I'm going to make the the pattern, and it's going to stretch only in one direction, and I have to account for that.
00:51:29
Speaker
yeah I've actually come up with a little Damascus tile calculator for thickness of tiles and size of tiles based on... you know, how, what you're going to use, whether you're using a press or whether you're using um, um, like a rolling mill, that's only gonna stretch in one direction, which, uh, I know folks have downloaded off my, uh, website before, but nice, just a little free calculator thing for them to use.
00:51:58
Speaker
Oh, that's great. Yeah. But, uh, fun stuff. So hopefully you're going to be able to come down in the fall there, Mareko. We'll do something cool together. I've got some ideas, some things we talked about when I was down at, uh, up at your place.
00:52:15
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I really want to get that, uh, get that in a video that we can talk about. Oh yeah. No, I think that'll be super fun. Yeah. And, um, ah Yeah, what is it? It's the talking about or we're talking about doing some gradient stuff.
00:52:31
Speaker
Yeah, I am with the gradients. Yes. Yeah. And actually part of what I'm doing with some of this Damascus play or the this content that I'm making is i'm i'm I'm basically kind of going back through my Damascus design, and like all all my past Pattern Welder Wednesdays and stuff.
00:52:49
Speaker
And I'm making the same patterns, but I'm playing with using the gradient in those patterns yeah to affect um the kind of the sense of depth and blending and shading that is created.
00:53:02
Speaker
And um I've only done it on a couple knives, but Gabe Fletcher of Anchorage Forge, he has really taken it. um And that's basically all he does.
00:53:15
Speaker
Or he, use it's not all he does, but he uses it quite a bit in his elements to create that really nice kind of blending and shading effect. And it's, It's very effective.
00:53:26
Speaker
Yeah. I almost call it the undulating pattern. Just the the way that it, you know, you you really get this undulating depth to it when you do the gradients. And that's what I think once, once there's a few videos out there on, on the possibilities and the way it can be used, I think it'll be all the wave. We're going to see a next wave is what I've been saying.
00:53:49
Speaker
Like we're going to see another wave of, people exploring and doing different things with it. For sure. i mean, even, I mean, yeah, exactly. yeah exactly Well, even me, like I'm wanting to go back through basically and remake a lot of my patterns that I've made before, but with, like I said, but by adding some of this gradient as a, as an aspect of the overall element and pattern, um nothing that's really like too massive. Some of it will be really fine detailed and some of it will be a bit bolder.
00:54:19
Speaker
But I think just the overall effect, like we're saying, that it creates is fucking really cool. It's really nice. I was looking at your um the your double helix pattern, which I really want to try.
00:54:33
Speaker
That one would be really cool to put some kind of gradient inside the helix. Yeah. or Or the dark pattern on the outside. like that That would look really, really cool.
00:54:44
Speaker
Now that is a pattern, just as a side note, that that benefits from being forged under a press rather than a ah rolling mill. If you reduce it on the rolling mill, you're not going to get the kind of squeeze out the side in all directions that you would get under a press or a power hammer.
00:55:01
Speaker
yeah Or a two bastards fat peen. You know what I'm saying? eggway Yeah. If you want to spread some shit around, you got to go check out Frank and Nito at Two Bastards Hammer and Supply.
00:55:13
Speaker
ah Not Supply, Smithy and Supply, ah where you can go get all your ah all the peens available, the cross peen, the straight, diagonal, curvy peen, every kind of peen you need. You'd be on the scene with the fat peen because, like we always say, a grand to have a fat peen in your hand.
00:55:32
Speaker
Yes, it is. Isn't it grand? Yes. And if you're going to make a knife, what are you going to put on the on the scales there, Jared? I'm going to lather it up with a Pelican paste.
00:55:45
Speaker
Cause I'm going to go check out my boy, Travis Haynes at Pelican paste. He's got all the hard wax, soft wax, Pelican oil, hand-solve soap, and the exclusive butter, not a cast iron seasoning.
00:55:58
Speaker
um So if you're into all of that, waxy waxer and stuff, go check it out um and use the discount code triple T 10 for 10% off.
00:56:11
Speaker
yeah And tell them the voice of Triple T said, what's up? You get in with a sick voice. What's up, girl? Your Barry White voice. What's up? My name is Optimus Prime.
00:56:24
Speaker
i don't have no problem doing it now. say oh Hey, why don't we do some maker spotlights? Sure. All right. So I actually had a guy reach out to me last week.
00:56:37
Speaker
And that I'm, for some reason, I'm spacing on his first Daniel. It's either Daniel or David.
00:56:49
Speaker
I'm doing a terrible job at this. You're doing the Jared right now. know. It is Daniel. Yes. Daniel Keown from Keown Fine Folders reached out to me and asking about a collaboration. And he actually won best slip joint in Atlanta, um which is, you know, the...
00:57:11
Speaker
Slip joint cartel there. There's some some big names and big guys in there. So he won best slip joint at at blade show and reached out and asked if we could do a collaboration and I can supply some Damascus so um I thought that was a cool idea and one of my goals this year was to do some more collaborations and some more training So, yeah, I said, absolutely. So I'm going to be sending him some steel. He's going to be making slip joint out of it.
00:57:44
Speaker
Wait, who is that again? What's that? Who is the maker again? it's So his Instagram Keown, K-E-O-W-N. So Keown underscore fine underscore folders. So Keown fine folders.
00:57:59
Speaker
And it's Daniel Keown. I could be butchering his last name, but K-E-O-W-N Keown sounds right to me. I'm sure he'll correct me if it's wrong.
00:58:10
Speaker
But go check him out. He's got some just incredible folders. Just slip joints are, I think, one of the hardest folders to get right. They're just so finicky.
00:58:23
Speaker
I've made one slip joint, and they are very challenging. But go check him out and give him some love. he is He's got 3,700, just over 3,700 followers.
00:58:36
Speaker
So go check him out.
00:58:41
Speaker
Jared, who do you have? Hold on. um
00:58:46
Speaker
Freaking pulling to me for real. There we go. I
00:58:55
Speaker
here we go um i have somebody that... um Actually, when I first started getting into knives, this was the end-all be-all knife maker for me.
00:59:08
Speaker
um And that's Frankie Blades at Tactical Pterodactyl Knives. um He has this um galaxy finish, stonewash.
00:59:19
Speaker
just There's this particular finish that he has on on his knives that... um I have three or four of them I bought. This is like the first big knife purchase that I made.
00:59:31
Speaker
um But he makes ah just amazing um fixed blades. um i I totally dig the the whole vibe of of his of his styles. um And he's ah got, and that's tactical pterodactyl.
00:59:50
Speaker
tactical underscore pterodactyl underscore knives. He's got 59.5 thousand followers. so he's He's doing pretty good. um He's like the first guy that, um you know, would was doing drops that I was introduced to those was doing drops and selling out. And you couldn't, you know, if you were a minute late, you're not getting them.
01:00:10
Speaker
But just fantastic work um and really kind of set me on my way of wanting to try to make knives uh because ah it all started with the edc um folders and then ultimately these fixed blade things but um so if you're not following him um make sure you go uh check him out now yeah really awesome stuff and uh i can't believe i haven't shouted him out already but uh yeah that's who i got nice I got Enceladus Cutlery. Enceladus spelled E-N-C-E-L-A-D-U-S underscore Cutlery.
01:00:52
Speaker
That's ah my buddy Evan Davis. He's only got 473 followers. He was at Blade Show actually this year. He's local to us. Yeah, he's close to you guys. Spell it again. so e and E-N-C-E-L-A-D-U-S underscore Cutlery.
01:01:09
Speaker
Evan Davis.
01:01:12
Speaker
He's a dude from Santa Cruz. Yeah. he's so He's down at Santa Cruz. Yeah. He gave us ah shirts and stuff. Yeah, his shirts are fucking rad, but yeah so ah but yeah, he's doing really good work. He's especially as a chef's knife maker.
01:01:27
Speaker
And I'm sure you guys know from making chef's knives, like hitting geometry is tricky because of chef's knives. I think, unfortunately, a lot of people just see a chef's knife as a knife that's in the kitchen that she sees in the kitchen, but they're actually highly nuanced and he's doing a really great job hitting those.
01:01:44
Speaker
But I really love his handle work is super nice. ah He's got like this really, it's it's kind of like a old century modern kind of look the knives that he had at blade show this year, and in regards to the kind of the the blade furniture, like the handle material and how he puts them together and everything.
01:02:03
Speaker
It's really nice. And And he's a good dude. He roasts his own coffee. He's not far from you guys. I'd love to get down and work with him and hang out. But yeah, he's doing some really good work and could use some follows and and helping to get his work out there into the world.
01:02:18
Speaker
But yeah, that's that's a good one, Marekko. I actually was very close to reaching out to him when i was uh doing that glamping thing moon charging uh a couple what was that on my birthday when my wife and i went up and stayed in the santa cruz mountains yeah oh dude they're beautiful yeah that's good good stuff uh but i just couldn't we were in between a bunch of stuff and i couldn't carve out some time so yeah um but yeah good dude great work and that handle um i'm looking at if you're looking at his thing it's uh dennis it's like uh the ninth one yeah yeah i see in the third time that that is just some bitching stuff i haven't seen that before it's really nice yeah it basically has like this flip tang look but the uh it's basically i think it's paper ivory um with i think it looks like uh some sort of like
01:03:12
Speaker
saplewood or something like that. But it's, so the saplewood is what would be kind of the integral bolster if it was an integral, but then it's got, then that saplewood goes all the way down around handle, like a flip tang.
01:03:26
Speaker
And then the the ivory, the paper ivory, whatever, micarta, it's, it's a museum fit up. So it's just slightly proud. that's and's It's nice and it's a very subtle and he did a really nice job.
01:03:42
Speaker
think a lot of people, unfortunately, and when they do the museum fit up, they do sometimes a little bit too big of a step. um But his was really nice. It was like maybe a 32nd of an inch. And just that little bit, I think shows a a lot of care for detail, creating that effect, which is a pain in the ass to do in the first place.
01:04:00
Speaker
But then to keep it tight like that is also pretty tricky. And he he did, I think he did a great job. Yeah, no, i love it. I love the one below it too. the The full tang below it. the The shape on that one is cool.
01:04:13
Speaker
Yeah, he was good dude. I remember yeah it was spacing on the name, but once I saw the um the shirt is what really kicked me off because he gave us some of those shirts.
01:04:25
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, it's awesome. Yeah. Cool. Cool. damn it i've been muted again i was saying the uh the uh i i got the long sleeve shirt so i haven't actually worn it yet waiting for it to cool down a little bit but i was just seeing he's got uh not only his geometry geometries locked in but he obviously knows how to uh heat treat um his knives as well because he's got that uh top notch even heat kiln in the back and if you're looking for um an oven to heat treat all your blades with, i go check out Spencer and the crew over at Even Heat Kilns.
01:05:00
Speaker
Even Heat is a family-owned and operated company since 1948, building the highest quality knife heat treat ovens available. um You can also, if you're in Hoth, the Canadia region, up in the frigid coldness, you can go check out Lawrence. He's a ah supplier of them as well.
01:05:21
Speaker
I was like, Hoth? What you talking about? Hothia. Over there in the cold lands. But ah yeah, um even heat kilns. get it get it ah Get it right.
01:05:35
Speaker
yeah And just to finish off ours our sponsors here, if you're looking for handle... Don't butcher it. What's that? Don't butcher it. Don't butcher it. I want a perfect read. I want a perfect read right now. No pressure.
01:05:46
Speaker
Hey, Matt likes me more than you, so shut up. but that's we want Because he thinks you're richer. That's all. He doesn't know i got that cartel money. Oh, right. Exactly. yeah If you need handle material and you want it, you want something super grippy and that looks really cool. Go check out Grip Tech Composites.
01:06:05
Speaker
um And the IG is Grip Tech Official. And the product is Grip X. So go check out really cool material. um They've got to the GripX 3D, the Limitless Color ah rubber for higher finishes. just finishes up really great. Looks amazing on segmented handles as well.
01:06:27
Speaker
So go get yourself some GripX. Use the discount code TTT10 for 10% off. Tell them I sent you, not Jared. Yeah, hit them with the grip. Hit them with the Dennis grip.
01:06:42
Speaker
Right on. Oh, man.
01:06:46
Speaker
Well, boys, are are we are we at the end? do we need to live here? What did you do this? Well, yeah, I dropped the NyQuil, so I'm going to start hearing some noises on the mic. It's me falling asleep.
01:07:04
Speaker
ah No, Dennis, what did what did you see? you You're going to release the ball of song for the Triple T. Yeah, I'm going to release the battle song video for the Triple T as like the fourth video in the series. But then Saturday, I'm going to release the um the full build video.
01:07:21
Speaker
um a much edited version without all of the, or as much of the talking and the in-depth stuff. the only The only downside, like you'd think, oh yeah, balisog knives, they'll be really popular for people to what actually making one, you're at the mill for like 80% the time.
01:07:41
Speaker
Oh, I'm out right there. I don't even have a mill. Yeah. It's, I mean, I, you can make them without a mill, but the construction that I did, you could not do without a mill.
01:07:52
Speaker
Cause I did the, the, these are not sandwiched. These are channeled. Oh, I was wondering about that. So the channel has to be like absolutely precise to it, like a thousandth of an inch or like looking back, it was a stupid idea. I should have done the sandwich one. Cause they'd be easier.
01:08:08
Speaker
But anyway, the full build video will be up on Saturday if you want to watch that. And I did. I felt very productive this week. I finished that. I finished this chef knife that I decided to do a blackout finish on. Yeah. Oh, wow that's shiny. i is that with ah Is that brass or bronze?
01:08:30
Speaker
It's brass. yeah nice and This was just when I was teaching a one-day class, and I always forge a knife during that class, so I figured I'll finish it off and was great throw it up on the website. and I don't often now, unless it's demand, I don't do carbon steel chef knives very often, so once I figured out I'd coffee the fuck out.
01:08:50
Speaker
What steel was it? It's 1084. Oh, nice. yeah yeah well Like I said, i don't I don't often do the carbon steel knives and So like chef knives, I mean, so yeah, it'll go up on the site, but I, yeah, I felt a pretty, uh, pretty productive this week. And I also got the, uh, this copper one that will go up.
01:09:13
Speaker
Uh, I was going to do that video this weekend, but I figured I will do the, um, uh, I will do it the next weekend. This guy. Dang. Oh yeah. I'm happy how you guys will see this, uh,
01:09:28
Speaker
the audience will will see this this week, especially this cool handle material, which I love. Oh, it's beautiful. Which is the aphazalia xyle, which is like the weirdest handle material name ever.
01:09:42
Speaker
The what? correct One more again? It's called aphazalia xyle. Okay. you ever heard of an azalea?
01:09:53
Speaker
Uh-uh. You've never heard of and ah an azalea? Mm-mm. Is it the same as the flower, like the tree that makes the flower? I never even connected that. Yeah. Because it's got an F in it.
01:10:04
Speaker
i know It does have an F in it, and i've but I've never heard the F pronounced. It's always azalea. Oh, yeah. I mean, I know i know all about it. My bad. What am I talking about? Of course. I know about it. Come on. I know all about it.
01:10:18
Speaker
Back to Jared's previous thing of course. My backyard's cool. A dude doesn't know that. So that that makes way more sense. So I've just been saying it wrong the whole time. I mean, I don't think it's incorrect. It's just I think it's not commonly pronounced. Azalea.
01:10:32
Speaker
Azalea makes way more sense. But I don't know what the xyle at the end, like the the second word. The X-Y-L-A-Y. It's probably the the Latin name for the... the I don't know.
01:10:45
Speaker
But it's really cool. it is like I think it's one of the coolest woods I've seen in a long time. that's nice to Almost like a gator skin pattern on it.
01:10:57
Speaker
But anyway, that that'll be up next weekend. And that'll include the whole... uh forging or sorry doing the guard and handle class at jason's um at north star forge oh nice oh okay so be a lot of footage of that and uh the trip up to minnesota for the midwest um hammer-in that i know you did last year i did do that last year it was fun yeah Nice.
01:11:25
Speaker
Yeah. And then, and everybody don't, what we still got the rest of this week to get our votes in for the military challenge. That's right. um Voting will end Saturday. So get your votes in.
01:11:37
Speaker
ah We will be announcing the winner next week on the podcast. So get your votes in. Very cool. And it reminds me, I got to go vote myself.
01:11:48
Speaker
Uh-oh. Yeah. For yourself? or No, as in vote. Well, yeah, but maybe I will. No, i vote for the judge and then vote for the judge winner and the viewer winners.
01:12:02
Speaker
There was a lot of viewer entries. We got, um what, 28 viewer entries this this time around. for the For the military challenge, some really cool builds.
01:12:15
Speaker
A couple of trench knives, couple of gladiuses. um Yeah, we got some um really cool ones. So looking forward for you guys seeing that in the winner announced video that will go up next week.
01:12:31
Speaker
next yeah Next Thursday, Wednesday, Thursday, whenever it is, I'll do the winner announced video. But if you want the the preview, listen to the Triple T podcast next week and you'll hear the winners.
01:12:46
Speaker
And the winner is not Dennis. Yes. I don't think I'm winning this one. I can see the voting and i and I'm not in first. Oh, that's got to suck.
01:13:00
Speaker
You never said that when you were winning. There's still the judge vote. So we'll see. I'm not a judge this time around. I'm competing. So we'll see how things go. All right. Well, that's good. Spread it around, Dennis. Let let some of the commenters.
01:13:13
Speaker
The commenters. Oh my God. Well, you got to understand, see, Dennis is a highly competitive individual, so he kind of tries to, like in his mind, yeah, he'll surround himself by... But there some big there's some big big guns in this one. Yeah, there is definitely.
01:13:31
Speaker
Yeah, Jaco Vandenbrunhoist is in there. He's amazing Smith. You know him? Not off the top of it. JVB Knives. JVB. He's up in Canada.
01:13:43
Speaker
Okay. I'll have to pull him up. Yeah, he he does some amaze amazing, amazing knives. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen his work, yeah. Yeah.
01:13:54
Speaker
So he's in the challenge. Martin's in the challenge. Some of our regular guys like Blackbeard Projects and, you know, Rivers Experience. There's a whole bunch guys in it. it's It's great right watching. Yeah, great makers always have great builds and good videos. So yeah get your binge on, folks. Get your binge on.
01:14:16
Speaker
That's right. Go watch them and go vote. Yep. All right, man. Mareko, where can everybody reach you?
01:14:27
Speaker
You can come find me on Instagram at Malmasi Fire Arts. Malmasi is spelled M-A-U-M-A-S-I. Fire Arts on Instagram.
01:14:38
Speaker
On my Instagram, also the links, you can find my Patreon if anybody's interested in joining in and helping to support the development of this book and the content that is going to be the companion content to the book.
01:14:50
Speaker
um I'm also on top of that, um its like I said, I was kind of restructuring the Patreon. And so um I'm making a lot of digital drawings available.
01:15:02
Speaker
um The finished pen drawings, like the ones you guys have, as well as sketches and stuff that I do during ah either during the live streams or during past Q and A's. um And I'm gonna actually be doing some steel giveaways as well. Just little chunky chunks.
01:15:18
Speaker
some nice little curiosity pieces for folks think it'd be fun i remember being in your shop and just seeing like drawers and drawers of knives that you haven't finished i'm like yeah dude why haven't you finished some of these patterns are incredible my man my man my favorite part is making the steel and forging the blade yeah and then after that i'm like i want to be done is Yeah, that that's Zen Master Jedi Jareding right there.
01:15:48
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of them. You're familiar with the term Jareding? but No, enlighten me. Oh, that's...
Jared's Productivity Struggles and Creative Exploration
01:15:55
Speaker
My buddy Jared here is the the king of getting halfway through a knife, throwing it on the table, and starting something new.
01:16:02
Speaker
Profiling, forging. yeah it's It's a thing. yeah i don't i don't i don't I'm with you. I just... the the There's a lot of cooler parts than others in in making, and sometimes finishing isn't on the top of my list.
01:16:17
Speaker
Right. Well, and I think, i mean, I still got to sell knives to to run the business and pay the bills. I got a question. like how So yeah you're you're making, ah you're talking about all expanding and you know the business and stuff like that, but yeah how how often...
01:16:32
Speaker
are you like making like or ah your your production? Like, are you steadily? like and I don't want to get too into it. But I mean, like, is it? You're just always got something cooking and in order? me and I got a lot of stuff kind of floating around in the shop. But ah yeah I've actually I've had a lot of changes happening in my life lately. And just ah struggling with stress and, and, and stuff like that. And so it's actually been very difficult to be productive in the shop. And so this actually part of doing this content is has been a way to mix up kind of, guess, the burnout I've been feeling over, I mean, I've been making knives for 15 years now going on 16 years.
01:17:16
Speaker
And I've kind of been making the same style chef's knives for 12 of those 15 years. um And so making this content or actually let me back up.
01:17:29
Speaker
for a long time I've been like, man, I wish I just, there was like a think tank somewhere where I was just paid to make cool patterns and develop new techniques and approaches and stuff. I'm like, well, wait a second. Why can't I just do that myself and do that through like the Patreon, through the support of the people in the Patreon? I'm like, fuck, this would be cool. Cause I could do that.
01:17:49
Speaker
i can get, i can kind of like scratch that itch while also helping maker other makers, um understand just ah a different way of looking at pattern design and pattern developing and fort and bling and damascus forging and blade forging um and then once i make the pattern and make a blade out pattern then the goal is to um then finish that knife, sell the knife, and then move on to the next pattern.
01:18:18
Speaker
Potentially, I'm thinking about trying to start selling some of my steel, because honestly, like i'm so my my brain thrives on novelty, so I come up with a new pattern design and pattern idea. i make it, I forge it into a blade to see what it looks like in a blade shape. I'm like, cool.
01:18:37
Speaker
all right, let's move on. just do the And so I'll make a knife usually out of, out of that steel. And then that steel just sits around on shelves. And so um part of me wants to, needs to unload because otherwise the steel, I'm probably never going to make knives out of this, the rest of the steel laying around. So,
01:18:56
Speaker
I'm trying to figure out other, I guess, avenues and ways for earning an income that isn't just knife making, but by making really cool mosaic steel for people and selling that and making that available um to blade forgers or stock removal makers.
01:19:13
Speaker
and stuff like that.
The Value of Content and Community Building
01:19:14
Speaker
And, um but I've been needing to mix it up for a long time. And again, like where I really thrive is kind of the problem solving and of pattern making. And like, I have some patterns where I've, I've been kind of like slowly ah ticking away at them, because I don't know how to make them.
01:19:35
Speaker
But I think they can be made. It's just a question of how. And so um also that's really the best helping some of those the best scaling of your time yeah like time and money is to do content and training in my opinion like sure you can only making knives is is hard on the body you can only make so many knives but making content and then training people with that content yeah That scales really well. and one There's a lot of great chef's knife makers out there these days, for sure. And...
01:20:10
Speaker
um and And so I'm like, well, I mean, I think there's still demand for my work, but at the same time for my own, I guess, brain, I guess, and being able to operate in the world and be able to still want to do this work. I need to, I need to do something else.
01:20:30
Speaker
ah Yeah. It's just, you're describing like the evolution of, of your journey right i mean if you've crested into something else yeah and that something else just happens to be something that uh is gonna benefit you know our community in a manner that yeah i think we're all excited for so we appreciate you kind of having to go through the tough time to to get to this point to potentially you know you know let out and share and also kind of diversify your your your business portfolio too For sure. Well, and I think part of it, I mean, originally when I started doing the Pattern Weld of Wednesdays, realized that I'm only one perspective.
01:21:09
Speaker
And part of me sharing them was kind of me coming from a selfish point of view where I was curious to see what other people would do with these patterns. So kind of creating this feedback loop almost in a way.
01:21:22
Speaker
um But I also get a lot of people still who are like, aren't you worried that you're just giving all your secrets away? And I'm like, no like for me, pattern designs is endless. um Even with if you used one specific order of operations, you even just changing the the starting stack, just the slightest bit will make a huge difference in how it ultimately comes back together and presents in the final piece.
01:21:47
Speaker
And, and i i for the way my brain works, I have unlimited potential for creating pattern designs and let's face it no one's going to get famous on one pattern that they get from you know that's not the you know i i know a couple old dogs who have well i'm sure we all do but i'm not gonna throw anybody under the bus but i know what you're saying for sure but yeah i don't know i think Well, and I think it's helpful to other people, for sure. Other makers, i think.
01:22:23
Speaker
ah But for me, like, i i can't remember how long ago. It was a while ago. But I was like, I have all these ideas floating around my head. And I could, like, I could be...
01:22:35
Speaker
walking through downtown and accidentally get hit by a car and I'm gone. And like, what good is all of that? If I'm just keeping it in my head, what, why not put it out into the world? Um, because i I know that I draw inspiration from all kinds of stuff out in nature, plants, trees, um,
01:22:53
Speaker
rock formations like i look at certain like wallpapers and floral designs and and like tile designs and carpeting and all kinds like i see patterns everywhere and i and I'm like I think I can make that in steel and so then I draw it out and I figure it out and then it just sits there in a notebook um I've actually been compiling um photos of my notebooks just in case you know, just in case something ever happened for some random reason, you know, it'll be, it'll, it'll be somewhere.
01:23:28
Speaker
Shop fires are not a unusual thing. We've seen guys have shop fires. So that's probably a smart thing. Yeah. Yeah. So, but as far as like, I, you know, I come from a high tech background and like back thinking 20 years ago, everyone had proprietary software.
01:23:47
Speaker
Right. And then, I'm dating myself. was probably longer than that. And then 20, 15 years ago, everything started moving to open source software. Windows 95. Yeah.
01:23:59
Speaker
But everlin everything started moving to Java, to like open source software. like That's kind of, because I'm a high-tech guy, that's what I equate sharing this The money is not in the in them writing of the software anymore. It's in the support. It's in the it's the same with Damascus.
01:24:18
Speaker
It's in showing someone how to do it, just just showing the pattern. Here's how I did the... It's it's the knowledge of... what happens with you, if this goes wrong and that goes wrong and all of the, like the material calculations, the steel movement that you teach, all of that is just gold.
01:24:38
Speaker
And there's more to it than just, Hey, follow these steps and you'll get this perfect pattern every time. Yeah. Right. Yeah, for sure. That's how I see it. And I'm, I'm not the gatekeeping crowd, so they have for sure. Yeah.
01:24:53
Speaker
ah I share everything on, on, on. So people know that, but yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, well, that was a great surprise from Binky.
01:25:06
Speaker
Happy birthday. Yeah. yeah To Mariko, the
Surprise Guest and Future Collaboration
01:25:11
Speaker
secret guest. So yeah. We might have to do this little, this little tidbit in the future and have a little surprise guest and throw the other host on his heels.
01:25:21
Speaker
Yeah, I'm glad I was sick because I was really not phased by this at all. I didn't even didn't anticipate whoever was going to come on. But yeah, I was just like, I literally text Dennis prior.
01:25:32
Speaker
I can see now why you're like, I need a minute. But i was like, come on, dude, let's go. I'm sick. This could be the fucking fastest show ever. going read the ads and end it. Let's go.
01:25:43
Speaker
Here we are. Breaking record. right. Well, thanks for coming on, Marco. ah yeah thank you mike And hopefully we can make this happen and get you down here. And I got some ideas. I think you do too. It'd be fun to put these gradients into a video.
01:26:00
Speaker
And I'll just ask what? What? hard Huh? Yeah. Oh, of course. ti is a videographer Yeah, ah whatever I got do. Are going to be the cuck? Yes.
01:26:13
Speaker
Give me a chair at least, guys. You sit in the corner. Yeah. All right, guys.
01:26:23
Speaker
heard this on another commercial, by the way. And that's a wrap.
01:26:38
Speaker
that's a wrap