Hey everyone, David C. Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter as you all know
the blades show got canceled this year but that's no reason we can't still celebrate
and hang out with our coolest friends. We're bringing blade show to you this week and we're
starting out here with Mr. LT Wright of lt right knives How you doing, sir?
Doing great David thank you guys for doing this. This this is a really cool thing. I'm
kind of digging it taught up here in Ohio and any reason to get out in front of the
grinder and sit in my office. By golly, I'm all i don't
think it would have been much cooler in Atlanta, so we're probably okay.
Yeah, no, no, I totally agree with you for that.
Yeah, it's a shame we've lost. You know, what, three, four months of of stuff just in shows
and then the big one being the blade show?
Yeah, for sure. But you guys did have a knife that sort of was gonna be a blade show release.
We've actually had it here at the KnifeCenter a little bit already. And that's the GP medium,
which is a great little knife. But since this is the quote unquote official, we're gonna
call this the official blade show week unveil. Right? It's a little bit about that, that
fine blade?
Well, originally, it's a Tim Stephens design. And if you remember, Tim, I've known a number
of years back when I was making stuff in my basement years and years ago, I met him at
a gun show and we talked a little bit, he was rolling the knives and he was writing
at the time and wanted to do a write up on me early on in my knife making career way
back. And so we've been ever friends ever since. And then he had, he was the original
designer of the bushcrafter.
And I've actually got right here fine little knife.
Yeah, and we've been friends and he was thrown around this idea for the GP Medium, which
is a nice utility style blade. And, you know, we talked about it off and on a little bit
and then finally, we get around prototypes, and mess with But a little bit and then fine
tune it here and there and then came up with how to present it and where it kind of would
fall in. So that's where we came up with the GP medium and basically in the utility version,
and as you said, we were planning on this being one of the knives that we were gonna
debut and really push hard at this year's blade show, didn't it? You know, be the EDC
fixed blade. I know a lot of people are in the carrying folders and personally I carry
one of our folders as well as my everyday hosting packages, getting the mail cutting
my lunch means you know, whatever night but I also am a big fan of carrying a fixed blade
a lot. You know, I go down to our property and mountain dress like to have a fixed plate
too short to do things with. So this really falls in with that in the fact that even if
you're using this knife with a gloved hand, there's a generous handle on it. That gives
you Nice, you know, grip
all the way around. That's one of the things I definitely like about it myself, too is
a lot of times when the blade gets shorter, the handle does too. And I like this you've
got a shorter blade so it's a little easier to carry, but you still have that full working
grip, even with with a pair of work gloves on, you can still get a nice grip on on that
blade.
Exactly. And that's kind of the direction that we were heading with that is to make
it as comfortable as we can. Now again, when you're looking at EDC stuff, will size and
comfort are very, very important. Okay, let's face it, if you came to me and you had came
up with one of those Clint Eastwood 44 magnum with a 10 and a half inch barrel and showed
me the shoulder rig, you're gonna wear it and I'm gonna go, David, you're gonna wear
that thing for about a week. And that's it because it's going to be too heavy. It's going
to be too uncomfortable. Same kind of thing with fixed blades. We always look we all like
the big right choppers, everybody wants to chopper but are you really going to carry
it? Are you really going to use it? So there is is a fine line in my opinion of where does
that blade fall in. And this is one of those to me that falls in in that that mindset of
this is large enough to do what I want to do with it, you know, small to medium tasks.
Now I'm not going to go to chopping, you know, firewood with this thing, but anything that
I want to use with it, but yet it's not intrusive, too much on the large side to where it is
number one uncomfortable to wear, or something that's just too heavy, it's too bulky or just
unusual in your day to day life.
Hey, let's face it, if we're jumping in and out of the truck all day working on you know,
whether I'm a lineman, you know, working on some lines or something if I'm working fence,
if I'm out on the farm, I can't be having this thing snag or hang up or bump onto things
every time I'm turning around, because again, quickly and probably won't even take a week,
a day or two and you're like I am not carrying. So that's that One thing's where I think this
knife falls in that size range and with a few different carry options, I think this
knife can really fine tune to the person that is looking to look at an EDC, double utility
salad.
Absolutely. I think it does a great job at that. And you're using AEBL steel stainless
steel right now on that knife.
Yes, and that is one of my favorites stainless man, I fell into that a few years ago, I was
always a big fan of the 12c27, the 13c stuff. If you if you're familiar with that, you always
thought that was a great steel. I like the way it sharpened up relatively easy for me
when I wasn't now that that I have all the tools here that I can do whatever I want with
any seal. But you know if I'm in my home shop or something, I could always bring those steels
back rather quickly and a nice edge. AEBL falls right into that for me. We get some
nice rock walls, and again, relatively stainless so that again You know, for those guys that
don't clean up their stuff every single day, that
can be important and very tough for a stainless to
is. It is. And another thing that I found about this field is the thickness of the blade.
Let's say we're working from 3/32 up to 5/32 I think that you're getting great attributes
out of that. Now, as geometry, math, you know, you're gonna have to pay attention to that.
But sometimes, blade steels lend themselves to a different thickness a little better than
the others. I like this thing all the way through 3/32, 1/, 5/32. I'm pleased with this
steel in all three thicknesses.
I can remember when you uh, you know, LT and I go back a few years and we were at a camping
trip and you brought out some prototypes, some prototype GNSs, which of course is a
this bushcraft design here, but you had him in a 3/32 convex AEBL. It was Yes, dead a
winter and we were batonning that thing through some frozen hard cherry, not a not a chip
or roll on it, I was like that right there convinced me and which is why I'm a big fan
of that steel as well.
Yeah, and the 330 seconds you get above like a four inch later longer, you're going to
get some flexibility in that too as well. And it's just a great working steel. And I
think that this knife size and design really comes in nicely for the the guy, the worker,
you know the guy that's really going to be working his knives and we're not just collecting.
And again, while we talked about the carry options, there's a couple different carry
options you know, from anywhere from your standard. The hip sheath here, you know that
just a standard drop in style to a dangler which I know you're a fan of as I am to, you
know, especially if you're wearing a backpack or just jumping, again jumping in and out
of the truck and danglers a great knife sheath to carry because it'll lay On The seat it
doesn't post down here and then all the way up to our full on utility style sheet with
a button snapped off. You know that gives you a tight in to your body carry with full
you know retention of the knife and that is important to a lot of people a lot of people
like that that full retention style sheets little already. It is you know what, when
you're when you're out by yourself somewhere that little bit more peace of mind is not
a bad thing.
Yet peace of mind is not something to to overrate. Like. You want to be comfortable with your
with your equipment for sure. Absolutely. Well, for those of you out there who haven't
tried an LT Wright before, I certainly suggest you go check one out. But since we've got
the man here tell folks what makes your knives special. Like why would you buy an LT Wright?
what goes in to creating one of these knives?
Well, I have been making knives since early 2000s and I was taught by a man named RW Wilson.
And I actually met him at a gun show buddy of mine was going to a gun show and we were
looking at guns and I came across that and I was really into knives. I said, Boy, that's
pretty cool on how to do that he offered to teach me so I got to spend a lot of nights
after my day job over in his shop, watching him make knives and cutting some steel out
for him and different things. And I started learning knife building, and then he actually
was generous enough to say, hey, okay, you want to go with me to some shows. So not only
did he teach me how to make the knife, he also showed me how to interact with the public
that were buying the knives, and how to display and talk to people and see what the public
was, was into and what they wanted, you know, for their next knife so I could kind of keep
up on it that way. So I learned a lot from a lot to him for that. When we decided to
go full time. It was like well, how do I want to do this? Early on I I forged some knives
with Greg Gottschalk and another friend of mine, Bruce godlewski. Up. They're both from
Penn PA and I credit them with teaching me how to forge knives. But I was at a point
where I wanted to do this full time I had a bunch of hobby orders, and I was like, hey,
I need to make this a job. But I don't think I can make it live in fortune because it wasn't
that fast at the time, but I think I could do it stock removal. So I kind of geared that
way and wanted to create a company that I could bring guys into and bring guys up. Now.
Right before the whole COVID shut down. We had about 12 people work for the company.
And we had tons ordered out in front of us and everything's going good. Naturally. We
got being non essential. So we had the shutdown for that period of time and we were able to
come back in in early May and get back online and running. Well we're not just we're not
completely back up to speed yet, but we're on that, that idea and focus forward. We don't
have a lot of computer controlled machines other than our computers that we do our social
media with and stuff. We have a shot clock that we use to cut handles and generally patterns
of knives. So when we come up with a design, we'll cut it out in G 10 on our shop bought
to see if we'd like you know, make sure it does it fit the hand well and do some prototyping
with it that way and even with some handles, we do our fire steel handles on air and some
different things but everything else is done with a person and you're standing behind the
machines. For example, this morning is our finished grinder or getting ready for our
virtual blade bowl that we're going to be having. So we're finished riding some knives
so that we put some handles on it. So there's today there's four of us in fact, Mikey's
back there, doing some finished flats in me, Sam and Nick are working on doing finish grind
standards and we
set up But it's all you guys stand standing behind doing it by hand.
Yes, we are standing there and we are doing it by hand through the different grips. So
every every part of that knife is is looked at by us and and we just continually perfect
our craft is the way we go you know there's not a machine spitting a knife out at the
end of it, it is a person but either way down to the sanding and the cutting of paper as
they come through the door. You know with these are constantly checked. Now another
thing that we do in in the back when we're grinding is at the end of our grind cycle
and we have everything ready to go. Not only have they been looked at by each one of us,
they still will get a final check by one of us generally mean that we'll bring it up under
brand new set of lights somewhere different in the shop and we will look those over again
before they go to build. And then after build and roll out cycles, they're still looked
at 2, 3, 4 more times before they go out the door. We do our best to put out the best product
that we can, in fact that you're doing it at a handmade level or handcrafted level like
that for the prices you do. Yes is really incredible. I mean I'll pick up this bushcrafter
I have in front of me again, this is the Hc bushcrafter which 1075 steel micarta handles,
all done by hand and these start like over just over 100 with a sheath.
Yes. Come on you I agree with you it is a great place to start. I like using that 1075
On our machetes as well for an entry Level bushcrafter is where my thought process was
when I first put together and I was like man, this is a great night because you can learn
how to sharpen with this. You can take it out. You can Enjoy this knife as you move
through it and then I started getting reports and emails of guys that I know who I consider
professional bushcraft. You know, that have maybe been On TV shows and have their own
systems and bushcrafting They're going hey, this thing is Really cool on this one My main
knife now and then I started everything is like the Cuz they're seeing the value and
then Small four inch blade that you can field Sharpen extremely easy And that's a lot of
fun, too. Use that guy and I know I've seen you use that knife before.
Oh, absolutely. Before I started here at the KnifeCenter I used to write for a blog and
I did a review on on the bushcrafter. He loved it. Great. Nice. Yeah. Great knife.
Oh, it's good. And I've been blessed with some really good guys that when we teach someone
how to make a knife My goal is to make that guy better. than I. If I can make that next
knife maker come up, bring our whole racked up one more notch, man. That's the cool thing.
You don't want to keep the other people said Yeah, but you want to show them everything
you know is like, yes. And then I want him to get better than that because you know what,
20 years from now, can you imagine what we're putting out for knives if everyone keeps getting
better and better, so I am super excited when one of the guys Like they eclipse where I'm
at. I may not tell them. But
But, but I get that a little like, Yeah, he's got
a proud moment I'm sure.
Yeah, it is. It is. Because and it's not something that is an easy thing I told many people when
they walked in the door to go to work with us like guys, it's gonna take you 1000 knives
before you know how to make a knife. He's like, What do you mean? It's like well because
you first, the first one's going to be easy and nothing to that first one because you
You really don't have anything to go by. So that first one's great. Then they start getting
harder and then when you make a mistake learning how to fix your mistakes, and then how to
fix the other people's mistakes and shop and all those things. Those are the things It
makes you a great craftsman, a great maker, how to problem solve your way through the
knife craft. You know doll my heat treat didn't come out quite quite right I got a work knife.
Well you gotta learn how to stretch That night, you know, I got to retreat to learn how to
retreat. You know, I got a gap in my I got to take the handles off and start over, you
know, my shoulders are off. There's so much to the handmade craft that excites me every
day and sometimes you think my gosh, you'd made 10,000 Genesis Aren't you tired of making
Genesis and I'm gonna sit there and tell you no I'm not because I just I am searching For
that Excalibur knife there and I'll let you know when I get there.
Fantastic. All right, I got one more question for you. You mentioned the virtual vault which
you guys are doing in lieu The blade show The same weekend of the blade show or that
Friday, I believe Friday I believe Yeah,
Yes, that's correct. Correct. We will
be open to the public or is that a is that a Pout House Only thing and can you tell our
audience about the Pout House?
Oh, you bet. Friday night is a Pout House thing. Basically the Pout House gets first
shot an anything new or any specialty things that we do. We have some other things in there.
There. There's a lot going on in there right now there's a part of your house where you
can buy and sell trade knives among each other. We have truck threads we have camping threads,
hammock threads you just about name whatever we're interested in as a group and there's
something going on in there about it. Yeah, it's definitely about knives mainly but we
talk about watches for example, you know, coffee cups unit we got going on if you're
a lover of an LT Wright knife you need
to stop house for him is what you're saying? Oh, absolutely. We got cool stuff. And we
always have there's, we don't discount our knives
in the world. But we do give special deals to Pout House members and shirts and hats
and badges and cool things going on. So Friday night is a Pout House only show
And that's going to be from 6:30 to 9 on Friday night. And we'll be putting up new YouTube
videos now on Saturday, I believe 12 to 4, which was August the 8th. Because that would
have been when we were at Blade Show, we're going to go ahead and do a virtual Vault for
the public that will be on Facebook and YouTube and we will have all our knives available.
And we do a live show where we sit there and chat and Mike will be working two to three
computer screens, looking at questions from Instagram and Facebook. And we try to have
a really good time. You know, as we do it. Well, there are a
lot of fun. I'm certainly looking forward to it myself. Yeah. LT, Thanks so much for
taking the time with us today to to show us this knife and like I know you guys are running
full speed trying to catch up after the shutdown. So I won't take up any more your time.
Oh, no, not a problem. Thank you guys. For all you're doing. This is a really cool thing
that I think you're doing and I for one am glad to be a part of it. And if you need anything
at all, please reach out to us. We'll be glad to help your brother
will do Thank you so much Lt. Alright everyone. Thanks for thanks for watching with us. We'll
make sure to leave links down in the description. It'll take you over to knifecenter.com where
you can see all the cool products we've got in stock there. And yeah, go check out the
Pout House. I'm a member. It's a real cool place to be.