Joe Rogan Experience #1168 - Mareko Maumasi

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   ... (humming) …

   1. MMMareko Maumasi0:00

      ... (humming)

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:02

      Four, three, two, one. Boom! The lost art of- of knife making-

   3. MMMareko Maumasi0:10

      (laughs)

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:10

      ... it's still alive. How are you, man?

   5. MMMareko Maumasi0:12

      I'm doing good, man. I really-

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      Thanks for coming down here. I appreciate it.

   7. MMMareko Maumasi0:14

      ... I, I'm fucking huge. I really appreciate you having me down.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      Hey, listen, man. You've made two awesome, well, four awesome knives for me, but this one, um, is one I use all the time that, uh, I've posted on Instagram that people freak out, as we were talking about before the podcast. It actually has meteor in it.

   9. MMMareko Maumasi0:30

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:30

       Meteorite. What's ... Meteor's a big one? Meteorite's a little one? Is that the idea? Do you know?

   11. MMMareko Maumasi0:35

       I guess. (laughs) Yeah. I don't-

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:37

       You should know.

   13. MMMareko Maumasi0:38

       (laughs) I- j-

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:38

       You're the knife maker.

   15. MMMareko Maumasi0:39

       So, I didn't actually make ... So I made the knife, I forged the knife, but the steel is, is a very special kind of steel that very few people can actually manufacture on a small scale in the world. And that was made by my shop mate, Peter Swarsberg. And so he, um ... The meteorite is kind of a, a small element in the whole matrix because most meteorite is, uh, all nickel or all iron or something like that and this one particularly is a lot of nickel and some cobalt and if you're gonna make a- an actual usable steel out of it, you can't really use a whole lot of it in the overall mixture.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:20

       Mm. So is there any meteorites that are made out of all iron?

   17. MMMareko Maumasi1:24

       Yeah, definitely.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:25

       You just have to find 'em?

   19. MMMareko Maumasi1:26

       You just gotta find the ones. Yeah, and there, there are impact sites all over the world. Like they're hitting the world all the time. Uh-

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:32

       How ... So wh- ... Is it w- ... Can you just take 'em? Like when they land, is it yours if you find it?

   21. MMMareko Maumasi1:37

       Yep. They-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:38

       Like you don't have to report it to NASA or anything, right?

   23. MMMareko Maumasi1:39

       No. No. Um-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:40

       "Hey, bro."

   25. MMMareko Maumasi1:41

       (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:41

       "Found some space junk."

   27. MMMareko Maumasi1:43

       Most of them are, are, are so small that they ... By the time they-

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:46

       Get here.

   29. MMMareko Maumasi1:47

       ... wh- hit the actual Earth's surface-

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:49

       Mm-hmm.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   That is Damascus, and,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      is that Damascus steel? Is that what that is?

   2. MMMareko Maumasi15:02

      That is Damascus, and, and... It's just a quick note. This is actually, uh, a post that I did to celebrate another maker. His name's Julian. You can actually kinda see it there on the right margin.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:11

      Now, the, the-

   4. MMMareko Maumasi15:12

      But he's a South American kid. He's like 20.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:14

      The blades... The blades that you made, that you have here today-

   6. MMMareko Maumasi15:17

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:17

      ... that you had, that you're bringing with you for-

   8. MMMareko Maumasi15:19

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:19

      ... an auction, those... The patterns on those things are fucking insane.

   10. MMMareko Maumasi15:24

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:24

       How do you do that? Like, how do you make these... 'Cause it's not just steel. For people that are just listening to this, like, that one is a great example.

   12. MMMareko Maumasi15:32

       Right.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:33

       I would really love, um, for people who are just listening to just please go, uh, spell out... Go... sp- spread out... Go back to the, uh, page, Jamie, so I could see the, the headline. It's stuck. (laughs) Shrink... It's stuck? It's stuck, yeah. What do you mean? You can't shrink it? I got zoomed in, and it won't zoom out. Hmm. Hold on.

   14. MMMareko Maumasi15:50

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:51

       What happened? I don't know. I did it with the touchpad instead of the- What did you... Oh, the touchpad. These goddamn... We got an old-ass laptop there. There you go. Um, M-A-U-M-A-S Fire Arts.

   16. MMMareko Maumasi16:04

       M-A-S-I.

   17. JRJoe Rogan16:05

       S-I. M-A-U-M-A-S-I Fire Arts, Maumasi Fire Arts.

   18. MMMareko Maumasi16:11

       Don't get stuck again.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:12

       M-A-U... Oh, it's stuck.

   20. MMMareko Maumasi16:14

       (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:14

       (laughs) M-A-U-M-A-S-I Fire Arts. Uh, if you go there, that's his page. You'll be able to check it out and... Order books are closed. You're fucked.

   22. MMMareko Maumasi16:25

       (laughs) Yeah, just-

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:26

       You gotta back order.

   24. MMMareko Maumasi16:27

       Yeah, I, I'm, uh... I'm at three years right now, and I just... kind of, like, I had to shut it down 'cause it's... kind of at a, at a overwhelming point.

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:34

       Yeah.

   26. MMMareko Maumasi16:34

       It... Like, it's a good problem, but it's overwhelming because it's a fucking ******* show.

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:38

       I can only imagine.

   28. MMMareko Maumasi16:39

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:39

       Yeah.

   30. MMMareko Maumasi16:40

       And balancing doing the work with now the... you know, like, the marketing and branding-
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   I wonder if that's…

   1. MMMareko Maumasi30:00

      And my wife looks at me like I'm fucking crazy. I'm just like, "What the fuck?"

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:03

      I wonder if that's the case. I wonder if like maybe if like, you know, people don't use their hands and then the hands get soft.

   3. MMMareko Maumasi30:10

      I don't know. I have pretty soft-

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      And then you don't use them.

   5. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:11

      I know (clears throat) you can't gain it back-

   6. MMMareko Maumasi30:15

      Okay.

   7. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:15

      ... but you might be protecting it longer.

   8. MMMareko Maumasi30:17

      Okay.

   9. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:17

      And since you're, have a sensitivity issue maybe, since it's quieter all day, your hearing gets better.

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:21

       So if you blow it out from like concerts and shit like that, that's it?

   11. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:24

       That's all there is. All you can do is get a hearing aid.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:26

       Oh yeah, it's like, um-

   13. MMMareko Maumasi30:26

       What about the little hairs that pick up the vibrations?

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:28

       Or is it stem cells or some shit, if they've done-

   15. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:30

       I don't think-

   16. MMMareko Maumasi30:30

       Do they figure out a way to do that yet?

   17. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:31

       ... they've done it yet. Yeah, just three super smart dudes kind of debating ideas and bouncing them around off each other. 'Cause it's literally, what you're hearing with is a f- like a hair follicle.

   18. JRJoe Rogan30:34

       It's vibrating.

   19. MMMareko Maumasi30:35

       Right. It's vibrating.

   20. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:35

       Yeah, and it's, you can't-

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:36

       And you blow that shit out?

   22. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:37

       They haven't synthetically made those yet or regrow them yet.

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:40

       Damn, man. I feel so bad for those old rock stars that didn't know any better and now they, they're just fucking peaking. (laughs)

   24. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:45

       Huey Lewis, that just happened to him.

   25. JRJoe Rogan30:47

       Oh, geez.

   26. MMMareko Maumasi30:47

       Huey Lewis?

   27. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)30:48

       He can't, he can't play anymore all of a sudden.

   28. JRJoe Rogan30:50

       That's the Lord's work.

   29. MMMareko Maumasi30:51

       (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan30:52

       ... just kidding. Just kidding, Huey. It's hip to be square. Um, yeah, man, it's fucked up. Like, the dude from AC/DC? Who else?
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   I don't think they…

   1. MMMareko Maumasi45:00

      when it was made exactly?

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:01

      I don't think they know.

   3. MMMareko Maumasi45:02

      Okay.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:02

      They just know it's from some time period in the 1500s. But there's a-

   5. MMMareko Maumasi45:07

      For sure, for sure.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:07

      ... cert- certificate of authentication that came with it that explains.

   7. MMMareko Maumasi45:13

      I'm just looking to see what the hamon activity looks like.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:16

      What's that mean?

   9. MMMareko Maumasi45:16

      So the hamon is, uh... You can kind of see this line that runs parallel to the cutting edge, and that usually indicates where the soft material stops and the hard material starts. Um, and so the idea with these kind of... uh, the challenge with any knife is making a knife that takes and holds a sharp edge-

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:42

       Right.

   11. MMMareko Maumasi45:43

       ... for a good period of time, um-

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:45

       And what's the key to that?

   13. MMMareko Maumasi45:45

       ... but is also tough, which means, like-

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:48

       Mm-hmm.

   15. MMMareko Maumasi45:48

       ... you can drop it and it's not gonna break.

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:50

       Right. So, like, if you wanted a hunting knife or something like that.

   17. MMMareko Maumasi45:53

       So, a hunting knife, a bush knife-

   18. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       That's gonna hit bone.

   19. MMMareko Maumasi45:55

       ... a bowing knife. Those are harder working knives, so you want to actually bring that hardness down. You don't have to bring it down a ton, um, but just a few points will make a huge fucking difference in how it performs.

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:06

       Like this knife here.

   21. MMMareko Maumasi46:06

       Yeah, exactly.

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:07

       Like, what's the difference in the way that knife is made and this knife is made?

   23. MMMareko Maumasi46:10

       So, they were tempered. They were heat treated the same.

   24. JRJoe Rogan46:13

       Mm-hmm.

   25. MMMareko Maumasi46:13

       So they were brought up to, uh, like, 1500 degrees, and then-

   26. JRJoe Rogan46:17

       For people who don't, not listen, or listening, not watching, this is... One of these knives is a hunting knife that, uh...

   27. MMMareko Maumasi46:23

       How does that feel, by the way?

   28. JRJoe Rogan46:24

       It's great, man.

   29. MMMareko Maumasi46:25

       Comfortable?

   30. JRJoe Rogan46:25

       Love it. Yeah.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:12:36

   (laughs) It ... So-…

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      a good knife."

   2. MMMareko Maumasi1:00:02

      (laughs) It ... So-

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:00:02

      Am I right thinking that way?

   4. MMMareko Maumasi1:00:04

      Y- Well, it depends on the, the type of steel that your knife's made from-

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:00:07

      Right.

   6. MMMareko Maumasi1:00:07

      ... and then what the material is that those rods are made from. So those are commonly referred to as sharpening rods or sharpening sticks, but the reality is they're not actually sharpening.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:00:18

      What are they doing?

   8. MMMareko Maumasi1:00:18

      So they're, uh, more accurately referred to as honing rods. So what's happening at your ... Oops, sorry. At the cutting edge of your knife is you have all these micro-serrations. Essentially, if you go, uh, take, take it under a microscope and look at the cutting edge, it looks like a saw blade.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

      Mm.

   10. MMMareko Maumasi1:00:35

       But they're, like they're fucking microns. A micron is a millionth of a meter, like they're teeny tiny. So, but what happens over normal use, uh, those teeth, they, they bend over, they flex over, or sometimes they eventually wear out and fall off. And so what the honing rod does, especially if they've bent over-

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:00:56

       There it is. He's showing it right there. Ooh.

   12. MMMareko Maumasi1:00:57

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:00:57

       Exciting, look at that blade edge. Oh.

   14. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:02

       Yeah, so you-

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:01:02

       That's crazy.

   16. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:02

       ... want to ignore like those long streaks and you're just like the tiny little thin bl- Yeah, that's the shit right there. That's it.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:01:09

       Damn.

   18. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:09

       The top of that thin black line.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:01:12

       Damn.

   20. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:12

       Focus. Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:01:13

       That's crazy.... observation in-

   22. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:16

       Are you looking at this?

   23. GCGuest (secondary clip/reading)1:01:17

       A video. It's, like, someone's doing it to your instruction, but yeah, it's a YouTube video.

   24. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:20

       Crazy. (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:01:21

       Yeah. That is crazy.

   26. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:22

       I was like, "Are you doing that shit right now?" (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:01:23

       300x magnification-

   28. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:26

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:01:26

       ... view from the top. Mm.

   30. MMMareko Maumasi1:01:28

       Yeah. So that's what's happening along your cutting edge. And what happens is those tiny serrations wear, bend over, like I was saying, or break off. And so... But as they bend over, and it's just normal shit, that honing rod, by swiping across that honing rod... And you don't just do it willy-nilly. Like, you gotta do it at the right angle and all that stuff. But what it does is it realigns and hones those teeth back into alignment.

Episode duration: 1:52:26