Beren McKay of Pepperwool joins Bob "The Knife Junkie" DeMarco on Episode 551 of The Knife Junkie Podcast (https://theknifejunkie.com/551).

McKay spent 12 years designing knives, multitools, and other things for SOG and, in 2017, was a frontrunner of the change in the company focused on making quality products that were worth buying.

When SOG was sold to GSM, the new owners were not interested in continuing that vision. Beren and SOG parted ways, and Beren set out to make his own brand so he could continue his work making innovative and solid knives. 

Over 15 years as a knife designer, Beren handled and admired countless designs—but too often, he found carrying them was a compromise. Inspired to make a more carryable knife, Beren took a deep dive into this problem, and his solution was a family of knives called MERINO. 

The Merino MM, or Micro-sized Manual, is the first knife in this family. It is optimized for ultimate carry comfort, always there but never in the way. It is large enough to be a useful blade but not so small that it is a novelty toy. It features an ambidextrous bar lock with a kick deploy, full metal liners, and a razor-sharp S35VN blade.

The name Pepperwool captures two ideas that Beren strives for in his work: innovation and reliability.

Find Beren McKay and Pepperwool online at www.pepperwool.com.

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