Cash Money asked me:

Ad copy aside, [You know how you can involuntarily sneer without actually feeling malice, just because something's so gross? -KØ] what can you tell about the knife?

I’ll start with the steel. 1095 is one of the most basic Spring Steels there is and the formula is well over 100 years old, but I believe it’s still being used in military dive knives. It’s not rust-resistant at all but if you can take care of it, it makes a motherfucker of a blade. It’ll be much stronger than most folks are used to and will take a truly scalpel-sharp edge in the hands of a skilled sharpener.

That 3/16″-thick blade is critical to making the 1095 work here. That’s massive compared to the knives most of us use daily, and the knife benefits in a more subtle way than just being beefy. In production, that 1095 has to be cooled from 1500°F to below 300°F in less than a second in order to become a hard, sharpen-able knife. The whole thick blade just can’t cool that fast, so while the outside (“case”) hardens, the core stays somewhat softer and much tougher. The “case” is a little less than 1/16″ deep, so with a 3/16″ piece of steel you get a hard outer layer and a ductile core, not unlike a samurai sword, from a single slab of ground steel. Easy peasy.

I’m slightly leery of the “Unique Heat-Treated Process”. Heat-treating is how a knife-shaped piece of steel becomes a knife, and I see it as subject to public review these days. Heat-treating is difficult and requires experience and proper equipment. Steel manufacturers publish their recommended processing specs so there’s no trade secret to protect. There have been some brilliant scams perpetrated by makers who kept their material and processing secret, only to have it later revealed they were using common steels and processing them wrong to achieve aesthetic, rather than functional results. Transparency lets informed customers vet your process and doesn’t really expose you to being ripped off by the competition. Nevertheless, with the steel being used and the hardness being delivered, I don’t think they could be doing anything very bad.

Design-wise, the pointy thing on the back end is a liability. This sucker is meant for extreme use – consider the likelihood of scraping or lacerating your palm or fingers when grabbing for the knife while paying attention to something else. You also run the risk of sliding your hand along the cutting edge while prying. Otherwise, the bottle opener and wire breaker are positioned in very clever utilitarian locations. The deep “belly” on the blade looks nice and helps make such a thick blade useful for a variety of tasks. It looks like a stouter version of Chris Reeve’s Sebenza, which is widely regarded as one of the finest folding knife designs in existence.

The construction looks nice and at about $100 the price is right. Having the handles scaled on like that means the manufacturer can cut the blade and scales out with an abrasivejet or some other automated process and assembly is a snap.

Cash Money: He does mention that it is highly customizable, especially the handle.

Indeed. You can just get Micarta slabs with the right holes in ‘em and do whatever you want. And it’s nice that they’re using Micarta. There’s a commonly-used descendant of Micarta called G10/FR4 (seems like knife and firearm enthusiasts call it G10, while hardware hackers and electronics builders call it FR4). It’s great for folders because it’s wicked tough, but it’s made of fiberglass instead of canvas like the Micarta, so shaping it is both a PITA and a health hazard. You can cut and shape Micarta with a coping saw and some rasps or files from the hardware store. You should still avoid breathing the dust, but it won’t give you silicosis.

Powdercoating was an odd choice, but at least it’s inexpensive and they admit it will chip away a bit. A professional metallurgist once told me that SEALs have their blades coated with something called Dry Lubricant, which is more flexible and does a good job of preventing rust. As I understand it, Dry Lube is harder to apply and usually requires that the parts be sent to a coating specialist. Most manufacturers have people on-site who are attentive enough to handle ordinary powdercoating and it keeps the cost down.

All-in-all, I think this is a nice-looking piece and wouldn’t mind carrying something similar myself, minus the spike on the back end.

Disclosure: I’ve never actually held one of these. This is just my interpretation of the information available online. -KØ

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