Here are BLADE Magazine’s Featured Knives of the Week. Browse through these articles to find the best knives available from both custom knifemakers and factory knives.
Sarge Knives TK Retro has throwback looks, but modern performance.
The TK Retro from Sarge Knives reminds me of my first fixed blade.
The blade was pitted and the leather handle was cracking. Still, the knife field dressed many squirrel, rabbit and game birds throughout my childhood. It was an excellent camper’s or outdoorsman’s knife.
As for the TK Retro, like my first fixed blade, the stacked-leather handle still gives my hand a warm feel. It has a 440C stainless steel blade to make its good looks last even longer. However, how does it cut?
TK Retro Sharpness Test
Using the knife’s weight, the author employed push cuts in the stationery. There were no “bad starts,” just smooth slicing.
The first test medium was 20-pound bond copy paper. The TK Retro started slicing and made nice, clean cuts in the stationery. Using the knife’s weight, I employed push cuts. There were no “bad starts,” just smooth slicing.
TK Retro Light-Duty Cuting
The blade audibly crunched the leather with each skive and made it easy to control the width of slices.
The TK Retro bit deep and smooth [into drywall], with minimal bending of the cut pieces. I could feel the cardboard’s layers with each cut. Edge performance was nice and aggressive. The handle provides a very secure grip.
Leather skiving followed. The blade audibly crunched the leather with each cut and made it easy to control the width of slices.
Heavy-Duty Cutting With Sarge’s Fixed Blade
Firesticks
Melissa did a great job whittling a fuzz stick with the TK Retro over her painted bench.
While camping, I was splitting firewood for the weekend. My wife, Melissa, wanted to start the fire so I showed her how to make fire sticks. She took to whittling very quickly and did four of the sticks to aid in her fire starting. She used the TK Retro to make some very nice curlicues. Before I knew it she had a beautiful fire going—excellent job on her part! I was surprised to see her whittling over her bench that she had painted. She seemed to feel very confident using the little fixed blade.
Splitting Wood
I had some dry hackberry wood to split for kindling. A dead blow hammer and the TK Retro made short work of the task. I didn’t see or feel any edge/knife damage while batonning the edge through the wood. The guard acted like a guide for my hold hand, keeping the wood away from my knuckles. The leather handle absorbed the vibrations perfectly.
Vs Rope
The fixed blade made 82 crunching cuts in the half-inch sisal rope before the edge started to slide.
On the half-inch sisal rope, the TK Retro crunched its way to 82 clean cuts before the edge started to slide. I did find that the guard had a sharp edge that needed softening a bit. It would create a hot spot on your hand after a while. It was an easy fix with some sandpaper.
Chopping Antlers
After 20 hard whacks on the antler the edge showed nary a chip, a sign of outstanding heat treating.
The last test for the edge consisted of a series of chops into a whitetail deer antler. After 20 hard whacks, I expected to see some minor edge chipping but there was none. The edge was as sharp as when I started. Sarge Knives nailed the heat treating.
Changes
The guard and buttcap need to be softened a tad. They will bite you after a period of hard use.
Final Cut
The TK Retro is a very nice medium-use knife great for game or camping.
Knowing How To Use A Whetstone, Or Sharpening Stone, Can Restore A Dull Blade And Should Be Part Of Regular Upkeep For Your Knives.
There are many inexpensive ways to sharpen your knives at home, but nothing feels the same as sharpening your knives on a whetstone. Used for centuries around the world to keep an edge on everything from swords to kitchen knives, the whetstone is an intimate, precise way to maintain your knife’s edge and bring it back to life.
The “whet” in whetstone has nothing to do with being wet or any type of moisture. It comes from the Old English term “hwettan” which means “to whet or sharpen.” Coincidentally, most whetstones do need some type of moisture for top performance. In all cases, this means water or oil. However, a majority of stones you’ll find in stores or online–particularly for kitchen use–will be waterstones.
Oil Stone Vs Waterstone
Honestly, in some cases, there is no difference.
The preference of lubrication–water or oil–is left up to the user. Both will do the same job, swarfing the surface of the stone so it does a better job sharpening.
However, there are other cases where one or the other must be used with a particular stone. Natural sharpening stones, for instance, mostly use water. Rub them down with oil and you’ll render them useless.
Manufacturers will spell out whether your particular whetstone is water, oil or both.
The main difference between whetstones that use oil and whetstones that use water is that waterstones are softer so the old abrasive material breaks off faster than an oil stone. This means you’re sharpening on fresh stone material more consistently.
Waterstones are also less messy and easier to clean vs oil stones, which adds another point in the bucket for waterstones. Waterstones also come in more grit varieties than oil stones.
Oil stones, especially those made of novaculite, are a traditional sharpening stone, and many are quarried in America, specifically in Arkansas.
Differences In Grits
You’ll see stones of all types come in a variety of grits. The lower the number, the more coarse the grit. The more coarse the grit, the more material gets removed with each pass of the knife.
For at-home sharpening, grits in the range of 1,000-8,000 should be more than enough. However there are stones that come as coarse as 120 and as fine as 30,000. Consider these specialists and stick to the common grits for most jobs.
Whetstone Accessories
While there are many gizmos and accessories out there to help with your whetstone sharpening, there are two that stand above the rest. You can see them in the photo at the top of this article.
The first is the stand for your whetstone. This should come with the stone when you purchase it. You do not want to lay your stone directly onto your table or countertop. It can slide, and mixing sliding things with sharp knives is a recipe for losing a finger.
The second is that little thing to the right of the stone. It looks like a chip clip, but it’s actually an angle guide. Some will clip onto the top edge of your knife while others might need to be strapped to the stone itself. Either way, the angle guide will help set your sharpening angle and allow you to maximize each pass of the blade across the stone.
I’ve used a 1000/6000 waterstone for years to keep my kitchen knives sharp. You can find plenty of quality 1000/6000 whetstones online for under $40. But having the stone doesn’t account for much if you don’t know how to use it. I pulled out my sharpening set up to help give you a step-by-step breakdown of how to sharpen your knives with a whetstone.
Step 1: Get Your Equipment
Things I use to sharpen on a whetstone
Ready to start sharpening? Hold up a minute. You’ll need more than a whetstone and your knife.
In addition to the obvious tools for the task, I start with a whetstone stand, a container of water and a spoon (you heard right).
There are special notes on a couple of these items.
The water container is to prep the whetstone and should have some specific attributes. I want a deep container so the stone can sit in it and fully soak. These babies are thirsty, so you can’t just dab water on one and expect it to work.
Here I’m using a baking dish, but a plastic tub or kitchen sink work equally as well.
The spoon … no, you’re not taste testing your knife’s edge. It’s there to literally spoonfeed the stone more water during sharpening to clear off the shavings.
Step 2: Soak The Whetstone
Soaking the whetstone
Here’s the speedbump of the process.
As mentioned, whetstones require a good soaking before use. This isn’t a splash-and-go process.
Plan to let your stone sit fully submerged for a good 10 to 20 minutes before it’s primed for use. There’s a simple way to tell it’s good to go.
Plunge that baby into water and you’ll see it bubble like an aquarium aerator. Quite literally, this is the stone drinking up water in its microscopic pores and displacing air in the process.
As time goes on, fewer and fewer bubbles pop out of the whetstone (see the above picture). When it’s none or next to none, you’re good to go.
Step 3: Secure The Stone
OK, this sounds obvious. But it must be said–you must secure your wetstone before sharpening.
Not only does this stave off a tongue lashing from your significant other, ensuring you don’t scratch up the counter or dinner table. It also keeps your digits from getting cut up.
In most cases, you’ll have a holder that, well.. holds the stone. If you don’t, never fear, a towel or rag makes a dandy impromptu stone holder.
Whatever the case may be, make certain your stone isn’t going anywhere before you actually begin sharpening.
Step 4: Determining The Sharpening Angle
Rubber, you’re almost ready to meet the road!
Before you actually start scraping away precious material to create a fresh sharp edge, you need to determine exactly what angle to sharpen at.
Some knives require a somewhat uncommon angle to sharpen. This is spelled out in the owner’s instructions if this is the case. Lose those, check the company’s website, these vital specs are usually there.
However, in most cases–a vast majority–20 to 25 degrees is the best angle to achieve a good cutting edge. And you don’t even need a protractor to determine this pitch.
Think of it this way, the edge pointing straight down at the stone is at 90 degrees. Tilt the blade halfway down, now the blade is at roughly 45 degrees. Tilt the knife halfway again and, there you are about 22.5 degrees–a sweet spot for a good edge.
Or you can go the easy route and use an angle guide, mentioned earlier in the article.
Step 5: Course Sharpening
Start with the lower grit, which in this case is 1,000. It takes off more material and gets the edge almost all of the way back to razor sharpness.
Usually, I do 10 passes on each side of the blade, but I fully sharpened my knives a few weeks ago and just did two here as a demonstration.
Keep the blade angled between 20-25 degrees to get the best possible results.
Step 4: Turn The Stone Over & Sharpen With The Finer Grit
I finish with the fine grit, 6,000 on my whetstone.
You’ll notice each time I pass there’s some new metal shavings on the stone. That’s the swarf. It’s fine for your knives if you leave the swarf on the stone as you sharpen, but you can also wash it away with some extra water.
Again, like the coarse grit, I usually do 10 passes on each side of the knife.
Step 5: Wash Off Your Knives & Clean Up
Once you’re done sharpening you should rinse your blades and wipe them dry with a towel. Once your knives are accounted for, give your water container a thorough cleaning. I used a baking dish, and it’s important to fully clean it so you aren’t ingesting microscopic metal shavings.
For the stone itself, I double check that it’s secure in its holder and leave it out overnight to let the water evaporate out of it. Once it’s completely dry I put it back in its spot in the drawer.
And there you have it, a simple, straightforward guide showing you how to sharpen your knives using a whetstone.
Editor’s Note: This article was written by Mike Ableson.
The Newest Budget EDC From Gerber Gear Is Light And Flexible. The Fuse Would Be An Excellent Knife to Handle Day-To-Day Life.
Gerber Gear’s newest EDC succeeds thanks to its construction. The Fuse has a 7Cr blade connected to a glass-filled nylon handle that makes for a strong, rigid knife. The blade is electroformed stainless, and there are additional stainless liners for even more strength. The liner lock helps keep everything secure and safe while cutting.
The Fuse is the type of knife that is perfect for someone with a new interest in knives or is looking for an EDC that won’t break the bank. There’s a lot to like here. The piece weighs only 2.83 ounces and you can choose between black and flat sage for the handle color.
Is this a revolutionary knife? No. Has Gerber a model that is an entry point for new knife owners? Absolutely.
MSRP: $40
Editor’s Note: This article was written by Mike Ableson.
The New Kizer Assassin Is A Smooth And Nimble EDC. This Is An Affordable, High-Quality Folder That Is Fun To Use.
The new Assassin folder from Kizer is a new EDC from the factory maker, and it’s an exciting knife. With a blade made from 154CM and a red micarta handle, the Assassin makes a visual splash the moment you lay your eyes on it.
The super smooth thumb stud makes opening a breeze, and the flipper/button lock keeps the steel rigid and secure when deployed. Carlos Elstner really did a heck of a job in designing this knife to make it fun.
The Assassin is simplicity done at a high level. There are no extra bells and whistles on this piece; it’s just a complete, well-made knife that you’ll be able to use for years. The fact that it’s so inexpensive is the cherry on top.
Mosaic Damascus Can Be Made Numerous Ways, And These Master Smiths Are All Putting Their Own Spin On The Craft.
The many moods of mosaic damascus provide the bladesmith and custom knifemaker with an ever-changing form of artistic expression. The possibilities of a new pattern, a different look, and yet another lasting impression are endless.
For several makers, mosaic has become a signature steel in their presentations, and these imaginative artists are pushing the envelope in an already dazzling array of motifs for blades and knife fittings.
Kelly Vermeer-Vella
Kelly Vermeer-Vella said she initially called the mosaic damascus of her fighter Riptide because it looks like “calm waters, but also because the forging process is pretty brutal. So, now I call that process ‘ripping it!’” Blade and overall lengths: 7.5 and 12.5 inches. At press time the knife was available through Arizona Custom Knives for $3,800. (SharpByCoop knife image)
In her Riptide pattern, American Bladesmith Society Journeyman Smith and past Forged in Fire champion Kelly Vermeer-Vella provides a great example of the new frontiers being explored with mosaic damascus.
“It’s initially called that because it looks like calm waters,” she commented, “but also because the forging process is pretty brutal. So, now I call that process ‘ripping it!’ Sometimes I win and sometimes I make hunters!”
Kelly showcases the Riptide pattern on her 12.5-inch fighter with a 7.5-inch blade and mammoth ivory handle sporting a long, modified “S” guard.
“I really enjoy swooping forged guards that complement the curves of the blade and handle. And I love mammoth ivory, so I make a lot of frame handles,” she added. “I think the best-looking frame is in a low-layer twist, 25 layers or so.”
The Vermeer-Vella mosaic involves a commitment to hard work to produce the desired results.
“The pattern is not san-mai,” she revealed, “rather, different layer counts of stacked W’s with heavy 1075 steel on the edge. The wing effect comes from forging. I push and pull the pattern with a hand hammer and forge to shape so that the pattern flows with the edge.”
The blade material is the 1075 carbon steel, which appears as the dark areas, and 15N20 nickel alloy, which shows as the grey, shiny areas. “I etch in 3-to-1 ferric chloride and also do a coffee etch,” she added. Her power hammer is an Anyang 88 and she uses a Riverside 24-ton press.
Jack Rellstab
Jack Rellstab said he wanted the blade of his Western Chef’s Knife to “look alive.” As he noted, “My idea was with the taper in layers to give it an organic look that appears as if the elements are actually growing.” Thus, the pattern’s name of Frogs and Flowers seems most apropos. His price for a similar knife: $2,600. (SharpByCoop image)
Like Vermeer-Vella, Jack Rellstab is an ABS journeyman smith who enjoys the creative process of forging mosaic damascus. His Western Chef’s Knife brings a robust profile to life in a mosaic pattern called Flowers and Frogs.
“The pattern is one of my styles of W’s explosion,” he noted. “I started the original billet with the layers of both 1080 and 15N20 getting progressively thinner from one side of the billet to the other. After using square dies to resquare the billet for W’s, I drew it out with a taper so the W’s would get tighter towards the end. Then I did a restack and a four-way to finish it. So, the steel is 1080 for the dark portion and 15N20 for the bright.”
The handle is amboyna burl, bronze and G-10. He says the grip is designed around most Western-style kitchen knives on today’s market, though the belly/underside might be a bit shallower.
“With this mosaic pattern, I wanted the knife to look alive,” he offered. “My idea was with the taper in layers to give it an organic look that appears as if the elements are actually growing. I used a 165-pound hammer belonging to New West Knifeworks, and I also used their Anyang hydraulic press for resquaring.”
Jack began his bladesmithing journey with mosaic damascus by watching a YouTube video, and then let his imagination kick in to develop the exciting pattern that is sure to generate conversation in any kitchen.
Will Stelter
The Serpentine Multi-bar Santoku by Will Stelter sports a mosaic damascus pattern of the same name. He used 1080 and 15N20 steels for the pattern-welded twisted bars and Cruforge V for the edge. The Cruforge V etches darkly, and its wear resistance and high working hardness make it ideal for culinary knives. Blade and overall lengths: 5 7/8 and 10.75 inches. His price for a similar knife: $3,500. (SharpByCoop knife image)
The Serpentine Multi-bar Santoku by ABS Journeyman Smith Will Stelter sports a mosaic damascus pattern of the same name. The handle is ivory paper Micarta®. He used 1080 carbon and 15N20 nickel-alloy steels for the pattern-welded twisted bars and Cruforge V for the edge. The Cruforge V etches darkly, and its wear resistance and high working hardness make it ideal for culinary knives.
“I started by forging up 28 layers of W’s,” he recalled, “and then worked that billet down to a half-square twisting stock. I twisted three bars right hand and two bars left hand, lining up my twists as best I could before forge-welding them together. After they were stuck, I forge welded on a solid Cruforge V edge bar that was around 40 percent as wide as the multi-bar billet, but the same thickness. With my final stock stuck together, I then laid out and cut away several three-quarter-inch-deep grooves or divots from the profile of the rectangular 2-inch wide bar, which still left Cruforge V on the edge, and two full twisted bars at the thinnest parts of the patterned area on the spine.
“I then flattened down the billet, which took the previously straight layers and gave them the bold ‘serpentining’ that came out in the blade. I then forged my blade to shape and forge welded on some of the base W’s stock that I twisted from as bolster material. This is a very similar technique to how the classic ‘River of Fire’ pattern is done, but with a different base pattern other than the usual feather pattern.”
Will used his 1924 400-pound ram Beaudry hammer to do the majority of the forge welding and a twisting machine to twist the five bars. He learned his pattern-welding technique and the ability to visualize the way the steel moves from bladesmith Salem Straub, crediting Straub with teaching him how to design patterns “with intentionality behind them.” The pattern itself is sole authored by Stelter, who has done some serpentine multi-bar patterns prior to the subject piece. However, this was his first attempt with a monosteel-edged bar.
“The serpentining is purely aesthetic,” Will said. “It’s meant to give a bold line for the eye to dance down rather than the straight, more classic intersection of the edge bar that is normal for a composite construction. This also means that from far away you see an interesting pattern, and then when inspected up close the explosions of the twisted W’s really pop out, which gives the overall piece an interesting level of depth.”
Will considers this particular mosaic “an intermediate-level pattern, easy to try, though somewhat difficult as well. The most challenging part is building a high-quality multi-bar pattern with adequate layer density and well-matched twists. The rest of the pattern is fairly simple.”
Brent Stubblefield
Brent Stubblefield’s integral chef’s knife has an 8-inch blade of his shimmering Crossroads mosaic damascus, and a stabilized Hawaiian koa wood handle with mammoth tooth spacer. Overall length: 13 inches. His price for a similar knife: $1,500. (SharpByCoop image)
At the Join or Die Knives Forge in Richmond, Virginia, Brent Stubblefield hammered a beautiful blade in his Crossroads mosaic pattern—and did so with multiple techniques.
According to Brent, “There is the initial damascus forging, crushed W’s, twisting, four-bar-squaring welds, ferry flip tilting, edge bars, and a ‘fish mouth’ tip to make the edge bars meet. There are multiple elements that are forged on the edge or corners to manipulate the pattern, and finally the knife shape and integral bolster are forged to shape.”
The mosaic is comprised of 1084 and 15N20 steels, with the 15N20 appearing as a silver white on the blade while the 1084 blackens with a ferric chloride etch.
“The shapes in this pattern reflect a desire to incorporate all the different techniques of mosaic damascus making I have learned over the years,” he explained. “I’m always trying to find a way to create never-before-seen patterns in order to add something totally new to the American bladesmithing tradition.”
Stubblefield used an Anyang 88 power hammer and homemade 30-ton press to create the Crossroads mosaic. A Bridgeport mill was helpful in the squaring-up process and flattening pieces for rewelding. A Miller welder assisted in tacking materials up before they went into the forge, while an Evenheat kiln and Broadbeck Ironworks grinder were key tools in the process as well.
“Although I did not have any single mentor,” Brent mused, “many knifemakers have gone out of their way to share tips and tricks with me. While they didn’t teach me directly, [bladesmiths] Mareko Maumasi and Salem Straub have been very generous with sharing their processes through social media. I certainly have referenced them among others.”
Stubblefield continues to challenge himself as his career advances, and he sees no slowdown in the creative process. “This knife is very difficult to do simply because the higher number of forge welds create more opportunities for failure,” he reasoned. “Any complex damascus blade is actually just many simple techniques combined together. The hardest part for me is understanding how manipulating the pattern early in the process will affect the outcome, and visualizing the end pattern.”
The CRKT Skeggox Is A Fun Little Hatchet That Swings A Big Game And Can Handle The Daily Tasks Around Your Property
A good hatchet is worth its weight in gold, and in the case of the CRKT Skeggox it weighs just 1.63 pounds.
This fun, tactical hatchet is one of the newest offerings from CRKT. I had the chance to try it out on my property as winter descended. I had never used a hatchet before. I don’t think I’ll be needing to get another one for quite a long time.
What Is The Skeggox Made Of?
Let’s start with the particulars. The Skeggox is 12.94 inches long with a 4.83-inch blade made from SK-5 carbon steel for good edge retention. The glass-reinforced nylon handle is lightweight, cool, and feels excellent in the hand when swung. The blade is powder coated for extra corrosion resistance and gives the Skeggox an all-black look.
The hatchet includes a thermoplastic sheath that I loved. It has a clip to fasten it securely shut, but it fit so snug that you could easily travel with it and not clasp the clip (although you absolutely should).
Testing the Skeggox
The vines I first went at with the Skeggox
When I went to test the Skeggox I had the perfect patient: this nightmare of vines and saplings in my backyard. Before the arborist came to remove it all I took the hatchet out there to see what it could do.
With the vines it was a thumbs down. The thin, almost grassy material was not easy to chop through. The fact that the blade would slide off of the vines instead of slicing through made me uncomfortable because I didn’t know where the blade was going to go. I quickly moved onto the saplings, which were entwined with the vines in their upper reaches.
But as you can see, these saplings were the perfect size to really see what the Skeggox could do. And boy howdy, could it do a lot!
The saplings before meeting the Skeggox.
I went to work swinging the hatchet with a smile on my face. The Skeggox is weighted so well that each swing made me want to swing it again. I was wearing my outdoor gloves and the handle never once slipped as I chopped at the tree.
It took a touch over two minutes, and it wasn’t the cleanest cut, but in the end, the sapling stood no chance.
The sapling after meeting the Skeggox.
I’m also getting my fence replaced in a few weeks so I took the Skeggox and began laying blows into the tops of the fence posts. I went as hard as I could to beat up the hatchet as much as possible.
Final Cut
And finally, I returned to my kitchen, put a fresh Campari tomato on a plate, and drew the Skeggox down toward it. It went through like a hot knife through butter. Then, for good measure, I even quartered the tomato just as easily.
This is an excellent piece of kit. I can’t recommend it more highly. If you own a home and are looking for an affordable hatchet to use in the yard, this is the piece to get.
What the best way to bid adieu to the old year and ring in the new? New knife drops, of course!
The year is almost over, but knife debuts are just heating up. We found a slew of production and custom knives dropped to finish 2024 or slated for release in early 2025. Any way you cut it, these blades are more than enough to get you drooling!
Model: EDC fixed blade Blade length: 3” Blade steel: 440C stainless Rockwell hardness: 59 HRC Blade grind: The “Davis Grind” by the maker Handle material: Black Micarta® w/black and white Micarta spacers Handle pins: 1/16” 440C Overall length: 7” Sheath: Pouch type of tooled leather and rattlesnake inlay Maker’s price for a similar knife and sheath: $400 Knife to know: Matt Davis is an ABS journeyman smith Maker: Matt Davis, daviswacoknives.com (Jocelyn Frasier image)
Adam Gray Micro Bushcrafter
Model: Micro Bushcrafter Blade length: 2.5” Blade steel: CPM 154 stainless Blade grind: Convex saber, what Adam Gray calls sabervex Handle material: Wenge w/yellow G-10 liners Overall length: 5.5” Sheath: By Badgerclaw Outfitters Maker’s price for a similar knife and sheath: $305 Maker: Adam Gray, aaforge.com (Jocelyn Frasier image)
Bear & Son Cutlery D2 Rancher Sideliner
Model name: D2 Rancher Sideliner Knife type: Flipper folder Blade length: 3 3/8” Blade material: D2 tool steel Blade grind: Flat Handle material: India Stag Bone (also in G-10, cocobolo or titanium) Lock: Linerlock Pocket clip: Deep carry Weight: 3 ozs. Closed length: 4.25” Knife to know: Torx screw construction Country of origin: USA MSRP: $95.99-$125.49 Company: Bear & Son Cutlery, bearandsoncutlery.com
RMJ Tactical BUB (Back Up Blade)
Model name: BUB (Back Up Blade) Knife type: EDC push dagger Blade length: 2.5” Blade steel: Nitro-V stainless Rockwell hardness: 58-60 HRC Blade @thickest: .135” Blade finish: Tungsten Cerakote® Handle: G-10 (in three color options) w/Grade 5 titanium fasteners Weight: 3.1 ozs. Overall length: 4 13/16” Sheath: Kydex w/1.5” belt clip Knife to know: The scales remove to expose a skeletal handle Country of origin: USA MSRP: $185 Company: RMJ Tactical, Dept. BL1, rmjtactical.com
James Ingram Linerlock Folder
Knife type: Linerlock folder Blade length: 3” Blade steel: Feather damascus Blade grind: Flat Blade pattern: Harpoon Handle: Mammoth ivory w/titanium liners Frame: Engraved stainless steel Bolster: Stainless Closed length: 4 5/16” Maker’s price for a similar knife: In the $1,500 range Maker: James Ingram
Bobby House Swell-End ack
Pattern: Swell-end jack Knife type: Slipjoint Blade length: 2 5/8” Blade material: Ladder pattern damascus Blade grind: Hollow Blade pattern: Spear point w/long-pull nail nick Backspring material: CPM 154 stainless steel Handle material: Cracked mammoth ivory w/polished acorn shield Bolster: 416 stainless steel Liners: 410 stainless, jewel relieved and soda blasted Approximate closed length: 3 5/8” Maker’s price for a similar knife: $1,650 Maker: Bobby House
Knife name: Bromen Knife type: Flipper folder Blade length: 3.13” Blade material: Mosaic damascus of 1080 carbon and 15N20 nickel-alloy steels Blade grind: Flat Handle material: Emerald paper Micarta® Pocket clip: Yes Closed length: 4.39” Maker’s price for a similar knife: $3,500 Knife to know: The knife is also available in a more subdued mosaic damascus blade and a butterscotch paper Micarta® handle by Lucas Gumbiner Maker’s contact information: Will Stelter/Lucas Gumbiner, willstelterbladesmith.com (SharpByCoop image)
Bob Merz Lockback Folder
Knife type: Lockback folder Blade length: 2.5” Blade steel: CPM 154 stainless Blade grind: Flat Handle material: Mother-of-pearl Bolsters: 416 stainless w/24k-gold-inlaid scroll engraving by Wes Griffin Closed length: 3.5” Maker’s price for a similar knife: $2,300 Maker: Bob Merz, bobmerzknives.com (Jocelyn Fraiser image)
Brian Milinski Folder
Knife type: Folder Blade length: 2.75” Blade material: Damascus of Swedish and German stainless steels Handle material: Mammoth tusk w/anodized and jeweled titanium liners Bolster: Stainless steel scroll engraved by Tyler Poor Thumbstud: Damascus w/mammoth inlay Maker’s price for a similar knife: Contact maker for pricing Knife to know: Brian Milinski is an ABS apprentice smith Maker: Brian Milinski, mrknives.com (Jocelyn Frasier image)
