"Titan" Fine Custom Handmade Knives, Karambits,
Matched Pair
- Size: Knives: Length overall: 11.25" (28.6 cm), Blade Length: 6.0" (15.2 cm), Thickness: 0.277" (7.0 mm)
- Weight: Knives: 16.0 oz. (454 grams), Sheaths: 8.5 oz. (241 grams)
- Blades: 440C high chromium stainless steel, T3 advanced cryogenic heat treatment,
59HRC hardness, double hollow ground, mirror polished
- Bolsters, Fittings: 304 high nickel, high chromium austenitic stainless steel, hand-engraved
- Handles: Stone Canyon Jasper Gemstone (California, USA)
- Sheaths: Hand-carved Leather Shoulder inlaid with Ray Skin, stitched with nylon
- Knives: This is a great pair of karambits custom made for a very special client. He requested a matched pair
of my "Titan" pattern knives, a very complex and difficult knife
design, large, unique, and stunning.
- Blades: I made the blades in 440C
high chromium stainless steel, my most requested steels for a
reason. 440C is an extremely low-care, tough, wear-resistant,
and highly corrosion-resistant martensitic stainless steel. This
is above and beyond typical 440C; it has my premium heat treatment and processing:
T3. This
process yields an astounding blade and tool in incredible condition through
advanced processing protocols. How advanced is this treatment? It's
a multi-stage cryogenic treatment, involving temperatures ranging in
over 1950°F (1066°C) to -320°F (-196°C). The process is an evolution
of my advanced heat treating processes, and consists of 33 dedicated
and specific steps and takes 172 hours. This means that just to heat
treat this high alloy steel takes over a week! The reason for this is
scientific and critical, but yields the most stable, most
wear-resistant, most durable and long-lived structure of this steel,
profuse with fine multi-element carbides and a uniform and
unbelievably robust structure. This is a testament to my
determination to make the very best knives, steels, tools,
instruments, treatments and
kits in the modern world. I know of no one else who has advanced the
treatment to this level; it's unheard of in the metals field.
The blade grind on these knives is extremely challenging; I know
of no other knifemaker who regularly attempts this. The blades
are double-hollow ground; this means that all the grinds in the
blades are hollow: the convex profile, the vampire rip-tooth serration profile,
and even the concave profile. I've done this with a small 3"
contact wheel, so that the blades are very thin and sharp at
the cutting edge, yet the blades have a thick, strong spine down
the center. This makes for a very aggressive, tough blade,
blades with all cutting edges, and the most aggressive possible.
The grinds are geometrically matched side to side, and the knives are
matched to each other. The blades have large detailed choils to terminate
the grind areas, and they have fully tapered tangs that are
exactly centered and matched to each other extremely well,
particularly for offhand-grinding. See the photos below
detailing this during my creation of the blades. The Titans
feature rear finger rings, rounded and polished for comfort, and
the blades have full, deep, and distinctive original filework
throughout, each unique.
- Bolsters: My client requested a distinctive
embellishment for the bolsters. I started with 304 stainless
steel, my "zero-care" 18-8 stainless steel, which will never
corrode, darken, stain or change on the knife. The bolsters are
mounted with zero-clearance multiple peened pins, for a
permanent, tight fit. I contoured, dressed, rounded and polished
the carved bolsters for a comfortable feel, and they are
dovetailed to bed the gemstone handle scales. My client
requested a special motif, a Chinese design, so I selected and
hand-engraved relief decorative masks. These are lattice
patterns directly from the Bronze Age of China, from the first
Emperor of Qin period, 221-206 B.C. They added a stunning
dimension of character to the knives and I'm extremely pleased
with my client's idea.
- Handles: My client requested intense,
burning orange fiery handle material, something reflecting the
deep earth and lava. We considered a group of gemstones, and I
was lucky enough to have come across a limited stash of Stone
Canyon Jasper in just the right color and pattern. There is not
much Stone Canyon Jasper available since the original mine
closed many years ago, and very little of it has this particular
color pattern. The burning orange, gold, and orange-red fiery
pattern is flowing through white agate streaks with black jasper
outlines; it's a striking gemstone. I wonder exactly how this
geological creation came to be, and how many millions or
billions of years it took to create. The jasper is a
cryptocrystalline quartz, extremely hard and tough, and the fine
finish required diamond abrasives to bring to its peak of
appearance and luster. The gemstone handles will positively
outlive everyone and everything, outlasting the knife itself,
and perhaps our civilization. Just consider that the oldest
artifacts we have of early man are stone, and you'll realize the
eternity of gemstone handles. The handle scales are matched and
dovetailed, bedded to the tangs, contoured, rounded and polished
to bring out their intense beauty.
- Sheaths: My client requested a special
and unique array of sheaths, to match the dark areas of the gem while offering their own
distinctive style. He requested two for the right side, and one for
left side wear. I made them of 9-10 oz. leather shoulder, into which
I designed and hand-carved a pattern to match the Chinese bronze age
masks. All three sheaths have ten painstakingly carved inlay
pockets, into which are fitted ray skin inlays, all in black. The
sheaths are stitched with black nylon and sealed with lacquer for
longevity, and protect the knives well with high backs, long belt
loops with extra length stitching pads, tapered welts, and inlaid
fold-over flaps secured with all stainless steel dot snaps. The
knives are a challenge to sheath, requiring a "rolling" motion to
curve the blades into their nesting positions. This is, by the way,
the most difficult knife profile to put in a sheath. The black-on-black style
is bold while being complimentary to the bright colors of the knife
handles.
This is a tremendous pair of large Titan karambits; a detailed and
difficult project that was a great honor to make. I'm proud to know
that it will reside in my client's family.
Thanks, T. B.!
