Here’s a shot of Nick’s new deployment knife. I hastily snapped this photo with my iPhone from the bed of my truck as the sun was getting low in the sky, but I think it came out OK.

I forged this blade from a bar of 1095 high carbon steel and gave it a Japanese style clay-coated heat treatment to fully harden the cutting edges while leaving the spine and ricasso a bit softer and more ductile. I polished it out to 600 grit and gave it a light acid etch to reveal the hamon. I also marked the blade with Nick’s last name and his unit insignia using an electro-chemical etching process. The blade, a quarter inch thick at the ricasso, has a primary cutting edge of about 4 inches and a raised, sharpened clip that extends back a little over 2 inches from the point. The tang extends all the way through the handle and protrudes slightly from the butt, creating a handy glass-breaker (or cranium-cracker, depending on the situation). The handle is tan G10 with a notched epoxy composite inlay in front of the thumb ramp to provide purchase. It’s held on with epoxy and two slightly flared stainless steel hollow tubes.

Next I’ll make a sheath, and then off it goes…