"Kineau" Fine Handmade Knife

• Size: Knife: Length overall: 7.7" (19.6 cm), Blade Length: 3.75" (9.5 cm), Thickness: .160" (4.1 mm)
• Weight: Knife: 3.4 oz.(96 grams) Sheath: 3.9 oz. (111 grams)
• Blade: O-1 High Carbon Tungsten-Vanadium Alloy Tool Steel, Hardened and Tempered to Rockwell C59, hollow ground, mirror finished, hot blued
• Bolsters: 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel, Mirror Finished, Hand-Engraved
• Handle: Malachite Gemstone (Congo)
• Sheath: Caiman Skin inlaid in hand-carved Leather
• Knife: Kineau is a beautiful small knife with a big presence. The first thing you notice is the color. This is real Malachite gemstone that has flowing bands of rich green, with few seams, and is smoothly and brightly polished. Malachite, a copper carbonate, has been loved for centuries because of its intense green colors alone. This piece has complex aesthetic banding and when you turn the knife in the light you can even see a change in tone in the green, a bit of translucence and chatoyancy (cat's eye effect). I used a book-matched pair of gemstone scales on this knife, and it's easy to see the flow banding when looking at the tang view. The Malachite is bedded and dovetailed and mounted under the 304 high chromium, high nickel austenitic stainless steel bolsters, which I engraved in freehand leaf forms in a pattern that flows with the gemstone banding. The brightly polished bolsters are zero care stainless steel, secured permanently to the tang, and the front bolster has a significant quillon to protect the hand. The blade is O-1 oil-hardening high carbon tungsten-vanadium tool steel, hollow ground, mirror finished and hot blued for a mirrored black passive oxide finish that inhibits corrosion. I've put a razor-keen single bevel edge on the blade. The blade has graceful lines, a slight trailing point, and smooth transition between blade and handle at the sweeping, matched grind termination. The filework is full and complete along the tapered tang, a light clean pattern that accents the knife well.
• Sheath: To match the character of the knife, I made a sculpted hand-carved sheath of leather shoulder, inlaid with Caiman skin, front and back. I used the side (between the belly and the back) of the animal's skin for the frontispiece, where a tight pattern of scales matches the punctuated stitching pattern. The sheath is made of 9-10 oz. leather shoulder, dyed black, hand-stitched with polyester sinew, lacquered and sealed.

Thanks, M.P.!