"Thuban" Custom Knife

• Size: Length overall: 7.75" (19.7 cm), Blade Length: 3.6" (9.1 cm), Thickness: .167" (4.2 mm)
• Weight: Knife: 6.1 oz. (173 grams) Sheath: 3.7 oz. (105 grams)
• Blade: ATS-34 High Molybdenum Martensitic Stainless Tool Steel, Hardened and Tempered to 59HRC
• Bolsters, Fittings: 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel, hand-engraved
• Handle: Brecciated Jasper Gemstone
• Sheath: Hand-carved leather shoulder inlaid with Lizard Skin
• Knife: The Thuban is a great knife, originally named for a star in the constellation Draco. This custom handmade knife is made with a beautifully hollow ground and mirror polished ATS-34 high molybdenum martensitic stainless steel blade. The grinds are deep, with sweeping grind terminations, well-matched, and thin and durable at the cutting edge. With the high hardness and increased toughness of ATS-34, this knife will hold its edge a very long time. The blade is fully fileworked throughout the tapered tang with a graduated and detailed filework. Graduated filework means that as the tang grows thinner toward the butt of the handle, the filework spacing matches the thinness all along its length, so becomes highly intricate and detailed. Few knives are made this way because of the great difficulty of execution. The filework extends through the underside of the handle tang to the choil. The knife is bolstered in zero-care, high nickel, high chromium austenitic stainless steel, mounted with zero-clearance pins for absolute permanence. I hand-engraved the bolsters with a compact Victorian leaf design that echoes the intricacy of the knife, filework, and handle. The handle scales are complex Brecciated Jasper gemstone, a stone that has been broken apart millions (or perhaps billions) of years ago and then re-formed under the tremendous heat and pressure beneath the earth's crust to become a uniformly solid gem of red jasper, metallic hematite, and quartz. This gem is very hard and durable, and will easily outlast the knife. The handle rests in the hand comfortably, nesting in the ring finger groove. The balance point is right at the front bolster-to-handle scale junction.
• Sheath: The sheath for the Thuban is simple and elegant, in 9-10 oz. black dyed hand-carved leather inlaid with panels of Teju (Tegu) Lizard Skin, hand-stitched with polyester sinew, lacquered and sealed.
• This Thuban is a tight, graceful, and impressive knife.

Thanks, B. P.!