Size: Length overall: 12.25" (31 cm), Blade Length: 6.5" (16.5 cm), Thickness: .1875 (.48cm)

Blade:  440C High Chromium Stainless Tool Steel, Hardened and Tempered to Rockwell C58, hollow ground and mirror polished

Fittings/Bolsters: Polished Low Carbon Steel, Hand-engraved

Handle: Polished Ruby in Zoisite Gemstone (Tanzania)

Sheath: Frog Skin Inlaid in Hand-Tooled 9-10 oz. Leather Shoulder

My "Patriot" design was originally created for a Special Forces combat grade weapon, and this piece couldn't show off the style better. The blade has a deep hollow grind, with a full length top swage that adds an aggressive, profile-reducing geometry without sacrificing spine strength.  The full filework is my square-faced "Hopi" style, and matches the borders on the hand-engraved low carbon steel bolsters. The engraving style of piled blocks, the engraved bolster borders, and the filework all match to accentuate the squared crystalline facets of solid Rubies floating in the bed of Zoisite mineral.

These are real rubies, and are among the most admired gemstones in the world. They are very thick and plentiful in the matrix of blue-green zoisite. Rubies are a 9 on the Mohs scale; only diamonds are harder. I've worked with ruby in zoisite before, but have never encountered the mineral with so many large rubies. This was one tough piece and it cost me literally hundreds of dollars in belts and enormous time and labor to finish it! But I'm glad I carried it through, because it is absolutely stunning.

A knife this beautiful had to have a special sheath, so I created a hand-carved and tooled sheath of russet 9-10 oz. leather shoulder, and inlaid it with six beautiful pieces of frog skin. The repeating pattern on the frog skin goes well with the rubies in the handle, making for a unique and stunning ensemble with high investment value.