OP
- Joined
- Monday February 9, 2015
- Location
- California
- Thread Starter
- #97
For some Hello-Kitty reason I have decided my keychain is not complete without yet another trinket on it...and this one is a mini/micro knife....(also sometimes referred to as a neck knife - but these are often smaller than those Altoid sized ones).
I saw these type of knives starting to pop up more and more frequently on Instagram a few months ago...handcrafted beautiful pieces that often sold for $100+ Miniature axes, knives, choppers...you name it. I saw and I liked - even though I'm not completely sure why. Why does a grown man accessorize his keychain? I guess because it's fun and you just never know when you need to lend a smurf a knife! That's why!
Anywho...being relatively frugal I decided to track down some less costly options that still looked good and was of high quality. I also wanted to buy from a domestic (to me) seller if possible.
Took me a few weeks but I finally stumbled upon a vendor that also happens to be a miniature knife collector.
He/she has a friend that hand makes these little knives and the benefits with these compared to other I found are;
a) The ones that have Damascus steel blades are actually Damascus steel and not some painted squiggly lines on it,
b) Most of the work is by hand and these are actually forged - not stamped. There's some photos of the workshop I could get if I wanted,
c) The knives are small but will hold a good edge (many comes with a mini sharpening rod). Some with a leather sheath.
d) 256 Layer (1095/15N20) Steel Blade Oil Tempered to 58-60
e) Price. Some of them are sold as BIN for $20-40/knife. Some are auctions and sell for under $15
The Damascus steel used for the blade of the knifes is 176-256 (1095/15N20) layers of low carbon steel and high carbon mixture welded / forged / hammered several time. The Hardness of blade is up to 60 hrc (steel blade tempered) on the Rockwell scale. It takes the maker between three and five hours to make one of the knives.
* I have no idea what most of those terms and values mean but, hey, sounds good. *
They are 'crude' enough looking that I think they could pass as folk art. Kinda.
The downside:
Now obviously selling for about $15 on average these are not hand crafted in some artisan by-the-creek forge in the US. I assume the maker is in Pakistan or maybe India but I'm rather willing to take a gamble on one and see how they are.
The vendor was easy to communicate with, seems to be passionate about knives and said that I'd be amazed by the quality and edge. We shall see...
Now I just need to figure out what I want...one with leather sheath..or a folding one...or just risk that I might stab myself in the pocket with a 3-4cm blade
Comes with a leather sheath:
Heck there's even a few 7cm battle axes...
Just about 5cm in total. The blade itself about 2.5-3cm.
The auction for this one is at about $2 right now.
Believe it or not..but this one actually does fold
One of my favorites, I rather like the size and design here:
I saw these type of knives starting to pop up more and more frequently on Instagram a few months ago...handcrafted beautiful pieces that often sold for $100+ Miniature axes, knives, choppers...you name it. I saw and I liked - even though I'm not completely sure why. Why does a grown man accessorize his keychain? I guess because it's fun and you just never know when you need to lend a smurf a knife! That's why!
Anywho...being relatively frugal I decided to track down some less costly options that still looked good and was of high quality. I also wanted to buy from a domestic (to me) seller if possible.
Took me a few weeks but I finally stumbled upon a vendor that also happens to be a miniature knife collector.
He/she has a friend that hand makes these little knives and the benefits with these compared to other I found are;
a) The ones that have Damascus steel blades are actually Damascus steel and not some painted squiggly lines on it,
b) Most of the work is by hand and these are actually forged - not stamped. There's some photos of the workshop I could get if I wanted,
c) The knives are small but will hold a good edge (many comes with a mini sharpening rod). Some with a leather sheath.
d) 256 Layer (1095/15N20) Steel Blade Oil Tempered to 58-60
e) Price. Some of them are sold as BIN for $20-40/knife. Some are auctions and sell for under $15
The Damascus steel used for the blade of the knifes is 176-256 (1095/15N20) layers of low carbon steel and high carbon mixture welded / forged / hammered several time. The Hardness of blade is up to 60 hrc (steel blade tempered) on the Rockwell scale. It takes the maker between three and five hours to make one of the knives.
* I have no idea what most of those terms and values mean but, hey, sounds good. *
They are 'crude' enough looking that I think they could pass as folk art. Kinda.
The downside:
Now obviously selling for about $15 on average these are not hand crafted in some artisan by-the-creek forge in the US. I assume the maker is in Pakistan or maybe India but I'm rather willing to take a gamble on one and see how they are.
The vendor was easy to communicate with, seems to be passionate about knives and said that I'd be amazed by the quality and edge. We shall see...
Now I just need to figure out what I want...one with leather sheath..or a folding one...or just risk that I might stab myself in the pocket with a 3-4cm blade
Comes with a leather sheath:
Heck there's even a few 7cm battle axes...
Just about 5cm in total. The blade itself about 2.5-3cm.
The auction for this one is at about $2 right now.
Believe it or not..but this one actually does fold
One of my favorites, I rather like the size and design here:
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