This knife has roughly a 7.5-inch blade with a little over 6-inch cutting surface. It was the 12th knife I had made at the time and my first time making one this large. Up to this point most of my blades were around the 3-inch mark with one having a 4-inch blade. It is made out of 3/16-inch 8670 steel with black canvas micarta handle scales. I acid etched it and gave it, what I am thinking about calling, a “battle worn” finish.
I set off making this knife with the mindset that it was going to be a test knife due to the fact that I have had no experience with this type of steel before up to this point and that it was my first one of this size. So I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from it. You can tell from the fit and finish that I did not spend a lot of man hours on making it look very pretty. I actually went back and added the “battle worn” finish months after my friend had purchased it when I refinished it and resharpened it for him.
I sold it to a friend who has been putting it through some very heavy use and I am happy with the performance results he is getting out of it. I liked it so much I made a few more knives out of 8670 and they are not disappointing me with their performance either. The 8670 steel is showing that it has very good edge retention and toughness with my current heat treating methods.
The owner of this knife has named it “The Impressionist.” Sounds good to me!
