Cottonmouth Custom Made Damascus Steel Folding Pocket Knife, Handle Made with Tortoise Shell, 7″ Inches Long | BMK-563

Description

A three-inch blade set in a four-inch handle, closing to something that lies flat in a front pocket. What separates the Cottonmouth from the rest of our folders is the handle: tortoise shell, cut and polished so that light travels into it rather than bouncing off. That is a different look from wood or micarta, and a different set of rules for looking after it.

Built for: everyday carry with an obvious element of show. Three inches is the useful middle for a pocket knife, long enough for boxes, food, cord and light field jobs, short enough to stay unremarkable on a desk. Five ounces is on the heavy side for the size and you will feel that in a pair of shorts.

Living with a tortoise shell handle

It is a keratin material, so treat it more like a fingernail than like stone. Grit in a pocket scratches it, handling dulls it slowly, and a jeweler’s cloth brings the shine back. What it will not survive is heat and solvents. Keep it off a dashboard, never clean it with acetone or alcohol, and do not run it under hot water. Handled sensibly it deepens in tone across years, and the translucency improves as the surface polishes down.

The pivot needs more attention than the edge

Folders fail at the pivot. Pocket lint, sawdust and the fine grit that finds its way into everything all gather around the pin, and a gritty pivot chews through washers. Flush it every few months, dry it completely, then place a single drop of light oil at the pin and work the blade open and shut. Do not submerge the whole knife, since water that reaches under the scales stays there. Our walkthrough on cleaning a pocket knife gives the sequence in order.

Care

Carbon Damascus in a pocket means body moisture, so get the blade dry before you close it. A wet blade folded into a closed handle is how corrosion begins inside a folder where nobody can see it. Take a dry cloth to the brass file-work. Touch up the edge on a fine stone at a low angle, because this grind responds to patience rather than to pressure.

FAQs

Should I buy this or a stainless folder? If you know you will not dry it, buy stainless. Something like this VG10 stainless folding knife forgives neglect that carbon Damascus will not.

Is the shell going to crack? Not in ordinary use. Heat and impact are the two things that break it.

Why a leather sheath on a folding knife? Some owners prefer a belt to a pocket. The sheath is included either way.

Model: BMK-563