Description
Mother of pearl scales over a Damascus blade, opened the old way with a nail nick and a thumbnail.
| Overall length | 7.5 inches |
| Blade length | 3.5 inches |
| Handle length | 4 inches |
| Steel | 1095 + 15N20 Damascus |
| Hardness | 58–60 HRC, oil tempered |
| Handle | Sea Shell Steel Bolster |
| Included | Hand-stitched leather sheath |
What it is for: the pocket of someone who likes a traditional folder and wants the finish to match. Three and a half inches of Damascus edge on a slim frame with a polished steel bolster.
Care: Dry the blade, then close it and dry the nail nick and the joint behind it. Oil the pivot every few weeks and the flat about once a month. Pearl itself needs nothing beyond a clean cloth and no hard knocks.
FAQs
How does it open? With a nail nick in the blade, two-handed, the way a traditional folder has always opened. There is no thumb stud and no pocket clip, so nothing protrudes from the frame.
Is the pearl real shell? Yes. It is cut from shell, which is why the color shifts as you turn it and why every pair of scales is different.
How long is it open? 7.5 inches overall, from a 3.5 inch blade and a 4 inch handle.
Working with pearl
Mother of pearl is the most difficult handle material in the shop. It is brittle, it chips if it is rushed, and it has to be ground wet and slowly. A pair of scales takes several times as long as wood and a proportion of them break before they are finished. What you get in return is depth that no dyed synthetic reproduces, because the color is a physical property of the layers rather than a pigment. It is also why a pearl-handled knife costs what it does. The material is not expensive by weight. The failure rate and the hours are.
The nail nick
A nail nick means two hands and a deliberate opening. That is not a shortcoming, it is a different design intent. There is nothing protruding from the frame, so the knife rides flat in a pocket and nothing catches on a lining. The bolster is polished steel, thick enough to take the pivot load and shaped flush with the pearl so nothing sits proud under your fingers. A knife that opens deliberately also closes deliberately, which is worth something.
Checking the Damascus
The figure here is a tight pool-and-eye pattern from 1095 and 15N20, etched so the layers separate visually. If you want to know how to tell a forged pattern from a printed one, our page on spotting real Damascus is the short version, and pocket knife bevels explained covers the grind. For something built for hard use instead of pocket carry, look at the Shadowstone D2 karambit.
Model: BMK-681
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