Description
A three inch Damascus folder with the same pearl and rosewood handle treatment as our fixed blades, shrunk down to something that lives in a front pocket.
| Overall length | 7 inches |
| Blade length | 3 inches |
| Handle length | 4 inches |
| Steel | 1095 + 15N20 Damascus |
| Hardness | 58–60 HRC, oil tempered |
| Handle | Rose Wood & Pearl Shell Handle | Copper Bolster |
| Included | Hand-stitched leather sheath |
Carried by: people who open boxes, trim line, cut fruit at a desk and would rather not do it with a factory blade. Seven inches open, and it folds down to about four.
Three inches is a deliberate number
Most state statutes that set a blade limit set it at three or three and a half inches, and three inches is also about as much edge as anyone uses on a folder in a day. Longer blades make the closed knife heavier without adding cutting you will notice. Our guide to choosing an EDC knife works through the size trade in more detail.
Damascus in a folder
Pattern-welded 1095 and 15N20 takes an edge readily and shows a clear feather-and-flow pattern under the etch, but it is carbon steel and it will spot if you close it wet. That is the price of the pattern. If a folder is going in a pocket alongside keys and coins, expect it to want wiping down more often than a stainless blade would.
Keeping the pivot honest
Pocket lint packs into the pivot before anything else goes wrong with a folder. Flush it with a squirt of compressed air, work a drop of light oil into the joint, and open and close it twenty times. Full instructions are in cleaning a pocket knife. If you want more than one edge in the pocket, the three blade folding knife takes the opposite approach.
What the etch does and does not survive
The pattern on a Damascus folder is an acid etch that bites into the softer of the two steels, so it has depth rather than sitting on the surface. Sharpening the edge will eventually take the pattern off the last millimeter of the bevel, which is normal and invisible in use. Polishing the flat with an abrasive compound is the one thing that does real damage, because it removes the raised nickel layers along with the low ones.
Care: dry the blade before you fold it, oil the pivot every month or two, and store the knife open on a shelf rather than sealed in the leather pouch. The pouch is for carrying, not for keeping. A closed damp folder is the one reliable way to rust a Damascus blade from the inside.
FAQs
How does it lock? It is a back-lock folder. Push the bar behind the spine to release it; the blade will not close under load.
Can I carry it legally? Blade length rules vary by state and city. Three inches clears most of them, but check your own before you carry.
Will the pearl shell survive pocket carry? Yes. It is inlaid flush and backed by the liner, so it takes no direct knocks.
Model: BMK-894
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