Description
If you are buying for somebody who wears a hat because it is useful rather than because it is a look, this is an easy call. Lariat Rose is a cowboy bull cutter with a satin D2 blade, deep red rosewood scales, a solid brass bolster and a riveted brown leather sheath — handsome enough to open in front of people, plain enough that they will actually carry it instead of putting it in a drawer.
The shape has a job
Bull cutters came out of working cattle country, and the sheepsfoot outline is the whole reason. The spine runs straight and turns down in a short arc to meet a flat edge, so there is no functioning point. That gives you a knife you can press down on with your palm, draw across a strap, or lay flat on a board and use along its entire length. The notched choil behind the edge is where your index finger goes when you need control at close range. It is not a fighting shape and it was never meant to be. It is a shape for people who cut things all day.
D2 at a satin finish
D2 sits in an odd and useful place: a tool steel with enough chromium to shrug off ordinary moisture, but enough carbon and carbide to hold an edge through work that would round off a softer stainless in an afternoon. Cutting rope, cardboard, hide, and hay string is exactly the sort of abrasive duty it was formulated for. It rewards a diamond or ceramic sharpener over a soft stone, and it does not want to be sharpened often. The satin finish is hand-drawn along the length of the blade — bright, but with enough directional grain that fingerprints and light scratches disappear into it.
Rosewood, brass, and a red line
The scales are rosewood run through with dark streaks over a warm red-brown ground, contoured across the palm and rolled at every edge so nothing digs in. Between wood and steel sits a thin red fiber liner — a detail you notice from the side, a narrow bright stripe following the whole profile. Rosewood is dense and naturally oily, which is why it stays warm and stable rather than checking when the humidity swings. Up front, a solid brass bolster adds weight where you want it and will slowly go from bright yellow to a soft antique gold as it is handled. Stainless pins run through a full tang, and the butt is drilled and lined for a lanyard.
| Overall Length | 7.5 inches |
|---|---|
| Blade Length | 3.5 inches |
| Handle Length | 4 inches |
| Blade Steel | D2 tool steel |
| Blade Finish | Matte satin |
| Blade Style | Sheepsfoot bull cutter with notched choil |
| Handle Material | Rosewood with red fiber liners |
| Bolster | Solid brass |
| Fittings | Stainless pins, steel-lined lanyard hole |
| Tang | Full tang |
| Sheath | Handmade leather belt sheath with brass rivets (included) |
Model: BMK-1157
The sheath
Brown leather, shaped damp over this blade, stitched by hand and set with brass rivets at the throat, with a belt loop cut to carry the knife tight against the hip. Leather like this stiffens the first week and then breaks in to fit. Anyone shopping the same brief with a mirror finish and dark ebony instead should compare the Night Herder bull cutter.
Making it last
D2 is forgiving but not immune. A quick rinse and a towel after citrus, meat, or a soaking is all the routine it needs, and a light film of oil is worth putting on before a long spell in storage. Keep the knife out of the sheath when it is not being carried, since leather holds damp against steel. The rosewood will look better for a coat of furniture wax or mineral oil once or twice a year, and the brass can be left alone to age or brought back with a pass of polish, whichever you prefer. When the edge starts to slide instead of bite, take it to a stone at the angle it arrived at — our walkthrough on sharpening a knife on a whetstone covers the burr, the angle, and the stropping in order.
Ground, heat treated, fitted, and finished by hand in Memphis, Tennessee, one knife at a time.
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