Description
Midnight Horn is the dress-uniform version of a field knife. Polished buffalo horn in deep translucent black, a bright stainless bolster, a mosaic pin set into the scale, and a mirror-clean satin D2 blade with a gut hook cut into the spine. It looks like a knife you would be given rather than one you would buy for yourself — and it is entirely capable of doing the job it was named for.
Buffalo horn
Horn is grown, not manufactured. Water buffalo horn is cut into slabs, flattened, fitted and then polished to a glassy finish that reveals the smoky depth inside the material — near black in most light, faintly translucent at the edges when you hold it up. It is warm, dense and slightly waxy under the fingers, and every set of scales carries different striations. Being a natural material it has natural preferences: keep it out of prolonged dry heat and away from long soaks, and it will stay flat and glossy indefinitely.
| Overall Length | 9 inches |
|---|---|
| Blade Length | 4.5 inches |
| Handle Length | 4.5 inches |
| Blade Steel | D2 tool steel |
| Blade Finish | Polished satin |
| Blade Style | Drop point with integral gut hook |
| Handle Material | Polished buffalo horn |
| Bolster | Polished stainless steel |
| Fittings | Mosaic pin inlay, lanyard hole |
| Tang | Full tang |
| Sheath | Handmade black leather belt sheath with stud closure (included) |
Bolster and pin
A polished stainless bolster caps the front of the handle. It adds weight where you want it, protects the leading edge of the horn from knocks, and gives the joint between handle and blade a crisp, finished line. A mosaic pin — a bundle of small rods set in a matrix and sliced across, so the pattern runs all the way through — sits in the centre of each scale. It is a maker’s detail, the kind of thing that takes minutes to fit and cannot be automated.
The blade
The blade runs four and a half inches, flat ground from D2 and taken up through the grits to a bright satin. D2 is a tool steel first and a knife steel second, which is exactly why it works here: high carbon, high chromium, hardened into the high fifties, and packed with carbides that resist wear. It will dress an animal and still cut. It is semi-stainless, so it needs to be dried rather than merely wiped. The integral gut hook is opened and polished inside the curve so it parts hide in one pull and keeps the point away from the paunch.
Sheath
Black leather, cut and formed wet to this blade, saddle stitched, edge finished, and held shut by a strap and stud across the handle. It ships with the knife.
Made in Memphis
Profiling, heat treatment, grinding, horn fitting, bolster work and final hand rubbing all happen in our Memphis, Tennessee workshop. The difference between this and a production knife is not marketing — it is that a person shaped the horn to the tang, set the pin, and took the blade through the grits by hand. Our comparison of hand-made and factory knives goes into what that actually changes.
Care
Dry the blade properly, hook included, and oil it lightly before it goes into storage. Clean the horn with a cloth wrung out almost dry, then polish it with a soft rag; paste wax will bring back the shine if it ever dulls. Keep the knife out of its sheath between outings, and never let it near a dishwasher. Sharpen the primary edge on diamond or ceramic; inside the hook, a slim tapered rod does the work. If you are unfamiliar with terms like bolster, ricasso and tang, our knife anatomy guide is a five-minute read, and Blackthorn offers the same horn in a plainer, spacer-only build.
As a gift
Tell us when you order that this one is going to somebody else and we will pack it for presentation. It carries a lifetime warranty against faults in materials and workmanship, and it arrives sharp enough to use straight out of the box rather than needing an evening on a stone first.
Model: BMK-1176
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