Early last year I bought a knife. I don’t know much about it except that I’d like to know more about it.

I got the knife at the second knife show I attended. It’s a lockback folder made by T-Kawai. It has orange G10 handles and a 3.75 inch (9.5 centimeter) hollow ground drop point blade made from CRMO-7 steel. The overall length when opened is  8.67 inches (22 centimeters) but it is light for its size. It weighs only 3.42 ounces (97 grams) which means I have pens that weigh more than this knife.

The T-Kawai partially opened. You can see the damage/scratch at the top of the ricasso.

The CRMO-7 has high chrome content and polishes up nice. As I understand it, it was intended for use in razor blades but has become popular among fishermen and kitchen knife makers in Japan. When I tested the knife, I cut boxes until I ran out of cardboard in the house and it held its edge well and didn’t show any damage other than a few scratches. (For the steel geeks out there, it is usually compared to ATS-34 steel.)

Because it’s light, though, it feels kind of flimsy at first. Also, Japanese lockback folders don’t have that satisfying solid snap that most Western lockbacks have. That also makes it feel flimsy. That said, after my testing, I didn’t notice anything starting to come loose.  The blade didn’t shake open despite my best efforts to make it come open.

The long handle is well sculpted and I didn’t feel any obvious hot spots as I cut wood and other random items with it.  The handle may be a bit long for the blade (fully open it looks vaguely like an airplane fuselage)  but even people with large hands would have little trouble holding it comfortably. For its size, it’s comfortable to carry in the pocket.

A close up of the blade to show the polish T-Kawai put on it. You can see the damage on the top right.

The big mystery is the knife maker, T-Kawai. When I bought the knife it was on sale for 90 dollars because it is a damaged prototype of a design he never brought into production. (Note: his regular knives sell between 180-300 US dollars.) There are scratches on top of the ricasso and the blade is off center. Even as I was buying it he dropped another ten dollars off the price.

I like the knife enough that I’m considering getting another. Even if I don’t, I’m interested in learning more about the knife maker. The problem is he didn’t have a business card at the time and he hasn’t attended any more knife shows. He was friendly, but he seemed disinterested by the entire knife show. He was scheduled to attend the last knife show I went to, but his table remained empty.

I don’t even know if I met the actual knife maker or just a salesman. Either way I’d like to tell him that even his damaged prototypes are terrific knives.