Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

"Andromeda" Fine Handmade Knife

• Size: Length overall: 9.2" (23.4 cm), Blade Length: 4.9" (12.5 cm), Thickness: .120" (3.1 mm)
• Weight: Knife: 6.6 oz. (187 grams) Sheath: 4.8 oz. (136 grams)
• Blade: CPM154CM High Chromium, Molybdenum Powder Metal Martensitic Stainless Steel, Deep Cryogenic T3 Process, Triple Tempered to Rockwell HRC 59.5, Mirror Polished
• Bolsters, Fittings: 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel, Mirror polished
• Handle: K2 Azurite Granite (Pakistan), Blue Sodalite (Brazil) gemstones
• Sheath: Hand-carved, hand-dyed Leather Shoulder inlaid with Blue Rayskin
• Knife: My Andromeda design is a definite crossover. The knife pattern is one that is comfortable for utility and cooking, for chefs and hunters, or for collection or investment. This is not a simple knife to classify, as the design has so many uses and applications. It would be welcome in the hands of a chef, or happy to work with fine trimming and caping of game, or at home in a collection. It's named for the Andromeda galaxy, our nearest galaxy to the milky way. 
  • The steel I chose for his knife is Food Contact Safe CPM154CM, a powder metal technology tool steel, a high technology steel known for extremely even distribution of alloy elements and a uniform microstructure. It's a high molybdenum stainless steel, and the molybdenum aids in forming nucleation sites for complex carbide development. The moly also increases the toughness dramatically, resulting in a blade that's extremely durable. This allows me to temper the steel at a higher overall hardness, for great wear resistance as well. The high chromium and high carbon results in profuse chromium carbides, increasing corrosion resistance as well as wear resistance. To bring this steel to its zenith, I used my proprietary T3 deep cryogenic process in heat treating this blade; it's a highly detailed, extremely sophisticated process that takes 33 individual steps and takes over a week long. The result of this is an incredibly wear-resistant blade that has extremely high carbide development, fine grain, and extremely high toughness. Asperity is reduced; the microstructure development is superior to any other typical handmade knife, and far above any factory or manufactured knife. This is, simply put, CPM154CM at its very finest advanced condition. The grind is wide and uniform, with well-curved grind terminations and a bright, beautiful mirror polish. The blade has full bright and light filework for handmade distinction, the tang is fully tapered for balance, and the single bevel cutting edge is razor-keen. The tip is thin yet stout, at about .017" thickness behind the relief. You can only do this with an advanced powder metal technology steel.
  • I bolstered the knife with zero-care 304 high chromium, high nickel stainless steel bolsters, which are contoured, rounded and finished for a comfortable feel. The bolsters are secured with zero-clearance peened pins and dovetailed to bed the handle scales. The front bolsters are sealed and rounded at the faces, the rear bolsters are wide and support the rear quillon that locks the handle into the hand.
  • The handle scales are the obvious, most striking part of the knife. This is a doublet mounting of K2 Azurite Granite with Blue Sodalite. The azurite granite comes from the base of the world's second highest mountain, K2 (Karakorum Range), in the Skardu region of northern Pakistan, remote and rarely visited. This is a true fine-grained granite, with quartz, sodium plagioclase, muscovite, and biotite. Spread throughout the granite rock are tiny blue azurite crystals, which seem to congregate in spherical clusters. At first glance, it looks like drops of blue dye on a white stone, but this is definitely not the case! Look at it under magnification and you can see the blue azurite crystals throughout the granite, in various intensity and scattered among the black flakes of biotite, and penetrating the feldspar grains. To bring out the blue of the granite, I mounted the stones in a doublet arrangement with Blue Sodalite from Brazil. Look at the photos below, the two gemstones from opposite sides of the planet compliment each other well. This is a distinctive and unique handle for a great knife!
  • The knife feels light and smooth in the hand, the design is ready to work in the kitchen or field, the blade is very stiff and strong while being thin and razor-keen. This knife is Food Contact Safe.
• Sheath: To make a sheath to match the gemstone was a different type of challenge; I wanted to reflect the blue orbs in the granite without being overbearing. I also wanted to display the handle material in the sheath as much as possible. So I created a deep front-cut sheath to show off the gemstone, and hand-carved round inlay pockets varying in size throughout the sheath front, back, and belt loop. I accented these with light carving and inlaid blue rayskin with graduated dying of medium brown in the leather. I stitched the sheath with chestnut brown nylon, and sealed it with a triple coat of lacquer for longevity. It's a great combination!
• A unique and splendid knife and sheath in premium materials and treatment!

Thanks, R. N.!