Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

"Argiope" Fine Handmade Knife

• Size: Length overall: 12.75" (32.4 cm), Blade Length: 7.5" (19.1 cm), Thickness: .240" (6.1 mm)
• Weight: Knife: 17.0 oz. (482 grams) Sheath: 8.6 oz. (244 grams)
• Blade: ATS-34 High Molybdenum Martensitic Stainless Steel, Hardened and Tempered with T3 Cryogenic Process to Rockwell HRC 60.5, Mirror Polished
• Bolsters, Fittings: 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel, Mirror polished
• Handle: Spider Web Jasper (Oregon) gemstone
• Sheath: Hand-carved, hand-dyed Leather Shoulder Inlaid with Black, Red Rayskin
• Knife: This is my "Argiope" pattern, named for a large, imposing spider in the southeastern United States. This is an exciting large knife, with a radical handle-to-blade angle, sometimes called a "gun" handle due to the orientation. The design was originally created as a tactical knife made to be unsheathed in reverse grip fashion, for defense at the rear of the knife owner. The design is a fascinating study in curves, geometry, and superb finish, fantastic for use, fine enough for collection.
  • The steel I chose for his knife is ATS-34, a high molybdenum, high chromium martensitic stainless steel, very tough and wear resistant. It's so durable that it's used as a main steel in my counterterrorism knives. 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 strong. 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, ATS-34 at its very finest advanced condition. The grind is deep and recurved, with well-matched grind terminations and a bright, beautiful mirror polish. The spine has a half-length top swage, and is thick and strong, at nearly 1/4", and the blade has full, deep, and bold filework in a "spider fang" style. The tang is fully tapered for balance, and the single bevel cutting edge is razor-keen. The forefinger quillon is large and protective, and the rear finger ring is contoured, smoothed and polished for comfort in a forward or reverse grip.
  • 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 bolster is sculpted to fit the geometry of the grinds and thumb rest. The rear bolster is light and sculpted to contour to the rear finger ring.
  • The handle scales I chose are Spiderweb Jasper from Eastern Oregon, also called Spiderman Jasper. There are orange-red lines running in every direction throughout the black jasper, creating a striking network of color and pattern. The jasper is hard and tough, and a brilliant contrast to the mirror polished blade and bolsters.
  • The knife feels large and imposing in the hand, durable and solid. The angle of the blade to the handle orients the knife aimed away from the knife user at all times. It's created to allow the wrist to lock in a natural position (called "square" in martial arts) without putting undue stress on the wrist joint. This is a serious, imposing knife.
• Sheath: The sheath I created for this Argiope had to be large and complimentary, and I chose to follow the bold, deep spider fang filework pattern for the inlays in the sheath front, back and double belt loop. I used matched red rayskin and black rayskin for the 26 individual inlays in the hand-carved 9 - 10 oz. leather shoulder. I stitched the entire sheath in double-row black polyester for durability and rigidity, and triple-coated the entire sheath in leather saddle lacquer for longevity.
• A tremendous, exciting, imposing tactical art knife with a magnificent geometry and finish, an absolutely superb knife and sheath.

Thanks, D. S.!