Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

"Patriot" Fine Handmade Knife

• Size: Length overall: 12.2" (31.0 cm), Blade Length: 6.5" (16.5 cm), Thickness: 0.225" (5.7 mm)
• Weight: Knife: 13.7 oz. (388 grams) Sheath: 6.3 oz. (179 grams)
• Blade: CPM154CM high molybdenum powder metal technology martensitic stainless steel blade, T3 deep cryogenically treated with triple tempering to 60.5 HRC, mirror polished
• Bolsters, Fittings: 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel, Mirror polished, Hand-engraved
• Handle: Golden Midnight Agate Gemstone (Mexico)
• Sheath: Leather shoulder inlaid with Emu skin
• Sheath (2 ea.): Leather shoulder laser-engraved, hand-dyed
• Knife: The Patriot is a fantastic design of mine: a straightforward knife blade, tough, extremely strong, and with a triple-bolstered handle for a confident grip. It's also a magnificent canvas for artwork and embellishment.
  • The steel I created this beautiful Patriot blade with is 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 blade grind is made with strength in mind, with respectable thickness and a bright, beautiful mirror polish. I carried the vine embellishment into the full filework completely around the tapered tang. This is a robust, beautiful blade.
  • I bolstered the knife with zero-care 304 high chromium, high nickel stainless steel bolsters. The Patriot is unique in that it has three pairs of bolsters, offering a great canvas for embellishment. I designed my engraving around a ring on each bolster, surrounded by interlocking vines and leaves, with a deep relief background. The motif is elegant and bold, well suited to the confident nature of the knife overall.
  • The gemstone handle of this knife is just as bold, and I chose Golden Midnight Agate. This is a true agate, a very tough, hard, and durable gemstone from Mexico. This is old stock; it's not being mined any more, and some have compared it to Apache Gold, but this is an entirely different and superior stone. Golden Midnight Agate has black hornfels, so durable that they are used to make whetstones: tough, prismatic, and platy. There is also white agate banded throughout. The most striking component of the gem are the endless tiny cubes of pyrite interspersed throughout. When you look at the handle from a distance, the golden component looks like flows and gatherings of bright, metallic sparkles. As you look closer, particularly under magnification, you realize that each miniscule gold dot is actually a perfect cube of pyrite. Pyrite is one of the very few things in nature that forms into a cube. Take a look at the photo enlargements below at this astounding gemstone. The result is a masculine, rich appearance resembling clouds of golden stars in a midnight sky.
  • The knife feels perfectly balanced on the forefinger, it's solid and substantial in the hand. The forefinger groove and the sub-bolster (the central bolster) lock the handle into the hand, and the thumb rise is a perfect feature in this form.
• Sheath (Exotic inlay): Matching the dark nature of the gemstone, I chose Emu skin inlaid in 9-10 oz. leather shoulder. These are large panels of skin with interesting texture and feel, and the leather is double-row stitched throughout with heavy nylon thread. To reinforce this, I even added stainless steel through-welt screws at the sheath mouth. The sheath is lacquered and sealed for longevity.
• Sheath (Laser-carved 1): I wanted a bold new look for this knife, to match the design I engraved on the bolsters as closely as possible. I created this same design by hand, and then scanned it and laser-engraved it into a fine 9-10 oz. thick leather sheath. I then hand-dyed the leather in a gold-black motif to offer an alternative sheath for this beautiful knife.
• Sheath (Laser-carved 2): I wanted a bold new look for this knife, to match the design I engraved on the bolsters as closely as possible. I created this same design by hand, and then scanned it and laser-engraved it into a fine 9-10 oz. thick leather sheath. I then hand-dyed the leather in a brightly colored motif to offer an alternative sheath for this beautiful knife.
• A very substantial and bold knife, with full embellishment in hand-engraved stainless steel, and three handsome exotic and engraved sheaths.

Thanks, N. K.!