Someone who found my fixation with knives a bit outlandish (we all know these people) once said to me, "I don't understand what the big deal is. How many knives can you have; I mean, there's only so much you can do with a piece of steel, right?"
WRONG.
With knifemakers like Darrel Ralph and Warren Thomas on the scene, the possibilities are endless. Of course, this is due to advancements in modern technolodgy, but it also has everything to do with the knifemakers who take time to experiment with these new materials. You can't just take something and use it - you have to take time to learn it's properties, what it can and cannot do and what its best suited for.
Darrel Ralph, has brought many of these innovations to the knife industry such as his pattented Maxx Glide Pivot Bearing System and SAO / SAS technology to name a few. He is also, at least in my book, the man responsible for brining custom knives and the balisong together.
Warren Thomas is another knifemaker who through much experimentation of various modern materials has been able to create knives the likes of which have never been seen before. His trade mark would be the blades he creates out of aluminumized carbon fiber and titanium. Most of the blades consist of a titanium core with carbon fiber fused to it. Titanium is a super strong metal - extremely tough, flexible and hard, ultra light and technically impervious to any kind of corrosion - basically, everything you want in a blade, except for the fact that it is so tough that it is very difficult to put an edge on, and even more dificult to resharpen, which is precisely the reason that most knifemakers stay away from making blades out of it. Warren has found a way though, and he does it with style.
So what happens when you take two wizards of the knifemaking industry and put them at the same bench? This balisong (the other knife that caught my eye and wouldn't let it go at the ECCKS) is a prime example.
What makes a collaboration piece truly special is when you can identify the work of each knifemaker throughout the knife. In order for this to happen, there have to be drastic differences in their artistic styles, yet enough similarity that the knife can be one and flow as such. Darrel and Warren have done an exceptional job, to say the least, at creating a super-collectible, one-of-a-kind, custom collaboration. This is a TRUE only-one-ever-made piece.
The blade is the work of Warren, carbon fiber fused / micro-welded to a titanium core which hosts the edge (yes, for the third time, the blade is actually titanium, not steel!) This makes it possiblte for Darrel to do a beautiful job of anodizing the blade because titanium also anodizes so well. (Titanium is really more awesome every time you study it). The edge is then given a titanium carbide coat which technically makes the blade capable of cutting through brick and helps prevent edge loss and that dreaded day you'll have to resharpen the titanium edge. (Lucky for me, I don't need any bricks cut.)
The balisong design is Darrels, and is anodized titanium, file-worked all around with carbon fiber inlays and these comfy little finger grooves for all your balisong tricks! This is a serious, high performance knife under the guise of a work of art. I dabble in the art of balisong myself and I have to say, this knife is out and open as fast as any auto - smooth and without a sound. Darrel's pivot system simply rocks. This is as custom as custom gets...
