Damascus Folding Knife, Green Micarta with Pocket Clip

Clipped inside a pocket it lies flat on the seam and stays put. Rain does not bother it, nor sweat, nor a bench left wet after a job. The scales are green canvas micarta, cloth and resin pressed solid, and the blade is 3.25 inches of Damascus over a high carbon core. Wood photographs better. This one is easier to live with.

Specification

The blade

Damascus over a high carbon core, etched so the raindrop rings come up dark against bright. Dimples are punched into the billet and it is forged level again, so the layers ripple around each mark. Decoration only. The core under it takes the edge. The shape is a spear point, edge and spine curving up to meet near the middle, so the tip sits on the centre line and pierces a box lid as easily as it runs along tape. Carbon steel greys with work and spots if you fold it away wet.

The lock and the opening

A liner lock. One steel liner inside the handle is cut so it springs inward, and when the blade comes fully over that leg slides across and stands behind the tang. To close it, put a thumb on the exposed end of the liner, push it across, and fold the blade past it. Keep the pivot clean and free of grit. Opening is a round thumb stud, so the blade comes out with the hand that took it off the clip.

The handle

Canvas micarta is woven cloth soaked in resin and cured hard. Water has nowhere to go in it, so damp, sweat and salt air mean nothing to it, and nothing here shrinks in a dry winter. The weave shows as a faint green grid that goes matt and toothy with handling. The scales sit over steel liners with brass pins through the lot, and a pocket clip is fitted. Closed it is 4.5 inches and rides on the seam rather than rolling about with the coins.

The leather pouch

Vegetable tanned leather, stitched by hand, with basket weave beaten into damp hide. It is a flat sleeve, closed on two sides and open at the end, and the shut knife drops straight in. Nothing folds over the top and there is nothing to hang it from, so it is a pouch and not a sheath. If the clip does the carrying, keep it for a bag or a drawer.

Who it suits

The handle is why you take this over the bone version.

• Anyone with wet or dirty hands all day
• Boat owners, gardeners and workshop people
• Buyers who want the etch without a delicate scale
• People who carry one knife hard

What comes in the box

• The green micarta folder
• The stamped basket weave slip pouch
• A care card
• Free sharpening for life

Every piece is different

Raindrop rings sit where the punch landed and the acid opens them at its own speed, so the scatter never repeats. Micarta is sanded by hand and the weave breaks through in its own places on every pair of scales. The green shifts a little between rolls of canvas too. Yours goes its own way on the detail.

Looking after it

Micarta wants nothing. Wipe it, or run it under a tap if it has been in mud. The steel is the part with a memory. Dry it when it gets wet and keep a thin film of oil on the etch, since rust shows more on a pattern. Grit in the joint rinses out. Dry it, then one drop of oil on the pivot. The care and sharpening page goes further.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per blade, added here before checkout. Around 30 characters fit, a name or initials and a year. Letters go on the flat by the thumb stud, where the pattern is quiet. A proof image comes first and nothing is cut until you approve it, adding 3 to 5 business days. Free at 10 blades and over. See the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

Does micarta mind water? No. Cloth in cured resin. Nothing soaks in.

Is it slippery when wet? Less than polished wood. Sanded canvas has a tooth.

How do I shut a liner lock? Thumb on the liner, push it across, fold the blade.

Will it rust? Yes, if you let it. Dry it, oil the etch.

What about carrying it? Laws differ by state, city and country, so check your local rules, and we cannot advise on that.

How quickly does it ship? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

The same lock under bone is the Damascus liner lock folder on camel bone. Plainer, wooden and unpatterned, the sodbuster in black ebony. It sits in folding knives, under Damascus steel, and among everyday carry knives.