14 1/2" overall. 9 1/2" San Mai III steel bowie blade. Black checkered Kraton handle with stainless guard and lanyard ring. Heavy black cordura belt sheath included.
San Mai means "three layers". It's the term given to the traditional laminated blades used by the Japanese for swords and daggers. Laminated construction is important because it allows different grades of steel to be combined in a single blade. A simple way to think of this type of construction is to imagine a sandwich: The meat center is hard, high carbon steel and the pieces of bread on either side are the lower-carbon, tough side panels. The edge of the blade should be hard to maximize edge holding ability, but if the entire blade was hard it could be damaged during the rigors of battle. For ultimate toughness the body of the blade must be able to withstand impact and lateral stresses. Toughness is generally associated with "softness" and "flexibility" in steel, so that, surprisingly, if a blade is made "tough" the edge won't be hard enough to offer superior edge holding. San Mai III provides a blade with hard (higher carbon) steel in the middle for a keen, long lasting edge and tougher (lower-carbon) steel along the sides for flexibility.
This item is available for
engraving.
Cold Steel values their claim of being the toughest, most long lasting knives on the market. Cold Steel's rigorous standards for quality and performance with designs that are tried and true are the result of painstaking research and development. You’ll see many Cold Steel knives featured in top Hollywood Movies such as Total Recall, Platoon, and Prom Night.
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