Phoenix Short Sword

The final knife of 2016, I wanted to make something special.  The Phoenix who famously rose reborn from the ashes, is the inspiration for a lot of the fire and re-birth in this piece.

The blade is forged from my signature Laminated steel, but rather than being clad in modern stainless, I used antique wrought iron.  Made originally as a structural iron bar over 100 years ago, it is reborn into it's new and possibly final form here as a sword blade.  Wrought (literally forged) iron has inclusions that give the metal a prominent grain and this is a particularly nice specimen of that wavy damascus-like quality. 

The handle is polished African Blackwood with a stylized delta of Sambar stag fitted into the butt. 

As the name indicates, this piece is more short sword than it is knife.  It is much larger than it appears in the photos, with a blade over 14" and a total length nearly 20" long.  Despite that, it is light and fast with a razor sharp clip.

The sheath wears a flame, forged from the same wrought iron while the body of the sheath is my dragonskin (a close relative of the mythical Phoenix).