I received this Hissatsu knife from Colombia River Knife & Tool company recently and right away I liked it. I am biased as I have always been interested in the samurai and ninja of ancient Japan and was a martial artist for a little over 5 years. This blade was designed by James Williams, former Army Officer and practicing martial artist (45 years experience) for one.
Purpose: for fighting. It could be used for utility purposes, but it’s not intended for this purpose and I really suggest a different knife if this is your intent. The knife was designed after the Japanese tanto blade.
The blade of the knife itself is made of 440A stainless steel with a highly polished finish. The edge is extremely sharp and the blade comes to a nice point that provides excellent penetration. I have taken this knife with me while hiking in a very wet gully area, and the knife itself got wet but resulted in no rusting.
The handle is high-impact polypropylene core, butt and hilt, and a non-slip Kraton handle surface. One unique feature this knife has that shows the attention to detail in the authenticity of this knife is what is called the Oyatsubo, ot the emperor node. This is used so that, by feel, you can tell which way the cutting edge of the blade is facing. For instance when I use the knife in my right hand I know that if I feel the Oyatsubo on my finger tips I know that the blade is facing out away from my knuckles (saber grip). The handle makes the knife very controllable and easy to grip.
The Zytel sheath holds the knife in using friction. If you really put a good shaking on the sheathed knife while upside down it will eventually fall out. However, under normal, and even active use it will not fall out easily when worn upside down. The sheath can be attached in countless ways, either belt worn horizontally or vertically, or strapped to gear using the slits on the side of the sheath for straps or with 550 cord through the eyelets on the sheath. One thing to note when attaching the Zytel belt loop to the sheath…snug the screws down, but do not over tighten them or you’ll crack the sheath around the screw hole. I cracked it a little bit by doing this because I wanted to be sure the screws didn’t come loose. Use loctite instead of over tightening.
The feel of this knife in your hand is nice. It’s very light and ergonomic. Drawing it from it’s sheath is smooth and flawless. If you want a knife that is to be used as a backup for your primary weapon I really recommend this knife.
Details:
Blade: Length: 7.125” (18.1 cm)
Thickness: 0.20” (0.51 cm)
Steel: 440A, 55-57 HRC
Knife: Overall length: 12.25” (31.1 cm)
Weight: 7.9 oz. (224 g)
Available Colors: Black handle/high satin finish, black handle/Black EDP finish, Desert tan handle/Desert Tan titanium nitride blade finish
MSRP: $109.99
** Since I will hopefully not have to use this for it’s intended purpose of inflicting harm to others, if anyone has any suggestions on ways of testing this knife’s fighting abilities please email me! **
This review is taken from the Gear Geeks Blog, Saturday, August 16, 2008.