Making knives for us is a very organic process. Our focus has always been defensive EDC knives, and while neither of us received any formal education in knife making, everything we know we have learnt over time through rigorous study or simple trial and error. We are also lucky enough to have gotten our work into experienced hands over the years and this feedback has guided our design processes a lot. Our aim is to always make functional, dependable defensive EDC knives, regardless of how well appointed they may appear.
We feel it is important to produce a hand made product and so every knife we make is personally made by one of us. While we may use automation like CNC in certain parts of the production process to augment our hand work and speed it up, each knife we produce is a unique knife that carries with it the soul of the maker who brought it to life.
Our blades are always free-hand ground on belt grinders, which is the “traditional” method in the age of automation. While this method of production is never perfect, what it does mean is that your blade was crafted by a person, by human hands through touch tempered by many years of experience. What you are paying for is the skill, expertise, time and the years of experience of a maker who has dedicated their life to this craft.
Our goal is to produce Knives of a worthy spirit. In the same tradition that birthed the legendary Japanese swords, our knives are imbued with the spirit of their makers by meticulously hand crafted.
All of our handles are also finished entirely by hand. Whether the knife handle is a practical and durable synthetic material more apt for utility or tactical needs, or a beautiful museum grade exotic wood burl, they are all hand crafted.
This attention to detail ensures the handle is not only ergonomically sound, free of hot spots or snag points, but that it is also aesthetically pleasing and highlights the qualities of the material used.
Our Tsukamaki handle is however, probably what we are most famous for. These handles feature hours of hand work, traditional skills and materials to produce a handle that is worthy of Masamune himself. We import the highest quality Tsukamaki materials from Japan in order to deliver a handle that is an authentic, modern interpretation of a traditional Japanese sword handle. Using genuine Samegawa (raw hide raisin) that is lacquered in-house, high quality silk and leather Tsuka-ito and washi paper hishigami to ensure the wrap’s are extremely tight and aesthetically pleasing. These crafted handles are why we affectionately call our knives “divine companions” in the spirit of the Japanese tradition.
All knives are individually sheathed and sharpened.
Our Kydex sheaths are moulded specifically on each individual knife and no two are 100% alike. They are all genuine Kydex and 2mm thick, which means they are tough a durable, with corners softened and edges polished for comfort. While we typically use Black Kydex, occasionally we do do small runs of other specialty colours/textures.
All of our sheaths can be mounted either for Inside the Waist Band (IWB) or Outside the Waist Band (OWB) using either Discreet Carry Concepts HLR Clips, or Soft Loops.
Finally, each blade is sharpened by hand. All of our Custom Knives are sharpened by hand on Japanese Water Stones to produce a mirror polished, fine edge.
The Knife is then presentation wrapped and prepared for shipping. It’s important to us that our knives are presented in a respectful manner, given that these tools have such an important job, to protect the lives of their owners. This is why each and every Ironside Edge Works knife is wrapped in presentation cloth and individually numbered with an Authenticity Certificate.
