Collectible Knives, Swords, Blades, Armors, and Accessories
Collectible knives, swords, blades, armors, and accessories range in size from small folding pocket knives up to 40-inch Katanas and 44-inch Broadswords. Their styles range from the flame wave of the ancient Middle East to the futuristic Klingon dagger. Armor includes helmets, breastplates, gauntlets, and a variety of fully functional shields of iron, leather, and wood.
What materials are used to make the cutting edge?The weapons are made from one of four materials:
- Carbon metal: Also known as tool metal, this metal has a high carbon content.
- Stainless metal: Is an alloy of iron, carbon, and chromium.
- Damascus metal: Uses an ancient technique of layering iron and steel in a forge, then hammering them flat, folding them over, hammering them flat, and folding them over again and again. Damascus metal has a highly distinctive pattern of wavy lines running deep into the material.
- Ceramic This type of knife is created using powdered zirconium dioxide, commonly known as zirconia or zircons, under extreme heat and pressure. It has a hardness of 8.5 on the Mohs scale compared to 4.5 for steel.
Materials used to make the handles include metal, natural, and synthetic:
- Metal handles: These include aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium.
- Natural handles: These include bone, leather, mother of pearl, various hardwoods, and stag antlers.
- Synthetic handles: These are made of a variety of materials, including carbon fiber, where thin strands of carbon are first woven together and then bonded to a resin. G10, for example, is a composite fiberglass laminate formed of glass cloth and epoxy resin bonded together under high pressure. Micarta is a type of composite where layers of linen are bonded to the resin and ZYTEL is a thermoplastic material.
There are three locking mechanisms used on most folding knives:
- The most common is the lockback. With a lockback, a "spine" on a spring runs down the back of the knife. When the knife is opened, a nub of the spine fits into a notch on the back of the blade, locking the blade open. When the open part of the spine in depressed, the part of the spine forming the nub is forced up and out of the way.
- The liner lock uses a spring bar inside the knife. As the knife is opened, the bar slips in behind the blade, locking it open.
- The frame lock is basically a heavy-duty liner lock where the spring bar is a part of the handle.