The Minuteman is a proven combat grade tactical knife, and this one is going into battle with one of our army soldiers. This is a serious large knife; the "EL" designation is for the extra length blade, a derivative of my standard Minuteman pattern. The soldier who commissioned this knife wanted an extra super hard and tough blade, so the knife is made from D2. D2 is an extremely high carbon die steel, one of the highest performance rated tool steels, designed to cut and punch out other metals in die use in the machine tool industry. It's expensive, hard to machine, tough to finish, and has the reputation of "holding an edge forever and being impossible to sharpen." Though this is an exaggeration, usually only power equipment and a lot of elbow grease can accomplish a good sharpening. The advantage of this is extremely high wear resistance. With 12% chromium, D2 is corrosion resistant, but does not quite classify as stainless steel. The blade is finished with a satin look, for a clean blade that the client will not be afraid to scratch. The soldier wanted plenty of canted, aggressive rip teeth, an the central bolster sub-hilt handle arrangement helps deliver the power to pull and cut. The blade has a bit of filework, just enough for traction on the blade spine in front of the thumb rise, and the handle has a fully tapered tang for weight balance. The knife has nickel silver bolsters for corrosion control, and a micarta phenolic handle, all bead blasted for good tactile grip. This knife is carried locked into one of my fine military grade locking sheaths, a waterproof combat sheath made of 40 components, double thickness kydex, 5052H32 corrosion resistant aluminum, 302, 304, 440c and 410 stainless steel mechanical components, and blued steel fasteners. For the field of combat, this is about as serious as it gets!
Thanks, C.J.!
Jay, the knife is fantastic. The knife fits
perfectly into the sheath, the function is flawless.
There aren't any improvements that could be made to
this blade. I thank you for making me such a fine
knife! It will have many years of hard service in
its future.
Thanks Jay,
--C.J., US Army
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