What Would Hattori Hanzo make?

It is a little cliche, but I do happen to be a fan of the Kill Bill films, and hands down my favourite scene is when we are introduced to the legendary sword maker, Hattori Hanzo”.

So when making this Shrike, I tried to imagine what would Hanzo himself make? This is ultimately a knife I made for myself. After spending many years as a knife maker, I own hardly any of my own pieces. This was made to be my personal EDC and so it fits my personal style. Even if this is a round about way of calling myself “Hattori Hanzo”… 

Really, this is a knife I wanted to own as my EDC for those times I’m out in town or the city, where I would still want a Defensive knife, but I also want it to look smart, functional and formal. 

The Shrike can handle big rats…

Joking aside, the Shrike is one of my legacy designs which I have honed over the years. It has been fined tuned several times in the last decade, and where it sits now as a design, I honestly don’t see how I can improve it. 

It is a knife that I know will handle anything I can demand of it in a life or death struggle. The blade is ground from W2 steel, and at the time of making it, I resisted the urge to clay hamon. Perhaps that will come with a later edition, but in this instance the blade was forge heat treated and polished by hand, then hot blued to create a deep, black mirror finish. 

I feel Hanzo himself would approve of the dark blade. It is elegant without being too flash.