James McGowan Kiridashi Knife

Reviewed by corwin99 on August 16th, 2007

I bought this knife of James’ table at the CKG show a couple of years ago. I love his little kiridashi’s and japanese inspired one-off’s that he tends to make a lot of for the show. Not perfect as far as fit and finish, but at the lowly price of $60 with a Kydex Sheath, how can one resist?

This is a very stabby knife, the tip comes to an extremely pointy point, and is chisel ground, like a traditional kiridashi. James used a cord grip with epoxy underneath to secure it to the knife. The steel is ATS-34 so it won’t rust out. This is particularly important since there is a kind of orange peel finish on the knife which would be very susceptible to rust if it were a carbon steel.

I had James install a horizontal draw belt sheath on this one, and it works really great. James makes a great sheath for his knives, thought I would have preferred a nicer belt mount… like a teklock, but I wouldn’t be getting one for the price i paid!

This Kiri really isn’t the most handy knife to have around for general utility as it doesn’t cut fruit or open letters very well due to the steep grind. Kiridashi’s were initially designed for carving, and I can see how this knife would excel in that area. Howver, overall this would be a handy blade to have around for self-defense or last ditch effort cutting. I really enjoy the blade and its well made.

Blade Length: 2 1/2″
Overall Length: 6″
Blade Steel: ATS-34

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