This Affordable New Pocket Knife Boasts a Blade With More Than 2,000 Years of History

The $95 version features carbon-fiber overlays on the G10 handle, which do not really lighten the load (the knife weighs 3.39 ounces, the same as the standard G10 one and slightly more than the micarta and wood varieties) but does add aesthetic appeal that pairs nicely with the more meaningful point of distinction, the blade material.

Because, if you couldn’t guess from its appearance, this knife’s blade is made of that ancient wonder, Damascus steel. While it’s not as hot as the super steel known as MagnaCut — all the rage right now and sure to put a dent in your wallet — Damascus steel does have a cool backstory and the quality to match it.

Performance meets pedigree

At least as far back as Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC, Middle Eastern blacksmiths pounded out a special steel from India called wootz to make swords with blades that bring to mind the effect of a stone dropped in a lake, a rippling sheen that also happened to hold an edge like no other.

Sometime later, the practice of crafting what came to be known as Damascus steel was lost … until 1981, when, according to The New York Times, two Stanford metallurgists hit upon a high-carbon recipe for producing a material that at the very least resembled the blades of yore.