"Sierra Grande" by Burt Foster | Custom Alliance #14

For over a decade, WILSON TACTICAL® the knife and tool division of WILSON COMBAT® has brought the finest in quality edged tactical tools to our discriminating clientele. For 2012 we are raising the bar and will be offering a limited collection of handmade knives by some of today's premier tactical knife makers without the long wait typically associated with special ordering a custom edged masterpiece.

These newly designed knives featured in the new CUSTOM ALLIANCE will be few in number, and will quickly become a valued centerpiece of your collection. These offerings will typify the WILSON standards of extraordinary quality, classic design and unmatched value.

Master Bladesmith Burt Foster has delivered another unique blade to the Custom Alliance-the Sierra Grande Bowie Knife. The Sierra Grande uses Foster’s unique hand-forged laminated steel construction that sandwiches high-carbon tool steel between an external layer of hand finished stainless steel. A stabilized, spalted polished red maple handle provides the perfect contrast to the custom brown leather sheath, also by the maker. The blade of the Sierra Grande is ideally balanced and constructed for impressive cutting performance in the field. A Bowie of this size can easily perform practically any fieldcraft task. This impeccably crafted knife will astound with its construction, performance and natural beauty. It is limited to ten serialized pieces.

• Unique Hand-Forged Laminated Steel Construction
• Stabilized, Spalted Polished Red Maple Handle
• Custom Brown Leather Sheath by the Maker
• Ideally Balanced and Constructed for Impressive Cutting Performance in the Field
• Limited to Ten Serialized Pieces

"My laminated steel blades are unique in that they have a single piece of carbon steel forge welded between two pieces of stainless steel. This is also referred to in Japanese blades as "san-mai" or literally "three layers." There are basically two main advantages to my laminated steel blades. The first is that at the temperatures used to harden the carbon steel core, the stainless sides remain soft and support the hard center. This makes the knife very sharp at the edge, but very tough overall. The second advantage is that because my laminated steel is made with stainless steel on the outside, the knife blade has the performance of carbon steel and the maintenance of a stainless steel. The carbon steel core is exposed only near the edge, so 90% of the blade surface remains very stain resistant. The exposed carbon steel will darken with age, but this darkening adds to the look of the knife, and gives you a knife which when used, improves with age instead of the other way around. This composite blade construction is probably the most practical high performance blade you can have."

SPECIFICATIONS