Heyall,
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I've been meaning to, but just haven't had the chance.
Anyway, so yup, I got the Raza, and I really really love it. That isn't to say that it is perfect. There is a lot of blade play when open, which I kind of expected being that it is an assisted flipper w/ a linerlock, but I wish that the blade had no movement. I'm probably just spoiled from only having some high end SOGs w/ the arc-lock who all lock up perfectly with no play. The SOGs I have are a Stingray 2.0 w/ mother of pearl inlay and also an Arcitech Damascus Blade w/ carbon fiber handle.
Anyway, back to the Raza. I don't think I ever planned on "using" it much, per-se - I just wouldn't want to damage it through misuse.
I have a feeling that it could probably benefit from taking it somewhere and having it cleaned and lubricated properly. The assisted flipper mechanism works well and brings it to full lock pretty much every time. I really like that feature as it makes it so easy to get it open. Also, it does like to stay closed, and since it does sit in the pocket tip up, that is something I wondered about.
The blade itself is truly gorgeous. The whole knife is made using 300 layer Damascus steel, and my only other exposure to damascus is with the SOG I have. That one is 15 layers. It is still really beautiful, but it just can't compare to the intricacy of 300 layers of metal braided and folded with such obvious skill and care that Mr. Raza puts in to his damascus. The cutting edge is sharp, and the blade has a concave cut that runs the full depth of the blade until it reaches the spine.
On the spine of the blade along with the backside and the front-side of the liners, which are gold anodized titanium. The carving follows a kind of alternating scalloped shape - thats the best way I can describe it.
The clip is nice; appears to be polished stainless steel, and has "Tahar" laser engraved on to it. It is large and seems quite strong. It is not reversible.
As I write this, I keep being reminded about just how much time and attention must have been put in to just this one knife, let alone all of those other knives he made around the same time period.
Back to the knife. On the obverse side, there is the large chunk of Damascus billet that sits just below where the large gold colored adjustment screw is. It looks to me as though its intent is to act as a shield of sorts, and the maker carved two sets of lines that are oriented horizontally to the handle - there is one set of two lines and another of three. There is enough room around the periphery of the flathead screw for the maker to have added some more detail by placing 6 small circular indents. It looks like they were made using a drill press, possibly. There are 5 of them on the other side at this spot, and another set of them, this time in a line on both sides of the tail end of the handle. Interestingly, and I can imagine that this must have been very frustrating, but especially on the back side, one of the indents is misaligned. But I look at that as further evidence of the fact that it is a completely handmade knife, and there aren't any "do-overs" once you've started adding those last details to the piece.
Inlaid in the handle, on both sides, are good sized pieces of Mammoth Ivory. The piece on the front side is about 1/2 covered by the Damascus "shield" I spoke of. The piece used on the back is also partially hidden, this time by the clip, but it is larger than I though it would be. I'd say it's about 3" long and tapers to a point, following the shape of the handle itself.
Moving back to the front side, I realized that if I removed the shield, then the whole piece of ivory would be exposed, and as much as Id love to see that, I bought it in a big part because of the bold styling that includes the shield an how it's essentially pentagonal shape integrates with the ivory it is protecting.
The final set of carved lines run across the back of the handle, again two sets. The first is up high, by the pivot point of the blade, 6 there. And then at the other endof the back of the handle, where there is what looks like a piece of anodized titanium placed there both for strength to hold the shape of the handle, but also as a stop for the blade once closed, there is another set, this time 12 of them.
I saved the best for last, and that is the sheer beauty of the maker's Damascus steel. The layers are so fine and so thin , and yet, if you look at a different angle, it spreads out and looks like a flowing river with eddies and rapids and swimming holes. Or even better, like the fine grain in wood, each seemingly following each other for the most part, but ultimately upon closer inspection, you can see the maker's underlying pattern in his metal.
What blew my mind the most was that on certain parts of the handle, because of the angle of the cut, or however it was made, if you slowly run your finger down the metal, you can feel each and every discrete layer. It's really, truly beautiful.
Oh, the sheath. It is really nice. Mine came as a very new black leather belt looped sheath pocket with contrasting white stitching.
Overall, I'm extremely happy with the purchase. I wish that I had more money right now so that I could get another one. I don't regret the decision to purchase at all.
But, going back to the blade play thing, are there any suggestions on ways to tighten it up, or is that just how it is with a lot of folders. I don't feel like it is going to slip off of the lock in use, but yup, there's my review.
I hope it was helpful. Im sorry I don't have pictures, I've been running from my iPhone for a while now, and I don't know how I could get photos from the phone to the site.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks,
Michael
