Well, since the prices are coming down on these knives, I figured I'd give one a go.
The knife comes packaged in a purple box with a collectors tin:
The Hatamoto's blade has the typical tanto point blade very much like it's 4 inch Voyager and Gunsite brothers. In fact, the knife looks like a suped-up Gunsite folder to me.
Now, for my impressions:
First, do not be misled into thinking these knives are custom. They are not. Cold Steel markets the Hatamoto as being part of their custom series stating that they are "hand made" but they are indeed very much production knives, albeit perhaps on a limited scale. It is made in Japan with a blade San Mai III and comes equipped with G-10 scales, titanium bolsters and linerlock.
The knife itself is well made as is typical of Japanese-made cutlery and fit/finish is no different than any other higher-end production folder from Spyderco, SOG or Al Mar. The disturbing part is the $350 price tag that these knives carry. They're nice knives, but they're not Microtechs and certainly no where near the fit/finish of a Chris Reeve Sebenza. Anyway, the Hatamoto's 4 inch blade is very sharp and well honed and the lockup on my particular sample is tight and secure with no blade wobble in any direction. To be honest, this is the first knife I've ever owned with San Mai steel so I can't comment on it's edge holding abilities yet. The linerlock is of the same type used on Cold Steel's Scimitar and Ti-Lites.
The pocket clip is a stainless steel affair which can be reversed for left side carry. Personally, I find it difficult to carry a knife of this type on the left side as it was obviously made for right handed use. It's got dual thumb studs and opening with the left hand is easy. Closing with the left hand is another story. The titanium bolsters contrast nicely with the black G-10 scales, although they are a bit on the aggressive side so some might find this knife will probably eat up the seams of some pockets. At the very least the knife will be very well securely clipped to the pocket.
Overall, it's a nice looking and solid knife as far as Cold Steel folders go. I paid a much more reasonable $175 for mine at a B&M shop, but in my opinion, the knife is not worth the outrageous $379.99 price Cold Steel advertises them for on their website. Cold Steel has been the subject of some interesting if not heated discussions here on the forums, but all that aside it's not a bad knife, just overpriced and over-hyped.
