Ok the Specwar is made of 60Rc, ATS34. The handle is made of Grivory, which is a thermoplastic cross that has some flexibility and hardness while being non-conductive and heat resistant.
Made in the USA
The knife was deigned with Prying, insulated cutting, chopping, swing cutting and light hammering, in that order of priority.
The 304 stainless steel pommel is not attached to the blade but can be used for light hammering, but will not conduct electricity from the blade.
Ernest Emerson and Timberlines Vaugh Neely collaborated on the Timberline Specwar and was made in Timberlines Colorado Facility using hadnmade techniques to get it right.
Production of the Specwar stopped and the Aviator was born. A low cost alternative.
Just a little history about the Specwar. It was a collaboration between Nealy and Emerson. Timberline produced it and the retail was near $400 when new. The knives ended up selling for under $300 and from what I understand Timberline took a loss on the knives and thus stopped producing them. The handle material was non conductive and impervious to everything including heat, and chemicals. The coating on the blade was not a corrosion resistant coating. It was a wear resistant coating that was reputed to be a Rockwell hardness of 80-90. Harder than even Chrome. The edge was chisel like all the emerson specwars. The Aviator was much smaller and cheaper and sold better, I think. The knife was top quality and you could tell. I have two and will not part with them.
There were specwars and aviators that came later and were cheaper. Be very carefull as these were not the same as the early Specwars. The original Specwars were quality pieces with awesome heat treats. The later versions with the cheap sheath were suspect quality. They were expensive knives and the profit margin was low. The knife retailed for $400 which at the time was way too high. I also heard that at the prices that they ended up being sold (around $300 was normal), timberline was taking a loss and decided it wasn't worth making anymore.
Kind of like the Junglee Hattori fighter. The old ones were $270 and the later ones were $100. The difference was that the early ones were quality knives from Japan while the later ones were Chinese(or Taiwanese can't remember now) POS's.
