Saturday Night Blade Porn: Half Face Knives

What you see above is a Crow Scout, ground to 8.75 in., with a layered handle; desert ironwood beneath offset layers of curly maple and dyed box elder. It has a stainless mosaic in the bottom with .25 pins…

Gorgeous, ain't it?

If there is one thing that is true in the knife industry, it is that virtually every custom knife maker and production factory claims to make knives for the Navy SEALs. In many cases it is nothing more than a member of a SEAL Team buying a knife from the manufacturer or a batch of knives made for a Naval SPECWAR contract that was never fulfilled. However, there is a maker out there who does supply knives to SEALs on a regular basis and he stands out from the crowd because he was one of them: introducing Half Face Blades.

No sky too high no sea too rough, we will find you, we will kill you!

Founded by retired Navy SEAL, Andrew Arrabito, Half Face Blades was born out of filling a need for knives with personality in addition to function and lethality. Half Face's knives have an eerie and antiquated feel about them. They may not  have a hand rubbed mirror polished finish or a fancy CERAKOTED camo pattern, but they have the look and feel of a good working knife with an artistic kick. The owner is skilled in forging blades and acid etching for this distinctive look and either he or one of his aides does a fine job at blade engraving on a few models.

Karambit with spalted maple stacked with Salient SAI

He works primarily in Crucible's CPM S35-VN. This is a stainless steel said to be an improvement over Crucible's S30-V. The chemical composition includes vanadium and chromium, and is supposed to offer improved toughness and wear resistance over S30-V. Crucible states that it offers superior edge retention than other stainless steels such as 440-C. We have not tried anything in this steel personally, but look forward to using it in the future after looking over some of the Half Face Blades.

Nothing puts a knife to a test like butchering a hog.

They seem to make an effective Karambit design that excels as a Close Quarter Battle Blade. The devastating effectiveness of the Karambit along with its retention abilities via the ring make it a top choice for many operators who go into harm's way.

Left to right: giraffe bone/black honeycomb split w copper, insane burl wood resin and snake wood. The blades are S35vn hrc 63 American Steel.

Another tool favored by frogmen is a breacher, whether its an axe, tomahawk, Halligan tool or a big blade like the one built with this former NSW operator's own two hands.

Steel ready to go and be used and abused as they are intended!

One of the finest moments at any knife shop is getting pics of your gear being used in the field by the men for whom you built it.

We can't wait to get our hands on either an H&K MP-7 or a Half Face Karambit. (Yeah we said it, get over it).

They also work in other steels such as Damascus from time to time. From the looks of their etching, engraving and forging it will be interesting to see Half Face Blades make their own Damascus billets in the future.

Chef's knife made from Damascus steel

This Damascus Karambit features a split Carbon fiber handle with a moon glow spacer.

Large camp and ranch knife made for a special project

Crow Scout headed overseas to meet up with a fellow Frogman already at war! Camo/flag handle w carbon fiber pins. Platoon logo etched in blade is Jack Nicholson from The Shining carrying a bloody axe!

Four Crow Scouts for “Buck's Bastards”

Wild pig head meat cleaver n butcher knife slicer set.

5 Crow Scouts for some great Frogmen. Burl woods of different origin. Calico Jack, acid etched n stone washed.

The company's website is under development, but you can reach out to them through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/halffaceblades/.

You can also find them on Instagram (@halffaceblades).

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