Dragón de Cuera

Product Description for Dragón de Cuera

Maker: Miguel Barbudo (click to see more by this maker)
Price: $1,250.00
Item num: 108743
*** This is handmade and one-of-a-kind ***
Blade length: 8.20 in.
Cutting edge length: 8.00 in.
Total length: 13.90 in.
Blade height (at heel): 1.72 in.
Blade thickness (near bolster): 0.23 in.
Blade thickness (at midpoint): 0.21 in.
Blade thickness (near tip): 0.08 in.
Item weight: 13.20 oz.
Shipment weight: 21.8 oz.
Blade: Hand forged san mai combining 420MV stainless cladding with a C130 carbon steel core
Bolster: Hand forged iron sub hilt with hot blacked finish
Handle: Arizona desert ironwood
Sheath: Tooled leather custom sheath
Description: Born in Madrid in 1980, Miguel Barbudo grew up in the small mountain town of Valdemaqueda working in his father's forge. From an early age he learned the trade by making furniture and forging wrought iron. He had the privilege of entering and training at the School of Traditional Forging and Restoration of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where he learned from some of the best artisans who worked in the facilities containing original pieces from the 17th century. After returning to the family forge, he began to spend some of his time making knives for local hunters on the side of his normal forging and welding work. He became a full time knifemaker in 2015 as cutlery became the mainstay of his business. His work utilizes modern materials and design, but often incorporates influences of his home country of Spain.
The hand forged san mai blade combines 420MV stainless cladding with a C130 carbon steel core. C130 is very high performing with a 1.25% carbon content (very high!) and hardens to 63 Hrc. Due to its low content of alloying elements, this steel requires water quenching, a critical process that is difficult to reproduce under industrial conditions. Due to this, it is becoming rare and hard to find despite its high performance. A fuller is ground into the top of both sides of the blade. Barbudo's touchmark is on the left side.
The handle is presentation grade Arizona desert ironwood. Desert ironwood (Olneya tesota) is a rare wood that is only found in the valleys of the Sonoran Desert below 2,500 foot elevation. It is extremely dense and durable. In fact it is so dense, that if a piece is dropped in water it will sink! Showing Barbuda's impressive skills at the forge, the iron sub hilt guard is completely hand forged to shape and hot blacked. Despite its large size, this knife is surprisingly nimble. Because the knife is forged from carbon steels, we recommend using camellia oil to oil the blade and natural wood handle.
To keep the knife close at hand, a tooled leather custom sheath is included. A retention snap with a decorative concho ensures the knife won't fall out of the sheath.
Exceptional work throughout!


Availability: In stock. Usually ships in 1-2 business days