Bark River Knives is returning to Japanese style bladecraft with the Kitsune, a smaller follow-up to the Shinigami. The Kitsune is smaller, lighter, made from a different blade steel, and keyed into a different type of cutting chore.
The Shinigami, which debuted in October of last year, adapted Japanese sword stylings to more modern outdoor fixed blade purposes, with full tang construction and modern steel. Visually, the Kitsune follows suit, retaining the same sweeping profile, but in a much reduced footprint. Its blade length runs to 3.7 inches – a significant reduction compared to the 9 inch Shinigami. These proportions put the Kitsune into an entirely different category of outdoor fixed blade use, and allows it to capably handle more mundane cutting chores with ease.
In keeping with the new use bracket, the Kitsune has been outfitted with a different steel. Where the Shinigami came with CPM 3V for resilience during outdoor activity, the Kitsune instead sports CPM-154, priotizing edge retention and corrosion resistance.
An elongated handle follows the curving arc of the blade, capped beneath the blade by a brass bolster. The oblong lanyard hole is cut into the butt end of the handle, and BRK has provided a leather sheath for carry. In terms of options users will have the usual extended selection of handle materials at their disposal, and liners of a second material can optionally be added beneath the Kitsune’s scales.
The Kitsune comes at the beginning of what is already shaping up to be a busy first quarter for Bark River. While they do keep things somewhat loose in terms of release dates, BRK has already revealed the Wasp, Golok II, and the return of the Smoke Jumper, among other incoming releases.
Knife in Featured Image: Bark River Knives Kitsune
Hawk Knives delivered deeply sad news to the knife world yesterday: Grant Hawk, one of the most innovative, boundary-pushing knife makers of the 20th century, passed away earlier this...
Justin Lundquist is giving fans of the Feist something new to fiend for with the Feist Fixed Blade. These custom pieces present the well-known design in an entirely new...
Gareth and Jason Bull of South Africa’s Bull Knives had some exciting news to share this week: they are planning on releasing a production version of their Mini Xyro...
GiantMouse is breathing new life into an older fixed blade design with their latest limited release, available now. The GMF2-P-R sees designers Jesper Voxnaes and Jens Anso tweaking the...
It’s hard to believe, but we are moving away from SHOT Show quite quickly, and Blade Show, the big mid-year knife...
Another new name has signed up with Solingen Germany’s biggest knife outfit, Boker. Hungarian custom craftsman János Németh brings out his first production collaboration with the company in the...
When we checked in with James Brand earlier in April, they had just expanded their non-knife EDC collection with the Warrick. This week, they’re celebrating the summer and all...
©knifenews.com 2022
0 comments