Frag Out! Magazine

As tells a legend whispered in the dark dead ends of the school corridors, this knife was developed in the Philippines as a weapon inspired by the claws of tigers. Probably every- body who was even slightly interested in this subject heard such rumours. As long as South Asia is a good direction for searching, a karambit – according to some sources – ori- ginally appeared in Indonesia or Malesia as an agricultural tool, and then dispersed to the Philippines where it was mo- dified in the small extend (mainly shortened). It is hard to state when it was adopted by silat martial arts as a weapon, however it certainly achieved the greatest popularity in the 20th century as a result of … marketing operations of the US martial arts schools which referred to the South Asian martial arts. I decided to verify legendary properties of this steel claw using a piece from LKW Knives. The knife made by Rado- sław Łęgowik almost perfectly blends with a modern vision of the "tactical" karambit. It was made of A8 mod steel, which was air-hardened on 57 58 HRC and pickled in iron chloride. A spotty coating, characteristic for Wołodia's works, not fully pleased me, but one cannot deny its originality – especially on the market of the fighters, both manufactures, and cu- stom-made ones. This is a full tang knife with a 4 mm thick blade and it is included into large karambits with a relatively small curve of a blade. It is decidedly not a metal strip which is slightly noticeable in the hand – with 188 g of weight (without a sheath) one has rather a pleasant feeling of having in the hand a solid piece of steel. Its blade is double-edged what is not a rule in this type of knives, but it definitely brings to it a lethal charm. The outlets of cuts are rather symmetrical – admittedly, the upper one seems to be somewhat uneven, but it is not jarring in any way. The bottom cutting edge measures in the straight line approximately 11.5 cm, and an upper one more or less 11 cm, what in total gives a quite significant cutting surface. The knife blade from the side of the cladding forefront is finished with a small guard rarely met in the karambits (with regard to a fact that putting a finger through a circle at the end of the handle eliminates a risk of sliding a hand in the cutting edge). In this speci- fic piece, it is the only one visibly pleasant aesthetic relish which balances a soft excision for a thumb, which is at the knife ridge. LKW Knives Kerambit – An Encounter with a Legend The handles are made of the black G10, screwed with a tang by means of five hexagon socket head cap screws. Unfortu- nately, their fitting is not perfect, a laminate does not adhe- re strictly to steel, particularly in the vicinity of a hollow for a finger where apertures are most visible. The G10 texture is a plus, enough rough that a knife does not slide in the hand. Bevelling of the cladding edges also presents well, both on the external part of the handle, and inside the load distribution hollows. It is rather hard for me to evaluate its ergonomics because it is rather intended for persons with big hands what can be noticed even by profiling curves for fingers. As for me, the handle turned out to be decidedly too large, especially with a grip considering a ring. It is also a little bit angular therefore in order to ensure an appropriate comfort it is worth to think about putting on the gloves. www.fragoutmag.com

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