The "Roman" knife is my personal tribute to the city of Rome, that "adopted" me for many years.
It is inspired by the traditional knife from the Eternal City, that at the time of Papal States was the weapon of the folk. The traditional knife was the protagonist of many bloody duels between the 1600s and the early 1900s. At that time, there have been no laws or penalties, however severe, that have limited the Roman people's habit of carrying a sharp knife in their pockets with which they can quickly solve "misunderstanding" and take justice into their own hands. Just to give an example, in the Pontifical State in 1853 there were 4 murders a day because of the duels; between 1850 and 1852, in Rome there were 247 murders, of which only 2 for robbery.
The Roman manufactured by WE Knife Co. is not intended as a combat knife, but rather as a gentleman's knife with a fighter soul.
With this design, I tried to capture the essence of the traditional knife, but clearly with substantial changes to make it more contemporary.
The "Roman" knife features a blade made in CPM S35VN steel, 100 mm long and 3 mm thick, and it is characterized by a small swedge. From the 3d printed prototype to the production version some changes occurred, especially on blade (due to machining needs), thus it has partially lost the traditional olive leaf shape, but overall the profile of the whole knife is quite close to the traditional one.
The front flipper opening has been designed to open the blade with one hand, but has been designed also to be able to open the blade by leveraging the flipper tab on the leg immediately after removing the knife from the pocket.
The handle is made of 6AL4V titanium with a pattern inspired to "via Appia Antica" considered by the Romans the "regina viarum" (queen of the streets). In gallery you can see a picture of Piranesi's drawing of the Via Appia Antica (Rome). The terminal part of the handle, as well as being a decoration inspired by the traditional knife (which historically was a combat knife), is a sort of tactile reference for the rearward grip (used to have a greater extension during fencing) and given its solidity it can be used also as Self-Defense striking tool.
Given the narrow handle profile, exactly like in the traditional knife the Roman hasn't the pocket clip. It was designed to be carried into a leather sheath, but it will be not provided with the knife.
The knife has an overall length of 246 mm and a weight of only 94 g.
- Manufacturer: WE Knife
- Designer: Alessandra De Santis (Hydra Design)
- Project Date: 03/2019
- Release Date: 01/2020
- Locking mechanism: Frame-lock
- Blade opening: front flipper
- Blade Length: 3.95" (100 mm)
- Overall Length: 9.7" (246 mm)
- Blade Material: CPM S35VN
- Blade Thickness: 0.12" (3.0 mm)
- Blade Hardness: 59-61 HRC
- Blade Grind: Flat
- Blade Finish: stonewashed
- Washers: ceramic ball bearing
- Handle: 6AL4V titanium with milled pattern
- Handle thickness: 0.43" (11 mm)
- Backspacer: 6AL4V titanium
- screws: 6AL4V titanium
- Weight: 3.32 oz. (94 g)
- Available in 4 versions: all black, flamed anodiz., grey, bronze
The "Roman" knife is available in 4 different finishes: flame anodized, all black, bronze, grey.
TESTIMONIALS
“If you can recognize a knife only by its silhouette, it means that the designer has done a great job!”
@f.cotti
“I have chosen every knife I own, the Hecate chose me...Once I got it in my hands I knew it was mine forever...My Hecate from @hydra_knifedesign is definitely at the top of my list! ”
@chris_license
_to_defend
“The blade is really slicey, but imagine cutting for one hour without feeling any hot spots! The handle is an ergonomic materpiece designed by Alessandra De Santis.”
