Wilson Tactical's Burt Foster Iron Heart Fighter

For over a decade, WILSON TACTICAL the knife and tool division of WILSON COMBAT has brought the finest in quality edged tactical tools to our discriminating clientele. For 2013 we are raising the bar and will be offering a limited collection of handmade knives by some of today’s premier tactical knife makers without the long wait typically associated with special ordering a custom edged masterpiece.

These newly designed knives featured in the new CUSTOM ALLIANCE will be few in number, and will quickly become a valued centerpiece of your collection. These offerings will typify the WILSON standards of extraordinary quality, classic design and unmatched value.

“Iron Heart” Mastersmith Fighter with High-Performance
Laminate Blade by Burt Foster

Master Bladesmith Burt Foster of Bristol, VA has been impressing collectors for years with his superb fit and finish, clear artistic vision and use of rare and unusual materials in his high-performance hand forged knives. His latest creation exclusive to the Custom Alliance is the Iron Heart. With this special bowie/fighter, Foster transforms simple materials-carbon, iron and stainless steels along with spalted, stabilized maple into works of practical high art. Burt’s technique of marrying stainless and carbon steel into a heat-fused, razor-sharp laminate renders an almost indestructible, yet intensely unique and beautiful knife. The rock-hard spalted maple develops characteristic black contrasting highlights over many years and every handle will be uniquely beautiful. The guard is hand forged of blackened wrought iron. Each Iron Heart will have a handmade leather sheath by Mr. Foster. This rare item is limited to 10 pieces.

“My laminated steel blades are unique in that they have a single piece of carbon steel forge welded between two pieces of stainless steel. This is also referred to in Japanese blades as “san-mai” or literally “three layers.” There are basically two main advantages to my laminated steel blades. The first is that at the temperatures used to harden the carbon steel core, the stainless sides remain soft and support the hard center. This makes the knife very sharp at the edge, but very tough overall. The second advantage is that because my laminated steel is made with stainless steel on the outside, the knife blade has the performance of carbon steel and the maintenance of a stainless steel. The carbon steel core is exposed only near the edge, so 90% of the blade surface remains very stain resistant. The exposed carbon steel will darken with age, but this darkening adds to the look of the knife, and gives you a knife which when used, improves with age instead of the other way around. This composite blade construction is probably the most practical high performance blade you can have.” – Burt Foster

ABS Master Bladesmith Burt Foster has a life long passion for the outdoors and its activities, which has shown him the importance of having a sharp tool. Burt began making knives full-time in 2001 and a few years later he earned the rating of Master Bladesmith in the American Bladesmith Society.

Specifications: $1195.00

Blade Steel – 420 Stainless with 1095 Core
Blade Length – 6.50”
Blade Thickness – .223”
Handle Material – Spalted Maple (Stabilized)
Handle Length – 5.50”
Overall Length – 12.0”
Hardware – Stainless Steel