Kawasaki/Carter knife is what is known as a friction folder, that is it does not have a lock as such, the blade has an amount of friction which keeps it from freely swinging open or closed, when open the extended tang is covered by the hand when gripping the handle. When closed the tang extends forward and protruded in front of the handle - I am not sure of the origin of the "friction folder" but have seen a few of them made by today's makers.

The design is a slightly modified design by Mr.Kawasaki, several years ago he sent me the blade and handle (which had several mechanical and design problems) I later used the design as a basis for the handle while using his original blade. Most if not all of his knives had the same textured finish and were hollow ground only one side which is a traditional way of grinding Japanese cutlery. The steel was a special mix that he called STH24 a molybdenum-vanadium-chrom e steel and was only available to him. I have a small quantity of this steel and it is not an easy steel to saw or use but makes a great blade. The handle overlay is desert ironwood and the frame is 6AL4V titanium, the engraved pivot screw heads are 416ss.

For now the knife is not for sale and no asking price has been set if it should be. I am working on variations of the design that will eventually be for sale when finished.

Ahh so it's a friction folder? I've seen those before, but never with such a pronounced tang.

Howard, I agree on the huge tang but that is the way he made it and also it has his name down the tang and I did not want to spoil that aspect. I am pretty sure that the kanji spells his name as it appears on other knives of his - one interesting thing that we noticed is what appears to be two fighting figures below his name, it too appears on many of his knives.