ROCKSTEAD RITSU ZDP (BL)

The Ritsu is a relatively new model from Rockstead, since it has only been produced since 2019. It is a full tang fixed blade knife. The handle is made from an incredibly light wood micarta. Due to this, the weight is very low, despite it being a full size knife. The ‘Honzukuri’ style blade, which takes it inspiration from the Japanese katana, is made from ZDP189 powder metallurgic stainless steel, with an approximate hardness of 67HRc (the exact hardness is on the accompanying certificate). If you can imagine the material and effort needed to grind or sharpen such a steel, you must be able to appreciate the mirror finish the blade has. This is achieved by gradually moving up in grit sizes and is very time consuming, since the knifemaker has to go back to the previous step, if only one scratch appears on the blade. The Ritsu has a blue titanium guard and comes with a gorgeous leather sheath, which features a kydex liner. The total length of the Ritsu is 213mm. The blade is 95mm, with a thickness of 3.7mm. Due to the lightweight handle, it only weighs 123 grams. The sheath weighs 66 grams.