Recommended, but mixed, review. - Titan Damascus Steel Fixed Blade Neck Knife, 4.9in

This is a nice knife and there is a lot to like about it. I'm going to mention a lot of issues, but keep in mind I gave it three stars. So there is an up side, right? The quality of the Damascus steel is reasonable for the price and it appears to be a full tang. The scales of the handle are made from camel bone and have a finished appearance similar to a makita bowling ball, with lots of detail. And to be honest, I simply like the way it looks.

It is not without issues, however. The first issue is perhaps one that the buyer should realize by looking at the images. The blade is not as curved as a typical karambit. As you can see, it's more like a slightly bent tanto blade than a karambit. In a stance with your arms perpendicular to your shoulders, the point of the blade will be aiming to your side and not toward your target. To point the business end of the knife forward, you will need to rotate your arm across your body so that it is parallel with your shoulders. If this is natural for you, great. If not, not so great.

Here's an important pre-purchase bit of information - despite how it looks (and despite what it says on the Titan website) this knife does NOT have a serrated knife edge. The things that appear to be sharpened "serrations" on the convex side of the blade are just curved channels that are cut straight through the full thickness of the spine. Not sharpened in any direction (i.e. not for cutting or sawing), but I'm sure you could give something a nasty scratch. I'm not sure why Titan didn't create actual serrations. Does this make it legal in California? As it is, this faux-serrations serve no purpose except as a potential hazard to the user and a way to snag on the sheath.

Speaking of user hazards, that spike on the pommel is impressive, but it's a bit too large if you wanted to flip your karambit. Unless you have an index finger two inches longer than the rest, you'll have a squared-off spike scraping your palm and fingers if you try to spin it. The only way I could get it to work was to twirl it on the tip of my finger. Doesn't feel safe, but perhaps I'm too untalented to use this. If you are, you'll know better. Right?

IMHO, the edge is poorly formed. By that, I mean it is varied in width from 0.5 to 1mm randomly along the length of the blade. The edge is also a bit ragged, the way it looks if I over-sharpen a knife with coarse grit. Nicks here and there where the edge has "torn out".
As mentioned before, the faux-serrations are not sharpened at all. While the 2" portion on the top side of the tanto blade is shaped and lightly sharpened, it is surprisingly dull. I can run my thumb over it with quite a bit of pressure without risk. About as sharp as a metal ruler.

Few blades arrive fully sharpened, but this is a new limit for me. Regardless, I'm confident that all the edge and sharpening issues can be resolved with a good sharpening session. Most of all, I'd like to find someone competent enough to shape and sharpen the faux-serrations. Overall, it begs the question why did it come like this?

Another unanswered question concerns the decorative jimping that is carved along the entire length of the spine. In the exposed portions, it improves grip. No issue, there. But for the portion beneath the handle, the irregular edge merely creates voids between the tang and handle that need to be filled. Titan has used epoxy or something to fill most of the voids, but some have missing material. Not particularly attractive. If this was intentional, I'd recommend a contrasting color for filling the void so it doesn't look like an error. This is the only appearance issue with the knife. A clear contrast to this is the belly of the handle. It has a smooth tight fit between the scales and the tang. Great craftsmanship.

Overall, this is a solid, attractive... nice knife. It's not great but it could have been with just a bit more planning (e.g. restrict the jimping to where it can be used, and shrink the point on the pommel enough that the karambit can be used ...like a karambit). On the manufacture side, I think just a tiny bit more effort (aka: sharpen the serrations) would have kept the knife from feeling unfinished.

Also, and this is a user-correctable matter as well... the snap on the sheath is just a loop of leather. You have a 50/50 shot at either operating the snap, or causing the loop of leather to quickly rotate around the knife. After awhile, that got to the point that the snap was fully inside the sheath. That's really not something you want to fuss with in a hurry. Glue would be a sloppy fix. Better would be a hole through the loop of leather, and a strand tied off to keep it from spinning. Best would be... a job for a leathersmith. I don't know the best way to fix it, I just know it needs to be fixed.