Inspired by ancient Japanese sword making, the Dawson hamon (刃文) is the visible temper line of a differentially hardened blade. It’s created during our own custom fusion of modern and traditional heat treat techniques, where the cutting edge and the spine are brought to different hardness levels using a highly-skilled application of controlled heat.

When the blade is polished or etched, this transition reveals itself as a flowing, mist-like line—sometimes subtle and smoky, other times bright and dramatic. No two hamon are ever exactly alike. Each one captures forever the moment when a blade passed through the fire and came out stronger on the other side.