Based out of Seki, the knife captial of Japan, Mcusta has been making modern knives with traditional Japanese influence for the past 30 years. Mcusta starts with high end materials such as damascus, titanium and exotic hardwoods. Each piece of a Mcusta knife is first precision machined before being meticulously hand finished. This produces a “Machined Custom” and is how Mcusta got its name.
As for places to buy Mcusta knives, I have always been impressed with BladeHQ’s selection along with their fast shipping and excellent customer service.
Mcusta Knife Reviews:
Mcusta Tactility Review
Last Updated: August 3, 2019 I recently reviewed a Mcusta MC-1 and I was impressed by this relatively little-known Japanese knife manufacturer. Based out of Seki, Japan, Mcusta is part of the city’s proud cutlery making tradition that began hundreds of years ago. If you haven’t checked out my MC-1 review yet, I loved the high ...
Mcusta MC-1 Review
Nestled in the heart of Seki Japan, Mcusta has been a part of Japan’s renown knifemaking industry since 1964. Often compared to Solingen, Germany, Seki is a knife-nut’s dream. Rich in resources such as iron sand, charcoal and water, Seki has been the center of Japanese cutlery production for over 780 years. Buy the ...
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Mcusta makes a variety of knives but they focus mostly on higher end folders. Their knives have traditional Japanese influence to them but they use modern locking features, many of pocket clips and the other things you would expect from today’s folding knives. Most are decorative gentleman’s folder type blades, but they are also light weight and will built so they can be ideal EDC options as well.
One interesting thing to note is that Mcusta uses VG-10 for their blade steel. You can get most of their knives in plain VG-10 or laminated damascus over a VG-10 core. Mcusta knives all have very fine points. These sharp tips offer great penetration, and anyone fascinated with incredibly sharp objects will find some comfort in their blades.
For whatever reason Mcusta is not super popular among American knife collectors. I think the somewhat traditional nature of these Japanese blades may have something to do with it. It certainly isn’t the level of fit and finish. Personally, I fell in love with their designs the moment I saw them. Several Mcusta knives later, I can recommend them to anyone who appreciates fine cutlery.
Taking the review of the MC-1 in to consideration, I looked for a vendor for that or other model Mcusta. After trolling eBay, and others knife specific sites, I stumbled across a Japanese site (http://www.japaneseknifedirect.com), and browsed until I found something that caught my eye. I clicked on new models, and linked to the MC-11 Series “Tsuchi” 槌 (Hammered) and decided on the MC-114D Tsuchi (Hammered), Large. The pricing was in line with other sites, and delivery was promised to be quick. Product was sitting at post-office within 5 days, and while the mail carrier didn’t leave a slip, very detailed on-line tracking let me know the package was “in retention”. The pictures on-line make the body of the knife look dark, however that’s an artifact of a shiny patina interrupted by neolithic looking dents, i.e. hammered look. It all works very well, and flows into the damascus VG-10 blade as it too has a few “dents”. The blade opens fairly easily, not like any assisted opening, but easily enough using the thumb stud. If the blade took some design from a CRKT model, a little back end flipper would make this Mcusta even better. The damascus design is fairly tight, with no obvious pattern, still it’s wavy design is a bit hypnotic. The blade is shaving-sharp, and I’m deciding if I’ll use the knife or keep it for display. The only disappointing element to this design, and probably to all Mcusta knives is the highly malleable pocket clip. I had the knife clipped to my jeans and I’m not sure what did it, but within a day or so, the clip had bent out enough as not to be useful any longer. Be aware and be careful, otherwise you may end up loosing your new purchase. I contacted the vendor, and they are giving Mcusta this feedback. So far on-line search for matching holes for alternate pocket clip is unsuccessful, so may go to custom vendor and provide them the clip to drill holes in a thicker steel or titanium clip.
Hey Rick,
Thank you for dropping by and sharing some thoughts on your Mcusta and buying experience. I have seen the Tsuchi before, and it is a handsome knife. I did not have that experience with the clip on my Tactility. That was a pretty sturdy clip. But with any luck Mcusta will do something to remedy the problem.
Dan
I think certain knives have a slightly different clip which is more durable.
Definitely different knives have different clips my Mcusta Damascus tacatilly has a very thick n durable pocketclip. It has become my 2nd. E.D.C. along with my ZT hinderer 0393 use to alternate between my emersons benchmade and Al Mar sere 2000 I bought both of these knives in the past month and they are my permanent e.d.c. now I’ll still collect knives but my search for the perfect pair for E.D.C. has been found.