Tiny Tanto

Derespina, Richard

Richard Derespina has been making Karambits since 1999, long before the current Karambit craze swept the knife community. He was a salesman at a sporting goods store and avid collector and part time practitioner of knife based martial arts. At the front of the Karambit market, he has made mostly this type of fighting/utility knives from his start. With an interest and enthusiasm for the martial arts he found the Karambit to be quite a knife for all purposes and set out to make some that he felt were useful for the knowledgeable practitioner as well as the layman. The advantage of the Karambit is the index finger hole; it makes it very hard to lose this knife under "hard use" or "stress-full situations" like combat, rock climbing, search and rescue, etc. Though not his only knife, it is his primary style. He rarely makes the same knife twice for a more custom and personal feel. While the profiles are the same the grinds change all the time.