Benchmade's Kitsari Is a Kitsune-Inspired Hawkbill in Damasteel and 24K Gold
Benchmade built its name on function, which makes it easy to forget that founder Les deAsis started with the balisong — the company was literally named Bali-Song, and a butterfly still sits in the logo. The Special Products Division has now returned to that aesthetic-first instinct with a limited run called the Kitsari.
The shape is the news. The Kitsari runs a 3.146-inch blade in a dramatically downswept hawkbill, a profile Benchmade has almost never shipped in a production model. A hawkbill pulls material into the edge rather than pushing it away, which is why the pattern survives in carpet knives, pruning tools, and rescue blades: it is excellent at controlled pulling cuts and poor at fine piercing. Pairing that geometry with an EDC-scale 3.146-inch blade is a deliberate choice, and it means the Kitsari will be far better at cutting rope, straps, and shrink wrap than at opening envelopes.
Two variants carry the design in different directions. The 213-001 uses Fafnir Damasteel with a deep etch and a high-polish DLC finish, plus 24-karat gold-plated hardware and machined grooves and laser etching on the scales meant to evoke the kitsune, the nine-tailed fox of Japanese folklore. The 213-002 uses a steel Benchmade calls Z12-Ultra, described as first-to-market, under a black Cerakote finish. Both are 3.146-inch hawkbills; the difference is entirely material and finish.
That is the honest way to compare them. The 213-002 is the tool: an unfamiliar tool steel in a coated, low-glare finish that can be carried without anxiety. The 213-001 is the object: pattern-welded steel, gold hardware, and etching that make it a display knife. Benchmade's Special Products runs rarely sit in inventory for long, and limited-run pricing on the Damasteel model is the part that will age worst for anyone who waits.
Verdict: the Kitsari is the most interesting shape Benchmade has released in years, and the hawkbill is a genuine functional argument rather than styling. Buy the 213-002 to use it; buy the 213-001 to look at it. Neither is a first knife, and anyone who wants a general-purpose Benchmade should look elsewhere.