Shiro Custom With Carbon Fiber Reverse Inlay and a Mirror-Polished S110V Blade Steals r/knifeclub's Week
Shirogorov posts reliably stop the scroll on r/knifeclub, and this week's entry was a showstopper even by those standards. The knife in question is a Shiro custom wearing carbon fiber reverse inlay scales and a CPM S110V blade finished to a full mirror polish — a combination of materials and hand work that sits about as high as production-plus custom knives get. The post cleared 120 upvotes within its first day, making it one of the most-seen showcases of the week on the sub.
The details matter to people who know Shirogorov. Reverse inlay is the brand's signature construction trick — instead of setting inlay material into a hollowed titanium show-side scale, Shiro machines the scale from the back and lays the carbon fiber in from the reverse, which gives a seamless, gapless look that standard inlays cannot match. Pairing that with a mirror-polished S110V blade is a deliberate flex: S110V is a steel famous for extreme edge retention and equally famous for being miserable to polish by hand, so a mirror finish on it advertises both performance and patience.
The reaction thread read like a seminar on why Shirogorov holds its place at the top of the production-custom hierarchy. Commenters traded notes on the reverse-inlay process, the grind geometry visible in the video, and the finishing standard that separates Shiro's customs from its already-excellent production knives. Several regulars pointed out that this is the level of work buyers are actually paying for when they chase a Shiro custom on the secondary market — not just the name, but the tolerances and the hand-finishing that no CNC run can replicate.
Posts like this are also a reminder of the range inside the hobby. The same week that r/BudgetBlades spent 80 comments debating whether to toss a knife whose blade flew off mid-flick, r/knifeclub was admiring a mirror-polished S110V custom worth more than most members' entire collections. Both threads are healthy; they are just different neighborhoods of the same obsession. For a collector, the Shiro post is a useful benchmark of what the top of the market looks like — and for a maker, it is a target.
Whether a Shiro custom is on your wishlist or just your wallpaper folder, the thread is worth watching for the close-up video of the inlay work and the finish. Head over to r/knifeclub to see why this one earned the week's top spot.