The Spyderco ARK—or “Always Ready Knife™—is a purpose-designed personal-defense knife conceived by U.S. Army combat veteran John Shirley and his friend Sam Owens. While deployed to Afghanistan, Shirley learned that an alarming number of U.S. personnel were falling victim to sexual assault, particularly while showering. Drawing from his knowledge of the Japanese martial arts and with the help of Owens’ skills as a craftsman, they developed the ARK as a lightweight self-defense tool that can literally be carried anywhere.

The heart of the Spyderco ARK is its deeply curved clip-point blade ground from H-2® steel—a nitrogen-based alloy that is extremely corrosion resistant. The curved edge packs impressive cutting power into the compact blade and the clip-point profile ensures a strong, extremely sharp point. The ARK’s fiberglass-reinforced-nylon (FRN) handle is molded directly onto the tang. The handles feature Spyderco’s proven Bi-Directional Texturing™ pattern and an index-finger groove to guarantee a secure grip—even with wet hands.

Based on its intended purpose, the Spyderco ARK needed to be small, lightweight, easily carried, and 100% rustproof. It also needed to provide an exceptionally secure grip and be easy to wield with minimal skills and training. With these criteria in mind, the heart of the ARK is its deeply curved clip-point blade ground from H2 steel—a nitrogen-based alloy that is completely immune to rust. The curved edge and deep hollow grind ensure exceptional edge geometry and pack as much edge length as possible into the compact blade. The clip profile lowers the blade tip closer to the knife’s centerline for efficient energy transfer during a thrust and provides a strong, extremely sharp point.

The ARK includes an injection-molded polymer neck sheath with a breakaway ball chain. Best of all, the ARK and its sheath together weigh only 2.0 ounces (57 grams), so you’ll hardly know it’s there—until you need it.

• Blade Length: 2.5″
• Cutting Edge: 2.1″
• Overall Length: 4.98″
• Blade Style: Clip Point
• Blade Grind: Hollow
• Blade Material: H2 Stainless Steel
• Handle Material: Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon (FRN)
• Sheath: Injection-Molded Polymer
• Weight: 2 oz.