The Dharma Automatic is Hypercut MFG's push button auto, machined by Dylan and his crew in Mills River, North Carolina. Serial 0233 runs a 3.2 inch CPM-S45VN tanto in a purple and blue anodized titanium frame with honeycomb cutouts, a bronze flipper tab, and a bronze pivot.
The Colorway
The frame shifts from deep purple into blue depending on how you hold it, which is what titanium anodizing does when it is run at the right voltage. Against that, the bronze tab and bronze pivot are the warmest thing on the knife, and the only warm thing. Purple and bronze is not a combination you see often, and it is the reason this one gets picked up first.
The honeycomb cutouts run the length of the frame, which drops weight and shows the liner underneath.
Specifications
- Model: Dharma Automatic
- Serial Number: 0233
- Blade Length: 3.2"
- Blade Steel: CPM-S45VN
- Blade Shape: Tanto
- Frames: Titanium, purple to blue anodized, honeycomb cutouts
- Flipper Tab: Bronze
- Pivot: Bronze finished titanium
- Spacer: Titanium
- Clip: Titanium
- Action: Push button automatic
- Country of Origin: Made in USA (Mills River, North Carolina)
- SKU: HC-DHARMA-AUTO-0233
Hand Ground, One at a Time
Dylan grinds every bevel by hand on a belt sander rather than sending them out. As he puts it, a lot of makers believe the soul of the knife is in the bevel, and that is where his blood, sweat, and tears go. Building one means assembling and disassembling the same knife something like a hundred times before it ships.
S45VN and the Tanto
S45VN is the updated S35VN, with more chromium for better corrosion resistance and a finer grain that holds an edge longer. The tanto puts a second, shorter edge at the front at an angle to the main one, which leaves a lot of steel behind the point. On an automatic that gets opened hard, that is the right tip to have.
Made in North Carolina
Dylan started Hypercut with one used 1996 mill he bought off Facebook Marketplace and wired in himself. That machine still runs. Asked why he builds in America, his answer was short: because that is where he lives.
Why This One Stands Out
Purple over bronze, honeycomb cut, and there is exactly one 0233.
Proudly carrying American
