Harsey Folder, Memento Mori special edition.
This is the Memento Mori special edition of the Spartan Harsey Folder, built on the award winning full titanium SHF platform designed with William Harsey Jr. The front handle is laser engraved with a full skeleton framed in ornate scrollwork, with Memento Mori across a banner at the top and Ultima Forsan in a panel at the bottom. The back reads Life is for Living between two skulls. It pairs a black PVD 4 inch CPM-MagnaCut spear point with blue anodized titanium hardware and a matching blue clip.
Memento Mori
Memento mori is Latin for remember that you will die. The idea is ancient, and over the centuries the phrase became the name for an entire tradition in Western art and thought, the skulls on scholars' desks, the hourglasses in paintings, the skeletons carved into churches.
The Stoics built a daily practice around it. Seneca and Marcus Aurelius both wrote that keeping death in view is what makes a person spend the day well instead of assuming there will always be another one. The tradition is also often traced to the Roman triumph, where a victorious general parading through the city was said to be reminded, in the middle of his greatest honor, that he was only a man.
Ultima Forsan
Ultima forsan means perhaps the last. For centuries it was carved onto sundials and clock faces across Europe, and the meaning is that the hour you are reading the time by may be your last. Timekeepers were covered in mottoes like this one. Checking the time became a small daily reminder to ask how you were spending it.
Life is for Living
The back of the knife carries the part people tend to forget. Memento mori was never meant to make anyone afraid of dying. It was meant to keep people from wasting the time they had. The answering phrase in Latin is memento vivere, remember to live, and Life is for Living says the same thing in plain English. The two skulls bracketing the words keep the reminder in view even on the side meant to lift you.
Why They Belong Together
Read the knife from front to back and it makes the whole argument the tradition always made. Death is certain. The hour is uncertain. So live now. Each phrase on its own is a fragment, and together they are one complete thought.
The skeleton belongs to the same lineage. In the late medieval danse macabre, skeletons led kings, bishops, merchants, and laborers in the same procession, because death came for all of them equally. It was the great leveler, and a reminder that rank and wealth buy no exemption.
It is a fitting thing to carry on a knife from a shop founded by two former Special Forces soldiers, men who spent their careers in work where the reminder was never abstract.
The Details
The black PVD blade carries USA and MagnaCut with the Spartan helmet on the show side and William W. Harsey's signature on the reverse. PVD is a hard coating bonded to the steel, so it resists wear far better than a paint or a cerakote. The blue anodized pivot, thumb studs, screws, and clip set off the brushed titanium, and a blue anodized titanium inlay near the butt carries the Spartan crest.
The SHF
Everything but the blade, pivot, and stop pin is machined titanium. It deploys on dual thumb studs over phosphor bronze bushings, and the action breaks in and gets better with use rather than loosening up. At 5.9 ounces it is a heavy, confidence inspiring folder that gets compared to Chris Reeve and Hinderer. This is a 2023 special edition, so what is out there is what is out there.
Specifications
- Blade Length: 4"
- Overall Length: 9"
- Blade Steel: CPM-MagnaCut
- Blade Style: Spear point, flat ground with tapered top edge
- Blade Finish: Black PVD
- Blade Markings: USA, MagnaCut, Spartan helmet, William W. Harsey signature
- Handle Material: 6AL-4V titanium, brushed, laser engraved
- Front Engraving: Skeleton with scrollwork, Memento Mori, Ultima Forsan
- Back Engraving: Life is for Living, flanked by two skulls
- Hardware: Blue anodized titanium
- Pocket Clip: Blue anodized titanium
- Inlay: Blue anodized titanium, Spartan crest
- Edition: 2023 Special Edition, Memento Mori
- Lock Type: Frame lock
- Deployment: Dual thumb stud, phosphor bronze bushings
- Weight: 5.9 oz
- Designer: William Harsey Jr.
- Country of Origin: Made in USA (Southern Pines, North Carolina)
About Spartan Blades
Spartan Blades is based in Southern Pines, North Carolina, founded by two former Special Forces soldiers, Curtis Iovito and Mark Carey. The shop builds its knives in the USA and backs them with a lifetime warranty.
We Toured the Shop
The Great American Knife Tour™ visited Spartan Blades and did a full shop tour with co-founder Curtis Iovito. If you want to see the shop, the machines, and the people behind the work, it is worth a watch.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW094XawGfs
Proudly carrying American
