Machined from a brick of solid brass, the Kraken Blade will withstand hard use. A rustproof, working knife, ready to go when you need it. No outdoors adventurer should be going about without a trusty cutting tool by his side.

First-in-class, seamless blade deployments. Keep it magnetically locked, or snap it open for unrestricted action. With a reliable and intuitive mechanism, nothing can get in your way when slicing through your daily tasks.

Below, are targeted milestones that we have hit, as a community. When we hit a goal, each and every backer benefits — it’s our way of saying thank you! 

•  $10k — Stainless steel hardware! The nuts and bolts complementing your Kraken Blade, shall be made out of corrosion-resistant stainless steel.  
•  $25k — In addition to the $10K goal, we will add custom pivot washers in soft copper, for smoother, more robust, opening action.
•  $35k — In addition to the $10K and $25K goals, we will start manufacturing the knives before the campaign ends, which will move the shipping date up by up to four weeks (depending on when we unlock the reward!).
•  $50k — In addition to the $10K, $25K, and $35K goals, we will add double the clasping magnets.
•  $75k — In addition to the $10K, $25K, $35K, and $50K goals, we will engineer and add a completely custom, split-shaft, Chicago screw style, pivot screw(s) in stainless steel (of course!). 
•  $100k — In addition to the $10K, $25K, $35K, $50K, and $75K goals, we will also ship an additional No. 1992 carbon steel utility blade (*possibly domestic only).
•  $150k — In addition to the $10K, $25K, $35K, $50K, $75K, and $100K goals, every knife backer gets an extra solid brass Bow-Shackle. 
•  $400k — In addition to the $10K, $25K, $35K, $50K, $75K, and $150K goals, every knife backer gets an extra set of stainless steel hardware.

We’ll send out the item from the corresponding tier with each Kraken Blade automatically depending on where we finish!

No mythical sea monster has ever been quite as terrifying as the Kraken.  This massive, many-armed creature could reach as high as the top of the main mast of a sailing ship, according to stories. A Kraken would strike a vessel by wrapping its arms around the hull and capsizing it.  What’s unique about the Kraken legends is that we have the best evidence of this beast being based on something real.

Although in Systema Naturae (Carolus Linnaeus-1735) the word Kraken is first found in print, tales about this creature seem to date back to  Norway in the twelfth century. Such tales refer to a creature so large that it is mistaken for an island or an archipelago. Even as late as  1752, when Bergen’s Bishop Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan wrote his The Natural History of Norway, he described the Kraken with a width of one and a half miles as “incontestably the world’s largest sea monster.”

In 1802 the French scientist Pierre Denys de Montfort stated in his book on the natural history of mollusks that the creature encountered by  Norwegian sailors was the kracken octopus. The legendary Kraken is basically what we now know as the giant squid.  While a colossal octopus may also fit the description, it is thought that the squid will be much more violent and more likely to come to the surface where men could see it.

The No. 1992 steel utility blade present in the Kraken Blade is tough and will stay sharp with daily use due to its great edge retention and corrosion-resistant material. Without worrying about getting chipped, dull bent, or broken, you can use it for camping, fishing, sailing, as a work tool, or most EDC tasks.

A dull blade can be more dangerous than a sharp one. Dull knives require more cutting pressure, thereby reducing control. When your blade is dull easily replace it with a sharp new one. These blades can be found worldwide at most hardware stores and online.

It is not only great at cutting, nipping, or carving. Its pointy tip is useful for delicate puncturing and may be more useful than a blunt-tipped knife in the situation of survival at sea.

The Kraken Blade has been manufactured to thrive over decades of use, through all of the conditions you intend to throw it through. What was once a labor of love, is now a timeless utility instrument available for all, but we need your help to make this dream a reality.

Our products are steeply discounted off retail prices because we want to reward our very first customers. The opportunity to purchase a knife of this magnitude at this price is rare. With our finishing assembly, our master craftsmanship, the Kraken Blade, with your help, shall be accessible to all.

We stand behind the quality of our tools and the uniqueness and complexity of our hardware. Each piece has its own unique character that we hope will bring joy and nostalgia when put into action.

The Oceanus Brass Kraken Blade is currently spec’d to be as followed. As with any project not yet complete, these dimensions may change slightly over time as we optimize our manufacturing systems and the tool’s design:

•  Weight: ~9oz (254g)
•  Width: ~1.6in (40mm)
•  Length (Without Bow-Shackle, closed): ~4.4in (113mm)
•  Length (Without Bow-Shackle, open): ~6.3in (160mm)
•  Thickness (Without Bow-Shackle): ~0.6in (16mm) 
•  Length (With Bow-Shackle, closed): ~4.9in (124mm)
•  Length (With Bow-Shackle, open): ~6.7in (171mm)  
•  Thickness (With Bow-Shackle): ~1.0in (25mm)

The versatility of the Bow-Shackle made it an indispensable tool on the seas, and it continues to impress today. Although the brass Bow-Shackle is the statement piece of the Kraken Blade, we have made it independently available through this Kickstarter campaign as a gift for backers at our $10 tier. Creativity is your only boundary when putting the Bow-Shackle to use.

The Bow-Shackle makes for a helpful attachment point. There’s really no excuse for losing your Kraken Blade. You can easily attach it to your backpack, sailing jacket, or any outdoor equipment.

With our design roots in Boston, our company draws creative inspiration from the hub of America’s rich nautical history. In developing our products, our original prototypes and inspiration came from the old shipyards of East Boston.

The nautically-inspired Kraken Blade harkens back to a time of adventure on open seas, its durability a testament to the harsh demands of that bygone era. Our hardware is tied to the art and science of sailing and exploration. We’ve invested into refining the Kraken Blade into its final, perfectly balanced form.

Inspired by nautical-grade hardware, the Kraken Blade is Oceanus’s signature utility instrument. Its unique rich color and practical beauty are perfect for everyday use, travel, or adventure.

We launched Oceanus Brass because we wanted to share our nautically inspired knife with the world and turn an idea into action. A project that was both challenging and rewarding, the Oceanus Brass Kraken Blade is something we are very proud to share with you. We hope to encourage others to try their hand at something new just as we did, to build something of their own, to go through that exploration process of learning and bringing inspiration to fruition. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the many relationships we’ve built along the way with industrial designers and manufacturers who helped us push the boundaries of what we were told was possible.

Since launching our first product in 2017, The Oceanus Brass – Bow Shackle Pen,  we are proud to have been embraced by the ocean-loving community.  Below are a few of our favorite excerpts of what the experts are saying  about our products;

Cool Material: “If your EDC needs some serious knife variety, the nautically-themed   Bosun’s Edge Knife should fit in perfectly. Both utilitarian and  artful,  the Bosun’s Edge is made from solid brass and uses a  replaceable  utility blade for perpetual sharpness on the cheap.”

Life In The Slow Lane: “It’s a beautiful pen and we’ll enjoy having it on our boat, and it’ll make a wonderful heirloom to pass down to our grandson one day. Maybe  he’ll even have a special boat to keep it on.”

My2Fish: “The solid brass construction is nearly indestructible, so for the cost  of pen ink refill every couple of years, this pen will likely last  forever.”

Sailing Britican: “In the past, I’ve been known to tape string to the end of a pen or tie string around a cap but it inevitably fails when someone gives a little tug and off my pen goes. In other words, my efforts to prevent other pen thieves have failed miserably…but not with my bow-shackle pen! I have it attached to my nav station book rail.”

Dinghy Dreams: “Even though I’m ink rich right now I keep navigating back to the same one, my shackle pen by Oceanus Brass. Nautically inspired and handcrafted by a small start-up company in Boston, Mass., this pen is nearly impossible to lose as it has a shackle to attach to logbooks, dry bags, or wherever you see fit aboard your vessel. As I’ve been route  planning for my upcoming voyage this pen has been seeing much use and it  writes just as smoothly as the day it came out of the box.”

What is the history of the Kraken Blade? Well, let’s shine a specific spotlight on an inspiring Creative Commons 3d model;

• The work done by BiscuitsOnTheFloor, through the Creative Commons Licensed, 3D model, “Retracc” which can be found here, is a significant inspiration for the Kraken Blade. BiscuitsOnTheFloor is an impressive US-based designer. For any sailor with a 3-d printer onboard their vessel, be sure to check out all work, here!
• The work done by CorrugatorSupercilii, through the Creative Commons Licensed, 3D STL model, “cat claw” which can be found here, was “remixed” by BiscuitsOnTheFloor and improved. 

We built our own model from scratch to optimize its design, its function, and its ability to be machined in brass. More information on the work mentioned above can be found here.  To honor our community and those from who we drew inspiration, more information on our version of the four-bar-linkage model can be found there as well. Some of the ideas sent to us (looking at you @ChrisB), have been very clever and we would love for our latest spin on a four-bar-linkage tool to have as many eyes, hands, and sailors on it, as possible!

BUYING: You must certify that you are 18+ years of age, that you are legally able to purchase this item, and that you will use it responsibly. 

We intend to include a No. 1992 carbon steel utility blade with each Kraken Blade purchased (or two blades when the stretch goal is unlocked!). For international backers, an option may be made available during the fulfillment process to possibly have the blades removed from the shipment all together — we had this request during the fulfillment of the Bosun’s Edge campaign. As with all campaigns, customs/duty fees are the responsibility of the backer. In the past hasn’t been an issue, but with strange occurrences such as Brexit, we will do our best to support however possible. 

To keep up the momentum, please share the campaign on social media and or tell your friends, co-workers, and neighbors about us! We are so excited to start making your Oceanus Brass Kraken Blade!

Risks, Challenges & More info! 

This is our 15th Kickstarter campaign! For once, there are really limited risks here. The inspiration for the Kraken Blade among others, is; the “retracc” by biscuitsonthefloor, thingiverse.com/thing:3028388 creativecommons – attribution license (CC BY), creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, full Disclaimer of Warranties, and “cat claw” by corrugatorsupercilii, thingiverse.com/thing:3002809, creativecommons – attribution license (CC BY), full Disclaimer of Warranties, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0. When we first made this piece for our own use, building a model, and then iterating on the prototype, allowed us to understand and improve its functionality, which we are happy to be releasing now. For manufacturing, through previous engagements, our Master Craftswoman has worked with many of our prospective manufacturers in the past, so we do not foresee issues there.

We are confident and passionate about delivering quality goods. We have spent months in preparation of this campaign, and years on its design, executing pre-production optimizations to ensure we can meet our high standard. We have internally funded the design and production of our signature brass hardware. Our resources and team are experienced, so we do not foresee any issues with our ability to deliver your new Oceanus Brass Kraken Blade upon successful funding of our project.

We will keep you up-to-date on the progress of production and let you know of any issues impacting our ability to promptly deliver your new Oceanus products, including steps we are taking to get back on track. We will do our best to manufacture locally as we have done to date but may shift focus onto manufacturing overseas if doing so will result in delay avoidance or quality consistency. We stand ready to resolve any challenges to make sure you have a positive experience with our service and product!

Environmental commitments

Long-lasting design

Brass has been a faithful material to sailors for eons. For almost as long as we have explored the seas, we have relied on brass. Because it is made of solid brass, the Oceanus Brass Kraken Blade is corrosion resistant and built to last.

Reusability and recyclability

The Kraken Blade accommodates replaceable blades that are sold worldwide. There’s no need to throw the knife away — when dull, simply replace the blade with a new one.

Sustainable Distribution

We do not use any plastic packaging, only renewable materials. There’s also no over-packaging.