Thought You Might Enjoy This Too!

J

JDB

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This is a cool thing for me guys. An old friend...or just the same as, came home last month. I made and sold a bunch of knives back in the early 80’s. I was just starting out as a knife maker, didn’t know what I didn’t know, but I made and sold a bunch of knives out of 440C stainless anyway.

I did a version of the old Shrade Sharpfinger design that was the only full tang knife I made at the time. It ended up being bought by a local businessman. As it turns out, he now works for the same employer as my wife. To make a long story short, they ran into each other last year. He told her he had broken the knife and asked her if I would fix it. Said he’d pay me whatever I wanted to get it fixed. Of course I said yes or I'd make him a new one to replace it if I couldn’t. And it wasn’t going to cost him anything.

He had actually just knocked off one of the bone bolsters. As I said, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And exactly how to do hidden pins was one of those things. ;~)

He’d been using it with the bolster missing for a couple years. My wife put him on a conference call with me. He wanted to make sure I didn’t change the thing or buff out all the character. Over my wife’s objections I might add. Just do my best to get a bolster back on. Didn’t even care if it was like the one he’d lost. He loved the old knife and just didn’t want any of the character he’d worked so hard to put in to it to go away. So I did as he asked. I hand fitted a new bolster identical to the original, sealed it and put a couple new coats of poly finish over the entire handle to seal in the history. Even left all the dings and wear patterns in the original finish.

The 28 year old scabbard was pretty beat up too. He says he carries it everywhere and has used it on many, many hunts. He wanted to pay me to make him a new one. So I made one to fit his rustic taste and gave it to him just for giving me a chance to see an old friend.

Man I wanted to keep it! I offered to trade him a brand new knife of any kind for it, but no deal. Oh, well. I may get him to trade yet.

But here is the knife. I was so excited to get to work on it that I forgot to take a pic before I fixed it, but this first picture is what he got back. And he is tickled to death to have it. Yep, those streaks at the grind line are sharpening scuffs. There’s a lot less blade than there use to be. And the smudges are deer fat from the last time he harvested one. I did sharpen the dang thing though. Couldn’t stand it. Hope he doesn’t loose a finger. LOL

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Oh, I don’t make that exact knife anymore. I do still make a version of the knife. That’s what’s in the second pic. It’s 1084 steel, ebony and bone with white vinyl spacers. You can see, they are a lot alike. Just a little more refined is all.

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Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool to get a chance to see a knife I made that's been through nearly 30 years of use. And to talk to an owner that loves the thing as much as I do the old knife I carry.

Thought you guys might enjoy the story too.
 
That is neat!

I hang around with Gil Hibben a lot and I have heard several stories from soldiers who carried his knives in Viet Nam or hunters who have use them for years. It's really cool to see what the knives have been through.

Since I didn't get started until 2003 and I am 55 now I don't suppose I will be hearing any of stories about my knives.
 
Great story.
I had a customer return a knife that was stolen from his tent while on Safari, apparently somthing (he thought hyena) liked the taste of the stacked leather handle! What I got back was somthing that looked like my Boxer had chewed on for a month or so. It was really cool to redo it for him, and make a new sheath (it was never found).

Its always nice to see your older work, and in my case much lesser quality be enjoyed so much by clients.

God Bless
Mike
 
Yep great story. You should be proud he's still using it after all these years.
Thanks for sharing.
mitch
 
LOL...Hyenas huh. Well, I'm not sure I'll ever have That happen, but it's dang cool Mike!

And Mike Carter, you may be an old fart, but you'll have it happen. And man...it must be cool to have Gil as a resource!

Thanks guys. Glad you enjoyed the story. It's the first time I've had it happen in nearly 30 years and it was one of the first. I thought it was just neat as heck to get to inspect my first work over again.

It's funny how memory and reality can vary. I would have bet money that it looked a lot more like my current stuff. Wrong answer. LOL
 
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