Just finished up this F14 model. Black walnut handle. Dog star pattern damascus. I still have to engrave it. Its designed for your hand to lock into it easier.... going by the thought of why make the handle the widest where the fingers are the shortest. It works upside down well also.
A joy to look at and a very useful bit of beauty, what more can a person ask for. Thank you for sharing it with us. You may not post often, but this post is a worthy post and if you are involved in making such creations of beauty, I will treasure the quality of the posts you make. There are several in the Monkey that make knives and a lot of us appreciate the inherent beauty of a well made tool. I for one would like to see more of your work. The damascus pattern enhances the beauty, but the form and flow of the knife are in themselves a work of art.
Yeah, i am a one man shop, then sweep it at the end of day. I have a few other recent pieces since i am getting ready for my microshow next month. Its the only time of year i have 2 or more finished pieces at the house. Normally i send it out to whoever and start the next one but for the microshow i have 6 plus the one $8.00 knife. When i started making knives i sold them for $8 each. So, each year i sell one for $8 ..to remember where i came from and struggles. Its only available at the microshow and its normal value would be 4k-6k, depending on what it is. They sign up for it and we draw for it.
This is my Custer set. The wood is a mix of the only known wood from Custers birth home, (it was torn down in early 1900's) and the tree frim under which Custer took his orders at the Battle of the Wilderness in the civil war, according to diaries. Wandering trail pattern damascus. All the gold work is 24kt.
Custer set resonates with me. My great grandfather came from Germany and fought with the First Minnesota in the Civil War. Went with them when the war finished and ended up in Minnesota with a homestead. One of his friends was a Lakota who was with the unit and he married his sister. When I was a kid, early 1940's, family members from the reservation in Red Wing would camp out in my grandfathers pasture. In the early 1940's one old man told me he had been a child at Greasy Grass and saw the battle from a distance. Mostly hid in a tipi. Went up and saw the bodies. His father had been in Minnesota during the Sioux troubles and saw what happened afterwards. They packed up and went back to Minnesota the next day and he ended up on Praire Island rather than in Rosebud. Not sure what all happened or when, I was about 6 at the time listening to a bunch of old men talk. Wish I had known more. Death is the great eraser, if not written down, it either fades away or is gone. Beautiful set, thank you for sharing. Always liked the top strap on the Remington rather than the open Colt. Seems a lot stronger and just looks more complete.
It is all your fault OldDude as I clicked on the video. That lead to several other video's on knife making, different ways of making Kurkuri, traditional, modern, and high tech western methods. Then that lead to other knife styles and 3 hours later I am so far down the rabbit hole that I don't even know if I can get out. Now have two people to thank, Jerry for sharing his beautiful knives with us and you leading to some very good video's. Pleasant and in my mind not a wasted afternoon. Got a lot of pleasure out this post. Thank you all. Could spend hours talking about the Gurka blades, different techniques, strengths and weakness of different ways of making them, a beautiful topic. Watching the traditional makers using the knives to build the next generation was in itself a pleasure as was forging and not grinding to make the traditional made ones. The ultimate survival tool, does so many things well and if cared for would last generations and we have people using them in Asia that prove this to be true.
Duane, with the traditional hand making makers did they talk about the ones marked "UB"? Thats uncle Bill. Good story there.
