- Joined
- Sep 1, 2006
- Messages
- 2,036
Those of you who know me know I'm a big fan of Bailey's work, particularly his "folding bowies" and his Japanese-style offerings. I train in the Japanese sword art I study with a katana Bailey made to my specs--and my left thumb can testify to exactly how sharp one of Bailey's blades is. :foot:
Anyway, I'm fairly certain I've never posted a photo of this knife before. It's not a recent acquisition but it's one of my favorites and I thought it deserved to be shown here, despite my poor photography skills:
This is a sole authorship piece with Bailey's deep relief engraving, inlay, and his bail lock mechanism.
Now, some of you may be wondering what the heck the thing is in the lower part of the photo. It's an example of some of Bailey's recent work. More specifically, from Bradshaw Gun & Rifle.
The rifle is a Farquharson-style falling block single-shot - again, made to my specs and measurements - in .45-70 Government. All of the work except the boring of the barrel (and manufacture of the Lee Shaver front sight and rear Soule sight) was done in Bailey's shop. The careful eye will note Bailey's damascus on the grip cap.
The damascus can be found elsewhere (notably on the butt plate) but photographing that proved beyond my abilities. Bailey was also kind enough to scatter some additional engraving about the action.
Just thought you all might be interested to see what Bailey's been up to lately. I tried to convince Bailey to make a matching bowie to go along with the rifle but he declined--he has more work than he knows what to do with just making rifles. I'm sure many of you would agree that is a shame, but for me the sting of the realization that we won't see any new knives from Bailey is tempered by the gorgeous work he's doing making fine rifles!
Anyway, I'm fairly certain I've never posted a photo of this knife before. It's not a recent acquisition but it's one of my favorites and I thought it deserved to be shown here, despite my poor photography skills:
This is a sole authorship piece with Bailey's deep relief engraving, inlay, and his bail lock mechanism.
Now, some of you may be wondering what the heck the thing is in the lower part of the photo. It's an example of some of Bailey's recent work. More specifically, from Bradshaw Gun & Rifle.
The rifle is a Farquharson-style falling block single-shot - again, made to my specs and measurements - in .45-70 Government. All of the work except the boring of the barrel (and manufacture of the Lee Shaver front sight and rear Soule sight) was done in Bailey's shop. The careful eye will note Bailey's damascus on the grip cap.
The damascus can be found elsewhere (notably on the butt plate) but photographing that proved beyond my abilities. Bailey was also kind enough to scatter some additional engraving about the action.
Just thought you all might be interested to see what Bailey's been up to lately. I tried to convince Bailey to make a matching bowie to go along with the rifle but he declined--he has more work than he knows what to do with just making rifles. I'm sure many of you would agree that is a shame, but for me the sting of the realization that we won't see any new knives from Bailey is tempered by the gorgeous work he's doing making fine rifles!
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I've seen several falling block rifles where the engraving was very subtle--I think that is the aesthetic Bailey was aiming for with this one, and I'm not one to argue with him. 
