A REAL Whittler

[ea42]

Most of you guys have probably heard of ex-football great Walt Garrison, and know of his affiliation with Schrade as their spokesperson in the 1990's. He was an extremely avid whittler, able to whittle chains, balls in boxes, figurines, you name it. He'd sit and whittle to while away the hours between pactices like we'd read a book.
He used to be present in the Schrade booth during trade shows, showing off his skills, and used the sheepfoot blade almost exclusively for his projects. Upon seeing this, some of the guys suggested that a number of knives be made up with just that blade, and so the Walt Garrison knife was born. There were only around three dozen of those knives made, which he'd bring to the shows to whittle with, then give a couple away to some lucky members of the audience. The knife is an 80 framed, brass bolstered, maple burl handled 4 incher with three sheepfoot blades installed (the usual clip and spey omitted). The blades were, upon Walt's specs, sharpened at a super flat angle, with the edge then polished on a paper wheel. The result is a scalpel-like edge. Here are a few pics of one of the knives, which unfortunately has a few spots, but is otherwise in excellent condition :

Reposting the pics:



Eric

 

[tongueriver]

That is a great idea and a great knife. Western used to make a "dynamite knife," with 4 big sheepfoot blades for working with explosives in construction and mining. I wonder if somebody couldn't load up an 8OT like that out of spare parts? Maybe have to find non Swinden key Camillus?

 

[rprocter]

Neat knife Eric. Now i'll be on the look out for one of these to show up on ebay. Maybe only another 35 out there, but ya never know, lots of unique knives do make their way to the 'bay.
roland

 

[ea42]

Thanks Roland, I'd never have known what it was if the guys at work hadn't been talking a couple of months ago about making them. I think Bruce Voyles had one of them on a recent auction as well, misssed that one though.

Eric

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I did indeed see one of these very recently at auction and nearly pulled the trigger (love the birds-eye maple) but I thought it was an end-of-days conglomeration with the three identical blades. Now that you have enlightened us I am kicking myself!!! Nice score Eric and (as always) thanks for sharing the info you have on it.

 

[brady806]

was able to get a real nice one in june of last year too, the rear handle on mine has a miniature 20 dollar gold piece imbedded in the handle. only paid 26.00 on the bay.
if anyone wants to see a pic, pm me with a email add.-------------------brady

 

[ea42]

Hey Brady, now that's cool! I'll have to ask the guys if that was a factory add on or it was aquired sometime during its life on the road.

Eric

 

[ea42]

Here's Brady's knife, a VERY nice example!

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According to Alex H., the gold coin was definitely added elsewhere. Whoever did it did a nice job of fitting it.

Eric