- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
Greetings all,
Burt Foster was one of the presenters at the recent Northeast Hammer-In held at Wulf's forge in Essex, Vermont. The entire weekend was highly informative and thoroughly enjoyable and I decided to make this my little souvenir of the event.
This is one of two integrals that Burt had with him, and after picking it up I had a very hard time putting it down. It looks and feels both delicate and precise - like a portable scalpel - and the edge is deep into the "scary sharp" zone.
These small integrals are deceptively simple-looking. It takes no small amount of skill to render something as clean and elegant as this little knife. I can't imagine the task of seamlessly fitting the rounded scales into the rounded recesses of the integral bolster and full exposed tang. Better him than me.
Okay the specs are as follows: the blade is forged O1 - with mirror-polished bolster, spine and tang to offset the brushed flats. Scales are some gorgeous California buckeye burl, secured with domed nickel silver pins. One of Burt's typically excellent sheaths completes the package.
Well..... nearly complete, anyway.
As we neared the end of the hammer-in I asked Burt if he thought he might be able to fashion a display stand for this little beauty. My only request was that the stand be compact as there is typically little room on my routinely overcrowded office desk.
Of course, Burt agreed and of course, the result reflected the quality of craftsmanship and attention to detail that can be found in all aspects of his work.
As Burt describes:
"The base of the stand is a chunk of wood from a dead maple tree. I took off the bark but essentially left the natural shape, so the curves and angles in the wood were there, I just cleaned them up. I left a few small pits in the wood because I think it gave it a natural look. The rod is nickel silver and I hammered it and buffed it so instead of just being a round rod, it has little angles in it that reflect the light. I inset a small round piece of ebony that the point sits on."
Thanks again Burt - great job!
Roger
PS - I know, I know - I didn't include the dimensions. That's because I didn't measure it that weekend and the knife is not yet back in my possession. Figure on an overall length just under 8".
PPS - The first two pics were shot hand-held with about 30 seconds prep time in Coop's $75 home-made light tent that formed part of his excellent presentation on knife photography and marketing. While being jostled by all and sundry (cough - Peter Gill - cough) no less. This set-up flat out WORKS, people.
Burt Foster was one of the presenters at the recent Northeast Hammer-In held at Wulf's forge in Essex, Vermont. The entire weekend was highly informative and thoroughly enjoyable and I decided to make this my little souvenir of the event.
This is one of two integrals that Burt had with him, and after picking it up I had a very hard time putting it down. It looks and feels both delicate and precise - like a portable scalpel - and the edge is deep into the "scary sharp" zone.
These small integrals are deceptively simple-looking. It takes no small amount of skill to render something as clean and elegant as this little knife. I can't imagine the task of seamlessly fitting the rounded scales into the rounded recesses of the integral bolster and full exposed tang. Better him than me.
Okay the specs are as follows: the blade is forged O1 - with mirror-polished bolster, spine and tang to offset the brushed flats. Scales are some gorgeous California buckeye burl, secured with domed nickel silver pins. One of Burt's typically excellent sheaths completes the package.
Well..... nearly complete, anyway.
As we neared the end of the hammer-in I asked Burt if he thought he might be able to fashion a display stand for this little beauty. My only request was that the stand be compact as there is typically little room on my routinely overcrowded office desk.
Of course, Burt agreed and of course, the result reflected the quality of craftsmanship and attention to detail that can be found in all aspects of his work.
As Burt describes:
"The base of the stand is a chunk of wood from a dead maple tree. I took off the bark but essentially left the natural shape, so the curves and angles in the wood were there, I just cleaned them up. I left a few small pits in the wood because I think it gave it a natural look. The rod is nickel silver and I hammered it and buffed it so instead of just being a round rod, it has little angles in it that reflect the light. I inset a small round piece of ebony that the point sits on."
Thanks again Burt - great job!
Roger
PS - I know, I know - I didn't include the dimensions. That's because I didn't measure it that weekend and the knife is not yet back in my possession. Figure on an overall length just under 8".
PPS - The first two pics were shot hand-held with about 30 seconds prep time in Coop's $75 home-made light tent that formed part of his excellent presentation on knife photography and marketing. While being jostled by all and sundry (cough - Peter Gill - cough) no less. This set-up flat out WORKS, people.
