Any love for large framed "sportsmans" knives?

ken erickson said:
Very nice collection of horseman's and sportsman's!
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Thanks, Ken! They don't match up to Neals' though! He's the King of Condition!!
Mike Robuck said:
Some real lookers Charlie but I’ve always liked that knife you got from Roland.
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Ha Ha!!! 😁 You've followed its history!!! Of course, that knife is in the Sheffield book!! :cool:
 
ken erickson said:
I would love to see your photos and or comments regarding these very varied and interesting vintage slip joints.
I would guess that not very many vintage good examples are in the hands of most collectors.

By large I am going to say at least 4 1/2 closed. This example was the only one that I had made but it was a fun build! (not for sale)
5 1/4 closed , three thick with checkered ebony covers.

If you have one , no matter the condition or size, although I am intrigued by these large frames, I would love to see pictures and encourage discussion on these somewhat rare knives.

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Nice to see you posting Ken :) :thumbsup:
 
Glad to see you again Ken . I'm still very proud of the best farmers jack EVER made.

Cool Ulster Charlie. You don't see many USA made horseman knives.
Terrific knife Herder. I like yours as is John.
Dan , I like the checkered handles , just ask Ken. :)

Mike another USA in great condition.

Charlie here's one at 2 7/8" that vest pocketable. It's only a little over 2 1/2" discounting the knot for the pivot pin.
Slater Bros.

https://imgur.com/SoTLHt7

https://imgur.com/ICbo5rU

https://imgur.com/Wfa3lMs

https://imgur.com/nSJvdIe
 
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wlfryjr said:
Glad to see you again Ken . I'm still very proud of the best farmers jack EVER made.

Cool Ulster Charlie. You don't see many USA made horseman knives.
Terrific knife Herder. I like yours as is John.
Dan , I like the checkered handles , just ask Ken. :)

Mike another USA in great condition.

Charlie here's one at 2 7/8" that vest pocketable. It's only a little over 2 1/2" discounting the knot for the pivot pin.
Slater Bros.

https://imgur.com/SoTLHt7

https://imgur.com/ICbo5rU

https://imgur.com/Wfa3lMs

https://imgur.com/nSJvdIe
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Thank you Lyle.

I think your farmers jack was one of the more challenging builds. The blade grinds and shape of the pruning/grafting blade was a fun one for me, the one and only of that style.

I have to wonder why more of the larger frames in general did not sport "checkering" on the covers. I really liked the results on your farmers jack and my large ebony covered sportsman's .
 
A few pictures of the only other sportsman's that I built. For some reason my full side picture with blades open is a very low quality thumbnail type photo.

One of the things I remembered about this build was just how wicked sharp and pointy the punch turned out to be.

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One of the , maybe under appreciated, features of my two sportsman’s knives is the fact the slide outs enter on a bolstered end . My bolsters are integral which made forming the square hole that much more difficult.

Most vintage examples I have seen are bolsterless on the head? end. I would love to see examples with slide outs going thru a bolster. I am sure there are examples out there.
 
I'm new here relatively speaking. And there are some great knives posted in this thread so far. But holy cow ken erickson ken erickson !! It's one thing to own a knife so beautiful. But to be able to make one? Absolute legend. It's nice enough to have integral bolsters. But to also have your slide outs work with them? I'm speechless... Thank you for starting this thread!
 
I figured out what I was doing wrong trying to up load a decent quality picture of the ivory sportsman's knife.

This knife was interesting in that I was requested to make a very particular set of tweezers, pick and the secondary blade next to the punch.

The tweezers is based on a certain medical type and tip size. It comes to a VERY fine point unlike a general purpose tweezer for pulling splinters etc.

Some may notice the strange looking pick when looking at the end opposite the point. The little hollowed out scoop was sized for measuring "micro" powder. I am not even sure what micro powders are!

The somewhat hawk bill blade was specified and to be honest I am not sure exactly why.

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ken erickson ken erickson it is indeed a tremendous delight to see these knives of yours, they are truly amazing...........but also a super great delight to see you posting here as I heard you were under the weather a wee while back now.

I dream of owning such knives, however, I am fortunate enough to own 3 of your single blade beauties - the nod to where to find and purchase given to me by our friend, Steven Lewis, some years ago.

The photos of your Ivory Sportman's are just wonderful..........I can almost perfectly imagine what it's like to pick that knife up off the table, feel its weight, and gently open and close each wonderful detail. Congratulations, sir.!
 
ken erickson said:
The little hollowed out scoop was sized for measuring "micro" powder. I am not even sure what micro powders are!

The somewhat hawk bill blade was specified and to be honest I am not sure exactly why.
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"Micro powder" could have been snuff ...or something else?
I believe the small hawk was a blade used for opening wine bottles, removing the capsule around the cork.


Mike Robuck said:
Some great examples posted so far. I was able to handle Ken's knife in person at that show years back. I suffer from size envy since my horseman's knife is under the required length. 😞
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Pretty sure that's the knife I saw at Blade show too Mike.
 
wlfryjr said:
"Micro powder" could have been snuff ...or something else?
I believe the small hawk was a blade used for opening wine bottles, removing the capsule around the cork.




Pretty sure that's the knife I saw at Blade show too Mike.
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Indeed Lyle, that type of blade was used when wine-bottles had lead foil or wax caps over the corks, then plastic/synthetic replaced that. Sometimes the blade (especially if toothed or serrated) would be used on the wire around Champagne or other sparkling wine corks. These days, screw tops seem to outnumber corks by a fair degree :(
 
Old Engineer said:
Not quite up to the 4 & 1/2 but just 4 & 1/8 " but it is the largest example that I have . This is one that I watched for 2 years in an antique shop before they would make a deal . A Kronenkreb in Stag .
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Harry
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Neat backstory on waiting for 2 years to snag it! Can you school me on the secondary blade with the bolster like tip? What is the intended use?
 
wlfryjr said:
I believe the small hawk was a blade used for opening wine bottles, removing the capsule around the cork.
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My apologies guys! I should have been more clear and misspoke when I mentioned I did know why the hawkbill blade was specified.

I should have said I do not know what the intended use for this specific blade was. My customer was/is in the medical profession. I believe if not mistaken a vascular surgeon . The pic with the scoop , the tweezers and the hawkbill blade are medical related. The hawkbill blade mimics this scalpel blade and I was asked to make it as thin and sharp as my skills would allow.
The tweezers come to a very thin and sharp point versus a general purpose tweezer that is used for plucking hairs or splinters.
The scoop was for measuring or dispensing micro powders which I assumed was also used in his profession.

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