- Joined
- Mar 20, 2009
- Messages
- 37
Haha, whoops! thought I could make the title bold! LOL
So I'm currently living in New York... I bought this baby in Pennsylvania last year, and then thought I had left it in Florida when I visited family down there. I was just rummaging through a pack and lookie what I found!
This was made by a guy that's about 90 years old and goes by the name of Fritz Price (same last name as I have, though no relation). Not sure what the purple-ish material is on the back end of the handle, but the green bit is some sort of Brazilian water buffalo hoof. Apparently these guys stand in slow moving streams a lot and the algae on the bottom stains their hooves green.
There are two stamps on the blade. The first says "440C-07", which I take to mean that the steel is 440C and the blade was crafted in 2007. The other side is the maker's stamp, "Fritz".
The sheath is pretty rough, Fritz was obviously a more skilled knifemaker than he was a leatherworker. The sheath is very functional, but it wont be winning any awards of beauty. The snap has broken, but I think it would require very little work to replace it. He has also stamped the back side of the sheath with his mark.
The thing I really like about this blade is that it is not perfect. You can quite easily tell that it was hand made by all of the little imperfections you can see in it, though they may not be noticeable in the pictures. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind blade, and I believe it was the last Fritz has crafted. From what I'm told, deteriorating health has forced him away from his shop.
Hopefully he'll pull through and will be able to continue the work that he obviously loves...
I may have to sell this in the near future, but I will be holding on to it for as long as possible. I can tell you that if Fritz were a part of my family, this would be a family heirloom...
Okay, on to the pics... sorry for the poor quality...
So I'm currently living in New York... I bought this baby in Pennsylvania last year, and then thought I had left it in Florida when I visited family down there. I was just rummaging through a pack and lookie what I found!
This was made by a guy that's about 90 years old and goes by the name of Fritz Price (same last name as I have, though no relation). Not sure what the purple-ish material is on the back end of the handle, but the green bit is some sort of Brazilian water buffalo hoof. Apparently these guys stand in slow moving streams a lot and the algae on the bottom stains their hooves green.
There are two stamps on the blade. The first says "440C-07", which I take to mean that the steel is 440C and the blade was crafted in 2007. The other side is the maker's stamp, "Fritz".
The sheath is pretty rough, Fritz was obviously a more skilled knifemaker than he was a leatherworker. The sheath is very functional, but it wont be winning any awards of beauty. The snap has broken, but I think it would require very little work to replace it. He has also stamped the back side of the sheath with his mark.
The thing I really like about this blade is that it is not perfect. You can quite easily tell that it was hand made by all of the little imperfections you can see in it, though they may not be noticeable in the pictures. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind blade, and I believe it was the last Fritz has crafted. From what I'm told, deteriorating health has forced him away from his shop.
Hopefully he'll pull through and will be able to continue the work that he obviously loves...
I may have to sell this in the near future, but I will be holding on to it for as long as possible. I can tell you that if Fritz were a part of my family, this would be a family heirloom...
Okay, on to the pics... sorry for the poor quality...
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