Brut de forge hybrid

Raymond Richard

Raymond Richard

Joined
Jun 17, 2001
Messages
5,705
Occasionally I'll get an order for a rustic looking knife. I had a customer that wanted a forge finished blade similar to Brut de forge that I did last year and a guard and crown similar to a fighter I did a few years prior. I find hand forging a blade to shape especially one that can be left forge finished a lot of fun. This one was forged from one of the finest 59 Nash/Metro leaf sprigs I could find. It has a 9" blade, wrought iron fittings and a crown from either a blacktail or mule deer. Overall its 14". Some of you may enjoy seeing it although I know for a lot of you its not your cup of tea. :D

IMG_1113.JPG

IMG_1114.JPG
 
Typically, it wouldn't at all be my cup of tea. But what with the forged look, the handle material, the pommel - this is a really great looking, handsome knife. I really, really like it, I mean alot.
 
^I do too!
Ray, when we get one going to come up my way, that's pretty much what I'm after. I like that raw look a lot:cool::thumbup: (practical, too)
 
You do great work! Every one of your knives that I see I like more than the last, and they are all fantastic!
 
ray-like most all your knives i love this one....has one of your knives ever gotten a chuck burrows sheath?.....have u ever worked together.....ryan
 
ryan9977 said:
ray-like most all your knives i love this one....has one of your knives ever gotten a chuck burrows sheath?.....have u ever worked together.....ryan
Click to expand...

ryan, Yes Chuck and I did one several years ago. I don't think I have the picture but do think Chuck sent me a cd with the picture on it. Maybe easier if I contact him and post a picture of it. Not sure what I did with the cd. Knowing me I made spacer's out of it. :D

The customer is really enjoying seeing this knife come to life. He said it was exactly the knife he had in his head. I told him there several small areas on the right side of the crown where mice had chewed on it. I told him you can even see the teeth marks.

I was surprised to see a positive reaction for this knife. Thanks!
 
ray-i'd love to see the pic if u come by it one day.....i'm sure alot of customers would be happy with that knife:thumbup:.....ryan
 
Hi everybody, this is my first post here. I'm the lucky intended recipient of Ray's Brute de Forge Hybrid. He truly did take the image right out of my head and hammer it into reality. I'm sure most of you already know him so this probably isn't news to anyone, but he's one of the rare, genuinely nice and honest people in the world and has been a pleasure to deal with.

Anyway, I look forward to sharing stories with all of you good folk!
 
Welcome T 55... you're right - Ray, besides being a character, has always been one of the genuinely nice people that has been instrumental in my staying in the knife collecting game... There are many others, but as he's relatively local, I get to interact more with Ray 'cause he goes to the local shows out here in the NW.... And, he's managed to get me to part w/my hard earned more than once! :D

Got a question for the both of you, though...

Ray knows I'm not necessarily an antler handle fanatic, and that more than once I've commented on the "handedness" of some of his work. This can be seen in the Ed Fowler school of sheephorn handles, too - done right, the handle really feels good in one hand or the other...

This one, however, looks like it might be more comfortable in the left hand? As the picture represents, it just looks that way to me... Was that on purpose??

Just curious, is all....

And the "rustic" finish is one of Rays' specialties and I always love seeing them!

have fun on BF!!!! :cool:
 
Beautiful Ray!

And congrats Tonto, that's a piece to be very proud of...
 
joeshredd said:
Got a question for the both of you, though...

Ray knows I'm not necessarily an antler handle fanatic, and that more than once I've commented on the "handedness" of some of his work. This can be seen in the Ed Fowler school of sheephorn handles, too - done right, the handle really feels good in one hand or the other...

This one, however, looks like it might be more comfortable in the left hand? As the picture represents, it just looks that way to me... Was that on purpose??
Click to expand...

Hey Joe,

actually Ray had asked me if I was righty or lefty before positioning the crown and I'm a righty. He asked for my input on positioning but after some consideration, I left the final decision up to his expertise for the best combo of aesthetics and comfort in the right hand. I'm sure everybodys point of view is different, but it looks to me like it will sit perfectly in the right hand.

When I make a fist and look at the palm side of the fist, I see my palm extends further out than my clenched pinky finger does, so the shorter side of the grip (where the crown turns in) looks to be in position for my pinky to mold right into it, with more room on the opposite side for my wider palm to spread out on.

Just my viewpoint :D

Thanks for the welcome!

-Cliff
 
Hey Cliff, good to see you taking part! Thanks also for the kind words. Surprisingly this knife feels good in either hand but it was intended for a good sized right paw.

Normally what I'll do is forge several blades and let the customer chose the one he likes the best. I just ground the false edge's on all 3 just before I took the picture. After Cliff made his pick the other 2 were at my disposal. One I choose to test and by the time I was done I'd broken that blade in half after I had water quenched it. I still had half a knife left so I did a little pre form with a grinder and then forged a new point. I went ahead and ground that blade. The other blade is almost a knife.

IMG_1102.JPG

IMG_1116.JPG
 
Raymond Richard said:
Hey Cliff, good to see you taking part! Thanks also for the kind words. Surprisingly this knife feels good in either hand but it was intended for a good sized right paw.
Click to expand...


Thanks Ray, glad to be here. I've got a pretty good sized right paw, so the Hybrid should find itself right at home once it gets here!

Nice work on the other two blades. The other Brute looks nice so far!
 
ray-could u tell us what u did to test the knife...did u break it in a vice to look at the grain ?....or did it break while u were testing it.....ryan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top