Celebrate Jack’s SFOs. Post em up!!!!

Jakeywax31 · Monday at 7:44 PM

As you all know

Jack Black is one of the great members here on Bladeforums. Not only is he a wonderful guy but he knows knives. He is widely credited with the resurgence and resurrection of the Lambfoot knife and I agree. I carry the pattern almost everyday because it is handy but most importantly the friendship it represents.

Jack has produced many SFOs in the past and I wanted to start a thread where we can celebrate and discuss them. These knives are well known in the Guardians thread but thought this would serve as one stop spot for anyone looking for information on them.

Rules of the thread.

1. Please no discussion on where or how to purchase. These knives are no longer being made and that is not what this thread is about. Keep all that stuff to private PMs. I’m not trying to make this a burden on Jack so please don’t fill his messages up with questions. I’m sure he will respond when able here.

2. Follow all the other BF rules

.

POST EM UP!!!!!

I will start with my little stash of Jacks wonderful knives.

Please correct me if the dates are wrong

2017 Buffalo Horn
2018 Ebony
2019 Ironwood
2019 Hartshead Barlow Stag
2019 Hartshead Barlow Rosewood

waynorth · Monday at 7:47 PM

Nice idea for a thread, Paul!! I will take some pics, and get them up here!!!

Jakeywax31 · Monday at 7:51 PM

waynorth said:
Nice idea for a thread, Paul!! I will take some pics, and get them up here!!!

Good. My pictures are horrible. Need a ringer to come in and spice this place up

waynorth · Monday at 7:55 PM

Jakeywax31 said:
Good. My pictures are horrible. Need a ringer to come in and spice this place up

Your pics are good!!!!!

mac0731 · Monday at 7:57 PM

Beautiful knives! The buffalo horn really stands out to me in particular.

Jakeywax31 · Monday at 8:07 PM

mac0731 said:
Beautiful knives! The buffalo horn really stands out to me in particular.

Thanks. It’s a great knife. I particularly like how both sides are streaked.

joeradza · Monday at 8:32 PM

Jakeywax31 · Monday at 9:37 PM

joeradza said:
View attachment 3114822

A fine HHB, Alan.

black mamba · Monday at 10:20 PM

As it is the only one I have, I'm certain the ebony is from 2018. I named mine RALF, for Real A$$ Lamb Foot, and he is probably my most photographed knife.
Here he is through time from 2018 until now.

Sometime in 2020 I had the handle stippled to improve the grip.

Modoc ED · Monday at 10:25 PM

Jack Black SFO from I think 2018 with I think Bagpipe Ebony. My memory gets fuzzier every day.

Jack Black 2019 SFO with Ironwood covers.

Old Engineer · Monday at 10:27 PM

Some very early Lambfoots from Jack ( 2017 )

Harry

Jakeywax31 · Monday at 11:09 PM

black mamba said:
As it is the only one I have, I'm certain the ebony is from 2018. I named mine RALF, for Real A$$ Lamb Foot, and he is probably my most photographed knife.
Here he is through time from 2018 until now.

Sometime in 2020 I had the handle stippled to improve the grip.

Thanks for sharing, Jeff. The ebony on this run is really good.

Modoc ED said:
Jack Black SFO from I think 2018 with I think Bagpipe Ebony. My memory gets fuzzier every day.

View attachment 3114930

Jack Black 2019 SFO with Ironwood covers.

View attachment 3114936

Very nice, Ed. Two great looking knives.

Old Engineer said:
Some very early Lambfoots from Jack ( 2017 )

Harry

Hard to beat those, Harry. I think Horn might be my favorite handle material behind good stag.

Jakeywax31 · Monday at 11:15 PM

Hard to imagine the work it took to get these things made. I’m an A Wright fan but the average knife they put out can be hit and miss. I’m sure Jack went through a lot of time and money to get these things up to his standards. Every single one of mine are about 5 steps above the ordinary run from them.

btb01 · Monday at 11:24 PM

Nice idea for a thread, Paul. And thank you

Jack Black for all the hard work you put into the SFOs you’ve brought us.

I’ll start with the 2017 Guardians SFO, as it was (unless my memory has completely failed me) the first Guardians SFO. I was fairly new to the Lambsfoot when this knife came out. I don’t think I’d even heard of a Lambsfoot prior to Jack starting the Guardians thread. I had purchased a Wright’s Lamb sometime between the starting of the thread and the release of the 2017 SFO, but that knife (pictured just above the 2017 here) was a bit of a stinker… so much so that I was amazed that it and the 2017 Guardians knife could have been made by the same company! (Of course, that is really a testament to the standard that Jack held Wrights to when it came to his SFOs).

Pile side.

One thing I feel like was never talked about enough when it came to this knife was the excellently executed swedge, which almost forms a second sharpened edge. Here’s a comparison showing (from left to right) the 2017 SFO, an standard Ebony Wright’s Lamb (a decent enough knife) and the swedge-less turd that was my first Wright’s lamb.

Next came the 2018 Guardians, with most of the same features as the 2017 — same fancy bolster, same swedge (though not quite as sharp) — but in handsome ebony.

Alongside the 2018 Ebony Guardians knife, Jack had Wrights do some 2018 Guardians knives in horn as well. These were originally supposed to be a fancy “Peaches & Cream” horn, and while I know Wrights didn’t quite deliver the horn Jack had hoped they would, it’s still a great knife. Mine has some nice lighter coloring on the pile side. The lined bolsters on these help further set the 2018 horn run apart from the 2017 (if they had the same bolsters, I’d have a lot harder time keeping them straight).

(I also realized in putting this post together than I didn’t really have any pics of this knife on its own, so I had to take a couple, and you’ll just have to forgive the subpar lighting.)

Ok, I was originally going to try and make one post, but I might never finish it if I do that.

More to come!

Old Engineer · Monday at 11:25 PM

Jakeywax31 said:
Thanks for sharing, Jeff. The ebony on this run is really good.

Very nice, Ed. Two great looking knives.

Hard to beat those, Harry. I think Horn might be my favorite handle material behind good stag.

Thank you very much Paul . You make me really think about which handle material do I really like best . Wart Hog Ivory , Deep Featured Stag , Desert Ironwood , Camel Bone , Jigged Bone , Rams Horn , Cow Horn , Burl Wood are all very nice and I have recently received a very nice Micarta . Just a lot of nice stuff out there .

Harry

Old Engineer · Monday at 11:31 PM

btb01 said:
Nice idea for a thread, Paul. And thank you Jack Black for all the hard work you put into the SFOs you’ve brought us.

I’ll start with the 2017 Guardians SFO, as it was (unless my memory has completely failed me) the first Guardians SFO. I was fairly new to the Lambsfoot when this knife came out. I don’t think I’d even heard of a Lambsfoot prior to Jack starting the Guardians thread. I had purchased a Wright’s Lamb sometime between the starting of the thread and the release of the 2017 SFO, but that knife (pictured just above the 2017 here) was a bit of a stinker… so much so that I was amazed that it and the 2017 Guardians knife could have been made by the same company! (Of course, that is really a testament to the standard that Jack held Wrights to when it came to his SFOs).

Pile side.

One thing I feel like was never talked about enough when it came to this knife was the excellently executed swedge, which almost forms a second sharpened edge. Here’s a comparison showing (from left to right) the 2017 SFO, an standard Ebony Wright’s Lamb (a decent enough knife) and the swedge-less turd that was my first Wright’s lamb.

Next came the 2018 Guardians, with most of the same features as the 2017 — same fancy bolster, same swedge (though not quite as sharp) — but in handsome ebony.

Alongside the 2018 Ebony Guardians knife, Jack had Wrights do some 2018 Guardians knives in horn as well. These were originally supposed to be a fancy “Peaches & Cream” horn, and while I know Wrights didn’t quite deliver the horn Jack had hoped they would, it’s still a great knife. Mine has some nice lighter coloring on the pile side. The lined bolsters on these help further set the 2018 horn run apart from the 2017 (if they had the same bolsters, I’d have a lot harder time keeping them straight).

(I also realized in putting this post together than I didn’t really have any pics of this knife on its own, so I had to take a couple, and you’ll just have to forgive the subpar lighting.)

Ok, I was originally going to try and make one post, but I might never finish it if I do that. More to come!

A Turd ????????????....................... Yes !!!!!!

Harry

Jakeywax31 · 2026-02-24T00:35:21-0500

Old Engineer said:
Thank you very much Paul . You make me really think about which handle material do I really like best . Wart Hog Ivory , Deep Featured Stag , Desert Ironwood , Camel Bone , Jigged Bone , Rams Horn , Cow Horn , Burl Wood are all very nice and I have recently received a very nice Micarta . Just a lot of nice stuff out there .

Harry

You have some of the finest stag knives around, Harry.

Jakeywax31 · 2026-02-24T00:53:57-0500

black mamba said:
As it is the only one I have

I beg to differ, Jeff. You have one of the nicest ones ever made. Show that Damascus beauty.

btb01 · 2026-02-24T01:13:30-0500

Also from 2018 was the Ashley’s Choice Lambsfoot in Sambar Stag. These were made on a smaller pattern than the 2017 and ‘18 Guardians knives (I believe out of necessity based on the size of the available stag pieces). They were assembled by Ashley Harrison at Wrights, and I believe the “choice” of the bolster treatment was left up to him.

I’ll pause here from the “official” Guardians SFOs to show some of the other exclusive knives Jack has commissioned. I have to admit that I’m not as knowledgeable on these knives, so I’ll mostly let the pictures do the talking.

This knife in Indonesian Rosewood was a gift from Jack. It’s a little less fancy than the Guardians knives, but made just as well, with beautiful wood, and it has become a favorite of mine.

In December 2018, I was fortunate enough to spend a day with Jack in Sheffield. We had a fantastic day walking around the city, stopping in pubs and talking knife history. Jack, of course, showed up with several gifts, including this blonde horn “Big ‘un,” which (I believe) was another small run of exclusive knives he had made. (I must have a picture of it on its own somewhere, but I can’t find it at the moment, so here it is with my Ashley’s Choice.)

Jack also sent me this ebony Big ‘un (in the middle here, with the 2018 Guardians knife on the right and a standard ebony Wrights lamb on the left). I believe this was one of the bagpipe ebony knives Jack had made, and I’d love to tell you more, but I honestly can’t remember the story on those, so someone else will have to fill in the blanks.

When I visited Jack in Sheffield, we were lucky enough to get to stop in the Wrights factory so he could pick up a prototype for what would end up being the 2019 Guardians knife. The beautifully figured Desert Ironwood really makes this knife stand out, and it might be my favorite of the annual Guardians knives.

Now how could you possibly improve on the 2019 Guardians knife? I don’t know, maybe add a Damascus blade and some beautiful file-work on the spring.

This was yet another gift from Jack, and is certainly the fanciest of his SFOs. An absolutely stunning knife!

Alright, time for another intermission. One more post to go!

btb01 · 2026-02-24T01:50:51-0500

Last but certainly not least, of course, are the Hartshead Barlows. Arguably Jack’s best SFO, with their uniquely styled Barlow bolsters and excellent handle material choices, my HHBs have probably seen the most pocket time of any of the Lambsfoot examples I own. Hell, I decided to give them their own post because I know I couldn’t just pick one or two photos of them. So I’m just going to photobomb y’all with HHB pics and call it a day.

Thank you again to

Jack Black for all you’ve added to this community, for your friendship and generosity, and for the hard work you put into bringing us all these excellent knives!